Scribble Hub
> Corpo Age [Cyberpunk Progression LitRPG] > Chapter 11: Raiders
Chapter 11: Raiders
Corpo Age [Cyberpunk Progression LitRPG] by RandomBlueCat
1k 0 53
Advertisements
Once I finished what should be the last enemy, I immediately went to examine the rooms near the big, dangerous cyborg I had taken out first.
Unfortunately, with one arm injured, I didn't have any leeway to leave anyone alive to question, but judging from the reaction of the last group I dealt with, it seemed like he was someone important. I found the dropped key the man had tried to use earlier and unlocked the crate.
Inside the shipping container were neat stacks of crates with Nova Tech logos on them. Upon opening one, I found several hands, prosthetic ones. The other crates were all filled with similar cybernetics, various limbs, tendons, and muscle replacements.
This was… a fortune. It was worth way more than the 30,000 credits from this job. It was a flat-out jackpot.
The models in the crates were all current-gen ones, worth a pretty penny. This was a huge payday! I couldn't wait to be able to afford better food, buy like bots to do cleaning and cooking, and maybe even move to a better place…though that would require stabler income.
I could also bring forth my plan to start a business with this startup fund. I just needed to level up more and upgrade a suitable tech to base my business around.
While taking in the mountain of expensive tech packed in front of me, I spotted in the corner an out-of-place box that didn't have any markings on it. Within it lay various limbs and other smaller cybernetics in a disorganized fashion. Rummaging through the box, I sorted out the smaller cybernetics, and examined what make and model they were.
It didn't take long until I found the SAID I was supposed to be looking for. I guess the box contained all the chrome looted from the bodies of the caravan's personnel.
With my newfound fortune came the problem of how to move it.
With the mission objective secured, I walked out to the parking lot to secure a means of transport. It was about time I got my own ride. I wonder how the ownership and insurance stuff would work…I was not looking forward to that one bit.
I inspected the vehicles and found they all looked pretty worn and some of them had bullet holes all over. Only two didn't, a sedan and an SUV. After spending some time searching the bodies, I found the corresponding keys and started packing away all my loot into the cars.
It took over half an hour to load all the crates from the shipping container into cars, and with some room left, I went to search all the other locked areas I ignored previously when I was busy taking out the surrounding hostiles.
The shipping containers I searched in the first warehouse I snuck into were simply bedrooms with nothing special in them. When I went to search for the final remaining ones in the second warehouse where the boss was, my search came up empty until I opened up the one furthest from the exit.
The moment I opened the last container, a pungent stench instantly rushed out, and within, I could make out the two slim figures in the corner, huddled together. What was most notable from the silhouettes were the chains tied around their arms and feet, attached to the railing welded to the wall.
As I wasn't able to make out much detail even with night vision, I took out a flashlight and shined it towards them. With color restored to the world, I spotted a girl with long brown hair around my age holding onto a boy around eight, who looked similar to the girl.
"Who are you two?" I asked as I made my way closer.
"You're not with them, are you? Why don't you introduce yourself first?" The girl snapped while she placed herself between me and the boy.
"I'm Rollo. I had some business with your captors, but they aren't around anymore. Now I can leave you alone and be on my way if you want, or I could do some charity work and bust you out of there, up to you."
While helping them wasn't profitable in a financial sense, I hope they could bring me some useful business connections; it wasn't that steep of an investment for me, anyway.
"...Yes, remove these chains… please."
"Sure thing, stay still," I pulled out my handy vibro dagger to cut the chains loose.
The two of them followed me as I headed out. I had everything packed and looted the place clean, so I was ready to leave. They didn't speak until the moment they had stepped outside.
"Where are we?" The girl said as she looked around.
"We are…in the outskirts of District 12." I read off the map from my optics.
"...Is that in the north part of NLA?"
"NLA?"
"New Los Angeles," The girl stared at me as if I was dumb.
Okay, maybe they aren't the local connection I was looking to make.
"I'm just going to go ahead and let you know we are in Elevate City, over 3,500 kilometers off the coast of New North America."
"...How many miles is that?"
"Um. over 2,000."
