[Check Out My P4treon For +30 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!! And get chapters before publishing them here for free on my p4treon][https://p4treon.com/ThePlotHoleRefuge]
===
It was Night in Watson District.
Ram was walking back to the Watson slums after a day of labor in the abandoned industrial area.
Throughout the entire day, Ram had been scavenging with other vagrants, looking for useful items to take away.
For most ordinary people in Night City, while junkyards were highly toxic and frequent visits could harm one's health, they also contained many "treasures"—the only means for most lower-class people to survive in Night City.
If one was lucky while rummaging through the towering mountains of trash, they might find some usable cyberware; if that day was blessed by God, they might even find a corpse in the trash mountains.
Corpses dumped in the junkyard were the most valuable items, especially if they were discovered for the first time, because bodies discarded there were often those processed by corporations.
Gangs and mercenaries wouldn't clean up or collect bodies; they usually left immediately after killing someone, waiting for the NCPD to clean up. Why would they do it themselves? They were largely responsible for the stench and pollution in the poor alleys of Night City!
But corporate people were different; it seemed that to maintain their "image," which didn't actually exist externally, corporations often acted somewhat redundantly when handling such incidents.
Bays, lakes, trash mountains, abandoned deserted places—more than half of the bodies found in these locations were secretly disposed of by corporations. Therefore, high-end suits, watches, implants found after dissecting a body...
That was truly... just thinking about it made one feel wonderful.
Yawning, Ram walked out of the North Industrial Area, then pulled up his hood and tucked the two tattered shards hidden in his arms deeper.
These two items weren't worth much; being broken and discarded shards, their combined price wouldn't exceed thirty euros.
Because these shards were too corroded to be repaired, their only remaining use was the material particles inside, which could be sold to back-alley ripperdocs for enough money to buy one or two meals.
But even this small amount of money... for some gangster bastards in Watson, it would be enough to make them want to kill Ram.
After Ram walked for another ten minutes or so, he suddenly heard a commotion. Hearing the noise, he instinctively turned to leave, planning to take a detour, but just as he turned around, two men with their arms around each other's shoulders emerged from around the corner.
Wearing hoods and face masks, their attire made Ram's heart skip a beat.
And seeing Ram, the eyes of the two men immediately lit up, the one on the left even letting out a loud whistle.
Seeing this, Ram instantly tensed up, sweat beads rolling down his cheeks. He lowered his head and quickly tried to walk past the two men.
They were Scavengers!
But the other person suddenly extended an arm and grabbed Ram, who was about to run.
"Where do you think you're going?" The person on the right, due to the violent movement, had his face mask fall off, revealing an utterly ordinary face to Ram—almost a natural face, which could perfectly blend into a crowd on the street during the day.
But Ram's heart was pounding in his throat with fear. He immediately whispered, "I, I... I'm just a vagrant. I don't have much money. This is all I have. I'll give it all to you..."
As Ram spoke, he took out the two shards he had painstakingly found in the trash mountain today from his arms and handed them to the Scavenger who was holding him.
The person on the left reached out, took them, then looked down, and scornfully said, "Damn, I thought they were eddies. What's the point of you bringing out two Wasteshards?"
"This is all my money, really, you can search..."
Mid-sentence, Ram's eye socket stung. The Scavenger on the left directly punched him in the eye socket, making Ram's head spin.
Screaming in pain, Ram covered his eye, and behind him, a flurry of footsteps appeared.
Ram instinctively turned his head, covering his eye. In the vision of one eye, there were six people, four men and two women, smiling as they walked towards him.
"Yo, I said having a picnic here tonight was right. Last time, Jill and them had a picnic here and caught two lone vagrants. That was unexpected wealth~"
"Too bad it's not a woman. Men aren't very useful; they can't be used to film Black Braindance. The Braindance popular on the black market now all require female protagonists; everyone likes to watch women being abused," a man said, stroking his chin and scrutinizing Ram.
"It's fine, filming some self-harm Braindance is the same. Tie a circle of bombs around him, or make him eat nails, swallow knives or something. Didn't the Braindance merchant say someone wanted to watch pica Braindance last time?"
"Tying bombs won't work. If it really explodes into body parts, how can the organs be sold for money?"
Ram was surrounded by this group, who, with their back-and-forth chatter, directly decided Ram's fate.
His teeth chattered in his mouth, and Ram's body trembled. If he hadn't already urinated by the roadside on his way back, he would definitely have wet himself now.
"Take him away."
"No, I'm not going with you, I'm not, no!"
Lifted by two people, Ram, after a moment of daze, immediately screamed. But his body was no longer obeying him. Thinking of the fate he might face, Ram's legs went soft, and his arms couldn't exert any force.
He could only use his last bit of strength to shout loudly.
"Save me, someone save me, please!"
"No, kill me, kill me!"
