Chapter 665 - 636: Rock King

Boom, boom, boom, boom...

The riding experience of Floating Shadow was sheer torture: there was no anti-noise system, and the roaring of the engine could only be slightly dampened by stuffing something temporary between the armored panels...

Sitting inside felt like sitting in a rocket, but the noise didn’t affect V and Jack’s spirits, on the contrary, it was like a poor kid buying a second-hand manual sports car—the louder the engine, the more excited everyone in the car was—

"Holy shit! Company Square!"

"Holy shit, H8 Skyscraper!"

"Holy shit, billboards!"

"Holy shit... What is that? Terrorist Mobile Team?"

V, like a child leaning over the edge of a bed, couldn’t stop pointing at familiar things in the distance of Night City, everything that used to give her a proper lady’s graceful appearance—gown, long hair, high heels—was gone.

Most importantly, she kept yanking on Lille’s head, hugging his sturdy, stiff neck, and shaking it, making squeaking noises...

"Stop shaking! We’re about to start descending! Honey, love, dear!"

"Oh..."

V reluctantly withdrew her gaze and at the same time, took her strong, forceful arms off Lille’s neck.

"Thanks for getting off me," Lille said grumpily, "I know you’re excited, but hold off on the excitement..."

Smack!

"Really nice, really nice." V clapped his large hands, sitting back on the sofa and recalling everything he had just seen:

Although it wasn’t flying in the skies of Night City, watching from the heights of Dog Town still offered a different scene.

From up high, the skyscrapers didn’t seem so oppressive anymore, Terrorist Mobile Team...

"Right, why was the Terrorist Mobile Team there?"

"Because I veered off slightly to the side a while ago, they wanted to seize the illegal floating car... Okay, sit tight, we’re off to a party now."

[Da Mai: Preparing to land.]

Boom—

The vector thrusters started adjusting the attitude of Floating Shadow, this unprecedented floating car was approaching the Gem Blue Night Club.

From the outside, this vehicle didn’t look high-end at all; in fact, because the vehicle itself was a pickup truck modified into a floating car, with most of the added systems and engines placed on the bed of the pickup, it had a somewhat odd look.

Among a bunch of business floating cars, this black-painted unfamiliar model vehicle directly drove into the floating car parking shed; a helicopter couldn’t have managed such a precise entry impossible, but for a floating car, it was just entry-level attitude control capability.

As the Hamburg Criminal Group’s first truly self-developed, self-produced floating car product, although it still had many shortcomings, at least it passed in this respect...

Bang!

The landing gear hit the floor, and the thrusters whipped up loads of dust.

A war-zone level landing experience.

"Phew!" V let out another strange noise, spreading his arms wide, looking through the sunroof of Floating Shadow...

Instead of calling it a sunroof, this thing was more like a tank hatch, with high-strength bulletproof glass easily withstanding large impacts; an ordinary rifle really couldn’t shatter it.

This highly combative floating car didn’t dampen her spirits; instead, it made her more reflective on the events of the year.

"Cough, cough."

Just then, Lille coughed and grabbed V’s hand with his bionic mechanical limb, switching to party mode in a second:

"Alright, off we get, Elizabeth."

V chuckled and touched his nose: "Dear, you really are something."

Jack watched this scene and quietly gave the two a thumbs up:

It didn’t feel like an act.

"By the way, do we still have time? I told Misty to draw some tarot cards for us for good luck..."

"Can’t you act more like a bodyguard?"

Lille suddenly realized the weakness of their three-person disguise team was exposed in an instant.

Fortunately, Jack quickly got into character, stood up straight, then leaned towards Lille and said,

"Deputy Mayor, would you like to draw tarot cards?"

Lille slightly ducked his head and turned to glance at Jack’s intense gaze, then fell silent for a moment. "Let’s do it now."

"Alrighty."

Jack straightened up and pushed the wheelchair, and V softly tapped Lille, whispering, "That guy looks familiar..."

Following the sound, Lille saw another floating car at the other end of the parking lot; compared to their trio, that team had more bodyguards, and they looked very... well, authoritative.

A group of black-clad bodyguards escorted a man in a cape coat out, the faint light shining on his white hair even from a distance, and he could still be heard bitching:

"What a crappy place, if it’s not this place at war, how could they offer us such a huge appearance fee?"

"Don’t mention it, my dad..."

Squinting, Jack observed for a while before saying nonchalantly, "Oh my god, isn’t that Kerry Orodin? He’s here too?"

V, trailing behind Lille and pretending to read documents, asked with a hand at her temple, "Who’s that?"

"Rock star, and don’t be fooled by his looks, like a guy in his twenties or thirties; he is actually a hundred-year-old man... Wait, V, you haven’t heard of him?"

After finishing, Jack added, "Remember the ’Intubation’ that is often played back in the afterlife and ’Barra Larafus Love Song’ that’s commonly played on the streets?

"’I think my colleagues/like slaves among the sheep/an impact running through the cattle’..."

"’Put on a suit, nonstop fucking clocking in’... that one?"

Humming the melody, Jack suddenly awakened V’s memories: ’Intubation’ needs no further mention, always on the afterlife’s playlist, and ’Barra Larafus Love Song’ was also a wildly aggressive rock song, essentially a rant about corporate dogs, often played at gang kids’ parties.

"Right! This is truly a big name, just think, if he wasn’t a big name, how could he have that much money to live over a hundred years! They’ve hired a rock king!"

Jack loved chasing celebrities; V didn’t have that habit unless the person was a mission target.

But now she continued to hum the bridge of ’Barra Larafus Love Song’:

"’Blood splattered on my face, I died in a suit, a bullet pierced me, momma, freedom has come’..."

"These lyrics are a bit unlucky." Lille suddenly said oddly, "Can you hum something else?"

"I think so too." Jack shivered:

He was wearing a suit right now, and oddly enough, he also had a mom.

No wonder corporate dogs don’t like listening to rock music; it’s frightening to hear.

"Little Li Zi, try something new."

Lille thought for a moment. "Then you can hum this: ’I am the defiant butterfly, I am the defiant butterfly’..."

"Defiant butterfly? What does that mean?"

"A butterfly that flies against the wind... Alright, everyone, perk up, someone will surely recognize we aren’t from Perares soon, but don’t panic if they do."

Suddenly, V said, "Hey, is he looking at us? That Kerry?"

"Never mind him, he is just here to perform, let’s go inside first."

[Contact: Fiona]

[Fiona: We’ll be at the Sapphire Green soon... Matt, what are you looking at?]

[Fiona: ...Ah? Sorry, there was a little incident, Matt said there was a vagrant on the street who looked a lot like his dad.]

Lille paused: Did they really sing about Matt’s dad?