Chapter 608 - 579 The Famous

"So... what does this have to do with us wearing these generic company uniforms? We’ll get laughed at on the street."

"First of all, we’re big shots now; secondly, we should be flamboyant."

Lille shoved the suitcase in V’s hand. Inside was a sleek, company-style suit.

These days, suits come in all sorts of flashy styles, like red-green suits, blue-purple suits...

It’s said to align with street fashion, but Lille didn’t adopt it, so the tactical suit inside leaned towards a traditional tactical style.

Jack took off his holographic goggles: "Whoa, am I a corporate drone now?"

The goggles read the user’s body data and projected the image of them wearing the suit into their field of vision. High-end clothing stores often use this kind of virtual reality equipment.

"Feels weird..." Jack said after looking at them. He placed the glasses on the armrest next to Lille. "So, are we being framed by the company?"

"Very likely."

The cyber surveillance used the intel he gave Blais to take a big hit. This was something Lille hadn’t expected. In the past, he used this information disparity to mess with companies. Now, the company was doing the same to him.

He used to wreak havoc in Night City with his high-tech and mysterious actions, leaving companies baffled. Now it was the company’s turn.

This feeling was bad, but it was an inevitable path. As the business grew, it was nearly impossible to stay in the shadows. Being targeted was only a matter of time, and the cooperation with the company was superficial by nature. No company would back him up.

What backed him were the puzzles he laid out after numerous operations, evolving into an impenetrable disguise amidst the company rivalries.

The company could also leave gaps between these illegal criminal groups using the same method.

Lille sighed: "We need to be more flamboyant. It might be a bit late, but it’s better than having more shit dumped on us."

During the conversation, Lille moved closer to the hacker beside him—

This hacker worked for Hans and was well-equipped, mainly seen in the laptop at his side.

Dog Town certainly lived up to its reputation for freedom. With high-powered computers for hacking, street kids wanting to become hackers first had to learn to steal electricity.

But Dog Town was different. Here, you just needed to find a power box on the roadside to get electricity, and there wouldn’t be cyber cops knocking at your door...

Of course, doing that required being wary of enemies tracking you through the power lines for physical retribution.

"Got it done?" Lille asked. "Dog Town is a great place; electricity is just laying around. Did you tap into the stadium’s power?"

"Dog Town..." Hans’s hacker said while operating his laptop and chuckled. "It’s a shithole, but yeah, Hans didn’t monopolize the stadium’s power. As long as you know how to use it, we can directly draw electricity from nearby infrastructure equipment.

Of course, you need to know who you can mess with and who you can’t."

"Did the power get affected by the attack?"

"Just some fluctuations, but nothing drastic." Hans’s hacker shrugged, and the computer spat out three data cards. "If someone messed with the airship, wouldn’t that big thing blow up? We’d all be finished."

V grabbed the data cards and perked up at the mention: "Nuclear-powered stuff isn’t that easy to blow up."

The hacker hesitated, scratching his head: "Uh... I don’t get that. I heard the explosion in Taiping State yesterday was a nuclear bomb. That was insane.

I just thought, why would the attackers come all the way to Dog Town just to mess with that thing?

Uh... back to your identities."

Lille glanced at V. The latter crossed her arms, looking down at the seated hacker like she knew everything.

[Lille: Do you have to act all high and mighty?]

[V: You don’t get it; these uneducated folks need this... why are you looking at me like that!]

[Lille: How about you handle the talking from now on, and I’ll prompt you.]

He had to admit.

V did have a knack for intimidation. In many situations, she was more imposing than Lille seated on the chair.

Lille thought for a moment and decided to adopt V’s... fantasy.

[Lille: Alright, you’ll be the team hacker from now on.]

Hans’s hacker returned to the topic: "Inside are the identities for you three. I’ll register you on the network. What names did you think of?"

Lille calmly said: "Burger King’s Big Shot Sales."

"Okay, Burger...?"

The hacker visibly froze mid-motion, and sweat instantly formed on his forehead...

Somewhere in Dog Town, his direct superior, Hans, spat out his drink in shock upon hearing the name.

[Mr. Hans: Burger King, what are you doing!]

[Lille: Just go with it, or the company’s going to pin more crap on me.]

...

"That name... that name’s unlucky..."

The hacker forced a rigid smile at Lille—

What’s going on?

V shrugged and tapped the laptop symbolically: "What, too long? Then try this: Night City Hamburg Criminal Group."

"Uh..." the hacker stepped back two paces, startled by V’s gesture, then saw her just tapping the laptop symbolically and Hans nodding. He stepped forward again.

No wonder this woman seemed to know a lot about nuclear reactors!

"Alright... so you are... suppliers for the Night City Hamburg Criminal Group? Or..."

"We are the group."

The hacker, trembling, typed in the statement: "Okay, okay. Since that’s the case, I guess you won’t need to register additional details like age, gender... Just the names will do.

By the way, my plan was to register you with a biomedical company, so they’d let you in.

Now I have to file a new access request: you’re bringing a product to pitch... Does that work?"

"Yes." V nodded. "We are Night City’s renowned crime gang, here to promote our curated products."

With sweat streaming down, the hacker usually would’ve reminded them to be cautious not to raise suspicion while inside. But now, he didn’t know what to say.

Given the circumstances, he skipped the warning phase and proceeded through the process. Even though there was no need for warnings, he still had to brief them on their mission objectives.

"... Once inside, you have a target..."

The hacker paused again—since they were going this far, what about Hans’s commission...

[Mr. Hans: The commission stays.]

"... Your target is a woman named Fiona Vagas. The client needs the scout’s data signed by her."

V nodded effortlessly: "Got it, sounds simple. Kid, you really lack decisiveness at work. Your skills need practice."

"I..."

The hacker awkwardly looked around, sending off these three hell-raisers.

V chuckled as she walked away: "It does feel pretty unique to look down on someone else’s technical skills."

"Of course, looking down on others intellectually..." Lille paused under V’s gaze, "isn’t all that special."

Jack glanced between Lille and V, shaking his head: "... Lille, how do we work? This sounds like one of those sneaky investigation jobs. Won’t we be exposed like this? Won’t that shady sports academy be alerted?"

"Good question. First of all, for the client, it’s time for them to choose between money and reputation."

As for the sports academy, they can run, but they can’t hide. They’ll allow us entry; they still have business to do.

The rest... we’ll talk once we meet."

The key is not to give those sneaky corporate drones a chance to pin the blame on us.