Bab 24: Chapter 24: Home III
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Chapter 24: Home III
...........
Cherry Blossom is one of the contenders for the most colorful shopping area in Night City.
Most of the place is covered by a glass roof, and its name comes from the trees and flowers found around the area.
The market has an ever-changing line-up of vendors offering a multitude of goods to purchase and consume, goods that are not available in other places of Night City.
During the day, Cherry Blossom is not very crowded, allowing for a more relaxed browsing.
During the night, however, most of the shops open up and put on display their unique share of exotic products.
X found himself there in the morning, standing by a holographic cherry blossom tree.
He looked cleaner than ever, having cut his hair and combed it backward. He also shaved, looking a whole lot younger.
X must've also bought new clothes as he was wearing squeaky clean black pants and loafers, a white shirt, mostly covered by a black wool coat.
He just stood there for a while, just watching the scenery... The scenery of nothing but a shop with a 'Medical Assistance' neon sign, a Ripperdoc.
There was a large capacity trash can to the side, yet X could still see a lot of garbage thrown into the corner.
There was also a lot of graffiti on the walls around, even on the walls right by the clinic, and some trash right by its door.
X took a step forward, then another until he reached the opened clinic. He stepped inside and surveyed the situation.
He only saw the usual, neon signs, screens showing ads, a projector showing more ads, and a vending machine.
There was a specific ad that attracted X's attention. The ad showed the face of a woman with three mouths, a long snake-like blue tongue slipping from one of them.
The woman's lips were... Well, they had cum on them... 3 Mouths 1 Desire Sasha Devon experience... That was the advertisement.
Maybe some individuals desire her ability to give three heads at the same time? Because X heard about her a lot, quite popular she was.
"Ever tried her, my friend?" X's attention was attracted by the sound from the side, a fat man sitting on one of the waiting seats.
"Nah, not into the gang bang experience," Said X as he shook his head.
"Don't have to be that way, ya know," The man laughed and explained, "Just customize yourself two extra lumps of meat and have your way with her."
"Oh? People do that? Just for her?" X was curious as he raised a brow.
"I bet the bitch can start a cult with how fanatic her fans be sometimes... Yes, they do that," The man nodded with a chuckle.
"Well, have you heard of how it feels?" X asked as he sat by his side.
"I heard stories... Divine, they say, especially since she has two more holes down there, if ya know what I mean," The man let out quite the perverted smile as he clarified.
"So when she gives these types of people head... Are there really no problems with her teeth?" X was somewhat confused about how that would work.
"That's part of the experience, my friend... A cut, bite, or scratch is sacred to her fanatics, bwhahahahahaha!" X was no longer confused.
"Thanks for the enlightenment, my friend," X chuckled upon the realization before reaching for a handshake, "X."
"Richard," The man took the handshake.
X stood up and went to the receptionist. Not only does the clinic have a receptionist, but it also has an assistant.
The clinic is more professional than Vik before X joined him, and for a good reason, this clinic has very close ties with the Tyger Claws.
"How may I help you?"
"Do you have a catalog? Wanna see what you have," X asked.
"Of course," The receptionist nodded and handed him a tablet to look through, not afraid one bit that he would escape with it.
You just do not offend the Tyger Claws in their home territory, and X wasn't willing to as he looked through their catalog.
He only stopped when he heard the click of the door opening, so he thanked the receptionist and walked out.
The door that opened was that leading to the operation room, where the Ripperdoc by the name of Chiyo Omoto does her thing.
The customer that she was just done working on walked out, and while the door was opened, X glanced there before continuing on his way.
"A burrito please," X sat down in one of the many stalls in the Cheery Blossom market and ordered himself a meal, a breakfast Burrito, been a while since he tried it.
"You live around here?" X was the one to ask the stall owner.
"What's that gotta do with ya?" The stall owner didn't like the question. No one likes such questions in Night City.
"Just wondering how is things around here? Is it safe? I'm a new resident here," X calmly explained.
"Speak less. Mind your own business. No going out at night, and you should be good," The stall owner flatly said, mostly focused on cooking.
"Makes sense, anything else I need to know If I want to integrate into the community here?" X, or rather, Y certainly didn't speak less, just more. To ask the embodiment of curiosity to speak less is wishful thinking.
"You don't. Keep your head down, and as I said, speak less," The stall owner advised.
"C'mon boss, don't be too harsh on the new kid," Said an old man also sitting in the stall with a bowl of ramen in his hands.
"Oh shut it, want him to end up like you, missing an eye?" The stall owner scoffed at the old man.
"Hehehe, it's experience experience, go through some shit and man up... That's our way," The old man laughed.
"Your ways are trash," The stall owner bluntly stated.
