Cyberpunk 2074: Shadows of the Past

Chapter 2 Shackles
In Night City, the upper class can indulge in the most exclusive celebrations and spend money like water.

And even if the poor civilians at the bottom empty their pockets, they can only go through the motions of the cheapest activities.

As for what are middle-class company employees doing?
Sorry, but the corporate giants are not so kind, giving employees vacations.

Employees also don't have time to complain.

In order to buy a mid-to-high-end apartment in their lifetime, most of them have to work more than 18 hours a day.

The huge pressure of survival is like a huge mountain, which is backlogged on the top of the middle and lower class people, making people's legs tremble and they can't breathe.

Perhaps this is the reason for the creation of cyber maniacs?

Xi Tan waited in the car, and his thoughts couldn't help but wander.

Cyber ​​lunatics, or cyber psychopaths, are mostly low- and middle-class civilians who have been deprived of everything in life.

To paraphrase Rogge, they are just a group of poor wretches who have nothing.

They experienced unimaginable setbacks and sufferings, and were cut off by this cruel world, leaving only cold mechanical bones, sinking in the world.

People are not like people, and ghosts are not like ghosts.

You can't go to heaven, and you can't go to hell.

Xi Tan sighed, ending his rambling thoughts.

As a young girl, she occasionally became suddenly sentimental.

Xi Tan is well aware of her fragility, and always deliberately suppresses her emotions.

As a rookie mercenary struggling to survive in Night City, compassion is still a bit too extravagant.

In Night City, the decay of the heart is as deadly as the decay of the body.

At least in the mercenary industry, the old guys who wanted to wash their hands and retire, without exception, turned into garbage.

Unless you can completely escape the cage of Night City, the junkyard is the final destination.

Therefore, no matter what the cyber maniacs have gone through, how pitiful it is, when Xita has to solve their money-making errands, she will continue without hesitation, pull the trigger hard, and empty the magazine , Use kinetic energy bullets to save their painful lives.

Combining his own experience and knowledge, Xidan believes that he has done enough psychological construction.

Xi Tan sighed softly, and looked up at the car's old and green display screen.

About 10 minutes or so passed.

She looked out the car window.

As luck would have it, there were no abandoned vehicles on the driveway she was in and it was fine.

Shita climbed out from under the seat, adjusted her sitting position, made sure her feet were in the correct position, and restarted the car.

As expected, it was the car she had her eyes on. Although it was a bit ugly, at least there was no failure to start it, and it was quite reliable.

Xita drove the Sky Hera carefully, with both hands on the steering wheel.

He seems to be a good driver who abides by traffic laws and drives honestly.

In fact, these are just surface tricks.

She had to put on a good face, because she was passing by the scene where the Terrorist Squad was fighting the Cyber ​​Maniacs.

You have to make sure you don't look threatening.

Otherwise, if the violent terrorist mobile team finds a reason and takes it down together as a cyber lunatic, it will be bloody bad luck.

Light rain started pattering outside the car window, she turned on the wiper, slowed down the speed of the car, and let the tires squeal strangely on the wet ground.

100 meters, 50 meters, 0 meters... Passing unimpeded through the potholes full of blood, Xi Tan let out a long sigh of relief, and immediately relaxed his sitting posture.

"Hoo... passed the level smoothly...",
While driving, she peeped through the rearview mirror with her original eyes, and was surprised to find that the cyber maniac this time turned out to be a young and beautiful looking woman.

A typical neo-kitsch dress—"substantial and external."

The high-end pure white dress is both bulletproof and beautiful, and the fashionable and streamlined golden stripes are like skin, which is the most fashionable and cutting-edge trendy product at the moment...

Xi Tan glanced enviously. These were the hot items in the fashion magazines she often read before going to bed. She wanted a set even in her dreams.

"Damn rich man, he's become a cyborg lunatic now! Hmph..." Xi Tan pouted, not hiding her glee at others' misfortune.

Different from sympathy for ordinary people, this kind of rich people are crazy, she can't wait to applaud.

"I actually installed a pair of 2013 Mantis Swords of the "Higure" model, a model that has been discontinued in 69. No wonder it went crazy... Typical prosthetic body erosion... But it was not killed on the spot..."

The female cyber lunatic was captured alive by the terrorist mobile team?
Xita was a little surprised, but that was all.

