Chapter 238 - 220 Wakako, I’m Going to Die

"Hahahahaha! Desert... cook..."

As they walked out of the restaurant, V burst out laughing, slapping Jack’s shoulder repeatedly, turning Jack’s face dark.

"What a crappy name, if I catch who came up with that name, I’ll..."

"You should go eat them alive, hahaha... I’m dying here..."

"Enough laughing. We’re in Tiger Claw Gang’s territory now. Better not run into another company agent."

The three of them laughed and joked as they took the subway to Twisty Street, the place where that Black Superdream dealer named Lenny likes to hang out.

Regarding the nemesis Jotaro, Lille vaguely remembered that the pervert’s base was in a nightclub called "Phoenix," but just a name alone wasn’t much help.

Firstly, it was an underground nightclub; even finding it online required the right connections.

Secondly, although Night City in the game was impressive, no game could perfectly replicate a metropolis of nearly ten million people. The in-game addresses might not be accurate, and Lille couldn’t remember all the details precisely.

So having the name was indeed a big advantage, but without any connecting clues, a name was just a name.

Twisty Street was Tiger Claw Gang’s territory, but unlike other Tiger Claw Gang areas, this was essentially Ogata’s territory as a middleman.

Last time Lille came to City Hall, he had a bit of a conflict with the queen of Japanese Street—Ogata. Of course, strictly speaking, it was resolved rather well, and there was no enmity between them.

Optical camouflage was indeed a tricky thing to handle, so Lille was considering buying a fully functional military-grade visor the next time he went shopping.

"Alright, alright... What’s in this box of yours?"

V stopped laughing and looked at Lille’s new equipment—

The hacker coat on the outside was standard synthetic leather issued by Network Surveillance, with some bulletproof properties. The key feature was specific connectors for heat dissipation fins, which slightly enhanced brain cooling without exposing prosthetics.

This custom size could also perfectly cover the exoskeleton inner rings Lille wore.

Two mechanical arms each held a box, placed beside Lille’s legs. Thanks to Little Octopus, he didn’t need to control the arms intentionally; in fact, these two arms were much more coordinated than Lille’s own limbs.

Lille patted the box: "Spare ammo, temporary modification tools, hand grenades, medical supplies, small power sources... all the support equipment you can think of is in here."

After speaking, Lille glanced at Jack: "There’s food too, the high-energy biscuits we snatched from that Night Wandering Ghost last time."

It should’ve been a good thing, but thinking about his nickname, Jack’s face darkened.

"... I’ll never eat under those circumstances again!"

"Why not eat?" Lille looked puzzled. "Eating can slightly enhance the power of the berserk components."

"Anyway... I won’t eat in front of others again!"

As they talked, the trio firmly walked into Twisty Street, which had a giant statue depicting a monk—

Perhaps a monk, though the monk’s features were only recognizable from the cassock draped over his lower body.

This monk had four arms, two crossed in front of his stomach, the other two held up some kind of sphere. Cybernetic patterns were clearly visible on his body, and he wore some layered mask on his head.

Along the street were cyber cherry blossoms, holographic cherry blossom trees created with holo-lights, even showing falling petals.

Because of this, the market in Twisty Street was called the Cherry Blossom Market, though the cherry blossoms were fake.

Under the virtual cherry blossoms, there was readily identifiable industry on Japanese streets—flesh trade.

You could see low-grade sex dolls everywhere, male, female, and other rare genders. These dolls used the cheapest behavior chips, unable to guarantee privacy or user experience, but they did have one advantage—

Cheap.

"... I can keep you hard for hours..."

"Hey, looking for a partner for the night?"

Lewd voices floated around Lille’s ears, as those dolls eyed Lille’s group—more precisely, they scanned V and Jack.

Behind them, you could see various special prosthetics only installed in sex dolls, like different-sized implements and large cannons. In the shops, many people were picking and photographing.

Besides that, there were more formal sex doll service shops, playing sexy videos of their top picks in holographic display cases. Some shops even had people posing seductively in display cabinets, dutifully acting like wares.

Pedestrians ogled the displayed wares, swallowing saliva, then headed into the adjacent casinos.

