Don't Judge by Appearances: He Looks Like He Can Only Eat One Bowl, but He Can Actually Eat Two

A muscular man in a leather jacket, wearing a large gold bracelet and sporting a man bun, leaned against a battered sofa.

He also gripped a pistol tightly in one hand.

"I'm so broke I'm about ready to start farming. You're here to find me, right?"

"Are you the fixer named Wells?"

"No need to be so formal. Just call me Jack, por favor."

"Then you can call me Su." Su Xiao's gaze swept over the floor and landed on the crate beneath Jack's foot. "Is this what we're supposed to transport?"

To Su Xiao's surprise, Jack didn't get straight to the point.

"Where I'm from, we get to know each other before discussing business. It's a custom... or maybe you could call it manners. Get it?"

"Can a few words really get us to know each other? To be honest, I don't really understand."

Charui's figure surfaced involuntarily in Su Xiao's mind.

Nomads were always saying that everything was for the family.

They could be considered the people who valued deep bonds the most.

But who would have thought that the leader who always proclaimed "the family's interests come first" would abandon the Buckle Family and leave alone at the final moment?

"It's fine if you don't get it. I'm a good judge of character."

"Is that so? All right, then. If you insist."

Su Xiao made an inviting gesture. "Since you brought it up, why don't you start?"

"No problem." Jack adjusted his sitting position. "Jack Wells, born and raised in Night City. I bleed Heywood."

"Sorry, I don't understand what that means. I've never been to Night City."

"Then imagine a place where everyone's like a brother or sister, or at least a distant cousin."

Jack shrugged. "That's Heywood. And everyone carries a piece."

"Sounds like you live in a neighborhood controlled by a gang."

"That's right, the Valentino Gang. All right, your turn, amigo."

"Su Xiao. You can call me Su. I lived with the Buckle Family for a while."

"You're a Nomad? But I heard Nomads generally don't have much contact with city folk."

"I only joined them later. Besides, the Buckle Family is gone now. People have to find a way to make a living, don't they?"

"That makes a lot of sense." Jack lowered the foot he had kept on the crate and pushed it forward.

"The cargo's here. Take a look."

It was called a crate, but it wasn't an ordinary wooden one.

The crate looked highly technological, with several small screens on its front.

"This crate looks pretty unusual. Have you opened it?"

"No."

"You don't know what you're transporting yourself?"

"If I don't know, I can still sleep soundly. So I don't want to know. That's a good thing."

"If you put it that way... all right. Hurry up and load the cargo into the car. The sooner we're done, the sooner we can relax."

"A huevo."

Jack picked up the crate, and Su Xiao led the way outside. He opened the SUV's trunk.

"This crate's really heavy."

Jack put the crate into the trunk, and the entire vehicle sank lower.

He casually shut the trunk. "I was starting to think you'd stood me up."

"I should be the one saying that. Weren't we supposed to meet in a town outside the city? I went there and didn't see you. I spent quite a while looking for you."

Jack chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"I was just keeping a low profile. That dumbass sheriff kept going on about corporations and order. You could tell at a glance he was a real pain in the ass."

"Definitely."

Su Xiao voiced his agreement.

The SUV sped along the highway as Joshua trees flashed past on both sides.

The CHOOH2 on the roadside billboards gave off a soft white glow.

Wisps of black smoke rose from the burning tires.

Following what McCoy had taught him, Su Xiao glanced at Jack, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

"Have you prepared all the customs declarations?"

Jack answered as though it were obvious. "Of course. Didn't the fixer ever send you a job?"

Su Xiao's heart skipped a beat.

He knew what a fixer was.

But he had never been to Night City, so naturally no fixer had ever sent him a job.

On the surface, however, Su Xiao still put on an unconcerned expression.

"Of course they have. I'm just confirming."

Seeing Su Xiao like that, Jack asked worriedly, "Listen, amigo, we're professionals, right?"

Su Xiao nodded.

He said nothing.

The atmosphere inside the car suddenly fell silent.

Before long, Jack took the initiative to speak. "Hey, have you... run this kind of smuggling route before?"

"What, are you nervous?"

"Me? Ja, por favor."

This time, it was Su Xiao's turn to see through Jack.

Under Su Xiao's seemingly casual stare, Jack grew uncomfortable and could only admit honestly, "All right, maybe a little."

Well, damn. He had thought he was the only amateur here.

Who would've guessed everyone in the car was one?

Then nobody had any business laughing at anyone else.

The car fell silent again.

As they drew closer to Night City, vehicles began appearing on the highway, coming and going.

They were all heading into Night City.

"Hey, we're about to cross the border. What do we do now?"

Su Xiao had more or less figured it out.

Jack was probably doing a cargo run for the first time.

Thinking about how this newbie had tested him earlier, Su Xiao found it amusing.

"Don't worry. Just follow the normal procedure."

"The normal procedure is..."

"Scan the vehicle, check the documents, you know the drill."

Jack gave him a thumbs-up. "Claro."

Su Xiao looked at him. "Don't worry. I'll handle the negotiations."

With Jack's build, that huge gold bracelet, and all those tattoos—

In the place where Su Xiao had lived in his previous life, the enthusiastic citizens of Chaoyang would have had their eyes on him long ago.

P.S. The plot of the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners takes place one year before the game. Here, the author is shifting the anime's timeline slightly later. Don't worry—the Edgerunners storyline will all be written, and all the characters will appear. Those who should be saved will be saved, and those who should be killed will be killed.

Besides, some people may have to die more than once.

Chapter Ten: Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover—A Stomach That Looks Capable of Holding Only One Bowl of Rice Can Actually Hold Two

Inside the customs declaration lane.

After the vehicle ahead passed inspection, it was their turn.

The border guard's voice rang out through the loudspeaker.

"Please drive your vehicle into the inspection area."

The armed border guards kept their weapons trained on their own Sentry Turret the entire time...

Such tight security and overwhelming firepower were enough to dispel any thought of forcing their way through the checkpoint.

Following the instructions, Su Xiao parked the car and waited for the scan.

Jack, meanwhile, looked extremely uncomfortable.

The border guards were still bearable.

What really had him breaking out in a cold sweat were the two Sentry Turrets positioned to the left and right.

If anything went wrong, they would be shredded in a matter of seconds.

At best, the car could serve as their iron coffin.

It made him feel as though he were being roasted over a fire.

And he really hated that feeling.

He couldn't help muttering,

"Why do I feel like we're about to bite the dust?"

Su Xiao: "..."

Although it was only his first time, it was inevitable that Jack would be nervous.

Actually, Su Xiao was nervous too.

But you couldn't go around raising flags like that.

Su Xiao hurriedly dispelled the jinx.

"Relax. This is all routine inspection. Didn't you see the car ahead? It went through the same thing."

Jack froze.

Thinking about it carefully, that did seem to be the case.

That made him slightly less nervous.

"Right, where's the customs declaration?"

Jack handed over a sheet of black paper.

Su Xiao glanced at it.

It clearly had L.O.A. written on it.

There was no need to look at anything else below. Those three letters were enough.

If he remembered correctly, McCoy had once told him that L.O.A. meant "lost on arrival."