Walk into the dim stairs leading to the underground entrance, and just go down one more level to find the entrance to the Afterlife Bar.
As soon as I entered the five-meter-long passage, the music from inside the bar could be faintly heard.
A tall and strong man with mechanical lines all over his face stood there, looking at the visitor with a stern expression.
Seeing Vincent's appearance, a smile appeared on the stern face of the sturdy man.
"Good evening, V."
"Good evening, Bronson."
Vincent smiled back.
The burly man's name is Emeric Bronson, and he is the exclusive mercenary of the afterlife. He is equipped with a lot of advanced prosthetics and has good strength. Although he is not as strong as Vincent today, he is more than capable of dealing with some gang members and troublemakers.
Generally speaking, all guests who come to the bar for the first time, regardless of whether they are qualified or not, will be stopped by him as long as they are not famous enough.
But Vincent certainly would not be treated that way.
The first time he came here, he had already built a straight passage using the corpses of hundreds of scavengers.
Bronson smiled, came to his senses, and made way.
The iron door in front of me slowly opened, and the rock music in the bar suddenly surged out.
Vincent smiled and bumped fists with Bronson, then took Jack into the Afterlife Bar.
"Hi, V, long time no see, how are you doing?"
Claire, the bar receptionist, greeted Vincent familiarly.
Vincent walked over with a smile: "Not bad, how about you guys, how's your business?"
Claire wiped the wine glass and shrugged, "Look at it yourself, it's not bad. People who come here, whether they are discussing business or relaxing, will always be thirsty. I just need to be responsible for pouring the wine."
After a few polite words, Vincent returned to the topic.
"Where's Roger?"
"It's in the private room inside. You can just go in. No need to say hello."
"Okay, see you later!"
Vincent waved his hand and walked towards the inside of the bar.
Jack took a step behind, leaned against the front desk and whispered, "Give me an old fashioned tequila, with some beer and chili. Leave it here until the meeting is over, and I'll come get it."
Claire smiled and said, "A glass of Johnny Silverhand, no problem."
"Jack!"
Vincent's voice came from far away.
Jack winked at Claire and strode after her.
After passing through winding corridors and passing through the noisy crowd reeking of alcohol, the two arrived at a secret private room inside the bar.
Generally speaking, only the most powerful businesses in Night City are discussed in places like this.
Jack became interested, and an excited expression appeared on his tough face.
Vincent was also very happy because in his opinion, the system would reward a lot of points for tasks like this.
After this mission, he might be able to accumulate enough system points to redeem a complete set of nano Iron Man suits.
When they arrived outside the secret box, two bodyguards in suits, a man and a woman, were standing at the door, looking at them sternly.
What surprised Vincent and Jack was that the degree of prosthetic modification of these two bodyguards did not seem to be very high. At least on the surface, there was no trace of mechanical integration.
...Is it the most advanced bionic prosthesis?
Vincent raised his eyebrows and subconsciously started the scan.
At this moment, the 1.7-meter-tall woman in a suit had blue light in her eyes and directly hacked into his system, shutting down the scanning function of his mechanical eye.
Looking at the red warning pop-up window in front of him, Vincent felt a little shocked.
His artificial eye is the legendary golden artificial eye [Qilusi's 'Oracle']!
It was so easy for the other party to notice it...
It seems that the client is very powerful.
Vincent thought silently in his heart.
The woman in the suit looked at him coldly and said, "Mr. V, please be a little more respectful..."
Vincent raised his hand with a smile and apologized, "Sorry, sorry, I was presumptuous."
The burly man in a suit next to him turned slightly and said in a cold voice: "Come in, our boss wants to see you."
"laugh--"
The iron door of the soundproof box slowly opened.
Vincent returned the friendly smile and walked in without fear.
The dim box is illuminated only by light strips embedded in the ceiling, and the four walls are made of special sound-absorbing metal. Even if an explosion suddenly occurs in the box, the outside world will be completely unaware of it.
On the left side after entering the door, the Queen of Afterlife, the most powerful middleman in Night City, Rogge, was sitting there with his left hand resting on the back of the leather sofa, holding a glass of wine in his right hand, glancing slightly at Vincent at the door.
Further inside, a handsome young man in a white suit sat there, his hands crossed in front of his chest, a pair of dark red eyes sizing him up with interest.
"Since everyone is here, I won't bother you anymore."
Rogge stood up with the wine glass, raised it to the handsome boy with a smile, and drank it all in one gulp.
After drinking, she put the glass down, and when she passed Vincent at the door, she reached out and patted his shoulder.
“Good luck, V.”
