Starting from Night City

Constant muttering.

"No way, it's impossible, this is just a coincidence, impossible..."

Su Xiao remained silent, only quickening his pace.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the meeting spot Max had mentioned.

Both of them were stunned when they saw the scene before them.

This must have once been the last refuge for the marginalized bottom-dwellers, abandoned by the city and society due to rising poverty rates.

Over ten dilapidated tents stood under the overpass, enjoying the shade and comfort.

On one side of the camp was a sun-drenched slope, where they could even climb up to sunbathe on good weather days.

Despite extreme poverty.

Yet, under such harsh conditions, the people gathered here, struggling to survive, were still willing to help each other, even accepting other unfortunate souls who came here.

In the center of the camp, there was an open-air chapel.

A holy cross rested on a simple wooden table.

Seeing this scene, your mind would naturally conjure up such an image:

--Whenever it was a day of worship, people would gather before the holy cross to listen to and feel the wisdom of the Lord.

However, now.

This beautiful scene had been shattered.

The tents that could shelter people from the wind and rain were overturned.

The holy cross was also broken into several pieces.

The chapel in the center of the camp was engulfed in raging flames.

The bodies of the people and the pastor burned in the inferno.

Max froze for a moment.

He then dragged a charred corpse out of the inferno.

"Is this the person who was supposed to contact you?"

Max nodded.

He put on gloves and began to examine the body.

After a thorough search, Max

stood up again and sighed helplessly.

"The neural slots were destroyed, the cybernetic eye was dug out, and the brain suffered fundamental destruction that cannot be restored by data."

"This kind of method can only be done by Corporation people."

Ordinary gang thugs would just kill.

They wouldn't clean up the scene so thoroughly.

Only Corporation people knew that even a dead person could potentially reveal information.

That's why they destroyed Esteban's neural slots and dug out his cybernetic eye.

They also completely destroyed his brain.

This was to prevent highly skilled hackers from extracting anything from his mind.

Regrettably.

Max would never know.

What Esteban had wanted to tell him.

"I can't stay here any longer, or I might throw up."

Max couldn't stand the smell of burning human flesh in the air.

He also couldn't bear to see these people, who had provoked no one and offended no one, simply huddling together for warmth, become firewood for a bonfire.

And all of this was just because Esteban had requested the meeting place to be here.

Arasaka had come to silence them all.

"Do you want me to take you back?"

"No, I'll call a ride myself." Max had already walked a distance, but as if remembering something, he turned back. "Oh, right, this is your payment. If anything else comes up next time, I'll contact you again."

After transferring the money to Su Xiao, Max finally left in a hurry without looking back.

After Max left, Su Xiao approached Esteban's body.

Just as Max had said.

Esteban's body was beyond recognition.

Even the most talented hacker in history, Lachie Bartmos, resurrected.

Would absolutely not be able to extract even a tiny bit of data from Esteban's corpse.

Su Xiao placed Esteban's corpse back into the campfire.

Hoping that Esteban, and the people here, could go to a better world after death.

Just as Su Xiao was also preparing to leave.

Suddenly, a strange "gurgling" sound came from a box in the camp.

This was of course not the cooing of a pigeon.

It sounded more like the rumbling of a stomach when it's hungry.

"There are still survivors?"

Su Xiao activated the scanning mode of his tactical goggles.

However, he found nothing.

He was slightly stunned.

Then he looked at the box that had made the strange noise earlier.

He scanned again.

Still no reaction.

He understood.

Either the box was coated with anti-detection material.

Or the person hiding inside had installed an anti-detection jammer.

Considering this was just a very ordinary storage box.

The latter possibility was more likely.

Su Xiao placed his left hand on his scabbard.

He walked over slowly.

Without making a sound.

Reaching the box, he took a deep breath.

Then he abruptly lifted the lid of the storage box.

At almost the same moment, a golden light pierced the darkness.

Heading straight for Su Xiao's face.

Su Xiao tilted his head, dodging the monofilament wire that came at him.

He then drew his blade and blocked to the side.

The monofilament wire wrapped around the crimson blade.

Sparks from the friction and collision rained down.

Neither giving way.

It was then that Su Xiao noticed that he was grappling with a white-haired girl.

The girl quickly realized.

That grappling was not advantageous for her.

So she voluntarily severed the connection with the monofilament wire.

She leaped out of the storage box.

Stepping on the scattered debris, she landed on top of Su Xiao.

Her legs clamped tightly around Su Xiao's neck.

Trying to use momentum and body strength to throw Su Xiao down.

Both of them fell towards the ground simultaneously.

But Su Xiao broke free from the girl's restraint. Instead, while falling, he twisted her arm behind her back and pinned her to the ground.

Unable to move.

The girl struggled a few times.

But it was all in vain.

Su Xiao held her firmly on the ground.

Finally, as if resigned, the girl closed her eyes.

Chapter 37: Cool Stance, LED Lights, Previous Job Was Mining, Escaped Graphics Card Girl

"I'll let you go now, but I hope you won't do anything rash, okay?"

The girl hesitated for a moment.

He slowly nodded.

Su Xiao then got up from the girl, taking a few steps back.

The girl immediately got up, staring at Su Xiao with a face full of caution and vigilance.

She completely ignored the dust and dirt clinging to her hair, face, and body.

Su Xiao looked around.

"Who are you? Did you kill the scavengers in this camp?"

The girl retorted, "Didn't you?"

"Huh?!"

Su Xiao and the girl stared at each other, eyes wide.

After some communication, the two realized it was a misunderstanding.

Su Xiao had mistaken the girl for a cyberpsycho who had killed everyone.

And the girl had mistaken Su Xiao for an Arasaka special assault unit that had slaughtered the entire camp.

That's why the girl had suddenly attacked Su Xiao when he opened the box.

Now that the misunderstanding was cleared up.

The girl's expression softened a little.

But she still remained cold and vigilant.

However, Su Xiao could understand.

After all, in Night City, there were very few people like Jack who would offer help to newcomers.

More common were scavenger gangs targeting your organs and cybernetics.

The atmosphere became a bit awkward.