Chapter 50: Blood Money

It was a good dream.

Lin Yue had not slept this deeply in a long time.

He opened his eyes; the dim light in Vic’s clinic felt familiar. Yesterday, after securely hiding his facial cyberware in his Dogtown hideout, he had rushed straight to Vic’s to have his cyberware thoroughly checked and serviced.

Feeling the lightness in his body, Lin Yue instantly surged with vitality.

No wonder "Old Vic" was a favorite among players. It wasn't just about his genuine sincerity; above all, Vic possessed meticulous craftsmanship. He simply could not tolerate flaws in cyberware installation or systemic imperfections, constantly worrying about the kids who came to him running into trouble with their implants.

"Awake?"

Vic walked over, the Valentinos tattoo on his arm possessing a rugged, striking aesthetic.

Lin Yue nodded, propping himself up with his arms.

"Thanks, Vic. Truly. Though calling you that might be a bit... presumptuous. Dogtown is rough, and cyberware gives me no end of trouble. I'm sorry you had to spend the whole night working on this."

Vic adjusted his black-rimmed glasses and smiled warmly. "I just hope that whenever your cyberware acts up, you immediately think of your old pal Vic."

Lin Yue checked the diagnostic data popped up by his system. It was impeccably organized. The rough edges had been carefully polished and repaired, and new skin had even been grafted over areas of cyberware plating that had suffered diminished durability.

Wait—

[Pain Editor]... [Legendary]?

Lin Yue: ???

His cyberware capacity remained unchanged, yet the implant had somehow reached legendary tier. What was going on? A legendary pain editor like this could smooth out agony and reduce incoming damage by a full 10%!

Yet the cyberware’s serial code was still the exact same as before.

"Uh, Vic, why is my pain editor..."

Lin Yue didn't quite know how to phrase it. It wasn't like Vic and his peers used game-like tier classifications such as "Legendary," right?

Vic nodded, sliding his chair back as he lowered the monitor by the operating table so Lin Yue could see. "You caught a lucky break. This piece of hardware is something countless street kids dream of—they all rely on this kind of reinforced immune system to shrug off a few bullets. Most underground docs just use cracked versions of corporate software programs."

"I just happened to have the proper external peripherals for the heavy-duty firmware package. Now it's finally operating at its true potential. Otherwise, you'd just be running a trial version."

Old Vic?

No, no, no... From now on, he was Father Vic. Why else would the man go to such painstaking lengths for him?

Lin Yue felt a sudden warmth in the bridge of his nose. Being cared for like this left him feeling somewhat unaccustomed.

"Since you know V, naturally you're one of the kids I need to take seriously. Don't worry about it, no extra charge."

Not wanting to seem overly melodramatic, Lin Yue rubbed the back of his head and broke into a goofy grin.

"Hop down and stretch your legs. Stay and sit for a while if you want, or head out to handle your business if you've got things to do... I need to catch the replay of the latest boxing match."

With that, Vic settled back in front of his computer, watching the fighters trade blows passionately on screen.

Lin Yue flexed his fingers and looked around, spotting an electric guitar resting on another of Vic's operating tables.

"Vic, you fix musical instruments too?"

Vic glanced at the guitar in the distance and chuckled. "Yesterday, some punk rocker took a bullet courtesy of fans from a rival bar's band. He didn't make it, and his gear got left behind here."

Lin Yue rubbed his hands together with a flicker of excitement.

It had been a long time since he last played. Back in college, he had played in a rock band with the university arts troupe—a bunch of hot-blooded youths jamming out to both domestic rock and various tunes that caught their interest alongside his bandmates.

He bent down, plugged in the cable, connected the pickup, wiped a smear of blood off the body of the guitar, and ran his fingers across the strings—

Vic paused, surprised.

"You play?"

Lin Yue strummed a brief, clean electric guitar solo.

Vic raised an eyebrow and gave a round of applause. "Well, I'll be damned. I bet you're the reckless sort who lives life on the edge—you shouldn't have stopped."

Lin Yue smiled. It wasn't that he wanted to stop playing, but Rin's call had just come in. With a helpless sigh, he set the instrument down, pointed at his phone to apologize to Vic, and answered the call.

Vic nodded and turned back to his boxing match.

"Hello?"

Lin Yue initially thought Angie was calling to press him for progress, but the holographic projection displayed the image of a woman in her fifties.

"Thank God, someone finally picked up. It took me ages to get your new fixer's number."

Lin Yue's face remained half-shadowed. "How should I address you, ma'am?"

"Mrs. Celius. The neighbors all call me that."
Lin Yue: "State your problem. Intercepting cargo, rescuing hostages, wrangling disputes—I can handle all of it."

"No, Mr. Rin, I want to ask if you can help me investigate the cause of someone's death."

