By the time classes ended, the sky was already painted with dusk.
The evening sun seemed to be making its final effort, desperately casting its last rays across the city, but nothing could stop the city of night from once again sinking into its own darkness.
Students in Arasaka Academy uniforms left one after another, exiting the classrooms and entering the inner section of Corpo Plaza.
There was a small park with several trees there.
The glass facades of the surrounding buildings reflected the light, roads crossing in every direction stretched above them, and even higher up there was a circular pedestrian zone.
Leon could not help admiring architecture like this, which made maximum use of every piece of available space.
This section of Corpo Plaza alone contained a small park, bars, an academy, public transportation stations, and other functional spaces, along with roads and pedestrian walkways.
Only a few people remained in the classrooms; most of the students had already left.
In this era, students had long since stopped carrying heavy backpacks and textbooks.
All they needed for class was a braindance device.
So after classes ended, they did not need to pack anything; they could simply get up and leave.
“See you tomorrow, David.”
Leon was still lying back in his chair and casually waved at David, who was just getting ready to leave.
“Are you crazy? Tomorrow is Sunday. We don’t have school,” David said, with his hands in his pockets and an expression of complete disbelief.
“Haha, we can still see each other even when there’s no school. Come over to my place. I gave you the address last time, didn’t I?” Leon invited him.
David lowered his head and thought for a few moments, but in the end he shook his head.
“Nah, forget it. I’ve got my own stuff to do.”
Although he and Leon were fairly close, David felt that their friendship still belonged to Arasaka Academy.
The difference between their social positions was too great for this little bit of friendship to simply erase.
Maybe Leon did not look down on his family like the other students did, but David could not be sure that Leon’s family would think the same way.
Better not cause trouble for them…
“What a shame. If you change your mind, just let me know. You’re always welcome at my place!”
Leon waved in disappointment, then got up from the chair with one nimble movement and followed David out of the classroom.
“Don’t you have classes tonight?” David looked at Leon in confusion as he casually walked out of the classroom.
“Come on. Tomorrow is a day off. Who wants extra classes tonight? Better if I go home early.”
Leon waved his hand.
Without the slightest sense of guilt, he decided to skip the extra classes tonight.
After all, education had long since become just another business nowadays.
Even the teachers at the front of the classroom had been replaced by AI systems, so the old concept of unconditional respect for teachers had long since lost its meaning.
Skipping class was just another trivial matter.
And when something is a business, naturally there are multiple pricing packages.
Arasaka Academy offered two educational programs.
The first was the standard package, like the one David had, where students could go home after regular classes.
The second was the VIP package, which allowed students to experience in advance the hard life of future corpo employees, a schedule running from morning until late at night, six days a week, with additional evening classes.
They advertised it as a safe investment that would allow children to gain more knowledge than their peers and carve a path toward a brilliant future for themselves, blah, blah, blah…
“Is your mother picking you up tonight? Come to think of it, we’ve known each other for a long time, but I’ve never met your mother,” Leon asked casually while walking beside David.
“Yeah. She said she has time to come pick me up tonight.”
David clearly did not want to drag the topic out any further.
Leon nodded thoughtfully, and a difficult-to-read expression appeared in his eyes.
According to the information the simulator had shown him earlier, the turning point in David’s life was supposed to be his mother’s death in a traffic accident.
It was precisely because of that that David had to leave school too early, and only afterward did he set out on the path that would turn him into an Afterlife legend.
Such a tragedy made Leon feel that he should still do something.
If nothing else, at least prevent his friend from becoming an orphan like him.
Outside the park was a road that circled Corpo Plaza.
Along the edge of the road were parked cars belonging to parents waiting for their children to come out of school.
A woman was waiting beside one of the cars.
She had tied her long red hair behind her head with a band, and she was wearing the distinctive yellow jacket used by EMTs in Night City.
She had a mature, feminine figure, and near the outer corner of her right eye were two red cyberware details resembling beauty marks.
Time had not taken away her beauty.
On the contrary, it had made her even more attractive, like fine wine that only gets better with age.
“David, over here!”
