“6th Street ran into serious trouble.” El Capitan shifted his cigarette from the left corner of his mouth to the right.
“Their outposts near Megabuilding H4 completely emptied out over the last couple of days.
The whole area is crawling with NCPD now.” “Even though the cops don’t usually care to bother, you’d better keep your head down.” So that was it.
Hearing this, Jake paused for a second before replying, “Got it.” David hadn’t expected El Capitan to bring up that specific incident either.
His emotions grew tangled and complex.
*Is plunging Night City into chaos this demon’s true goal?* *To think the root of all this social chaos was actually me…* Right at that moment, a static screech suddenly burst from the Rattler’s car radio on the viewpoint.
A professional female news anchor’s voice echoed through the speaker: “We interrupt with a local news bulletin.” “Earlier this evening, a severe gang shootout occurred near an abandoned warehouse in North Watson.
Twenty-six bodies were recovered at the scene, all identified as members of 6th Street.” “Based on preliminary site analysis, authorities suspect a violent inter-gang conflict.
Maelstrom is currently considered the prime suspect.” “Twenty-six?” El Capitan’s brow furrowed tightly.
“Taking out nearly thirty 6th Street guys in one go…” He turned his head to look at David.
For the sake of their shared Santo Domingo roots, he warned him once more, “Things aren’t peaceful in North Watson or Santo Domingo right now.
Keep your nose clean, kid.
Don’t get dragged in.” “I won’t.” Jake was just about to leave when the radio broadcast continued: “According to ballistics reports from the scene, the vast majority of the deceased were killed by vehicle-mounted military machine guns…” *Vehicle-mounted military machine guns?* At those words, El Capitan’s gaze slowly drifted upward to the roof of the Hazardous Driver, where two MK.31 heavy machine guns glinted cold in the twilight.
He looked back at the expressionless David.
“…Coincidence,” Jake quickly explained.
“Plenty of cars in Night City run a setup like this.” El Capitan didn’t reply right away.
He simply stared at the two machine guns for a few suspicious seconds, then popped his cigarette back into his mouth and took a slow drag.
The kid had a point.
In Night City, armed vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns weren’t exactly rare…
Jake thought he had successfully brushed it off and was ready to head out, but the radio report wasn’t finished.
“Additionally, clues provided by nearby residents indicate that a vehicle with the letters ‘K.B’ painted on its side was seen leaving the scene shortly after the incident…” El Capitan turned his head and looked directly at the side door of the Hazardous Driver.
The custom paint job on the side showed up clearly under the setting sun.
*K.B.* David: “…” He felt that if his body were capable of sweating right now, his back would be drenched.
“Don’t tell me your nickname happens to be K.B?” El Capitan blew out a plume of smoke, staring dead at David.
*Killed nearly thirty 6th Street gangers…* *And this kid actually had the guts to stroll back into Santo Domingo to sell the ride to him?* *Talk about nerve…* “You’re not backing out on the deal, are you?” Seeing that the cat was out of the bag, Jake didn’t bother pretending anymore.
El Capitan scoffed with a laugh.
“In all my years doing business, I’ve never turned my back on a buyer just because they pulled a little heat.
Other people might shit their pants over 6th Street, but not me.” Jake nodded.
That was true enough.
El Capitan had been around Night City for over twenty years.
He’d worked as a corp drone in his youth before turning fixer, and down to his bones, he despised street gang posturing.
To him, 6th Street was just a bunch of street thugs wearing star-spangled vests.
“Even if you used this car to pull off that massacre…” El Capitan leaned back against his ride, “I gotta admit, you’ve got real talent.” A nobody wouldn’t be able to draw out that many 6th Street goons in the first place, let alone lure them into one place and wipe them out completely with a single armed vehicle…
“Here, take this.” El Capitan reached into his jacket and pulled out a black business card with faintly glowing edges.
He handed the card toward David, introducing himself once more.
“Muamar Reyes.
Besides buying and selling rides, I occasionally toss out private gigs.
Pay depends on difficulty, but it beats running around blind on the street.” Seeing how capable the kid was—and a Santo Domingo local to boot—El Capitan immediately felt inclined to work with him.
David reached out and took the card.
The moment it touched his hand, a new entry was automatically added to his vision’s contact list.
[New Contact Added: Muamar Reyes (El Capitan)] “If something suitable comes up, I’ll ping you,” El Capitan said, straightening up and brushing the dust off his shorts.
“Keep your comm line open.” “Step one complete!” Jake looked at the notification popping up on the right side of his screen, feeling great.
Counting the drops from 6th Street, he had made a total of one hundred and ten thousand eddies this run—nearly nine hundred thousand in real-world cash!
A massive payday!
Now that he had secured the cash in-game, it was time to test the rules and methods behind the real-world manifestation…
Jake pressed Esc, clicked to save and exit, and exited the game.
He watched his computer return to the desktop, sinking into his chair and taking a long breath out.
After resting briefly, Jake stood up and walked to the doorway.
He pulled his phone from his pocket, opened video recording mode, and set it up at a specific angle on the abandoned shoe rack across the hallway, pointing the camera right at his front door.
That way, the phone would record the exact moment any item manifested out of thin air.
With everything set, Jake retreated into his apartment and closed the door.
He sat on the sofa, waiting for the doorbell to ring again.
Last time, the item manifested within roughly five minutes after exiting the game.
One minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
Five minutes passed.
The hallway remained dead quiet, save for the distant rumble of a neighbor’s kitchen exhaust fan.
Nothing happened.
Frowning, Jake retrieved the phone from the shoe rack and replayed the recording.
On the screen, the door remained motionless.
Not even a fly had passed through the hallway.
“Did the phone’s presence interfere with the manifestation?” He recalled the earlier gameplay recording that had only captured his desktop.
Jake slid the phone back into his pocket, shut the door again, and continued to wait.
Another five minutes passed.
Still nothing.
“…” Jake went back inside and sat in his chair.
Where had things gone wrong?
It had already manifested once today; the first attempt succeeded, but subsequent ones failed.
During the first attempt, he had ordered milk tea and heated up fried noodles…
but something mundane like that shouldn’t affect the manifestation mechanics, right?
Could it be…
It could only manifest once per day?
That logic made sense.
If there were no daily limits on manifestation, it would be insanely broken.
He could just endlessly farm cash in-game and buy up all of Haicheng in no time.
He glanced at the time in the bottom right corner of his monitor screen.
18:47.
It wasn’t even seven o’clock yet—still early.
He could test it again later tonight…
Jake looked at the computer monitor and clicked the game icon once more.
…
In-game, twilight deepened into dusk.
The sunset over Coronado Farms shifted from vivid orange-red to dark purple, and the neon lights of Santo Domingo began to flicker to life one by one.
As Jake exited the game, David—still standing at the dam viewpoint—felt his body go limp as full control returned to him.
The first thing he did was open his bank account.
That long string of numbers in his balance still felt utterly surreal.
Just this morning, he couldn’t even afford the laundry machine fee, yet by evening, he had earned more cash than his mother could save working two grueling years in the ER.
*Is this another trick the devil uses to lure people into damnation?* David felt a mix of love and intense anxiety toward this money.
As he was thinking, a loud growl suddenly erupted from his stomach.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t eaten a single thing all day…” Just as David was preparing to find a place to grab a heavy meal, that terrifyingly familiar sensation washed over him once more.
His consciousness remained awake, but his body no longer belonged to him.
He froze in place.
*Why is he back so fast this time?!*