"Don't mind him. He's a bit rigid, I mean, what's the point of living in this garbage if you don't go for the rush? Go Ahhhh, and die in flames!!" The old man was high.
"That's what I was thinkin'," X seriously nodded.
"Ay, kid, you look much too clean for the flames he speaks of, so eat and go on your way," The burrito was prepared.
"Listen not! And live life! Fly away!" The old man must've been mimicking some play he once saw?
"Wow," X was impressed, "Hey, what're you taking? How powerful is that shit?"
"Oh, it's so fucking good... Ahh," The old man let out a breath in reminiscence, "It reminds me of when I got pegged... That shit's good shit."
"Sure..." That took a turn X didn't expect, "You're right tho, I always wanted some tattoos but never got one... Is the Ripperdoc there good?"
"Nope, the bitch is flat like a board. She a doc but can't fix her lack of parts? Bitch please," The high old man was quick to answer.
"Don't listen to his nonsense. She's good. That's why the Tygers use her," The stall owner corrected.
"Whaaaat? They use her? I do not freaking get it, what's her appeal? Is them brains fried?" The old man was gone into the ninth heaven.
"Yeah? I thought the gangs have their own docs, you know, or is she that good?" X seemed curious.
"She's their doc first of all... Everything around here is theirs," The stall owner shook his head.
"Don't they, like, own her shop? She must be thy bitch, ya?" Said The old man.
"Eat more and speak less kid, especially about them," The stall owner advised.
"Hairless balls mothafucka," The old man taunted, although none of his mockings seemed to get to the stall owner, too used to his shenanigans.
X listened this time, eating and ignoring the old man who never stopped rambling.
The Burrito was not bad... It was Night City food. Yeah, that's the best way to describe it.
He ate in silence and watched the surroundings, the drunk corpos that ended up passing out in the pubs nearby, now having to run in panic to their work.
The homeless looking through the trash for some bread crumbs or begging about.
He listened to the conversation of those sitting in the stalls by the side, their chatter as they ate to get energy for another uneventful day.
Once he was done, X stood up and walked away, his eyes gleaming with new wisdom, 'These streets never sleep... Doing that is not worth it.'
'The shop is owned by the Tygers... We can approach Wakako,' Z responded.
'We should first determine her relationship with the Ripperdoc,' X nodded... He sees an opportunity, one that requires bloodshed...
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
VQuintessence
VQuintessence Make sure to check my Patre.on out if you want to support me and want to read advanced chapters: Patre.on.com/VQuintessence
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Bab 25: Chapter 25: Blood On Metal I
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[22 Chapters in Advance on Patre.on]
Chapter 25: Blood On Metal I
...........
X was officially broke, having only a few more eddies for food. So few that they would probably last him a few days.
The takedown operation on the websites is out of his hands right now, left for the Tyger Claws to complete for him.
However, that can not happen overnight, and even if he completes the operation, he can not directly withdraw the money.
He would have to provide proof that he was the one who led to the downfall of the websites, which is easy.
What's difficult is transferring the money to offshore transnational accounts, and discreetly passing the funds around till those watching lose sight of it.
The operation is too big not to be noticed, so they'll try to trace him back, whether it's the Tyger Claws or the vengeful Maelstroms.
That's why you usually need fixers. They do all the fixing themselves, washing the eddies from any traces, albeit at a cost.
X now can only try to finish some of the other gigs, mostly investigative gigs.
However, the life of Netrunners isn't so easy. According to what X found, the earnings of an average Solo Netrunner are around 600 eddies per month.
The average Netrunners only deals with public gigs which they usually work on for a week, a sprint to completion lest the competition finish the gig before them, and thus all of their hard work for naught.
These types of gigs usually pay at most 300 Eddies. Someone can theoretically make 1200 Eddies a month, but it's not common at all.
Netrunning is a very top heavy field of work. What the top 1% look for aren't these types of common gigs, but the jackpots.
The top Netrunners are the opportunists who look for that piece of information and data that changes everything.
They usually earn nothing a month because they're pursuing a big target, and when they hit, they hit big, earning tens of thousands of Eddies to even hundreds of thousands.
X hit the jackpot in the websites takedown operation.
Now, however, all that's left is the average Joe gigs which he determined could earn him about 500 to 800 Eddies a month if he uses his free time well.
Just yesterday, he finished a gig, so why is he still so broke? It's because of the thing before him, a piece of art.
What a gorgeous piece of metal it was. It just sat there, in all of its glory, reflecting the rays of light falling upon it from the bench lamp.
It was a weapon that didn't look as gorgeous as X sees it. Whatever he sees is farther from reality.
What he sees is a pristine ebony Smith & Wesson Model 500, a five-shot, double/single action large-caliber revolver produced by Smith & Wesson, firing the .500 S&W Magnum cartridge.