She froze for a second as the young boy held her closer.
"...You guys want to stay at my place for now?"
"Excellent work, Mr. Halls. Send me a message once you have dropped off the package at the designated spot."
"About that loot I mentioned. Are you sure Nova Tech won't be looking for it back?" I asked while I kept my eyes on the lights, waiting for it to turn green.
"The chances are very low, as they likely have written it off and claimed their insurance policy already. Unless you retrieved a sizable part of the shipment and flaunted it around, there should be no one looking for it." Fitel replied at his usual measured pace.
That was useful to know. I had only told him I found a few cybernetics instead of the dozens of crates that I actually had.
"I see…thank you. Then I'll text you once I drop off the package."
"Understood, and one more thing, Mr. Halls, I would recommend keeping minimal contact with people affiliated with raiders, regardless of age."
"...Thank you, I have it under control."
"Very well, until we speak again," Fitel said before he hung up.
I turned to look at the other two people in the car sitting behind me and gave them a smile.
They had opened up a little, and we managed to hold a conversion with them while the car's auto-drive did its work. It seemed like they were children of a tribe living out in the wastelands of New North America, what most people called wastelanders or raiders. Apparently, they were being held hostage and their tribe was made to do work for the group.
I guessed that wasn't a half-bad plan for a motley put-together crew, as corporations rarely cared as much about raider attacks. They were considered cockroaches that kept coming back no matter how many times they were put down, and it was an unprofitable business trying to wipe them out considering the harsh terrains they lived in.
They were able to use the information they gathered in the city and use raiders to do the actual work and would have gotten away with it too, if only they didn't happen to get a hold of some sensitive item the corp wanted back.
I took some time messaging my building's management office through my SAID and attained two guest parking passes. It seemed like I would have to go in person if I wanted to rent one.
Once that was done, I spent some time surfing the web, looking for ways to send these two to NLA, the closest city to their tribe. Plane tickets were way more expensive than I had thought, easily in the five digits, and these two didn't have any IDs in the first place either.
"And we're here. How about we grab some food first for you guys before going up to my place?" I turned around to ask the two as we pulled up to the colossal megabuilding.
"Woah, you live in this giant tower?" The little boy asked excitedly.
"Just renting a small place here. They're almost two hundred floors, housing hundreds of thousands of people."
"That's like… a lot," The boy replied, counting his fingers.
I grabbed a crate with my one good arm, dreading the fact that I had to move them all to the apartment now.
"Here, let me give you a hand," The girl quickly took a crate, wincing at my poor one-armed display.
"No, it's fine. I'm sure you're both tired. Let's go get something for you guys to eat first."
"I insist. It would shame my clan to eat without having worked for it," She glared at me with determined eyes.
"I'll help too!" The boy said brightly and carefully picked up a crate with both arms.
"...By the way, my name is Sarah of the Wells clan, and my brother is Caleb." The girl muttered as she carefully watched her brother lift the crate.
"Well, nice to meet you, Sarah, and Caleb. Now follow me. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
We safely arrived at my apartment without incident and picked up some food along the way. It seemed like the siblings did not enjoy the cheap food here, but still ravenously ate it all.
Can't believe even raider clans probably eat better than the garbage sold around here. How far have we fallen…
Once we finished eating, I rented a cart from the building used for moving in or out and transported all the crates into my unit. I had the two accompany me to both keep an eye on them and to make it seem like they were moving in to help keep curious eyes off my cargo.
With all the moving around and excitement dying down, Caleb fell asleep soon after, so I let the two of them rest while I headed out after organizing the crates.
Ensuring the cameras placed in my apartment were in order, I first headed to drop off SAID at a lockbox and messaged Fitel. Then I headed to the cybernetic clinic I had previously used. Fortunately, I only had to wait twenty minutes even without an appointment.
"Dr. Keyes, we meet again. How are you doing?"
"I am fine, but you have seen better days." He paused and stared at my bandaged-up arm before continuing. "You know, you should go to a normal clinic to get your wounds looked at. We mainly perform installation or removal of cybernetics here."
