Chapter 89 - 84: Tracking Chip

Chapter 89: Chapter 84: Tracking Chip

The black motorcycle parked at the entrance of the Ninth District. Yin Zhen took off her helmet, leaving her black mechanical mask to conceal the pale red eyes that marked her noble lineage.

Through her mask’s visor, semi-transparent navigational lines projected onto the street—turn left, go straight, destination in two hundred meters.

The Ninth District was the most bustling yet chaotic lower-city zone in Night City. The streets were narrow, flanked by old tubular steel structures. Rust and exposed, untreated wiring crawled across the walls.

Flickering neon tubes cast intermittent patches of red, blue, and green light over the puddle- and garbage-strewn ground. The sweet, metallic stench of cheap artificial blood plasma filled the air, mingling with the scent of rust and rot.

Several punks, their faces half-replaced with cybernetics, crouched at the entrance to an alleyway, using modified prosthetic eyes to scan the backpacks of passing pedestrians. Yin Zhen’s mask was hooked into the Guard Team’s system; through her HUD, nine out of ten people here were tagged with red names, indicating criminal records.

Gunshots and wailing sirens echoed in the distance, only to be quickly drowned out by the heavy bass pumping from a bar on the corner.

The moment Yin Zhen stepped off her bike, she caught someone’s attention. A tall, scrawny punk with green hair stepped out of the alley’s shadows. His left arm was a cheap, iron-gray prosthetic with wires exposed at the joints. Holding a mug of beer mixed with artificial blood plasma, he tilted his head and sized her up.

"Hey sweetheart, first time in District 9? That’s a sick ride. Where’d you get it?"

In the next second, Yin Zhen jammed the muzzle of her gun directly under the punk’s chin.

"Get lost!"

The punk’s smile froze on his face. Seeing this, the other thugs at the alley entrance cursed and drew their guns on her, but no one dared to pull the trigger first.

Without a shred of fear, Yin Zhen pressed her gun harder into his flesh.

"W-Wait a minute!"

The green-haired punk’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He slowly raised his hands and took a step back. Seeing his submission, Yin Zhen holstered her weapon, brushed past him, and walked straight away.

Yin Zhen passed by the Abyss Bar that Nan Jiamu had mentioned. The storefront was small, marked by a crooked wine glass shaped from neon tubes. Two towering android bouncers stood guard at the door.

She paused for a moment outside. The interior was lively, shrouded in smoke and dim lighting, while seductive holographic projections of a man and a woman danced intimately in the center of the room.

Behind the counter stood a tall woman. Half of her head was silver-white metal, one mechanical eye flashing blue while her normal eye crinkled in a smile. She grooved to the heavy metal music, occasionally raising her cybernetic arm to shake a cocktail mixer vigorously to the beat.

"This bartender is definitely a Player, and a member of Nan Jiamu’s main group at that," Yin Zhen concluded inwardly.

She looked away and continued down the street. The Mechanic shop Zoe had told her about, Rusted Nail, was located at the end of the block next to a secondhand cybernetics recycling station. Its storefront was even smaller than the Abyss Bar’s, its iron door completely covered in rust. Four or five people were currently gathered outside. Dressed in identical gray overalls, they looked like workers from the same factory.

"...I gave you three bags of artificial blood plasma, and you give me this piece of trash? Do you think I’m a pushover?!"

A burly white man had the owner by the collar, a gun pressed hard against the older man’s head.

The owner was a middle-aged man with graying hair. He wore thick goggles that obscured his expression, sported a heavy stubble on his chin, and had an unlit cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. He appeared to be of East descent.

"Buddy, don’t get so worked up. Those three bags of plasma you gave me were less than fifty percent pure. That’s not even enough to buy eighteenth-hand scrap for this model. What I installed for you is already the best available at that price point. If you want something better, bring me one vial of blood source element, and I can hit up the Saint warehouses tonight to get you the latest model."

"You—" The man’s face flushed red with anger as he jabbed the gun forward.

Despite being held by the collar, the owner calmly pulled out a lighter and lit the cigarette dangling from his lips.

"Go ahead, blow my brains out. Let’s see where you’ll find another shop this cheap with workmanship as good as mine."

