Chapter 13, A Wonderful Daily LifePilar also snapped back to reality upon hearing this, reaching out as if to say something, but stopping himself and holding back.This little brat who had been by his side since childhood had finally become a true woman."Damn it, what kind of expression is that? I'm not going to my death."Seeing this, Dante knocked Rebecca on the head and said, "Rebecca!"Seeing Dante's somewhat angry expression, Rebecca also came to her senses.She immediately quieted down, and Dante gave her a nudge.She also hugged Pilar and said, "Take care."Dante was speechless... Was that what I meant? You're making it look like a life-or-death parting...Pilar also burst out laughing: "Hahaha, hurry up and go, clear the house out for me so I can bring dolls straight home from now on, hahaha."Seeing this, Rebecca angrily cursed: "You fucking retard, you'll die on a woman's belly sooner or later. Can't you learn from Dante and go to those rotten places less? You'll learn your lesson when the Scavengers rip you apart the moment you wake up one day."Dante quickly held Rebecca back to prevent her from going up and beating Pilar.Dante also pulled out a Totem of Undying and gave it to Pilar."This is called a Totem of Undying. Literally speaking, when it's on you, it can bring you back from the dead when you die, but it's useless on someone who's already dead. Pilar, take good care of it. Don't worry about Rebecca; with me here, she won't suffer any harm."Upon hearing this, Pilar took it and tucked it away into the gap of his cyberware to hide it."Thanks a lot. I'm relieved to leave Rebecca to you. She's had a weak personality since childhood, and I've suffered a lot because of that. Now that someone can take care of her, I'm finally liberated."Hearing this, Rebecca felt a bit guilty. Of course she knew Pilar was doing it all for her own good, but her personality was just like this. Cursing Pilar was also for Pilar's own good; she didn't want to watch her brother die in front of her.Rebecca ignored him and went off on her own to pack her gear.Dante took out a shulker box and gave it to Rebecca, telling her to just pack everything inside.Seeing this, Pilar pulled Dante over, threw an arm around his shoulder, and said, "Hahaha, this little girl only shows this tender side of hers to you."Pilar sighed and said, "Her empathy and her own emotions mean she's destined to never fit into this city. I actually really hope she quits the Edgerunners; it's just too dangerous for her."Once before when we were drinking, some people from the Animals harassed a waitress in the bar, and this girl stood up and killed all those Animals. We faced retaliation after that.""And the result? Hahaha, this little girl got surrounded by Scavengers just because she petted a puppy." Saying this, Pilar's face chilled: "Although that incident taught her a lesson, this is ultimately her weakness.""Still, with you around, I can rest easy, hahaha."Dante of course knew about these deeds, but he really enjoyed listening to Pilar vent his grievances.Raising such a little loli wasn't an easy task, and Dante was also a bit worried about Pilar, because this guy wasn't much different from Rebecca.He took two enchanted golden apples out of his backpack and gave them to Pilar."Here, keep this safe, and eat it when you run into danger.""What is this? That holy fruit you gave us before? This isn't the same? It's even glowing with purple light.""This is equivalent to an enhanced holy fruit, invincible in the true sense of the word, but the duration isn't long, so keep it and use it well."Pilar tucked it into his pocket: "Alright, I won't stand on ceremony with you."Rebecca had finished packing on her side: "Alright, let's go."Seeing this, Dante stood up and waved goodbye to Pilar, then took out a large pile of food and gave it to Pilar. This was food synthesized from mods and wouldn't spoil.Rebecca led Dante out of the house, and right as she closed the door, she shouted: "Take care of yourself, you idiot big bro."Hearing this, Pilar smiled with gratification and waved to Rebecca to say goodbye.After following Rebecca out, Rebecca let out a long sigh of relief.Then she shouted loudly: "Hahaha, starting a fucking new life, hahahaha."Afterwards, Dante took Rebecca to downtown to buy some multiplayer braindances. Dante didn't understand these things, and the ones he brought back for Sasha last time were all movie braindances, so he brought Rebecca along.After accompanying Rebecca for a stroll for a while, they returned home.The two didn't stay long in the apartment before entering the Main World.Rebecca waved to Sasha, who was playing with a pony in the pasture, and shouted: "Sasha, we're here."Then she handed a pile of braindances to Sasha: "Here, Dante and I specially went downtown to buy them for you.""Thanks a lot, Rebecca. A lot of the braindances Dante bought me before were ones I didn't like."Dante scratched his head: "It's not like I understood them~"Seeing this, Sasha smiled: "Alright, I'm not blaming you."Dante also said to the two of them: "Do you want me to take you out to play? All the houses here were built by me, and there are a lot of them I haven't even lived in yet."Sasha said: "I was afraid that you wouldn't see me the first time you came here, so I never went too far away.""It's fine. The principle of that compass is that it points to the lodestone inside the villa.""When I have time, I'll go to Old Captain to get a car for you to drive. By then, I'll put a lodestone in the car and bind another compass to it. When you drive out, I'll be able to find you through the car."Hearing this, Sasha nodded.Dante rambled on there: "Hmm, but then again, ordinary cars aren't very useful in this world."After all, one block corresponds to a height of one meter, and ordinary cars might struggle even to go up a slope.We can only ask Old Captain for a maglev car. As long as you have money, you can get any kind of car from him.Immediately, Dante stopped letting his mind wander, went home to get materials, and then used items from Valkyrie to make a simple airship, a very compact one.He brought the two of them flying up to the snowy mountain behind the villa, where there was a glass house built by Dante embedded into the wall.Sasha and Rebecca weren't interested in the house at all; as soon as Dante parked the airship, the two of them jumped down to play in the snow."Wow, is this snow? I've never seen it in Night City."Dante asked doubtfully: "You haven't?"Sasha also nodded in agreement: "Nope, never seen it from childhood until now."Dante only then remembered that Night Citycorresponded to California in reality, which was in a subtropical region, so it would be a miracle to have snow there.Immediately, Rebecca grabbed a snowball and threw it right in Dante's face. Could Dante tolerate this?Instantly, the three of them started a snowball fight. After making a ruckus for a while, Sasha and Rebecca built a snowman, and Dante couldn't join in at all.Asking him to throw a snowball was fine, but building a snowman was impossible. Whenever he grabbed snow, it turned into pixelated blocks, and he couldn't even build a snow golem without going home to get a pumpkin.Dante simply stopped moving, sitting there to watch the two girls build the snowman. It truly was a rare scenery."Aren't you guys cold?""Not cold at all. There are cold-resistance modules in our cyberware; we don't usually use them, but they're coming in handy now."Sasha also said: "Not cold. When I usually practice my netrunning skills, the cyberdeck chair is much colder than this temperature. Sometimes when there's no cyberdeck chair, I even have to lie in ice water."After the two of them finished playing, they were led by Dante into the villa inside the cave.As soon as Rebecca came in, she went to the window and looked down."Wow, the scenery here is so beautiful. I really want to stay here forever.""Then stay here forever. By the way, keep Sashacompany; she's quite bored by herself here, without even a person to talk to."Hearing this, Rebecca looked over: "Can I? But I also want to go out and fight with you."Dante walked over, patted her on the head, and said: "Fight my ass. What if you get hurt? Your brother already told me he doesn't want you to be an Edgerunner anymore."Rebecca rubbed her head and said: "Ow, damn it, seriously, why do you all sound just like that damn dad of mine?"Seeing this, Sasha also asked: "What kind of person was your father?"Dante went to cook while listening to Rebecca tell the story."Tch, that old man was also an Edgerunner. Sasha, you should know him too. He's the famous Daddy Sunrise."After finishing, Rebecca mocked again: "Tch, what's the use of being famous? Didn't he still die on a gig?""After he died, those asshole friends of his came over and robbed his bank account, and even stole our house. A bunch of bastards! Ever since then, we've been wandering around. If it weren't for Aunt Wakako, we probably would have died on the streets long ago."After putting the freshly cooked meal into his backpack, Dante walked over and picked Rebeccaup: "Alright, it's all in the past. Now your task is to eat, and you don't need to think about those annoying things."Bringing the two of them back