Chapter 656 - 627: Picking Out Clothes (Part 1)

"Jack, today the Valentinos are making noise in the streets like it’s a holiday, and it suddenly reminded me of how you used to be,"

"Eh... that’s all in the past, I’m a respectable person now... just wait until we’re back from Dog Town!"

In the VR call, Jack and Misty appeared beside each other.

They were currently on the beach in Zhu Ya City, Africa, Jack in his large shorts and Misty in her swimsuit, enjoying the rare natural scenery of Night City.

Sometimes Jack almost forgot he was still in Dog Town, still on the run with an international warrant on his head...

The warm sunshine, fresh air, gentle sound of waves, and Misty’s company all made him forget those troubles—

In fact, it wouldn’t matter if he remembered, since he took up with Lille he hadn’t needed to use his brain for a long time.

Misty lay on the beach chair next to him, turned to him, and gently placed her hand on his: "Every time you talk like this I get a little worried, maybe now you’re a big brother with status in the underworld, but that also makes your situation more dangerous."

"Don’t worry, I’ve survived before, and I’ll survive in the future." Jack grinned like an idiot, looking at the blue sky, "When I get back... when I get back I’ll come clean to mom, I’ve even hinted at it already, and she took it well!

By the way, I can tell you the password to my garage, what’s mine is yours, you can stay there for a couple of days and have a good chat with my mom... "

Misty smiled: "Jack, I like staying in your room, but let’s wait until you’re back.

How are V and Lille doing?"

"Pfft." Jack waved dismissively and slapped his thigh, "I feel like those two have made it already, but it seems like Lille is... well, a bit different from us, sigh, I don’t understand.

V, on the other hand, says she’s been looking for an opportunity, but I don’t know what she’s looking for—I’m not a woman, I don’t get how she thinks.

But there has been progress recently: for our next job, we’re attending a banquet, masquerading as the Perares couple, even if it’s just a pretense... it’s progress, right?

They’ve already gone out to buy clothes."

"Heh, Lille really is different, finding such a Super Dream in Night City is not easy, lying here feels utterly peaceful.

V is no ordinary person either, I think this might be the peculiar collision that two special souls are supposed to have."

"So that’s why I’m sticking to my policy of not getting involved, not running my mouth," Jack shrugged, "Alright, I need to step out and keep an eye on the Animal Gang and the other gangs’ guys to make sure they’re actually working, not just goofing off."

"Okay... wait a second, Jack."

Misty paused, grabbed Jack’s hand, looked into his eyes, and said, "I hope next time we can sit in your house together and share these Super Dreams."

Jack chuckled: "Nevermind the room, I’ve got enough in my little vault to go on vacation to Africa—just wait for me, I’ll be back soon."

Zzzt—

The current flashed, the call ended. Jack lay in the chair chuckling like a fool, giggling to himself for a while before he stood up...

Standing, he left the room, looking at the workers who were busy and scratching their heads in confusion, he suddenly bellowed:

"Get back to work!"

The gang’s workers scratched their heads perplexedly, seeing Jack only yelled once and made no other moves, they silently resumed their work:

A shout is just a shout, what’s wrong with the big brother yelling a couple of times?

It’s much better than the big brother not understanding anything and only pointing fingers, right?

...

V frowned deeply:

"What do you mean, high society people all wear this kind of clothing?"

Lille answered:

"What do you mean, haven’t you seen it in the TV dramas?"

V had never worn the clothing now in front of her—

The Cyberpunk-style gown featured shoulders made from some sort of shining, high-end biological material, with hollowed-out designs on the back, and the dress was a white, knee-length, form-fitting sheath that seemed to have a layer of wax applied when worn on the mannequin.

The mannequin had no face or hair, yet its body measurements were perfect, making it look very strange...

Because V had never worn such clothes before: to be precise, she had never worn any kind of dress—only tried them on.

V was blunt, "This thing is really ugly."

Lille agreed, "Indeed."

