"Ha ha, we're thrilled you decided to stay in our apartments. Here's your access key and ID program. Please complete authentication before leaving the premises—otherwise, you might be charged an unnecessary fee."
A man in a crisp suit smiled brightly as he joked with Roland.
"I'll keep that in mind. I'll be counting on you for the next while, Max."
"No trouble at all, no trouble at all. If you ever need anything, just reach out to me. Well then, I'll take my leave. Wishing you a pleasant stay."
Max gave a polite bow before heading out. Roland's eyes flickered faintly orange as he transferred five hundred eddies to the man's account as a tip.
Once Max was gone, Roland rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether arriving early was a good thing or not...
Night City's current situation was rather delicate.
Mainly because Arasaka—the city's eventual ruler—hadn't arrived yet. That meant Watson District was still doing relatively well. There was no Arasaka Waterfront yet, let alone something like Arasaka Academy.
There were also some slight differences in the gang landscape. The Mox didn't exist yet, and the Tyger Claws hadn't grown to their full power—though they were still one of the city's major gangs.
"Lissandra, register a company for me. Use the PROJECT logo. As for the motto... 'For the Future of Humanity.' Hmm... set the registered capital at two million euros."
"Understood. I'll take care of it immediately."
An orange glint flashed in Roland's eyes before his lips twitched slightly. Unbelievable—five million eddies gone in the blink of an eye.
Two million for the Trauma Team, another two million as startup capital, plus all the extra expenses—gear, a wardrobe, this luxury apartment… He was bleeding money like a busted valve.
The monthly rent alone was twenty-five thousand eddies. He'd signed for a full year to get a small discount, but it still cost him nearly three hundred thousand. As for a car... his budget now barely stretched to twenty thousand.
So... no car for now. He'd just call Delamain when he needed to get around. Yeah, while he still had some money left, he should probably buy a ride package from Delamain first...
With that, Roland's shopping spree came to an end. Now... he planned to head downtown to take a look around. If he found the right spot, he'd set up his company there. If not, he'd at least establish a temporary base.
"Hmm... I'll need some samples first... Right, Lissandra, use that two million euros to set up a small factory. You can handle the robotic systems, right?"
"No problem. Leave it to me."
"Good."
Roland nodded and placed an order for a batch of pistol samples—about a hundred units. His Blue Essence balance dropped by another ten thousand, leaving twenty-five thousand remaining.
With everything settled, Roland slowly undressed and stepped into the shower.
Now, he finally had time to relax—and to really take a look at this new body.
"Huh... looks almost identical to how I did in my past life... Aside from the Cyberware scars on my face, there's basically no difference. But honestly... these Cyberware implants are kind of garbage..."
Roland studied himself in the mirror, curiously tracing the seams of the implants. It was his first time seeing them in reality, after all.
After the shower, he planned to get some sleep—and later, maybe hit a bar and have some fun.
After all... since he was in a cyberpunk world now, he had to experience things like a Braindance for himself.
Meanwhile, while Roland slept, the CEO at Kang Tao's Night City branch received a message from Shuda Xu.
"Roland, huh... Hmm... these blueprints... looks like he's quite the talent..."
A faint orange glow shimmered in Harvey's eyes.
"Send a team to look into this Roland. Track his current activities. Just gather intel—don't make any unnecessary moves."
...
"Hey, who do you think bought this batch of goods?"
"How should I know? All I know is it's a major client—an important one. What I don't get is why they'd set up shop all the way in Santo Domingo instead of Watson... That's a long haul."
"What's the problem? They're paying extra anyway. No point complaining. Let's just get this job done, then grab some drinks after, yeah?"
"Sounds good. How about Lizzy's Bar?"
"You mean that new hotspot everyone's talking about? I'm down."
At that same time, inside Militech's headquarters in City Center, an employee turned toward his superior.
"Boss, we got intel from a Kang Tao informant. Apparently, Harvey's keeping tabs on someone named Roland."
"Oh? Interesting. Check him out. Find out who this Roland is."
Weis's face lit up with interest as he issued the order.
"Yes, sir. On it."
Before long, Weis was holding Roland's background report. His expression tightened slightly as he saw mention of a company called PROJECT Corporation and a five-million-euro transfer from Kang Tao.
He knew Kang Tao well—when it came to competition, they never invested without reason. For someone to get five million euros out of them, and then turn around to found a tech company...
"Looks like we've got quite the talented tech developer here... Get in touch with HR. Have them try to recruit him for the R&D department."
While the undercurrents of Night City stirred, Roland was just waking up. He stretched, looked around his luxurious apartment in mild confusion, and only after a moment did everything sink in.
"Guess this isn't a dream after all..."
He let out a helpless laugh. Even now, it still didn't feel entirely real.
"Mr. Roland, there's some information regarding you."
"Oh?"
Roland's eyes flickered slightly as he received a report from Lissandra. It contained details about the investigations being carried out by Militech and several other corporations.
It was fair to say that his entire identity had been stripped bare.
But that was by design. If he had completely blocked their probes, life would've gotten a lot more complicated...
Because that would've signaled that he either possessed dangerous secrets or had elite netrunning skills capable of shutting down their intel systems. And if that happened, those corporations would lose their composure—and he'd have a swarm of investigators on his trail within hours.
For now, he wasn't strong enough to face the megacorps head-on. So a little exposure didn't matter.
As long as Lissandra could safeguard the core data, it was fine. And since those companies still saw potential in winning him over, they wouldn't flip the table just yet.
"Phew~ Whatever. No point overthinking it. Let's go find somewhere fun to unwind..."