As a vagrant, especially one living in Watson, Ram knew the Scavengers' ways all too well. Many people in his circle had said not to go out at night; one must return to the slums and hide before nightfall.
But... Ram had spent extra time today for these two shards, for a full meal. Now, thinking back, he was filled with immense regret.
What difference would it make to go hungry for two more days?
Now... his life was about to be over!
No, if he died, he died. Anyway, living like this was just suffering, sleeping in damp alleys, using broken boxes as a home, eating irregularly with no future. He didn't even have the courage to leave Night City and seek hope in the outside world.
Born in this city of dreams, Ram sometimes really wanted to ask those who rushed into Night City what they were thinking. City of Dreams? City of Hell!
This city trapped everything about Ram, yet those outside the city rushed in without hesitation.
Could the cognitive gap between people truly be that great?
Ram didn't plan to live forever; he was just muddling through now, struggling between life and death. But... if he had to endure torture and humiliation before dying, Ram would rather die on the spot.
He didn't want to be used by Scavengers for all sorts of inhumane experiments!
He didn't want even death to be devoid of dignity... to become entertainment for some people at night after he died.
"Kill me, kill me!"
Ram's strength gradually returned. The anger born of despair made him regain control of his body. Power surged, and he struggled with effort.
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out, and Ram screamed miserably. A small-caliber pistol bullet pierced his thigh, but he continued to shout, attempting to provoke the Scavengers in this way, to meet the end of death.
"Damn it, give him a shot. Fuck, although there aren't many people here, attracting the attention of those Animals guys is also a hassle."
"Give him a shot. The Tyger Claws and Moxes have been clashing constantly recently. Some time ago, their people were fighting here. Besides, the Tyger Claws' reach is longer now. Didn't they fight with the Maelstrom here the day before yesterday? Although there were no casualties, conflicts between these two gangs are quite frightening."
If the Tyger Claws were reckless hooligans, then the Maelstrom were a group of lawless lunatics.
This refers not to the combat power of the two gangs, but to their behavior.
The total number of the Maelstrom gang is estimated to be around one thousand people, at most one thousand three or four hundred, while the Tyger Claws?
The gang's estimated number exceeds five thousand people!
But even so, in Watson, the Maelstrom loudly occupied the North Industrial Area, becoming its dominators, precisely because this group of guys were all lunatics.
The two Scavengers spoke, and then, the female Scavenger among the group reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a needle-like device and walked behind Ram, preparing to inject his muddy neck.
But just as she was about to act, her partner grabbed her arm and said joyfully, "Look, haha, we've found another one!"
Ram also saw the person standing at the end of the alley. It was a tall boy wearing a baseball cap and athletic gear. Under the dim streetlights, his slender figure cast a long, dark shadow on the Blackwall covered with iron-gray and graffiti.
Ram instinctively shouted at the figure, "Help, help me!"
Two Scavengers members quickly approached with smiles on their faces. One of them pulled out a pistol, pointing it at the tall boy in front, and said, "Don't move, or I'll blow a hole in you!"
"Just stand still!"
As they got closer, the two Scavengers who approached the man showed expressions of ecstasy. One even turned back and shouted, "High-grade! Holy shit, Mara, it's a high-grade!"
"Asian features, delicate face, this one is high-grade, perfect for a Braindance…"
Mid-sentence, the Scavenger who had turned his head suddenly froze, his throat itching, and his chin felt a burning sensation.
Meanwhile, Ram's eyes widened, because the next moment, he saw the head of the talking Scavenger shift from his body!
His head separated from his body like a ball. Under the dim light, blood shot into the sky like an arrow, and the young man in the baseball cap had disappeared.
What remained were two headless bodies lying on the ground.
"Damn it! Enemy attack! It's Maelstrom!"
"Maelstrom your mother! That's a native! Tyger Claws, it must be Tyger Claws!"
Asian, if they're Asian, who else could it be but Tyger Claws?!
The Scavengers beside Ram woke up and reacted.
However, the combat power of Scavengers is very low. These ground rats don't occupy territory in Night City at all, nor do they fight with gang members. Their methods of making money are completely different from conventional gangs that seize territory, engage in infighting, sell drugs, or smuggle.
Scavengers operate through kidnapping and trafficking human organs. And because Scavengers operate in small groups, they have no coordination whatsoever; there can even be multiple Scavenger factions on a single street.
Therefore, the combat power of Scavengers varies greatly, but overall, it is very low.
Their response also seemed panicked and nervous. Ram was directly thrown aside, while the Scavengers huddled together, some holding guns, some holding knives, some holding daggers, nervously searching for their target.
His hair was ruffled by the wind. Ram instinctively looked up and saw a shadow, dark as ink, flash by. The shadow brought a piercing sound that made Ram's ears ache. He lay on the ground, looking up towards the Scavengers, and saw blood again.
