From Gotham to Night City, my infamy is known to all.

Leo looked at her tense body, multitasking as he looked at the documents he had prepared and said softly:

"Safety Ringer is a problematic drug. Although it can effectively suppress postoperative pain in patients, it also has a very high probability of causing degenerative neurological changes in users and ultimately leading to death."

"Incidentally, this negative effect was discovered as early as the clinical trial stage. However, due to profit considerations, they did not recall the problematic drugs."

As soon as he finished speaking, V, who knew some of the inside story, showed a look of reluctance.

Sasha's reaction was, needless to say, completely lost control of her facial expressions, her eyes glazed over and her mouth agape.

That desperate look was like a fish pushed ashore by the tide, unable to escape the pain of slowly suffocating even when it tries its best to breathe.

Even more so... her struggle itself prolonged the painful process of her death.

"No...impossible!"

Sasha tried her best to hide her reddened eyes, but her voice inevitably trembled.

"What evidence do you have?"

Leo looked at her quietly, not noticing her lapse in composure: "If you want drug data and experimental files, those things are of course in the biotechnology data center."

"So—you're just spouting nonsense too, you have no evidence!"

Sasha seemed to have grasped at a straw, seizing every opportunity to desperately refute him.

“I didn’t get the experimental data, after all, that stuff is useless to me.” Leo sipped his cola leisurely. “Besides… isn’t the evidence right in your head? You should have seen the changes in your mother’s condition after she took the safety pill.”

"..."

Sasha's anger abruptly stopped, and she froze on the spot.

The veins on her clenched fists bulged, but she helplessly loosened them after reaching her limit.

Leo knew—her mental defenses had been breached.

V and Jack felt a pang of pity seeing the little girl curled up in a ball.

Jack, in particular, whose only relative was his mother, swayed uncomfortably at the mere thought of her passing.

Leo gave her some time and said again, "There's no point in dwelling on the past. If you want to witness the truth and seek justice for your mother, then you might as well join us, because we share the same goal."

"What's the meaning……?"

Sasha raised her head, her eyes filled with an inscrutable expression.

"I imagine you'll be trying to steal intelligence from the biotechnology building. Coincidentally, I'm also very interested in their technology."

"Joining us is much better than going it alone."

Leo spoke fluently and confidently.

Even without the scanner, he could see Sasha's wavering.

Time passed second by second, and Sasha finally escaped temporarily from the shadows of the past.

Until she sees conclusive evidence, she can still numb herself with the idea that "everything is still uncertain."

Finally, she spoke up: "I want a promise, a promise that you will definitely take action on biotechnology."

Leo smiled slightly: "That's easy. I can give you a promise—starting from today, we will definitely take action against biotechnology within a month. Of course, the initial operation will focus on intelligence gathering; more aggressive actions will be reserved for later."

This result was much better than Sasha had expected. She had even brought all her savings with her, hoping to buy intelligence or... buy her freedom if the negotiations broke down.

Her gaze lingered on her palm, as if she could still see herself handing the medicine to her mother.

She remembers her mother smiling gently and comforting her, saying that everything would be alright...

"Miss Sasha... Miss Sasha?"

The sounds seemed to come from a very distant place.

Sasha snapped out of her daze and bowed to Leo: "As long as you are against biotechnology, I'm willing to join your team."

"Wise choice."

Leo clapped lightly, unsurprised by the result.

If you can't win someone over even after understanding their biggest secret and desire, it only means that the person executing the plan has a problem with their ability, and it has nothing to do with anything else.

A four-person elite squad was officially formed.

Next was a brief self-introduction session.

Leo: "Just call me Leo. You can also call me L when we're on a mission or in an inconvenient situation."

V: "Vivian, but please try to call me V. I'm Leo's bodyguard."

Jack: "Jack Wells, just call me Jack, Chica (girl)."

The trio were all very friendly, which effectively eased Sasha's nervousness at meeting strangers for the first time.

“Sasha Yakovlevova, you can call me Sasha.”

After exchanging contact information, Leo clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention to him: "The initial team will consist of the four of us. In the future, when we go on missions, we'll invite other fringewalker teams to join us, depending on the situation. Sasha, Mann's team should have four people now, right?"

Sasha nodded.

“Good. When we go to the biotechnology building to steal intelligence, we’ll call them along. It’ll be safer with eight people.”

Leo paused for a moment, then suddenly brought up the old topic again.

"Next, we need to name the team. Do you have any suggestions?"

As a newcomer, Sasha was still a little reserved and quietly looked at the other two.

As the original advocate, Jack was the first to speak, asking, "What do you guys think of the name 'Big Shots Squad'?"

V rolled his eyes without hesitation: "Not so great. They're big shots and they're still in small teams... Besides, big shots aren't self-proclaimed; they have to earn it through hard work!"

"So what's your opinion?" Jack countered.

V thought for a moment: "Ace Team? Champion Team? How about those two? They sound pretty awesome, right?"

“Not so great.” Jack immediately retorted, “Go to the Hall of Rebirth and shout it out; you’ll find a whole dozen squads with that name.”

The two argued for a while, contradicted each other countless times, and were completely at a loss.

Ultimately, Sasha abstained, and the decision returned to Leo.

He looked around and suddenly realized that everyone present, except for himself, could be considered "legendary," especially Sasha and Jack, whose past fates truly reflected the naming rules of the drinks at the Afterlife Bar—

First, you have to die. And the death has to be particularly spectacular, preferably dying halfway through.

