Starting From Night City

She had no nationality.

This was because she grew up in Arasaka facilities in other countries from childhood.

She didn't know who her parents were.

She had never felt or experienced the warmth of a family.

She was an orphan.

Along with other orphans, she was instilled with the dream by Arasaka: "Become a hacker and serve the world's most powerful corporation."

They endured the most grueling training.

All for this imposed dream.

More tragically, upon completing their training, they weren't assigned to counter-intelligence, becoming corporate employees walking proudly on polished floors.

Instead, they were taken to dark underground facilities and forced into deep infiltration.

It turned out Arasaka's purpose in training them wasn't to bring them into counter-intelligence.

They were treated as expendable tools and cannon fodder, sent into the Old Net.

The Old Net, also known as the Deep Web.

A broken, dangerous realm no one dared to enter.

When mentioning the Old Net, one name is impossible to avoid: Lachie Bartmos.

The most talented netrunner, but also the most paranoid.

Bartmos's most advanced virus program crippled the entire Cyberspace.

Shattering the global network into isolated local networks (subnets), like islands.

NetWatch, with the help of the European Parliament, attempted to rebuild the global network.

But the viruses and rogue AIs were simply too powerful.

They hunted netrunners who dared to enter the Old Net.

Ultimately, NetWatch decided to abandon the reconstruction and initiated the Blackwall Project.

This meant building an impenetrable ICE wall to separate the usable network from the domain controlled by viruses and rogue AIs.

On this side of the Blackwall lay the current subnets.

On the other side was the Old Net (Deep Web), filled with danger.

If we were to use an online game as an example, the Old Net would be like a dungeon with a level cap far exceeding that of players.

Everyone knew the treasure chests in this dungeon could yield good loot.

But it was also teeming with monsters that were impossible to defeat.

And dying in Cyberspace meant the hacker would die in reality as well.

Arasaka wanted to use these orphans to excavate the vast knowledge and information lost in the Old Net.

But the Old Net was a dangerous realm that even NetWatch and the European Parliament couldn't handle.

How could a few orphans possibly navigate it unharmed?

Arasaka knew the risks, of course.

That's why they deliberately chose children from orphan backgrounds to undertake such dangerous work.

To put it bluntly, it was like raising pigs. From the moment they took in and trained these children, Arasaka already viewed them as expendable tools to be exploited.

The danger of the Old Net was indeed as rumored.

Lucy's companions were killed one by one by rogue AIs and viruses in the Old Net.

After countless deep infiltrations and days that seemed to stretch endlessly without a foreseeable end, the surviving children, including Lucy, finally came to their senses.

They realized that dying for an imposed dream was utterly worthless.

Finally, with the thought, "Since we're going to die anyway, we might as well fight to escape," Lucy and her surviving companions broke out of the underground facility.

They were met with resistance from Arasaka personnel.

Companions fell one after another.

Lucy could hear her companions' cries, but she didn't look back.

She kept running.

Moving forward.

Towards the light.

When she came to her senses, she had successfully escaped and found herself in a ruined area.

After that, Lucy was afraid to stay in one place for too long.

So she fled across multiple countries and regions.

Finally, she arrived in Night City.

Lucy sat on the windowsill.

Her arms were wrapped around her knees.

She curled up like a cat.

The dazzling neon lights outside reflected rainbow colors on her face.

The days of fleeing were not easy.

She had experienced betrayal.

Of course, she had also received help from kind people.

But someone like Su Xiao, who offered so much help...

She had never encountered that before.

Before arriving at the Japantown apartment, she had always suspected Su Xiao had ulterior motives.

But Su Xiao just brought her over, transferred money to her, and then left without even sitting down.

There were no surveillance devices in the room either.

So what was his motive?

Why was he so good to her?

The city was brightly lit.

For some people, the day had only just begun.

It even gave the illusion that the night was more lively than the day.

Su Xiao drove along the coastal road in Japantown, on his way back to Heywood.

His meticulous effort was, of course, not just because Lucy was cute.

It was because he saw a similar situation in Lucy as he had in himself back then.

When he first came to Night City.

He and Jack were supposed to part ways after delivering the goods.

It was Jack's willingness to team up with him that allowed him to have his current life.

Without Jack, he wouldn't have met Mrs. Wells, V, the Priest, and the others.

He would have inevitably taken many, many detours.

The money he spent helping Lucy would be earned back quickly.

But for Lucy, it was a lifeline, a warm embrace from the community.

Being able to help Lucy so much.

Judging by Lucy's skilled use of the Monofilament Wire and the fact that she had an anti-detection jammer implanted in her.

She was no ordinary person.

Therefore, just as Cao Cao admired Guan Yu, Su Xiao also admired her.

That's why he invested in her.

Su Xiao's ultimate goal was to bring her into his team.

He didn't intend to become a lone wolf legend like Morgan Blackhand.

Friends, of course, the more the better.

Whether in Night City or anywhere else, one should make as many friends as possible.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Escaped Fish of Nine Years of Compulsory Education

After that, Su Xiao, Jack, and V took on several more missions dealing with organ traffickers.

Finally, they accumulated 20 Potential Points.

After parting ways with V and Jack that day, Su Xiao rushed back to his apartment in The Glen.

This apartment had a weapon modification room.

He no longer needed to occupy Jack's garage.

After eating, Su Xiao entered the weapon modification room, rubbing his hands together with excitement.

"Consumed 20 Potential Points, acquired improved blueprint - Power Gauntlet."

Just like last time, the design of the Power Gauntlet, along with the manufacturing knowledge, was instantly downloaded into his mind.

Su Xiao was overjoyed.

The Power Gauntlet served the same purpose as the mechanical prosthetic Mann had wanted that day – it could greatly enhance strength.

Except it didn't require chopping off a hand; it was an external mechanical device.

As long as he wore this Power Gauntlet, tearing a tank apart with his bare hands would be child's play.

He carefully reviewed the knowledge in his mind, then glanced around his own weapon modification room.

It was decent.

There was enough space.

He just lacked the necessary tools and parts.

So he made a call to the Priest.

"Priest? It's Su. I need a few things..."

After ending the communication with the Priest, Su Xiao emerged from the weapon modification room.

Even for the Priest, gathering these materials would likely take some time.

So, while he waited for the things he needed to be prepared, he planned to rest well and train hard.

Conserve his strength.

Three days later, the Priest's subordinate arrived with several boxes.

Su Xiao directed them to carry the boxes into the weapon modification room.

After they left, Su Xiao changed the entire background of the floor-to-ceiling window to a solid black and locked the elevator doors.

Only then did he enter the weapon modification room.

A week later.