Chapter 952 Cyberpunk: Dangerous Night, Corporate Dogs, The Pier Market, First Iconic Weapon, and F*uck Biotechnica.

The cold night in Night City felt distant from Allen and Rebecca’s apartment.

As they came in, Rebecca’s jacket could be seen on the floor, Allen’s black shirt on the couch, Rebecca’s boots, her shorts and top, Allen’s black pants, and, of course, both of their underwear.

It didn’t take a genius to know what had happened as soon as they got home, but if there were any doubts, the temperature and humidity in the air, mixed with the moans, screams, and curses of a woman coming from the bedroom, were enough to stun anyone.

It seemed Allen had taken Pilar’s advice and started working hard. Two hours passed before the last gasp came from that room.

Allen lay back on his bed with a sleeping Rebecca in his arms.

The girl was smiling, her skin covered by a faint sheen of moisture and a light blush. Neither of them had a single piece of clothing on, but they didn’t care. It was the best way to connect their hearts, even while sleeping.

However, Allen couldn’t sleep.

This city was strange. Every street, every place seemed more desolate or more insane than the last.

Allen thought for a moment and decided to go out for a walk.

“I wonder if…”

He grabbed the window overlooking the alley and jumped. He didn’t have any implants in his legs, back, or bones, yet he landed from the second floor without a problem and, more importantly, without making a sound.

….

Allen decided to stream his nighttime adventure.

Gwen – What happened? Did Rebecca kick you out of the apartment?~

“No, just taking a walk at night,” Allen said, smiling.

Rick – Oh, I like the idea. What are you going to do? Massacre some gang members or visit those famous “dolls”?

In this world, there were companion robots ironically known as “dolls,” and of course, they worked as prostitutes in many establishments.

Allen didn’t even have time to answer before Rick was banned from the chat.

“None of that. I just wanted to see if I could find an iconic weapon…” Allen stopped. “MJ?”

MJ – Hehe, I knew you’d need me~

She had already prepared a list of the iconic weapons in Watson in case Allen felt like looking for them.

1. Dying Night (Power Pistol – Lexington)

2. Chaos (Tech Pistol – Kenshin)

3. Fenrir (Power SMG – Saratoga)

4. Buzzsaw (Power SMG – Pulsar)

5. Psalm 11:6 (Power Assault Rifle – Copperhead)

6. Lizzie (Tech Pistol – Omaha)

7. Hypercritical (Power Precision Rifle)

8. Ba Xing Chong (Smart Shotgun – Zhuo)

Seeing the list, Allen smiled. This girl always prepared ahead of time for the worlds they visited. However, when it came to the worlds involved in the bet with Lucifer, she hadn’t been able to help. Now, she seemed happy to do so.

“Ba Xing Chong. I remember it’s a very powerful automatic shotgun, and it’s at the Arasaka docks, although I don’t know if it already exists,” Allen said.

The iconic weapons were scattered throughout the game in 2077. To begin with, there were still almost five years until then, and besides, this wasn’t a game. There was no reason for the iconic weapons to simply be waiting for Allen to pick them up.

[Don’t worry. It’s not just debts that follow you through time~]

“Lenalee, you did something, didn’t you?” Allen sighed.

[Hehe.]

Allen shook his head. “All right, let’s go for Fenrir first. I remember it’s near the docks market, right?”

Having said that, Allen didn’t have a vehicle, so he thought for a moment and decided to borrow one. Of course, he wasn’t going to leave some poor citizen stranded in the middle of the night in a neighborhood like this without a vehicle, but fortunately, there was a parking lot nearby.

Allen walked down the street toward it.

Factories and warehouses could be seen nearby and in the distance. The deterioration was so severe that it was difficult to tell which ones were still operational. There were also some buildings with people lying against the walls or gathered around metal barrels that had been turned into makeshift fires for warmth.

The streets were still full of life at night. Of course, in Night City there was no real difference between day and night. You could always be killed in a shootout, robbed, or kidnapped by Scavs.

