Drugs and gambling are my sworn enemies

But one look at Jack and V made it clear just how unreliable Kirk was.

Besides, V had nearly gone down too, all because of Kirk.

Could they really keep dealing with someone like that?

"No, we didn't agree..." V glanced at Jack's grim face. "At least, not then."

Su Xiao caught her meaning. "But if Kirk calls you, you'll still go?"

V looked helpless. "Peppy didn't say how much he owed, and neither did Kirk, but we probably couldn't come up with that much

."

Jack cut in. "Even if we could, we can't let Kirk profit from this. Once he gets a taste, he'll keep screwing people over."

Jack drained his glass in one gulp and slammed it back onto the table.

"Peppy, Peppy, you... ah."

One wrong step led to another.

If Peppy had come to him for a loan in the first place, none of this shit would have happened.

Even if he couldn't pay it back, that would have been fine.

They were friends. Jack wasn't the kind of man to count every penny.

So why had he gone to Kirk of all people?

Jack had a headache over it too.

Kirk was a bottomless pit. Working with him was worse than eating shit.

But if they didn't work with him, they couldn't put Peppy's problem behind them.

Frustrating! Infuriating!

"Isn't there any other way?"

Jack shook his head.

Bastard though Kirk was, he played by the street's rules.

As long as he hadn't forced Peppy to borrow the money, nobody had any moral grounds to go after him.

Even thieves had their code, as the saying went.

Some might wonder how people on the streets could have the nerve to talk about a code.

But that was how things worked.

As unofficial powers, gangs had to establish certain rules to maintain their legitimacy and order.

Only then could a gang survive and grow.

At least, that was how it worked on the surface.

Su Xiao wiped his glass with a smile.

"Maybe a change in perspective could give us a way out."

Jack froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up.

"Su, you've got an idea?"

"If we can't solve the problem, we solve the person causing it."

"Go on."

"Kirk's both a fixer and a loan shark, so we can look for an opening there. Someone who keeps dancing along the edge of the law is bound to have something we can use against him."

Jack's face brightened.

"You two keep drinking. I'll make a few calls."

With that, he drained his glass, stood up, and left.

Only Su Xiao and V remained.

V held her glass in both hands, lightly rubbing her fingers against it. "Have you and Jack known each other long?"

"No, not long."

Since he had nothing else to do, Su Xiao told V how he had met Jack.

V was surprised.

"You really managed to bluff that customs guy?"

Su Xiao smiled. "The Serpent Nation is powerful and well known. Anyone looking to mess with it has to think twice. He was just a border guard, not even a full-fledged corporate employee."

"But you're not with the Serpent Nation."

"True, but he didn't know that, did he?"

They chatted for a while, and before long, Jack returned.

He couldn't hide the delight on his face.

"I found something. Turns out that dumb fuck has his fingers in more pies than I thought."

Jack looked around.

There weren't many customers today. The first floor was quiet; everyone had gone upstairs.

Even the nearest customers were several tables away.

Only then did he relax and lower his voice. "Su, you were right. That bastard Kirk has other business going on... guess what? He's connected to those chrome freaks in the Vortex Gang."

"The Vortex Gang?" V was startled. "Aren't they based in Watson District?"

"That's right."

"What could those guys who turn their bodies into machines need someone like Kirk for?"

Jack scratched his head, a little embarrassed. "No idea. My contacts didn't know the details either."

"That's not enough to go on. If only we knew what they were actually doing." V looked disappointed.

Su Xiao looked thoughtful. "Maybe I have a way to find out what shady business Kirk has with the Vortex Gang."

Watson District had once been Night City's beating heart.

When the nuclear explosion of 2023 brought disaster to the center of Night City, neighboring Watson District became a Noah's Ark. Traumatized citizens who hadn't given up hope flocked there for refuge.

By the 2050s, Watson District had begun to slide into obscurity and decline.

It had once been packed with towering skyscrapers, nightclubs, corporate offices, and even a top-tier medical center.

Then the financial crisis destroyed it all.

Now Watson District was Night City's poorest area, with the Vortex Gang and the Tiger Claws Gang entrenched in its mean streets and grimy alleys.

Of all the neighborhoods in Watson District, none was livelier than Kabuki District.

It was a dazzling maze of alleys.

Not far from the old medical center, its name spoke to its long Japanese heritage.

The place was notoriously crowded, filthy, run-down, and crawling with con artists.

But if you loved haggling and hunting for bargains, it was a must.

Members of the Tiger Claws Gang carrying katanas, clubs, and guns were everywhere.

Scavengers lurked in corners among the garbage, greedily sizing up everyone on the street.

Newcomers to Night City might not know what the Scavengers did.

To sum it up in one sentence-

They cut out your kidneys without anesthetic.

Night fell.

An SUV parked beside a neon-lit pole.

The three people inside stared intently at a small building hidden

in a narrow alley.

Half an hour later, Kirk emerged from the building.

He first glanced warily around, then walked away along the sidewalk.

Once he was far away and had vanished completely into the crowd, Jack reminded her again.

"Third floor, room 302."

"Got it."

V nodded, opened the door, and headed toward the building Kirk had left.

Su Xiao and Jack stayed outside to keep watch.

After ten tense but uneventful minutes, V returned to the car and held up the chip in her hand.

"Done."

Su Xiao nodded, started the car, and drove off.

Chapter 20: Drugs and gambling are my sworn enemies

"Hello, Night City!"

"It's your man Stanley, and another long day has begun in our City of Dreams."

"I love this city like you love your mom."

"Back in the day, she dumped you on an orphanage doorstep. Now she bumps into you on the street and asks you for a smoke."

"Every day, another hundred or so newcomers arrive here, but only half of them last a year-and that's in a good year!"

"Why are they so eager to come to Night City?"

"Because they want to become street samurai like Morgan Blackhand or Whelan Old Snake."

"There's a saying you should remember."

"The timid starve, while the bold gorge themselves."

"Too bad fame paints a target on your back. The harder you live, the sooner you die."

"And that's without someone blowing the top of your skull off."

"Know where all Night City's legends gather?"

"In the graveyard!"

"Here in our neck of the woods, heroes aren't judged by where they come from, but by whether they can carve out their own path."

"This is Night City. This is the City of Dreams."

Listening to Stanley's booming voice coming from the cash register, Su Xiao opened his eyes.

Jack was fast asleep beside him, and V lay on the couch with her eyes firmly shut, lost in her dreams.

Three people were crammed into the tiny garage.

There was no way it wouldn't be cramped and stuffy.

Since V was a woman, Su Xiao and Jack had given her the only couch.

The two grown men slept on the floor together.

Su Xiao stretched luxuriously.

I need to find an apartment soon. I can't keep cramming myself in here.

But first, I need to clean up the mess at hand.

Last night, as soon as they returned to the garage,

V had taken out the chip.

She had copied everything she could find on the laptop in Kirk's home onto it.