In a way, there was a kind of orderliness to it.

Above Twisty Street stood the massive H8 Super Skyscraper, painted in the pink-green color scheme beloved by Tiger Claw Gang, declaring their dominance over Japanese Street—

But the paint looked older than surrounding buildings, rusted.

Below the skyscraper, in an unassuming electronic casino, was the office of the queen of Japanese Street, middleman Ogata Wako.

The small electronic casino below the skyscraper was the trio’s first destination there:

Ogata Wako’s office.

Since they had to handle business in someone else’s territory, they couldn’t really avoid saying hello, could they?

It was a rather small electronic casino, two rows of electronic gambling machines placed along the walls, leaving just a path—

The gamblers sat at the machines like they were at work. Before Lille even entered, he heard two old guys chatting:

"Why do you always dress so stylishly to gamble?"

"So my wife thinks I’m just going to work, haha, she hasn’t noticed anything unusual for six months!"

"Awesome."

This was Twisty Street, Night City’s top red-light district, one-stop for gambling, drugs, and sex.

Win money gambling, then go spend it at a club. If that’s not enough, get some drugs from a pharmacy, get high, and then gamble some more. If you’re out of money, get a loan—

People’s purpose here was to play, generating money that flowed into the pockets of the Tiger Claw Gang and the middlemen.

What would happen to them? No one cared, they didn’t care either.

The trio walked down the passage, the girl at the bar and the bouncer at the office door noticeably stiffened—

Then their prosthetic eyes flashed blue, seeming to receive a signal from Ogata, and they bowed their heads without stopping the trio.

Lille walked into the office alone, while V and Jack stood guard outside.

The room was stylishly Japanese, decorated with wooden screens, incense, ebony, porcelain, and teapots... A real leather blanket was thrown across the sofa, suggesting Ogata herself lived there.

Ogata, queen of Japanese Street, smiled at Lille: "Welcome, Burger King. Are you here for a job? I don’t think I have anything suitable for you right now."

"That’s okay, we’ve got our own job. Someone in Tiger Claw Gang is snatching people off the street, and I can’t stand it."

Ogata smirked: "Don’t joke with me, Burger King. We know you’re working for the NCPD now."

Lille nodded: "But I indeed can’t stand it, and I can make some money on the side. What’s wrong with that?"

Ogata kept smiling: "You might not like it, but many people have jobs because of the Tiger Claw Gang."

"I’m not targeting the Tiger Claw Gang, that guy snatching kids has crossed the line."

Lille pulled up a chair, sitting in front of Ogata: "Look, no matter what, I’m going to handle this. I respect you, so I’m here now.

That guy is very dangerous and perverted. I’m sure he’s using the gang as a tool for his abusive behaviors. If he keeps this up, he’ll eventually piss off the NCPD, the Mox Gang, maybe even Valentino and Six Street Gang...

Someone’s going to hire me to take him out sooner or later, what do you think?"

Ogata’s smile faded: "That sounds like a threat."

Lille shook his head: "I’m a mercenary. If you think it’s a threat, it means my strength is valuable to you, so it’s more like an advertisement.

In the end, don’t you think taking out that pervert is doing you a favor?"

Middlemen and local gangs had a delicate relationship, but they weren’t united.

Balance was the best state—each side would create more conflicts, giving more space to maneuver.

"You sure know how to talk, I’m convinced. There definitely is a scumbag in the Tiger Claw Gang.

But I don’t know who did it, you’ll have to find out yourself."

"Glad we’re on the same page. Do you know a Black Superdream dealer named Lenny?"

"I do. He’s in the Twisty Street underground passage, right next door."

"Thanks—I’ll give you a 5% discount on the next big job."

Lille got up to leave when Ogata suddenly said: "Burger King, you say you’re a mercenary, but the circle doesn’t think that way, not entirely."

Lille paused, thought for a moment, and said: "Ogata, I’m going to die. I may only have a few months left. As long as I can make money and find a way to stay alive, I’m willing to do anything."

Ogata was taken aback, watching Lille’s departing figure, lost in thought.

Her prosthetic eye flickered as she sent a message: "Burger King says he’s dying, get someone to confirm this in Haywood."