Chapter 98 - 94: All Brothers (Extra - for the Alliance Leader Bolshevik)

Pa, pa.

"Uh... Biotech called?"

Lille lightly slapped twice, waking Murphy from his dream.

"Not exactly — I found a middleman to handle your issue, Faraday — the best middleman in Saint Domingo."

"Huh?" Murphy was stunned. "What do you mean? You can’t be..."

"Calm down, he’s not from Biotech. He’s been commissioned to investigate Biotech. Just tell him what you know — but don’t spill everything—

I don’t need to teach you that, right?"

Say it, but not all at once.

Murphy understood, but he felt some pain—

"I... I already told you everything. And now you’re telling me this?"

Indeed, Murphy had already leaked the crucial name to Lille — his superior, Diana Kuno.

He had no choice; he was genuinely scared shitless by that cyberpsycho Cedric, and the contaminated blood gave him a taste of the same nerve pain. He was already out of his mind.

Not everyone can stay rational in a crisis.

Lille continued, "We’re bros. I won’t spill it. He doesn’t know about Diana Kuno.

But listen, buddy. By the time you meet with that reporter, your boss might have already split—

I bet you’ve already been marked as AWOL by the company. She’s probably gearing up to run."

"Damn... You’re right! What do we do? Let’s go grab that bitch now!"

"You see, you already get my point — I’ll help you catch her if you tell me everything about her.

Then, with Mr. Faraday, you can get some witness protection or something, got it?"

With Lille’s guidance, Murphy caught on quickly.

"Brilliant! Bro, your plan is slick—

We’re bros. I’ll give you her office address, her car license plate, and... I’ll send whatever else I can think of. I’ll tell you everything. Go get her!"

"Alright, buddy. You wait here. If you’re hungry, eat a burger. Bro will help you bring Diana Kuno to justice. Call this number if anything comes up — it’s Faraday’s guy."

Lille pointed to the burger on the table.

Murphy finally noticed he was sitting outside a burger joint — to avoid worsening his nerve pain, Lille had found a dark corner.

His left hand had just been amputated, and his leg was broken by Cedric, so he had to prop himself against the wall with a crutch, looking quite... pitiful.

After speaking, Lille drove off.

Murphy, who hadn’t eaten all day, happily devoured the burger —

This bro was awesome, remembering to get revenge for him, finding someone to protect him — even bought him dinner!

Thoughtful indeed.

Soon, a flashy purple sedan arrived — the big guy Man and his team had arrived on the scene.

The tallest one was naturally the team leader Man, the twig-like guy with arms almost as tall as his body was Pila, and the short girl was Rebecca.

There was also a weakly present, masked blonde hacker behind them, Qi Wei.

Lille didn’t go far; he watched them from a distance — he recognized the Man team and noticed that neither white-haired Lucy nor David was there.

This was the standard mercenary team setup: a leader who breaks through, a hacker, a tech expert, and a support firepower.

V curiously asked, "So, you care about this big softie? I’m telling you, he may look tough, but if it came to arm wrestling, Jack would crush him."

Jack agreed — no joke, with his fist king prosthetics, he might as well smash his head on a block of tofu if he lost an arm-wrestling match.

"Just taking a look. Biotech is a big fish; it’s always good to be cautious."

Then, Lille glanced helplessly at Jack in the back seat, "Alright, Jack, put your hands down. Do you think I can’t tell whose prosthetics are superior?"

Man’s was huge; his arm prosthetics not only enhanced strength but also concealed a bullet launcher.

But the quality wasn’t great — typical big size for high performance. But even in total performance, it couldn’t match the premium fist king certified modules.

In pure limb strength alone, not many could beat Jack.

Seeing Jack lower his hands from the front seat headrest, Lille added, "Looking like that — why don’t you go fight? V and I could make some easy money."

"I would, but I’ve been too busy lately. No time for fights."

"True that."

The car started and headed toward downtown.

...

Ding dong—

Caller: Man.

Man: "Heard you brought in Murphy. You’ve got some skills; I respect that."

Lille: "You called just to say that? Big body, empty head? What’s the situation?"

Man: "You!"

Man: "Sigh... Murphy said we should first help him meet with Manuel Mendoza, the reporter. He might have more info."

Man: "Alright... What I wanted to say was, thanks for finding the lead. Biotech killed one of our former teammates. I need to keep investigating."

Lille: "My condolences, but I’m doing this for money."

Man: "I get it, but I still want to thank you."

The call ended, and Lille turned to the others in the car with interest, "Remember that big guy from Afterlife?"

V thought about it and asked, "What’s up? Did he call you?"

"Yeah, called to report progress. He said he lost a teammate to Biotech, and he thanks us for giving him a lead."

"Then he’s got some guts. Most people would piss their pants dealing with that company."

"Most folks in Afterlife aren’t wimps — anyway, check the chip. I’ve put Diana Kuno’s info on it."

Diana Kuno, Biotech’s product development manager in Night City. She orchestrated Murphy’s meeting with Cedric and the retrieval of abnormal test subjects.

Murphy had been AWOL for a whole day. She would definitely react — the question was, how far had she reacted?

Checking the time, it was still only half past nine. Early. According to Murphy’s information, she was still at work.

Lille’s prosthetic eye popped up a large red frame —

He had collected Murphy’s voice characteristics and planted a backdoor in his system.

Now he was using Murphy’s system as a relay to forge a communication link directly with Kuno.

Ding dong—

Calling: Diana Kuno.

Kuno: "Murphy, you idiot, where the hell are you? The project has been waiting all day! We’re all in the lab!"

So, Miss Kuno was still in the office.

But soon, she lowered her voice, "Did something go wrong?"

Lille: "Yes, big trouble. The corpse brought by Wanderer was toxic! I lost an entire arm!"

Lille: "What the hell are you guys up to?"

Kuno: "No, no... That’s not possible. You must have violated safety protocols. What did the body look like?"

Lille: "Fuck your safety protocols— this is workplace injury!"

Lille: "The corpse was scorched. Exposure to sunlight set it on fire, damn terrifying."

Kuno: "This is a huge problem... Why didn’t you come back to the company?"

Lille: "Because I lost an arm — tell me straight, am I covered or not? Otherwise, I’m blowing the lid off this."

Kuno: "You’re asking for death. The company won’t cover injuries outside the workplace!"

Lille: "Cut the crap. The guy Red Ochre sent is almost dead; a bunch of people will die by then."

Lille: "If the company doesn’t help me, do you think they’ll back you up and say it’s their fault? Stop saying ’the company’ all the time."

Kuno: "What do you want?"

Lille: "I said, either fix my arm or pay up. Otherwise, how can I show my face?"

Kuno: "Damn... Send the stuff over first. Let me check it out — you might be right. I might need to run."

After speaking, Kuno sent an address —

A southern Japantown apartment, pretty close to Company Square — according to Murphy’s info, probably near her home.

Lille smiled: intimidation tactics worked pretty well.

"South Japantown, marked the address on the nav map. Stow your gear a bit, don’t let NCPD see."