Tomorrow was the first graduation exam for Arasaka's adult education program-of course, anyone who failed could still keep attending classes.
But the longer they kept taking classes, the less money Arasaka would refund.
There were four chances to take the graduation exam in total, and the exam itself was the technical licensing assessment. Pass early, get the money back early; take it late, or fail altogether, and all that money would be sunk.
To get to Vic's shop, Lier had to pass Misty's Esoterica-and right now, there was an extra person outside Misty's Esoterica.
To be precise, a homeless man.
The homeless man wore black padded clothes with a hand-sewn black leather robe over them. He looked... a little like a priest?
All right, strictly speaking, priests didn't make their robes out of leather, but Lier still thought the style looked pretty similar.
This homeless guy looked a little familiar, didn't he?
The homeless man had hauled a moldy mattress over from somewhere and seemed to be planning to claim a corner beside the street as his nest.
This was the most common sort of home for Night City's homeless.
Noticing Lier staring at him, he suddenly grew wary.
"What do you want?"
"Just looking to see what homeless guy's decided to camp beside my friend's shop this time. Don't get any funny ideas."
Lier activated his scanner, only to discover something wrong with the man's scan results-
The data in his cyberware implant list flickered slightly. It looked falsified, and in real time at that, making it extremely difficult to crack.
"I'm not like those homeless people. I'm here to spread the truth-is this your friend's shop?"
The homeless man pointed at Misty's Esoterica, and Lier nodded.
He continued, "This is a good place. It puts your mind at