"Son, that guy..."
Matt squatting with his old father in the Evil Land, his face cold, while the latter was even trembling; the nightti temperature in the Evil Land was very low, and it was winter now. Every year wanderers without supplies freeze to death in winter.
But Matt’s dad only felt that the trembling inside his heart was more unbearable than the cold weather.
Matt had no intention of talking with his old man; instead, he focused more on that giant mushroom cloud, the admiration in his heart almost overflowing from his eyes:
The big guy is still badass; he blew up the Europa Tower in Berlin in a day, killed two central executive committee mbers on the spot, and then turned around and bombed the New Arica military base next to Washington...
This has surpassed the realm of legends; it’s a fantasy you wouldn’t dare even dream of.
Although Matt’s combat ability was decent, he was still a sports star with other uses, plus he still had to take care of his old dad, so they parachuted midway and ended up landing a bit farther away.
From Night City to xico and then to Europe, this journey indeed fulfilled Matt’s sports dream but made him always feel ntally exhausted...
But fortunately, the road ho was easy to walk.
Mackinaw sprinting across the Evil Land, the dust stirred up by the explosion chasing behind, Matt thought to himself:
This is what a real man is.
Thinking about it, Matt did not forget his old dad, directly holding him under one arm—
The silent son made the middle-aged man feel anxious; the child who once chased behind him had now beco soone he had to cautiously deal with...
But who can be blad for this situation?
As he thought about it, Matt said, "You go in the trunk."
Matt’s dad turned red with embarrassnt: "Okay..."
...
"Wuhu!"
V raised both hands to the sky, cheering heartily, then curiously fumbling around inside the car.
"Big Mack...can you feel touching you? Are you really alive? What is this technology...Centaur Alpha Ground Necromancer?!
Are you an alien?!!!"
If this was said to Big Mack, it would not be an issue, though the thought process is peculiar, it was sowhat accurate.
The issue was that it was directed at Lille.
It seems... not out of place either.
Lille disassembled the deford armored plate on Jack, cautiously prying open the maintenance port—
"...Did your brain fry? That mysterious wanderer is still shouting in front of old Vic’s clinic?"
V shook her feet, kicking her shoes out of the car, then rested her feet on the dashboard.
Surprisingly, Big Mack actively reshaped to make space for her, although it had this function before, but it was used only once, no longer allowing for such luxury.
Bang!
Suddenly, V slamd both hands onto Lille, the hybrid tallic and biological body emitting a muffled thud.
V’s eyes widened, staring at Lille’s profile: "You disappeared for two years just like that, coming back like nothing happened, you... don’t have anything to say?"
Click.
Another piece of armor was removed from Jack.
Lille didn’t look back: "The signal was bad back then; had no choice, it’s how it is out there."
Clearly not deterring V’s mood; instead, she continued to glare at Lille—
In the air, a little octopus suddenly appeared, vigorously rubbing against Lille, seemingly very fond of this new body.
[Little Octopus: Big brother, you sll...better than mom...]
V swiftly grabbed the little octopus, its tentacles still reluctantly wrapped around Lille...
Theoretically, V wouldn’t be able to pull off the little octopus; her brain struggles with higher-level math problems, let alone using hacker skills to remove the little octopus—
However, the little octopus was still tender-eyed as V pulled it off, then glared back at Lille.
At this ti Lille spoke up:
"But I really missed you guys; the future days are long, you wouldn’t hold onto the idea that I’ve caused you irreparable psychological trauma over these two years, right?"
V let out a hum after hearing this, lay back on the chair, and quietly wrapped her hands, inhaling slowly—
"Geez...how did you end up with an ironclad body after these two years..."
Now it beca difficult to bully.
Although there wasn’t much substantial affection, V still felt quite satisfied: Indeed, the days ahead are still long.
"Hehehe..."
Lille opened all the armored plates on Jack, the big guy kept making weird laughter, clearly, Jack missed these days too.
As if when Lille wasn’t there, their lives were always caught under the shadow of forcibly putting on a brave face, although there were good things, there were sincere emotions, family, friends, dreams...
But there was always a haze lingering.
Once Lille returned, he felt all those things beca real, the haze was cleared away.
After all, they were buying foolish big shots at Burger King.
"Still laughing—laugh again and you’ll really turn into a lizard head."
After prying open the armor, Lille understood why Jack had been silent all along—
His head was covered with green scales, and his eyes had almost turned into vertical pupils, his throat completely deviated from human structure, but it hadn’t fully undergone lizardization, making his voice extrely strange, difficult to articulate human language.
And the latest physical examination report recorded in the system indicated that Jack’s cellular lifespan depletion was severe, although the length of telores isn’t the sole factor determining lifespan, short telores certainly increase the likelihood of problems during cell division...
From the cell perspective, Jack seed to have aged twenty years.
Lille shook his head: "No hope, prepare to replace the chanical prosthetics."
Jack heard and stopped laughing, even beca anxious, waving his hands frantically, making strange hissing sounds in his mouth—
[Jack: No! Misty agreed to marry ! If I turn into a robot...uh, mano, I an no offence to robots, I an...I still want...]
Bang.
Lille tapped Jack’s head: "Jack, even in this state, you still miss that thing? Besides, I was talking about replacing the throat structure...
Your body, I an, aren’t you aware of its condition? Misty can’t handle it either."
Jack flushed red, anxious enough to almost transform.
When Jack got anxious, Lille finally laughed: "Just kidding you—no need to replace anything, but prepare to say goodbye to your big bird."
Lizard serum does have an antidote; once used, it will completely reverse lizardization, restoring those who were initially disabled back to their disabled state.
Though Jack didn’t have any limb impairnts, at most muscle atrophy might occur, requiring so ti for recuperation...
These recoveries are not without solutions, except after losing Lille, Night City’s technological and industrial level regressed as though the internet crashed, unable to perform repairs.
Jack breathed a sigh of relief, but soon felt weird: saying goodbye to his big bird felt strange, why was he relieved?
After finishing ergency repairs, Lille returned to his seat—
Though these two don’t take good care of their bodies, compared to the things they’ve been doing in the past two years, the issues weren’t too severe.
There’s a tacit understanding among fugitives; as long as you survive, tomorrow is bright.
There was also this tacit understanding between Lille and V.
"...What are you looking at?"
Returning to his seat, Lille felt V seed to be inspecting his body, up and down, very oddly.
"I...wasn’t looking at anything." V withdrew her gaze, subtly spat.
Running through the Evil Land, Jack reminisced about their first job in the Evil Land, a ti when he would fear facing Arasaka and Military Technology squads...
And V, V thought even further: she rembered eting Lille in Atlanta, back then she even saved Lille’s life.
Lille also rembered: "Is it even between us now? The infamous V?"
"Even my foot! Your debt has swelled to ten million! The infamous...Burger King!"
The legend of Night City has returned.
...
[Johnny: Oh damn, why don’t you just go up and munch?]
[Little Octopus: Who are you? Don’t speak!]
The silence in cyberspace has its reasons.
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