Cyberpunk 2074: Shadows of the Past

Chapter 35 Rat

Night City in winter is not friendly to those gamblers who like to bet on the dead man's lottery.

In one night, there were dozens of people who froze to death on the street alone.

This can greatly increase the difficulty of betting on the right numbers.

They had to step out of the house, or go to the streets to inquire about information, or issue commissions, find someone to investigate, and mark the living conditions of the street rats.

No one cares about the life and death of the homeless except them.

2074年，1月17日，17：10
The sun seems to be tired of the rotten smell of this sinful city, and impatiently wants to take away the last ray of warm light in this world.

The biting cold is mixed with the icy cold wind, howling savagely.

The Grim Reaper carelessly waved the scythe in his hand, harvesting the thin and displaced crops on the streets one after another.

Laura was tense, and walked through the narrow alley, carefully stepping over a cold corpse of a woman who had collapsed on the ground.

January 1th is her birthday.

In the past, mothers would always take her joyously on this day and go out to celebrate happily.

They will buy two new clothes at the clothes stall downstairs.

Every time, Laura would follow her mother's instructions and seize the only opportunity to look in the mirror carefully in a year to carefully observe the changes in her appearance and height.

The stall owner who sells clothes is a good person, and he will allow the little girl to use chalk to write down the scale of her height beside the mirror.

Afterwards, her mother would take her to an old ramen restaurant down the alley and order a big bowl of steaming ramen.

Year after year, this is the case.

This is the happiest and happiest day of the year for little Laura.

until three years ago.

Mom took her into the alley as usual, but she couldn't come out again.

Laura couldn't remember exactly what happened that day.

I only remember the violent roars of several men and the miserable screams of my mother that kept lingering in my ears.

Just remember, in the field of vision, the turbid liquid that kept flowing and spreading.

I just remember the dry tears on my mother's face and the blood flowing from the corners of her mouth.

Laura shrank her head and tightened the old cotton jacket wrapped around her body.

This is the only legacy her mother left her.

She pursed her pale lips from the cold, and walked with her head bowed, her heavy steps dragging and wailing on the rough ground of the alley.

As she walked, she stayed away from tall buildings and passed by her former home.

After her mother died, she couldn't pay the rent and could only live on the street.

As she walked, she passed a dirty stall.

I heard that the kind stall owner also died.

It is said that people were beaten to death because they secretly took pictures of customers changing clothes.

She thought, slowed down her pace, turned and walked towards the dilapidated booth that was empty.

Among the pile of tattered clothes, the mirror with her height imprint still stood askew, like a dog guarding the grave.

She gently wiped off the thick dust on the mirror with her hands, and the small face in the mirror was covered with scars and stained with black dust.

It's ugly.

She sighed softly.

Three years ago, facing this mirror, she personally used a key to draw deep bloodstains on her pretty face.

Just to live.

In order not to be roughly dragged into the depths of the alley by those people.

She rubbed the corners of her reddened eyes, picked up the tattered scarf hanging on the side, and wrapped it around her face again and again.

She took a step and walked in the direction of Japan Street.

It is said that in the entire Night City, Japan Street has the most leftovers and the most delicious food.

If you are lucky, you might be able to eat a broken fish.

Laura licked her lips slightly, but only tasted a faint smell of rust.

God bless, on her 18th birthday, reward her for finding some reasonably whole food in the trash.

She clasped her hands together, muttering, and walked towards the trash can by the side of the road.

2074年，1月17日，18：00
"Yawei! I'm hungry." Xita, who had been playing around all afternoon, finally started to cry.

Yawei stroked the girl's silver hair, and looked sideways at another short-haired woman who was quietly rubbing her stomach.

"I'm hungry too." Lucy secretly rubbed her stomach, but her tone was a little cold.

"What to eat?"

"In Japan Street... of course I eat Japanese food!" Xita squinted her eyes and enjoyed her boyfriend's gentle touch, expressing her appeal in a low voice.

"Would it be too expensive..." Lucy rubbed her chin, since she just came to Night City for a few days, she couldn't afford such extravagant consumption.

"Yahwei's treat! We'll go buy new clothes after eating!" Xita secretly poked the man's firm abdomen with her elbow, and the wonderful touch made her a little addicted.

Yawei smiled helplessly, the matter of stealing private money really couldn't be hidden from Xita.

But anyway, it's black money from biotech companies, and it's not spent in vain.

"Hey, you actually hid your private money..." Lucy and Xi Tan made eye contact for less than a second, and then they immediately reacted and cooperated.

"Okay, okay, I'm treating you...I'm treating you..." He held up his hands to express his surrender, so as not to be further teased by the two of them.

"Let's go!" Xi Tan nodded in satisfaction, and took the initiative to take a few large and small bags from the man.

Lucy raised her eyebrows and stayed away from the two of them pretending to be disgusted.

The interaction between Xita and Yawei made her a little envious.

She has only seen this kind of scene on the useless data fragments on the deep web.

"Lucy?" The silver-haired girl turned her head and called softly, waking her up a little distracted.

"coming."

With agile steps, Lucy quickly followed the two closely connected figures in front of her.

2074年，1月17日，18：15
"The environment here is quite high-end..." Xita patted the tables, chairs and benches in novelty, as naive as a child.

Yawei sighed, stretched out his hand to catch Xita who was swaying around, pressed her in his arms, and locked her tightly with both hands.

Lucy sat opposite the two of them, propped her head, tilted her legs slightly, and dangled her leisurely feet, watching the sweet interaction of the stupid couple without speaking.

Xita struggled several times, but unfortunately all failed.

In the end, she collapsed powerlessly into the man's arms, with her face pressed against his throat, rubbing back and forth.

Lucy rubbed her belly and frowned her pretty eyebrows.

Before the food was served, I felt [-]% full.

"What are you thinking about?" Seeing that no one was speaking during the banquet, Yawei asked softly.

"Thinking of you..." the girl lying in her arms murmured softly, completely ignoring the presence of outsiders.

Lucy shook her head helplessly, hesitated to speak, and had no choice but to take the dishes brought by the waiter and place them on the table one by one.

She picked up the chopsticks and started to eat.

Yawei and Xita looked at her intentionally keeping silent with amused expression, and stopped playing around.

2074年，1月17日，18：16
Laura rummaged through the trash can with her small body, and finally found food that could be eaten.

She squatted by the wall, eating big mouthfuls, feeling the happy feeling of the cold food residues flowing down the esophagus and mixing with the warm gastric juice, and smiled happily.

She looked at the high-end restaurant across the street from a distance, stretched out her lovely nose, and tried to sniff, chasing down the scent of delicious food in the air.

Smelling this faint fragrance, it seems that I have already tasted the food.

She thought happily, and lightly licked the dry and cold sauce on her fingertips.

(End of this chapter)