Sunday morning.
As the sun peeked over the horizon, the dim earth welcomed the first light of day.
Still asleep in his bedroom, Lin Mo was woken by the faint roar of jet engines outside the villa. Rubbing his eyes, fighting the pull of sleep, he walked to the balcony—just in time to see the AV parked in the manor's lot flare blue fire and rise into the sky.
The hum of its engines was so subtle that an ordinary person would never have caught it—let alone someone still sleeping.
But with his reflexes sharpened far beyond human norms, Lin Mo's ears missed nothing.
The morning sun had only just begun pushing back the night. Most of the manor's lawns still hid beneath the house's shadow, while the automatic sprinklers popped up from the ground, whirling as they misted the grass.
"Punctual as always..." Lin Mo muttered, shaking his head.
He knew exactly when each sprinkler head was scheduled to run.
If nothing else, this meant it was roughly seven a.m.—the very time his sister had said she'd be leaving.
She'd meant it literally. Xu Wanxue's discipline and work ethic never failed to make him feel inadequate.
Even without his "help," she would never have been a minor figure at Kang Tao.
Lin Mo often wished his sister could just slack off with him—drift through life with a bit of Buddhist detachment—but he knew she wasn't built that way.
If not for his warnings, she'd probably take stimulants like candy, working herself to the bone. Advice to rest always fell on deaf ears. Elders rarely wanted to show weakness in front of the younger generation.
Life in the corps left little room for choice. All Lin Mo could do was sigh quietly.
He shut the window, and, still groggy, crawled back into bed for a little more sleep.
By eight o'clock he finally stirred again.
After a quick wash and a change into casual clothes, he grabbed a few essentials, headed to the garage, and drove off in the Caliburn.
Before long, the Caliburn rolled into Santo Domingo, pulling up beneath David's megabuilding.
David had been waiting in the plaza outside, already tipped off. He sat at a food stall with a hot drink in one hand and a skewer of grilled meat in the other—his makeshift breakfast.
These stalls dotted Night City everywhere. The ingredients were mostly synthesized, the skill required minimal, and the cost of setting up small. That made food vending the fallback job for the unemployed.
When David saw the familiar Caliburn pull up, he shoved a few eddies at the vendor, ditched the rest of his food, and jogged into the passenger seat.
"No breakfast?" Lin Mo asked casually.
"Just ate. Mom didn't cook this morning, so I had to make do." He belched, unable to hold it back.
Lin Mo smirked. "Funny, I thought after Gloria quit the Medical Center, you two would have more time together."
David slumped, sighing.
"Don't even bring it up. She says ever since working at the Center, she never had this much free time. So she decided to enjoy it—sleep in, let me handle my own breakfast."
Then he muttered: "Not that I wasn't already handling it myself, anyway..."
Lin Mo chuckled, guiding the Caliburn onto the main road.
"But deep down, you're happy about it, aren't you?" he said with certainty.
David blinked, then, after a pause, nodded silently.
Of course. Who wouldn't want their mom to finally get some rest—to not grind herself into the ground every day?
"You full? I've got some snacks. Want one?"
Lin Mo fished around in the glovebox and tossed him a red-wrapped bar.
"What's this?" David asked, puzzled.
"My family's company—Kang Tao—makes them. Nutritional energy bar. One's as good as a meal. I've got other flavors too, but that one... is Laoganma." Lin Mo's lips curved with amusement.
"Laoganma?" David mangled the Chinese syllables, brow furrowed.
"Why the hell is there a Chinese-exclusive flavor? Snacks are supposed to be barbecue or tomato or something."
Still confused, he tore it open. The dark red bar looked fiery.
He took a bite.
"Damn—this is actually good." David's eyes went wide, his praise utterly sincere.
Lin Mo froze, staring at him in surprise.
Didn't expect that, kid. That flavor's a trap—I can barely stomach it myself. He'd only kept it around to prank people.
But discovering Laoganma existed here had shocked him too. On reflection, though, the game's worldbuilding had always leaned on echoes of old Earth. Some overlap wasn't so strange.
"You said the workshop's location was at Preacher's Shore, right?" Lin Mo asked, watching David gnaw on the bar.
The name still felt unfamiliar.
He remembered plenty from the game, but no player could memorize every corner of Night City.
Yet when he'd checked the map at home, the area's position had triggered an odd sense of déjà vu.
Maybe he'd fast-traveled there often in-game?
David gulped down the bite and nodded eagerly.
"Yeah. Preacher's Shore in Wellsprings. I know a ripperdoc there. He's where I used to get the black-market BDs I sold you."
"A ripper you know? And what do you think of his skills?" Lin Mo asked, intrigued.
David thought for a moment. "So-so. Never had work done there myself, but he's got plenty of clients. Only thing is... he admits he doesn't have a license."
"Oh."
Lin Mo filed the impression away.
Street-level, most likely.
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MY CYBERPUNK 2077 SIMULATOR
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