It was his weapon, his partner in crime... Unfortunately, it didn't follow him here.
The reality is that the thing sitting on the table is a Malorian Overture,
A .42 caliber, six-shot, semiautomatic, double-action, Power-class revolver.
It's crafted with the classic Malorian traits – heavy, reliable, and packed with firepower.
Although Malorian has been faring worse on the market than its competitors in recent years, the Overture is still an iconic, high-quality weapon that can be found on the streets.
The weapon was bought on the streets for no more than a few Eddies, and that's because it's an old defective product that attracts the attention of only rust, not customers.
If he were to buy the preem version, he would have to pay a lot more, money he doesn't have, and it's cheaper this way, thus the basket of similar rusty weapons by his side.
If the weapon inside were just broken and rusty, it wouldn't be a problem. What's problematic is that they're defective, just garbage thrown by the Emperors of fraud, corpos; to the streets.
X first checked all of the guns, making sure they were unloaded before evaluating the damage.
The ones with only external rust damage were put to the side while the ones severely corroded were put to the right.
The disassembly process then started by removing the grips and separating the side plates, then carefully dismantling the internal components.
The Overture's cylinder was oversized with locking mechanisms thus needing detachment from the frame.
He Extracted the ejector rod and inspected it for bending, wear, or any defect.
X then applied rust remover for surface rust before cleaning each component with a soft brush and gun cleaning solvent.
Naturally, he also had to polish the components to restore the chrome, giving the weapons back some of their visual allure.
He isolated the broken parts from the intact ones. Some of the broken parts were so busted that it just wasn't worth it to repair them, so he put them to the side for recycling.
Now for the repair, the very reason why he is in Vik's clinic right now despite there being no work today.
There was everything he needed in the clinic, starting with Vik's external cyber arm.
He attached the necessary tools to his cyber arm and started repairing the components that were mildly damaged.
Most of the barrels were corroded. Some of the cylinders had issues while the ejector rods were bent or misaligned.
The hammer and springs were straight-up broken, and so were the firing pins.
He started by using Smart Micro-Welder, perfect for sealing cracks in frames, rejoining parts, or building up worn-down areas on metal.
The included heads-up display (HUD) or holographic overlay allows for visualizing heat zones.
Another necessary tool would be an electro-sonic cleaner that uses ultrasonic vibrations along with electromagnetic pulses to break down contaminants and lift rust particles.
It's commonly used by Docs to clean tools and cyberware, the same with precision laser cutter to customize parts.
Most of these tools require augmented reality glasses which provide a heads-up display overlay, helping with identifying parts, viewing real-time assembly guides, and even simulating how the firearm should operate.
They also feature thermal and stress analysis to identify potential weak points.
All of the previous also allowed X to craft some custom parts, from simple springs to modifications and improvements for the gun, specifically for more power.
That went on for several hours before the reassembly process took place, starting with using several types of lubricants.
X knows there are machines for such processes, one called Smart Lubricant Applicator, but Vik doesn't seem to have that, likely too expensive to be worth.
Therefore, he did the work himself, having to precisely apply a Graphene-Based Lubricant to parts like the hammer, trigger, and cylinder.
The said lubricant bonds well with metal, making it ideal for high-stress parts.
Then he applied Smart Fluid, an adaptive lubricant that changes viscosity based on temperature or friction levels, maintaining a stable lubricating effect even under heavy use.
Here he was now, left with parts for three Malorian Overtures despite first starting with more than a dozen broken revolvers, not bad at all.
X started carefully reassembling the parts while double-checking their condition, Beginning with the internal mechanisms like springs, hammer, and trigger.
He then attached the side plate and grips, and naturally, the cylinder and barrel were last.
Then came Inspecting the action by Manually cycling the action to ensure smooth function, and Checking for proper cylinder rotation and hammer engagement without ammo.
X polished the exteriors for that black steel finish, chroming them up and paying homage to his partner in crime.
Conducting a dry fire test is of course necessary, testing the trigger pull and hammer mechanism to check for smooth operation and proper alignment.
He even conducted an actual fire test in the back room just to make sure. Anyway, not like the people of Night City would give a fuck since gunfire is a common occurrence to them.
X took a shower and used a cologne to get rid of the smell of metal before wearing his clothes and slotting in the guns and several knives in his gun belt.
Putting on his wool coat ensured the belt was hidden, and only then did he walk out to an inky sky.
He must've forgotten about time while at work because despite coming in very early to the clinic, he still was able to finish his work only by four in the morning.
X forgot to sleep, eat, or anything else for that matter, solely focused on the task beforehand, a task he has yet to complete, 'Now, we have the metal... We just need blood.'
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA
VQuintessence
VQuintessence
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