Starting From Night City

Su Xiao followed Jack's gaze and looked over.

He saw a girl with a hot body and pretty face, wearing a blue tank top and pants, had already gotten a head start and dived into an incredibly futuristic and expensive supercar.

Su Xiao had a good memory.

Even though he'd only glanced at it once, he clearly remembered that the target the fixer wanted them to get, the rich dog, was the very car the girl had gotten into.

Two fixers, both after the same supercar.

And they just happened to run into each other?

"Su, let's go. We absolutely can't let that girl get there first."

Jack called out and rushed forward.

Su Xiao was about to follow, but a sudden sense of alertness washed over him.

"Jack, come back! Jack!"

Jack wasn't listening.

Wakako's reward was substantial; how could he just watch the prize slip through his fingers?

After getting into the car, the girl didn't use a key, but possibly used a tool like a decrypter, and successfully bypassed the supercar's security.

The headlights lit up; the car had clearly been started.

And at that moment, Jack arrived.

Since the security had already been bypassed by the girl, Jack could open the car door from the outside.

He hadn't expected someone to intercept him.

A look of shock and anger flashed across the girl's delicate face.

Jack wasn't polite.

He leaned against the car door, pointing his gun at her head.

"Get out."

Chapter Sixteen: Let's Get Down to Business, Jack

Try to drive away? Or talk her down?

The girl struggled for a second, then gave up on the idea of driving away.

With a gun pointed at her head, she didn't think she could be faster than a bullet.

Maybe someone could withstand a 20mm autocannon barrage with sheer muscle when extremely angry.

But people's physiques weren't all the same.

When she was extremely angry, she would just be extremely angry.

The girl obediently raised her hands.

She was afraid that any sudden movement would provoke Jack.

"OK, take it easy."

Seeing that the girl was willing to cooperate honestly instead of trying to floor it and shake him off, Jack's expression softened considerably.

However, the muzzle never left her head.

"I'm not targeting you, friend. It's just business. Rayfield is mine."

The girl's face contorted with shock and anger. "What? Buddy, don't you know the rules of the street? First come, first served. I was here first."

Jack knew his actions weren't by the book and weren't justified.

So he didn't intend to argue with the girl.

"Listen, I'm giving you two options: a peaceful resolution or a violent one."

"Either way, there's only one outcome: I'm driving this car away."

Jack glanced back quickly.

Seeing that Su Xiao hadn't followed, his heart sank.

But he was already in too deep.

There was no choice but to push forward.

Jack tried to pull the girl out.

But just then, police sirens blared loudly.

Two police cars screeched into the parking lot, drifting to a halt in front of them.

They formed a semi-circle.

"iQué chingados?!"

Jack was stunned.

Why is the NCPD here?

And so fast?

At this moment, he suddenly remembered that Su Xiao had also mentioned having a bad premonition earlier.

He hadn't expected it to come true.

"NCPD! Drop your weapons!"

"Don't move!"

"You're all under arrest!"

"Stay right where you are!"

The officers got out of their cars, guns raised and aimed.

Jack quickly raised his hands, then slowly bent his knees, placing his gun on the ground and tossing it forward.

He knew that with his skin color, just walking down the street, even doing nothing, he had a high chance of getting a free NCPD magazine emptying service.

Let alone the fact that he actually had a gun in his hand.

After Jack disarmed himself, two of the braver officers stepped forward.

They each pushed Jack and the girl to the ground.

A man emerged slowly from the car headlights, which created a visible beam in the swirling dust.

Looking at the two people pinned to the ground, he said in a mocking tone, with a leisurely air.

"Jack Welles, an old friend of the precinct. After all these years, you still haven't learned your lesson?"

Jack looked up. "Hey, isn't this Detective Stints? Long time no see."

"It's Superintendent Stints," the man corrected.

Jack curled his lip in disdain.

"Same old, same old."

Stints didn't take Jack's words to heart.

Instead, he turned to the girl.

"Speaking of which... your accomplice looks familiar too."

Seeing that the girl remained silent, Stints added, "Come on, say something. I'm waiting."

"You recognize me, but I don't recognize you."

Since the other party didn't recognize him, Stints saw no need to introduce himself. Instead, he listed the girl's recent activities: "Ran off to Atlanta, looking for a better life. Seems you didn't find it."

Stints slowly and deliberately walked in front of the girl and crouched down.

The police badge pinned to his chest gleamed under the light behind him.

The work ID hanging around his neck swayed as he moved.

"I've always said it, you scum from Heywood are all the same."

"Born here, live here, die here. Looks like I was right."

The girl looked defiant. "Are you done talking? What do you want?"

Stints sneered.

"If you're out causing trouble, you have to admit your mistakes and stand tall when you get caught. Don't you understand that?"

"If you hadn't been caught, you could have been driving around town in a supercar. But since you were caught, you're definitely going to suffer a bit."

A female officer nearby whispered, "Superintendent, if the Chief hears you say that, he'll call you politically incorrect again."

Stints' facial muscles twitched.

Jack next to him said, "Hey, give us a break. You arrest us, and what else can we do but wank until the trial?"

"The worst that can happen is a few months. You know, the prisons are so full these days, they might even release us early."

Over the past 50 years, drastic changes in social structure have greatly increased the proportion of the poorest population.

Economic recession, global financial crises, and a growing poverty rate have created a large underclass and marginalized class in the cities.

In this era, the right to education is firmly controlled by corporations. Forget climbing the ladder, ordinary people would be lucky not to fall further.

Oh, they're already at the bottom of society, the marginalized class, with no room to fall?

Never mind then.

For most people in this world, the first thing they see when they arrive in this world is their parents, and that's exactly what they'll be 200% of the time in the future.

The first thing they see is their environment, and that's 1000% who they will be, unable to escape poverty for the rest of their lives.

Technology is everywhere, but advanced technology always caters only to the tiny minority at the very top of the pyramid.

Stints himself came from Heywood.

But he knew that cases like his were outliers, not to be used for reference.

Besides him, there was another person from Heywood who played basketball and also got a chance to change his fate.

In the vastness of Heywood, people like them were few and far between.

More people from Heywood would either join the Valentino Gang and end up getting shot dead by a stray bullet one day.

Or they would live as ordinary, unremarkable people, only to be shot dead by a stray bullet one day.

Even if they were lucky enough to avoid getting caught up in various accidents their entire lives, they would still be exploited to death.

That's why Stints wouldn't say, "Get a real job, Jack."

It wasn't Jack's fault.

It was the world's fault!

It was Night City's fault!

It was the corporations' fault, which took everything from people, then gave them a little back, making them grateful!

Just as Jack had said, the NCPD didn't have enough cells to hold petty thieves like them.

Even if they were thrown in, it would only be for a few months at most.

And because of the lack of cells, they would be released early.

That's how Night City was.

There were too many criminals to fit in the cells.

The NCPD received dozens of emergency calls every minute.

Fifty percent of the NCPD's police force was deployed to North Oak and Charter Hill.

The former was the domain of the wealthy and powerful, while the latter was a paradise for the middle class.