The owner was telling the truth. He was already the most honest Mechanic in the Ninth District, and his skills were exceptionally good.

Using a single finger, he gently pushed the gun barrel away from his head. "Go next door and find Randy. Mention my name, and he’ll help you pick up a better secondhand part at a twenty percent discount. Once you have it, I’ll install it for free. How about that?"

The anger on the man’s face slowly subsided. The owner patted the hand clutching his collar, and it loosened instinctively. Smoothing out his clothes, the owner clamped his cigarette between his lips again, took a drag, and blew a smoke ring.

"Off you go now. Don’t hold up my big business."

Through his goggles, the owner’s gaze flicked toward Yin Zhen across the street, seemingly both deliberate and casual.

The burly man and his accomplices walked away cursing, and the owner dispersed the small crowd of onlookers at the door. Once everyone had cleared out, Yin Zhen stepped from the dark corner. Her leather boots splashed through a puddle as she entered the shop.

The interior was cluttered. A medical chair sat dead center, surrounded by piles of various mechanical parts.

"Someone told me that an unyielding will is the Source of life. What do you think?"

The cigarette-smoking owner showed no surprise. He pushed his goggles up onto his forehead, revealing a pair of deep, weather-beaten dark brown eyes, and leaned casually against the doorframe.

"I’d say that here in Night City, crimson blood is the Source of life."

Yin Zhen furrowed her brows slightly. "Reciting that line was already cringeworthy and edgy enough, but why isn’t this owner playing by the plot’s script?" she wondered.

She didn’t want to waste time. Ian had been captured; if Victor let the Cavendish family’s interrogators use enhanced interrogation on him, Ian definitely wouldn’t be able to keep her secret. When that happened, Victor would undoubtedly detonate the tracking chip in the back of her neck without a second thought.

Yin Zhen pulled an iron box from her side pocket and slammed it onto the grease-stained counter.

The prominent Saint Group logo on the box immediately perked the owner up. He hurried over to open it, revealing two brand-new vials of blood source element inside.

Just one of these was enough to buy his entire shop. Even though electronic currency existed in the Red Corpse World, blood plasma products were the true hard currency in the underground.

Raising an eyebrow, the owner quickly walked to the entrance and flipped the sign to "Closed." He scanned both ends of the street, then lowered the motorized rolling shutter and secured the bulletproof alloy door behind it.

Having done all this, he turned back to Yin Zhen with a pleasant expression and asked, "What exactly do you need?"

Yin Zhen tapped the back of her neck. An understanding look crossed the owner’s face. He dug out a custom-built scanner and motioned for her to turn around.

"You definitely found the right guy for this. When it comes to removing these things, there’s no one in Night City’s underground more professional than me."

After conducting a scan, the owner scratched his messy hair.

"This is the latest model. It’s not impossible to remove, but the moment I slice into your skin, Saint will instantly be alerted. Even if they don’t detonate the tracking chip right away, nearby patrols will come knocking at my door to investigate within three minutes."

"Does that mean it costs extra?"

"No, no, no. What I mean is, I’ll need to paralyze the tracking chip first and wipe the last hour of trajectory data from it. It’s better for both of us that way. The only catch is that you’ll be put into a comatose state simultaneously. The whole process will take about ten minutes."

The owner leaned against the counter and crushed his finished cigarette butt into an ashtray.

"That’s easy enough."

As soon as Yin Zhen spoke, the shadow beneath her feet rose from the ground.

The owner’s eyes widened, and he couldn’t help but stand up straight.

Yin Zhen handed her pistol to Ying. "If he tries to pull any tricks while I’m in surgery, or if anything goes wrong, blow his brains out. We’ll take him down with us if we have to."

Ying took the gun and flashed Yin Zhen an "OK" sign. It then chambered a round with a sharp clack, utilized Shadow Instant Teleportation to shift three times within a single second, and aimed at the owner from three different angles, mimicking a silent BANG, BANG, BANG. It was an overwhelmingly intimidating display.

Yin Zhen and her Shadow Servant were bonded; if her life was threatened, the Shadow Servant would intuitively sense it.

"Let’s begin."