Chapter 14
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Inside the train car.
When Tang Yu truly revealed his identity information.
Lerion and others were immediately ashen-faced.
How could they have imagined that a high-ranking M-level executive of Arasaka Corporation, the Deputy Director of Counter-Intelligence, would be riding a public train?
In their minds, corporate executives travel either by luxury car service or with a float car.
Moreover, he appeared so young and was never seen in the company before, possibly indicating a deeper background?
They dared not contemplate further, with nothing in their hearts but shock and regret.
The hierarchy within Arasaka Corporation is strict, and rank nearly determines everything.
Lerion knew that they had offended a high-ranking member of the Counter-Intelligence Division and that their investigation could lead to their disappearance from Night City.
Arasaka is ruthlessly harsh with its enemies and even more so with its own staff.
Tang Yu looked at them coldly: "Do you have any further questions?"
The head of security service promptly showed deep apologies and quickly took the other security members away from the scene.
Lerion and his people, realizing the seriousness of the situation, stood there in worried shock, unsure whether to stay or go.
Tang Yu had no interest in picking fights with these low-level corporate dogs.
"I have recorded your information"
"I don't want to see you once again in Arasaka Tower"
With that said.
The station announcement for Santo Domingo River Valley came on.
After dropping the words, Tang Yu turned and left the train.
Lerion and the rest were left sitting helplessly on the ground, at a loss for what to do.
Those words had effectively sentenced them to death.
Their only way out was to leave Arasaka Corporation.
Tang Yu walked out of the station and into the streets of Santo Domingo, where the lively scenes were strikingly different from the bustling order of the civic center.
Passing by the old power plant on the street, he saw simple-clothed pedestrians smoking, reading newspapers, some with hangovers vomiting by the railings, some lying on the curbstone with Braindance headsets lost in a degenerate world. A few steps more, and he would bump into a quarreling couple on the street, drawing guns and threatening each other.
In Santo Domingo River Valley, everyone lived in distress but also with abandon.
On the contrary, Tang Yu, in his retro black suit, tailored to fit, stood out with distinguished bearing, contrasting sharply with the surrounding chaos, even attracting attention from hoodlums on the streets.
In fact, Tang Yu initially had no intention to interfere with the behavior of the cyberpunk girl, but when he actually caught her, the system issued a prompt.
[Lucy (note 1)] (Simulate/Not Simulate?)
Upon capturing the girl, he pondered over her identity.
That the system offered the simulation option meant that her future was no ordinary one; she had definitely made her mark in Night City.
A silver-haired girl had the guts to steal a chip from an Arasaka employee, a cyberpunk netrunner whose age was disproportionate to her skills. From the method of her theft, she evidently knew Arasaka employees' ICE (note 2) very well and even used Arasaka's hacking techniques.
Tang Yu had been one of the top hackers in Night City in his past life, without equal, although he had not undergone cybernetic enhancements now, his experience and judgment remained impeccable.
Tang Yu was initially ready to simulate the silver-haired girl's life but found the option grayed out and unavailable for immediate life simulation, so he let her go.
His analysis suggested that she might not have reached the pivotal moment of a legendary life, and the timing for life simulation was not yet ripe.
Night City, not too big, nor too small, where legends always clash and spark flames, just like after his arrival in Night City, he met Jackie, Johnny, and Old Vic, and later befriended the legendary figures like V and Rogue.
Regarding Lucy's life simulation, he wasn't in a rush.
Tang Yu followed David's personal information to his home address, walking through corridors littered with black trash bags and dark compartments full of drunks and hobos to arrive at a yellow iron gate.
[Call Gloria Martinez]
Soon.
The door opened.
Before Tang Yu stood a woman with modest makeup, her face somewhat heroic, her signature red hair tied in a ponytail, and she wore a yellow cyber-style Jackieet. Despite looking slightly weary, there was no mistaking it was Gloria Martinez.
In Gloria's eyes, she saw a young man in a crisp suit, sharp and pretty, not resembling a typical company employee but more like a young master from a noble family.
Gloria didn't share the common disdain for corporate employees, or perhaps it was just Arasaka staff she didn't dislike, as her dream was for David to get a job at Arasaka Corporation. Seeing how young Tang Yu was and yet a high-ranking official at Arasaka, she felt even more confident about David's future.
"Mr. Tang, I didn't expect you to be so young, and I appreciate you making the trip. Please, come in," Gloria said as she stepped aside to welcome Tang Yu into her home, her tone submissive and respectful. Not just because he was an executive at Arasaka Corporation, but also because he had once saved her and her son's lives. Perhaps she was also harboring a bit of shame as she had stolen a cybernetic body part, even though theft was common in Night City. Yet faced with her savior, it was difficult to speak about such things, all the more so as she didn't want David to learn of it.
Actually, Tang Yu had a good impression of the woman before him; knowing from David's data that Gloria was a mother with immense hope for her son's future and willing to sacrifice everything for him.
In Night City, relationships between people were no longer pure, even maternal bonds were rare as Gloria's selfless and visionary dedication.
In fact, Tang Yu believed Gloria's approach was the most practical; to rise from the lower-class society to high society in Night City, corporations were always the best channels for advancement, and not every company had an academy like Arasaka's, where you could attend as long as you could afford the tuition.
Based on what Tang Yu knew, David was the only truly ordinary student at the Arasaka academy, making him stand out among his classmates.
It could be said that, for David to attend the Arasaka academy, Gloria had almost extracted all her future, like mixing cement with her body and time to pave a faster, better, and more convenient road for him out of the mire.
Gloria took out drinks and unopened whiskey from the fridge, asking Tang Yu which he preferred.
Tang Yu went over to take the unopened whiskey, an aged Scottish whiskey selected with care, a choice of luxury beverage, but from the apartment's overall style, one could tell Gloria was not someone who could often afford such fine drinks.
He seldom drank alcohol, and when he did, it was just with Jackie, Old Vic, and others at Lizzie's or the Afterlife; normally, he abstained from drinking.
But today he felt somewhat inclined, since he had received a new message.
Lucy: "Maine is on his way to Gloria Martinez's. If you want to get what you're after, you won't have a chance if you're too slow."
Waiting always requires fine wine to pass the time.