Chapter 90 - 85: The Cannon Fodder is Back Online

Chapter 90: Chapter 85: The Cannon Fodder is Back Online

After a shot of a Special injection, Yin Zhen fell into unconsciousness.

To Yin Zhen, it felt as though only a few seconds had passed before she was awakened.

The glaring white light above the operating table stung her eyes, making them throb. BEEP BEEP BEEP—the mechanical sounds filled her ears. Her vision blurred for a few moments before finally coming into focus.

The boss stood beside her, holding a pair of tweezers. Pinched between the tips was a chip the size of a fingernail, its surface still stained with blood.

"Awake?" The boss held the chip up to her eyes, letting her clearly see the hair-thin circuits and the micro-explosive encased in the corner. "It truly lives up to being the latest model. It’s incredibly precise. Just this tiny piece of hardware could sever your central nervous system in an instant."

Ying stood behind the boss, the muzzle of a gun pressed firmly against the back of his head.

The boss impatiently swatted the gun away, but Ying stubbornly pressed it back. This back-and-forth had been going on throughout the entire surgery, making the boss roll his eyes in exasperation.

Yin Zhen propped herself up on the armrests of the chair. The wound on the back of her neck throbbed with a dull pain, and her head spun as if she had been tossed into a centrifuge.

However, without the threat of the tracking chip, she felt a profound sense of relief. The joy of finally being free—of no longer needing to play the role of someone else—welled up in her heart.

From this moment on, Lucia was dead, and cannon fodder S717 was back online.

The boss tossed the chip into a small iron box and casually set it on the table. Crossing his legs, he clamped a fresh cigarette between his lips and once again pushed away the Shadow Servant’s gun.

"Do you need any other body modifications? My place might not compare to the Saint Headquarter, but my craftsmanship is absolutely top-notch." He eyed Yin Zhen, noting that she had kept her mask on the entire time. "Seeing how generous and straightforward you are, I’ll throw in a complete makeover package for free. Hair dyeing, changing eye color, forging Identity files—the whole nine yards."

Yin Zhen looked up. "I want to see Zoe."

The boss fished out a business card from under the counter. "Jenny Hair Salon in the Seventh District. Your makeover package and Zoe are both there. I’ve already contacted her. By the way, could you tell this guy to stop pointing a gun at my head?"

Yin Zhen took the business card and stood up, signaling for Ying to return.

Ying poked the boss’s head with the gun one last time before teleporting behind Yin Zhen. It slipped the weapon back into the holster at the small of her back and settled at her feet.

"Change your mask and jacket. Take this with you too. The back door is over there," the boss mumbled around his cigarette, tossing a plain black mask and a gray utility jacket to Yin Zhen. "Find a sewer to ditch the chip. It might explode in about half an hour."

Yin Zhen grabbed the iron box and shoved it into her pocket. She swapped out her jacket but didn’t take off her mask, simply holding the new one in her hand.

"Thanks."

"May our will forever remain unyielding." The boss’s weathered voice echoed from behind her. Yin Zhen didn’t break her stride, swiftly disappearing into the night.

When Yin Zhen returned to the intersection of the Ninth District, she found the spot where she had parked completely empty. Meanwhile, outside a nearby cafe, two uniformed patrolmen were casually chatting.

She thought, "What great public security!"

Ten minutes later, Yin Zhen tracked down the motorcycle. Unsurprisingly, it had been stolen by the green-haired punk and his gang. She crippled them all, tied them up alongside Lucia’s motorcycle, and left behind the tracking chip, Lucia’s communication bracelet, the mask, and the jacket.

Not long after she left... BOOM!

Along the street, Yin Zhen randomly selected a "red-named" target blessed with such Luck, shattered his nose with a single punch, and sped off on his newly acquired motorcycle.

At the Guard Team interrogation room.

Victor stood outside the one-way glass with his arms crossed, watching expressionlessly as Ian was interrogated inside.

"Is he still refusing to say anything?"

A subordinate beside him reported, "Dr. Ian only admits to making a grave mistake during the S704 Defection incident, but he insists he isn’t a mole for the Rebel Army."

Victor’s communication bracelet had been vibrating constantly. He had hung up the first few calls without even looking. By the third round of buzzing, Victor glanced down, frowned, and answered it.

"Vice Commander!" White Phosphorus’s voice rang out from the bracelet, laced with uncontrollable anxiety. "The captain is missing! An hour ago, she told me she received a tip about a Rebel Army stronghold in Night City. She went to scout it out first, and then we lost contact with her."

Without waiting for her to finish, Victor swiftly opened his bracelet’s holographic screen. He swiped across it a few times to pull up the data from Lucia’s tracking chip. The last Signal had vanished somewhere near the Eighth District.

He looked up at Ian in the interrogation room. Ian was looking up as well. Through the one-way glass, those emerald green eyes shouldn’t have been able to see outside, but Victor couldn’t shake the feeling that Ian was staring right at him.

There was no fear or anger in his gaze, only an indescribable calmness.

"Did you do this?" Victor slowly clenched his fists.

He recalled the countless life-and-death moments they had shared twenty years ago, huddled alongside a group of refugees on that cargo ship. If it hadn’t been for Ian, he would never have made it back to Night City alive.

In the East, they were disciples of the same master. On the sea, they were comrades bound by life and death. In Night City, they were friends who shared everything.

If Ian had merely made a mistake during the S704 Defection incident, Victor could have protected him. But this time, the consul of the council had personally signed a secret order for his arrest and interrogation. Being a Rebel Army mole wasn’t the only charge against him.

He wondered when Ian had changed.

In truth, Victor had sensed it. They had long disagreed on many sensitive matters, such as whether it was still necessary to research a cure for the Blood Plague, or which was inherently superior: humans or the Blood Clan.

Ian constantly mourned for humanity, while Victor reveled in the immense Strength that his Blood Clan physique provided.

Now that everything was laid bare, Victor was forced to consider just how much Ian had hidden from him and exactly how many lies he had told.

Did that include Lucia? When had it all started?

"Hand him over to the interrogators of the Cavendish family," Victor ordered. "No more holding back. I want to know every secret he’s hiding!"

With that, Victor strode away, preparing to personally inspect the area where Lucia’s tracking Signal had disappeared.

The public security in the Seventh District appeared far better than in the Ninth District. There were numerous large commercial complexes, and well-dressed citizens could be seen hurrying along the streets everywhere.

Following the navigation on her mask, Yin Zhen arrived at the Jenny Hair Salon, located on the side of a massive shopping mall. Before she could even step inside, a stream of water abruptly rose from a puddle by the road and coiled around her ankle.

The water flowed along the curb, dragging Yin Zhen toward an unmonitored back alley behind the mall.

Yin Zhen was profoundly thankful she didn’t have bad blood with Zoe. Zoe’s ability to instantly recognize her every single time was a little terrifying.

Deep in the back alley, Zoe emerged from the water. She was wearing a pink jellyfish wig, heavily applied makeup, and an exaggerated, salon-style outfit. She was completely unrecognizable.

During her time with the Rebel Army, whenever she wasn’t on a mission, Zoe had been working part-time at the Jenny Hair Salon.

"May, what exactly happened? Why was Ian arrested? How can I save him?"

Instead of answering Zoe’s barrage of questions, Yin Zhen asked, "Who told you this?"

She first needed to figure out which Player Nan Jiamu had sent to lurk by Zoe’s side.