to the Cyberpunkworld, after setting the dishes on the table, the two immediately began to eat.Rebecca said while eating: "Is there any alcohol, Dante?"Dante thought of the alcohol in the crop mod, which seemed to only have two types: beer and rum."I'll go make some beer in a bit."Rebecca also nodded; without alcohol, eating wasn't as delicious.Afterwards, after finishing eating, Rebecca and Sasha exchanged a glance.After Dante finished cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, Sasha dragged Dante to the bedroom, and Rebecca also joined in....Early the next morning, when Dante woke up, he saw that the quilt had already been kicked onto the floor. Rebecca was lying splayed out at the head of the bed, with both feet resting on his head, and her upper body almost falling off the bed. Sasha was still hugging him.After finally getting out of Sasha's embrace, Dantewent to prepare breakfast.After the two got up, put on their clothes, and finished breakfast, they were sent back to the Main World together by Dante. Dante set about preparing a food compressor, pressed the wheat at home into wheat juice, made a bunch of fermentation barrels, and then synthesized a stack of beer."This should be enough to drink for a while. When I have time later, I'll build a fully automated assembly line."After delivering half a stack to Rebecca and the other, Dante returned to Night City.After going to rendezvous with Maine and the others, he explained to Maine about Rebeccaquitting the team. He didn't plan to let Rebecca take risks anymore.Maine was also overjoyed. He had long wanted to persuade Rebecca to stop being an Edgerunner—it was just too dangerous for her, and every time they went on a gig, she always charged to the very front, giving him endless worry."Yeah, it should have been like this long ago. You're the only one who could persuade her. Let's go, it's time for a gig."
Chapter 14, LucyJust like that, by day he followed Maine's crew out on gigs, and at night he went home to keep the two girls company. When Maine's crew had no gigs, he would go find Jack to run jobs together.During this time, he also bought a civilian-modified AV-4 from Old Captain for two hundred thousand. It was retrofitted from a decommissioned police AV-4, though Dante only let Sasha and the other use it in the Main World.He also bought some synthetic alcohol from Old Captain.Initially, Dante was still trying to figure out how to transport this vehicle back to the Main World, but after he set up the iron gate and drove straight in, the vehicle visually shrank and drove right through."Awesome, spatial compression!"Let's leave it to Sasha and Rebecca to slowly get familiar with this vehicle in the Main World....Half a month later.Turbine Bar.On this day, Kiwi brought in a girl with colorful hair.World exploration degree: 43%.Lucy, our cyber-little-widow, though right now she was still a stay-away-from-me-type aloof girl.Kiwi introduced at this moment: "Her name is Lucy, my apprentice, a netrunner with pretty decent skills."She was actually a genius girl, but it was precisely because she was too genius that it led to her tragic experiences in childhood.Dante also shook his head; this entire crew was full of pitiful people.Lucy also saw Dante's expression and thought he was dissatisfied with her. Moreover, Lucy suddenly realized that this person seemed to be her neighbor, but she only knew Dante's name and avatar, and nothing else.Of course, Dante didn't even have a SIN code and was completely unregistered. However, Danteintentionally hid it so he had never been discovered by anyone. The apartment was rented by paying extra rent in advance back then.(P.S.: A SIN code is equivalent to our ID card.)Pilar also gave a warm welcome: "Ooh ho ho, what a pretty girl! Do you want to make a boyfriend?"Shortly after, he was viciously electrocuted by Kiwi.Dante felt awkward. Ever since Rebecca wasn't in the crew, Pilar had really been letting himself go more and more, although he used to be like this anyway...Maine also waved his hand grandly, bringing out lots of alcohol to hold a welcome ceremony.However, Lucy drank carbonated beverages alone. While Maine and Pilar were drinking to their heart's content, Dante leaned over towards her, ordered a cup of carbonated beverage, and toasted with her.Lucy ignored Dante, just assuming he fancied her looks and came over to hit on her.Seeing that Lucy had no reaction, Dante went back and continued drinking with Maine.After the drinking session ended, everyone went their separate ways. Lucy and Dante headed back along the same path.There was no talk along the way. Upon returning home, Dante took note of Lucy's location, then ignored her and returned to the Main World to keep Rebecca company.Sasha had gone out to practice driving, leaving only Rebecca sitting at the doorway waiting for Dante."Sigh, I couldn't find any braindance regarding hovercar driving skills at all. I can only hard-press you two to try it using the clumsy method.""It's fine. The two of us just want a sense of novelty. This damn thing isn't even as useful as the spaceship you made.""That's true."He went to call Sasha back to have a meal together, and then they all fell asleep together.The next night, Maine had Dante follow Kiwi and Lucy on a data-theft mission together as a trio.The two triggered an alarm during their evacuation. Dante hurriedly flew over, swept the two away, and cleared the traces."Be careful."Lucy stared blankly at Dante like that. Kiwi didn't feel much; instead, she thought this little man was quite interesting.After coming out, Dante found Lucy."Not that I'm saying this, but what are you, a netrunner, crowding to the frontlines for? I already told you to let me go in, kill everyone, and download the data directly.""Why do you insist on pulling this infiltration crap?""Netrunners always operate this way! You don't need to lecture me.""What if you get hurt? Just staying behind me is fine."Lucy also looked blankly at Dante's confident expression."How narcissistic.""Huh? Is this what you call being narcissistic? This is confidence in my own strength, alright?""Fine, fine, fine, not narcissistic, not narcissistic."Afterward, Lucy went out on a few more missions with the crew. Everyone in the team took good care of her, and with Dante taking the lead, she gained a sense of security she never had while wandering around in the past.Gradually, she lost that stay-away-from-me vibe she had when she first arrived.This day during the bar gathering, Danteapproached Lucy and asked her: "Lucy, why do you always charge so far forward in every battle? With me around, you can securely get your pay even if you stay safely in the rear.""Isn't it because I just joined the crew? At least I should play some due role."After saying that, Lucy extended an invitation to Dante: "Do you want to take a walk by the seaside together?""Let's go, just in time to sober up.""Okay."Dante waved at Maine and walked out with Lucy. After arriving at the beach, Lucy said: "Freedom is so great.""City of Freedom, of course it's great."Lucy shook her head and looked towards Arasaka Tower."No, as long as they are still around, there is no such thing as freedom."Seeing this, Dante also shook his head. Lucy's character was truly contradictory; it was easy to trick her into bed, but it was a bit difficult to truly walk into her heart.Saying that, Dante grabbed Lucy and hoisted her onto his shoulder to carry her."You... What are you doing?" Lucy blushed and said.Dante didn't say anything and flew up. Lucy looked at the rapidly flying-past sea surface, touching it with her finger to kick up ripples of waves. Danteflew towards the sky, and when crossing through the clouds, Lucy saw the moon she had been dreaming of.At this moment, she also opened her arms to embrace this fleeting instant of freedom. This instant truly made Lucy forget her past and her fear of Arasaka.Lowering her head, she thanked Dante.Dante glided all the way back to the shore. In order not to hurt her, he changed his posture to a bridal style carry.Lucy sat by the shore, lit a cigarette, and then saw Dante hand her a glass of wine."I won't drink this. I still prefer drinking cola.""Give it a try, you'll definitely like it. This is my exclusive secret recipe after all."In the original work, Lucy liked drinking fermented wheat juice very much. Dante dared to guarantee his beer was ten thousand times better than that stuff.After Lucy took a sip, she began to gulp it down in large mouthfuls.Flushing, Lucy looked at Dante: "...Is there more?""Hahahaha, yes. Drinking should be like this, bold and unrestrained."The two clinked glasses and drank heartily. After drinking five or six glasses, a tipsy Lucy extended an invitation to Dante:"Do you want to come over to my place as a guest? We're neighbors anyway.""It would be my absolute honor."Following behind Lucy and being held by the hand back to her apartment, he saw the layout inside her apartment.Just like in his impression, Dante looked at the posters on the wall and asked: "Do you want to go to the moon?""Of course, that's the only utopia in this world. My goal in coming out to be an Edgerunner is to live on the moon." Saying that, she tossed a braindanceover to