Leo squeezed his eyes shut and said softly, "I originally thought the name 'Legendary Squad' was good, but... the word 'legendary' is too heavy. I'd rather everyone live peacefully. So... let's call it 'Immortal Squad'."

"Immortality, that's so outdated. You rich people really have the same goal."

Street girl V commented.

Leo raised his hand and poked her to get back at her earlier mockery. "What's wrong with immortality? Infinite life means infinite possibilities. Or you can interpret it as a team that 'survives forever,' which is a pretty good meaning."

"Hmm... that sounds alright, then I have no objections." V voted in favor.

Jack, of course, wouldn't argue with his good friend: "The Immortal Squad, that sounds pretty impressive, I think it's not bad either."

“I have no objection,” Sasha continued to slack off.

So Leo immediately decided to name the team "The Immortal Squad".

Everyone raised their glasses.

May his ambitions be realized, and may everyone live on forever.

Happy New Year _(:з」∠)_

Anonymous: Chapter Fifty-Five - Cantonese? A visitor from Kangtao?

After a few bottles of cola, the atmosphere among the group eased.

The new member, Sasha, seems to be an introverted and reserved person. She is still a bit reserved and often has to answer a question before she can speak.

After learning about her basic situation, Leo rubbed his chin and announced the start of the first roundtable meeting.

"While everyone's here, I need to tell you something. It'll probably take about three days..."

[3 days, 06:25:16]

"Well, to be precise, it should be February 24th. I have to go on a long trip and will be back in about a week."

He looked around at everyone and made arrangements for each of them:

"V, you'll help me guard the house; Jack, focus on recovering from your injury; Sasha, you need to connect more with your team members, get to know them quickly, and build rapport."

"When I get back, let's do a small job first—get rid of those 'ant nest' cleaners, consider it practice. Then we'll think about what to do next. Does anyone have any questions?"

"I have it!" V raised her hand to answer, her expression quite displeased.

"explain."

"Am I your bodyguard? What kind of employer goes on a long trip and leaves the bodyguard at home!"

Leo glanced at her unexpectedly. You know what, street girl V is really loyal and a reliable top-notch enforcer.

However, he can't bring living creatures with him when he travels through time, so he'll have to go to Gotham the haunted place on his own...

"I'm going back to China to meet a very important person."

That's a good reason. V opened his mouth, conflicted, not knowing what to say.

I heard that the entry checks in the east are very strict, so it's not easy for a mercenary like her with no proper job to get a visa.

After V stalled, the next person to ask a question was Jack, but he wasn't raising any objections; he was simply curious: "What are the 'big shots' like over there? Do they have a lot of money?"

As someone who dreams of becoming a big shot, Jack is very curious about the big shots in the East.

After considering the various versions of Batman's character design, Leo chose a more moderate version: "A big shot with a personal net worth in the tens of billions, total assets in the hundreds of billions, and in charge of a city."

"Damn it! You mean Saburo Arasaka, right?" V couldn't help but swear again. "Do you want to meet with the chairman of Kangtao?"

Leo shook his head: "Why do you think of Kangtao as soon as you mention that place? We have quite a few companies. For example, the big shot I mentioned controls a family business that has been passed down for generations."

"Fine, this big shot's standards are too high. I'm afraid I'll never reach that level in my lifetime." Jack conceded defeat.

V stopped worrying: "There's nothing we can do about this kind of guy. If I get within a kilometer of him, the sniper will probably pull the trigger..."

Even Sasha, a peripheral figure, asked, "Ten billion, hundreds of billions, is that your currency?"

"EUR."

Leo originally wanted to say the US dollar, but in the 2077 timeline, the United States had already declined, so he temporarily changed it to the euro.

"Then he's really on the same level as Saburo Arasaka. The market value of Arasaka Corporation is about 800 billion euros."

The hacker, with her extensive knowledge, found a benchmark for the "mysterious big shot."

"A big shot like Saburo Arasaka..."

The three locals fell silent; the information was simply too exaggerated to be believable.

Leo remained silent, but he was thinking about how to get something out of Batman.

After a while, seeing that no one else was talking, he had to start a conversation himself: "Anyway, that's how it is. We'll start the operation again when I get back. Oh, by the way, let's talk about Jack and Sasha's salaries—a base salary of 30,000, with additional pay for missions, the same as V's."

"We're still in the startup phase, so I won't go into specifics for now. We'll discuss salary in more detail once the business is up and running."

This time, V and Jack did not raise any objections, mainly because the information they had just received was too explosive. Compared to billions or hundreds of billions, although 30,000 a month was still a large sum of money, it seemed insignificant.

Sasha, however, seemed a little hesitant: "This is quite different from the Edge Walker team's model. The teams I used to work with all took a cut, and there was no base salary. We only got paid for completing missions."

“That’s right,” Leo agreed with her point of view. “The middleman is just a stepping stone for me. My ultimate goal is to build a company. So, I’ll pay you all the same salaries as company employees.”

"According to you, doesn't that mean I've become a company dog ​​too...?"

V looked up at the ceiling, feeling that the past few days had been surreal.

"Why do you care so much when you're getting paid?"

"That's right..."

"Okay, that's all for today. It's almost noon, let's go out for a nice meal to celebrate the team's formation!"

Leo stood up and led the way outside.

V and Sasha both stood up, but Jack rubbed the sofa with his hand, looking reluctant to leave.