Night City, Westbrook district, Jig-Jig Street.
This is a small street located in Japantown, with its exit situated right next to the famous Cherry Blossom Market.
As the most famous entertainment center in Night City, Japantown in Westbrook will never disappoint anyone who visits it.
Love hotels, braindance centers, bars, Japanese pubs, arcades…
everything an entertainment center should have can be found here, and it is separated from Corpo Plaza by only a single bridge.
In addition, members of the Tyger Claws who patrol this area maintain order and stability on the streets.
If Japantown is the brightest and most luxurious playground in Night City, then Jig-Jig Street, located right in its heart, is without a doubt a place that must be visited.
People often say: if you have money, go to Clouds.
There you will find the best braindances and the best girls; if you are broke, head straight to Jig-Jig Street, where you can find cheap but perfectly functional services.
Jig-Jig Street was exactly that kind of street, it had everything needed for entertainment, and for customers who needed it, it also offered cheap “street services.”
It was nighttime, the hour when Jig-Jig Street was busiest.
Leon walked down the street with his head lowered, trying to hide his face behind a mask.
His small body slipped through the crowd until he arrived in front of an adult store.
Several conspicuously dressed joytoys stood in front of the store, smoking and chatting, while their laughter occasionally carried down the street.
It was an unspoken arrangement between the store and those joytoys; their work inevitably required certain “equipment,” and the source of that equipment was right inside, a complete one-stop service.
Leon’s arrival also caught their attention.
They stopped talking and looked at the unexpected little visitor.
Several joytoys obviously recognized Leon.
A young woman with blue-dyed hair smiled and said:
“What’s up, little courier? Carrying another message?”
“One of the Tyger Claws bosses wants this lady to go to him in an hour. Here’s the address.”
Leon removed his mask, revealing a fair and cute face, then pointed toward the woman with long red hair.
His black eyes suddenly lit up with blue light, and his Neuralware Processor sent the address data directly to the joytoy’s chipware.
The young woman smiled gently, reached out, and patted Leon on the head.
“Thanks a lot, little courier.”
Leon nodded expressionlessly, did not waste any time, and immediately turned around to leave.
“Eh, what a pity… Such a cute and sensible boy. If I had enough money, I really would take him home and adopt him,” the young woman said while watching Leon’s retreating silhouette.
“Yeah, yeah. Just look at that face. When he grows up, he’ll definitely be a real handsome guy. A natural seducer, he’ll never be short on work!” one of her coworkers added with a mischievous smile, causing the others to join in the teasing.
As people from almost the very bottom of Jig-Jig Street, without customers they could barely feed themselves.
Such words were only empty fantasies.
Besides, even that old woman who ran the pachinko parlor had wanted to take that boy under her wing and failed.
How could they possibly afford to support an orphan?
After crossing several dozen meters…
Leon soon arrived at a food vending machine, pressed a button, and a few moments later a blue package dropped out of the opening.
[XXL Burrito — Sky Blue]
At the same time, an account information window appeared on Leon’s HUD, showing that he had just spent 3 eddies.
In an era where cyberware had become part of everyday life, basic implants were almost indispensable and had practically completely replaced things like mobile phones.
The basic Neuralware Processor, with its built-in microcomputer, gave the human brain a range of smart functions similar to a computer; the visual interface, on the other hand, could display a data panel resembling an LCD screen directly in front of the user’s eyes.
In addition, a small payment chip was located in the thumb, allowing payment similar to the old fingerprint method; it was enough to press it against the vending machine terminal to establish a data connection and complete the purchase.
Leon tore open the large burrito package in his hands and swallowed it in only a few bites, quickly finishing his midnight snack.
The burrito was not particularly tasty; its texture reminded him of paste, while the neon-blue blueberry sauce smeared around his mouth like cream, leaving behind a disgustingly sweet taste.
“Fuck, this is disgusting,” Leon complained.
If he had tried it for the first time, maybe he still could have said it had some unusual flavor, but after eating it who knew how many times, every new bite felt like a war against his own taste buds.
Such was the life of the lower class in the cyberpunk world.
Their daily diet mostly consisted of factory-packaged food.
While technology advanced at an incredible pace, the environment deteriorated almost just as quickly, making fresh food practically unattainable for them.
If you manage to climb the social ladder and reach a level where you have some money left after basic expenses, then congratulations, you can afford fresh synthetic food.
Synthetic beef, pork, and chicken; vegetables grown in laboratories…
such ingredients, produced in industrial food facilities, accompanied the residents of Night City throughout their entire lives.
As for crops that had actually grown from the ground and meat that had actually come from living animals…
Such organic foods were generally luxuries reserved only for the true elite.
Leon raised his hand, adjusted his mask, shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat, and silently walked down this bustling street flooded with neon, smoke, and people.
It has been eight years since I came to this world…
He was like a stray dog constantly struggling through the mud, with only one goal: to survive.
If the Life Simulator had not shown him that at the age of eight he would meet someone who would change his life, this life truly would have had no hope at all.
