"You're trying to scare me!"
Judy slammed the table and said angrily to Berry, who was sitting across from her.
"Oh, is that right?" Berry's gaze didn't waver, staring directly into Judy's eyes.
"Evelyn, Evelyn ran to a safe place. It's impossible for her to be caught, impossible."
Judy's voice was loud, but her heart grew increasingly uncertain.
Berry's light words struck right at the heart of her deepest fears.
Remembering how frantically Evelyn left Lizzy's, and the subsequent fact that she couldn't contact Evelyn, Judy was clearly shaken.
At this moment, she just needed to add the final piece of fuel to the fire.
"Clouds, right?"
Berry stood up from the chair and looked at Judy.
"You?!"
Judy's eyes were astonished, clearly shocked that Berry had instantly revealed Evelyn's hidden location.
But looking at Judy's startled expression, Berry just wanted to laugh.
Having played the game, how could she not know where Evelyn was hiding? It was ridiculous.
And speaking of Evelyn, Berry really couldn't understand what that busty, brainless woman was thinking.
In the game, after V escaped, both V and Dexter wanted to run away quickly—that was the normal reaction.
But Evelyn, what did she do?
She actually ran back to Clouds, the place where she worked, to hide.
Moreover, it wasn't even hiding; she was still taking clients and drinking alcohol, acting as if nothing had happened.
Berry couldn't fathom what kind of move this was.
Even if Arasaka didn't want to continue the investigation because of Yorinobu Arasaka, what about the Voodoo Boys? How could her backer let her go?
Instead of trying to quickly sneak out of Night City, she returned to the nightclub to continue taking clients. Berry felt this was truly shocking.
In the game, too, this person eventually fell into the hands of Scavengers who filmed Illegal Braindance—even in Night City, that was one of the worst ways to die.
Giving herself a bullet would have been more comfortable than being tortured to death and filmed for Illegal Braindance.
And even when V finally rescued Evelyn, it was only her Chassis; her mind had already been shattered by the torture.
If Berry hadn't wanted Judy to join her crew and work for her, she wouldn't have bothered rescuing such a completely foolish person.
However, this wasn't bad; Judy cared deeply about her best friend, and rescuing Evelyn would likely make this young woman obediently work for her.
She might be a bit reckless, but her braindance technology skills were top-notch.
Berry couldn't handle so many things alone; having a Braindance Expert in the team to assist with intelligence reconnaissance would be a huge help.
"...I truly can't believe I agreed to you."
Judy looked at Berry with a complicated expression. She hadn't expected that this person, whom she had previously considered having a one-night stand with, looked so young but was such a tough, unscrupulous Mercenary.
Now Berry was in the van driven by Judy, with Kikyo following on her bike. The two people and one Chassis were currently heading toward Clouds.
The goal, naturally, was to rescue Evelyn.
In the game, Evelyn's ordeal went like this: first, she snuck back to Clouds; then, the Voodoo Boys burned out her Sex Doll Chip. But Evelyn was lucky to survive and was sent to the Cyberware Doctor Brother Finger in Kabuki for treatment. However, it was clear that Brother Finger couldn't completely fix Evelyn after the attack by the professional Hacker Gang, the Voodoo Boys.
The Clouds Sex Doll Club had lost patience and directly sold Evelyn through the channel of Wakako, the Fixer in Westbrook, to a Scavenger Gang specializing in filming Illegal Braindance.
But because V wasn't betrayed by Dexter like in the game, V and Berry returned to the city early. Evelyn hadn't reached that final stage yet; she was still at Clouds, having suffered a network attack from the Voodoo Boys yesterday.
As for how Berry obtained this intelligence: the incident where a sex doll went berserk and attacked a client at the Clouds Club last night was immediately picked up by Kikyo, who was scouting for information nearby. That's why Berry approached Judy at this time.
"Yes, we save your good friend, and you join our team. That's pretty good, isn't it?"
Berry shrugged and said something cool.
"Hmph, we'll see." Judy, having been manipulated by Berry, was clearly uncomfortable. After all, the other party had essentially bought her right away, which was hardly a pleasant experience.
"First, let's rescue Little Eve, then you can talk big." Judy shook her head, focusing on the task at hand: rescuing her good friend, Evelyn Parker.
Clouds.
Thinking of this place, Judy's expression was complex.
This damn place truly seemed fated to cross her path.
When she was young and reckless, Judy, who had just arrived in Night City, once had a girlfriend—Maiko. She was a sex doll at the Clouds Club.
But what was the result? Maiko, just like everyone else, was just a bastard who wanted to use her, and the two eventually broke up.
And now, her good friend Evelyn also worked at Clouds, and she had successfully dragged Judy, who was originally unrelated to this kind of deadly business, into the mess.
Thinking this, Judy felt stifled and anxious.
