"Um, Berry..."
"Ah, it's Judy. You've come at the perfect time!"
Berry had already recovered.
After realizing that she had ruthlessly squeezed a fortune out of the geeks, she was now radiant and full of energy.
She felt that the future of the Hive was even more promising.
Selling cheap cyberware or selling weapons wasn't nearly as fast as making yuri films and earning money from Night City's geeks.
She had already made plans for the transformation and upgrading of the Hive's industry.
Seeing Berry in such high spirits, Judy, who had just entered, found it difficult to state the reason for her visit.
Meanwhile, Berry put on her glasses and scribbled notes on a piece of paper, explaining her grand vision for the Hive's future in front of her real-life girlfriend, V, and her in-game girlfriend, Judy.
"As long as we continue moving in the direction of the film and television industry, everything will get better."
Berry gripped the pencil, sketching lines on the paper, already thinking about things like going public, dividends, and establishing subsidiaries.
"I've decided. I'm going to invite Veronica and Jessica to film five more sequels..."
Berry held up five fingers, detailing her bold plan.
But watching Berry enthusiastically propose her ideas, Judy, the Braindance Technician, was not so happy.
She looked at Berry's excited face, awkwardly tugging at her shoulder bag strap, her throat moving as she struggled to formulate some bad news.
"Berry..."
Judy's voice held a hint of shame; she felt uncomfortable shattering Berry's beautiful dream.
"Veronica and them..."
Meeting Berry's inquisitive gaze, Judy finally steeled herself and blurted it out in one breath.
"Veronica and Jessica said they don't want to film anymore. This was their final work..."
"So, they won't be filming any sequels."
After speaking, Judy looked apologetically at V standing nearby.
Silence, followed by more silence.
In the dimly lit office, Berry, sitting behind the desk, had a face clouded with gloom.
Her body hunched over, trembling uncontrollably, like an eggplant struck by frost or an old person in a cold wind.
Under the anxious gaze of V and Judy, Berry swallowed weakly and shakily took off her glasses.
"V, Judy, both of you stay for a moment."
Berry put down her glasses dejectedly, her lips trembling as she looked at the two of them, finally speaking.
"I am filled with indignation, truly filled with indignation!"
"This city is unfair to me!"
"Has it come to this? Can our Night City dream really not be realized anymore?! Ouch!"
Berry was indignant, slamming her pencil down, but the pencil was of such good quality that it didn't break. Instead, it bounced off the table and hit Berry's cheek.
The burning anger on her face was instantly dispelled by the stinging pain. She could only cover her face, looking aggrievedly at the two people in front of her.
Little pearls were about to fall.
"It's okay, Berry, you've done very well."
Seeing her younger sister so upset, could V, as her older sister, bear it? Of course not.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, our Berry has done very well..."
She immediately sat over, hugged Berry, and rubbed Berry's hair with both hands as if scrubbing a watermelon, her eyes full of heartache.
"Hmm, you two, can you tone it down?"
Judy watched the two openly flirting with a black line across her face, feeling a bit awkward... Ding-a-ling-ling!
Fortunately, just as the two were engrossed in their affection, a ringing phone broke Judy's awkwardness.
After a while, nestled in V's embrace, Berry, whose emotions had finally recovered, sat up and answered the phone.
"Moshi Moshi, this is Frontline Commander-in-Chief. What's the matter?"
"Boss, there's a group of people outside saying they're looking for you. You might need to come down; something's not right."
Noise came from the other end of the phone, along with the worried voice of a Honeycomb Mercenary, making Berry frown instantly.
What is it?
It couldn't be the Tax Bureau coming to call, could it?
Ever since she started making a little money, in Night City, the only people Berry feared were these freeloading money thieves.
These bastards were truly omnipresent.
And their firepower was comparable to MAX-TAC.
Why should she pay taxes on money she earned through her own efforts?
Berry blurted out a radical statement.
Of course, Berry couldn't make a judgment before seeing them, so she prepared to go down and see for herself.
"Let's go, V, Judy."
Recharged with Nomad energy by V, Berry became energetic again and strode out the door.
It was probably dusk by then. The fans who had come for the braindance had mostly dispersed, and it wasn't yet time for the evening drinkers, so the bar was deserted, with only a few Mercenaries on duty.
"Boss, it's them."
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