Johnny Silverhand is a rock star.
Although he didnât have a record label, a big company agent, or enough money to live in a mansion, compared to bands and musicians with mature business models, he was just an immature pauperâand naturally not a superstarâ
But if stardom was the first tier, he was definitely in the second tier, and in Night City, he was an unprecedented rock megastar surpassing the first tier.
Music has the power to move people, and his performances were of the kind that had absolutely no competition. It was precisely because of this talent that he could pull off the feat of attacking Arasaka Tower:
The attack on Arasaka Tower was a very sudden plan. To obscure the truth and evade the ubiquitous Arasaka intelligence network, the plan only truly began when they started the actual action.
The most crucial part of the action, and the very beginning, was Johnny Silverhandâs announcement to hold a free concert in front of Arasaka Tower!
A hastily organized concert, a hastily issued announcement, with only a few hours to react, Johnny didnât even doubt his own charisma. He easily pulled it off, and even did it astonishingly wellâ
When the concert reached its climax, the frenzied crowd even dared to throw Molotov Cocktails at Arasaka Tower!
Although Lille couldnât stand this drifter in many ways, if it were before, or at most times, he wouldnât have chosen to befriend such a guy...
But fate is truly fascinating.
With Johnny occupying his thoughts and inexplicably using his computing power, even interfering with his work, from a rational perspective, he was always thinking about how to manage this useless presence while meeting his own needs.
But maybe because there was now a soul imprint genuinely preserving human thought in the sector, the two of them achieved some degree of fusion, and Lille suddenly had a new insight:
In essence, the unlucky Johnny didnât actually do anything wrong, he just found himself bound to Lille inexplicably.
It could even be said that Johnny initially was just a bystander, and it was Lilleâs need that had pulled this native consciousness of the Cyberpunk World.
If he tried to eliminate Johnny once and for all just because a bystander he captured didnât obey, did not bend to his will, rejected communication, and allowed hostile emotions to grow freely...
Then heâd be just like Johnny.
In fact, it could be said that this mindset could be more akin to those far worse than Johnny.
He suddenly thought of the original "Cyberpunk 2077" where the relic chip had the effect of completely overwriting the consciousness and mind of the implanted, erasing a person from both hardware and software, turning that person into another.
Right now, without being implanted with a relic chip, getting caught up in these... trivial matters and developing bad habits, wouldnât that make him even weaker?
Lille carried the hopes of many people; he didnât want to become a capricious person who diverged completely from the ideal self.
Moreover, Johnny wasnât essentially a bad person; he was just brainless about many issuesâthere are more brainless ordinary people in this world. Would he really force them like the people from Arasaka, Ye Group, and Military Technology?
[Lille: I thought youâd choose a more... familiar style.]
In the factory, Johnny controlled Lilleâs arm as if it were his own hand.
The transformation ability of the Transformers, combined with the cutting-edge ergonomics and motor neuroscience knowledge in Lilleâs mind, made Johnny almost unable to tell the difference between this hand and a human hand.
He didnât choose to perform a rock pieceâin fact, he didnât even choose to sing.
A 44-time signature short piece, an 8-beat rest at the start, with the robotic hand strumming down on the guitar twice.
With thin mechanical fingers plucking the strings, the tempo was about 140, theoretically quick, but Johnnyâs play didnât feel fast, or even sound complex.
As for why it was "about 140," itâs because Johnny turned off the metronome.
Musicians wish to have a rhythm as precise as a clock, but Johnny refused to truly possess an atomic clock-level sense of rhythm.
The melody was soothing and rhythmic, unique yet not complex, reminding Lille of his days at the Adkaduo Camp, away from the city bustle, in a calm, cloudy weather of the Evil Land, with the sunset, Jack, V, Panâan, Sol, even Davidâs little group...
And many others, they actually never drank in the Evil Land together, but Lille could recall such a scene.
Thinking this way, he suddenly felt the piece was missing something: other instruments and vocals.
It might be lacking, but thereâs also something strange, because the song didnât sound as aggressive as most rock, especially not the usual "Martial Artist" rock style.
The phrase ended abruptly at its climax, like a scene suddenly ending after people toast together.
Sam was dumbfounded: he had never seen a Transformer really play music.
As for whether itâs good... itâs hard for people to ignore Johnnyâs music.
The Autobots could clearly hear its rhythm, pitch, and the dynamics that had no mechanical sensation at all, purely human musicâ
Besides special cases like Bumblebee, Transformers couldnât even understand music, let alone create music loved by humans?
The conclusion is, it was played by a human.
After playing, Johnny stayed with the guitar silently, pretending to be a master.
[Lille: Feels like itâs unfinished.]
[Johnny: Because itâs not finished, this is rock, just played with an acoustic guitar, it sounds different obviously, plus thereâs no bass.]
[Johnny: Also, itâs not the raucous ones that are rock; if you think itâs noisy, itâs because the emotions in the song are too intense, expressed directly, itâs simply moving.]
[Johnny: Without a soul, itâs not music, if they canât understand it, theyâre clueless hicks, alright, now itâs your turn.]
Johnny dutifully returned to the sector, after Lille took over the body, he put the acoustic guitar against the wall.
Unfinished song? So itâs unreleased?
But Lille somehow found the melody somewhat familiar...
"Are you really a human?" Sam gaped.
"Nonsense." Lille jumped onto the workbench, casually patting Sam on the shoulder, "Feeling inferior? Surprised my human aspects even exceed you, a robot? Donât overthink it; I literally hold a doctorate in another world."
"Lille." Optimus Prime interrupted the twoâs banter, "What do you plan to do next? I detected that youâve inserted a device into Samâs neural system, such a device... weâve never researched."
"Good that you havenât, you are Transformers, you had never seen humans before coming to Earth. The reversed methods make it hard for humans to have their direction in research."
This device can safely read Samâs brainwave signals and export information from his brain...
If weâre lucky."
Sam was alert: "Wait wait... what do you mean by âif weâre luckyâ?"
"Literally, if itâs just reading brainwave signals, I can guarantee it, but to get you back to normal, I also have to extract the spark source energy from within."
I havenât done this kind of work, there might be risks..."
With that, Lille glanced at Optimus Prime.
The latter immediately understood what Lille meant: "Unless thereâs someone more knowledgeable in Cybertron Technology to help you, is that what you mean?"
Lille shrugged and nodded.
Optimus Prime sighed, and Lille could even smell the scent of motor oil.
"Ironhide, Ratchet."