Vincent smiled slightly and was about to reply when a message suddenly popped up in his eyes. It was sent to him by Roger.
"V, be careful. I can't find out this person's background. You have to be careful."
"……Thanks."
Vincent thanked him calmly.
Rogge's eyes moved slightly, and he walked out of the box without saying a word.
"Are you the client?"
Vincent sat down on the sofa to the right of the door without any hesitation.
Jack stood at the door with his arms folded across his chest, seemingly looking at the young man, but actually paying attention to the two bodyguards outside the door.
The two brothers have been partners for a long time and know very well how to cooperate to maximize safety in such situations.
The handsome young man in the white suit didn't care about the two people's defensiveness and vigilance.
He casually threw out a paper document and said with a smile: "I don't like to talk nonsense. The content of the commissioned task and the subsequent remuneration are all written on it. Take a look for yourself!"
“…”
Vincent picked up the document and said, "Handwritten, this is really rare!"
The young man in the suit smiled and said, "The target is Arasaka Corporation, so we cannot afford to be careless."
Vincent's hands, which were flipping through the documents, stiffened slightly, and then he looked up at the boy in surprise.
The young man smiled and said, "Why, are you scared?"
“…”
Vincent didn't answer, but just looked at him strangely, and then turned his eyes back to the documents in his hand.
The mission was simple: to go to a secret Arasaka experimental base outside Santo Domingo and seize the experimental product there - a large-scale war armored prosthesis called Cybertron.
According to the description in the document, this is a military-grade experimental implant that Arasaka Corporation is secretly researching.
The Arasaka executives who invested in this project believed that once this set of implants was put on the market, it would be able to completely overwhelm the military technology of other super companies in the market for small-scale wars.
It can be said that this is one of the highest-level secret experimental projects of Arasaka Corporation.
But the young man opposite took it out nonchalantly and planned to entrust mercenaries to snatch it.
Is this something a normal person can do?
Vincent also remembered that the Cyborg project appeared in the spin-off animation "Edgewalker".
According to the plot in the anime, Mr. Faraday, the middleman in Night City, used the protagonist David's team to learn about Cybertron, and then used this as a basis to reach a secret agreement with the Arasaka Corporation, and betrayed the protagonist David, using various means to trick him into installing Cybertron and testing Cybertron's actual combat data for Arasaka Corporation.
Calculating the time, the current plot should indeed have progressed to this point.
But the client of this side quest should be Mr. Faraday, so why did a mysterious young man suddenly appear?
Could it be... that this is the butterfly effect after he traveled through time?
Vincent frowned in thought while looking at the boy in the white suit at the innermost part.
Suddenly, he asked, "Are you from Military Technology?"
The handsome young man shook his head: "No, my name is Zuo Yu, and I'm from Kunlun Group."
"...Kunlun Group?"
Vincent was stunned.
He had only played games and watched anime, and didn't know much about Cyberpunk's complete background story and past history.
But even so, he basically knows all the super companies in the cyberpunk world, but he has never heard of the Kunlun Group!
But hearing the name, it sounds very much like a super company in China.
Could it be Kangtao's rival in China?
Vincent was lost in thought and did not answer for a long time.
Jack glanced at Vincent's profile, his eyes seemed a little surprised.
It had been a long time since he had seen a commission that made Vincent feel conflicted.
Zuo Yu asked with a smile: "Just tell me the truth, will you accept it or not?"
“…I’ll take it!”
Vincent came back to his senses, nodded heavily, and accepted the document.
Zuo Yu smiled and leaned back on the sofa: "Very good, the experimental base is not large on the surface, but the underground space is not small, and the security force equipped is enough to fight against a small army."
"When you infiltrate, you'd better find a few more skilled hackers."
"If there is no candidate, I can recommend you..."
“No thanks.” Vincent stood up with a smile. “Boss Zuo, you may not be familiar with our team’s style, but it doesn’t matter. You just need to sit here and wait to receive the cyborg!”
"But for such a dangerous mission... isn't the reward a little low?"
"One hundred thousand!" Zuo Yu raised a finger, "plus a military-grade implant."
Vincent's eyes lit up and he said decisively, "Deal!"
…
…
After Vincent and Jack left, two bodyguards in suits walked in.
The Western European woman was surprised and asked, "Boss, haven't you already arranged for the Nine-Tailed Fox Team to control the Arasaka executives and prepare to acquire Arasaka in the name of Kunlun Group?"
"Why did you come to see a mercenary and commission him to rob Arasaka Corporation?"
Zuo Yu glanced at her and said meaningfully: "What do you know? That's the famous V!"