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...........Chapter 6: Night City III
...........
Home, if it can even be called that, was on the roof of a building right by Vik's clinic. The view was lovely, allowing sight of a significant portion of the city, and its megabuildings as they pierced through the sky.
Right away, as he exited the elevator, he was faced with the tall skyscrapers of Fuyutsuki Electronics, linked together by two gigantic bridges, so tall they almost blocked sunlight, especially with the mega building to the right.
X could see clouds of smoke all over the place, and the smell, aghh. Just like most parts of Night City, the place was stained with traces of corps, leaving little to no specks of green anywhere to be seen.
The only specks of green to be seen were artificial palm trees, not nearly enough to bring life to this bleak city. However, there was a reason X chose this place as his home.
X sat on one of the chairs by the edge of the roof, placing his plate of rice balls and a bottle of water on a stool nearby. Then he ate dinner while enjoying what was in his mind a lovely view.
It looked like chaos as if X was seeing the smoke spewing from the factories as a mix of chaotic emotions, despair of the homeless, their hope, sadness, and desire for something more.
The glass windows of the skyscrapers spoke of something else entirely, reflecting the greed within those walls, the sound of wine glasses clashing together as those at the top laughed while looking down the windows at the mess beneath them, imagining it only getting worse, not better as they climbed upon the backs of their slaves.
Such was the state of Night City, at least from the outside. X knows that things go way deeper than that.
The people of Night City, their lives are worse than they even know for the word slaves have never been truer than in Night City where everything you do is under their watchful eyes.
"Holy fuck, I could cum just thinking about all the bullshit that goes on in this city," X munched on a rice ball as he muttered, letting out a sigh of satisfaction, "Can't wait till we dip our toe into it, so deep and sweet."
"Please just take a nap," X let out a sigh again as he murmured, throwing the last rice ball into his mouth and drinking a mouthful of water before going to a specific corner of the roof, hidden by the building's air filtration system. There in that corner was his home.
It was a cozy place with a few ancient sofas and a parasol as well as a scrambled up table. Everything was screwed together but it was working, and that's all that matters.
X covered his little corner with a mattress he stitched up a while ago, all that he needed was his tin foil hat. For now though, he opened his laptop and got to work.
The world turned into numbers in his eyes, all flowing into his mind, transforming into invaluable knowledge that he saves in his mind palace before it gets organized to be used later.
And that's how his nights usually go, only sleeping for a few hours before he has to go to work. Today, he woke up a little early, so instead, he went to the food stalls nearby.
Little China is quite the nice place if you ignore all the trash, depression, and crime. It has a projection of these lovely floating red lanterns, and even a luminous sakura tree, also a projection.
And then there is Little China's market, a place always filled with people, food stalls, small-time shops, and of course, advertisements.
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"Sounds interesting," X murmured under his breath as he took a seat in one of the food booths. He only has pennies on him right now, so he could not afford something too expensive.
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"Yo, make me some nice fried egg and black coffee! No sugar," X instructed.
"Coming right away!" The stall owner shouted before getting to work.
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"That sounds even more interesting," X shook his head in exasperation. It seems that this world is getting weirder by the second.
"What? Want one?" The stall owner wondered, "Those things are hella expensive."
"And that's why I can only wish for one," X shrugged.
"Very popular, those things, even more than real girls," The stall owner pointed out, "Hell, they're even popular with girls."
"Feel like real people without the stress and anxiety that comes with interacting with real people, isn't that right?" X remarked.
"Exactly!" The stall owner nodded heavily, "Even fuck dolls aren't too in demand right now... They feel too real, and have you heard about the recent psychotic incidents that happen with fuck dolls? A friend of mine got his dick bit off by one. The bitch ate it."
"I heard," X nodded, "The corps said they're looking into it. I guess they ain't."
"They're looking into shit," The stall owner shook his head, "And who knows how many worse incidents they buried under the rug."
"Joi is the safe option, I guess," X muttered, "Especially in a place like Night City where all everyone knows is danger... Safe options seem like a rarity here."
"I really wish I had one instead of the wife nagging at me every day, aghh," The stall owner could only let out a sigh, "All we have is broken hopes. Hell, a long while ago, I found a Joi with a fucking emanator, can you believe it? But whad'ya know, it was fuckin' broken."
"Unfixable?" X wondered.
"It's from 2050 or something, shit like that costs more to fix than to buy new," The stall owner explained, "Plus, it's an ancient edition, probably buggy as hell. Don't want nothing to do with that."
"Do you by any chance still have it on you?" X couldn't help but ask.
"It's in one of these boxes of scraps," The stall owner pointed to the boxes beneath his stall, "Why?"
"Wanna try my hand at fixing it," Responded X.
"That thing is almost three decades old by this point. Can you really fix it?" The stall owner said before shaking his head, "Never mind, I have no use for it, so just take it, if you can find it amidst the garbage."
Without wasting any time, X started looking through the boxes while the stall owner prepared his breakfast for him. Well, there was a lot of garbage, but eventually, he found the broken emanator.
And as the stall owner said, the tech was decades old, way too old to be fixable, 'Maybe, just maybe, we can scrap some code out of this little thing.'
X put the thing in his pocket and had some breakfast, "Well, it was a pleasure talking to you."
"Hey! Come back here sometimes!" The stall owner waved him goodbye.
X went directly to Vik's clinic, only stopping by the clinic's stairs as he found Marrie sitting by the side with an obvious bruise on her face, quite recent by the looks of it.
She was hugging her little brother tightly, seemingly not allowing him to look at her face while he sniffled, trying hard to hold back his cry.
"What happened?" X asked.
"I..." Marrie's lips trembled but she still whispered as she glanced at a man not far away, standing right before Vik's clinic, seemingly guarding it, "I... I don't know why, but he took my gun when he saw my little brother waving it around, And..."
She didn't need to continue. The bruise on her face told him everything. The guard must've been sent here preemptively to secure the area.
"Take the elevator to the roof and stay there for the day," X instructed before heading to the clinic.
Ahh, Night City, a heaven for the strong, hell for the weak. Only the laws of the jungle seem to apply here with predators in every corner of its bleak alleys, "Vik's assistant, step aside."
"Assistant, huh?" The guard sized up X from top to bottom, obviously looking down on him, "Nah, let's wait for Vik."
"Wait, huh?" X let out a smile as he lightly tapped the man's right hand in a friendly manner, and then shook his hand, "I am X, pleasure to meet you."
"Jason," The guard responded reflexively, not really meaning to, but X simply controlled the conversation.
"Jason, huh? I will remember that," Said X in a gentle tone, "Unfortunately, I am supposed to be here early to sterilize the room so unless you wanna owe an explanation to your boss, step aside."