The commission from Ryan and Jefferson was essentially an upgraded version of their previous one.
Jefferson himself was very concerned about the violent cris scattered throughout Night City, so it made sense for him to investigate Hot and the rcenaries and weapons sent from Europe.
Ryan, on the other hand, was more focused on the connections between the roaming AI Munemasa and the Europeans. He didn’t seem to have much aversion to the Europeans settling in, but he paid special attention to AI.
Secondly, the increased remuneration from both sides was of the sa level, clearly indicating a certain degree of consensus in bringing Lille to the forefront.
The question was whom Lille would choose to align with when the ti ca.
The car slowly drove away as the trio, Lille and the others, stood on the street watching the busy NCPD vehicles, with even several Centaur cha arriving for the blockade.
With pressure from these Europeans, the NCPD imdiately outfitted itself with Centaur cha, and probably much more equipnt.
"Are we going to beco respectable people?"
Jack looked calm, but his tone was sowhat uneasy.
The most respectable life he could imagine before was to beco a boss of a Valentino, openly running a casino, a bar, or so other legitimate business, and acting as a "Godfather" in the gray area of the law.
But to be honest, even the most powerful ’Godfather’ of the gray industry couldn’t compare to the identity now offered by Night City.
Being able to fight was one thing; being an official was quite another.
This was the unsettling part; the calming part was that he was now not far from the most powerful version of himself he had imagined.
He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be a high official in Night City.
V only cared about one thing, "How co he didn’t ntion the amount of money?"
Clearly, this too was sowhat beyond V’s imagination.
If she were still that street kid, she would only think, "These corrupt officials must have endless money."
Now that she’s broadened her horizons, she knows the officials have a lot of money, but how much exactly?
Furthermore, what more she could do with more money was not sothing she had a clear concept of.
"..." Lille glanced at V, "It seems like you have so much money now that you have nowhere to spend it, so don’t worry about that."
V glared back at him.
"Cough cough, anyway, we just continue investigating. Whether we take the job or not is another matter; if it really doesn’t work out, have them convert it into cash in the end."
But a visit to Dog Town might be necessary.
Lille took a few steps forward, then suddenly stopped in his tracks looking towards the dical center building that was still being cleaned up.
Jack and V also stopped following him.
But it wasn’t Lille who wanted to stop.
[Little Octopus: Big brother, your brainwaves, cerebral blood flow, and intracranial pressure are all problematic, and your brain temperature has been above normal for 24 hours.]
[Little Octopus: It seems to be a tumor.]
Indeed, it was cellular mutation.
The Lizard Potion would continuously stimulate Lille’s cellular vitality. Under normal circumstances, although it would shorten lifespan, living like this was not a big problem.
The biggest issue was not cellular life span but the potential morbidity of biological cells turning cancerous.
These two instances of overclocking with the Si Anweisitan drained too much of the cell’s potential. When the cells repeatedly divide and differentiate, the probability of cancer increases significantly.
Moreover, Lille’s body already contained a certain amount of radiation. Although it hadn’t reached a life-threatening level, it continuously increased the likelihood of mutation into cancer.
Tumors could press on nerve tissue, leading to nerve dysfunction, specifically manifested as prolonged reaction ti and reduced nerve conduction velocity.
Now he needed to find soone to perform surgery.
"Hey!" V moved up close to Lille, "What are you doing? Are you having an episode?"
The pain attack had just ended, and Lille returned to normal, shaking his head, "It’s nothing serious."
V, seeing him like that, suddenly said, "Sis has money, don’t you want to buy so kind of dical package or sothing? I see biotechnology advertising all sorts of nanodical surgeries and whatnot."
"It’s not much use."
Lille’s problems were genetic, and very complex genetic issues at that.
Inserting lizard genes gave the overall organism regeneration ability to offset the continuously waning cells, and didn’t fundantally solve the cause of the illness but added a capability to the body to offset the most direct symptoms.
