Six Settlements and Waste

"You should wipe your face first."

After a moment of hesitation, Blanca took out a handkerchief and handed it to Karl. "You can't really walk around looking like that."

"Looking like what?"

Karl belatedly found a shard of glass in the room and looked at his reflection. His expression turned unpleasant when he saw his face. "No wonder my face felt sticky."

He wiped his face with the handkerchief, cleaned it, and handed it back to Blanca.

"Thanks."

Would a normal person wipe blood off their face with someone else's handkerchief and then hand it back without a second thought?

Blanca's lips twitched as she looked at her still-bloody handkerchief. Considering how well he handled the job, she held back, took the handkerchief, and then watched as Karl began rummaging through the corpses of the Maelstrom members.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for money and guns to sell, of course."

Doesn't every mercenary do that?

Karl glanced at his employer, wondering if she came from some wealthy background where people didn't even pick up money off the ground.

Realizing she had asked a stupid question, Blanca felt like her brain wasn't working very well in front of this killing machine.

Under Blanca's gaze, Karl spent ten minutes scavenging money and weapons. Then, the two of them didn't linger upstairs any longer. The job was done, and there was no need to stay.

As they walked downstairs, Karl took the opportunity to scavenge the three bodies at the entrance again. Then, he looked at the car that had brought them here but ultimately decided not to take it with him.

It wasn't that Karl wasn't tempted, but all modern cars had specialized locking and authentication systems. He didn't have the right unlocking tools, and his hacking skills were only just beginning. He couldn't do anything with the car.

"Need me to give you a ride?"

As a reward for her quick payment, Karl was happy to give Blanca a ride.

"No need, my car's here."

Karl watched as the cybernetic eye in Blanca's eye socket flickered. Then, a Villefort Cortes V5000 Valor drove itself from a distance and slowly stopped in front of them.

[Villefort Cortes V5000 Valor]: The most valuable model produced by Villefort Motors. Its simple and elegant appearance is popular among corporate executives, politicians, and gang leaders. Although prone to malfunctions, its sturdy body, manufactured in cooperation with Militech, ensures the safety of the occupants.

The driver's side door opened automatically. Blanca got into the car but didn't immediately close the door and drive away. Instead, she kept one foot on the floor mat and the other on the ground outside the car, extending an invitation to Karl. "Want me to give you a ride?

A smile finally appeared on her face. "Consider it for future cooperation."

It seemed like that phone call would be made frequently in the future.

Thinking this, Karl declined Blanca's offer. "I can walk back myself."

"Alright."

Seeing Karl's refusal, Blanca didn't insist. She waved goodbye to Karl, straightened herself in the seat, closed the car door, and drove away. Karl watched her back for a long time.

A few minutes later, Karl sighed. "That car must be worth at least 370,000 Eurodollars. My commission is still too little."

Karl had initially thought 50,000 Eurodollars was a lot, but compared to the car his employer casually drove away...

"Gotta work harder next time."

Carrying his bags as he walked south through Watson District, Karl browsed through the prices of related vehicles in his mind. He happened to see an advertisement.

'Want to travel the stars? Want to set foot on the moon? Now, lunar travel doesn't require ten million, doesn't require one million. It only takes 250,000 Eurodollars! Don't hesitate, act now...'

Lunar travel?

In this day and age, even lunar travel was casually available?

He was a little tempted.

Karl still had a bit of longing for the stars. Then, below the advertisement for the 250,000 Eurodollar three-day, two-night lunar tour, he saw the cost of settling on the moon. The related procedures and processing fees added up to...

Five million Eurodollars.

And that didn't even include the cost of buying a house on the moon.

Karl was curious about the price of lunar housing, so he looked up related information and found the prices on Night City News Channel 54.

'The price of an immigration house is 100 million Eurodollars. Although the price is a bit high, it's nothing compared to your safety.' (In-game news)

One hundred million.

Karl did some quick math. He would have to do Blanca's job two thousand times to get that much money. At a rate of ten deaths per mission, twenty thousand people would have to die to earn one hundred million. That number... the entire Maelstrom gang wasn't enough to kill. He might as well talk to a company executive.

Luckily, he didn't plan to settle on the moon, but he could try going to the moon for fun if he had the time.

And going to the moon was no different.

Karl looked at the examples Night City News Channel 54 used to illustrate the legitimate and safe immigration agencies they recommended. Some companies deceived people into working and selling their lives on the moon under the guise of immigrating to a paradise. He could only say that companies were the same everywhere, unchanging.

Whether they were bodies bound by Earth's gravity or seemingly free to roam the stars, they were ultimately blinded by the neon lights that shone brighter than the sun.

As he left the Industrial Park in northern Watson District and saw more and more billboards, Karl thought for a moment and decided to try eating steak tonight.

Worm steak might actually have six times the protein content of real beef.

Except for the two Militech Saratoga Submachine Guns, Karl sold all the other guns. With that money, plus the commission and the odds and ends he had scavenged, Karl's account was approaching the unprecedented height of 60,000 Eurodollars.

He tossed a submachine gun to Jack, then considered what cyberware they might want, figuring he could front the money for them.

Karl, now flush with cash, was noticeably more extravagant. While pondering how to spend his money, he walked into a roadside restaurant and ordered something he'd never had before: a rib steak costing a full twenty Eurodollars.

In just two minutes, the worm-synthesized steak was served. Hydroxyapatite-manufactured synthetic bones were inserted into the meat, serving as the rib portion of the rib steak decoration, looking quite the part.

You had to admit, it already looked eighty percent similar to the real rib steaks Karl had eaten before.

Wonder what it tastes like.

A few seconds later, Karl, who had cut off a piece of soft 'beef' with a knife and fork and put it in his mouth to chew, contorted his face.

Damn, that money was wasted.