Dante."Give it a try, come on, together."As Dante entered the braindance, he experienced a novel sensation that was even more interesting than imagined.Unfortunately, Lucy's dream was doomed to shatter. Her idea was to go to the moon to escape Arasaka, but what she didn't know was that the moon was also full of Arasaka's industries everywhere."Sigh, poor child."Lucy looked at Dante and pulled him along to run around everywhere."How is it? Isn't it exciting? Woohoo!"Dante just quietly looked at her like that.Afterward, the two also took a stroll on the moon."You know what? This is the first time I've invited someone else into this braindance. I can feel that you're different.""You are out of tune with this city. I don't know why, but being by your side gives me a strong sense of security."In fact, the other members of Maine's crew were also like this. Although Maine was still the captain, the backbone of the entire crew was actually Dante; as long as he was around, no one would fear anything.Dante reached out and patted her head: "That goes without saying, because I'm strong—unprecedentedly strong."Looking at his sunny smile, Lucy also smiled from the bottom of her heart."Hahahaha, you really are narcissistic."After the two played wildly on the moon for a while longer, they exited the braindance.Dante also said goodbye and returned to his own place.Looking at Dante's departing back, Lucy curled up on the bed."I'm alone again."Loneliness—a word that could suffocate a person. Lucy had been all by herself ever since coming to Night City. This was the first time she had opened up her heart a little bit to someone. She didn't know what was wrong with her either, only knowing that having Dante by her side made her heart feel very at ease.Just like having a solid backing behind her.After a while, she saw Dante turn back, holding a food tray and standing at the doorway."You must be hungry. Come eat some midnight snack; you can't not eat after drinking alcohol." Saying that, he placed it in front of Lucy and patted her head to signal her to eat.A wave of emotion washed over Lucy's heart. As she ate, she said thank you with a dejected expression on her face.Because of her cyberware eyes, Lucy wouldn't shed tears, otherwise she would have been streaming with tears long ago. It had been a very long time since anyone had treated her this well.It was as if she had been trapped in a pitch-black cage, and suddenly Dante kicked open the door and reached his hand out towards her. The sunlight behind him made Lucy feel a bit dazzling.As Lucy daydreamed, she unintentionally blurted out: "B-But I... I will drag you down."Dante sat across the table, looked into her eyes, and said to her: "It's fine. With me here, you can safely entrust your back to me."Lucy also rushed forward, hugged Dante, and kissed him."Thank you."Dante held her in his arms and said: "Don't be afraid, I'm here."Just like that, Lucy fell asleep in Dante's arms.No one understood this young girl's inner thoughts better than Dante. Ever since she was sold to Arasaka Corporation by her parents when she was little, she had never trusted anyone again, remaining vigilant against everyone.In the original work, even after being with David for a long time, she never revealed her inner self to David. She was afraid that once her identity was exposed, people around her would want to use her as a stepping stone to enter Arasaka Tower—after all, wealth moves people's hearts.Taking care of her for so many days was genuinely because his heart ached for her. After David died in the original work, she ran up to the moon alone to escape Arasaka's hunt... But was the moon really a utopia? Not necessarily.A place where even breathing cost money, what kind of good intentions would it have toward the public? Lucy lived like that, having nightmares every day of her companions dying in front of her, waiting to die alone on the moon like that."This fucking world."Just like that, Lucy slept the entire night in Dante's arms. This was probably the first time in her life that she let down her guard and had a comfortable sleep.(Ugh ah, Lucy's emotional arc is really so hard to write. The whole day has been spent modifying, writing, rewriting. Her personality isn't like Rebecca's, straight to the point, nor is it like Sasha's being saved from a dangerous situation. Lucy is different from them; Lucy is a person whose heart is very hard to walk into. In the original work, her romance plot was very weird—she fell in love with David just because of a single promise from him. I felt this was very weird here.You're telling me a woman who had wandered alone for at least ten years, having gone through who knows how many all sorts of experiences, and even sold out by her own parents when she was young, could be moved by a single sentence from some foolish kid... I'm quite speechless... The original work even explained to me that it was this foolish kid David who inadvertently broke into Lucy's heart... Holy crap, in the end you're serving me some nonsense psychological gymnastics...)(I feel this chapter was written pretty poorly. Anyway, let's leave it like this for now. I see this book has a few people reading it. Those who are reading, please actively comment and give some suggestions so I can modify it. That's it, time to sleep.)((Mainly because I also like reading it, and this book was written because there were no good Edgerunners fanfics on the same platform. So everyone, please give more suggestions. If it's written well, I'll enjoy reading it myself too.))
Lucy slept in Dante's arms like that until noon, and Dante didn't wake her up, just looking at her tenderly and enjoying this wonderful time.After Lucy woke up, still dazed, she probably thought Dante was a blanket, and as a result, she burrowed right into Dante's shirt.Then she also reacted and sat up instantly.She looked somewhat flushed at the fact that her whole body hadn't been touched, and whispered to Dante: "Last night... Th... Thank you."Then she also stood up and stretched."Ah~ I haven't slept this comfortably in a long time."Dante just sat on the bed and looked at her, and perhaps feeling shy from Dante's gaze, Lucyhurriedly ran to the kitchen and brought some... IV bags? to Dante.After taking it and looking at this fermented wheat juice, Dante was speechless."... Can this thing be drunk?" After tasting it... Dantesaw the Poison II 00:05 icon in his inventory and fell into deep thought..."Awesome, it's even more toxic than the alcohol in this world."After all, the concentration of this thing could already be used as fuel."Why drink this kind of stuff?""Cheap, and it replenishes energy fast.""You really aren't picky." He went up and snatched the wheat juice Lucy was still drinking from her hand, throwing it into the trash can."What are you doing, don't waste food."Dante walked over, pinned Lucy to the bed, and said: "Can this even be considered food? Are you sure it's not fuel? Are you a machine? Don't you have a sense of taste? Food is meant to be enjoyed, don't speak, sit here and wait for me."Then Dante went back to his room and took sandwiches, pies, french fries, and apple pies, and also got some grape juice. These were all craftable foods from the mod. He had made a lot of them when preparing for Rebecca and the others previously, making nearly a stack of each gourmet item in the whole mod.He put them on a large plate and served them to Lucy, only to see her sitting on the bed smoking.'This girl has a pretty big smoking habit, after all, she's usually too anxious, but since there's no such thing as lung cancer in this world, I suppose I'll let her be.'"Come on, taste what's called food. What you used to do wasn't called eating, it was purely called replenishing bodily functions."Smelling this scent, Lucy swallowed her saliva, knowing that Dante was right, because she thought so too.She had always been on the run before, what time did she have to talk about enjoyment?Just like that, Lucy quickly started eating. Although her eating manner wasn't as unrestrained as Rebecca's, it was clear she was eating very anxiously. Last night, he had only made her some hangover porridge which had virtually no taste.Looking at Lucy's petite figure, Dante felt a bit heartbroken. Rather, except for those corpos, there were no fat people in this world, since the only channels for these people to supplement protein were synthetic meat made from earthworms and cockroaches.Those big guys outside were only that way because of cyberware modifications; truly calculating it, they didn't even have two pounds of fat on their bodies.Dante just stared at Lucy like this. Lucy's appearance could truly be called top-tier. Unfortunately, in this world, beauty wasn't a good word; he really didn't know how she had persevered until now.No wonder she always had an expression of keeping strangers at a distance.Lucy felt shy from Dante's stare, and her hands eating slowed down."W... What... Is my eating manner very ugly?""It's good-looking. I'll cook for you every day from now on, okay?" Dante rubbed her face and said.Like a hamster.Lucy smiled sweetly: "Okay."Looking at her smiling face, Dante's heart tightened, as if something had pierced him, but he didn't say it out