Bonfires, neon lights, noisy music, reveling crowds, cluttered ground, and worn-out sofas converged at this moment into a tableau in front of a small shop in Santo Domingo.
“Hum, hum, hum~”
Rebecca, holding a cup of Sakura-brand Cocoa-Cola in one hand, hummed a little tune as she skipped over to Sasha’s side.
“Hey, this is for you.”
“Thanks, Rebecca~”
Sasha smiled at the gesture.
After taking a sip, a cat-like grin appeared on her face, and she reached out to swat away Pilar’s wandering hand as it slowly crept up from behind.
“Bro, rejected again, I see.”
Pilar shook his head with a look of disappointment and then ran toward the center of the gathering.
Sasha was used to Pilar’s behavior; she knew exactly what kind of person he was.
“By the way, Sasha, here’s your payment for this job.”
As he spoke, Maine’s eyes lit up slightly, and a sum of money was immediately transferred into Sasha’s account.
“Thanks.”
Sasha thanked him, and then an old woman walked over carrying a bag.
Maine grinned and took the bag.
He pulled out a dose of immunosuppressant and injected it into his arm.
Sss—
“Hiss…
ah…
that feels pretty good.”
Maine raised an eyebrow after the injection and stretched his body.
He had just finished upgrading his cyberware, and his body was currently in a period of strong rejection; a shot of immunosuppressant made him feel much better.
“You should probably install less cyberware lately.
Take it easy since you just finished the modifications.”
“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
Maine laughed and patted his chest, indicating that his body was in great shape and there was no cause for concern.
Suddenly, at that moment, the sound of screeching brakes rang out.
Two blindingly bright headlights illuminated the area, and a tall, slender figure stepped out of a Chevillon Thrax.
The man wore a sophisticated red suit and a white shirt, with black gloves on his hands and his white hair slicked back.
However, his most striking feature was his eyes: three on one side and only one on the other.
“Tch!”
Maine clicked his tongue in annoyance, then stood up and walked toward the man.
The people around them were sensible enough to turn off the music.
“Maine, looks like you just finished a job.
The commotion on Jig-Jig-Street earlier today was your doing, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah…
that was us.”
“You made quite a scene.
The Tyger Claws have put a bounty on your heads, and the price isn’t low.
You’d better avoid them for a while.”
“You didn’t come here just to tell me that, did you?”
“Of course not.
I have a commission for you.
The pay is generous, and I can help you settle the Tyger Claws situation while I’m at it.”
Faraday shook his head and spoke.
Maine’s tone turned somber after hearing Faraday’s words.
“I take it this job isn’t going to be easy?”
“If it were easy, I wouldn’t have come looking for you.”
As he spoke, Faraday glanced at the people behind Maine, his gaze lingering on Sasha for a good while.
However, Maine quickly blocked his view.
“Tell me about it first.
I’ll consider it after I’ve heard the details.”
“Then get in the car first.”
Faraday tilted his head, signaling for Maine to get in and talk.
“This car can’t be cheap, right?” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Maine sized up the Chevillon Thrax before him and spoke.
“If bought directly from Chevillon, indeed.
But through other channels, it’s not that expensive.”
Faraday glanced at Maine and answered the question.
Maine nodded.
As for what Faraday meant by ‘other channels’…
it was undoubtedly the Old Captain or some other fixer.
“Take a look at this.”
Faraday handed a shard to Maine.
Maine took it and slotted the shard in.
A large amount of information popped up, primarily an introduction to a certain individual.
“Militech?
A corp job?”
Maine snapped his head toward Faraday.
“What, is there a problem?”
Faraday looked at Maine with a calm expression.
“No, none.
Just curious about the payout for this commission.”
“One hundred thousand eddies.”
“That much?!”
Maine jolted at the amount, but he also sensed the scent of danger.
“Any other questions?”
“The details of the job?”
“The man you just saw—kill him.
I’ll arrange the specific time and route later.
You just need to wait for the notification.”
“Tch…”
Maine couldn’t help but feel a bit displeased, but he knew this was how Faraday operated, so he didn’t say anything.
“Taking it or not?”
Maine hesitated for a moment before asking another question.
“The reason for killing him?”
“He betrayed the corp and defected to Arasaka.”
“Bastard, were you not going to tell me if I hadn’t asked?!”
Faced with Maine’s angry questioning, Faraday remained silent, seemingly admitting it.
