The old off-road vehicle stopped beneath the antenna tower. V climbed the tower to find a signal, while Berry stayed in the car.
The dry, hot wind beat against their bodies, increasing their frustration. Everything in sight was desolate, baked golden by the sun.
There was a reason the wasteland was called the Badlands.
Large-scale development and excessive mining caused vast tracts of land to become barren Badlands; don't expect to find an uncontaminated spring or a single corn stalk that can push through the soil.
Water and food are precious resources in this land.
The rebels who refused to rot away in the city formed families of Nomads, roaming the wasteland like jackals, fighting each other for resources that were never scarce when the sky was still blue.
Berry and V's former family, the Bakar Family, were among them, but all that was in the past. They left the family, preparing to enter Night City and embrace a new life.
"...Hey, did you figure out where the person is, V-jie?"
V climbed back over the wall and returned to the car. Berry promptly handed over the half-drunk bottle of mineral water.
After taking the bottle and gulping it down completely, V let out a satisfied sigh.
"Of course! What can't I, Big Sister V, accomplish? McCoy helped me find them. They're in an abandoned shack. Let's go."
V smiled confidently, a few beads of sweat clinging to her face, her profile outlined by a halo of sunlight, making her look especially captivating.
Berry watched all of this with a smile.
If this were before, she would definitely be flustered by this act of indirect kissing, but now, she and V were so familiar that she was desensitized to such things.
If drinking water together made her blush, then she would surely faint when she and the well-built V slept wrapped around each other at night.
However, to say she didn't want to conquer V would be a lie.
Who wouldn't be tempted by such a beautiful Girl wandering right in front of them?
But Berry had an obsession that kept her from making a move on V: she could never be tough around V, unable to muster any so-called male dignity.
After all, when she first transmigrated, she was truly a helpless weakling. Thanks to V taking her in and caring for her meticulously like a big sister, teaching her how to shoot and how to drive, she wasn't kicked out into the wilderness by the family—which had no use for idlers—to die.
Because of this, Berry always felt like the weaker party and found it hard to express her feelings to V.
Of course, this was only one reason.
More importantly, this was V.
Short hair, tank top, and an hourglass figure—she clearly radiated dominance.
If the two of them ever got together, Berry had every reason to worry that she would be the one pinned underneath.
She could compromise on anything else, but not this.
Whenever she fantasized, Berry quickly dismissed the image, refusing it outright.
She could still maintain her composure despite transmigrating into a Girl's body because of her enduring 'masculine pride.' If she were pinned down and taken like a woman, she felt that something fundamentally important would permanently leave her, harboring a fear that both her body and mind would completely transform into a woman's.
Therefore, this one thing was non-negotiable.
To win V, she must first become a legend of Night City, a truly influential figure, and only then, in a position of dominance, fiercely pin V down, turning her 'Big Sister' into a true 'Big Sister.'
V, driving the car, had no idea that her 'sweet little sister' in the back seat was desperately plotting how to dominate her.
The red off-road vehicle sped along the desolate highway. Low hills, clusters of cactus forests, and scrub brush flew past. Only the occasional abandoned corrugated iron shack testified that human footsteps had once reached this place.
However, the wind and sand, like time, erode everything, and all things are transformed under their influence. Just like these abandoned houses, still howling mournfully in the dry air, their owners probably died forgotten in some dried-up ditch, or are rotting, twisted, and eventually killed by gunshot wounds or drug overdoses in the distant, prosperous Night City.
After the car turned onto a side road, the abandoned shack V mentioned appeared before them.
The two got out, closed the doors, and stepped inside, one after the other.
You might not believe it, but in the duo of Berry and V, Berry plays the role of the quick-draw shooter. She can shoot through the heads of six people in three seconds using her modified revolver. Therefore, negotiation venues, especially those destined to fail, are a good place for her to exert her influence.
Just like now, the gun was tucked into her pocket, ready to be drawn in 0.2 seconds to blow off the negotiator's skull.
However, this was just a precaution, as Berry knew that the person inside was Jackie, V's future good brother.
Berry's skill was certainly not heaven-sent; it was granted by the System.
"...I'm so poor I'm about to start farming. Ah, you must be looking for me, right?"
Entering the shack, their vision dimmed momentarily, and then they saw the tall man sprawled on the sofa, his feet resting on a box.
This was the first time Berry had seen the living Jackie with her own eyes—that is, seeing Jackie in person.
He was tall and robust, and the way he tried to act seasoned in front of them was even a little silly, but Berry knew this big guy had a huge heart, half filled with passion and half with family and friends. He was absolutely reliable, the kind of reliable guy who would take a bullet for his brother.
"I heard you have some cargo you want me to transport?"
V always handled the negotiations, as Berry's soft exterior had nothing to do with authority or street smarts.