In fact, at the age of six he had even mercilessly rejected Wakako Okada’s offer to take him under her wing, only because he wanted to wait for his meeting with the Kang Tao employee.
Although so many years had passed, many details of the game’s plot were still clearly engraved in Leon’s memory, so naturally he knew very well who the owner of that pachinko parlor was.
Wakako Okada, the future fixer in Westbrook, was also one of the main sources of various jobs for the famous V.
Fixers were almost always extremely well informed and possessed enormous networks of connections, acting as intermediaries between people on the margins of society and their clients.
Without exception, anyone who wanted to survive in that line of work had to possess connections, capital, and a very sharp mind.
Wakako Okada, who at first glance appeared to be a kind old woman, obviously possessed all of the above.
Because surviving long enough to grow old in a place like Night City was itself a kind of legend!
As for why he had not accepted becoming her adopted son, the reason was simple: Leon did not want to become involved in the world of fixers so early in life.
Fixers could be good or bad.
Judging by what he knew from the game’s story, Wakako Okada was certainly not a particularly good person, and becoming her adopted son would inevitably carry serious risks.
He was still a child, young and without powerful cyberware.
Any street gonk could easily take him out.
The ending from the previous simulation was still crystal clear in his memory; he did not want to end up dismembered by Scavs, so he lived extremely cautiously.
Eh, I wonder who will love me like her own child…
When will my future adoptive mother finally arrive, the one who will be completely obsessed with her son, and save me?
With his heart full of anticipation for what awaited him in the future, Leon turned into a dead-end alley.
Such passages, formed between various tall buildings crammed together, were very common in Night City.
Occasionally, even a body could be seen lying on the ground in them, already in the process of decomposing and obviously dead for who knew how many days.
Having wandered the streets and alleys for years, Leon had long since grown numb to such sights.
Sometimes he even had to take care of such bodies of unknown origin.
The Tyger Claws would call him to help drag them somewhere else so they would not rot around Jig-Jig Street and bother the customers.
Leon gladly accepted such jobs, not only because they paid well but also because he could sometimes find something valuable on the corpses.
He skillfully pulled a soft pillow out of a nearby dumpster, shook the dust off it, placed it in a corner, and sat down.
The dumpster was empty.
The people here were simple and free-spirited; they simply threw trash wherever it suited them.
Practically no one bothered to actually put a bag of garbage into the dumpster.
Fortunately, it had not rained in recent days.
Otherwise, the whole place would have smelled like a sewer that had been fermenting for months.
The colorful neon lights from the main street created a hazy, almost dreamlike scene of luxury.
The alley, by contrast, was dark and gloomy.
Leon hid deep inside the dead-end passage and took a braindance device out of his bag.
“I didn’t expect this thing to come with me too.”
Holding the dark metal braindance device, Leon could not help but sigh.
After putting the Braindance Life Simulator on his head in the real world and starting the Fully Immersive Simulation, Leon had never in his wildest dreams expected that he would actually be transferred into the world of Cyberpunk 2077.
And the braindance simulator had come with him.
However, that only convinced him even more that he had truly ended up in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, because even this cheat-like ability had crossed over with him.
Leon placed the braindance wreath on his head, pressed the switch, and activated the Life Simulator.
[Greetings, esteemed user of the Fully Immersive Simulation.]
[Would you like to continue simulating the events of the next day?]
After arriving in the cyberpunk world, the simulator’s functions remained intact, but now he could only use it once per day.
Leon chose confirm.
[Simulation activated.]
[The next day, a store owner will ask you to deliver food to a customer. For completing the job, you will receive 2 eddies.]
[There is not much work in the morning. You buy a serving of noodles from a nearby street stall for breakfast, hoping that today will get off to a good start.]
[At noon, you once again carry a message for that shy, small-time member of the Tyger Claws.]
[This time, the target is a young and inexperienced joytoy.]
[One joytoy is feeling unwell, so you bring her painkillers for free from the clinic of a nearby ripperdoc.]
[On the street, you see a joytoy whose cyberware has deteriorated after years without proper maintenance, while an additional physical illness has led to severe mental instability. She sits in an alley and talks incoherently to herself. When you see this, you call the Tyger Claws to handle the situation so that she does not disturb the customers who come to this area.]
[Such trivial matters happen almost every day on Jig-Jig Street, and you have long since grown used to them. In this world, joytoys from the bottom of society are merely another type of disposable commodity.]
[At night, you continue wandering the busy streets, following the crowd in search of work. Perhaps some newly arrived tourist will ask you to be his guide; such a job usually pays quite well.]
[As midnight approaches, you accidentally bump into a woman hurrying past you; she is wearing a Kang Tao uniform, while several members of the Tyger Claws follow closely behind her.]
[Without much hesitation, you approach her…]
[Simulation Rating: Turning Point of Fate.]
[Simulation Reward: One day’s wages — 40 eddies; retention of memories from special events.]