"And it’s totally not suitable for me! You sit in a wheelchair, but how am I supposed to fight while wearing this?!"

"Well... but you have to wear it, Elizabeth might not dress so avant-garde usually, but she does wear dresses, so it’s somewhat closer to her style..."

As for the problems, the bigger issue was that Dog Town only sold fakes, and it would be a serious problem if the imitation was discovered at the party.

The two were at the EBM Sports Stadium, which was gradually opening up according to the scouting progress of the Netherworld Dog.

This clothing store was also a core establishment in Dog Town, but having a clothing store in a war zone... one has to say the owner had unique ideas.

But the craftsmanship was good.

The shopkeeper was wrapped in a yellow and black striped headscarf, somewhat Netherworld Dog in style, wearing a black T-shirt underneath and a white jacket over it, the sleeves pulled up above the forearms, paired with black jeans. All ten of his fingers were fitted with mechanical limbs customized for hand-sewing garments.

His personal clothing actually matched Lille’s personal aesthetics fairly well, but the clothes in the store...

It could only be said that the owner’s clothing was somewhat retro relative to the times, while the clothes in the store were quite avant-garde. It showed that the owner had a unique aesthetic sense, but was still capable of delivering in his business.

"Gentlemen, are you interested in some high-end fashion? I have all kinds of styles here, and they’re made of the best quality—replicas of the finest brands, from Yafandi to Giovanni Brizi, you name it. Looking at you guys, you must want something high-end, right?

If you don’t like this one, no problem, I have more conservative options too. There’s a discount for placing a deposit today!"

"Yo." V took off her AR glasses with interest, "Running a clothing store in Dog Town and giving a discount, you’re quite an amusing person, huh?"

"Tch—" The shopkeeper immediately adjusted the angle of the television, pointing to the football match on the screen, "See that? My son is in that team! He played so well this time. There might be a team eyeing him, I need to hustle and get some tech for him; can’t let him waste away in this dog pit..."

Lille recognized that the team the shopkeeper mentioned was the Silver Warriors Team, which was Matt’s football team!

Just then, a kid ran over from a distance, his speed like a bolt of lightning—

"Dad! Did you watch the TV?"

Bang!

The father and son hugged each other fiercely; the sound of impact made it seem like they weren’t embracing but rather playing a game of American football.

"Fantastic, son!" After the hug, the shopkeeper put his son down and looked at Lille, "Sorry, bro, where were we? Right, I’ll give you a discount, place the deposit now, and you won’t regret it, won’t be conned..."

"Oh my—Dad!"

Once his son was put down, he was immediately startled, stuttering as he spoke, "This... this is... this is Matt’s older brother, Dr. Fiona’s friend. They... they are the ones who saved the Sports Academy! I told you about them!"

Indeed, Lille knew the kid or, to be specific, had seen his information—Tommy Walker, a student at the Luxor Sports Academy, Matt’s teammate.

In the original story, Lille had some recollection of this kid, who, without intervention a year later, would spiral into depression leading to a decline in functionality and be unable to play. Now, it seemed like he was benefiting from:

Matt had incapacitated two players on the spot during the last game and also took out a somewhat famous midfielder, so the outcome of that match was self-evident.

The shopkeeper’s expression immediately became even more enthusiastic, or to put it another way, what was commercial eagerness before was now genuine eagerness!

He lowered his arms from his waist, slightly bent his back, rubbed his hands together, half-nervous and half-ingratiatingly, "Oh my! You should’ve said so earlier, I...

Ah, never mind the rambling, my name’s David Walker, forget about this trash, let me show you some really good stuff..."

As he spoke, he pulled out another pair of AR glasses from the counter.

V took the glasses, nodding slowly, "Hmm... Dog Town... indeed quite small. Didn’t think being associated with sports stars could also connect you to influential people."

Lille took the glasses from V and spoke to Walker, "That’s pretty good. How did you end up in Dog Town?"