“These Scavengers have absolutely zero situational awareness.” Relying on the passive recovery of his totem, Ruan Xian had taken less than ten minutes to reach 221A Baker Road.
Having hijacked all the security cameras at the intersection and inside the house, he discovered that the guy playing with the girl upstairs had already swapped out.
The one who had just finished and entered post-nut clarity was cooking on the first floor.
The one who had originally been cooking was now in the basement cleaning the surgical chair to prepare for operations.
The third, who was supposed to be preparing for surgery, was currently upstairs licking the girl’s feet.
To make matters worse, none of the three had their weapons on them.
Their guns were left sitting right on the low table in front of the sofa.
They were all Unities—cheap, common trash in Night City.
“Jesus, this freak has some heavy tastes.
Did he crawl out of some foot-fetish forum?” Ruan Xian felt like his elaborate preparations had been a waste of time.
He could probably just walk in and beat these three trash heaps to death with his bare hands.
Fortunately, his love for Assassin’s Creed kept him sharp.
He slipped around to the back door and gave it an experimental tug.
“No fucking way.
They didn’t even lock the door?” Ruan Xian was stunned as the door swung open.
What kind of useless trash pulled this kind of shit without even locking the back door?
Sure, it was unlocked in the game, but doing it in real life was just begging for death.
“Good opportunity to test how Breath Concealment works.” Ruan Xian softened his footsteps and crept forward.
His spiritual energy began to drain slowly, but the passive recovery of his totem immediately topped it back up.
The effect was incredibly cool.
When he looked at himself through the security cameras, he looked like a blur of shimmering water, similar to activating active optical camo in the game.
“Let’s try Data Concealment.” Ruan Xian triggered the concealment effect directly from the digital world.
Whew, he completely vanished from the camera feed, and this time it didn’t consume any spiritual energy at all.
“Interesting.
It seems the digital world is much more tightly bound to the physical world.” Ruan Xian estimated the cost of Breath Concealment and realized the barrier thickness between the three worlds was completely different.
Using spells from the spirit realm was highly taxing, though he recovered rapidly within his territory.
Using abilities from the cyber-network’s digital world, however, cost nothing at all.
“Looks like there’s still a lot to research.
But no rush, let’s play with these three idiots first.” Ruan Xian had only been in Night City for a day, but he was already fluent in local slang.
His learning speed was unmatched, just like the High-Dimensional Observers watching from behind the screen.
Quietly approaching the idiot on the first floor, the Scavenger currently basked in post-nut clarity had absolutely no idea someone was standing behind him.
Not wanting to make too much noise, Ruan Xian drew his Tamayura.
If he were V, he’d probably just choke the guy out.
But Ruan Xian had never been in a real fight.
Expecting him to pull off a flawless stealth takedown like V?
Give me a break.
Using fists instead of a gun would probably make even more noise.
He pressed the barrel directly against the Scavenger’s head and pulled the trigger.
Real marksmanship was point-blank shooting.
Beyond seven paces, a gun was fast.
Within seven paces, a gun was both fast and deadly accurate.
If you couldn’t hit your target, it just meant you weren’t close enough.
At this range, even Ruan Xian, with his 2 Reflexes and 3 Cool, could blow a man’s brains out in one shot.
“Two left.
Let’s take care of the basement first.” The top-tier Tamayura fired with an incredibly muffled pop.
The two idiots in the basement and upstairs didn’t react at all.
Confirming their locations by controlling the security cameras through the digital world, Ruan Xian walked calmly toward the basement.
Though he had just taken a life with his own hands, the power of the Shaman sequence kept him from feeling any discomfort.
“One left.” Taking out the basement Scavenger with a single shot, Ruan Xian felt that the Shaman pathway was simply overpowered.
It was like playing with cheats turned on, and he had no intention of turning them off.
Looking at the camera feed of the last Scavenger still licking the girl’s feet, Ruan Xian felt his horizons broaden.
He really couldn’t comprehend it.
While everyone was free to have their own kinks, this was a bit too free.
“Whatever, let’s try hitting him a couple of times.