How much effort and trouble had she gone through for the people who needed her help? And what was the result? Every single one of them treated her like a stepping stone.
Damn it.
She would leave this shitty city sooner or later.
Judy made a firm decision.
Clouds is located in a skyscraper in Japantown, Westbrook District.
The Clouds Club is owned by the Tyger Claws. This gang, composed of East Asians, is cruel and cunning, just like any other gang. Naturally, the three of them couldn't just swagger in.
"I've been to this place, Clouds, a few times."
Judy looked at this familiar and utterly detestable place, gritting her teeth in annoyance.
"If Little Eve is inside, we can't go in guns blazing. And coincidentally, I know a hidden path," Judy sighed and told Berry.
"That's good. But first, we need to find Clouds' monitoring room to confirm where your good friend is."
Berry said, crossing her arms.
The only thing she could confirm was that Evelyn hadn't left Clouds yet. As for where she was now, they'd have to search.
After hearing this, Judy nodded, and the three began to move.
Clouds is considered the top establishment in Japantown.
All of Night City had heard of this sex doll club.
And the so-called sex doll, in Berry's view, was a marvelous thing.
sex dolls are service providers in a certain unspeakable industry. The only difference between them and ordinary workers is the Sex Doll Chip installed in their brains.
The Sex Doll Chip was originally created in military laboratories.
But just like many other high-tech products, people soon discovered that the entertainment industry was the true stage for this technology—specifically, the sex trade industry.
The chip consists of three main functions: importing data from the system, controlling the sex doll's behavior during service, and wiping the sex doll's memory after each service ends.
People found that the last function was very appealing to applicants who wanted to work at a sex doll club.
Clients also approved.
Since the sex doll knows nothing about what happened during the service, the client has absolute freedom and confidentiality.
Isn't this a win-win... situation?
However, this item might have other uses. In the game, Judy discovered the Sex Doll Chip's combat function, while Berry integrated the Sex Doll Chip to serve as the Chassis' behavior control center. In short, its potential is huge.
Berry felt that the people of Night City must be brain-dead to use such a thing for this purpose.
But isn't this Cyberpunk?
High-tech products used for the sex industry.
It was a harsh slap in the face to lofty ideas like technology planning the future and ushering in a new era for all humanity.
The three took the building's elevator down to the floor below Clouds. After walking around the maintenance pipes, Judy found a Monitoring Terminal on the outer balcony and bypassed Clouds' security.
"I have some history with this damn place, and these idiots haven't updated their outdated Security System in years." Judy shrugged at Berry, quickly and cleanly disabling the security with her hands.
"Alright, this is it. Let's climb through the window."
Judy led the way, glanced around, climbed through the window, and waved at Berry once inside.
Berry and Kikyo also climbed in.
The place they entered was a small lounge, furnished with a sofa, a pool table, and scattered playing cards on the floor.
Here, they could even faintly hear dynamic rock music coming from outside.
They had indeed entered Clouds.
"Do you know where the monitoring room is? Or where Evelyn might be?"
Berry asked Judy, who was on guard, but Judy shook her head.
"I don't know either. I haven't been to this damn place in a long time."
Nodding, Berry turned away.
She still had to rely on herself.
Fortunately, her Kikyo Chassis was very skilled at infiltration and similar tasks.
Berry had two Chassis: Mitsuhide and Kikyo. She had extremely enhanced Mitsuhide's close-combat abilities, while Kikyo's role was designated as infiltration.
Specially reinforced Optical Camouflage Skin and Concealment Module allowed Kikyo to infiltrate and assassinate like an Assassin, just like a Ninja.
Although this didn't quite match her nickname "Miko," well, both Ninja and Miko were products of Neon Country, so it was close enough.
"Excuse me, Little Judy, let me handle this."
Kikyo stepped forward, and under Judy's confused gaze, suddenly began to take off her clothes, and the confusion in Judy's eyes quickly turned to astonishment.
What was this person doing here?
Judy soon understood the reason: beneath Kikyo's Biker Gear was a skin-tight suit, like a Hacker suit, entirely black and made of Aramid Fabric, clinging tightly and revealing Kikyo's curvaceous figure completely.
This was Berry's custom-made clothing, capable of vibrating at the same frequency as the optical skin's electrical signals. This meant that when the Chassis activated its optical camouflage to become invisible, the clothing would also be concealed.
To be honest, Berry didn't know what magical technology in the game allowed V's clothes to become invisible when the camouflage skin's stealth function was activated.
It was installed as camouflage skin, yet the clothes also went invisible. What kind of magical technology was that?
Could it be Orc Technology? Where the person with the camouflage skin sincerely thinks, 'If I install this skin, I can be invisible,' and then that thought warps reality, making them truly invisible.
That would be Waaaagh!!!!
Shaking her head and casting aside these strange thoughts, Berry returned to the present, controlling Kikyo to open the door and sneak into the corridor.
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