loud.Dante said to Lucy: "Do you have any plans for today?""Not yet, did Maine say anything about doing a gig?""No, then lend me your time today. Wait for me at home, I'll give you a surprise."Although Lucy was confused, she didn't ask further and continued eating the food on the plate.After finishing, Dante returned to his home and entered the Main World.He saw Sasha and Rebecca lying on the grass by the lake in their pajamas, playing with a braindance.Seeing the pink packaging bags next to the two... If he hadn't known these were braindance packaging bags, he would have thought the two had been doing something... This thing really looked like human infant diapers.He walked over, grabbed both of Rebecca's cheeks, and pinched them.Feeling someone pinching her, Rebecca said: "Mmm mmm mmm, Sasha, you're cheating again. Every time you can't beat me, you interfere with me."Saying that, she took off the braindance and ended up seeing Dante.Just as Sasha also perplexedly took off her braindance to see what was wrong with Rebecca, she saw that Rebecca was already hanging on Dante's body.Sasha looked at Dante gently and said: "Tian, why haven't you returned for two days?""Weren't I busy? The crew added a new member these past two days."Rebecca caught the scent of woman on Dante, and staring big-eyed with Dante, she didn't say anything and just looked at him like that.Feeling guilty, Dante also waved his hand: "We really didn't do anything, we just slept.""Hahaha, Sasha, look at his expression, how embarrassing, hahahaha."Sasha was also smiling with her lips pursed on the side.Only then did Dante realize he had been played, grabbing Rebecca's face and rubbing it."Ouch, don't rub anymore, I was wrong, I was wrong.""Alright, stop messing around. Today I called you out to help me with something. I'm an undocumented person, without a SIN code, so some things can't be done."Over so many days of living together, the two already knew that Dante wasn't a person from this world, but neither of them was too surprised; after all, if the methods Dante pulled out were from someone in this world, that would be weird.Sasha also waved at the two of them: "Alright then, I'll wait for you guys at home, have fun."Rebecca also said to Sasha: "Bye, I should be back in a bit. Also, don't touch those two braindances, save the game, let's see me win against you again when I get back."As soon as Rebecca finished speaking, she climbed onto Dante's head, and Dante carried her back to the Cyberpunk world like that.Sasha also said to Dante from behind: "Go early and return soon. Also, Tian, remember to bring the new sister back to meet when you have time."Dante almost took a tumble, turned back, waved at Sasha, and left."Hahaha, what are you feeling guilty about? Seriously, where is that vigor you usually have in bed? Now you're acting like a little man.""Sigh, you wouldn't understand even if I told you. That kid is different from you guys.""Tch, anyway, what did you want me out for?"Dante went out and called Delamain, having him drive the two near the moon launch rocket.He transferred sixty thousand eddies to Rebeccaand said: "Help me buy two tickets to the moon, I need to use them. You and Sasha don't rush, when I have time I'll take both of you up to see it too.""Flirting with a girl?""Pretty much.""Scumbag."Dante was speechless; Rebecca wasn't wrong to say that, but in a place like Night City, was Dantereally a scumbag? Not necessarily."Then how am I compared to others?""A scumbag with a conscience."...Dante had never been so speechless in his life..."Alright, stop talking nonsense, go buy them quickly."Fortunately, going to the moon in this world doesn't need a SIN code; as long as you have a ticket, you can use it.Otherwise, Lucy wouldn't have been able to go to the moon at all in the original work. Speaking of which, Lucy was constantly wanted after David's death in the original work, so presumably the moon ticket was also bought from a scalper."Alright, bought. Hurry up and let me go back, the air in this f***ing place smells terrible."Dante didn't feel much; although the air was toxic, the toxicity wasn't high, but compared to the Main World, it was still far worse. It was normal for Rebecca to feel uncomfortable."Don't go back yet, there's still one more thing."Saying that, after putting the two tickets into his inventory, he had Delamain drive the two to Viktor's clinic.Rebecca knew this place; when Maine had a check-up before, he brought everyone here for an examination."What are we coming here for?""To do maintenance on the cyberware on your body, it hasn't been maintained for over half a month, right?""Oh, if you didn't mention it I would've forgotten. But since there hasn't been any combat, it should be fine, right?""Stop talking nonsense, go in."After entering the shop, Dante saw Viktor. He was still watching a boxing match. Dante and Viktorwere now as close as can be."Viktor, give this girl a set of maintenance.""You brat, you only come to see me when you need something.""Weren't I busy recently...""Hahaha, I've even heard your reputation here, the famous Cyber Ghost."Hearing this nickname, Dante was also speechless. Because he often did gigs while stealthing, he was almost being spread as an urban legend by people outside.The outside world only knew there was an invisible person named Dante in Maine's crew, but almost no one knew what Dante looked like, because anyone who had time to see his appearance was already dead."Alright, stop messing around. Help Rebecca with maintenance first, I'm going to call another person."Saying that, Dante went to the Main World to call Sasha over. Sasha couldn't show her face yet, so Dante had to come to Viktor's place and open the iron door to bring her out.After finishing maintenance for both of them and sending them back to the Main World, Dantereturned to Lucy's home.Knocking on her door, after a while Lucy came over to open the door for him.After opening the door, there was also a flash of scenery, because Lucy wasn't wearing anything at all, and her body was still wet.After opening the door for Dante, she lay back down in the bathtub in the bathroom and went back to deep-diving.Dante didn't say anything, took out the prepared dinner and placed it in the living room, then went to her side and watched her.After a while, when Lucy exited from cyberspace, she saw Dante looking at her. Because Dante kept staring into her eyes, she blushed slightly."Jeez, look at your eyes, what are you shy about? You aren't wearing a single piece of clothing on your body and I haven't seen you shy."Saying that, Dante picked up the bath towel beside him and helped wipe her body.Strange to say, women in this world seemed to lack the concept of shame. Could it be because of cyberware? He remembered that Kiwi's blueberries didn't seem to be original."But you aren't looking at my figure either, what are you staring at me for?""You're good-looking, not even letting people look? Dinner is ready, come out and eat together."Lucy also dressed up and came out to have dinner with Dante."By the way, what did you go do? I waited for you so long without you coming back, so I went to practice my hacking skills.""Uh, I was busy all day before finishing. Let me borrow your time for another day tomorrow."Could he say that after sending Sasha and Rebeccaback to the Main World, he spent over an hour more bustling around before escaping?Saying that, Dante took out two tickets to the moon and waved them in front of Lucy: "Do you want to go to the moon and take a look?"Lucy was so shocked that her hands stopped moving.She just looked at Dante wordlessly.After a long while,"You... Me... Why?"Dante actually wanted to say that he would take her to the moon to see the true appearance of the moon so she could give up that obsession, but in the end, he didn't say it out loud."Isn't it good to fulfill your dreams early?"Without saying anything, Lucy went up and kissed Dante. She didn't know how to repay Dante either, so she could only give her own body.Saying that, she took off Dante's clothes and went to the bed.(Damn, wrote a large chunk of bed scene that didn't pass censorship, everyone use your imagination.
