บท 77: If You Cannot See
Gloria lay in bed, not knowing what to say. She was frantic, desperate enough to scream.
But she was even more terrified that this mysterious hacker might finish her and David off.
David found a hacker to threaten a doctor?
Why did David have a gun, and how did he end up killing someone?
Gloria's mind was in chaos, but she understood that it must have been the doctor's twisted intentions that led to all this.
She then mocked herself inwardly: Serves me right.
Her job as an outsourced city cleaner for the NCPD mainly involved cleaning up corpses. Not everyone could afford, or would buy, Trauma Team membership, so her job was to clean up after those poor souls.
Most of the bodies she dealt with belonged to street punks or mercenaries, with valuable implants on them—so she made a deal with this Red Sash Psychiatric Hospital.
She would bring the bodies here for processing. On the way, she would choose to dismantle the valuable implants from the corpses. Once she delivered them, what the hospital did with the bodies wasn't her concern.
As a partner, the psychiatric hospital provided her with the most basic medical insurance package for free—that's why David had carried her all the way from the west end of Santo Domingo to this hospital in the far east.
Because David knew his family was poor and had no money; only Red Sash Psychiatric Hospital offered them insurance.
But now, after she got injured, her former partners immediately bared their fangs.
Gloria struggled to get up, but the anesthetic's effects hadn't fully worn off.
All she could do was pray that Leo wasn't a scavenger.
"Who are you?"
"A classmate of David's."
"What?"
"That's not important. What's important is that without me, you'd be dead again."
Right now, David wasn't someone Leo could accept as a follower—Leo could accept someone like Archi, who had no implant potential and was useless in a fight.
But he couldn't accept a kid who couldn't even pull the trigger when his most beloved family member was about to die.
To be fair, Leo did want to add a capable new member to his team, and a mature David would certainly qualify.
But David was the kind of person who couldn't grow without sacrificing those close to him—Leo certainly couldn't sacrifice himself.
As for saving Gloria, Leo suddenly felt it might be because her relationship with David reminded him of his past life with his own mother.
The difference was, he didn't grow up in Night City, and his academic career was far more successful than David's—David's mother died early, leaving him to fend for himself on the streets, an experience Leo didn't share.
What was similar was that Leo felt his mother's death was partly his fault too.
Whatever. Consider it a good deed—what happens to David in the future is up to him.
"Mrs. Martinez, you know, a person's growth can be divided into three stages—the first stage of adulthood is being a soaked dog."
Gloria was stunned, unsure of what Leo was getting at.
Leo continued: "The difference between an adult and a minor is that an adult knows their situation, knows that they are a dog soaked under the rain, and knows what to do to survive, instead of fantasizing that they aren't really in the rain, just that the air is a bit humid.
The second stage is being a wolf. The demon of survival relentlessly chases you, growing more terrifying as you grow stronger—eventually, to cope with the increasing pressure, you learn to run, hunt, and tear the largest chunk of meat from your prey's carcass."
Gloria's head buzzed.
She looked at Leo's face—this was the man who had ambushed the cyberpsycho on the highway.
Was he about to lose it too?
"The third stage is being a lion. The lion locks eyes on the prey on the horizon, with no other target in sight.
It releases all its stored energy, chasing from sunrise to sunset—either it dies, or it returns to being a soaked dog.
Both you and this kid need to grow up. Night City isn't heaven, Arasaka Academy isn't some dream factory, and Arasaka Tower is just a taller building."
With that, Leo left the psychiatric hospital.
Gloria let out a long breath—what the heck was that? Dogs, wolves, and lions? Has this guy been reading too many fairy tales?
After a while, Gloria managed to sit up in bed, and David suddenly woke up with a start: "Mom!"
In his unconscious state, David had a nightmare—a nightmare where Gloria died, and then… there was nothing.
Just emptiness.
"David!" Gloria mustered her strength to get out of bed, but her legs gave way, and she collapsed to her knees beside David.
"Mom, thank goodness." David's eyes went blank, but he suddenly felt at peace.
But then a text box suddenly appeared in his visual system, containing the very words Leo had just spoken.