While I could have gone to the hospital instead, for my arm, it would take some time to heal. Not to talk about the rehabilitation period. I was planning on installing cybernetics anyway, and this just accelerated that decision.
"Yes, I am aware. I'm looking to have my arm replaced with this." I placed a package on the desk between us.
I had gone over the cybernetics from my loot and picked the best one that suited me, a Nova Tech Mudra. It retailed for 20,000 credits and was considered one of the better middle-tier cyberarms.
Dr. Keyes took a moment to take out the arm from its factory-new packaging and inspected it for a few minutes.
"I can do that. There doesn't seem to be any problem with it. The fee for installing a cyberarm for the first time will be 5,000 credits. Is that acceptable?"
"Yes, do you guys accept cybernetics as payment, or would you like to buy some? I happen to be in possession of a few pieces you may be interested in." I immediately took the chance to hawk my new wares. The loot wasn't useful to me until I converted them to credits, after all.
"No, Mr. Halls, it is against our company policies and procurement contracts."
Damn it, the payment for the job hadn't come through yet so I'll be using almost all I had left, but I had plenty of stuff to sell if I needed so I wasn't too worried. It was better to get the cyberarm now than to wait weeks for my wounds to recover naturally, plus all the new functions that came along with it.
"Understood. Please go ahead with the installation."
"Perfect, as a licensed cybernetic surgeon. I do need you to sign here to confirm that you would like to remove your current arm. I will not be able to reattach it after the operation if you change your mind."
"Ha, I can always get a new one grown if I come to regret my choice," I said as I read over the waiver before signing it.
"Well, if you had a couple of hundred thousand credits to spare, you could do that. Anyway, the procedure won't be too different from last time. Please lay down on the table and inhale from this."
I guess that means it is time for lights out. Hopefully, Fitel will come through with the payment by the time this is done.
Advertisements
Scribble Hub
> Corpo Age [Cyberpunk Progression LitRPG] > Chapter 12: Planning
Chapter 12: Planning
Corpo Age [Cyberpunk Progression LitRPG] by RandomBlueCat
1k 0 51
Advertisements
I was able to return home by early evening after having my new Nova Tech cyberarm installed. When I stepped into the apartment, both Sarah and Caleb sat on the couch, watching TV.
"You guys all good?" I asked as I placed down several bags.
"Yes, we are fine. What did you bring back? The two walked over to sate their curiosity. Woah, is that a new arm there?" Caleb's eyes sparkled as he stared at my new arm.
"Yeah, the old one wasn't in the best of condition anymore," I gave Caleb a wink.
"Woah, can I get an arm like that too, sis?" Caleb pleaded with puppy eyes.
In response, Sarah crossed her arms and made her displeasure apparent, "You know you can't. Don't make me tell Dad."
"Aww…"
"Here, both of you, I got you guys some stuff. See if the clothes are the right size," I push two bags toward them.
Since all they had were the dirty clothes they had been wearing, I bought some daily necessities, clothes, and some blankets.
The two went ahead and tore open the bags and inspected the items within.
"I guess this will do," Sarah muttered while Caleb continued going through everything with excitement.
"Hey, I can't say I'm well-versed in fashion, let alone for teenage girls."
She glared at me and walked away towards the bathroom. Once they both cleaned themselves and changed into new clothes, we sat down and ate.
"So, do you both remember anything about how you got here?"
"We… don't really know. Once they captured us, they kept us in that container the entire time until you came."
"I see… how long were you guys in there for?"
"I don't know. It's not easy to keep track after the first few days, trapped in a box."
"Thanks for telling me about it, even though you may not want to talk about it. I'll try to figure a way to get you back to your tribe."
"It's clan, clan Wells, and we can take care of our—" Sarah paused for a second and looked at Caleb, who had pulled at her sleeve. "...If you get us back to NLA, we can make it back from there…In return, I'll handle cleaning and laundry for you." She looked around at the unit as if to emphasize how valuable her service would be.
I mean, it wasn't that bad, presentable at least. The priority of a cleaning robot on my wish list may need to be bumped up a little…
"Sure thing. I'll see what we can do. Anyway, let's eat before the food gets cold."