Most people couldn’t afford to hire a bodyguard, so even with the danger, they had no choice.

Of course, poverty was only one side of Watson. Groups of people could also be seen here and there who didn’t seem to be looking for anything good.

When he reached the parking lot, surrounded by the cold breeze and lights illuminating only certain areas, he saw five men inside. They were all armed, but they didn’t seem to be part of the Maelstrom.

[Jhonatan Smith Private Security: Veteran No Affiliation]

“Private security?” Allen frowned.

Tony – So there are groups like this too? I thought it was just gangs and corpos.

These men, dressed in SWAT-like suits and carrying weapons, were discussing something.

Allen hacked into their communications to find out what was going on.

– What do we do with these workers? –

– The orders are to stop the protest as quickly as possible. –

The man nodded, walked toward a van, and opened it. Inside were three men wearing fluorescent vests. They were gagged and terrified.

“You…”

The man dragged one of them out of the van and removed the blindfold from his eyes and the tape from his mouth.

“Have you learned your lesson, or are you going to continue with your useless protest?”

Despite his fear, the man gave him a disgusted look. Useless protest?

“We’ve been working for three months without pay. We have families, we have needs. We’re not machines. We can’t work for—!”

Before he could finish, the private guard pulled out a pistol and shot him in the head.

“I’m not paid to listen to your complaints,” he growled before looking at the other two. “Kill them. It’s not worth wasting time.”

The men dragged the other two workers out of the van and pointed their weapons at them.

It was absurd. Cars were driving in every direction around the parking lot, and these men had executed someone in public without shame or fear.

Two more shots rang out, but to the guard’s surprise, it was his own men who fell.

“What the fuck?! We’re under attack!” The remaining men immediately went on alert.

“There!” one of them shouted, and they all immediately opened fire at Allen.

Their bullets struck the walls, the ground, and the parked cars while Allen ran and dodged them. He fired back with Chacal, each of his shots taking the life of a man. This terrified their leader.

Allen was about to kill the last private guard, but when he aimed, the man moved at incredible speed and dodged.

“What?”

Allen scanned him and was surprised to see something familiar among his implants.

[Sandevistan Mk. 2]

“A Sandevistan…” Allen smiled.

The man charged forward, his metal fists tightening. Without hesitation, he swung at Allen, intending to turn his head into pulp.

Allen raised his left arm and took the hit, leaving the man stunned. Allen immediately mocked him and aimed Chacal at point-blank range with his right hand.

“In the end, it’s only an Mk. 2…”

The man’s eyes widened before his head exploded.

McDragon – Hey, isn’t Allen really strong? Wasn’t he going to hold back? He just casually killed David Martinez!

Rogue – Idiot, that wasn’t David’s Sandevistan.

MJ – Sandevistan is a type of implant, not one specific implant. David Martinez’s Sandevistan was an experimental Mk. 5 called “Apogee.” This one was only Tier 2. Didn’t you notice that although it was fast, its speed was still more like a burst rather than actual super speed?

“That’s true,” Allen said.

The guard’s body lay on the ground, but Allen didn’t care and walked toward the workers who were still alive. The leader of the guards had escaped while Allen was fighting, and he didn’t care much about that either. In this world, death was an everyday occurrence. Most likely, even after what had happened, the police wouldn’t come to collect the bodies until dawn.

The workers writhed like worms, trying to escape.

“You’re lucky.”

Allen crouched down and broke the cuffs holding them. After that, he proceeded to loot the datashards from the dead guards.

+345

+689

+123

+550

Allen shook his head. The guards’ money was disappointingly little. The lives of four people were only worth three months of rent.

Once he finished, Allen looked at the bodies. They had implants, protective suits, and weapons, but Allen didn’t want to become a scavenger.

[Haha, I knew this would happen, but leave them to me.]

The bodies around him trembled for a moment.

+56 Components

+3,045 Eddies

“Lenalee?”

