Chapter 14: Old Wei

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[Calling: Victor Victor]
"V? What brings you to remember this old geezer today?"
V chuckled softly, "Old Vic, you’re not old at all. Just recently, I saw you watching a replay of a boxing match, muttering about wanting to fight one yourself to teach those youngsters a lesson."
"Get to the point. Is this about work again?"
Old Vic’s voice always had a reassuring tone.
"Yeah." V glanced at Lin Yue in the passenger seat, whose arm was still bleeding uncontrollably. Although she had administered a coagulant and given him a can of Black Lace, the effect was poor.
"I’ve got someone… well, someone connected to my work. This guy’s arm is broken, heavy bleeding, and his back is covered with festering wounds…"
V pulled out the soft wire from his wrist, held the steering wheel with one hand, and plugged the wire into Lin Yue’s neural interface.
"Vital signs are bad. I’ll be at your place in half an hour. Can you perform surgery? I’ll put in some overtime—sorry for the trouble."
V reported the data to Old Vic, though she wasn’t sure if Lin Yue would survive until then.
"Is he a client of the trauma team?"
Old Vic was always cautious. Since V worked at the company, she sometimes dealt with trauma team clients caused by program ejections gone wrong.
V was straightforward, "Nope, a broke nobody. Definitely not a trauma team member."
Victor gave a helpless smile, "Then bring him over. If he’s lost too much blood, remember to use the coagulant."
"Don’t worry, Old Vic. I’ve learned a few tricks from you."
The call ended. V’s car shot out of the Taipingzhou intersection at 150 kilometers per hour. The police radio in NCPD was filled with reports about this vehicle.
The car sped past neon-lit skyscrapers. The neon halo of “Matchless Under Heaven” flickered across the body of the Hera EC-D I360, which V drove like an airplane on city roads.

Watson District
Little Chinatown.
This area in Night City had long since become impoverished. The rushing scenery at the street corner, the distinctive neon signs in the distance, and the food trucks all bore the flavors of the Eastern Xia nation.
The city’s structure here was strangely contradictory.
Illegal DUBO dens operated beside corporate office buildings, crowds mingled. Those office workers who couldn’t afford housing near the company plaza breathed the same air as the homeless.
Cheap entertainment consisted of card tables and strip clubs.
Besides the Tiger Claw gang, no influential faction had established a foothold here.
Old Vic’s clinic was hidden behind the tangled storefronts, in a basement down a narrow alley.
V parked the car. Misty had already received Victor’s call and was waiting outside the street, yawning. Her smoky eye makeup made her look even more tired.
“Victor sent me to help you, V.”
“Misty, I can handle this alone… alright, thanks.” It was midnight, and although no one else was around, a few homeless people were startled by the two women carrying a man.
Dripping blood stained Misty’s sweater along the way.
V felt a little embarrassed.

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“Put him down here, kid.”
Victor held Lin Yue’s prosthetic arm carefully, having thoroughly disinfected it. “Let’s take care of the arm first.”
Facing the dripping blood on the chair, Victor asked, “Who is he to you? I’ll see if I need to use better materials.”
“Old Vic, use whatever you need. If I’m out of money, I’ll have him pay you back!”
Victor shook his head, “I only allow you to owe me.”
With that, Victor began stopping the bleeding, using tweezers to extract bullet fragments from Lin Yue, while Misty rummaged for a suitable prosthetic nearby. The surgery began…
Lin Yue had a dream.
In the dream, the company plaza was spotless. He stood beneath, looking up at the skyscrapers that nailed ordinary people to the bottom.
So what exactly was he? Why was he still alive?
No one told him.
“Hey! Daydreaming again, Lin Yue.”
Mann’s hand landed on Lin Yue’s shoulder.
Rebecca had her hands in her pockets, her wide collar hiding an expression not quite as carefree as he remembered.
Beside her stood other members of the cyberpunk squad: Dolio, Qiwei, Lucy, David Martinez…
“Yo! Amigo, looking pretty fired up today!”
Lin Yue turned his head, “It’s you, Jack…”
The muscular man with a samurai haircut wore a leather jacket, arms crossed. Next to him was… what? That cyber-beauty?
But the mirror was shattered.
Those people lay silently on the ground, broken beyond repair.
Only the woman remained, wounded all over, kneeling on one knee, staring fiercely at the Arasaka Tower.
A silver-haired man in body armor leaned against her from behind. “This broken, tattered world isn’t worth more than burning to ashes.”
[System rebooting…]
[Data loading…]
Lin Yue’s dark world began to brighten, red vital signs reminding him he was alive.
Had he really called the prosthetics doctor?
Anyway, being alive was what mattered.
Lin Yue opened his eyes and found himself lying on a surgical chair. The female corporate dog was asleep in a chair nearby.
He tried to move his neck and looked around.
The space was small, with a softly glowing blue computer screen, a trophy next to it, and some clutter casually piled about.
Yet somehow, the place felt strangely familiar.

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My hands!
Lin Yue instinctively raised his hands, finding them brand new and more flexible than before.
The palms, as if covered with real skin, hid black prosthetic membranes inside, with a silver square embedded, giving him a stronger grip than before.
“[Subdermal Armor], [Ballistic Coordination Processor].”
A sudden voice startled Lin Yue. The female corporate dog had woken up, tired but sharp-eyed, staring intently at him.
“Where is this?”
“Night City, Watson District.” The corporate dog crossed her legs. “Alright, as thanks for saving your life, you can pay Dr. Victor Victor of Little Chinatown for the prosthetics.”
“And my repayment is that you tell me clearly about the stolen shipment from Hellhound.”
This is… Victor? Old Vic’s prosthetics shop?!
And the person in front of him is… Lin Yue swallowed hard…
[Character: Valerie (V)]
[Affiliation: Night City · Arasaka]
[Affinity: 0]
[Development value: ???]
[Stage reward: Meeting this character triggers system maintenance and upgrades prosthetics to [Ballistic Coordination Processor · Blue], [Subdermal Armor · Blue], [Titanium Skeleton · Blue], Intelligence +3, Euro currency…]
“Don’t try to be clever. I can fry your brain wires and bring you back to consciousness. Now tell me about that Hellhound mess.”
“Don’t make me use some methods on you!”
Corporate dog hacker V’s pressure was intense. Lin Yue stiffened.
He didn’t even know if he should reveal the full story.
Military tech, Arasaka—what was going on?
No, he couldn’t just spill everything.
“I need to know what’s really going on before I talk.”
Lin Yue had suffered too much. Even if this was V, he couldn’t just trust and reveal everything so carelessly.
V’s gaze darkened.
Lin Yue shuddered, “No, I just saw a super-dream. You have to tell me what this damn thing is about, then I’ll tell you. I swear! You say, and I’ll say.”
V pulled a knife from her waist, tossing it up and catching it repeatedly.
Lin Yue didn’t know if that counted as a threat.