The deafening heavy metal music continued to play.
Huge mechanical speakers were mounted on both sides of the hall, their deep drumbeats shaking the floor. Red lights swept across the crowd, casting flickering shadows on the smiling faces painted on them.
Chen Mo followed V into the base.
There were at least several dozen people in the hall. Some were drinking on the abandoned engine, some were squatting on the ground disassembling guns, and a few were arguing around an old prosthetic repair machine.
Their clothes were a motley collection, and most of their prosthetic bodies were tattered.
Some people had a missing finger on their robotic arms, some had their eyes taped to their faces, and one man had a mismatched metal plate on his chest that made a hissing sound when he walked.
Upon seeing V bring Chen Mo in, the music was quickly turned down.
All eyes turned to them.
The scene was silent for a few seconds.
A woman carrying a heavy rifle frowned and stared at Chen Mo for a long time.
"V, where did you pick up this fleshy human?"
Someone nearby put down a bottle of wine, their tone clearly showing dissatisfaction.
"V! How could you bring a stranger into the base? What if he's one of Nite Owl's men?"
"He doesn't have any cybernetics at all; he doesn't look like one of Nite Owl at all."
"That's even stranger. How did an ordinary person without cybernetic implants survive until now?"
The sounds in the hall gradually increased.
They didn't immediately raise their guns, nor did they rush up to drive Chen Mo away; they simply observed him from a distance.
This surprised Chen Mo.
Although this group of people looked like a bunch of lunatics who might blow up the street at any moment, at least they didn't start shooting on sight, and their average level of civility was quite high.
For this world.
V spread her arms and stood in front of Chen Mo.
"Hey! All of you calm down, he's not a company lackey!"
How can you be so sure?
"Because he killed a lot of Luthor's men."
V pointed at Chen Mo and said seriously, "I saw him. He wiped out the entire Obsidian Troops."
The hall fell silent again.
Then, a burst of unrestrained laughter erupted.
"Him?"
"You mean he wiped out the entire Obsidian Troops?"
"V, did you go out with those sunglasses again?"
A man with three mechanical eyes on his face slammed his fist on the table, laughing so hard he almost fell off his chair.
" The Obsidian Troops is the elite of the Luthor Corporation; the entire squad is equipped with heavy exoskeletons, while this pretty boy doesn't even have a mechanical hand."
V's expression gradually turned serious.
I'm not joking.
No one laughed this time.
The men who were repairing weapons stopped what they were doing and exchanged glances.
They certainly knew what the Obsidian Troops was.
Many of those present had encountered the Obsidian Troops before.
Someone lost a leg.
Someone lost their younger brother.
Some people even had half of their bodies removed.
Therefore, they can suspect Chen Mo, but they cannot truly remain indifferent to this matter.
"Whether this is true or not, put aside the question of whether it's true or not, did you bring him back because you want him to join us?"
A man wearing a gas mask looked at V.
"We don't even have enough spare parts to repair ammunition right now, let alone support an ordinary person."
"I am not an ordinary person."
Chen Mo finally spoke.
All eyes were once again focused on him.
Chen Mo raised his hand and touched his face, his tone very sincere.
"I just didn't attach my prosthetic body to the outside."
After he finished speaking, an even longer silence fell around him.
A man who was drinking water choked.
V turned her head and looked at him with a complicated expression.
"Dude, could you please not say things that could easily cause misunderstandings at a time like this?"
"Idiot, I'm stating the facts."
Chen Mo shrugged.
"The prosthetic bodies of you people here are on the outside, while mine are on the inside. That's fine."
"Then you have to demonstrate it?"
The woman next to him casually chimed in.
Chen Mo glanced at her, and a dark red substance immediately appeared on her neck, slowly crawling across her skin like a living thing.
The woman's mechanical eyes instantly lit up red.
"Holy shit!"
She jerked backward, nearly knocking over the weapons rack behind her.
Chen Mo stopped trying to scare them. The Blacklight light retreated back under his skin, and he still had a smile on his face.
Don't be nervous, I'm a very friendly person.
V took a deep breath, turned around, and explained to everyone, "As you all know, the boss has a big plan recently, but we're short-handed, especially in terms of fighters."
So you brought him here?
"Right."
"V, has your brain been damaged by acid rain?"
"Possibly."
V nodded, surprisingly offering no rebuttal.
"But he is indeed a very good fighter."
She pointed at Chen Mo.
" Luthor's Obsidian Troops, several dozen men, were all wiped out by him."
This time, no one laughed. They just looked at each other, beginning to accept the answer.
Chen Mo had expected them to continue questioning him, but to his surprise, someone soon came over from the hall.
He was an old man leaning on a mechanical cane; his left eye and right arm had been replaced with prosthetics.
He looked Chen Mo up and down, his voice low.
"I want to know, why did you kill them?"
"Because they're coming to arrest me."
Chen Mo's answer was very direct.
"They wanted to take me back for research, but I disagreed. Communication between the two sides failed, so they had no choice but to find me another place to work."
The old man remained silent for a moment.
"You weren't here to save us?"
"Of course not."
Chen Mo shook his head.
"I don't know you guys, why should I come all this way to save people? Who's got the nerve to do that?"
This statement sounded cold, but it actually eased the atmosphere in the hall considerably.
In Night City, no one believes in a savior who suddenly appears. If a stranger claims to be able to save everyone, he's most likely a spy sent by the company, or a madman from a mental hospital.
Chen Mo's attitude of not pretending to be a good person made them feel that he was real.
V looked around at the people and continued, "He only had a conflict with Luthor, but that's enough for us to cooperate."
"We need someone who can break the balance."
No one spoke in the hall.
They certainly knew what the Joker's plan was.
I also know how crazy that plan is.
First, get rid of the identity chips from everyone in the city, destroy the Nite Owl's surveillance network, seize the energy core of the Luthor Corporation, and then return the city, which has been divided between the two, to the ordinary people.
That sounds like a joke.
But if someone else had said it, they might have already burst out laughing.
But that person is Joker.
The only person in the world who dares to list both Nite Owl and Luthor as enemies.
Chen Mo glanced around the hall.
He could tell that this group of people were not just simple thugs.
They were simply driven to the brink of despair, and thus clung together with their last shred of hope.
To put it bluntly, they're all a bunch of unfortunate people, so Chen Mo can barely be a little more patient with them.
"I can join you."
Chen Mo suddenly spoke.
V was stunned.
"You agreed so quickly?"
Just then, heavy footsteps sounded at the entrance of the base.
The music stopped sometime ago.
Everyone turned around at the same time.
The heavy blast door slowly opened, and a man wearing a long black coat walked in.
He wore a white mask, had an exaggerated red smile painted on his lips, and was carrying a bag of medical supplies he had just brought back from outside.
He first looked at everyone in the hall, then at V.
"You brought guests back?"
V stands upright with his body straight.
"Boss, yes, that's him."
The gaze from behind the mask fell on Chen Mo.
The Joker paused for a moment, then said softly:
Welcome to the Joker Gang.
"I hope you haven't had dinner yet, so I can show you my cooking skills."
Chen Mo looked at that familiar yet unfamiliar smiling face and slowly grinned.
The Joker in this world seems to be a really good person.