Get comfortable, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🔥 ✦ “Done.” Sasha stepped out of the bathtub packed with ice.
Maine, the big brute in the room, stared upward at a forty-five-degree angle like he had seen this a hundred times.
Pilar was not there.
He was probably in his workshop tinkering with whatever junk had caught his eye this time.
Dorio draped a jacket over Sasha’s shoulders.
Everyone was waiting for the good news.
Dropping into cyberspace was an effective way to track leads.
Netrunners also used cyberspace to support partners in the field, or warn them before trouble hit.
The condition was simple: do not get caught by the enemy runner.
If a corpo netrunner caught you unguarded, they would cook your brain without hesitation.
Rebecca, the one Cade had called out by name, looked bored.
She lay on the smooth windowsill of Sasha’s apartment with both hands behind her head and her eyes closed.
“Dogtown’s Net is as busted as the town itself.
But I found out our guy’s name.
Cade Mercer.” “And I have to say, he’s got protection.
A netrunner was covering his information the whole time.” When Sasha smiled, her eyes narrowed.
Paired with the cat-whisker-like cyberware on her cheeks, she looked like a lazy cat who had just gotten exactly what she wanted.
“I don’t know any Cade Mercer.
Don’t tell me Barghest really has eyes on us.” Rebecca pushed herself up and leaned close to Sasha’s face.
Maine picked Rebecca up by the back of her jacket and set her beside the bed.
She crossed her arms and sank into the oversized collar of her coat, sulking by herself.
Sasha shrugged and went on.
“It does not look like Barghest.
They have no matching logs or operational records.
The strange part is that Mercer got kicked out.” “His whole team seems to have been handled by Hansen, including the gamblers and drinking buddies he had.” “The rest of the transport security was us.” Hansen cleaning up the remaining security team after the fact fit his style.
The part Maine could not pin down was why Hansen had spared Cade Mercer.
No matter how you looked at it, the job had been business.
The edgerunner crew took the contract, carried it out, and moved on.
What Maine feared was retaliation from the viper named Colonel Hansen.
Hansen was not a cautious man, and this Cade Mercer was still alive.
Did that mean Mercer knew something and bought his life back with it?
Maine looked up and realized everyone in the room wore the same grim expression.
“How hard is Dogtown to get into?” That settled the matter.
Maine did not know what Hansen was thinking.
He only knew this former Barghest named Cade Mercer was a major problem while he remained alive.
“We can find a fixer.
There are ways in through the outer wall, but it will take time,” Dorio said, understanding where Maine was going.
Rebecca punched her fist into her palm.
“Then we solve our own problem.” Sasha agreed.
“I’m fine with that.
I can support whenever you need me.” …
Five hundred eddies.
A full five hundred eddies.
Cade’s heart was bleeding.
Fifty rounds for a tech sniper rifle had cost him that much.
He had spent ages in the Stadium Black Market arguing with the gun shop owner and only managed to knock fifty eddies off the price.
The sniper rifle wrapped in cloth on his back gave him some comfort, at least.
Since he could quantify his own abilities through a status panel, did that mean he could use abilities from the skill trees too?
He tested it.
Apparently not.
Points could only be added to his core attributes.
Which raised a question.
In the game system he remembered, points had a limit.
That meant Cade had to choose a build to strengthen himself: blades, hacking, rifles, pistols.
All of them needed skill investment.
In his old life, when he was deep-reviewing the game, he had used trainers and mod tools specifically so he could experience every build.
Thinking about that now was useless.
The points from the Development Reward Panel were tied to fixed attributes.
Cade could not interfere with them.
[Status] Name: Cade Mercer Body: 9 Reflexes: 6 Technical Ability: 2 Intelligence: 4 Cool: 5 What Cade did not understand was why Body had one extra point.
Was it from Mr.
Hansen’s affinity?
No, that did not fit.
It should be– An empty feeling passed through him, and he shook his head.
He remembered.
The bloodstained military gloves were still sitting in the washing machine.
Sino had given them to him.
Cade had no time to mourn “friends.” He followed the road from the Dogtown checkpoint up toward the hill.
The netrunner Mr.
Hands had mentioned still had not answered Cade’s calls.
No telling what he was busy with.
Along the way, Cade passed several hostile-looking Animals and drunks, watched part of a fistfight, and arrived at the agreed time.
The place looked like an abandoned motel.
Beep.
The distorted doorbell sounded.
The netrunner Mr.
Hands called Hamster was cautious.
By the time Cade reached the door, the camera’s scanning beam had already locked onto him.
Cade looked up at the camera.
A hoarse male voice came through the doorbell.
“Yeah?” “Mr.
Hands sent me.” The door opened.
The hallway was packed with garbage.
Tables from what had once been a dining area were stacked together, replaced by several sentry turrets.
From the moment Cade stepped inside, barrels capable of punching fist-sized holes through him tracked his movement.
Hamster’s voice seemed to come from everywhere.
“Third door on the left.
Turn right.
There is an underground service hatch in front of you.
Lift it, climb in, and close the door behind you.” The tone was not friendly.
Hamster sounded deeply unwilling to take the job.
Only emergency lights lit the underground service tunnel.
The ghostly green glow made it feel like a road to hell.
The farther Cade walked, the hotter it became.
After dropping out of the pipe, Cade stepped onto a dense carpet of cables.
In the middle of a room full of servers, he saw a man lying in a netrunner chair, still deep in cyberspace.
‘Too bad.
If I could install a netrunner operating system, maybe one day I could enter cyberspace too.’ “Did Hands tell you what you’re supposed to do?” Cade took off the rifle.
“Stop the edgerunner crew coming for us.” Hamster burst out laughing.
“You say that like it’s as simple as booking a doll at Clouds.” “…” To be honest, with Intelligence 4, Cade did briefly feel like an idiot under that ridicule.
What could he do if the edgerunner crew came right up to his face?
Cade’s expression had been complicated from the start.
Anyone with half a brain could guess that the crew Mr.
Hands mentioned was Maine’s.
He gave himself a small warning.
If he needed to run, he had better run fast, or street mercs would chase him down and chew him up.
“The runner in that crew is smart.
She knows where to find you.
I saw it all clearly.
The problem is that she is interested in you.
Hansen’s den has former Militech netrunners watching it, so they cannot get to Hansen.” “And you, my friend, are the discarded piece.
Bad luck.
Hands pushed you out here as human ICE.” Cade nodded.
“So you should train me a little.
For example, when an edgerunner crew wants to kill me, what do I say to make them lower their guns, go home happy, and maybe grab a working meal beside a synth-meat food truck in Westbrook?” Cade swore he only said it to needle Hamster.
“Hahaha.
Dumbass.” Hamster actually laughed.
“All right, stop complaining.
I’ll have a proper chat with the runner on the other side.
Hands cares about this, so I’ll handle uploading the fake data.
If their assault team comes to butcher you, just hold for a while.
Barghest will come when they hear the noise.” Cade pointed at himself.
“Hold for a while?
You mean me?” “Who else?” Hamster sounded certain.
“Friend, what we’re playing now is cat and mouse.
First, keep the cat from catching you.
Afterward, Hands will contact a ripperdoc at the Stadium, and you can get a quick cosmetic reset.” “Every extra person adds risk.” “I get paid.
You get a new face.
We stay out of each other’s business.” ✦ ✦ ✦ Ready for more?
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS EmberHollow Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you deeper into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.