Chapter 33

It felt as though everything had happened only yesterday.

But in truth, a full month had passed since that night when they said goodbye to Mann and the others in Santo Domingo.

Over the course of that month, they kept taking on and completing jobs.

Su Xiao had already saved up 18 Potential Points.

He was only 2 points away from the required 20 Potential Points.

That day, the three of them stood in front of an apartment building in The Glen.

"Jack, is this the apartment you were talking about?"

"Yep, that's right. So, what do you think? You said you wanted somewhere high up with a good view. This place meets your requirements, doesn't it?"

Jack laughed heartily.

The building was near the northern part of The Glen, and the surroundings were nice.

It was also not far from Wolf Bar, just across one intersection.

"Your buddy spent a lot of time picking this place out for you. Come on, Su. I guarantee you'll love it once you see the inside."

With that, Jack took the lead into the building.

The first floor was a rectangular lobby.

The reception desk was on the left, while benches for resting and vending machines were scattered along the right.

"Hello, beautiful. We're here to view an apartment—the one on the twelfth floor. We arranged it beforehand."

The woman behind the desk, who had been playing on her phone, looked up at the three of them.

"Viewing fee is ten eurodollars. You may not stay longer than half an hour."

Cyberpunk Young Man's First Home

Jack glared. "Ten eurodollars? Shouldn't it be free? Other apartments in The Glen don't charge for viewings."

The receptionist snapped back in a sarcastic tone.

"Then go view apartments somewhere else. Why come here?"

"You—"

"Forget it, Jack."

Su Xiao stopped Jack before he could lose his temper.

There was no point arguing with someone so obsessed with money.

No matter what you said, she wouldn't listen.

Besides, it was only ten eurodollars.

Now that Su Xiao was working with the Padre, even the loose change he made in a day exceeded that amount.

He pulled out a bill and tossed it over.

"Here. Is that enough?"

"That'll do." The receptionist nodded and granted the three of them temporary access. "Remember, if you don't rent the place, you can't stay in the apartment for more than half an hour. Otherwise, you'll have to pay extra."

Jack snorted through his nose.

He didn't spare the receptionist another glance.

The three entered the elevator.

A large Valentino Gang emblem had been painted on the elevator wall.

That also showed, from another angle, that this place was still within gang territory.

Because they had temporary access, the button for the twelfth floor was lit up on the touchscreen panel that controlled the elevator floors.

The other floors, however, were grayed out.

"Su, you really didn't have to pay. I could've totally talked her into it with my eloquence. Or don't you believe in my eloquence?"

"Of course I do."

"Your expression clearly says you don't."

They soon arrived at the twelfth floor.

Ding! The elevator doors opened.

Aside from Jack, both Su Xiao and V froze for a moment.

They had thought they would have to walk down a hallway before reaching the apartment.

Instead, the apartment was directly behind the elevator doors.

The first thing that caught their eyes was the industrial metal decor.

An entire wall consisted of enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, offering an effortless view of the distant scenery.

V walked over to the huge windows and looked around from side to side.

"Windows everywhere, but no curtains? Isn't that a bit unsafe for privacy?"

"It's fine, they can switch modes." Jack laughed, then called out loudly, "Switch floor-to-ceiling window background."

The smart voice-control system received the command.

The next second, the floor-to-ceiling windows seamlessly switched to a metal backdrop, completely sealed off.

"Damn, this is way too high-end."

V reached out and touched the floor-to-ceiling window.

It had been glass before.

But now, it felt like frosted metal beneath her hand.

"Come on, come on, I'll give you a proper tour."

Jack chattered away like a real estate agent.

"The room on the right is the armory. Plenty of space, right? Su, if you ever get any ideas, you can go wild creating stuff in here."

"Creating stuff, my ass. What, do you think I'm Poison Master?"

Still, Su Xiao was quite satisfied with the armory.

It was a very professional setup.

"When you want to watch TV, just lie down here."

Jack walked over to the sofa in the middle of the living room and sat down.

The sofa was so soft that his body sank deeply into it.

"The TV's huge and crystal clear. Look, you can even see the pores on the female host's face. And doesn't the sound feel amazing? They said it uses some kind of latest sound system or something. I forgot what it was called, but it's insanely good. Totally badass."

"Let me show you this too—the wine cabinet."

Jack got up from the sofa and walked over to the wall beside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

An entire wall was devoted to wine cabinets.

The shelves and refrigerators were packed with alcohol.

This wasn't the cheap stuff you could get from vending machines.

V casually picked up a bottle.

It startled her so badly she nearly dropped it.

Definitely the kind she couldn't afford to drink.

"I've always wanted a wine cabinet like this. Just imagine it—your whole wall filled with the wine you've collected. Even if you don't drink it, when friends come over and see it, it makes you look damn impressive."

"There's also an automatic coffee machine here. It's truly automatic—you don't even need ingredients. Just put a cup underneath, and coffee comes out, like this."

Jack took a cup from the sterilizing cabinet and placed it beneath the automatic coffee machine.

Awkwardly, no coffee came out.

"Fuck! Don't tell me this thing's broken? Damn it, I saw people online saying this brand was reliable. Reliable my ass."

Half embarrassed and half enraged, Jack gave the coffee machine's display a hard slap.

Whether it had been stuck before or whether Jack's smacking did the trick...

Black coffee began to pour out, quickly filling the cup.

"Aha, see? You get what you pay for. A buck well spent."

Jack poured three cups of coffee and handed two to Su Xiao and V.

"Give it a taste. It tastes like money."

Su Xiao had only ever drunk bottled and canned Nescafé coffee before, the kind sold in supermarkets.

This was his first time drinking coffee from an automatic coffee machine.

There was only one word for it—

Passable.

"The bedrooms are upstairs, and the bathroom's up there too. Come take a look."

Jack led the two of them upstairs.

Compared to the apartments most ordinary people lived in, this apartment's bathroom was far more spacious.

The bathroom walls were made of metal, and under the lights, they gave off an involuntary illusion of splendor and opulence.

After Jack led them around the place, they had seen pretty much the whole apartment.

There were also things like a pool table and a small study, but those didn't need much introduction.

V leaned against the second-floor railing. Looking down from there, she could overlook the entire room.

His face was written all over with reluctance to leave.

"This place isn't cheap, is it?"

"For me, no. The monthly rent is forty thousand euros."

"How much? Forty thousand?"

V stared wide-eyed, her face drained of color.

Su Xiao simply nodded, indicating that he understood.

His expression was like the map of Eastern Europe after the Soviet-German partition—completely Poland-less.

He did not look particularly surprised.

Those motel-like places were cramped and claustrophobic, with shabby furniture, outdated appliances, and garbage heaps or scumbags all around.

Even in that kind of living environment, the monthly rent was five thousand euros.

And even then, many people could not afford it and could only live in slums and shacks with even worse conditions.

For a place like this, forty thousand was not much at all.

The apartment was on the twelfth floor. It was not especially high, but the floor-to-ceiling windows faced the southern part of The Glen.

The view was excellent.

Moreover, the apartment's cold-toned heavy-industrial style suited Su Xiao's taste perfectly.

He had already made up his mind. This was the place.

Jack looked at Su Xiao's back as he stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, sunlight spilling across his shoulders.

Besides feeling happy for Su Xiao, Jack could not help but feel a complicated swirl of emotions.

Back when Su Xiao had first arrived in Night City, Jack had said he would take him out to make a name for himself.

Yet how long had it even been?