Lin Yue paused. "Could you elaborate?"

"My boy, a Barghest soldier—[Otto Celius]—was murdered and dumped in a Dogtown drainage canal. And one of the local neighbors... a woman who's now a widow, was drowned in her bathroom yesterday."

"Her husband, [Zilph Cyno], was a junior officer. He's been missing for a long time too."

At that instant, Lin Yue felt as though his mind had been struck by lightning...

It felt less like a sudden blow and more like a dull blade slowly grinding against his heart. Although Lin Yue's soul had taken over this unfortunate body, the memories associated with these two "fair-weather friends" remained vivid in his mind.

They weren't entirely good, nor entirely bad, but the feeling was undeniably terrible.

In fact, when he had called Otto earlier to ask where he was, Lin Yue had already harbored a vague, ominous premonition, though he initially assumed Barghest was just enforcing an information blackout.

It seemed Hansen had simply cleaned up everyone connected to that shipment.

People were treated as disposable pawns when profits were on the line; that was the operating rule of Hansen's kingdom in Dogtown.

The only reason Lin Yue was still able to bounce around Dogtown right now was because Hands feared Lin Yue might drag the Colonel into a mess, offering a sort of reluctant protection—after all, if Lin Yue went down, Hands would go down with him.

Lin Yue asked, "Do you know what got them into trouble?"

The woman replied on the other end, "My son told me 'Cyno screwed him over.' Cyno had previously roped him into setting up a deal, but that day he sent me a single text saying 'the boss found out about me' and went off the grid. Damn it... I don't know what happened."

Hearing Lin Yue remain silent, the woman grew even more anxious. "I have three thousand euros here. Can you hire reliable mercenaries to help me sort this out? I just want answers!"

Three thousand euros... The irony was that Cyno had died over a mere ten thousand.

Yet Lin Yue hadn't expected that Cyno had even tried to drag Otto down with him.

In Dogtown, human lives had never carried a heavy price tag.

Lin Yue sat in silence for a long time, composed himself, took a deep breath, and said, "Ma'am, a Barghest shipment hit a snag, and they must have gotten caught up in it. You know how the man in charge of Dogtown operates; he excels at tying up loose ends... That's all I can tell you about this. As for Zilph Cyno, I have to ask—what relation is he to you?"

"Cyno was a good buddy of my son's. They were both young guys who got kicked out of Night City gangs... Oh right, there was also a young man named Lin Yue who went missing. He and Otto were pretty close."

Lin Yue said in a slightly muted tone, "I advise you not to pursue this matter any further. Take your money and live your life—Barghest isn't exactly a safe employer."

"Is that so... Heh, alright. Thank you for the news—though, how much do I owe you for this information?" The woman sounded resigned, letting out a despairing, hollow laugh.

Lin Yue let out an imperceptible sigh. "No charge. Take care of yourself, ma'am."

The woman uttered a soft phrase in Spanish—"God keep you, sir"—and hung up.

Lin Yue sat on the operating table for a while longer before gathering his wits, picking up his weapons and gear, and bidding a smiling farewell to Old Vic. Upon stepping outside, he stopped by a cash machine in Little Chinatown, withdrew ten thousand euros, and tossed the bills onto the passenger seat.

Driving Mann's battered old van, Lin Yue stared blankly out at the neon-drenched city: here, an endless struggle always seemed to pulse through the city's veins.

...

Dogtown.

Mrs. Celius pulled her coat tight around herself, concealing a cold handgun beneath the fabric.

Taking a deep breath, she walked slowly to the spot where her son’s body had been found. A squad of Barghest patrol guards was stationed along the nearby road.

Otto, my boy, you made mistakes in Night City, but your mother never blamed you.

Working for Barghest brought us scorn and curses, but I knew you were growing up, trying to carve out a future for yourself.

The world is too small, leaving us no place to hide, yet too big in the exact same crushing way.

Alright, Otto, close your eyes and sleep well now.

God keep you.

She pulled the gun from inside her coat.

In the iron sights, a young Barghest soldier stood frozen with a cigarette dangling from his lips, locking eyes with the despairing woman.

The woman's finger rested against the trigger, then hesitated.

He looked so terribly much like Otto.

Mrs. Celius missed her final window. She closed her eyes.

Standing beside the young soldier, a grizzled veteran squad leader kicked the daydreaming rookie aside and raised his shotgun. The devastating blast sent the woman flying several meters backward, just as a battered van screeched to a sudden halt—

The woman slammed against the passenger-side door, bright blood splashing into the cabin, dripping onto the pale euro bills and slowly blooming outward.

...

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[Zilph Cyno]: An original Barghest officer created for this novel, a drinking buddy of the protagonist's original body.

[Otto Celius]: The Barghest soldier who supplied the protagonist at the very beginning.