Cyberpunk 2074: Shadows of the Past

Chapter 32 The Priestess (Lucy) (I)
February 2074, 1

Lucy's sixth day in Night City.

In less than a week, she has already felt sincerely bored with this city.

This is a sinful place that exists between hell and purgatory.

She shuttled through it day and night, but she couldn't find any trace of the ultimate paradise.

The Divine Comedy has been sung, but she still has not reached the end.

She is a little tired.

From the moment she escaped from Arasaka, she began the endless roaming of life.

She ran hard, but she just wanted to stay a little farther away from the doomed death.

Night City seems to be an endlessly spinning wheel of death.

The name of every entrant has been imprinted on it by the god of death in advance.

One day, the pointer of death will point to his name.

At that time, there was nothing to do but quietly wait for death.

Just like the man who died on the side of the road a few days ago.

He died so simply, in a splendid fireworks.

Even the embers in the urn are so light.

Lucy didn't even know his name when she buried the pot in the cemetery.

"Joel," perhaps.

She was a little confused.

The news report yesterday morning seemed to mention this name, but she didn't pay much attention to it.

She was used to life and death.

Burying this stranger is just to maintain a little conscience in my heart.

Rather than sympathy for what happened to him.

She is an outsider in this city.

She is alienated from society as a whole.

She is like the audience sitting quietly under the stage, silently watching the actors with blurred faces on the stage performing emotions, anger, sorrow, joy, life and death.

On the edge of everything, living a personal, solitary, sensual life.

She likes to sit by the window, light a cigarette, and watch the hustle and bustle, life and death in the endless smoke.

She likes to soak in the icy water, in the cold and shivering, empathize with the dead souls lingering around her, so as to soothe the unhealed scars deep in her heart.

She likes to wander in the virtual cyberspace, and in the deep web, dig out the old garbage that was discarded by corporate giants—the memories of happiness and hope that humans once had in the past.

She came to this world alone, and spent her only childhood with the orphans who went through the same cruel training day after day.

No one cares about the education and growth of these talented mining workers.

In the deep web, she picked up the historical fragments of the old human beings one by one among the mountains of useless data.

Use those beautiful memories lost in the dust to piece together a real "person".

So she understood and chose to escape and resist.

The corpses of her companions became a stepping stone for her to escape from hell.

She lives in 2074, but her soul seems to come from the past.

She is a lonely ghost who does not belong to this era.

Abandoned, the epitome of an old time.

A... shadow of the past.

With indifferent pupils, he stared at the world detachedly.

2074年，1月17日，12：50
Lucy came to the afterlife nightclub.

She sat at the bar and eavesdropped on every movement in all directions.

It was her newfound good place to pass the time.

"Want a drink? New here?" Claire the bartender greeted him familiarly.

"My name is Lucy...do you have any recommendations?"

Lucy leaned her elbows on the side of the bar, five slender fingers as white as jade clung to her chin, pretending to be thinking.

"For newcomers... How about a cup of 'Johnny Silverhand'?" Claire smiled, recommending her boss's favorite flavor.

"It sounds very spicy..." Lucy shook her head, she prefers a lighter taste.

"Have a drink... Piano Woman"

She glanced at the menu and selected a drink with an interesting name.

"The original name of this wine suits you very well..." Claire said while quickly mixing the wine, her movements were professional and entertaining.

"I want to know the story behind this glass of wine..." Lucy took the glass and stared at the layered liquid in the glass with a gradient of green and green.

She tapped the delicate glass body with her fingers, expressing her interest.

"The original name of this wine is 'Pretty Woman'. Not long after it was released, bored alcoholics complained and asked to change the name, just to make a pair with another glass of 'Piano Man'." Claire smiled helplessly. The sommelier and his party are also famous.

"Thank you..." Lucy nodded, she was thanking Claire for her cryptic compliment and interesting explanation.

There are quite a few people who praise her for her beauty, but such a novel way is rare.

Thinking about it, she took a sip of "Piano Woman".

The cool and sweet taste and the right alcohol concentration make people feel relaxed, and the corners of the mouth can't help evoking a smile.

"Are you paying attention to that side..." Claire wiped the glass while looking in the direction of Lucy's line of sight.

"What are they doing?" Lucy licked her lips, tapped her index finger in the air, and pointed to the silver-haired girl and handsome man not far away.

"I'm accepting the commission from the queen of the next life..." Claire followed the rules and didn't need to say much.

"Who are they?" Lucy gently put down the empty glass, with a pleasant sweet aftertaste in her mouth.

"Do you want to join them?" Claire looked at a man and a woman who were walking towards the bar while clearing away her empty glass.

"I don't know...have another glass of 'Piano Woman'." Lucy wrapped her fingers around her hair, noncommittal.

"Hey! Xita, Yawei!" Clare called them over while mixing drinks for Lucy.

"What's the matter? Claire!" Seeing the familiar bartender Claire, Xi Tan walked over with a smile on his face, leaving Yawei on the spot.

"This is Lucy." Claire pointed to the beautiful woman on the left, and then to the silver-haired girl on the right, "This is Xita."

"Hello..." Xita and Lucy both maintained proper etiquette and greeted each other.

Yawei scratched his hair, and sat beside Xita.

There is always an ominous premonition.

"Hi, I'm Yawei." He shook off distracting thoughts, and greeted the beautiful woman who was familiar with him politely through Xita beside him.

Lucy responded politely, but there was a rare turmoil in her heart.

"Yahwe?" She murmured softly. In this era when most of the past historical legends have disappeared, how many people still know the real name of God?
She looked into those blue eyes and couldn't help but smile genuinely.

"Lucy, what's the matter with you?"

Xita asked Claire for two glasses of strawberry juice, and seeing Lucy in a daze, asked softly, expressing her concern.

(End of this chapter)