"I'm not turning the engine off. If something goes wrong, we'll need to bolt," Jackie said nervously, twitchy as hell.
"Do it," V replied in a low voice. Before he could attract the guards' attention, he headed toward the customs building, glancing once at Luo Qi in the back seat before leaving.
…
A little while later, V came back out of the building.
Jackie had already been sitting in the driver's seat, waiting so anxiously he looked ready to combust. The moment he saw V, he hurriedly leaned over.
"What's it like in there?"
But Luo Qi saw at once that V's face looked terrible.
"I'll tell you in a second. We need to move. Fast."
Luo Qi's heart suddenly started hammering in his chest like someone was using his skull to smash a wall.
"Shit, we're screwed. Get ready to run. Don't ask why," Luo Qi urged Jackie at once. "Don't take the main road! Can we cut somewhere else?"
"Don't freak me out," Jackie said, baring his teeth. "There are barricades on both sides. We can only go forward."
"Hey, what happened in there? Can somebody tell me?"
"I've got a bad feeling about this," V said grimly—especially after hearing that Luo Qi had the exact same feeling.
Hands gripping the wheel, Jackie's voice got shakier and shakier. "Oh… do you get those kinds of feelings a lot?"
"Just drive, Jackie. Keep driving," V said, trying to reassure him, though he clearly didn't know what else to say.
They had barely cleared the checkpoint road when Jackie spotted movement up ahead on the dark stretch in front of them.
"Someone's coming this way. And I don't think they're friendly."
At that instant, something in Luo Qi's mind snapped taut.
"Quick! Turn! Cut through the side—"
But it was already too late.
"Stop your vehicle immediately!!!"
Two armored SUVs swung sideways across the road ahead, blocking the three of them completely.
V's pupils shrank instantly.
"Go! Move! Now!" he shouted.
They hadn't even reached the first turnoff where they might have ditched pursuit, and the corporate hunters were already here.
Jackie slammed the wheel over, and the car charged off the road, dropping down the slope to the left.
Ahead of them was a huge stretch of glowing greenhouses.
"The cargo you are transporting is corporate property and constitutes smuggling," said a woman's voice through an electronic loudspeaker, slightly distorted but all the colder for it. "I repeat—stop your vehicle immediately!"
"Fuck!"
Seeing the pursuers closing in behind them, V drew his revolver, leaned out the window, and opened fire.
"Jackie! Hold the car steady!" Luo Qi shouted.
"Watch out!"
Jackie whipped the vehicle around and tore into the district of glowing pointed-roof greenhouses, speeding through the narrow lanes between them.
Crack! Crack! Crack!!
Several stray rounds came whipping in from the cars behind them.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!"
Luo Qi, who had never seen a real gun before—let alone a gunfight like this—immediately ducked down beneath the seat.
At that moment, it was the only bit of common sense he could still remember under pressure.
If he got taken out by a stray bullet, his cyberpunk life would be over before it had even begun.
He might even have time to demand a refund from customer service—
if only he could find the save button first.
Unfortunately, Luo Qi was in the real world.
No save files. No reloads.
Bang bang!! Bang bang bang!!!
V's revolver answered back even louder, muzzle flashes strobing outside the window and lighting up the dark interior of the car in bursts.
Screeeech—
Jackie jerked the wheel hard, barely avoiding an armored vehicle parked in the middle of the road.
Luo Qi's head slammed into the car door, and V nearly got thrown out the window.
BOOM—!!!
A violent explosion erupted behind them. One of the pursuing vehicles went up in a mass of fire, wreckage flipping through the air in a shower of sparks.
V had blown their engine.
"They just won't fucking die!" Jackie cursed viciously.
He didn't even have time to celebrate before he glanced in the rearview mirror and saw several more vehicles still locked onto them.
Bang bang bang bang bang!!
The moment V reloaded, he emptied the next set of bullets as fast as he could.
One car got taken out, and another immediately filled the gap to keep chasing them.
They kept weaving left and right through the narrow lanes. V was just about to shoot at the next enemy leaning out of a car window when Jackie grabbed him by the waistband and yanked him back inside.