If they were in the shipping container the entire time, that meant they probably didn't get here by plane. The more likely method was probably by cargo ships. That made sense, as that was the best way to smuggle something, considering they didn't have any IDs.
Now, I had a direction to look into.
With Fitel not wanting to get involved, I had to go find a cargo ship to smuggle Sarah and Caleb, myself. I doubt Flo and her team are experts at that, and I'd rather not bother them for this.
The next morning, after having failed to find any cargo ship information regarding their routes online, I went to District 20, where the biggest commercial port in Elevate City was.
There were crowds of workers rushing about their day throughout the entire area. I managed to enter the port management building uncontested. From the signs on the wall, it was apparent that port customs were on the third floor, but I didn't need to head all the way there.
I directly headed to an automated terminal that dealt with all the incoming ships that docked here and directly jacked into it, using the cable from my new cyberarm. The new arm had a slot to hold a portable terminal to perform the hacking that I had been doing with my old terminal.
To be honest, the three points in hacking weren't enough to make me into a super hacker. If one point gave me beginner knowledge, three points only made me a little better than an amateur. Judging from my stealth upgrades, five points would make me about average in the relevant industry, enough to be a professional, and seven would be around the veteran level.
Luckily, the shipping routes submitted to the port authorities were stored in this outdated security terminal that even an amateur like me could handle. I got through after several minutes and downloaded everything into my terminal, then exited the port by blending with the crowd.
With my new data in hand, I headed to a fast-food chain and got to work, looking over the data while enjoying a refreshing milkshake.
Dozens of vessels arrived in Elevate City every day so the files I downloaded were quite a pain to go through, even with a search function, but I narrowed down the dozen of ships that would leave within the week.
I crossed out the options that had their cargo noted as classified or were obviously managing stuff from large corporations, which left me with four options.
Then I checked the shipping company for each option and investigated how much their employee's pay was. To nobody's surprise, they were paid like crap unless they were higher up on the totem pole or had valuable skill sets as captains did.
I looked up the file for the Chief stewards for each of my options and examined the details.
Within two hours, I found everything I needed and headed to the closest hostel where one of the Chief Stewards was staying.
I waited outside and soon found a tall woman walking out with several others who matched the profile I had. I followed them, heading into a diner where they ordered their lunch. My patience paid off as she left the table and headed to the washroom.
"Chief Stewardess Ava, can I have a moment of your time?" I asked as she was about to pass by me.
Her body snapped toward me and had a hand on her holster while looking warily at me.
"Ambushing a lady on her way to the washroom isn't very gentlemen-like. Why don't you introduce yourself first?"
"You can call me…User, I don't mean any harm, just wanted to propose to you a business opportunity."
"Really?" She said as she raised an eyebrow at me.
"Your ship is heading to NLA next, right?"
"... Yeah, I ain't doing anything that would harm our ship. The crews are like family to me." She glared at me and tightened her grip on her pistol.
"Relax, I just want you to bring some people with you and ensure their safety. How does 5,000 credits sound? That's almost your entire monthly wage."
"Smuggling? They wanted or something?"
"No, just no IDs. They're fine otherwise."
"...5k per person, upfront payment."
"I'm only paying you half upfront, the other half once I confirmed you got the job done."
"You look here boy, I'm the one taking the risks here, upfront payment or no deal." The Chief Stewardess made a show of slowly walking away.
"...6,000 per person, if you can accommodate half now, half after the job."
I didn't mind paying more, as long as she accepted my condition. People worked harder if they still had something on the line. Upfront payment would incur a higher risk of her screwing over Sarah and Caleb if anything went wrong.
"Fine, but they bring their own supplies. The trip's going to take a week or two."
"Deal," I replied and held out my hand.
While we ate lunch, I informed the siblings of the ride back I secured for them. The ship was scheduled to leave in two days' time.
With their situation settled, what was left was for me to begin serious planning for the business I wanted to start.
I had a ton of valuable cybernetics that hadn't been liquidated yet. It wasn't something easy to do in a short time without tipping people off on the amount I had.