A dark, inky knife pierced one Scavenger's head, then disappeared the next moment. But the guy whose head was pierced by the knife let out a choked sound, and a whitish-red substance flowed from his brow as he fell.
The inky-dark shadow reappeared under the dim light. The jet-black knife appeared and disappeared. In just the blink of an eye, two more Scavengers fell.
"There! Where the hell is he?!"
"Get out! Get out here, you son of a bitch!"
"I'll kill you, I'll kill your whole family!"
The unknown is what most easily causes fear. Constantly falling comrades and an unseen enemy broke the remaining Scavengers' composure, and they tried to bolster their courage with curses and raised voices.
Ram was already stunned. He slowly sat up, blood still flowing from his gunshot wound on his thigh, but Ram felt no pain, because the scene before him made him forget the pain.
"The two things I hate most are Tyger Claws, and you guys."
A voice sounded behind Ram. He quickly turned around and saw a man standing behind him.
Slender, dressed in sportswear, with one hand pressing down the brim of his baseball cap, Ram looked up from below and could see his exposed lips and part of his nose.
Clean-faced, with soft facial curves, thin lips, and a delicate nose, this was a… very refined-looking tall boy. Although Ram was Caucasian, he had to admit he appreciated such an Asian appearance.
It perfectly matched his imagination of East Asians: clean, refined, beautiful…
No wonder the Scavenger earlier had shouted "high-grade."
Then, Ram's eyes suddenly froze, because the man who had just been a little behind him suddenly disappeared.
"Ah!"
With a scream, Ram looked and saw the man had already appeared next to the group of Scavengers.
"Some of you also laid hands on the Moxes, didn't you? Since I've encountered you… then just… all die."
His voice reached Ram's ears, his tone cold, saying these words with understated ease.
And soon, the remaining Scavengers also died.
Under the inky light and shadows, Ram watched with his own eyes as the Scavengers' bodies were split in two.
Next, Ram saw the man bending down, searching for something on the bodies of the Scavengers. Then, a stack of chips was taken from a Scavenger's body and put into his pocket.
And then, the person looked at him.
Ram looked at him, watching him walk closer, step by step, until he was in front of him.
Run…?
Forget it. This was already the best situation. Being killed by him was far better than being taken back by the Scavengers.
As for money… I have no money.
Then, those two broken chips on him would be payment for him "saving" himself from the Scavengers.
Ram thought so and gradually calmed down.
His thigh was bleeding; he couldn't possibly run, let alone… even if he wasn't injured, he couldn't outrun this guy who could suddenly disappear.
Cyberpsycho?
Or, a high-level corporate agent?
An Asian youth, so was he from Tyger Claws, or Arasaka? Or… was it Kang Tao?
All sorts of guesses appeared in Ram's mind.
Then, he froze. Ram stared blankly at the man who was squatting in front of him, lifting and pulling out one of his thighs, and then wrapping a piece of T-shirt cloth around the wound on his thigh.
"You… what are you doing?" Ram asked.
"Don't be nervous. Your injury isn't too serious, but if it doesn't stop bleeding, you're very likely to pass out from excessive blood loss. I don't have any medicine on me, and even if I did, I have no reason to give it to you, do I?" the man said.
"Why are you doing this?" Ram took a deep breath and asked.
"Why not? It's just a small favor," he replied calmly.
The cloth was tightly bound around the wound. The other party stood up and looked at Ram.
From this perspective, Ram saw more than just his lower face; he vaguely saw a pair of eyes, and… they met for a second or two.
"Go. Get out of here quickly. Take that road over there. I came from that direction, and there are no Scavengers along that path," the man said to Ram, pointing to the left at the end of the alley.
After speaking, he turned and walked towards the edge of the North Industrial Area, near the Kabuki district.
"You, what's your name?!" Ram watched his receding back, stood up, and shouted loudly. The figure stopped, then simply raised his hand and waved at Ram.
Then, he disappeared from Ram's sight.
Ram clutched his injured leg, gritted his teeth, turned, and hobbled away from the scene, following the path the other person had indicated.
And in his arms, Ram tightly pressed two discarded chips with his arm.
He should have given those two chips to the other person just now.
Although this stuff wasn't worth much, it was the only valuable thing Ram had on him.
A feeling of regret arose in his heart, but it was quickly swallowed by hope.
Ram's pace gradually quickened, and his body also began to feel stronger.
How good. He was still alive, damn it, and he had prospects for tomorrow's meal money.
"I, damn it, survived another day in this cursed city."
===
Note: So far this story is published up to chapter 122 on my patreon, go check it out
exclusive 18+ character images, and early chapters, please visit my Patreon. Thanks for your support!
p4treon.com/ThePlotHoleRefuge
if you want more updates == supports with power stones
Every 20 Power Stones == Bonus Chapter
every three 5-star reviews == Bonus Chapter