Chapter 57 - 55 Young People

"Sis, your hairstyle looks so weird. Why did you shave the side of your head?"

Playing the role of a cold-blooded killer, V made people avoid her, but then a little girl, no more than five or six years old, crawled out from beside the tent.

She couldn’t possibly tell the kid that this was the most popular street style, right?

So, she continued to maintain her serious demeanor, hoping to scare the child away—they both widened their eyes, one big and one small.

"But Sis, your eyes and eyebrows are really pretty..."

This left V at a loss.

Luckily, someone from the Red Ochre Tribe soon took the child away.

"Saiwei, what are you doing here? Come on, class is about to start..."

A woman with glasses came over and cautiously pulled the girl named Saiwei away.

V showed no reaction on the surface, but she let out a sigh of relief. It was really hard to maintain a cold-blooded killer persona in front of kids.

If it had been an annoying spy, she could have drawn her gun to scare them, but with a kid, nothing felt appropriate.

Thinking about this, she rolled up her hair and thought to herself:

Is it really that strange? I think it looks pretty good?

Fortunately, Lille and Hector finished their conversation quickly, and V no longer had to stand there doing nothing.

But when Hector came out, his attitude changed drastically, almost as if he was ready to be Lille’s loyal servant.

However, he didn’t say much, just took the medicine Lille had given him and hurried into a tent.

V watched Hector’s back and curiously asked, "You got it done? What did you drug them with?"

"Jack, let’s talk outside."

V pointed to a large rock outside the camp, where Jack seemed to be talking to the guy who had just pointed a gun at them.

If she wasn’t mistaken, the young man named Navi was now holding an Ajax—probably the one the three of them took from the Six Street Gang.

"Jack, get ready to unload, and keep an eye on the vehicle."

"Got it."

Once they got the medicine, the tense atmosphere immediately changed.

People hiding under the tents revealed their eyes, and their previously hopeless, hollow eyes now had a glimmer of life.

The classroom, where a lesson was taking place, also paused as the teacher turned their gaze towards them.

In short, the entire camp’s attention was on them—not the previous wary gaze, but as if they were looking at saviors.

V’s curiosity grew even more: "What’s going on?"

"Their tribe is plagued by an epidemic. Without this batch of medicine, they would likely all die. Look around, there are probably less than twenty people who are still relatively healthy, and most of them are children and women.

This plague seems to have spread to Saint Domingo as well. The Six Street Gang plans to raise the price to sell them the medicine. I sold it to them at half price, forty thousand per jar, and gave one jar for free.

No objections, right?"

"No objections." V blew her hair away, not really caring.

Jack was even more cheerful: "I definitely have no objections."

"What were you doing just now?" V suddenly asked, "That gun was taken off the car, right?"

"Yeah... I was just watching that kid Navi, and it reminded me of my younger self.

Back then, I had just joined the Valentino Gang and was following my big brother to make deliveries. My big brother got killed by those Vortex Gang bastards.

And... you probably won’t believe this, but I was standing right behind my brother, and I reacted instantly.

Before his body hit the ground, I had already pulled out my gun and shot the enemy’s leader in the head. After that, my hands shook for two days straight!"

V looked surprised: "I heard about that. So, you were the one who shot the recipient during your first delivery? You were born for this."

Jack felt proud of it: "At that time, I thought, ’All these little guys behind me, I have to step up for them.’ I still remember my brother’s name, Diego.

He taught me how to use this gun, saying that such a big-caliber gun was for guys like me. He told me, ’You protect your brothers, and your brothers will protect you.’"

"Why didn’t you stay with Valentino then?"

Lille asked curiously—there was little information about Jack, this good brother in the game.

But admittedly, after spending time together, you would find this guy truly reliable—at Lama Armory, he still tried to shield you from getting shot by machine guns.

"I... you understand, I wanted to do big things. I thought I was meant for big things," Jack said, then added, "Once I make some money, I want to expand the Wild Wolf Bar by twice its size, and have a monthly party with free drinks for a whole day!"

In actuality, the main reason was that Mrs. Wales couldn’t stand her son joining the Valentino Gang and wanted him to be a respectable person.

Jack looked a bit embarrassed saying this, but Lille caught a hint of... disappointment?

Lille quickly understood this sentiment.

