Lucy enjoyed the feeling of the strong wind against her body because it made her feel like she had broken free from all shackles and was completely free.
Lin Miao glanced at the rearview mirror; the vehicles of the Valentino gang had already caught up, with a few members even leaning out of the windows holding rifles.
"Damn it," he cursed his bad luck, wondering why he had come to this godforsaken place and met this woman.
"Get in! They're catching up."
Lucy's body was like a slender, boneless snake, easily slipping through the car window into the passenger seat, her slightly flushed face still showing excitement.
"Thanks."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The gangsters fearlessly fired forward, bullets clattering against the car doors. The doors, not bulletproof, couldn't withstand rifle bullets, and a few stray shots pierced the cabin and hit the front windshield.
Seeing the bullet holes and cracks in the windshield, Lin Miao's mind went blank.
"I just bought this car! Haven't even insured it yet! Fuck!"
Even a clay figurine has some temper, and Lin Miao's foul temper flared up instantly.
"Hey, you drive."
"Lucy, it's not called V."
In Night City, not knowing how to drive is a death sentence. Lin Miao reclined the seat, holding the steering wheel with one hand, while Lucy cooperatively leaned over. The two of them switched driver positions with an ambiguous posture.
Jumping into the cabin, Lin Miao was grazed on the forehead by a stray bullet. The bullet ricocheted off his skull, but blood trickled from the wound into his eyes, the red-stained vision and buzzing head instantly rousing his ferocity. He tore off the tarp covering the weapons, planted the MA70 light machine gun he bought from Old Captain that morning at his waist, kicked open the battered car door, and fired at the two cars relentlessly pursuing them.
Bullets roared out like a flood, taking just two seconds to turn the front of one vehicle and its driver and gunman into a bloody mess, the explosion of blood mist filled the car, and Nois was taken aback; he hadn't expected the opponent to withstand their gunfire and counterattack. The driver desperately turned the wheel to dodge, but tracer rounds carved an arc through the air, blasting him and the driver on the car.
The consecutive explosions of two cars caused panic among other drivers on the highway, braking and swerving, with one unfortunate soul even crashing into a tree.
Even though Lin Miao withstood the enemy fire while counterattacking, he didn't feel great; although the titanium skeleton allowed him to handle the machine gun's recoil easily, he could still clearly feel that he had been hit by at least three bullets. The two impacts on his chest from the bulletproof vest made him wince, and his right arm was also hit, but the bullet got stuck in the titanium bone and didn't hit an artery.
But more than the physical pain, Lin Miao felt financially hurt.
Everything costs money!
The guns in those guys' hands, their cybernetics! Flesh! And their cars!
All that precious money, now he could only watch helplessly as they slipped through his fingers, unable to retrieve them, making Lin Miao's heart ache.
Mine! Mine! All mine!
But it wasn't over yet.
"NCPD, 0-3-4 situation at Coastal Park, suspect detected, requesting police support."
Several police cars, sirens flashing, sped out from an intersection, attempting to pursue Lin Miao, who was causing chaos on the street.
"Haha, this is just amazing!"
Strong winds rushed through the bullet holes in the window, blowing across Lucy's face. In her reckless laughter, she shifted into 5th gear, flooring the accelerator, forcing the battered 'Wuling Hongguang' to burst with the momentum of 'a race across the world', and engaged in a thrilling chase with the NCPD police cars on the street.
...
"Boss, are you serious?"
In a repair shop in Santo Domingo, Little Panel looked dumbfounded at the broken, seemingly on the verge of collapse car in front of him; he remembered it had just been registered and left the warehouse yesterday afternoon, and now it hadn't even survived 36 hours...
Lin Miao laughed heartily, "Just a little unexpected incident, but it's been taken care of."
As he spoke, the blood on his head and arm hadn't dried yet.
However, the adrenaline from narrowly escaping stimulated a rush of dopamine, making him feel exhilarated, and just now, the system had notified him of his level-up, boosting his mood sky-high.
Level: Level 3
Profession: Citizen of Night City
Reputation: Nobody
Body: 4→5
Technical: 3→5
Composure: 4
Reflexes: 6
Intelligence: 6
Status: Right arm injured
Skill: [Basic Firearms Mastery Level 6]
Possibly due to the battles that afternoon, he leveled up twice, gaining 3 attribute points, though they were the lowest two. He wasn't sure if it was random or because of the low initial stats that made improvements significant, and even firearms mastery leveled up once.
"Alright, just a little mishap~~ should take about six hours, hang tight, boss,"
Little Panel had little choice; after all, he had taken the man's tip yesterday afternoon. In Night City, this was an everyday occurrence. Even if it was totaled, it had to be salvaged.
Meanwhile, Lucy leaned against a post outside, smoking, her gaze repeatedly falling on Lin Miao.
When she got off the car earlier, she took the opportunity to scan him.
'Is this guy a cyber-lunatic? To have a full set of titanium skeletons, what else could he be doing with that money?'
Lucy knew the normal price for a full set of titanium skeletons, plus the surgery cost, ranged from 300K to 450K. The black market would be even more expensive, but no one would do it. That money could get a decent full-body augmentation set or hire a whole van of super solo mercenaries.
But if you said this guy was rich, he drove a few-thousand-buck used cargo vehicle, and aside from the advanced skeleton, Lucy wouldn't even take a second glance at anything else. Yet, it couldn't be that he had no money, since there were no signs of surgical alterations on him; he looked just like a natural human, something even the most brilliant cybernetic doctors Lucy knew couldn't achieve.