A normal day?

Chapter 34 12. Just Another Day?

"Good morning, Night City!"

To the familiar voice of Night City's announcer, Stanley, Karl slowly opened his eyes, then scanned his surroundings. He found Oliver and Jack sprawled haphazardly on the sofa, surrounded by scattered beer bottles. He was the only one who had made it to the bed.

"Was the TV on all night?"

Hearing the voice, Karl yawned and rubbed his eyes again.

He hadn't drunk anything yesterday, but he was a little tired from doing too much during the day. While Oliver and Jack were having a drinking contest, he thought he'd lie down on the bed for a bit and then get up and join them, but he didn't expect to just doze off and fall asleep.

He really was too tired.

Yawning again, Karl didn't bother to disturb Oliver and Jack, who were sleeping soundly like two dead pigs. He went to the bathroom in Oliver's room, which was identical to the one in his own apartment, first washed his face, and then used his fingers mixed with water to barely brush his teeth. Only then did he feel a little more awake.

The water in Night City had a strange taste, so it could only be used for washing. If you wanted to drink it, you had to buy special purified water, which was more expensive than a bottle of booze.

But expensive or not, you had to buy it.

After buying a bottle of purified water from the vending machine in the room, which cost twenty eddies, the price of a synthetic ribeye steak, Karl rinsed his mouth with it and spat it into the trash can, then started gulping it down.

After drinking a bottle of almost three hundred milliliters of purified water in one go, Karl felt that the strange taste left in his mouth from eating and drinking yesterday had faded a little.

He checked his messages. None of the clients from the past few days had sent any more jobs, and neither had that Fixer named Faraday.

"So bored."

Looking at Oliver and Jack, who were sleeping soundly, Karl resisted the urge to buy purified water and splash them awake. After thinking for a moment, he decided to buy these two some breakfast. After leaving a message, Karl thought about it and took the Kenshin Pistol before leaving the room.

In Night City, you had to be careful at all times.

Going down to the first floor, Karl walked out of the elevator towards the food stall he had seen on his first day in 2075, and found that it hadn't changed much since then.

Except that the Chinese cuisine had been replaced by Japanese food, and the owner had changed, the stall was still the same stall, and the people eating were still the same people.

Like parts on a machine, when they break, they are replaced to ensure the machine runs normally.

He wondered when this machine would collapse entirely, and replacement would no longer be able to keep it running.

Arriving at the owner's stall, he bought two large sushi platters to take away, plus a bowl of ramen without meat to eat now. Sitting on the still greasy and broken seat, which had a hint of blood compared to before, Karl only hoped to have a good meal today.

But fate didn't grant his wish. Just as it was destined that Karl couldn't have a good meal at this stall, gunshots rang out again in the surrounding area before the owner could even start cooking. But this time, the owner had obviously learned from his predecessor's lesson. The moment the gunshots rang out, he abandoned his work and shrank under the counter.

Alright then.

Karl gripped the Kenshin, looking into the distance to see who dared to disturb his meal. The last time the Maelstrom dared to do this, their graves were probably built into someone else's house by now.

As he looked over, a bullet flew over and was cut in half by the Monomolecular Wire that Karl casually flicked out.

He had seen many samurai Braindances where they used katanas to split bullets. Compared to them using katanas to block bullets, Karl, with the computing power of the 'Militech Parallel Lines' access port in his brain, could easily cut bullets with the Monomolecular Wire.

Of course, he could do it, but Karl's current configuration didn't allow him to face machine gun or rifle fire head-on. He could only use it to show off against stray bullets like this.

Karl saw the two groups of people who were exchanging fire, and he didn't see any gang symbols on them. In other words...

"Street thugs who can't even get into a gang?"

The gangs in Night City had at least some rules about income. Not just anyone could join. The thugs Karl saw probably wouldn't even be wanted by the Scavengers. In other words...

There was no profit in killing them, and it might even waste bullets.

"This damn City of Light, it really is quite exciting under the bright lights."

Karl wasn't interested in dealing with these thugs who dared to shoot at each other with Lexingtons and disposable pistols. Moreover, in the corner of Karl's eye, the NCPD had arrived.

The NCPD wasn't very good at teaching gangs a lesson, but they were very capable of beating up these thugs. Not only were they capable, but they were very capable.

"NCPD, open up!"

With a rather emotional roar, several NCPD officers, who had finally found someone they could easily beat, pounced on the troublemaking thugs in a rather valiant manner.

Although most of the NCPD officers were also using Lexingtons, there was still a difference between Lexingtons. Compared to the Lexingtons used by these thugs, which might jam after a few more shots, the Lexingtons in the hands of the NCPD had basically been personally modified. The sound they made when firing was loud and crisp, giving Karl a strange listening impression, like a street popcorn machine popping open.

Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I had popcorn. I should have gotten some before watching the movie yesterday.

Under the brave suppression of the NCPD officers, the troublemaking thugs were either lying on the ground or being arrested in a few minutes. By the time a bowl of steaming ramen was placed on the table in front of Karl, the matter had been resolved.

Karl turned his head and watched the owner, who had started to get busy again as if nothing had happened, and the customers who continued to eat. Then he turned his head and looked at the battlefield less than a hundred meters away, and was silent for a while. Looking at the ramen in front of him, which exuded the aroma of seasoning and made him a little hungry, he finally decided not to think so much.

Eating was important.

"Our NCPD officers have once again successfully suppressed a heinous act by gang members. Let us pay the highest respect to the brave and respectable NCPD officers who protect Night City and bring safety to the citizens!"

In the live broadcast sound of the official spokesperson who came with the NCPD officers, Karl only felt that his stomach was not very comfortable after eating the ramen.

Eating greasy ramen early in the morning was too much for him.

Rubbing his stomach, Karl picked up the two bags of sushi and was about to go back when he suddenly noticed a person walking over next to the NCPD officer's cordon, who was hanging his head, staggering, and behaving very strangely.

For some reason, yesterday's news flashed through Karl's mind.

'Cyberpsychosis disappeared before the Psycho Squad arrived.'