Now We're Screwed

They inserted the chip into Su Xiao's laptop.

Its contents soon appeared on the screen.

Sure enough, Kirk had taken a job from the Vortex Gang.

The Vortex Gang's main source of income was smuggling illegal drugs and glitter.

They transported glitter to the Badlands and sold it to a band of the Random Blade Society, then bought illegal drugs that the band had obtained from corporations.

The Random Blade Society didn't refer to any particular gang.

It was a collective name for bandits, criminals, and outcasts who had been expelled from Nomad families after causing trouble.

Kirk had hired a driver specifically to haul cargo for the Vortex Gang.

What they needed to do was simple: find a way to make Kirk screw up.

Su Xiao already had a plan for that.

If it worked, Kirk would be in more trouble than he could handle.

The only problem was that there were numerous roads between the Watson District and the eastern Badlands.

Which route would Kirk's driver take?

They discussed it until midnight over the Mexican noodle soup and tortilla chips Mrs. Wells had brought them.

Finally, Su Xiao realized what they had overlooked.

They could simply set an ambush somewhere the driver had to pass.

Since the glitter was being delivered to the eastern Badlands, it would have to go through Santo Domingo.

And there was only one main road from the Watson District through Santo Domingo to the eastern border checkpoint.

If they set an ambush on that road, they were bound to catch their target.

With the plan settled, the three of them finally collapsed into bed and slept until now.

Peppy wasn't related to Su Xiao, and they weren't particularly close.

But he was Jack's friend.

If Su Xiao could look out for him, he ought to do what he could.

Besides, everyone fell on hard times sooner or later.

Helping others also meant hoping that someone would help you when you hit rock bottom.

Su Xiao believed that.

If he and Jack got into trouble, Peppy would come to help them too.

Inside the bar, Peppy was helping Mrs. Wells clean up.

Once they opened for business, he would have to hide in the garage again.

Kirk had said he wouldn't give Peppy any trouble.

For now.

But Jack and V weren't planning to do Kirk's job either.

To be on the safe side, it was still better to keep Peppy hidden in the garage until everything was resolved.

Su Xiao went over to Peppy.

He pulled him aside.

Then he discreetly slipped him a few hundred eurodollars.

"Su, I appreciate it, but I can't take this money. Besides, it isn't enough to cover the interest."

"What are you thinking? This isn't for paying off your debt. Get me some glitter."

Peppy sucked in a sharp breath, his face paling in shock.

The way he looked at Su Xiao

changed.

"Su, what do you want that stuff for? I'm telling you, you can't touch it. Once you do, your whole life is ruined."

Su Xiao rolled his eyes.

He had memorized "never touch prostitution, gambling, or drugs" back in kindergarten.

He had been born and raised in the country with the strictest drug enforcement and the most successful anti-drug education, bar none.

An American lecturing a Ceresian about the dangers of drugs? Who had given him the nerve?

"Of course I know. It isn't for me. Don't ask questions, just go buy it."

As he spoke, he patted Peppy's shoulder. "Relax. Just give it a few days. After that, Kirk won't be able to bother you ever again."

Over the next few days, the regulars at the Wolf Bar discovered that their burly bartender had been replaced by a young man.

Most of them didn't mind.

As long as someone was there to pour their drinks.

One morning a few days later, Peppy handed Su Xiao a brand-new shoebox.

Inside was exactly what Su Xiao had asked for.

Su Xiao told Peppy to wait in the garage for good news.

Then he called V and Jack over, and they drove to Santo Domingo.

Santo Domingo was one of Night City's oldest districts.

Westbrook lay to the north, Heywood and Pacifica to the west, and the windswept Badlands to the east.

Tens of thousands of cramped apartments were packed into megabuildings that towered into the clouds.

The dream of a suburban utopia built from detached houses could be found all over Night City.

But few places made it more obvious than Santo Domingo.

High-rises stood beside low houses, while factories and power stations crowded up against neighborhoods that should have radiated pastoral charm.

Urban planning that divided areas according to their functions had gone completely out the window.

Santo Domingo was like your deadbeat cousin's backyard, littered with battered pickups and moldy garden ornaments.

The place looked different every day.

Land was cheap, so even the most absurd development projects could get off the ground, only to be promptly abandoned and make room for the next attempt.

Santo Domingo was divided into two areas: River Valley and Coronado Farms.

In River Valley, the derelict buildings of bankrupt factories dotted Santo Domingo's industrial heartland.

Unfortunately, abandonment also brought crime and depravity that spread through the underclass like stubborn weeds.

But in the bedroom community of Coronado Farms, white picket fences and pristine green lawns surrounded spacious homes.

There was a different kind of suffocating beauty there.

Tree-lined streets wound through it like streams across a meadow.

They led residents from suburban tranquility to the factories and foundries of River Valley.

Chapter 21: Now We're Screwed

Su Xiao and the other two drove to River Valley's main road.

After surveying the surroundings for a while, they finally settled on a spot.

"Over there."

Su Xiao pointed at an unfinished building, one of Santo Domingo's many abandoned construction projects and factories. It offered an excellent view, yet looked ordinary enough not to attract attention.

Even if something went wrong, they could retreat out the back in time.

"You two head over first. I'll be there in a bit."

Su Xiao picked up a backpack, got out of the car, and walked onto the main road.

He took the glitter he had asked Peppy to buy out of the backpack.

Then he pulled out a pair of shoes.

He stuffed the packet of glitter into one shoe.

Then he tied the two shoes' laces together.

After that, he tossed the shoes onto an overhead wire.

His luck was good.

He got them up there on his first try.

Once that was done, he went to join V and Jack.

Blackened, foul-smelling water ran across the floor of the abandoned building, and garbage lay everywhere he looked.

Yet even in such wretched living conditions, people on society's margins, beneath even the underclass, still made their homes here.

They licked their wounds and went hungry.

When he reached the roof, V and Jack were already waiting.

As soon as Su Xiao appeared, Jack couldn't help asking, "What did you throw up there?"

On his way over, he had seen Su Xiao take something out of his backpack.

But from his angle, he hadn't been able to make out what it was.

Su Xiao didn't hide it.

"Glitter."

"You sure it was glitter? Not a bomb?"

Jack stared in surprise.

He couldn't imagine what use that stuff could possibly have.

Su Xiao smiled and offered no further explanation.

The three of them continued lying in wait.

Before long, a truck appeared on the road.

It was coming from the direction of Westbrook.

The All Foods Factory logo was printed on its cargo compartment.

All three immediately perked up.

"That's the one. What do we do?"

Su Xiao held Jack back. "Neither of you move. Leave it to me."

He set up the Ice Storm Sniper Rifle and held the truck steady in his scope, tracking its movement.

His finger rested on the trigger, but he still didn't fire.

As the truck headed toward the eastern border checkpoint, Su Xiao remained motionless, as though he had fallen asleep.

Jack couldn't help asking anxiously, "Su?"

V also watched Su Xiao nervously

.

But Su Xiao paid them no attention.

He was utterly focused, as though nothing existed in the world except the truck in his scope.

Finally, as the truck passed beneath the wire with the shoes hanging from it, Su Xiao fired.