An idiot like this won’t know anything useful anyway, and it’s not like I know how to interrogate people.” Staring at the back of the last idiot’s head, Ruan Xian decided to test what his 15 Body attribute felt like, and maybe squeeze out some information while he was at it.
In any case, he had completely locked down the house’s data traffic using his Lotus Leaf Totem’s data fortress.
Every outgoing message would be intercepted and read by Ruan Xian.
Not a single byte would escape.
“Angry Crow Takes Flight!” Ruan Xian dropped his Breath Concealment and kicked the man, sending him flying from the foot of the bed straight into the opposite wall.
“Motherfucker!
Who the hell are you?!” Having taken the kick, the thoroughly dazed Scavenger wasn’t actually too badly hurt.
After all, Ruan Xian had been holding back, afraid he might accidentally kick the guy to death.
“I’ll give you one chance to rephrase that.” Ruan Xian drew his Tamayura and pointed it at the Scavenger.
“Boss, my bad!
Just tell me what you want!” The Scavenger fell to his knees on the spot.
To survive in Night City, you didn’t need much, but you absolutely needed to know how to read the room.
“You little piece of shit.
You kidnapped my brother and brought him here.
What were you planning?
If you don’t make it clear, I’ll blow your brains out.” While Ruan Xian threatened the Scavenger, he watched him in the digital world, where the idiot was frantically sending messages to two people named Kiyoshi Ito and Tohori Watanabe.
[Makoto Ito: Help help help!
Someone got upstairs somehow, and he has a gun!
Come save me, save me, save me!]
“So those two downstairs are these guys.
Let’s spoof a reply and see.” Ruan Xian was highly amused, but to extract more information, he decided to play along.
“Why the fuck aren’t you answering me?
Are you calling the cops?
You little shit, you kidnap my brother and dare to call the cops?
You think I’m a joke?” Ruan Xian delivered another kick, putting a bit more force into it this time.
It broke at least two of Makoto Ito’s ribs.
“Boss, boss, don’t hit me!
I’m no saint, how would I dare call the cops?
It’s just…
you’re so handsome and imposing, boss.
I was completely paralyzed by your aura.
That’s why I couldn’t speak!” Getting kicked again brought tears of pain to Makoto Ito’s eyes as he quickly rambled.
[Makoto Ito: Bro, this guy is insanely strong, he probably has military-grade combat cyberware.
Come save me!
He’s got a gun too, don’t worry about the noise, go to the armory and grab the long guns, handguns won’t cut it.]
[Kiyoshi Ito: Don’t panic, I just saw this.
Keep him talking, I’m going to get Watanabe.
Don’t worry, tell him whatever he wants to hear.
He’s not walking out of here alive today anyway.
Stop messaging now before he notices.
Wait for us to bail you out.]
[Makoto Ito: Got it, bro.
I’ll do my best.]
“Boss, I didn’t know she was your brother!
Uh, brother?” The hope that had just risen in Makoto Ito’s heart plummeted again.
He looked at the girl on the bed, who had at least an F-cup chest, and said, “Boss, isn’t that a girl?
How is she your brother?”
“He was born a brother, but later he decided he wanted to be a girl and got surgery.
The leftover bits are still sitting in a jar in my basement at home.” Ruan Xian barely held back his laughter.
“Cut the crap.
You touched my brother just now, didn’t you?
Pay up.
Your house looks decently decorated, so I won’t ask for much.
Eighty thousand eddies, and we’ll call it even.”
Makoto Ito’s hopeful heart completely died.
A bitter taste filled his mouth.
“Boss, I’ll pay, I’ll pay!
But I really don’t have that much liquid cash on me.”
“Are you fucking playing with me?
No money?
I’ll blow your dick off right now.” Ruan Xian snarled, deliberately putting on a thuggish act.
With his professional gear, muscular build, and the gun in his hand, he looked more and more convincing.
He looked like the literal embodiment of absolute authority.
“Boss, don’t shoot!
I don’t have cash, but I have goods!
I have inventory!” Makoto Ito stammered, shaking in terror.
“Huh?
What line of work are you in, and what kind of inventory do you have?
Let’s hear it.” Ruan Xian felt the time was ripe.
It was time to squeeze some real substance out of this idiot.
He demanded answers.