Crime License

"So he just lifts a finger and takes a million from us? What the hell gives him the right?!"

As expected, V blew up.

Lier could only say helplessly, "The fact that he's the president of the Veterans Association. New America pays them veterans' pensions regularly.

Do you think New America would pay pensions to people who were worthless? They must have earned that money themselves.

But taking that money naturally comes with matching responsibilities-and authority."

"Why does one job have to involve so much maneuvering? We've still got time, so explain-and this seems pretty far removed from Zhu Shen's request to 'act discreetly,' doesn't it?"

"First, nobody turns down money. Money talks everywhere, but Mr. Nott only budged when he heard Kang Tao's name.

Clearly, he already has an interest in Kang Tao. That's good news, because New America backs him, and New America and Militech are in bed together.

Which brings us to your second question: this is precisely the only way we can operate discreetly.

New America is one of the giants dominating the Rust Belt. Only with this license can we get around NetWatch and take out Kang Tao's employees. Otherwise, the APD would come knocking as soon as we stepped outside.

You and me? Two nameless street kids, worth nothing. But if we're working for them, at least we get a chance to be fired like bullets, instead of getting dismantled along with the gun and dumped in the water before we ever leave the barrel."

Whoosh.

Cars streamed along the highway, and an unhappy V drove fast.

These intricacies were a little hard for her to grasp-she would rather face that scary-looking Nott in an octagon.

"But the terms you negotiated with Nott sounded like you sold Zhu Shen out."

"Heh. Maybe we betrayed Kang Tao, but Zhu Shen? What did he ask for? Cai Pin dead, and the cargo delivered to headquarters.

He never said anything about the Design Blueprint. There's no way he hasn't considered the risk of an information leak. As long as we don't tell him, he won't know.

We betrayed Kang Tao, but not our client. And the client? His demands get met, and he hasn't betrayed his company.

Even if Kang Tao notices something off someday, everyone can just follow procedure, and everyone's happy."

V's brow twisted into a knot. "You're saying he guessed we might pull something behind his back, but quietly allowed it?

And if it comes out later, he'll act like he had nothing to do with it and investigate us? Isn't that just making more work for himself?"

Lier spread his hands. "Keeping your job or getting shot dead by an old coworker-which would you choose? Even working midnight to midnight, seven days a week, would be a blessing. At the very least, he gets revenge on Cai Pin."

The light turned red, and the car stopped at the intersection. V fell silent for a while, and the two quietly listened to the traffic announcements.

"Red light. Do not proceed. Red light. Do not proceed..."

After a while, V finally said slowly, "So fixers are all rotten at heart. Whatever happens, I'm never doing that job."

Lier inwardly snarked, More like you couldn't handle it, hothead.

"What are you thinking? Nothing bad about me, I hope?" V glanced over. "One more question. If we only need network support, why not go to that... Network Professionals Guild?"

"Because NetWatch backs them. NetWatch and Kang Tao aren't competitors. In fact, Kang Tao is one of NetWatch's major clients. They have no reason to break the rules over Kang Tao.

Second, to put it simply, the Veterans Association faces restrictions on illegal armed operations, while the Network Professionals Guild faces restrictions on illegal network operations.

That's the concession they have to make to collect their paychecks. Finally, look at the weapons in the back.

The Veterans Association can't get its own hands dirty, but it has plenty of hardware. And even if someone investigates, they won't trace it to us."

As he spoke, Lier adjusted his seat back and reclined comfortably. "Consider it a little show of good faith. When the time comes, they'll just say the weapons were stolen... and the thief can't be found."

After hearing that long explanation, V summed it up with a deep frown:

"So New America uses benefits to get them to stop causing trouble with the skills they're good at, and they happily agree. Less money, but a steady income...

Fuck, what kind of place is this...? I'm starting to regret coming to Atlanta."

"I thought you regretted it ages ago."

V shrugged and looked out the window. "The scenery really is nice here. And the streets aren't crawling with exhibitionists using fleshlights. You don't even see any shootouts.

But now... the city with the lowest crime rate in America, and a million-dollar crime license... heh.

Guess beautiful places are fake, and real places are ugly."

