In the cyberpunk world, the legendary hacker Bartmoss had blown up the original internet. Any hacker who tried to access the Old Net directly would be attacked by AI.
People now accessed the internet through Local Area Networks provided by NetWatch, leaving everyone isolated from one another at the network level.
Atlanta belonged to the Rust Belt Network Administrative Zone. Pulling up information here from the Pacific State region, where Night City was located, required a certain level of clearance.
The zone encompassed the central and eastern United States, covering vast clusters of megastructures, with Atlanta as its urban core. It was developed and stable, but before V arrived, all she knew was that it was a thriving place.
In truth, nobody except corpos regularly moved between different network domains. Communication in this world was both broad and narrow: technologically sophisticated, yet restrictive in practice.
Lier's confident explanation made V think a little more highly of this entirely organic human-
After all, V was a streetkid, a street punk without much education.
Seeing V's reaction, Lier mentally pumped his fist, celebrating his success in the second stage. He had even made a little headway into the third.
The first stage of successful communication was getting the other person to listen. The second was getting them to ask questions. The third was getting them to think about what you said-
And knowing that, in the end, they would believe you.
"V, Atlanta isn't right for you. It isn't right for a streetkid like you. You dream of making big money, but the only path left for people at the bottom here is honest work.
"But you don't want those boring, tedious jobs, so you'll end up leaving. And believe me, before you leave, you'll spend at least another year in prison.
"Now I'm offering you a second path-want to make a big score?"
He cut his explanation short and went straight to the point.
Rather than follow his communication process step by step, Lier went straight for the jugular.
He tried to extend his hand, only to discover that his body was far too weak. All he could do was shakily place it on the table, offering a handshake.
If his body had been functioning normally, he would have been sweating buckets by now-
A handshake would mean the third stage had succeeded, perhaps even taking them straight to the fourth: closing the deal.
But the chance of such a risky move succeeding certainly wasn't above fifty percent.
Unless the person across from him was a streetkid who wanted to make a name for herself.
Someone like that could never swallow the humiliation of being played. And there was a chance to make a fortune here-V had no qualms about robbing corpos.
Advancing the conversation slowly was the safer approach, but the more he said, the more chances he had to slip up. Lier had to seize on the information he knew for certain and maximize his advantage.
V kept her gun raised and looked Lier up and down. "What's your name?"
"Lier Lee-so you can just call me Lier. That's both my English name and my Chinese name."
"Weird name-you look like shit. Put some clothes on."
V didn't shake his hand. She grabbed some clothes and tossed them to him. "Put those on, then tell me what you have in mind-but let's get one thing straight. I'm only listening."
Taking the clothes, Lier said, "Move Mr. Zhu Shen into the car. Let's find somewhere safe to talk."
Dressed in his new clothes-a dirty pair of dark green cropped pants and a white lab coat-Lier felt human again. Well, almost. He looked like one of the homeless people on Night City's streets.
Atlanta, the urban core, was prosperous and safe. Unlike places where a gang's rocket could hit you just for driving down the road, here you could feel the flourishing of technology and the greatness of humanity.
Buildings towered into the clouds. Traffic flowed in orderly streams under intelligent algorithms. People hurried past, gleaming AVs occasionally flew overhead, and clean, impressive holographic advertisements were everywhere.
The foundations of all this were absolute surveillance and the harshest possible penalties for cybercrime.
If you couldn't hide your tracks online, you naturally couldn't conceal your actual crimes either.
Everyone was watched. Everyone was safe. This was Atlanta.
Passing over an overpass, the car drove all the way to the city's outskirts. It was still safe here-at least there wasn't gunfire everywhere.
But it was dim. People's eyes were lifeless, exhaustion came standard, and poverty was a disease destined to haunt them for their entire lives, perhaps even for generations.
"If I had to waste my life every day like these guys, I'd rather be dead."
V suddenly voiced her complaint as she drove.
"People can endure a lot. Not everyone is you, V."
V glanced at Lier in the passenger seat. "What about you? You don't look like a corpo either. Since when did a bald bastard know so much?"
"First, I'm not a bald bastard. Second-why do you think I'm not a corpo?"
"Heh. You don't have a single high-end implant. Who are you trying to impress?"
"See, that's where your ignorance shows." Lier immediately switched to putting her down. With his life on the line, he had to use whatever tactics it took.
