Chapter 225 - 207: Old Friend, Friendly Price

Having been in the gang for two and a half years already made one an old hand; Hand Grenade wanted to take out Morton, but Morton wasn’t new to dealing with rookies for his first two and a half years—

Why cast Hand Grenade onto this territory, a territory with many of Burger King’s businesses?

It was all about letting the rookie fend for himself—if you could collect the protection money from Burger King, then you truly were badass.

This was the biggest hurdle for underlings to rise in rank: even if he was more capable than the boss, there were always a bunch of loyal henchmen...

But the resources in the boss’s hands were his alone, until he became the boss, he just didn’t have access to these channels, this information.

However, Lille vaguely remembered that in the game "Cyberpunk 2077," Hand Grenade had indeed risen to the top.

Maybe there is some advantage to being stupid—being brash, sometimes you really can catch them off guard.

Plus, the game’s plot didn’t have his Burger King either...

Sergeant Morton: "What is it? Speak quickly."

Burger King: "One of your guys named Hand Grenade has started collecting protection money from me."

Sergeant Morton: "Just kill him then, consider it an apology from me; that idiot always talks nonsense about wanting to bump up his rank, dreaming of becoming a general or something...

He doesn’t even know our ancestral laws are immutable; I always said he was looking for trouble."

Burger King: "You’ve got it wrong; now is your time to bid: the things you and the company do together seem to be pissing a lot of people off in the gang."

Burger King: "To be honest, I don’t really care; this kid seems quite reasonable."

Lille kicked Hand Grenade on the ground; the kid had been awake for a while, just lying there pretending to be unconscious.

After being kicked, he awkwardly climbed up, scratching his head.

Dammit, meeting King Yan indeed—and he hadn’t even targeted King Yan!

Places like Lama Armory and trade markets, he just looked around from the outside, never even entered...

Lille continued, "So, stop pretending, and all of you, stop fighting each other. In the end, with this situation, people will die or get injured, and the streets will be filled with bullets and grenades, making life unbearable.

I’ve got some nasty stuff in my hands, and if it leaks, I bet your boss position won’t be so stable anymore."

Saying this he glanced at Hand Grenade: "I’m fair, right?"

Hand Grenade was cursing in his heart already; fair?

I just collect some protection money; you call my boss and even push us brothers to turn against each other?!

There’s such shameless people in the world!

"...Fifty thousand euros."

Hand Grenade mentioned a figure.

Saving his skin was crucial; let it burst then.

Burger King: "The bid here is fifty thousand."

Sergeant Morton: "You’re fucking smart, huh, sixty thousand."

Hand Grenade: "Seventy thousand!"

Sergeant Morton: "Eighty thousand!"

Hand Grenade clenched his teeth: "One hundred thousand!"

Sergeant Morton: "One hundred and ten thousand."

Hand Grenade turned ashen: "One hundred and forty thousand!"

Sergeant Morton raised an eyebrow: "One hundred and fifty thousand!"

Hand Grenade didn’t utter a word, his eyes glaring murderously...

Jack slapped him across the face, immediately sending Hand Grenade into a baby-like sleep.

Lille adjusted the audio data collected from Hand Grenade, transmitting it to a server in another world, processed using AI synthesis technology.

"Two hundred thousand!"

Sergeant Morton looked stern: "Two hundred and ten thousand!"

Lille stroked his chin: "Two hundred and sixty thousand."

Sergeant Morton looked utterly shocked: "Three hundred thousand! I’ll give three hundred thousand!"

Lille waved at Jack.

Bang!

The cold, low voice of the Golden Harshest blasted through, the bullet entering through Hand Grenade’s brainstem, breaking his spine, and shooting out of his body.

Hand Grenade instantly slumped down like a mud puddle, leaving a horrific mix of bodily fluids on the counter.

"Deal’s done, the disobedient underling has gone to heaven, Sergeant, making another fortune recently? That much money?"

On the other end of the phone, the sergeant had just jumped up from his chair and taken a few steps when he felt something was off.

So he grabbed a skill chip from beside him and plugged it into the chip slot.

[Welcome to Zeta Technology AI Voice and Image Recognition Technology]

[Analyzing audio...]

[This audio is suspected of being synthesized with AI technology, please discern carefully]

The sergeant pulled the phone away from his face, swept his palm across his forehead, and growled, "...Dammit! Fooled by those three idiots again!"

The growl startled everyone around the card table, and the soldier standing guard outside even turned around and peeked in.