[Don’t you remember that in the video game you could sell the people’s weapons, even at a bad price if you wanted, or break them down into upgrade components for your weapons? Well, now you can do it here too!~]

Allen was speechless. Lenalee hadn’t just created a reward system for taking down gangs; now he could also upgrade weapons.

“Whatever…” Allen shook his head.

His eyes moved toward a pickup belonging to the dead private guards, and he prepared to leave. He didn’t need the context to figure it out.

Corporations had absolute power in Night City, but they tried to maintain the status quo on the surface. That’s why, when it came to dirty work, they usually relied on gangs, mercs, and private companies.

There’s a workers’ strike at a SovOIL warehouse? No problem. 6th Street’s Gangs will send a group to calm them down.

There are protesters at Arasaka offices? No problem. Some merc will show up to take care of the job.

Doing things this way meant that if something went wrong, they could simply wash their hands of it.

….

Docks / Northside, Dock Market.

This place was directly northwest of where Allen’s apartment was, near the Arasaka docks.

Allen slowed down as he saw the road ending at the sea. However, he didn’t stop. He turned left and continued along the shore.

To his right was the sea, and to his left was the famous dock market. There was a gun store, a med shop, a clothing store, and a couple of restaurants selling the synthetic crap they tried to pass off as food, but that wasn’t his objective.

Allen stopped the vehicle and got out.

“What did we do to deserve this?!” a man said desperately.

He crouched on the ground with tears in his eyes while praying. Candles surrounded him like an altar. He was dressed in a yellow toga and was bald—a monk. It was a completely surreal sight in a world like this, but this monk had a metallic arm and an optical implant over one of his eyes.

“Are you all right?” Allen asked with a sigh.

“How can I be all right after this?” the man said dejectedly, showing his arm.

“It doesn’t look low quality. What’s the problem?” Allen smiled.

MJ – You’re mean. You know perfectly well that monks in Cyberpunk reject implants. It’s like the vow of chastity taken by Christian priests.

Of course, Allen knew that, but he was joking with the monk.

“Tell me, follower of the no-chrome path, what’s your problem? You know, I’m a merc, and I might be able to help you.”

The man looked at Allen. He didn’t seem to have any implants at first glance, but he carried a huge black pistol at his waist. Feeling that Allen might be his salvation, he began to speak.

“You see…”

He was a nomad monk traveling the world on a sort of spiritual journey, trying to show people that the path of chrome wasn’t the right one.

Allen rubbed his nose. “In short, you and your brother came to Night City, a group of Maelstrom captured you and forcibly chromed you, while your brother is about to suffer the same fate?”

“We didn’t have time to understand the dangers before we were captured. Please, you have to help me. I’m begging you!”

The situation was absurd. This man was like a capybara trying to make friends in a world where there were people who tore other people’s faces off.

“All right,” Allen said as he turned around.

[Mission Accepted: Sacrum Profanum]

Through his optics, Allen saw a golden point with an exclamation mark indicating the direction for a moment before disappearing.

“…” Allen did not comment. Lenalee seemed determined to add elements from Cyberpunk 2077 to this world.

“Thank you very much…” The monk paused and seemed uncomfortable. “If possible, I hope there won’t be any bloodshed.”

“You’re very demanding,” Allen mocked.

That request made no sense. Imagine if Allen wasn’t Allen, or V wasn’t V. They were talking about rescuing a person from a group of Maelstrom armed to the teeth. Not to mention that killing someone, even if they were armed and prepared, would carry the risk of dying miserably.

“That depends on them.”

Allen made no promises. Although he could do it without a problem, he wasn’t going to promise anything that would give the monk the illusion that they could deal with murderous gang members simply through love and peace.

….

At the end of the dock was a large pile of cargo containers stacked together like a hideout. There was a guard in front, with Maelstrom optics.

Rias – Isn’t this a problem? Weren’t you an ally of that man named Brick?

“Don’t worry. Every gang has factions, disagreements, and rivalries. Just like the general in 6th Street has people gunning for his head, Brick does too. Gang leaders can’t have thousands of people blindly loyal to them.”