"If corporations only liked people packed with cyberware, wouldn't every member of Maelstrom have a corporate job and Trauma Team coverage? Wake up, V. How much chrome you have isn't what corporations care about most.
"They manufacture cyberware themselves. Talents beyond cyberware matter more..."
Lier wasn't exactly lying-strictly speaking, in his previous life, he had been what street punks like V would call a corpo.
If being physically fit were all it took to land a corporate job, corporations would be staffed entirely by athletes.
Screech-
The shrill squeal of brakes cut off Lier's confident explanation. The momentum nearly threw him into the windshield.
"One slam on the brakes could kill you, and you're still acting tough?"
Lier watched helplessly as V got out and shut the door.
This girl really had a nasty temper-though, fine, the V he controlled in the game had been even nastier. Nasty enough to bring in MaxTac.
This was the temporary lodging V had found-an unwanted sheet-metal shack that cost just 120 Eddies a month from the rental company.
That was right: a rundown shack made of sheet metal, with no smart wiring, no physical network connection, nothing. Just an unreliable power line and the right to use the land. One month, 120 Eddies.
The upside was staying out of the NCPD's way. The downside was also staying out of the NCPD's way. Nobody dared sleep here without some firepower.
Thud.
Zhu Shen was dumped on the floor. V said, "All right. What do you want to do?"
"Find out what shady business they're involved in, then work out how much we can make."
V paused. "You said that was a trick they played on me."
Lier explained, "Yes, your employer played you. But there's a good chance she really did hire you because they couldn't deal with the authorities-what have you been telling your employer all this time?"
"I told her I was still chasing those Scavengers. She hasn't suspected anything yet, but I figure it's only a matter of time before she catches on."
"That's fine... Wake this guy up. Just physically-don't remove his ICE."
"So many demands."
As she spoke, V pulled out an Airhypo and gave Mr. Zhu a shot.
"Hah-"
As though returning from hell, the man drew a deep breath and let it out, looking around in terror.
"You-who are you? Where am I?"
"We're your saviors-depending on your answers, you could end up in heaven or hell. I'm guessing you've already noticed your system was hacked."
"Damn it!" Zhu Shen froze, then growled when he realized none of his cyberware worked. "Let me go. I can give you more money."
To his credit, Mr. Zhu was remarkably composed. He regained his calm in just a few seconds-outwardly, at least.
Lier rubbed his chin. "So you've already guessed who's behind this?"
Corpos had a sharp nose for schemes, especially once they had already fallen victim to one. Still blaming the Scavengers at that point would mean he wasn't very bright.
Zhu Shen raised his head and eyed Lier warily. "Let me go. I can give you some money, and then we can pretend none of this happened."
"Hmph. Typical corpo. Still throwing your weight around at a time like this," V sneered from the side.
Lier said, "Look, if you understood your situation, you'd know that taking your money and letting you go would guarantee our deaths—and you'd die too."
"But we could just follow the employer's script. At least that way, we could get our travel expenses reimbursed."
Zhu Shen refused to budge. "Then go ahead and follow the script."
Lier smiled without saying anything, simply meeting the corporate executive's eyes. After a few seconds, Zhu Shen's face began to turn green.
The system virus disrupted his cyberware. The resulting dizziness and nausea interfered with his judgment, making it difficult to keep his thoughts straight.
But just as Lier had expected, he hadn't immediately restored his system and called the police. That was a good sign. It meant there was a hefty payout at stake.
Lier said, "But you guessed right. Our employer hasn't been entirely honest with us, and I don't like being deceived. So I'm giving you a chance. We can work for you, provided you offer more—much, much more, of course."
"You know, you're lucky. I'm just starting out, and I'm pretty open to this kind of high-risk job."
"Urgh-" Zhu Shen began dry heaving, but quickly pulled himself together.
He raised his head, looked at Lier, then at V, and finally said to Lier, "I'll only talk to you."
Lier was ecstatic, but hid it well. Scenes from films and shows featuring swaggering characters flashed through his mind—
An In-Betweener could be poor or weak, but he had to know how to put on an act, especially in front of mercenaries.
"Very well-heaven is to the left. V, sorry for the trouble, but would you open the door on the left for this gentleman?"
With an odd expression, V opened the door on the left.
The shack did have two rooms, but the other one was a toilet... Surely he wasn't going to have Zhu Shen negotiate in the toilet?
What a pretentious bald bastard.
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