"Good summary. That's exactly it."

Looking at the magnificent buildings and spotless streets outside the window, who would have imagined that the acts called crimes hadn't actually become less common?

They had simply become legal.

Lier said, "Give it some thought-whether you want to stay here or go back to Night City. Either way, before we bring Mr. Zhu over, I need you to recommend a ripperdoc.

Someone in Night City, with good skills. Most importantly, someone we can trust."

"So that's why you're setting up a physical channel? Nothing's going to go wrong, right? I don't want to drag him into this."

"No. He'll only be providing medical support. Besides, Atlanta's law enforcement can't cross jurisdictions to arrest someone in Night City.

You heard him too. Nott can get our medical reports. We can't trust anyone here."

The so-called physical channel was actually a firewall-bypassing connection entirely under their control-unless NetWatch came to investigate.

In this world, only NetWatch theoretically had the authority to conduct cross-regional communications.

Broadly speaking, bypassing the firewall was illegal and dangerous unless it was registered with NetWatch.

But since Nott had supplied this channel, nobody would pay attention as long as it didn't involve classified information. That was also why Nott thought he could work with Lier long-term-

If Lier transmitted any classified information through this channel, Nott could find out.

If something went wrong one day, Nott could simply investigate, then help NetWatch and New America confiscate Lier's illegal earnings. At worst, he would take a small loss.

V thought for a moment, then said, "Okay. I actually do have someone in mind."

"Vic, long time no see. How's business been?"

"Same as always, V. Didn't expect you to remember to call me. Made it big yet?"

"Uh... it's complicated. But we could use a little help right now. Could you remotely control some equipment and check a few pieces of Cyberware for us? Ideally, you could also..."

"Ideally, be your remote ripperdoc? Normally, I wouldn't take a job like this, but it looks like you're about to make a name for yourself.

Where's the equipment?"

While V talked with Vic, Lier plugged his Personal Link into the equipment port.

[First use of Personal Link]

[Tech Points +10]

[Current Tech Points: 60]

The equipment here was old-fashioned-a large operating table, computer-controlled scalpels, wiring connectors, and so on.

The equipment's full data appeared in Lier's Cyber-Eye. He only needed to issue a mental command to browse it.

In 2077, ripperdocs would use medical Cyberware as surgical tools, but for now, they could only have Vic operate remotely.

Lier introduced himself. "Hello, Viktor. V said your skills are the best, and that you're trustworthy. I'm Lier. Nice to meet you."

"Hmm... you look like an honest guy. Nice to meet you too."

V curled her lip at that. "Him, honest? Vic, you've got him all wrong this time."

"All right, a friend of yours is a friend of mine. Connect the equipment."

Lier felt a headache coming on.

His learning ability was already formidable, but he had arrived in this world less than ten hours ago. He had spent no more than four hours actually studying, and more than half of that had been spent reading medical test reports.

In this cyberpunk world, Cyberware was only the surface. Cyberspace was the real core. There were countless network protocols here, and an endless variety of interfaces.

He had thought he could handle it, but now... he would have to cheat a little.

As he thought, he sneaked a glance at V. She had already settled onto the couch and started eating chips. No. If I'm the brains of this team, I have to do it myself.

[Network Hacking (beginner)]

[Learning progress: 1%]

[Tech Points required to master: 80]

[Note: All technical skills required of a beginner hacker.]

Lier clicked his tongue. He couldn't afford that at all, so he had to settle for the next best thing.

[Cross-Regional Network Channel Construction (beginner)]

[Learning progress: 30%]

[Tech Points required to master: 14]

[Note: A basic hacking technique used to establish remote channels.]

[Tech Points spent]

[Current Tech Points: 46]

A flood of knowledge poured into his brain without causing the slightest discomfort. With practiced ease, Lier opened the necessary interfaces on the machine, then connected to the physical channel Nott had made available to him-

The signal tower was directly overhead. In fact, Nott had given Lier this entire unremarkable apartment.

Vic tapped the armrest of his chair and said:

"Nice work. I've got your signal... we're good to go. Send over the machine information. I'll give these antiques a checkup first."

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