"Watch it!!"
Before Luo Qi could even process what had happened, the car jolted violently. Accompanied by a massive crash, it actually went airborne.
By the time he crawled up from under the seat, they had already burst out onto a wider road.
Overhead ran rows of connected pipelines, so they were probably still inside the same industrial zone.
But they had finally opened some distance between themselves and the corporate vehicles.
"We lost them. Holy shit, I was this close to having a nervous breakdown," Jackie cursed, sounding like a man who had barely survived disaster.
"Keep driving. Do not stop," V said savagely. "Lucky, you alright?"
Luo Qi clutched his throbbing skull. "I'm okay. Just… that was a little too exciting."
So this was Night City's welcome ceremony?
Lovely. Absolutely lovely.
He'd been tossed around so badly his vision was still spinning, full of stars and static.
After driving along the main road for a while, Jackie turned into a cluster of wasteland-style buildings.
"This place looks abandoned. Let's stop for a second, sort this shit out, then get moving again."
"Agreed," Luo Qi said weakly.
He understood now: all that nonsense about instantly becoming some invincible badass after transmigrating was pure bullshit.
Right now, he was basically luggage.
They picked a random open garage and rolled in—only for the brakes to fail completely. The car smashed straight into a storage rack with a loud series of crashing bangs.
"Estos hijos de puta!" Jackie exploded, cursing in words Luo Qi couldn't understand.
Still swearing, he got out of the car.
He yanked the rolling shutter down, then burst out in fury, "Fuck! We almost died back there! Is this how you people do smuggling!? It was supposed to be smooth! We weren't supposed to have any trouble at all!"
V finally snapped too.
"If you think this is my fault, then just say it!"
"You still don't get it, do you?" Jackie shot back.
"The border guards tipped the corp off," V said. He had already figured it out. "Told them we had their cargo."
"…Those line-straddling bastards seriously sold us out like that?" Jackie raged. "They played us for clowns! Aren't they afraid we'll come back for payback?!"
Grinding his teeth, V replied, "He made a bet. He figured we didn't have a clan backing us. And he bet right."
"What a fucking mess…" Jackie said bitterly.
But there was nothing he could actually do about it. He couldn't go settle accounts with NCPD or with a corporation. Those were either mega-conglomerates worth hundreds of billions or even trillions of eurodollars, or state-backed power structures.
A nobody like him could never shake something that big.
"I want to ask you something," V said, forcing himself to cool down. "Are you planning to keep bitching, or are we going to finish the job?"
Once Jackie understood it wasn't really anybody's personal screwup, his attitude softened quickly. Deep down, he wasn't actually the type with a bad temper.
"Uh… I'll be straight with you," Jackie said awkwardly. "I'm strapped for cash too. I can't pay you right now. Once I get paid for moving this batch of corporate trash, I'll settle up with you immediately."
V gave a humorless laugh. "What? You think I'm just gonna sit here nicely and wait?"
He was already furious. The fact that he still couldn't get paid only made him even angrier.
"Don't be mad, V," Luo Qi said, stepping in to stop him. "You two are the ones who got us through that hail of bullets. I didn't do anything. If the two people who just saved my life start fighting, then what does that make me?"
Jackie looked at Luo Qi, lips moving slightly, but didn't say anything.
V shook his head. "I told you already. I owe you my life. For life."
"So do I," Luo Qi said, patting him on the shoulder. "Stop being mad. We're all on the same side."
"…Actually," Jackie said, folding his arms and looking at the two of them, his tone turning softer, "to tell you the truth, I originally had no intention of paying you at all. I was gonna dump you the second we crossed the border."
"But…"
"You two are pretty damn honest."
He looked at Luo Qi and V, and something flickered in his eyes.
"Thanks for telling me the truth," V said with a nod.
"Heh. Thanks."
The three of them fell into a brief silence.
"So what now?" Luo Qi asked.
The three of them were like prey cornered in a dead end, unable to move, while corporations outside were hunting them across the world.
"Obviously, we open the box and see what's inside," Jackie said. He popped the trunk and gestured for V to do it. "Open it."