The effects of radiation and chemicals on DNA were imbalanced. To employ gene therapy for a cure would require sequencing all cells and comparing them with normal DNA, then setting up a repair plan for each one...
However, over ti, it was hard to say what changes these dividing cells would undergo.
Given the current technology, the possibility of a complete cure was extrely slim.
But since both Ryan and Jefferson had ntioned that Dog Town might have useful technologies, he really could check it out.
Moreover, as long as he acquired a proper identity, the sale and use of so technologies wouldn’t be so restricted, and many companies would be willing to provide him with technical support.
However, the problem with his body... it wasn’t so easy to resolve.
Lille looked at the destroyed dical center, his mind racing with many thoughts—
"Let’s go, first to Old Wei’s clinic to see what’s the matter."
Jack and V followed behind, exchanging a glance, then silently followed along.
...
The thod to remove a tumor was simple: usually, it just needed to be cut out.
After each cut, a genetic test would be done on the excised tissue to see if there were any problems; if there weren’t any, they could stop the removal.
Unfortunately, Lille’s cell DNA was highly inconsistent, and no matter how it was tested, there were problems.
So even though Old Wei had a very impressive nanomachine surgical table, it was still difficult to use such traditional thods for removal.
As for other therapies like radiation therapy, microwave, and radiofrequency treatnts, essentially they were just different thods of excision, but as long as they couldn’t identify the disease-causing genes, it was impossible to confirm the complete removal of cancer cells.
They could only estimate where to cut.
During the removal process, the clinic was sowhat quiet—
After making the final cut and completing the suturing, Old Wei let out a sigh of relief, removed his glasses, and said with a hint of exclamation:
"I still rember the first ti we cooperated, a remote collaboration, when I told V that you were a bit unreliable. Who would have thought that now, the city is filled with your legends."
Anesthesia would affect Lille’s physical agility, but not his ntal flexibility.
Still lying in bed, Lille surveyed Old Wei’s clinic—
Old Wei’s clinic was still the sa, although there were a few high-tech instrunts he had asked Old Wei to buy, the overall style hadn’t changed much.
Just like the first ti he had co here.
"What do you plan to do?"
"I heard that Dog Town is getting a shipnt of high-end equipnt. If we do well on the next job, we can use Night City’s reputation to find more work there."
"Dog Town, huh... That place is dangerous."
"I an..." V was sitting in reverse on a chair, hands resting on the backrest, "I’ve got over a million in my account. Are you sure you don’t want to check out what you can buy?"
"I’ve got nearly a million too!" Jack raised his hand and said, "Together, that’s almost three million."
"I think you two are getting a bit inflated," Lille said with a smile.
That amount of money was enough for a bit of a splurge.
Two street kids had never dread of making so much money in their lives.
Unfortunately, given Lille’s current situation, if he really chose to use a company’s services, there might be a chance for him, but the price would certainly be way more than these millions.
One problem was that the disease was hard to cure, and the second was that the company’s tailor-made rescue services would surely base the price on his identity and set an even higher amount.
What’s more troubling was that the situation in Night City was becoming increasingly tense, and he couldn’t afford to devote himself entirely to dealing with matters here.
Things over at Marvel were also getting worse...
His own life, along with many other things he wanted to save, were hanging by a thread.
Lille got up from the bed: "But this money still isn’t enough. The stuff they sell in Dog Town, there’s stuff priced in the billions.
This money should be saved to improve our lives. My situation here, we still need to do a few more jobs."
"That works."
Jack snickered and held out his fist.
Lille and V also smiled, the three bumping fists together.
As Old Wei was putting away the surgical tools—just then, he noticed that the boxing match was still playing on his computer.
It was the important match that his favorite boxer, for so unknown reason, had lost.
He turned off the television and then sat at the table, arms crossed, looking at the three young n contentedly.
In his heart, he sighed:
For so reason, even though the situation is always the worst...
This kid always gives people the feeling that he will keep on winning.
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