Chapter 58: Feed

"Newbie! Why don't you take a shower while you're at it? The water's already drawn." Outside the door, Rottweiler's booming voice barged straight into Melissa's ears.

"What about clothes?" Melissa thought for a few seconds, pressed the flush button, and shouted back toward the door.

"Wear mine..." Rottweiler's voice suddenly softened, though the tone carried a hint of grievance, "Just not sure if someone can fit into them..."

"Uh..." Melissa shook her head, wisely choosing not to respond, and silently walked out of the bathroom.

A tiny room, yet it even had a separate wet and dry area; it looked a bit like a Japanese style.

Melissa let her mind wander over trivial matters, soothing her somewhat gloomy mood.

Within just a few short hours, wave after wave of excessive information surged like a tide, constantly battering Melissa's fragile brain.

If she didn't soothe herself now, she would fall ill again.

"What are you thinking? Why so glum?" Rottweiler stood guard at the door, looking surprised as she watched Melissa leave the bathroom with her head down, silent.

"Just a bit tired. All this Cyberpsycho stuff... and MaxTac... my head feels foggy." Melissa shook her head, took the neatly folded clothes from Rottweiler's hand, and while speaking, walked toward the adjacent bathroom.

"Hey, why did you take the clothes I was going to wear too?" Rottweiler cried out loudly, following Melissa into the bathroom.

"Let's get one thing straight first: I don't like women." As soon as the bathroom door closed, she saw Melissa standing with arms crossed, staring at her warily; Rottweiler awkwardly scratched her head and quickly explained.

"Really?"

"Really..." Rottweiler shook her head, not caring about Melissa's response, stripped off her clothes in three quick motions, and jumped straight into the bathtub, leaving only her wet red hair floating on the water's surface like seaweed.

"In a hurry? Isn't this water too hot?" Melissa hesitated for a few seconds, sat on the edge of the bathtub, and lightly tapped the water with her toes, as if stepping on burning coals.

Rottweiler surfaced, saw Melissa's comical pose holding her foot, and couldn't help but burst into loud laughter.

"I forgot you were still a civilian before... your Skin-like Armor doesn't protect against heat..."

Wiping the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes, Rottweiler caught her breath, turned on the cold water, letting the chill neutralize the scalding heat in the tub.

"Now it's fine, get in! Get in!"

Melissa glanced at the seemingly innocent Rottweiler and sighed softly.

That earlier move was definitely revenge.

Such a small heart; no wonder her outlook is narrow!

Melissa muttered a few complaints against this somewhat unreliable senior in her mind, slowly slid down from the edge of the bathtub, and let the warm water envelop her entire body.

"By the way... where exactly are we? MaxTac's base?" Melissa asked Rottweiler while lathering foam onto her hair.

"You finally remembered to ask..." Rottweiler rolled her eyes, her hands also covered in foam, constantly rubbing her short red hair.

"MaxTac in Night City has nine squads total; each squad has its own independent small living quarters... probably to avoid being wiped out in one go? After all, there was once a madman who dared to set off a nuke in Downtown..."

"How many people per squad? Five?"

"About that, five or six..." Rottweiler nodded and continued, "Speaking of which, it's lucky our squad accidentally lost a few teammates earlier; we were short-staffed and couldn't take on major missions... otherwise you could have seen my corpse on TV."

"Accidentally? Can I ask?"

"Better not..." Rottweiler lowered her gaze, her fingers combing through Melissa's well-maintained long hair, and simply sighed softly.

"Sorry..." Melissa wanted to comfort the somewhat dejected red-haired woman but didn't know how to start.

Thus, the bathroom fell silent; amidst the pervasive white mist, only the occasional sound of rippling water droplets and the two women's steady breathing echoed continuously.

"Done washing? Let's go."

Finally, Rottweiler broke the silence, dried her body, put on her clothes, took the initiative to hold Melissa's hand which had nowhere to rest, and slowly walked out of the bathroom.

"Finally done? You two are really slow!"

Opening the heavy iron door and passing through a confused time gap, what greeted Melissa was neither a warm dawn nor a cool moonlight.

Bit's large face was pressed against the doorway, giving her a huge scare.

"Lying in bed for over ten days; if it were you, you'd lose track of time too!" Rottweiler could always find loopholes in Bit's words, never missing any opportunity to argue.

"Forget the newbie, you've been lying in bed for over ten days too? Grandma?" Bit stuck her tongue out at Rottweiler, tossed out a "come eat," and turned to leave.

"Eat?" Melissa looked at Bit's departing back and turned to ask Rottweiler.

"What? Aren't you hungry?" Rottweiler pouted, then gave a fierce middle finger to Bit's feigned cool back.

"Now that you mention it..." Melissa touched her flat stomach, "Gurgle..."

"Looks like your stomach is more honest than you are." Rottweiler smiled, the grip in her hand not loosening at all, and continued leading Melissa downstairs to the dining room.

"Our place might be a bit small, but it has everything one needs."

On the first floor, Beros sat on the sofa, turning to look at the two slowly descending the stairs, speaking in a lowered voice with a barely perceptible smile on his face.

"Japanese style?"

"You could say so... anyway, it works well enough." Beros scratched his head, implicitly admitting his limited knowledge of architecture.

"Whatever, I'm hungry, I want beef!" Rottweiler pierced the growing awkward atmosphere, pulled Melissa, and sat down together at the dining table.

"Did you forget to take your medicine today? Where do we have the money to afford real beef?" Bit approached carrying a warm plate, her mouth constantly mocking.

"I thought our wages were pretty high..." Melissa took the plate from Bit's hand; before she could even say thanks, Bit had already turned and left to fetch other plates.

"Guns, cyberware, medicine... all spent on that; where would there be any leftover money?" Beros shook his head, speaking with some helplessness.

"At the end of the day, we're just dogs working for someone else." Bit complained with her mouth while holding the last plate, sitting down beside the Captain.

"Look at this..." Bit disdainfully shook her head at the steaming hot food in the plate, then took a huge bite.

"Is he a bit schizophrenic?" Melissa pulled Rottweiler and whispered quietly.

"People call him 'Mad Dog'; you get it." Rottweiler glanced at Bit, stabbed a piece of Synthetic Meat hard with her fork, and chewed vigorously.

Melissa frowned, stiffly mimicking Rottweiler's actions, biting piece by piece into the meat slices that had no chewiness at all.

This Synthetic Meat is all made from bugs.

Bit hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping; finally, under Beros's gaze, she swallowed the words she had just wanted to say along with the bug meat's rich protein back into her mouth.