Chapter 16: Landing on the Moon and... DisappointmentEarly the next morning, Dante found himself held tightly in Lucy's arms. Feeling those two mounds pressed against his cheeks, Dante felt he should continue sleeping for a bit longer.'He was so comfortable he was dazed.'After sleeping a little longer, Lucy slowly woke up. Seeing Dante held in her arms, a wave of tenderness washed over her, and she tightened her grip around him."Are you going to breastfeed me? You're hugging me so tight.""Ah, you're awake." Lucy let go in shock.Seeing this, Dante went up, kissed her, and said, "Hehe, I woke up long ago. I didn't move because I was afraid of waking you up. Let's lie down a bit longer, I'll go make breakfast."Lucy gave a sweet smile."Okay." She finally understood what a hint of happiness felt like. After wandering alone for five or six years, she had met a man who could take responsibility for her, protect her, and even feel distressed when she didn't eat well.She lay on the bed, swinging her legs, propping her face with her hands, and watching Dante cook."What time is the rocket?""Nine tonight, it's still early. Once we finish eating, we'll go buy some spare clothes, daily necessities, and things like that.""Okay." Lucy looked at Dante with a heartfelt smile.After finishing their meal, the two went out. Dantecame to the downtown area and bought many clothes for Lucy. Lucy didn't follow along; she was still very resistant to this place and didn't want to be exposed under the cameras.Before dusk arrived, Dante explained the situation to Maine."Maine, I'm going out for a few days, not sure when I'll be back. During this time, don't take on any big jobs, just take some small ones."Because of Dante's presence, Maine's crew was completely different from before.Not needing to fight meant saving a lot on logistics. Maine no longer installed cyberware into his body, and everyone hadn't been injured or spent money on cyberware for a long time. They could just get paid every day by following behind Dante.Afterwards, he also explained to Maine that Lucywas with him and asked for a few days off for her.Maine looked at the text in front of him and fell into deep thought..."Why is every girl who enters my crew taken away by Dante?" Then he looked at Kiwi...Kiwi felt a bit creeped out by Maine's gaze."What's wrong?""Nothing. Dante is going out on a date with Lucy for a few days. These next few days, the four of us will do the gigs."Seeing this, Pilar complained, "Damn, this kid is so unfaithful! All the girls in the crew have been hooked by him. Could it be he's doing it every day?"Then Pilar also looked at Kiwi, and his meaning was self-evident.Kiwi rolled her eyes."You guys don't need to overthink it. He didn't fancy me, and didn't talk much to me during missions." However, Kiwi didn't say that if Dante agreed, she would also be willing. After all, she had seen Rebecca before. Rebecca looked worlds apart from the skinny, small appearance she had when she first left. When she saw Rebecca some time ago, her face had even grown some meat.She also saw Dante's gentleness towards Lucy. Although this man was a playboy, his attitude towards women also fascinated her. However, being a playboy in Night City was actually a compliment—if you had the ability, you could be as unfaithful as you wanted.However, Dante's attitude towards her had always been the same as towards outsiders, and she had no way to get close.After ending his conversation with Maine, Dantebrought Lucy onto the moon-bound rocket. Lucywas exceptionally excited all the way, looking left and right.Even on the rocket, she couldn't stay still."It's over, my hardcore hot girl has turned into a tender cat-girl."But it felt so good.Hearing Dante talking to himself, Lucy asked him, "What did you say?""Nothing, I said stay safe. When we reach space in a moment, there will be zero gravity."As time passed, after half a day of traveling in orbit, they finally reached the moon.After a smooth landing, led by the tour guide, everyone put on their spacesuits and went out of the cabin door. Lucy looked at all of this with excitement.Because sound cannot travel in space, the two could only communicate by typing in their cyberware eyes."This is even hotter than I imagined.""Come over to my side, look over there.""Look, look."Dante just stayed by Lucy's side, silently accompanying her. Dante had some aversion to this place and hoped Lucy wouldn't be too devastated by what she was about to see.Following the tour guide's footsteps, they arrived at a dome.The tour guide introduced, "A closed high-end dome community. Inside is practically a paradise of ultimate bliss, featuring a complete ecosystem and artificial sunlight. It's the best space vacation spot.""However... you trash who signed up for the cheapest tour group shouldn't even think about it. This is where corporate executives and billionaires live." Finally, he laughed mockingly.He led the group down to the underground residential area."This is where corporate and government personnel live. It has a water and oxygen recycling system, synthetic food, and is a standard residential area."He then led the tour group to the lower underground level.Seeing that Lucy's expression was a bit off, Dantedidn't rush to comfort her. The sooner she knew about these things, the better.Before everyone's eyes was a sheet of glass, and beneath the glass were rows of dormitories.Seeing this, Lucy felt a bad premonition."These are some garbage at the very bottom, mainly composed of some'space black slaves', some netrunners, and some trash who only think about utopia. Hahaha, do you really think there is a utopia in this world? Once you come here, don't think about going back easily.""The debts these trashes carry can never be paid off in a lifetime."Here, you can only earn one hundred eurodollars a day, but the cost of breathing is as high as forty eurodollars...Therefore, the people at the bottom here have no possibility of turning their lives around, and they cannot escape—outside is space... Even death is an extravagant hope.A crowd of people in the tour group behind him burst into laughter.Dante really couldn't stand these people's ugly faces. He really wanted to take action and kill them all, but he himself didn't care; he was just afraid Lucy wouldn't be able to return to Earth."Sigh~"Dante silently hugged Lucy from behind. This truth was simply a bit too hard for her to accept.Afterwards, after visiting some scenic spots, the tour guide announced free time.Lucy pulled Dante to sit down at a high point where they could just see Earth.Lucy asked Dante dejectedly,"You? You knew all along, didn't you?"Dante nodded."Why is it like this? It's all fake..." Then she buried herself in Dante's arms and wept.Although Lucy couldn't shed tears, Dante could see from her expression that her heart was truly broken, and he held her tightly."Thank you, let's go back. There is... no hope left here..."Dante sighed and looked at her. In the original work, after landing on the moon, she escaped from the tour group and ran to wander with the Highriders on the other side of the moon.That's right, this woman was on the run until the very end, and she was still an unregistered person on the moon; only the Highriders wouldn't mind these things.Although the original work didn't explain Lucy's subsequent fate, the crossover between Wuthering Waves and Cyberpunk mentioned her—using David's inheritance to rent a library on the moon, haunted every night by nightmares of her companions' deaths... all alone...Dante couldn't accept this ending at all.Therefore, it was better to let Lucy know the truth early.Lucy was brought back by Dante onto the return rocket with a vacant look in her eyes, and they returned home.Dante didn't say anything, just hugged her and lay on the bed. At this time, any comforting words were useless; she had to walk out of it herself.Dante slowly patted her back, and after a while, Lucy said,"Why didn't you tell me in advance?"Dante looked into her eyes."Would you have believed it?""I...""Then what have I been living for all these years?""You still have me."Hearing this, Lucy burst into tears on the spot.The ideals she had run with for so many years were shattered, which was a huge blow to her. And the man who shattered her ideals gave her yet another blow called reality."Cry, once you cry it out, it won't hurt as much."Lucy cried for a long time and fell asleep in Dante's arms.Dante kept holding her, affectionately stroking her. By evening, Lucy woke up."Thank you. What would I have done without you? If I had worked hard all my life, went to the moon, and then saw that it was this kind of scene, what would have become of me?"Dante didn't answer, but went to make dinner on his own, brought it over, and the two ate.The sound of a rocket launching rang in their ears again.Lucy used to like this sound; it gave her days something to look forward to and filled her with motivation every day.Now... she only found it grating.After finishing dinner, Lucy leaned on Dante's shoulder and said,"Does utopia really not exist?""It exists, and it's right by your side."Lucy blushed, feeling that Dante was flirting with her, comparing himself to Lucy's utopia."So cheesy." But Lucy actually fell for this routine.Seeing her blush, Dante thought it was adorable. He poked her cheek and said,"Nope, I'm not lying to you."Finished speaking, Dante got up and set up the iron gate amidst Lucy's shocked gaze.Then he turned back and extended his hand towards her: "Let's go, I'll take you to a real utopia."Lucy dazedly took his hand and walked in.As soon as they entered through the door, it was another world—blue skies and white clouds.Buildings were everywhere, practically like heaven.There was none of that dead silence feeling of Night City. The ground was all green grass, and rabbits and cats were running nearby."Is... is this heaven?""This is my world, but it's not wrong if you recognize it as heaven." Dante explained, looking at her shocked gaze.Immediately, Rebecca looked over, and seeing a woman by Dante's side, she walked over."Ruining another young girl and tricking her over here."Dante wasn't angry. He walked over, grabbed Rebecca's cheeks, and rubbed them: "How is that talking? So impolite.""Ow, stop rubbing! Why do you like rubbing my face so much?""Lucy, let me introduce you, this is Rebecca.""Rebecca, this is Lucy."Rebecca looked at Lucy: "I was here first, oh."Lucy looked at this loli and asked Dante, "Is this your daughter?""I'm fucking 19! Who are you calling a daughter? Are you trying to pick a fight?"Dante went over to hold Rebecca back. After all, because of Dante, Rebecca and Lucy had never met."Alright, alright, wasn't this praising you for being young?"Dante also explained to Lucy, "Sigh, she's also a former member of Maine's crew. Because her personality was too soft, I didn't let her be an Edgerunner anymore. There's also another one...""Rebecca, where did Sasha go?""Oh, she went farming. She's recently gotten addicted to farming."Dante facepalmed... Because in this world now there were no configuration limits and item limits didn't exist, the home warehouse had long since burst at the seams. Not long ago, Dante had turned off most of the machines at home."Forget it, I'll go call her back so everyone can get familiar."