Allen smiled slightly and walked toward the guard. When it seemed like a fight was about to break out, Allen simply walked past him without even appearing to notice him.

Upon entering through a container, Allen saw several plastic curtains along the way. There was a computer controlling the lighting and power systems.

Allen saw several implants stacked in a corner as if they were spare parts, as well as a refrigerator that probably contained human body parts.

The voice of a gang member could be heard farther ahead.

“What should we put on him?!”

“No, don’t do it!” a man cried desperately.

“We could replace his hand with a gun! Then when he goes to take a shit, he’ll blow his own balls off! Haha!”

Allen shook his head. This group of Maelstrom was the opposite of the Scavs. While the Scavs focused on taking implants, these people gave them to others. Of course, it wasn’t out of kindness. It was simply another way of expressing their twisted view of chrome.

Allen entered the room and saw two Maelstrom surrounding another monk. Unlike his brother, this one was still in one piece.

“That’s it. Let’s give him a jaw. A good, elegant one.”

Bzzzt

Both men seemed to short-circuit and fell to the ground.

“Do you want yours?!” the man shouted.

“Your brother sent me to save you,” Allen said. However, his attention was drawn to a table where there was an SMG with a black-and-red finish. When he picked it up, his eyes lit up.

– Fenrir (Power SMG – Saratoga)

Origin: Militech

Condition: Good

Rarity: Blue 4 (Iconic)

Note: Projectiles deal electrical damage with a small chance of disabling the enemy’s cyberware.

Price: 10,000 Eddies.

[The Maelstrom gang members are going to piss themselves when they see this weapon, hehe.]

Allen chuckled at Lenalee’s comment. However, he was interested to see that Fenrir, despite being an iconic weapon, wasn’t legendary quality.

“Wait… Lenalee, can you use the upgrade materials on Fenrir?”

[Of course!]

Allen watched as the number of components on his screen decreased. When it reached fifty, it stopped.

– Fenrir (Power SMG – Saratoga)

Origin: Militech.

Condition: New.

Rarity: Purple 4 (Iconic)

Note: Projectiles deal electrical damage with a small chance of disabling the enemy’s cyberware.

Price: 20,000 Eddies.

Allen smiled. Not only was it now what one would expect from an iconic weapon, but after being upgraded, it had become a new weapon again.

“Well, shall we go?”

Allen said it cheerfully. The monk watched him. In his eyes, Allen had picked up the SMG, and it seemed to become newer and shinier, something that left him perplexed, but he wasn’t going to say anything to the man who had saved him.

“Thank you. I was lucky these men hadn’t decided which implant would be the funniest.”

Despite nearly being mutilated by them, the man looked at the Maelstrom lying on the floor.

“Excuse me, are they…?”

“They’re only unconscious,” Allen said, shrugging. “Your brother asked me not to spill blood.”

The monk seemed relieved and smiled. “That’s good. It’s not worth blood being spilled for someone like me.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Allen nodded. “Let’s hope their next victims are lucky.”

“Huh?”

The monk froze.

“Well, they’re alive. The NCPD won’t risk arresting Maelstrom members, so they’ll keep kidnapping people to give them chrome. But it doesn’t really matter. It’s the same old story.”

Allen walked toward the exit, leaving the man pale.

Lucy – I feel bad for the poor monk. He was just trying to be good in a world full of lunatics.

Kimiko – Allen is right. He only told the truth…

Allen silently looked at the monk. “Hey, let’s move. There are hundreds, thousands of these guys around. You don’t want them to find you here, do you?”

The monk trembled and followed Allen, though he didn’t say a word along the way. When they arrived, the monk saw his brother, and the two embraced.

Harley – I’ll say it. Those two are fucking.

“You…” Allen shook his head, climbed into the pickup, and drove away. He had already obtained his first iconic weapon. That was enough for today. Tomorrow, he had to be prepared for the hit on Biotechnica.

That’s right. Allen decided that, despite everything, they would still screw over Biotechnica as they did in canon. Only this time, Allen wouldn’t let Sasha die.