"You think the client's gonna be thrilled to find out the package he sent got opened?" V asked.
Leaning against the trunk lid, Jackie said disdainfully, "Screw the client. Sooner or later, you gotta work for yourselves. What fixer, what commission. Besides, if we're gonna find a new buyer, we need to know what we're selling him."
Luo Qi nodded. He agreed.
V rubbed his hands together, glanced at Jackie, then at Luo Qi, and reached out to tap the touchscreen on the crate.
"Holy shit!"
Luo Qi looked over and saw a circular three-leaf logo appear on the screen, along with several large letters.
[arasaka]
Arasaka.
Arasaka Corporation.
A colossal monster with a market value of 890 billion eurodollars and more than 595,000 employees.
Security company? Arms manufacturer? Tech giant?
No.
Those were only its outward faces.
Arasaka was one of the most powerful military empires in the world.
Small and mid-sized nations didn't even have the standing to speak in front of it.
"The box says Arasaka," V said, stepping aside so Jackie could see. "We really did bite into hard bone this time."
"Then maybe we just hit the jackpot," Jackie said, not looking scared in the slightest as he stepped forward and opened the lid.
The metal case opened with a hiss, revealing a white inner lining.
Cold air drifted out.
"¡No mames! A real iguana! Looks like a Lesser Antillean breed!" Jackie cried in delight.
V looked blank. "A Lesser—what?"
"Antillean. I think they went extinct thirty years ago. Native to the Lesser Antilles." Jackie sounded thrilled as he stared at the rare little thing. "You've traveled a long way, my shabby little friend."
Luo Qi leaned in and took a look.
Inside was a green lizard with red spines running down its back.
But he wasn't a biologist. He had no idea what exactly he was looking at.
V leaned closer and poked the still half-frozen iguana with a finger. "Can it sell for a good price?"
"Of course," Luo Qi said. "Rich people love things money supposedly can't buy."
"Exactly. Then this trip wasn't for nothing after all," Jackie said, grinning too.
Screw Arasaka.
What was sitting in that box wasn't an iguana.
It was money.
After talking it over, the three of them came to a final decision: find a fixer, sell the thing, and split the money evenly.
The payout might be a little smaller that way, but it would be easy money.
"So," Jackie said, hands on his hips as if he could already see the cash in hand, "have you two figured out what you're gonna do in Night City?"
"Find Lucky a ripperdoc. After that, we'll play it by ear. Why?" V asked.
"Because from what I can tell, you've got no money, no gigs, and plenty of time. And besides, in Night City, you need friends." Jackie suddenly slipped right into full local-host mode, like a Night City native entertaining newcomers. "Don't worry. I'll help you find work. In this town, there's always some way to earn a meal. And having people to back you up when something goes wrong matters—a lot. Like family. Maybe you'll find some in this city."
"Thank you," V said, glancing at Luo Qi. "I appreciate it."
"Same here," Luo Qi said, flashing a big grin.
Jackie waved it off, a little embarrassed, then laughed brightly, clearly enjoying the feeling. "Cut it out, that's nothing. The three of us get along way too well to waste this… partnership."
The three of them were just about to slap hands when the flash-frozen iguana suddenly sprang out of the box.
V finally showed the most genuine smile Luo Qi had seen from him in days.
"You know what, Jackie? You're actually not that much of an asshole."
"Hah! Listen to this guy," Jackie said, waving a hand and laughing. "Alright, partners, grab the lizard and let's get the hell outta here."
The three of them bumped fists, then shook hands one by one.
"What's with that expression?" Jackie asked when he saw the exaggerated look on Luo Qi's face.
"A happy one."
No one could have imagined that these three future troublemakers—people destined to stir up the world—would become partners in a run-down little warehouse in the south of the city.
Just like Jackie had said:
Maybe this really was the butterfly effect.
In corners where no one is looking, beneath the crushing weight of capital, flowers of hope still find a way to bloom.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 172)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 116)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter119)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 66
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 52
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 55
The Way the Umamusume Look at 42
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 40
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 36
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 30
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 26
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 26
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