Chapter 174 - 158: The Poor Chip Thief

Night City.

Huge billboards used for advertising could be seen everywhere around City Hall.

Channel 54 News was now broadcasting today’s news.

"Welcome to WNS news, continuing to bring you the major news of the week."

"A week ago, a group of unidentified criminals broke into City Hall and caused significant damage at several key locations such as City Square and Company Square, killing a large number of Military Technology employees."

"In this attack, the criminals broke into the Biotechnology Building and destroyed the building’s internal electrical control system, resulting in abnormal Electromagnetic Pulses being emitted."

"Following the Electromagnetic Pulse, many companies’ crucial facilities and equipment were damaged, and several residents living near Company Square discovered malfunctions in their Implants."

"The mayor of Night City, Luxius Lane, was also affected by the Electromagnetic Pulse; he was dealing with official duties in City Hall at the time, and the combination of long hours and the pulse caused him certain injuries."

"Thankfully, as of yesterday, the diligent mayor has already awoken in the hospital."

"The second piece of news, yesterday an incident of cyberpsychosis occurred on Highway 96 in Night City. It is reported that the cyberpsycho, named Gabriel Blitcz, was a security employee at Military Technology."

"The cyberpsycho killed five of his squadmates and caused injuries to twenty-three civilians."

"City Hall is taking this incident very seriously and has amended the blockade contract, increasing the NCPD presence on duty on the highways..."

The subway doors slowly opened.

Two Skill Chip thieves clutching a handful of chips disembarked, and after walking a few steps, as the train departed, the girl with the platinum blonde hair tossed the chips in her hand and smirked, patting the shoulder of the boy next to her.

"Not bad, you’ve become a lot more skilled than when you started. I was sweating for you when you snatched from that big guy."

David smiled back and handed the chips to Lucy.

"Got to learn something, right?"

As they walked and talked, David caught sight of the news on the big screen on the wall and suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes filled with a mix of admiration and envy, or perhaps both.

Lucy walked a few steps ahead, then turned and saw David like this, and with a smack, gave him a chop on his head.

"Still thinking about that day’s event? You don’t actually want to get involved in that kind of job, do you?"

David rubbed his head. "Uh... it is a bit dangerous, but the money isn’t bad either."

"A bit?" Lucy narrowed her eyes and tilted her head looking at David, "I thought you had gotten smarter, but you’re still just a greenhorn.

Forget about what happened that day, you couldn’t even handle that cyberpsycho they mentioned on the news — not ten, possibly a hundred of you!

Do you think you have too many lives to live or what? Wanting to make the headlines?"

David stepped back under Lucy’s gaze. "Hey, I’m just saying. Besides, can’t I relive it a little?"

Looking skeptical, Lucy eyed David for a few more seconds, then turned and continued walking.

Then David added, "I was thinking... maybe we should take on some different work through a middleman? Like, rescuing people from Scavengers and the like..."

Lucy turned around again with a look that said, I knew you were up to something else.

"You know," she said, "aren’t you getting a little too cocky?" Saying this, she also pinched David’s arm and waist—

This really threw David off—poor David, played like a puppet by Lucy.

"I have put on a little muscle, but not too much. Maybe it’s my brain that has the problem..."

Lucy ran her hand from David’s belly up to his face. "You still don’t seem to understand, there’s a big difference between a gunfight and theft."

David looked at Lucy and stood up straight, saying, "But we aren’t rookies anymore. We even took down one of the Military Technology guys!"

Lucy withdrew her hand in resignation, "That was me who took him down, you know? Have you seen what kind of gun you were using?"

"Freedom—yeah, it’s no high-end stuff, but it should be more than enough for a Scavenger, right?"

Lucy turned away and continued to walk, asking as she went,

"...Are you really low on money?"

"Not exactly, I already paid the rent and the loan with the last score, and mom’s going to get her paycheck this month. After paying off the rest of the loan and expenses, we should be able to save a bit."

"Didn’t you say you were going to look for a job during the day? How did that go?"

At this, David’s face turned beet red—he sent Lucy a segment of his own message history:

Foreman: The salary has been transferred, remember to check it.

David: Why only 50 euros? Didn’t you say it would be 200 to 1000 euros?

Foreman: Don’t you go slandering my good name. Take another good look.

David: Yeah, it says "0.2~1K euros", right?

David: ...0.2 euros to 1000 euros?

Foreman: Right.

"Hahahaha..."

Lucy’s laughter, tinkling like a bell, burst forth as she clutched her stomach in mirth.

David, with a resigned expression: "Working 12 hours daily, not a single minute to rest, this job... only an idiot would do it!"

Lucy finally managed to stop her laughter with the support of a wall: "Cough cough...hahaha...okay...you really are adorably stupid."

Honestly, this could have kept Lucy laughing all day, but instinctively she checked her account balance:

Account Balance: 30982 euros.

Then the laughter wouldn’t come out—having stolen skill chips in Night City for so many years, if it hadn’t been for the big score from Lille, she’d also only have a little over ten thousand euros in savings right now.

To go to the Moon, the cheapest ticket would cost two hundred thousand euros...

Seeing Lucy’s laughter cease, David said somewhat melancholically, "And... I always feel that Mom is very anxious.

Honestly, I actually quite like our life now, but... every time Mom sees those corporate folks, she has that look. I can tell that although she says she doesn’t care what I do, she still..."

In this world, there are many outlaws and perverts.

But there are also many ordinary people.

Ordinary people’s understanding of this world is: corporations are powerful, corporate work is hard and sucks, but it’s stable!

Moreover, being a corporate person has its prestige when you’re out and about.

After graduation, some even choose not to work, dedicating themselves entirely to studying for work skill certifications and fiercely competing for a corporate position.

This is Night City, the freest city in the world. In places like Atlanta, Tokyo, and developed parts of Europe, only the most choiceless street kids become thieves, mercenaries.

Perhaps to some, Night City’s freedom is a false illusion, but in those major cities, the pervasive surveillance and the suffocating disparity in force between corporations and ordinary individuals render that false illusion nonexistent.

Ironically, in the year 2077, the economy was still booming, and it was precisely this aberrant city that was growing.

So, it’s hard to say who is more naïve and who is more pragmatic between David and Gloria.

Lucy felt the same—what she was thinking now was whether her timidity could really fulfill her dream of going to the Moon.

In Night City... is there really anybody who scrapes by and yet dies without regret?

She instinctively lit a cigarette and the two leaned against the glass wall of the passageway, watching the bustling crowd.

"...Alright, then let’s try some other jobs," she said.

David was taken aback but did not show much excitement, simply smiling softly.

"Don’t worry, it won’t be dangerous—and even if it is, I’ll be the one in front of you," he said.

Lucy didn’t say a word, just smiled back.

Then... there suddenly was a glitch in David’s system, catching them both off guard.

Lucy immediately switched to analysis mode, and then... she found the issue stemmed from the channel and special software used last time to communicate with Burger King.

The data’s origin was almost untraceable—and utterly unstoppable.

Sender: Burger King.

Burger King: David, I have a job for you.

David instantly got extremely excited—making Lucy speechless; one moment talking about defending against danger, the next he’s the one opening the door to it!

"Don’t get excited, ask him what it is first!"

David nodded quickly, though the message in his head had already been sent.

David: Tell me!