After venting, he picked up the phone again: "...Dammit, why!"

Burger King: "What do you mean why, collecting money to ward off disaster; we’re professionals, just checking on an old friend. Don’t want to talk? Fine, but why curse?"

The sergeant just felt pained: "Forget it, I’ve transferred the money, nothing else, I’m hanging up."

Transfer: +300000 euros

Account Balance: 310000 Euros

Lille hastily called out to him, "Hey, don’t go. Do you have a sex doll chip? Or maybe a high-end behavioral chip, the programmable kind."

The sergeant scratched his head, "I don’t have programmable ones, but I do have a shooting chip, sending you the model now."

[Skill Chip: Never Miss 5000]

[Description: Equipped with data for various common military sniper weapons, compatible with various hand and eye implants, provides the user with sniper proficiency, includes long-distance ballistic prediction capabilities]

[Manufacturer’s Note: Sniping is a technical skill, do not overly rely on the chip, all losses incurred are the user’s responsibility.]

[Price: 8000 Euros]

[Skill Chip: Firepower Mastery Type 7]

[Description: Equipped with data for various common assault rifles and machine guns, compatible with various hand and eye implants, preset recoil dispersion prediction device, can reduce recoil impact when matched with the right implants.]

[Manufacturer’s Note: In the past, controlling recoil was a challenge, but now, just one Firepower Mastery chip can make you a firearms expert!]

[Note: To use the automatic recoil control function please use compatible prosthetics, minimum configuration: Rush G-series]

[Price: 5000 Euros]

[Skill Chip: Rapid Kill Expert]

[Skill Chip: Violent Shooter]

[...]

Not to mention, he had quite a stock.

Just the prices...

Burger King: "I say, Sergeant, we’re old friends now, these prices..."

The sergeant was not okay at all — who the fuck is an old friend with you?!

Sergeant Morton: "Take it or leave it, you can’t get this stuff elsewhere."

Burger King: "Alright, one of each, how about a discount?"

Sergeant Morton: "Total forty-two thousand, I’ll knock off two thousand."

Burger King: "Twenty thousand."

Sergeant Morton: "You’re fucking tight-fisted — seriously, are you here to mess around? With this volume of stock, this amount of money, do you really need to bargain with me?"

Burger King: "Can’t help it, been doing pretty rough lately, let’s settle for thirty thousand then."

Sergeant Morton: "..."

Transfer: -30000 Euros

Account Balance: 280000 Euros

Sergeant Morton: "Never mind, I’m hanging up."

Burger King: "Alright, contact me if you need anything."

The sergeant silently hung up the phone: Better not contact me again.

He sighed, sat back in his chair, and muttered, "Cannon was a good kid, I remember when he came in two and a half years ago, fumbling like a monkey.

And his first time picking up the goods, like a total newbie — but quite an honest person, how did he end up like this?

Night City, you turn people into ghosts! Two and a half years is all it takes to turn someone into a ghost!"

At the card table, a man in a sweater cautiously said, "Boss, you got it wrong, Cannon came in a year and a half ago!"

"Ah? Then who was two and a half years ago?"

"It was me!"

The talker threw down his cards, crashing them onto the table.

The atmosphere stalled, everyone at the table stopped moving, their breathing halted —

"Fuck, why is it always you, Flavio, winning the money — keep going!"

Morton cursed a couple of times then also tossed his cards on the table. The one called Flavio happily scooped up the chips from the table.

They were all smiles, truly harmonious.

...

Dividing the money.

Money is just a number that quickly passed through Lille’s account balance and then slipped away.

Leaving 10,000 for Lille, 27,000 split among them, each getting 9,000.

Still owed 1.56 million, he’s paying it off fast.

V patted Lille’s shoulder contentedly and said, "Not bad, keep working hard to make money, little Lizard, your sister likes you this way."

"Get lost, what ’little Lizard,’ stupid name — where is he?"

"Seems like he passed out, hasn’t woken up yet."

Lille looked towards where Tina had fainted—

Just then, Tina happened to open her eyes, bewildered. She saw Cannon’s corpse leaning against a cabinet, horribly dead:

The golden fierce woman’s bullet had tremendous kinetic energy, breaking the spine and causing penetration, the wound looked like a mess of flesh.

Then she shivered, turned her gaze, and saw Lille and the others were just looking at her.

"Aaaahhhhh!"

Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted again.

"...give her some stimulant."