How To Live as a Cyberpunk Solver

28. friend

What is life.

For tens of thousands of years since human beings began to think, they asked again and again, but there was no answer. The ancestors, who could not stand the stuffiness, sought the absolute, took refuge, contemplated the inner world, and indulged in the name of science. And at the end of the 21st century, when human justice has escaped from accidents, the former hacker and incumbent solver firmly defined it.

“Life is all about luck.”

I poured 480 credits for 2 hours, changed seats and poured 220 credits, but everyone became a cynic when the three-seven jackpot hit the first seat.

Gambling manager Jack Turner publicly congratulated the lucky man, giving him credits and gifts. The gamblers, who were high on drugs, enthusiastically pressed the slot button. However, Leonard got up from his seat. Knowing that the jackpot doesn’t hit twice a day, I ran out of bullets.

“ha…”

Still, since it was a reopening guest, they gave me a poke, but it was just enough credit to buy an energy bar. I was already worried about what Sigma would nag.

“Fixer Leonard?”

one of the human mysteries. No matter how hectic or noisy he could hear his name clearly. Leonard involuntarily turned his head as he unwrapped a lollipop. I wondered if she was a plainclothes policeman because of her many sins, but she was a small girl three or four years older than Max.

‘The implant ratio is less than 30%…’

It was not an implant that would be preferred by people doing rough work. To put it bluntly, it was close to a prostitute.

Leonard returned his hexagonal pupil and pretended not to. The girl approached me, looking at me. If that was acting, it would be a great agent.

“Hey, is that Leonard Walker?”

“If it’s a request, go find a broker. I do not accept personal requests.”

It was the right response, even if it seemed harsh. Needing a fixer couldn’t be a good thing, and there didn’t seem to be any credit to hire a fixer. Did she read her inner thoughts? The girl said right away.

“So, I came here after being introduced. Mr Porch. Pochi sent it.”

With seven years of experience as a solver, the number of people involved in business was three-digit. Before ignoring it as an unfamiliar name, I tried to remember it. The data was stored for 7 years, so it was quickly found.

“Implant thief?”

“Recovery, not theft…”

She was a cheap prosthetic girl who was paired with a scavenger who had prosthetic hands of different lengths and prosthetic legs of different thicknesses. I knew that I worked in the red light district.

“You introduced me, not Jake?”

“Yes, yes. He is a former Hexagon, and the best solver in Junk Town.”

Praise makes even a whale dance. Leonard’s eyebrows went up.

“Do not lie.”

“Yes?!”

Surprisingly, he was still young and immature.

“I worked through an intermediary, not directly. Even if I did the introduction, I would have introduced the broker. From the looks of it, it looks like he came back after hearing a few words at work, but when he says something nice, he just goes home.”

“Credits! I have that credit!”

It seems that he has set up a plan B in case the acquaintance chance doesn’t work. But it wasn’t a good word to shout at the gambling hall. The gamblers who had lost a lot of money looked at them in unison. Some of them recognized Leonard and stopped paying attention, but others quietly got up and disappeared. It seemed like something troublesome would happen. It was a great plan B if that was the goal.

“Let’s move our seats.”

@

Leonard put his hands in his coat pockets and roamed around 11-1 Avenue. As expected, several scavengers followed, but they were all speechless. Without using a gun or hacking module, I simply evaded him by going round the alley and going back the way I came.

“It is done now.”

Leonard laughed at the scavenger looking in the distance and let the girl go. I was going to advise you not to brag about your credits, but I gave up. One assistant, Max, was enough. But the desperate girl wasn’t like that.

“My friends have been taken away! Please help me! please! I’ll give you all the credits!”

In an era where the human body (= implant) is credit, human trafficking was as common as murder. Leonard broke the candy that was the size of a pea.

“Where do you work?”

“15-5 Avenue Siren’s Singing Point… Ah!”

The girl unknowingly confessed to working in a brothel and became restless. I guessed that much, so I didn’t care.

“The 15th is the Tiger Claw area. How about asking for help over there?”

“That, those gangs kidnapped it. It is used as a new product.”

“A new product? Oh, is that it?”

There was something to catch. It will be related to the 3,500 credit debtor.

“So you’re not going to die? Rather, isn’t it nice to get a high-end body?”

“What is that…”

Contempt flashed across the girl’s face. It was a great contempt that I might have shot if I had a gun. Leonard regretted it. Even prostitute cyborgs have dignity, so why not force them to work…

“That’s all debt! Even if the implant is forced, the user has to pay it back! And you never know when it will be taken away!”

“Ah… is that why?”

It was different from what I expected, but I also hated it.

“The implant body is said to be 30,000 credits. I’ll give you all of them. Please save my friend. Please.”

“It’s not your credit after all.”