(I originally wanted to write about accompanying Lucy to the moon for a couple of turns and then coming back to stay with the protagonist all along. But when I searched up the moon in the CyberpunkEdgerunners worldview...Fuck, I really couldn't take it, this damned worldview. The things written about the moon in this chapter are all official settings, so I simply had Lucy give up her thoughts on the moon.)
Chapter 17, A Love Triangle Drama?Finding Sasha busy working on the farm—Dantehad previously brought many seeds from Agricultural Scenery and placed them in the Main World, and now Sasha was farming them anyway, since the required quantity wasn't large."You're back?""I'm back.""I heard from Rebecca that you went to the moon to flirt with girls?""Yeah, I brought her along too, to introduce her to you guys."Sasha was a bit disappointed not to see a guilty look on Dante's face. She put down her hoe and followed Dante into the villa, where Rebecca and Lucy were chatting.Or rather, Rebecca kept talking while Lucy listened quietly by the side."What are you chatting about that has you both so happy?""We were talking about how a certain scumbag stole my heart, tricked me away with just some food, and even took Lucy all the way to the moon when he was flirting with her."Rebecca knew about the rumors of the lunar utopia, but she had never considered going up there; after all, a 250,000-euro ticket was quite a lot.Seeing this, Dante realized that Lucy hadn't gone into detail with her about the moon.Seeing that the three of them were all present, Dante went over, put his arm around Lucy, and began telling Sasha and Rebecca about the situation on the moon."Damn it, fuck, I knew these corp-rats didn't have any good intentions.""Oh God, was it really that cruel up there? Poor Lucy, she had longed for it for half her lifetime."Sasha said with heartache as she went over and touched Lucy's face."Sigh, there was no help for it. To prevent her from getting hurt too deeply, I just flew her straight up to the moon once."Speaking of which, after getting off the rocket, Dante had secretly gone and killed the tour guide, but the rocket launched on time again that evening. It seemed those trash could never be completely rooted out.Lucy didn't say a word as she rested in Dante's arms, listening to him tell the story. By now, she wasn't feeling as distressed anymore."Actually, I'm not that upset. Even though I can't go to the moon anymore, I've found my own utopia."With that, she looked into Dante's eyes.Dante smiled; this girl still remembered what he had said to flirt with her just now."Alright, I came over this time to call Rebecca. Come move with us to a high-rise in the city center; this dump of a house is too noisy at night.""We're finally moving? Yay, I've fucking wanted to move for a long time! Every time at night when we're fucking, it scares the hell out of me."Finished speaking, Rebecca realized what she had said and lowered her head with a blush...This caused everyone to burst into loud laughter.After leaving Sasha behind in the Main World, Dante and Rebecca packed up their own rooms, while Lucy went to pack her belongings.Then they went to the city center and found an ultra-large penthouse apartment on the top floor. It featured wraparound panoramic glass, an open-concept living-dining-kitchen area, a master bedroom suite, a private outdoor area, an av-landing pad, exclusive property security, and other perks, with an area of about two hundred square meters.The monthly rent was as high as twenty-five thousand euros, and purchase was not allowed. Normally, ordinary people wouldn't even qualify to rent it, but once Dante dropped his name, he was able to move in immediately."It looks like my reputation is still pretty useful after all."The outside world had already spread legendary tales of Dante's reputation; after all, the missions Dante completed... the enemy's survival rate was 0.Therefore, Dante was still very sought-after among fixers. People at the bottom might rarely know Dante, but in places like this, Dante's reputation was quite prominent."Great kindness needs no thanks; I won't ask who helped me pull strings. Just go straight to Maine for any gigs."When the three of them arrived at the apartment, they got to see its layout. The south and east sides were both panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows, and the east side featured a huge artificial lawn along with an aerocar landing pad.Inside the house was a huge open-plan kitchen, an armory in the northwest corner room, and stairs leading to the second floor on the east side.Underneath the stairs was an oversized bathroom containing a large bathtub carefully chosen by Dante. Calling it a bathtub was more like a swimming pool, spanning at least three by three meters in area.When Rebecca saw this bathroom, she exclaimed in surprise: "Holy shit, this toilet is bigger than my whole house!"Dante thought of the apartment belonging to Rebecca and her brother in the original work... and it seemed indeed about that big.Inside the second floor was a massive bedroom with a large bed that could easily accommodate five or six people.Seeing this room, Lucy asked Dante: "You didn't choose this house just for this bed, did you?""A little bit, but not entirely. Mainly, there are no better houses than this currently on the market."This house was practically on par with the one Yorinobu Arasaka lived in.As he spoke, he also called Sasha out to see the new house.While Rebecca showed Sasha around, Dante went to make late-night snacks, and Lucy stayed glued to Dante's side.Ever since returning from the moon, Lucy had been especially clingy, perhaps also harboring a bit of a desire to vie for affection.Dante didn't mind; could a clingy girl ever be a bad thing?However, Dante also felt it was a bit unfair to Lucy, seeing as he hadn't told her about Rebecca and Sasha.Dante asked: "Aren't you angry?""What would I be angry about?"Dante looked in the direction of Rebecca and the other two.Lucy pursed her lips and smiled: "Why would I be angry? Actually, I guessed it long ago. How could a man like you ever lack women?""What surprised me, though, is that you actually take responsibility for them to the end, which makes me like you even more."With that, she stepped forward and kissed Dante.Alright, Dante admitted that sometimes he really liked this world.After giving Lucy a kiss back, Dante called Rebeccaand Sasha over to eat.Dante brought out a large batch of homemade beer.After handing everyone a cup, he said:"Hehe, come on, let's celebrate our relocation to a new home, celebrate the joining of a new member, and even celebrate reaching the pinnacle of this city!""Cheers!" With that, everyone boldly finished the wine in their cups.After three rounds of drinks, Dante looked at his empty backpack and fell into deep thought; over thirty cups had all been drunk clean by the four of them...Each cup was nearly half a liter.Rebecca had drunk herself straight under the table.Perhaps also because they didn't have to think about random nonsense, Sasha and Lucy felt a great sense of security with Dante around, so they also drank too much.Speechless at the sight of these two women, Dantehoisted Rebecca back to the bed on the second floor before returning to clean up the mess on the table.Sasha had also fallen asleep, leaving only Lucysitting there watching him.After carrying Sasha back to bed as well, he came back and sat on the sofa with Lucy, leaning against each other while watching television."Tian, thank you for giving me a home."Dante smiled, pinched her cheek, and said: "Why are you being so gentle? Where's that aloof and cold girl from a couple of days ago?"Lucy blushed and buried her head into Dante's chest.Looking at Dante's face, Lucy hesitated repeatedly, as if making up her mind to say something."Dante, actually I... I..."Seeing this, Dante pressed his finger against her lips."If it's words from the bottom of your heart, just keep them hidden inside. If you can't say it out loud, keep it in your heart."Of course Dante knew what Lucy wanted to say, but now wasn't the time. When he wiped out Arasaka Tower completely, he would let Lucy open her heart to him then.Looking