"Uh, where I come from... you gotta share a little about yourself before you talk business. It's a custom... or maybe just manners, you know?"
V folded her arms and grinned, chuckling, "You really value rules."
"A guy's gotta have some backbone, choomba. I mean, sister. When everything else is taken from you, at least you still have that."
Jackie, the rugged man, was clearly a guy who valued backbone.
"Fine, you start then."
V shrugged, handling the demand easily.
Jackie raised his pistol, a look of pride on his face. "Native of Night City. I've got Heywood blood running through my veins."
Heywood, a place blessed with exceptional people and resources, was just like other districts, full of gangs and vendettas. If you look closely on the streets, you'll find a few corpses every day in the gloomy alleys, either gang members or some fool carrying too much cash.
"I've never been to Night City. Doesn't mean much to me."
V was clearly uninterested; to her, it was just an unfamiliar place name.
Jackie scratched his face, deciding to try a different approach. "Well, imagine a place where everyone's like brothers and sisters, or at least distant cousins."
"Ha, I think I get it. You don't necessarily have to like each other, but you're all family."
V and Berry both laughed. When it came to family, who could surpass the Nomad families? Apart from family members, there was only the wilderness. The occasional outsider was either a bandit or a psycho. In that situation, it was hard *not* to see your family.
"Yeah, that's Heywood. Plus, everyone carries a weapon."
Damn, V was starting to wonder if there was a Nomad family inside Night City too. Nomads slept with their guns, and in the resource-scarce Badlands, the gun in your hand was your own grandfather; without it, you were ready for the grave.
"Put it this way. Our place is also a Heywood."
"Then the two of us will probably get along great."
Jackie was a little surprised. Hearing that, did the Badlands also require using a gun to make a living, just like the city?
"It's the three of us."
V put her hand on Berry's shoulder behind her.
"This, little... Girl, she's coming with us too?"
Jackie hadn't seen clearly until V stepped aside, revealing Berry's appearance, causing him to raise his eyebrows in surprise.
To put it simply, he had seen plenty of street kids, and even the Moxes gang in the city was mostly female, but a doll-faced Girl doing smuggling? Forgive him, but this was his first time seeing one.
"Hey, don't underestimate her. She can put six holes in a person in under a second."
"Alright, alright."
Jackie was somewhat skeptical but didn't ask further. After all, with cyberware and cosmetic surgery so advanced now, judging a person's age merely by their face was indeed negligent.
"Here's the cargo."
Jackie kicked the box over.
"What's inside?"
V folded her arms, looking at the long box and starting to guess what it contained.
"You sleep better if you don't know. So I don't know, and that's a good thing."
Jackie raised an eyebrow. Clearly, he understood the rules.
"You don't know what we're smuggling? This stuff was stolen from a Corporation."
But V wasn't buying it. Her tone was surprised. Having worked as a smuggler, she knew that different goods meant different risks. Transporting a few undocumented immigrants into the city was completely different from transporting five tubes of radioactive nuclear material.
"Stolen?" Jackie was unconcerned. "Heh... some jerk lost it, another jerk found it, and it went round and round, and now it's here. What's that called again? Butterfly effect, I think."
While the two were talking, Berry crouched down, scanning the packaging on the outside of the box.
"It's fine, V-jie. The outer shell of the box is polyurethane polymer plastic. This plastic has excellent insulation properties and is often used to preserve and transport items that need refrigeration or chilling. It's most likely human organs or live organisms."
Having played the game, she naturally knew the box contained an expensive live lizard, but Berry wasn't just making things up. Without boasting, she could now identify almost all manufactured items and, given the right tools, could manufacture them herself. Give her a junkyard, and she could build you Optimus Prime.
"Oh my god, is your partner a chemist, or maybe a materials scientist?" The big guy Jackie exclaimed in surprise. He clearly hadn't expected Berry to have this skill.
"Just a little trick!" Berry stood up and raised an eyebrow, a little proud. "Also, my name is Berry (Berry). Hello, Jackie!"
Jackie was muscular, but his brain wasn't made of muscle. In fact, he was somewhat sensitive inside and could distinguish sincerity from pretense.
And right now, he knew that Berry was not just being polite; she was genuinely enthusiastic toward him, the kind that came from the heart, far more fervent than the slightly wary V next to her, as if they were already old friends.
However, after this feeling arose, Jackie gave a self-deprecating smile. They had just met; where did 'old friends' come from? But he still extended his hand.
"Jackie Welles." Jackie gave a hearty smile and shook Berry's small hand. "Berry, sweet strawberry. That's a name that suits you, Girl."
"Alright, let's get down to business first. Let's load the gear into the car."
Before their hands had been clasped for even a second, V, who had been standing beside them with her arms crossed, stepped directly between them, interrupting the two.