“Your answer?”
“…I’ll take it, but the pay needs to be higher.”
“…Fine.
One hundred and fifty thousand.
I’ll notify you a few days before the mission starts.
Now, get out.”
“Hmph!”
Maine snorted coldly, then opened the car door and stepped out.
“Drive.”
Seeing Maine exit the car, Faraday spoke to the bodyguard in the front seat.
“Maine, what’s the situation?”
“A big job.
It’s not convenient to talk here.
Let’s head back to the hideout before discussing the rest.”
Maine shook his head at the group and said.
On the other side, inside the car, Faraday dialed a number.
“The task you wanted me to handle has been arranged.
The crew under me has accepted it.”
“Good job.
The payment will be transferred to your account shortly.”
“To be honest, I don’t quite understand.
“Heh, that’s why, Faraday, you’ll never reach this level.
And I’ve told you many times, don’t pry into things you shouldn’t.”
With that, the other end of the line hung up.
After hearing those words, Faraday slammed his hand against the car door, the corners of his four eyes twitching.
“Dammit, a bunch of look-down-their-noses bastards!!!”
That’s right, he was currently working for Militech.
The reason Militech chose him was simple: he was useful and cost-effective.
The most important point was that they didn’t want to spark a conflict with Arasaka in Night City right now.
He was useful because Maine’s crew was indeed very capable—more so than many of Militech’s internal teams.
By using a small-timer like Faraday, they wouldn’t have to face Arasaka directly, leaving room for plausible deniability.
But not wanting a direct confrontation didn’t mean they intended to do nothing.
After all, they couldn’t just have no reaction after being poached, could they?
They had to save face, not to mention that guy was carrying important cyberware data.
So now, Militech was closely monitoring Kochi’s movements through a mole inside Arasaka.
Once he went back to retrieve the experimental data, that would be the time for Maine and the others to act.
As for why they didn’t just go and take the data back themselves?
Nonsense.
If they knew where it was, they would have done it long ago.
Why go through all this trouble?
So they could only solve the problem at its source.
This way, they wouldn’t have to look for the data; they’d just let it be forgotten in some corner.
As for saving costs…
spending three hundred thousand eddies—the price of a high-end car—to try and settle a matter like this seemed like a very low cost to them.
After all, if they were to take action themselves, the commotion and subsequent fallout would be far more expensive than a mere three hundred thousand eddies.
And if you ask what if it fails?
Then they’d just execute another plan and prepare to bicker with Arasaka in the realm of public opinion.
Regarding the cyberware…
neither of the two companies had neural cyberware for sale on the market, so it wouldn’t directly affect their market profits.
They could only swallow the loss for now.
After all, if they publicly admitted their data had been stolen, wouldn’t they be tanking their own stock price?
So they could only look for an opportunity to get even later.
After all, the days are long, and we’ll see who has the last laugh!
In a sense, Arasaka obtaining that data was also like providing Militech with experimental data, since Arasaka would inevitably research it once it was in their hands.
When they started researching and testing, Militech could find a way to snatch a few things, which would be acceptable…
though that was mostly just self-consolation.
Of course, success would be best, but failure was also acceptable.
They wouldn’t invest too much more cost into this matter; they had more important things to solve right now.
After all, these high-end cyberwares, to put it bluntly, could only be used long-term by a minority of compatible people.
Most people were nothing more than consumables.
And Arasaka having this data wouldn’t affect Militech’s own research progress; it would just make them feel displeased and affect their assessment of the product’s commercial value.
Oh, this stuff isn’t going on the market?
Then it’s fine.
On the contrary, the Kochi incident was what made Militech quite angry.
After all, a mere researcher like Kochi could actually come into contact with these things…
the severity of this issue was far greater than Arasaka poaching their staff.
After all, Arasaka hadn’t been poaching them for just a day or two…
So after the Kochi incident came to light, many people were immediately ‘terminated,’ and an internal cleanup was carried out.
As for Kochi’s final end, it would be just like those who had betrayed them in the past…
he would die sooner or later.
They just hoped he would die sooner.
They never intended to let him go from the start.
If they couldn’t kill him now, they’d kill him later.
Thinking one could live a peaceful life after damaging the corp’s interests—not a chance!
Unless that guy planned to run off to Tokyo, then it really wouldn’t be worth the effort to go after him.
It wouldn’t be worth the loss.