at Dante's gentle expression, Lucy felt a wave of emotion."Thank you~"She fell asleep right there in Dante's arms.Dante looked at Lucy and sighed.Sigh, Lucy's background was quite tragic; she had never lived for herself. In the original work, not long after failing to reveal her true feelings to David, she could only watch helplessly as David gradually installed cyberware and slowly turned into a cyberpsycho, and she couldn't stop him.Dante suddenly remembered that it seemed he had forgotten all about David...He had been flirting around these days and didn't know where he had forgotten this stupid boy.Just in time, Lucy was here. When the time came, he'd let Lucy directly pull up David's information and go stake out the entrance of his school.Just like that, Dante watched TV while stroking Lucy's cheek, coaxing her to sleep.Anyway, Dante wouldn't get sleepy, and so it went until the next morning.Lucy slowly woke up, and looking up, she saw Dante's gentle gaze."You didn't sleep last night?""It doesn't matter even if I don't sleep. Seeing you sleeping so soundly, I didn't want to disturb you."As he spoke, he helped smooth out Lucy's fine hair that was stuck to her face.Lucy also stood up and stretched lazily, displaying her sexy figure.It made Dante's heart surge with passion; beauties were truly a sight for sore eyes.Seeing Dante's dazed expression, Lucy curled the corners of her mouth and asked: "Is it pretty?""Pretty."As she spoke, Lucy leaned in and kissed Dante, firing the opening shot of the morning.After being busy for a while, Dante went to cook, asking Lucy to go upstairs and call the other two down to eat.When Lucy went in, she saw Rebecca lying wildly on the floor in an unrestrained sleeping posture, and Sasha straddling a comforter.After waking them both up, the three of them washed up together and came to the kitchen to eat."Sasha, do you want to stay in the Main World or here?"This place was still quite concealed; after all, nobody would be stupid enough to come to a location like this and offend people. People living in apartments like this were either wealthy or noble, and if they died, they wouldn't even know how they died.Not to mention that this apartment was also equipped with security, and they weren't pushovers either. One could only say that having money in this city really allowed one to do whatever they wanted.Sasha drank her porridge and said: "Forget it, the Main World is better. The scenery is good, the environment is good, and it's very free."What Sasha actually wanted to say was that even if she could move around freely in Night City, it still wasn't as good as the Main World. Here, you didn't even know if you'd be melted into slag if it rained.Dante understood Sasha. He felt... wasn't the Main World a kind of heaven in its own right? The "heaven" that the people of this world dreamed of."Mm, okay. Maine just sent me a message saying there's a job today. Lucy is coming out with me, and you two behave and stay home. By the way, is there anything you want? I'll bring it back.""I want a cyberdeck chair; the one that comes with this house is too terrible. What about you, Lucy? You're a netrunner too, right?"Lucy also refused: "I don't need one. I don't like using those things; ice water is enough for me."Dante knew that Lucy was very resistant to cyberdeck chairs."Alright, I'll bring one back then. Rebecca, do you want anything?""No, but can you check on how my big brother is doing? Did that fucking idiot die on some woman's belly?"In her heart, Rebecca was still thinking of her big brother; after all, he had accompanied her as she grew up."If you miss him, go see him then.""Bah, who misses that asshole? I just want to see if he's dead or alive. It's been so long and he hasn't even sent me a single message."Sasha said speechlessly: "You've been in the Main World the whole time with no signal, how is he supposed to contact you?""Oh yeah... but he didn't even leave me a message either, hmph!"Dante finished eating as well, patted Rebecca's head, and said: "Got it, I'll help pass it on for you."This child had too tsundere of a personality.After finishing, cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, and sending the two of them back to the Main World, he took Lucy's hand and walked out the door.
Chapter 18, V the ThunderThe two of them also arrived at the Afterlife bar to rendezvous with Maine's crew.Seeing the two of them walk into the private room hand in hand, Maine asked, "Yo, the busybody finally has time to come back."Dante also saw that Maine was injured, although it didn't look serious.Seeing Lucy's appearance, Kiwi also laughed and said, "Lucy, have you gotten fat?"Lucy also looked at her figure in a flustered manner."Is there?"Seeing Lucy's... pure little girl appearance, everyone's jaws dropped in shock.To be honest, Kiwi was also somewhat envious of Lucy for having such a man with boundless strength protecting her and caring for her in every possible way.Lucy also noticed her exaggerated expression, but she wasn't shy.Dante also stepped in to help smooth things over: "Alright, isn't getting a little fatter a good thing? Stop teasing her, what if you make my girl shy?""Also, Pilar, Rebecca asked me to give you a message, don't die on a woman's belly... she still cares a lot about you."Pilar scratched his head: "Tch, I know. What does that brat know? This is a man's driving force in life."Seeing this, Dante stopped trying to persuade him; everyone has their own destiny.Although Pilar had a nasty personality and was positioned almost like a clown, but... if he wasn't nasty, he wouldn't be able to protect Rebecca."How did Maine get injured? Didn't I tell you guys I was going out on a small mission for a few days?"Dorio didn't let Maine speak, and she said to Dante: "Those bastards from Maelstrom, we went out on a small mission the day before yesterday to escort a batch of supplies, but the driver in that truck betrayed us and told Maelstrom the news that you weren't around.""So taking advantage of your absence, they wanted to get back at Maine."Maine also sighed: "Sigh, always picking up scraps behind you has made us all slack off, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten injured. However, that bunch of people was wiped out by us anyway."Seeing this, Dante said: "Those psychopaths... Alright, what's the mission today?"Maine grinned: "I only accepted this mission after finding out yesterday that you were back. The mission reward isn't important; what's important is the cargo on it.""What cargo?""Hahaha, two cows!"Now it was Dante's turn to be shocked. Cows in MC only dropped steaks, and he had been wanting to eat barbecue for a long time. Today was just the right time to have a feast."What's the specific situation?""The client said these two cows were smuggled over, but they were hijacked by the Ghost Gang. However, they probably didn't know what kind of cargo was smuggled inside, so if we go over early, we should still be able to eat some good meat.""Alright, I'll make it clear first. I don't want any reward for this mission, the cows must be given to me."Hearing this, Maine also looked at the others in the team."No problem. To put it bluntly, we just follow behind you to pick up scraps, whatever you say goes."After speaking, the six of them got into the car and headed towards the Wasteland. When passing by Watson, Dante got out of the car and went to Maelstrom's All Foods Processing Plant.Without spending much effort, he blew up a workshop and let a Maelstrom member go, telling him to go back and tell their boss."No one can touch my people. The next time I run into this kind of thing, I'll make heads roll... Understand?"That Maelstrom lackey was almost scared to the point of pissing himself and nodded hastily."Understood, understood, understood.""Get lost, and deliver the message. I've had my girl mark your information. If you don't deliver the message to the right place..." Dante made a throat-slitting gesture with his thumb.However, Dante didn't expect to scare them. The craziest people in this city were Maelstrom. They even yearned for cyberpsychosis, calling it mechanical ascension...Returning to the car.Maine looked at him: "Thanks.""Alright, what's there to thank? This bunch of idiots won't remember their lesson unless you beat them.""If it weren't for the All Foods Slaughterhouse supplying protein for the entire Night City, I would have slaughtered them all long ago."Actually, Dante could supply food for the entire Night City by himself, but... he wasn't any kind of saint. It was enough to protect the people around him well.Lucy also looked at the man beside her with admiration, gently leaning on his shoulder.After a while, they arrived at the location given by the client and saw that pile of car wreckage on the ground."Fortunately, there's no sandstorm, otherwise we'd only be able to grope around in the dark."At this time, Dante was also puzzled: "Why is there only car wreckage? Where are the people? Not a single corpse, did they also kidnap hostages?"Maine also shook his head: "That's all protein."