The woman waved her hand and immediately noticed her son the moment he came out.
Leon was walking right behind David and approached the woman together with him.
“David, who is this?” she asked, somewhat confused.
“Leon Mercer. My schoolmate.”
David clearly had no intention of explaining further.
“Schoolmate? Don’t be so cold! We’re obviously friends!”
Leon lightly slapped David on the back, causing him to immediately turn around and glare at him angrily like a bristling hedgehog.
“Oh, so you’re David’s friend? I’m Gloria. Nice to meet you.”
Gloria Martinez looked at Leon with genuine delight, obviously very happy that her son had made a friend.
“I’m Leon Mercer. It’s a pleasure to meet you, beautiful lady.”
Leon elegantly held out his hand and shook hers in a friendly manner.
“Alright, alright, let’s go home, Mom. Don’t you have to work again tonight? We’d better leave early.”
David hurried them from the side, clearly not wanting the two of them to talk too much.
“Then that’s all for today, David. Don’t forget to come by my place sometime!” Leon said with a smile, deliberately loud enough for Gloria to hear.
Gloria blinked several times but said nothing.
She got into the car and drove David home.
“Thorton Galena G240… one of the cheapest and worst cars I remembered from the game. Looks like their financial situation really isn’t good… Then where did they get enough money for David to attend Arasaka Academy?”
Watching the car drive away, Leon fell into deep thought.
In Night City, it was not easy for good people to survive, especially if they belonged to the very bottom of society.
If someone from such a position had access to a larger amount of extra money, very often there was some kind of work they did not talk about openly.
That was not Leon making a malicious assumption.
That was simply how this fucked-up world worked.
Even his seemingly harmless and well-off big sister Vanessa Hale was nowhere near as innocent and harmless as she appeared.
For now, viewed from every angle, David seemed like nothing more than an ordinary Arasaka Academy student.
The only thing that truly made him stand out was his excellent grades.
“But fate has already decided that you’ll become a legend in the end, David… whether you like it or not,” Leon quietly muttered.
At present, they were the same age, both born in 2059.
David would become a legend as early as next year.
In other words, a seventeen-year-old would accomplish something countless mercs had failed to achieve in their entire lives.
Although Leon did not know exactly how it would happen, there was one thing he knew for certain.
The road would definitely not be peaceful.
It would be covered in thorns soaked in blood.
Leon sighed.
His eyes lit up orange, and his lips moved slightly as though he were quietly saying something.
Not long afterward, a car stopped in front of him, and the doors opened automatically.
Leon sat down in the back seat.
“Welcome aboard the Delamain service. With Delamain, you leave your problems at the door.”
On the backs of the two front seats were two screens displaying a bald AI in a suit, with distinctive blue lips.
“Take me home, Delamain. North Oak, villa number 7.”
Leon leaned back against the soft seat, closed his eyes, and decided to get some sleep.
“I do not understand. According to your schedule, at this time you should be continuing your evening classes at Arasaka Academy,” the bald AI said calmly, in a completely flat tone.
“Classes ended early today. Don’t ask any more questions. Just take me home,” Leon said.
“According to Ms. Vanessa Hale’s contract, I am required to inform her of your movements,” the AI replied.
“Fine. Tell her. Just take me home first.”
Leon irritably rubbed his temples.
“Understood.”
Delamain was a taxi service operated by an advanced artificial intelligence, capable of almost always finding a route for its clients no matter how congested the roads were.
Leon, who knew the events of the game in advance, knew very well just how capable Delamain and its vehicles actually were.
The main character of the game…
During one operation, they had managed, with the help of a Delamain vehicle, to escape almost effortlessly from the encirclement of elite Arasaka forces.
Even the game’s final opponent, Adam Smasher, had not been able to simply destroy the car.
Delamain’s premium Excelsior package even offered a carefully designed service for transporting the client’s entire body in the event of death.
Aside from the price, the service was practically perfect.
Unfortunately, Leon had no desire whatsoever to ever use that particular part of the service.
It was already the year 2075.
He had to speed up the pace at which he increased his own strength.