Westbrook.
Sixth floor, an apartment overlooking Japantown's waterfront.
Kai had already reached the door and was about to leave when Lucy's unusually sincere "evaluation" stopped him in his tracks.
It was not that he was unwilling to understand the legendary path of the silver-haired girl in front of him a little better. It was just that her instinctive hostility and wariness toward Arasaka ran far too deep.
Even though she already met the conditions for a life simulation, Kai still had no way to activate that grayed-out option.
For now, he could only assume the timing was not right.
That the connection was not there yet.
Another reason Kai had insisted on working with Maine's crew was that he had seen the same grayed-out simulation option on Maine as well.
That meant Maine also had the potential to become a legend.
Or maybe, before Kai's rebirth, Maine had already completed the fate of his legendary life.
Thinking of the fate that seemed to follow legends, Kai could not help muttering,
"Who was it that said all legends end up in the graveyard..."
Lucy caught that he had said something under his breath, though not clearly enough to make it out. She frowned slightly and asked,
"What graveyard?"
Kai had no desire to dwell on something so heavy, so he casually grabbed the first distraction he could find and let his eyes land on an old poster hanging on the wall.
The poster showed a man in a spacesuit, pointing ahead with an impassioned expression, as if making a grand announcement.
"Welcome to your new life."
At the center of the poster, a rocket was blasting off, with a bright advertising slogan beneath it.
A trip to the moon for only 250,000 eddies.
It was obviously an ad poster.
Normally, nobody would hang an advertisement in such a visible place inside their own home.
"Nothing. I just meant you were right. Arasaka is one giant rotten graveyard. Nobody who sticks with it ends well."
As he said it, Kai could not help thinking back to the time he and V had fought their way into Arasaka Tower.
From the first floor all the way up to the hundred-and-thirty-third, hacking and killing their way through until it all blurred together.
Back then, Arasaka Tower really had looked a lot like some towering black tombstone.
Lucy clearly sensed that his mind was elsewhere.
She turned her face away and stopped looking at him, as if deciding there was no point saying any of this to a corpo.
Kai nodded at the old moon poster on the wall.
"What's with that cheesy poster?"
The moment he asked, the calm look in Lucy's eyes disappeared.
She crushed the cigarette in the ashtray and shot back coldly,
"You got a problem with it?"
Kai did not deny it.
Still looking at the moon poster on the wall, he said,
"I don't judge personal taste. It just reminded me of a few songs about the moon."
"You probably haven't heard them."
"One of them is called Fly Me to the Moon."
Lucy let that cold gaze drop away. Turning back to the window, she murmured to herself,
"Fly me to the moon..."
"Never heard it."
Seeing that she was still acting like she could not care less, Kai just shrugged, deciding not to embarrass himself by lingering.
With his hands in his pockets, he hummed a little tune under his breath and left.
The silver-haired girl shifted into another lazy pose against the panoramic window.
From the stairwell came the faint trace of his melody.
A moment later, she gave a quiet laugh.
The next day.
"Good morning, user. It is now 7:00 a.m. A new day has begun..."
Under the control of the smart home system, the curtains slowly drew open, and the pale morning sunlight filtered through the haze, waking Kai from sleep.
Boiling water. Opening the windows for ventilation. Reading out the weather and traffic. Turning on the TV for the morning broadcast.
The home system handled it all.
Kai had never moved into one of the luxury neighborhoods in Westbrook the way many of his colleagues had, but he still kept a decent standard of living.
His current upscale apartment was located in Little China, Watson.
Little China was not exactly a high-end district, but it was close to Corporate Plaza, where he worked.
And the rent was a lot cheaper than living directly in City Center.
More importantly, the customs and atmosphere in Little China still carried the traditions of home.
When the holidays came around, the district kept the old rituals alive, which gave him a rare sense of familiarity.
As usual, Kai got out of bed, stretched, put on the portable comm unit over his left eye, and headed to the bathroom while checking the day's messages.
[You have 6 unprocessed work emails.]
[New issue published: Night City Perspective. Latest rankings for Night City's secondary education institutions.]
[You have 1 new message from Gloria Martinez.]
Kai skipped over everything else and opened Gloria's message first.
She was inviting him to meet for a proper meal.
After washing up, he moved into the open kitchen and made himself a simple breakfast: two fried eggs and a few slices of beef.
Because of a major livestock epidemic years ago, Night City had banned poultry farming and fresh slaughter five years earlier.
Most meat now arrived vacuum-sealed from outside the city, which made it expensive.
On the television, the morning news program hosted by Stan was already playing.
"Good morning, Night City!"
Wearing a gaudy gold suit, Stan stood in a studio with pink interior lighting and launched into the day's news.
"The dead man's lottery hit again... again... and again!"
"And the number this time is a real surprise. Fifty, full count!"
"Thanks to another endless gang war. The Animals' meatheads gave the highway their own little version of speed and glory."
On-screen footage showed the highway pursuit from the day Kai had tangled with the Animals.
"But even in Corporate Plaza, the district that's supposed to be safest, more than twenty NCPD officers ended up dead. Looks like some of you boys are gonna be writing checks!"
"And the one who caused all this was a cyberpsycho. So really, who exactly are you supposed to bill for that?"
The footage switched to Corporate Plaza, showing the firefight between NCPD and the cyberpsycho, followed by the cleanup after the kill.
City Center had always been rated by NCPD as the safest district, with heavy patrols and constant security.
An attack by a cyberpsycho there put enormous public pressure on NCPD.
Especially since the headquarters of Night City's major corporations were all set around Corporate Plaza.
Kai barely paid attention to the details.
For most people, outdated news like this was nothing more than entertainment.
That was life in Night City.
Lose your life, and all you became was a passing story to amuse an audience.
"Meanwhile, in Westbrook, Trauma Team is still scraping cyberpsycho victims off the sidewalk."
"And over in Pacifica..."
"Well..."
"Pacifica is still Pacifica."
"I'm your choom Stan."
"Come on!"
"Let's start another glorious day in the city of dreams!"
Kai buttoned on a fitted shirt, then deliberately added a black trench coat over his usual suit jacket.
At least this way he looked a little less stiff than the day before.
A little more alive.
A little less like a corpo.
Once he was ready, Kai changed shoes, slipped on his headphones, turned on his music, and headed out.
He was taking public transit again.
Standing by the transparent train doors, he watched the city's morning skyline beyond the glass.
As music played through his headphones, Kai's eyes casually swept left and right through the train car.
Passengers were scattered here and there, each one focused on their own business in that shared, silent urban understanding.
And that lively silver-blue figure from yesterday...
It almost felt like she had just slipped past him again and vanished.
The train pulled into the station.
Kai stepped off and walked toward the towering Arasaka Tower, beginning another day in the life of a corpo.
(End of Chapter)
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