He had only heard of animals like dogs, wolves, and lions, but he felt a strange understanding of what Leo had said.
What kind of person ignores the danger around them and still believes they're on a bright and safe path?
Maybe that was his true reflection—worse than a soaked dog.
"Mom, I don't belong in Arasaka Academy. I'm going to drop out."
"David…"
"Mom, I'm serious—if I hadn't gotten lucky this time, we'd both be dead—You spent everything you had to send me to school. But we worry about surviving every day, can't afford Trauma Team insurance, and any thug with a gun could end our lives.
If you think about it, every time we meet could be our last.
We can't just focus on the dream Arasaka Academy is selling and ignore the real world. That's not how we'll survive."
David paused, then looked seriously at his mother and said:
"Even if I could stand at the top of Arasaka Tower one day, if you can't see it, it doesn't mean anything."
Gloria froze, tears streaming down her face.
She lowered herself, covering her face: "I'm sorry, David."
David smiled—though the anesthetic hadn't worn off, he tried to smile as best he could.
"Don't cry, Mom."
"Where have you been? Jackie and I have been waiting for half an hour!"
As soon as Leo reached El Coyote Cojo, he saw V standing with her arms crossed, looking like a ticking time bomb.
Leo scratched his head: "Nothing much, just ran into a friend of Archi's. His mom almost got chopped up by scavengers, so I lent a hand."
"A friend of Archi's?" V looked at him suspiciously, even stepping closer.
"Uh, actually, it's a classmate from Arasaka Academy."
"Classmate…" V snorted, "Wow, even our hacker weakling can lend a hand now and take down some scavengers."
Leo shrugged: "Alright, let's get in the car. We still have to meet with Kang Tao's people—what's up with your new hairstyle?"
V had changed her hairstyle.
She used to have an undercut on one side, but now she had short hair.
Not only had the style changed, but she'd also dyed it in a cool blue-purple-pink gradient, making her look less fierce and a bit more refreshingly sharp.
V flicked her hair proudly: "When I got back in that junker Viper, my hair kept getting caught on the metal shards, and it even got cut during the fight with James, so I decided to go for something shorter. Looks good, right?"
Jackie gave her a thumbs up: "Absolutely, top-notch."
Leo clicked his tongue in admiration: "You're something else. I thought the first thing you'd do was pick a new implant or car, but you got a haircut instead?"
V suddenly grabbed Leo in a headlock, locking his neck with her left arm and drilling her right fist into his head.
"You… can't… just… be… like… Jackie… and… give… a… compliment?"
"Okay, okay, I was wrong!!"
Leo frantically patted V's arm while Jackie just laughed at them from the side as they passed by Misty's Esoterica.
Misty also smiled at the sight.
Jackie used to be a lone wolf, always by himself, but now he had reliable companions.
Jackie noticed Misty smiling, stopped, and scratched his head as he looked at her: "Uh, the tarot reading was pretty accurate. What was the card we drew last time? The Chariot?"
"The Magician, Death, and The Chariot—Jackie, what's wrong with that head of yours?"
Misty chuckled, gently poking Jackie's head.
However, the height difference between them was so great that she had to get very close to do it.
Jackie suddenly became even more flustered: "I, I can remember a lot of things, Misty. I mean, do you want to go for a ride? Once I get a new car."
"Sure, just don't forget."
"No way I'll forget!"
Leo, still locked by V, waved his hand: "Thanks, Misty, that tarot reading really helped—now, can you let go of me? You're gonna break my neck!"
V didn't loosen her grip at all: "That's what you get for running your mouth—don't worry, Misty, if Jackie forgets, I'll be the first to remind him."
Jackie chuckled awkwardly: "Alright, we're off. You better wait for me, okay? Promise?"
"Promise~ I'll be right here, not going anywhere. Go catch up with your buddies."
Misty watched as the three of them drove away, with Jackie, now alone in the back seat, rolling down the window to wave at her.
She used to think Jackie was cheerful, but every time he went out and came back, it felt like he was holding something back.
Now, she could tell that Jackie was genuinely happy.
Maybe that's just the way kids from Heywood are.
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