Anyway, to start my business, I, of course, had to decide on which industry I would go into. The system would definitely be an integral part of this, as it served as the basis of the business. Therefore, I opened up my status page and went through all the potential upgrades that would fit what I was looking for.
Status
Level:
3
EXP:
210/300
Musculoskeletal:
51
Neural Reflex:
15
Visuomotor Coordination:
12
Endurance:
8
Sensory Perception:
37
Upgrade Points:
0
Upgrades:
Stealth +7
Hacking +3
Enhancements:
SAID: Zenitech Hoth Mk.3
Optics: Nova Tech Stars Mk.4
Cyberarm(Left): Nova Tech Mudra Mk.6
After installing my cyberarm, my musculoskeletal stat shot straight up, which definitely tempted me to install more implants to raise the scores, but I was wary of the augments that dealt with how my brain worked, especially with the cheaper models.
I proceeded to select upgrade and went over the vast collections of various things I could spend points on.
While some names like energy weapons popped at me, I doubt I could enjoy my wealth for long with all the attention that it would draw. It wouldn't surprise me if a corp violently took over my business if I proceeded recklessly like that. I also didn't want any tech that was in markets that made me compete against big corporations for the same reason.
The more mundane everyday products weren't something I wanted to go into either, as the system's technological aid wouldn't be as helpful and those industries required more brand recognition than quality of products, anyway.
I remembered a line I had heard before: "Third-class businesses sold products, second-class businesses sold brands, and first-class businesses sold markets." I would have to start from the bottom with a great product first.
I would still need to level up a lot more in order to attain enough upgrade points for my selected field. Gaining experience points would only get harder and harder, so maybe I should select something that synergized with helping me gain the experience points as well, in other words, killing.
There was an option to level stealth technologies, but all the best stealth products I knew were, for good reason, cybernetics. It simply blended in better when it was literally hidden within you, but cybernetic engineering was a separate category in the system.
There currently wasn't much stealth-oriented cybernetics out in the market though, as corporations kept that technology to themselves, but a solid target market for it was there too. Mercenaries like Flo had sufficient disposable income and were willing to spend big, since they could always die on their next job.
That meant I should focus on cybernetics first. I probably needed both points in cybernetic tech and stealth tech to create any half-decent implants, but I happen to be sitting on a pile of cybernetics right now.
Cybernetics was definitely something cool that only this world had, and it was honestly exciting too. It's decided, I will focus on cybernetics first and then go into stealth technologies to create my own implants.
In the afternoon, I finished up the last of my errands, dealing with my two new cars. They may have seen better days, but they were still new in my books.
I tried to rent the parking spot to keep the SUV, but apparently, car registration was actually something required, so I headed to a second-hand dealership instead.
The place I went to had a wide selection of vehicles displayed up front and they all looked to be in much better condition than my two rust buckets. Though for now, I was satisfied to have something practical, I'd rather not waste unnecessary credits in my current situation.
"Hey there, I wanted to sell the sedan over there and fix the registration information on the SUV," I spoke to the man in a suit who immediately came to greet me the moment I walked in.
"Welcome to Don's Auto. We can definitely do that for you. Why don't we get a closer look at the vehicle you would like to sell!"
To no one's surprise, the sedan wasn't worth a lot but could cover the cost of having the SUVs registered to me. It didn't sound very legal, but I guessed no one cared, especially not for an old car.
I was on the road once I sorted the insurance out and enjoyed my first actual drive without the auto drive this time. Just as I got out of the dealer's parking lot, I received a call.
"Hey, Mr. Rollo, this is Caleb. Can you buy some ice cream when you come back?" A childish voice rang out.
"Sure thing, kid."
"Thank you!"
"I'll be back in half an hour." I hung up, only to realize I forgot to ask what flavor they liked.
Just as I was about to call back, another call came in first and I quickly picked it up as I started accelerating onto the freeway.
"What flavor did you—"
Before I finished, a different voice than the one I expected interrupted, "Rollo, are you free right now? We could really use your help."
It took a second before I realized it was Flo on the line. Well, unfortunately for Caleb, it seemed like ice cream was going to be delayed.
Advertisements