How To Live as a Cyberpunk Solver

118. decision

Getting lost in the city was a plague of wasteland dwellers.

They were people who had only been going straight in the open wilderness, so they couldn’t come to their senses when they entered the dense concrete jungle. It was not an ordinary maze because you had to find your way up and down as well as back and forth. The back alley of 21st Street, which is not caught by the navigation, was even more so.

“Mr. Leonard?”

Max looked awkwardly between the City Fixer and the Gilchi Fixer. Just then, a radio wave came in to help. It was nice to see a ‘Twins’ profile without a picture. Even if it doesn’t seem like an opponent.

-What’s the matter, you keep calling me!

– Why can’t I contact you?

– Either Logan or Morgan is undergoing surgery!

I was busy trying to save one person. I was urged for some reason and turned around.

-What about Logan Mace?

– There were several holes in the intestines, so I replaced them. I’ll have to see if there’s any rejection, but it’ll probably be fine.

It would be impossible to return today, but I am glad that I survived. And since he saved Logan, who could handle it without anyone knowing, he couldn’t doubt it anymore. As Leonard put the gun away, Bennington patted himself on the head.

“Even here.”

After all, veterans are different. Leonard did not delete the hacking program he had tried to install, but he hid it by locking it to prevent unauthorized use. If you reset the brain chip or have it checked by an implant doctor, then you can erase it.

“Put the gun away.”

“oh! Are you done?”

Max, who was constitutionally slow to grasp the situation, lowered the shotgun belatedly. With this all threat gone, Bennington lowered his hand. And, as if to be considerate of an embarrassing opponent, he said.

“Buy me a drink. With the right stuff.”

It may have been a coincidence, but it was a possible request where I was going. Leonard checked the balance in his account and shrugged.

@

Leonard did not enjoy drinking.

Whether it’s because of his personality, his family environment, or because he didn’t know that he was drunk because he had worn high-end implants early on, he didn’t use psychotropic things. So I didn’t have a place to go to a bar often.

“Doris’ Bar?”

It was a fairly modern bar, not suitable for a junk town. Not a cheap neon sign, but an expensive hologram sign, a big implanted cyborg stood guard, and a well-customized third-generation android served. It wasn’t a place to do business with back alley scavengers.

“It’s where the namesakes in Junk Town go.”

Even if it was not a membership system, it was possible to enter only after verification. Gang leaders, businessmen, celebrity brokers, artists and more. Leonard, who is said to be one of the best fixers in Junk Town, would be able to enter.

“stop.”

Even the Blast Gang blocked Leonard with his thick hands. Max covered his mouth and laughed at the ‘unknown’ treatment. But it wasn’t Leonard’s fault, nor was it the size’s fault. It was because of hanging around with Jack and being hit by a tactical drone that the tail was a mess.

Leonard took a step back and wondered what to do. ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ There didn’t seem to be any anger, and it was noisy to draw a gun and threaten. I changed the eyes to hexagons because I thought it would be neat to trick and enter through hacking.

“I’m here to see Mr. Noah Lucas.”

Bennington Holly filled in. The hulking eyes blinked blue. I used pretty good implant eyes.

“Is it a fixer?”

“Well, as you can see.”

The big guy got in touch with the front desk and stepped aside.

“The third room on the second floor.”

I didn’t explain further if it was a reticent personality. Leonard and his party didn’t have much to share with the guards, so they just passed through.

“Wow, I’m an adult.”

“What?”

“Mr. Bennington. You are an adult unlike anyone else.”

Leonard snorted instead of revealing his age. However, he did not deny that he enjoyed coercive solutions rather than persuasion and explanations.

Max’s teasing didn’t last long. The high-end bars on the main street weren’t as messy as Junk Town, but they weren’t classy like White Town either. A bunny girl with a well-toned body winked past, and a bartender with a great appearance politely bowed her head. The ambiance was well maintained by the not too flashy lighting and the strange interior with a clean and decadent feel.

“It’s Android.”

“Yes? Oh yes?”

Except for the guest, everyone was an Android. Although they are 3rd and 3.5th generation androids with no difference in appearance from humans, they couldn’t fool Leonard and Bennington Holly, who have high-grade eyes. It wasn’t simple enough to be seduced by the sight of cold lubricant and metal skeletons in silicon. It wasn’t worth saying hello, so I went straight to the second floor.

“One, two, three.”

Leonard stopped Max as he pointed to the third room. The enemy of this request was a worn-out solver, so it was good that everything was certain. He called Noah Lucas and pulled out his revolver. Bennington seemed to have had a similar thought, and lightly touched the .44 caliber revolver at his waist. Noah Lucas answered the phone and the third room burst open at the same time.

“what are you doing? Won’t you come in?”

-what are you doing? won’t you come in?

Noah smiled sweetly with a bloody face. Rather than being surprised, I was taken aback.

“You are safe.”

“Thanks to you.”

A-044 City Solver gathered again after overcoming a big hurdle. They greeted each other with innocent smiles. Now was the time to start the counterattack of the counterattack.

@

The advantage of a store operated by Android was security.

A hacker like Leonard could steal information through an external connection, but it was more reliable than a greedy organism that would confide in anyone for a few credits, and it was easy to clean up in case of emergency. For that reason, a gang of anti-corporate fixers under Leonard reorganized the Doris bar as a temporary camp.

