Chapter 90 -90-The Night City Redemption

Chapter 90: Chapter90-The Night City Redemption

John glanced at the city gate once more.

Even officers couldn’t escape the inspection.

It looked like there was basically no chance of sneaking in through normal means.

He would have to find another way.

Just as he was about to leave.

A hoarse voice suddenly came from behind the two of them.

"You two."

"Trying to figure out how to get into the city?"

John’s expression changed instantly.

Aya reacted even faster.

Almost the instant the voice appeared, she sprang up from the ground!

Shing!

Her thin sword left its sheath.

John gripped the Void Staff as well.

The two simultaneously retreated several meters.

Their gazes locked firmly onto the garbage heap.

"Who’s there?!"

Rustle—

A pile of rotting animal bones and torn cloth was pushed aside.

Then.

A Dark Realm man so emaciated he was practically skin and bones slowly crawled out of the garbage.

He wore a set of tattered prison clothes that looked like they hadn’t been washed in who knew how long.

His hair was tangled into a mess.

His face was covered in grime.

A stench even more horrific than the garbage heap itself assaulted them.

Aya covered her nose.

But she didn’t lower the sword in her hand.

Seeing their stance, the man hurriedly raised both hands.

"Don’t attack!"

"Whatever you do, don’t attack!"

"There are guards everywhere outside the city right now. If we make a scene, none of the three of us will get away."

John frowned.

"Who are you?"

The man grinned.

Revealing a mouthful of yellow-and-black teeth.

"Andy."

"I just escaped from Night City Prison."

Aya looked down at him.

Then at the garbage heap.

"You escaped from prison, so why are you hiding in garbage?"

"Because it’s safe here."

Andy answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"No one comes digging through this place."

"..."

Fair enough.

John had been crouching here for ages.

And he hadn’t even noticed there was a person hiding underneath them.

Andy continued.

"Relax. I don’t mean you any harm. I just heard you talking about wanting to enter Night City, so I thought we could make a deal."

John didn’t lower his staff.

"What kind of deal?"

Andy rummaged around inside his ragged prison uniform for a while.

Eventually, he pulled out a tiny pickaxe no bigger than his palm.

The pickaxe head had nearly been worn flat.

"I spent fifty years digging underneath the prison."

"I finally broke through today."

"That tunnel bypasses the city wall and leads directly into Night City."

"Give me a set of clean clothes and one hundred gold coins, and I’ll tell you where the entrance is."

John: "..."

Fifty years.

One tiny pickaxe.

Digging all the way from the prison to outside the city.

He stared at the man before him, who was so thin he barely looked human anymore.

After holding it in for a long moment.

He finally said.

"What is this, The Night City Redemption?"

Andy: "?"

He clearly didn’t understand the reference.

Still.

John looked at the pickaxe in his hand.

Then at the tattered clothes that obviously belonged to a prisoner.

He didn’t look like he was lying.

More importantly.

They genuinely needed a route into the city right now.

John casually opened the Void Arsenal.

He found a set of ordinary clothes left behind by a Dark Realm soldier and tossed them over.

Then.

He took out a bag of gold coins.

Clink.

Andy’s eyes instantly lit up.

He was just about to reach for it.

But John didn’t let go.

"Let’s make this clear first."

"The tunnel definitely leads into the city?"

"Of course!"

Andy slapped his chest.

"The exit is in Night City’s western district. I only crawled out of it this morning. Why else do you think I’d be hiding here?"

Only then did John release the bag.

Andy hurriedly hugged the bag of gold coins to his chest.

He opened it and took a look.

The smile on his face immediately grew even brighter.

"Oh, right."

"When I said one hundred gold coins, I meant per person."

John nodded.

"I know."

Aya froze for a moment.

Then looked at John.

"Boss, are you planning to go in by yourself?"

John shook his head.

"No."

He pointed at Aya.

"She goes in."

Aya: "?"

"Me?"

She pointed at her own nose.

Completely dumbfounded.

"What about you?"

"I have my own way in."

John answered calmly.

In truth.

If it were only him.

Getting into Night City wasn’t difficult at all.

[Void Shift] allowed him to slip directly into the void.

Its teleportation distance was only twenty meters.

But he didn’t need to climb over the city wall in the first place.

All he had to do was get close to it.

Then pass straight through the wall.

The real problem was Aya.

He could pass through it.

Aya couldn’t.

So this tunnel had appeared at exactly the right time.

But Aya clearly didn’t know any of that.

She looked at Andy.

Then at John.

Her face nearly fell apart.

Wait.

They were seriously splitting up?

This was the Dark Realm!

Back at the military camp, her boss had forgotten about her for just a moment, and she’d nearly been ground to death by several thousand soldiers.

And now they were going to split up completely.

No matter how she thought about it, this felt dangerous.

"Boss."

Aya tried to protest.

"Why don’t I just stay with you—"

"Relax."

John cut her off.

"Once you’re inside, don’t wander around. Find somewhere safe and wait for me. Once I locate you, I’ll be there soon."

Aya still looked worried.

"What if you can’t find me?"

John glanced at her.

"Then wait until I do."

"..."

That made so much sense.

Aya somehow had no idea how to argue with it.

Andy had already changed clothes at remarkable speed.

Although he still smelled absolutely horrific.

At least he no longer looked like someone who had just crawled out of prison.

"Okay."

"We should get moving."

"The guards probably haven’t noticed I’m gone yet. If we wait much longer, they’ll definitely seal off the area around the tunnel entrance."

John nodded.

"Take her."

Andy waved to Aya.

"Stay close."

The two crawled out from behind the garbage heap.

Then circled toward the other side of the city wall.

Aya walked a dozen or so meters.

Then turned back to look at John.

She walked another dozen meters.

Then looked back again.

No matter how he looked at it, her expression resembled a small animal whose owner had suddenly sent it away to be fostered somewhere else.

John helplessly waved a hand.

"Go already."

Only then did Aya follow Andy and disappear from sight.

...

After confirming the two had left.

John began moving as well.

He quickly traveled along Night City’s outer perimeter.

Instead of approaching the main gate.

He circled around to the side of the city wall.

There were still soldiers patrolling here.

But the patrol density was obviously much lower than at the gate.

John advanced through the shadows of a patch of scattered rocks.

Using the [Faceless Hunter Set] to reduce the sound he made.

He soon reached the foot of the city wall.

Above him.

A squad of Dark Realm soldiers had just passed by.

John waited a few seconds.

Until the sound of their footsteps gradually faded away.

Then raised his head.

And looked at the thick black wall in front of him.

The wall was tall.

At least several dozen meters.

But he had never planned on going over it.

"Void Shift."

Buzz—

A silver-gray rift opened before him.

John stepped inside.

His body vanished instantly.

The massive city wall offered no resistance whatsoever.

The next second.

He stepped out of the void on the other side.

The scene before him changed abruptly.

A narrow alley.

Black-and-red stone walls.

Several ropes hung overhead, draped with the hides of unknown beasts left out to dry.

There was no one around.