"You don't want to kill, but I sure as hell do."
Riku grinned, baring a mouth full of sharp teeth, looking every bit like a man-eating demon. Which, well, he technically could be.
But these scavs—could you even call them human? They were more like beasts in human skin. Just the smell of them turned his stomach.
"Son of a bitch! You think you can flex on me? Die!"
The scav didn't waste any more words, unloading his entire clip at Riku. That smooth trigger-pull was practically a required skill in Night City.
"Tat-tat-tat!!!"
The rapid chatter of the submachine gun filled the alley, echoing off the walls.
In the dim light, the only thing visible was the muzzle flash, kicking up the acrid smell of gunpowder.
"Damn it! Sure, there's no market for him, but maybe some weirdo would pay for the novelty! Couldn't you be a bit gentler?!"
The knife-wielding scav, eyeing the bullet-riddled Animal gang brute in front of them, couldn't help but snap at his partner.
In their line of work, you never turned down extra merch. What if someone did want it?
"Shut up, you idiot! I'm not letting this guy's claws rip me apart!"
The submachine gun scav shot back, already swapping in a fresh clip, ready for another burst.
"Didn't you see the shell casings on the ground? You forgot why we came here? That homeless guy was shooting too!"
They'd been drawn to the alley by the sound of gunfire, hoping to scavenge some leftovers. They knew a fight had gone down.
The reason he hadn't fired right away was because something felt off. Shell casings, bullets, bloodstains—but why didn't this guy have a single wound?
"Gotta say, you're not as dumb as you look."
Riku quickly showed him why. His wounds healed in seconds, bullets popping out of his body like they were nothing.
"Clink, clank."
The bullets hit the ground, ringing out crisply. The two scavs stared, jaws practically on the floor.
"Zzt, zzt."
A weird noise cut through the air. The knife-wielding scav's busted cyber-eye suddenly retracted.
"Shoot, damn it! What are you waiting for?!"
The knife scav roared at his submachine gun buddy, then turned and bolted without a second thought.
The submachine gun scav froze for a split second, then cursed under his breath and ran too.
If that didn't kill him, what was the point of fighting? What kind of freak experiment did some corpo cook up?!
"Trying to run now? Too late."
Riku lunged forward in a single bound. He couldn't dodge bullets and wasn't as fast as that Demon Slayer girl from before, but against these two scavs? Speed wasn't an issue.
In a few strides, he caught up to the submachine gun scav. Without hesitation, he swiped a claw at the guy's neck.
"Damn it!!!"
The scav felt death closing in. Instead of turning to fight, he fired wildly ahead.
"Splat!"
Riku's claw clamped down on the scav's neck, sharp talons slicing clean through. Blood sprayed as the scav's head, eyes wide with shock, rolled across the ground. His lifeless body collapsed in the dim alley.
Riku didn't spare him a glance, moving on to the knife-wielding scav, who was crawling desperately along the ground.
"Real tight-knit crew you got there."
Riku's mouth twitched at the sight of the gunshot wound on the scav's back. That wasn't his doing—it was the submachine gun scav's parting gift.
Knowing he was doomed, the submachine gun scav had decided to take his buddy down with him. How touching.
"Splat!"
Riku ended the knife scav with a single swipe. Unlike that Demon Slayer girl, he didn't have a taste for toying with his enemies.
[Ding! Experience +5.]
[Ding! Experience +1.]
The [Limit System] popped up with notifications, but not during the fight—only after it was over, settling the score in one go.
Riku had a theory. Maybe the [Limit System] only ran its combat tally when it confirmed the area was safe?
Could he use this to gauge danger? If the system started settling experience after a fight, it meant no enemies were nearby. If it didn't, something was still lurking.
It was just a hunch, though. He didn't have enough evidence to confirm it yet.
"Looks like holding a gun really does make a difference. Both scavs, but the one with the submachine gun gave 5 experience points, while this guy only gave 1."
Riku rifled through the knife scav's gear. Surprisingly, the guy really didn't have a gun—just surgical knives, tweezers, and other tools.
"Pretty clear division of labor. This guy's gotta be the one who handles the organ harvesting."
It made sense to Riku. Among scavs, the organ harvester was practically a skilled trade. They didn't just carve out kidneys—they made sure nothing went to waste.
Cyberware and organs that could fetch a price were sold on the black market. The leftover scraps? Either bulk-sold, burned, or tossed out to feed the rats.
If you ended up in a scav's hands, you were done for. To them, a human was just a pile of parts to sell on the black market.
"Compared to them, man-eating demons don't seem all that different."
Riku picked up the submachine gun. He'd only been in this world a short while, and already he had two guns and three bodies to his name. Gotta hand it to Night City.
"Gotta find a place to hole up. Dawn's coming."
Glancing at the sky, Riku's danger senses kicked into overdrive.
Getting blasted by a gun? No big deal. But the faintly whitening sky? That felt like the end of the world.
Sure, the city was called Night City, but it wasn't like the sun never rose. The "Night" in Night City had nothing to do with darkness.
It came from "Knight"—Richard Knight, the city's founder, whose name was honored after his assassination.
"Good thing someone delivered some cash. With eddies, you'll never want for a place to crash in this city."
While looting the two scavs, Riku had found some money. Lucky for him, these guys were scavs, who often dealt in cash transactions.
In any other line of work, finding cash on someone would be a pipe dream. In an era of brain implants, online transactions were king.