“If it’s a long-term rental, it will cost quite a bit, is that okay?”

“I’m not telling you to bear the burden, so just rest in peace.”

Leonard tried to move his dysfunctional left arm little by little. As I turned the system off and on, banged hard on the drivetrain position, pinched my fingers, twisted and swung, it got better and better.

“Is that an overhaul?”

“It’s a pretty traditional method.”

I don’t know why, but it definitely had an effect. Even if Sigma or the twins see her, she puts her forehead on her head and sighs.

In fact, Noah Lucas was in worse condition than Leonard. One shoulder was sagging and the elbow blade that could not be stored was bent and broken. Leonard asked, clasping his fingers.

“Who was it?”

“Adam Knox.”

“A full-body cyborg?”

“97%, but that would be like a full-body cyborg.”

Full-body cyborgs themselves are rare, but cyborgs that have all their parts plastered for combat are extremely rare.

The cost of military implants is also an expense, and life is a life that must be lived like a gutter, so there were not many people who wanted to become a machine that could not taste, smell, or feel.

“In most cases, they become psycho cyborgs by filling in the missing parts with electronic stimulation.”

“Electronic stimulation?”

“The drug.”

Most of the telegraph cyborgs Leonard knew didn’t end well. Ryan is the one who is living well, but when asked if the life of a solver who wages war every day is really living well, the answer was poor.

“I was a monster before, but now it’s more.”

Noah Lucas shot the video. It was played from the moment I went down to the first floor to avoid the tactical drone. It was scary to leave the building, but a rain of bullets flew.

Noah Lucas, like a hedgehog, stood up with the blades of his whole body. It was a titanium blade that was stronger than most machine gloves, so it was able to protect vital points. However, it could not withstand a collision with a huge mass.

A 2.5-meter tall object flew in and kicked Noah Lucas. Among the lightweight bodies, Noah, who uses an ultra-lightweight body, flew up into the sky at once. However, the opponent was not satisfied with one shot. He grabbed the floating Noah by the ankle and threw him back to the ground. The camera shook violently.

“Ugh…”

The video was played in first person, so the sense of realism was great. The opponent didn’t stop there and tried to trample Noah’s head with an elephant’s foot. The finish was a certain character.

“Adam-!”

Noah rolled to the side and swung the blade of Zhang Ze. I hit the hamstrings, which are inevitably weak due to the structure of the human body, but KANG-! It sounded once.

Adam Knox, as if mocking the swordsman’s outbursts, chased after him and took a shot with his sword. Noah raised the blade on his elbow to guard, but it was broken in one blow and a heavy shock was applied to his shoulder.

“You took the wrong side. Noah Lucas.”

Adam Knox’s face got it right for the first time. I could see where the unmechanized 3% was. The face of a middle-aged man was as gentle as the violence from earlier was a lie.

“Well… I have great friends over here…”

Noah laughed as he clung to the mechanical arm. Adam Knox held out his right arm as if he was not curious about who it was. The wrists flipped down and a large-caliber muzzle appeared. It was meant to blow the head off. Just then, drone wreckage patted overhead. The tactical drone intercepted by Leonard crashed where Adam Knox was.

The debris that fell from a height of only 5 stories could not damage the steel body, but it was momentarily distracted. The communication of the self-proclaimed DM also played a role.

-Leonard Walker is escaping to the rooftop!

“Leonard Walker?”

It was a strange name to an old fixer from the federal capital. While searching his memory to find out who it was, Noah lifted both feet up and wrapped them around his bound left arm. It looked like a snake coiled around a tree branch.

“Because you are my friend!”

Noah struck Adam Knox in the eyes with a slender mantis knife below the knee. Adam Knox roared and brushed his left arm to the side. Noah didn’t miss the opportunity and tumbled back on the floor. After running ten laps without stopping, the distance went away in an instant. Adam Knox pulled out all the guns mounted on his body and fired wildly, but he failed to hit a single shot. And Leonard and Bennington, who received Noah Lucas’ memories, vomited from severe motion sickness.

“stop. Let’s stop.”

Still, thanks to information sharing, I was able to figure out who my tricky opponent was. Max turned off the terminal and sighed, and Bennington went into serious thought. With the current firepower, I couldn’t defeat the monster cyborg comparable to War Machine.

“If you can’t support it from the outside, you can destroy it from the inside, right? Leonard Walker, is it possible?”

I had high hopes for Leonard Hacking. But even Leonard learned something from tactical drone hacking.

“The hacker over there is formidable.”

“So no?”

“Since they knew I was involved, they would have raised the brain chip security to the highest level and devised countermeasures. I can’t say anything before I actually try it, but you better not expect it to go easy.”

When even Leonard was not confident, the atmosphere became depressed.

“Should I just give up?”

“Ugh! There is a solver pride! You’re not even a company, are you going to stop taking requests to a company boss?”

“Is that a solver too?”

“So we have to do it even more!”

Max radiated enthusiasm. Being a biological human, he had the most fever.

Leonard made the decision with one of the few biological organs like Max: the heart.

“If firepower is insufficient, let’s supplement firepower first.”