Night City might do without the Outlaw GTS sports car, but it can't do without the Villefort Columbus V340 utility truck.
Its unbeatable cost-performance ratio in the transport business is irreplaceable—Leo's knowledge of vehicles just leveled up again.
Leo's Team: 2 points, V's Team: 0 points.
The V340 is just that practical.
The person who stepped out was a lean, well-built young man with a small ponytail—he looked very young.
Seeing Leo and his crew standing at the clinic entrance, he paused, then asked suspiciously, "If I'm not mistaken, Sixth Street already sold me the rights to this clinic. What's going on here?"
"We're here for treatment. The patient's inside."
Leo stepped aside, allowing the man to see Murphy lying on the table.
It was clear that the young man's cybernetic eyes were top-notch. He immediately noticed the substandard skin graft on Murphy and the unnatural faint glow beneath it.
He breathed a sigh of relief—at least there wasn't any immediate trouble.
He'd heard that corporate employees often ended up dead on Night City's streets, so he deliberately chose a local gang as his protection.
If he were to be killed on his first night here, that would be too much bad luck.
"Alright... didn't expect the demand for doctors to be this high around here. Is it always like this?"
"I wouldn't know, I'm not from around here—better start moving your equipment in."
Leo gave Jackie a nod, and the big guy stepped up to the V340, shouldering over a hundred kilos of gear on each side as if it were nothing, walking into the clinic like it was no big deal.
The delivery workers and the young man named Martin were left dumbfounded.
Martin's initial examination made it clear that his skills were miles ahead of the previous, unlicensed ripperdoc.
First off, his gear.
Martin had an external neural signal amplifier installed on the right side of his skull, used to sync with precision medical diagnostic tools and track a patient's neural signals in real-time.
Secondly, his cybernetic eyes came with an extended scope that looked just like tactical goggles. The data it collected was tens of times more detailed than standard cybernetic eyes.
In addition to standard scan functions, it also worked as a portable CT machine and even had 200x optical zoom capability.
His surgical assistance implants were top-tier, the same external gloves that old Vic used—Leo's gloves were the same model too.
Unlike the ripperdoc, who had replaced his arms entirely with cyberware, opting for heavy cybernetic enhancements to improve his surgical skills.
Martin also brought equipment the ripperdoc wouldn't have even dreamed of buying—like a DNA scanner.
"This guy... was he part of some human experiment?"
Martin could tell right away that Murphy wasn't in normal condition.
Leo nodded. "Biotechnica experiment. It's deep waters. If you want to know more, you'll have to pay extra."
Martin gave Leo a meaningful look. "I worked in MoorE Technologies' R&D lab for ten years—I'm guessing that's one of the reasons you were waiting for me. But I'd rather not know the details, thanks."
"Doesn't matter, I was just mentioning it—so, can you treat him?"
"It's complicated. His DNA has been tampered with, but I doubt the experimenters wanted this outcome.
The inserted DNA is decaying, but the rate and encoded decay information have no discernible pattern.
If you insist on saving him, I suggest buying a DNA maintenance system and following a strict treatment regimen.
In about 30 years, he might be fully normal again—but it's going to cost you."
"I see." Leo poked the unconscious Murphy on the operating table. "Hear that? You might as well start waiting to die."
Martin didn't mention the cost, but it didn't take a genius to figure out it would easily run into the millions.
Murphy was stunned. "Damn... isn't there a cheaper option? Or... could I sell this info to MoorE Technologies? You must have some connections, right?"
Martin shook his head. "MoorE Technologies might be interested in Biotechnica's projects, but not in a poorly executed failure like this. It could cause more trouble than it's worth.
A cheaper treatment would be to use neuro-blockers and some specialized medical cyberware to keep the symptoms confined to your face. In that case, the cost would be limited to custom medical cyberware."
Martin made it sound easy.
But Murphy had spent enough time at Biotechnica to know the score.
Custom medical cyberware—even the cheap stuff would run into the tens of thousands, and the expensive stuff would still be in the hundreds of thousands!
"That's still just waiting to die!"
"Can't be helped—if it were a limb, we could amputate, but the infection started on your face. We're not going to chop off your head, are we?"
Leo seemed lost in thought—he had caught onto a key phrase, DNA decay.
After thinking it over, Leo asked, "Is the DNA decay algorithm part of your internal research?"
Martin wondered if he'd misheard, looking at Leo in disbelief. "You know about that algorithm?"
"Heard a little about it—you know, I'm investigating Biotechnica."
Martin thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No way, you've only heard the name."
Leo smirked mysteriously, picking up a piece of chalk from the floor and beginning to write out one of the models Professor Connors had given him.
Martin was stunned—
It wasn't just the name, or even demonstrating the algorithm's applications, that was remarkable.
Leo had pulled out a fully formed model!
This meant that Leo didn't just know the algorithm; he could apply it!
That was terrifying.
Martin tensed up. "So, which company are you with? Biotechnica? MoorE Technologies? I'm not going back to MoorE Technologies..."
"Relax, I just know a bit—think of me as a freelance scientist."
"Know a bit? Freelance scientist?" Martin's mouth twitched.
If you're a freelance scientist, what am I? What is MoorE Technologies' R&D department?
"...If you don't want to say, fine. But since you know the algorithm, you should understand what's happening to him.
This is an unintended decay state—no researcher would want this outcome unless they're planning a massacre.
If that were the case, Night City would already be full of corpses."
Leo stroked his chin. "Maybe I can treat him—can you recommend some MoorE Technologies DNA equipment?"
"That won't be cheap. All DNA manipulation equipment is strictly controlled, and what's available on the market is heavily neutered and ridiculously expensive."
Leo thought for a moment and asked, "Could pet-grade equipment work on a human?"
".That's a strange question," Martin's eyes narrowed, but after some hesitation, he added,
"Theoretically... yes, it could.
A skilled enough technician could jailbreak pet-grade equipment's software and unlock its full potential.
Don't look at me like that—I could do it, but I won't. But if you really want to try, I can help you find a source, get you some second-hand gear to mess with.
Although, you might not need my help?"
Leo responded slowly, "I do need it. I'm just a freelance scientist, I swear."
"Alright, 700k. Take it or leave it."
Five minutes later, at the Coastview Clinic, Leo bowed deeply:
"V, I've never begged anyone in my life—"
"Can I borrow 700,000 eddies? Please."