She doesn't care what happens to that woman, experimental research?Making sex puppets?Being hollowed out and turned into garbage?

In Night City, take care of yourself before anyone else.

Xi Tan thought back to the knowledge about various prosthetic bodies that she had been accumulating every day, and felt that her experience in life had increased a little bit——An incompatible prosthetic body would not pretend to be killed!

Although she is very poor now and her body is full of original products, one day she will be able to afford her favorite baby prosthetic body, one day!
Xi Tan strictly followed the process in the book "How to Become a Legend" and ended the daily routine "summary and reflection".

Next... it's playtime!

"I heard that Body Temperature Radio has recently updated a few good songs..." Turning on Body Temperature Radio, Xi Tan happily drove her baby car onto the highway leading to the outskirts of the city.

"Good evening, Night City! The following is an urgent news. Cyber ​​psychosis appeared on the streets leading to the outskirts of Watson District. According to statistics, 13 people died because of it. The prisoner's name was Melissa Rory, 23 years old. ..."

Xi Tan rubbed the center of his eyebrows with one hand. Although the large media in Night City are the mouthpieces controlled by the company, there is nothing to blame in terms of reporting efficiency.

As soon as she left the scene on the front foot, the report came on the back foot.

However, this has nothing to do with Heidi.

She didn't care about the name of the rich cyberpsychopath at all, and she was not interested in his past experience, so she could only get through this news a little annoyed.

Looking forward to the new songs that will be played later will bring her some surprises.

As mentioned above, Xita Kasdey, 18 years old, female, has never been in a relationship, has never installed any strange prosthetic body, and is a rookie mercenary with original products.

She likes to read fashion magazines, watch Three-Handed Pure Love to Super Dream movies, and listen to music even more.

She likes Chopin's Nocturne No. 15 in F minor hundreds of years ago, and also likes the rock melody of Samurai Band more than 50 years ago.

Every time she hears these music, she can always feel the inexhaustible motivation gushing out from the heart, and the power is transmitted to the whole body along the blood vessels.

Only in this way can she hide her fragility, muster up the courage to live in Night City, a dangerous place that cannibalize people, seek revenge, pursue dreams, and do things that she never thought of. To meet some people she thinks worth meeting.

When she listens to music alone, she is always relaxed and sensual, like a knight taking off the heavy armor that wraps her body.

The fragile and sensitive little girl inside was exposed.

So, when Body Temperature Radio finally ended the news break and started playing new songs, goose bumps all over her body.

The pores were opened, and the trembling feeling was transmitted from the depths of the brain to the bones of Tianling.The heart also gushed out heat, and a warm feeling enveloped the whole body.

Music does have an unspeakable power, Xita was convinced once again.

"I couldn't wait for you to come clear the cupboards..."

Listening to the low-pitched female voice, accompanied by the psychedelic electronic sound accompaniment, and looking at the flashing neon light outside the car window, she was inexplicably melancholy.

Xi Tan stepped on the accelerator hard and accelerated the car, as if if she drove fast enough, sadness and troubles would not be able to catch up with her.

"Turn away...Another way to be where you didn't want yourself to go..."

Her mood fluctuated with the singing, and she couldn't help but want to escape, escape from Night City, escape from everything, and fly away.

The old Skydome Hera was driving at high speed according to the owner's wishes.

All the way through the neon flashing urban area, through the cool high-speed, through the suburbs.

Slow down in the Eastern Wastes until you stop in front of the dump, in the cold moonlight.

Xi Tan looked up at the sky, thoughtful.

The madness of escaping from this cage finally stopped.

Just like the song will end, the journey has an end.

Love, revenge, dreams...

She is entangled in all kinds of shackles, and she cannot be free.

Xi Tan sighed, opened the car door, and adjusted the equipment on the spot to ensure that the kinetic energy pistol in his hand had sufficient ammunition and would not accidentally fire or jam.

She is used to emptying her mind through mechanical operations, emptying out excess emotions, and ensuring that she will no longer think about it.

You have to finish the task first.

Xi Tan thought to herself, don't imagine that someone can lend a helping hand to her, and always remember that Night City doesn't believe in tears.

　The hero should come out in the next chapter

　　
　
(End of this chapter)