I Have Arrived

2. I Have Arrived

After discovering that she possessed a cheat ability that, in 2075, would only require a translator implant to obtain, Carl was somewhat excited. She had already prepared herself to face this chaotic world naked and clean-handed, yet before facing it, she learned that she was actually wearing a pair of underwear. That was comforting enough.

She was not some guy who had drunk too much Water of Life. Wearing underwear was naturally more reassuring.

All right, she had adjusted her emotions. What should she do next?

After thinking for a moment, Carl had an answer.

First, she needed to find somewhere to live and enough food to keep herself from starving for a few meals. Hmm, she also needed some kind of mobile communicator. She wondered whether this world still sold normal phones besides installed and external cyberware.

Carl had no intention of using her flesh and blood to fight machines. If she could get cyberware installed, she definitely would. But just thinking about it told her that kind of high-tech stuff had to be absurdly expensive. Maybe older models would be cheaper?

Of course, they might instead be more expensive precisely because they were too old.

As her thoughts turned, Carl walked back over to the guy who had been so out of it while peeing earlier that he had completely collapsed on the ground.

Carl noticed that beside the young man, who looked twenty-five or twenty-six, had a green mohawk, and metal plates installed on both cheeks, there was a handgun on the ground.

Militech. Lexington.

Hmm?

Carl felt as if she had seen something on the gun, but it vanished in the blink of an eye.

Puzzled, she focused on the handgun. To her surprise, words she could understand appeared before her eyes.

Militech M-10 AF Lexington: A compact Kinetic Pistol produced by Militech. Lightweight, easy to use, and with low recoil, it was suitable for subduing people.

Oh, so her cheat ability did not just let her understand written words. It worked on weapons too.

Could it work on people?

With that thought in mind, Carl looked at the green-mohawked young man, and words appeared before her as well.

Insufficient information

Insufficient information?

Why was there insufficient information? What was the difference between people and weapons?

As she thought that, inspiration flashed through Carl's mind, and she suddenly understood why.

To confirm her theory, she focused on other passersby. Every person she looked at displayed the words "Insufficient information," but some of the weapons at their waists could be identified by Carl, while others also displayed "Insufficient information."

So that's how it is.

Carl figured it out. This cheat ability was not some translator at all. It was merely a way of reviewing and organizing her memories. Carl had seen those words and heard those terms before, and her cheat ability summarized everything in her mind related to them, digging up memories buried deep within her mind and translating them for her.

Carl had figured it out because she remembered seeing an introduction to the Lexington in advance game leaks, and it was exactly the same as what she was seeing now.

In a sense, it was like an automatic eidetic memory that helped her organize her recollections.

Not bad. Its functionality went beyond a simple translator.

Carl stared at the Lexington, then looked at the green-haired mohawk lying nearby. After thinking it over, she still did not pick up the weapon.

It was not because she had some noble moral bottom line. It was simply because Carl noticed that the guy's body was still twitching.

What if he suddenly woke up, instinctively grabbed the gun, and put a round into her?

I should think of another way.

Just as Carl thought that, she suddenly noticed that the green-mohawked man's body stopped twitching, and the words she was looking at changed.

Deceased. Cause of death: drug overdose.

Carl looked around. She was beside what amounted to a garbage heap next to this apartment building, and there was basically no one around. In other words...

"Normally, the dead deserve respect, but for me right now, the living matter more. Sorry for disturbing you."

Picking up the handgun from the ground, Carl noticed that once the green-mohawked man stopped twitching, several colorful paper bills slipped out of his pocket as well.

Eurodollars

"You're oddly polite."

After taking the two hundred and thirty Eurodollars, Carl gave the green-mohawked man a moment of silence in mourning before turning and leaving.

Carl had memorized his face. She would remember this messy debt of gratitude.

If you still have family, then once I have the ability to find them, I'll repay your family.

Carl was not an exceptionally moral person. She simply believed that kindness had to be repaid and grudges had to be avenged, though in the strictest sense, she was stealing from him.

Hiding the Lexington beneath her clothes, Carl, dressed in a black coat, headed toward the elevator. She would take things one step at a time. First, she would search the streets for somewhere to get a phone or something similar. In this future world, even a monk needed a receiver to accept offerings.

Entering the noisy elevator, which played all sorts of advertisements, Carl pressed the button to go down. As the elevator descended, flecks of light shining through its battered doors fell across her face, making her expression appear hazy and unreal.

Boom.

Amid the warped groan of old machinery, the elevator doors opened, and Carl stepped out of the megatower.

What met her eyes was light.

Brilliant, multicolored light illuminating towering buildings and bustling crowds.

Night City was a city located in the Free State of Northern California, on the United States' West Coast's Del Coronado Bay. It had been described as the City of Dreams, the Crime Capital, and more, but now that Carl was seeing the real Night City, her first impression was something completely unfitting—almost ridiculous.

The City of Light.

A city filled with light.

It was too dazzling. Almost blinding.

Carl looked at the city and suddenly smiled.

But whether it was the City of Dreams, the Crime Capital, the City of Light, or Night City, it did not matter.

Because she truly existed in this city now.

Anyway, she had arrived.

Carl closed her eyes and faced the sky, then lowered her head and opened her eyes to look at the streets again.

I, Carl, have arrived!