...After following the tire tracks to the destination, everyone saw the Ghost Gang's stronghold.After all, the Ghost Gang had a nomadic nature, and their stronghold was not fixed. They belonged to the most disgusting gang in the Wasteland.Dante saw that they were brute-forcing the cargo container.Lucy also said: "A bunch of barbarians, not even a netrunner.""Haha, if they had that kind of strength, they wouldn't have to do this kind of lousy work. Alright, same as old times, I'll wipe you all out and clear the battlefield."After speaking, Dante threw out a bottle of invisibility potion, flew up, and rushed forward.Upon hearing the sound of a firework explosion, the members of the Ghost Gang hadn't even reacted before seeing teammates around them explode.At this moment, the leader noticed something was wrong."Damn it, gather together quickly, back to back, the Cyber Ghost has come.""What? Cyber Ghost? Assemble, assemble, come to my side, what the * * bad luck, is this his cargo?"The crowd suddenly became riotous, and then everyone gathered together.Dante said speechlessly: "Damn, I'm not even ambushing. Even if I'm right in front of you, you can't see me."The Ghost Gang members flusteredly attacked in the direction where Dante's voice came from."Open fire, open fire, he's right there!"Everyone sprayed gunfire, and all the bullets landed in the sand."Ran away?"No, Dante flew up into the sky and took out Adam Smasher.With a bang, the group of people huddled together exploded collectively, splashing blood all over Dante. But it didn't matter, it would respawn in a moment."Alright, everyone come over and clean up the battlefield."Maine went to the middle to take photos as evidence and sent them to the client; Pilar and Doriowent to pick up the weapons on the ground and the cyberware with high integrity.Lucy and Kiwi came to Dante's side.The three of them looked at the cargo container holding the goods. Lucy and Kiwi also went up to check the specific situation and see if they could crack it open.After bustling about for a while, the two of them said to Dante: "No good. Because of their brute-forcing, the entire carriage has triggered an alarm lock and is now shut down."Dante indicated that it was not a big problem, took out a lever, placed it next to the door, and pulled it.The door opened."You have such good stuff and you didn't take it out earlier.""I thought the two of you could open it."Opening the door, Dante walked in."It really stinks." Seeing that the two cows were already on their last legs—having been thoroughly tormented first by the smugglers and then by the Ghost Gang—how could they be in any good shape?Dante also went up to end their lives and put them into his inventory.Seeing Dante walk out, Maine also said to Dante: "Let's go, let's go back and have a couple of drinks. How long has it been since we all gathered?"Dante also invited them: "Don't go to the bar. We've moved to a new home. Come to my place, I'll treat everyone to barbecue. Sasha and Rebecca are also there."Maine also smiled: "Alright, then we'll bask in your light."After speaking, everyone returned to Night Citytogether. Maine and Dorio went to submit the commission, while Pilar drove and carried the four of them to the apartment.After the four of them went upstairs, Pilar was dumbfounded looking at the luxurious decoration. His own lousy place wasn't even as big as Dante's kitchen."You guys look around first, I'll go call the two of them."Saying that, Dante went to the second-floor bedroom, put down an iron door, and called the two of them out. The two of them were tinkering with beer; after finishing the last batch, they had made a lot more.Dante patted their heads and said: "Awesome, I've invited everyone over to have a barbecue. We got good stuff today, oh."The two of them also followed behind Dante as they walked out. Dante called everyone to come to the outdoor lawn outside.He took out two stones, placed the cow on top, and skinned it.He also asked Maine to buy back a barbecue grill and some skewers from the grocery store.(Uh, I'm not sure if these things exist in the worldview, didn't look it up, let's just pretend they do. After all, Night City also has food stalls selling those synthetic skewers.)Just as Dante was cutting the meat, he received a message from Jack."Tian, come out for a drink, I'll introduce a brother to you."Dante also knew who Jack was going to introduce to him. He issued an invitation to him and sent him the location of his home."Speaking of which... brother? Corporate dog V is a guy?""Come to my house, our crew is having a get-together eating barbecue, smuggled goods just snatched from the Ghost Gang's hands."Although Jack was also tempted, he still hesitated and asked: "Uh, brother, to be honest with you, the brother I want to introduce to you is a corporate person. Over on your side... you don't mind, right?""Of course I don't mind." Dante actually also wanted corporate dog V to get to know Maine's crew, since he could also be considered half a fixer."Alright, I'll tell him, coming right now."By the time Dante finished cutting most of the beef over here, Maine had also come over.He carried a large table out from the house, placed the beef on it, and had everyone skewer the meat, while he returned to the Main World to get some charcoal out.Pilar ate while skewering: "Delicious, oh. No wonder that bunch of goods took risks to smuggle this kind of thing."Rebecca was furious, went up and kicked him twice: "* * So filthy, can't you wait until it's cooked before eating? Aren't you afraid of getting diarrhea?"Pilar also retorted: "Oh god Rebecca, have you forgotten what you ate when you were a little kid? When the two of us had no food, we even ate garbage from trash cans."Rebecca also remembered. Perhaps having gotten used to staying by Dante's side, she had subtly started caring about health.Rebecca pinched her little belly..."Hmph, it's all Dante's fault, he made my belly big." Rebecca pouted and said there.Dante had just taken a sip of water when he spat it all out, splashing it all over Lucy's face."What? Rebecca, you're pregnant?"Everyone also looked at Rebecca in shock.Rebecca was looked at until she felt a bit embarrassed."I said I got fat, what do you mean I'm pregnant, * *!"Everyone was also speechless and returned to their respective positions to do their own things.Dante thought about it and felt it made sense; the things he shot out respawned in just a few minutes, just like his own blood—what was sprayed out might disappear in two minutes, and he might not have children in the future either.While Dante was letting his imagination run wild here, he also remembered something and said to everyone: "Uh, later two of my friends will come over, one of whom is a corporate dog. Everyone get to know them."Feeling that Dante wouldn't make groundless accusations, Maine asked: "Is he important?""Yes, Arasaka person, from the counter-intelligence department, not low rank. I want you guys to make contact."Hearing that it was an Arasaka person, Lucy also looked at Dante.Dante of course noticed this little girl's appearance, walked over, hugged her, patted her head, and said: "Rest assured, with me here, not to mention he doesn't know about you, even if he did, I'll just kill him to silence him."Lucy also looked at Dante in shock...: "You, how do you know?"Dante held her face and kissed her: "Actually, I know everything, but I wanted to wait for you to say it yourself."Lucy's heart also warmed. Although she didn't know what specific things Dante knew, the fact that Dantecould take her feelings into account was enough.Watching this pair of man and woman showing affection here, Maine got so annoyed: "Tell us what the specific situation is!"Lucy hurriedly pushed Dante away and blushingly went back to skewering meat."He can be considered half a fixer, with quite a lot of authority. He posts some gray industry gigs in the corporation, you guys can take them.""Alright, understood." After speaking, Maine also went back to skewering.Although everyone spurned corporate dogs, everyone also wanted to become a corporate dog. As far as Dante knew, corporate dog V even had a platinum Trauma Team membership equipped by the corporation.Take Maine's crew for example; if they worked under V, the reward would be an astronomical price just by V curling a finger, and equipment could even be reimbursed.After a while, when everyone had finished skewering the meat, Dante started grilling. As soon as he put the meat skewers on the fire, he heard the doorbell ring.He went over to welcome Jack and V.After opening the door, Jack saw Dante and shouted excitedly: "Brother, long time no see!""Long time no see. This is?"Jack laughed heartily: "This is Vincent, you can call him V, he's from Arasaka's intelligence department."World Exploration Progress 52%Unlocking...'What the * * is this unlocking? Logs?'"V, this is Dante, the renowned Cyber Ghost."V looked at Jack and then looked at Dante in pleasant surprise. He never expected that Jackwould actually know such a figure.Although he looked down on bottom-feeder commoners, it was limited to those low-level scum. Ever since Jack saved him, his perception of such Edgerunners had changed a lot.Dante also shook hands with V and greeted him to come in."Alright, don't stand outside. Come in and talk, the fire is already lit, you guys are in for a treat."