When he was with Valentino, he was wielding a Nue, a cybernetic Desert Eagle on the streets, taking jobs with underlings when he was just in his teens. Everyone said his talent was more than enough, that he would become someone big.

He wanted to live up to the expectations those little guys had for him when he was eighteen—

Something big, something that would make him famous in Night City; that’s what he wanted to do.

It’s just that his dreams and reality had a bit of a gap—now in his twenties, after leaving Valentino, he could only pick up odd jobs.

He thought leaving Valentino and going solo was the first step towards becoming a legend, but it turned out to be a step further from his dream.

Whether becoming a big shot or a respectable person, neither of the goals seemed to be aligned with his current state.

Lille patted Jack on the shoulder—he still had to raise his hand to do so.

"That day will come."

Jack smiled and then said, "Can I buy that kid Navi a gun? Deduct the money from my share."

Lille shook his head: "No need. As a gift, I’ll give them three sets of tactical gear for free—a gun, bullets, and body armor."

"You’re this kind-hearted?" V was quite surprised.

Lille glanced at V, thinking to himself, do I look that shady?

"Think of it as making friends—any objections?"

V and Jack shook their heads.

The three of them carried the goods to the center of the camp. Hector excitedly looked at the batch of medicine and said something to Navi next to him.

After listening, Navi was astonished and gave the three of them a grateful look, then shouted loudly:

"We’ve got medicine! The Six Street Gang planned to keep raising the price to sell us medicine, but these three friends, Lille, V, and Jack, gave it to us at half price and even threw in an extra jar!

The tribe is saved! Now, come up one by one to get the medicine as previously ordered—no pushing!

Also... thank you all. You will always be friends of the Red Ochre!"

All eyes were truly on the three of them now. The people in the tribe began to move around in a bustle, and each person passing by the trio nodded in gratitude.

This scene genuinely moved Jack and V.

The image of the Wanderer Tribe in the news was not like this at all.

V was emotional: "In Night City, aside from the filth, chaos, and squalor, most news related to the Wanderers is about them attacking some corporate convoy or blowing up a mining site somewhere.

Honestly, I used to think Wanderers were irrational terrorists, but look—they even have classes."

Lille said: "Before the land became untilled, they were farmers, busy growing crops when they had time, and working in the city during the off season—you could see them in factories and construction sites, and you still can.

With the land being unfarmable, they could only wander between cities looking for work—as for education, the Wanderers place more importance on it than you might think.

There are no schools in Evil Land; they can only teach themselves so the kids don’t become illiterate, and they learn knowledge from old craftsmen.

Most importantly, they learn loyalty to family and tribe, willing to fight for family, and sacrifice for friends."

Jack said: "Sounds... a lot like Haywood."

Navi jogged up to Jack and said to the three of them: "Thank you all so much. Without you, we really wouldn’t know what to do.

This is your gun. I hope one day I can fight like you."

Jack smiled and pushed the rifle back to Navi: "It’s yours, kid. You’re almost as good as I was when I was young.

Keep it up, your people need you—we have another gift for you. Follow me."

When the three of them handed over the three sets of tactical gear to Navi, he was completely stunned.

In fact, he even started crying.

People often say Wanderers are brutes living in the dust.

Tears? They’ve long been dried by the dust.

But Navi was only 15. He had just started learning how to do things for the tribe when this incident happened, and his big brother was sick with no one to stand before him.

From that perspective, he was much worse off than Jack—

He didn’t have the Valentino name to protect him; on the contrary, he had to protect the Red Ochre.

This was his first time experiencing kindness from outsiders towards him and his tribe.

He wiped his tears and said to the three of them: "Thank you all, sincerely. If you ever need Red Ochre one day, I’ll be there for you.

But for now, you might have other troubles. This morning, the Six Street Gang sent us a message telling us to keep an eye on the robbers and report any news to them.

I guess they’ll block the road ahead to catch you—if you trust us, you can use our cars to get back. Otherwise, they’ll recognize these vehicles for sure."

"Of course, I don’t mind."

Lille shrugged, glanced at V and Jack, as if to say: See, making friends is really beneficial.

"We’re already friends, right? Thanks for your help, Navi.

Alright, let’s get ready to head back, find Father, sell this batch of goods, and split the money."

Split the money?

Their eyes lit up.