Still, 30,000 was a lump. It’s hard to get the full price on the black market, but since there are customers (=Twins), you’ll get at least half the price.

“It doesn’t pay off to fight gangs…”

It was time to think about knowing the place where my friends were kidnapped, that is, the location of the new implant.

“Jesse’s sister? Aren’t you Jesse’s sister?”

It seems that he has returned home at some point. A familiar voice stepped up. The girl laughed and shouted.

“Max!”

For some reason, it seemed that an acquaintance chance would come out again.

@

There was a gang that took care of Max when he was young, when he was a single digit age, much younger than he is now. Jimmy, Tona, Duts, Yoichi, Jessie and more.

Now they’ve been scattered to become restaurant workers, construction workers, gangsters, and prostitutes, but in those days, they were always attached to each other under the name of the Jimmy Family or the Jimmy Clan.

“Because there are power struggles among the children. If we do not unite, we cannot survive.”

When I wondered how an orphan with no parents or implants survived, it seems that there were friends from similar departments. Leonard said through a yawn.

“A ball is a ball and a person who lives. Besides, you’re not my friend, are you?”

“wow! How can you be so heartless even after hearing stories of memories you can’t hear without tears!”

“Where do you need tears?”

Well, it was a common story in Junk Town. Leonard said seriously.

“Gangs are dangerous.”

“Not as much as Mr. Leonard.”

Max was also serious. From what I’ve seen and heard, I know that ‘Leonard Walker’ is not an ordinary solver. More than Leonard hated the gang, the gang hated Leonard Walker. There is also a case of Ryan, the legendary solver who killed a gang alone. Leonard decided after a long struggle.

“I’ll do some research first.”

“oh! really? thank you! thank you!”

“I’m just doing research. I won’t do it if it’s dangerous.”

If it didn’t make sense, I could just sell the information and leave. However, Max did not doubt Leonard’s ‘business morality’. It was all the more so because he had 700 credits from the gambling house.

@

Two days ago at 10:22 am. Five members of the Tiger Claw gang came to the ‘Siren’s Song Store’ on Junk Town 15-5 Avenue. The gangsters, armed with knives, took the three employees after a few words with the madam. These were young ladies who owed debts to pimps and could not pay them back.

“Thirty-three hours ago, right? The record will remain.”

Finding and tracking people was Leonard’s specialty. Hacking the security camera in front of the store caught a video of a gang with Japanese blades wiping three women into a minivan.

Knowing the starting position, the rest was a cold energy bar. We hacked the recording media on the street one by one and listed them by time zone. There are a few blind spots, but I was able to create a traffic line with a big picture.

“It’s under the overpass on 15-9 Avenue.”

From there, the traces disappeared. Unless you’ve acquired extraterrestrial technology like space travel or quantum tunnels, you’re probably still there. I checked my revolver and cell phone and put on my overcoat.

“I am ready too!”

Max shouted, wearing a chest rig and carrying a guitar case. Because of his delicate biological body, he was like a servant of the White Town boy.

“You just…”

I was just trying to keep the house. Now, if you know how to handle a gun, it won’t help.

“Put on your outerwear so you can’t see your gun.”

“oh!”

“First, we will inspect the site. Follow me quietly so as not to arouse suspicion.”

“Old story!”

Investigations using street cameras had limitations. In particular, there were many blind spots under the overpass because it was full of junk cars and scrap furniture. Corporate surveillance drones are also out of the way, so it was best to go and check it out yourself. Leonard stopped the pickup truck at the corner of Fifteenth-Eighth Avenue and pulled out a lollipop.

“Does Leonard like candy?”

“I don’t eat it because I like it.”

Max sprinted up and clung to his side. To a stranger, it looked like a father and son were out shopping.

“Eat away from the party.”

“Wow, that’s the old man’s voice.”

Leonard didn’t explain how calorie-hungry the Hexagon hack was. It was not likely to be understood by max intelligence, and there was no place to say words like ‘Hexagon’ or ‘Hacking’. The gaze around him stung.

‘They’re advertising that there’s something good.’

No matter how much the gang was hidden, it was obvious. At a glance, there were over twenty people. The minivan that kidnapped the women is nowhere to be seen, so there must be a lot more around the target. Leonard turned his steps to the grocery store across the alley. Energy bars were hung by color.

‘They say Port Bionic’s products are expensive, but is it something to be wary of?’

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Just thinking about it, it was worth being vigilant. Not a far-fetched fixer, but a greedy competitor gang. I remembered where the creditor sold the information.

“Wildkid.”

“Yes?”

Perhaps it was a summons, an SUV shot past the grocery store. I couldn’t count how many they were because they were so fast, but there were some that remained like afterimages. It was a caricature of a good guy with a machine gun and butcher’s knife in both hands.