Smiling, he let Jessica return to her room. William sat silently on the sofa, staring blankly at the white ceiling, watching sunlight and dust weave slanted gray-white lines.
He too wished it was nothing but paranoia, but this scene felt far too much like the one from the past.
And this time, he had chosen to say goodbye to himself.
...
In Watson District, at Vik's underground clinic, Maine's crew had gathered—Kiwi, Arthur, and even Jackie were all there.
Though the clinic was fairly spacious, it now felt cramped with so many people inside.
Gloria's cold MedPod had been wheeled out. Vik had connected it to a number of devices, and in the center stood a transparent glass reagent tube, as long as an adult's arm.
David stood at the front, his face tight, the muscles in his arms trembling slightly. His nerves were obvious.
"Dr. Vik...
Do you think this will work?"
David's voice was dry. Beside him, Lucy rested a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him.
On the other side, Vik was busy at the controls, the space around him left clear—everyone giving the doctor his due respect.
"David, I can only tell you this: the serum's composition is extremely complex.
Different macromolecular base sequences, various functional proteins, enzymes, and cell-targeting agents.
In short, the mechanism is complicated.
It enters cells and uses the body's own transcription machinery to synthesize even more complex compounds.
Because of this process, I can't predict its exact effect. I can't exactly go and test it on someone else."
Vik paused his work and looked at David.
"But... kid, you can rest a little easier.
I've designed a detailed injection schedule for your mother—extended over time, with her vitals monitored in real time.
The treatment will go smoothly."
As Vik finished, Maine walked up and smacked David hard on the other shoulder, nearly knocking him off balance.
"Trust the doctor—and trust your mother, David."
David nodded firmly, the stiffness fading from his face.
Vik had deliberately extended the injection process over several days.
It gave the patient's body more time to absorb the drug and greatly reduced the risk of unknown side effects.
It might have seemed like a waste of time, but it was absolutely worth it.
Arthur lounged in a corner, bored, idly watching the busy crowd.
The first batch of gold had already been sold, but all of it went to Rebecca—after all, she had someone still waiting on a leg.
In the crowd, Pilar strutted around proudly, showing off his massive golden prosthetic leg.
With every step, he insisted on lifting his knee up to chest height before lowering it again.
Arthur pulled his gaze away, focusing instead on the cigar in his hand—worth over a thousand eddies.
For an old cowboy like him, the very concept of saving money simply didn't exist.
Amidst the commotion—
Ding—ding—
A crisp comms alert chimed in Arthur's head.
He frowned slightly at the caller ID but answered without hesitation.
"Arthur..."
The voice on the other end was low, choked with emotion.
"Can you... help me?"
Arthur had known the moment he saw the caller ID—trouble.
People from the upper city usually stayed as far away from outlaws like him as possible.
"Uh..."
Arthur hesitated, then said,
"What is it? Tyger Claws again?"
In her luxury apartment atop Xianzhang Mountain, Jessica sat in the sunlight, her gaze unfocused.
"Not Tyger Claws. I just... I want to be a netrunner, to work with you guys."
"What? Your corpo dog daddy isn't keeping up with our little princess's lifestyle anymore?"
His tone carried a teasing edge. He found it amusing to needle the girl.
"Wrong!
I want to help lighten Dad's burden."
Jessica bit her lip, not noticing how the gloom in her heart had already begun to lift.
"Alright, alright..."
Arthur chuckled, as if he could see her through the line, pressing his hands together in mock surrender.
"But this isn't some charity kindergarten, and I'm no saint. Why should I help you?"
Naive Jessica didn't catch the teasing in his tone and replied urgently instead.
"Mr. Arthur! Please don't say that!
You saved my life, and... and I know you have a kind heart."
Though she'd only met him briefly, Jessica felt an inexplicable trust toward this mercenary.
Being with him filled her with a real sense of security.
Maybe it was also because of Arthur's face—his youthful features did carry a certain deceptive charm...
"Damn it, seems like everyone knows just what to say to me.
Your sweet talk is boring as shit, but I don't exactly hate it.
I'll contact you about work, but you'd better come by soon—see for yourself...
So I don't have to be the one changing your pants later."
Jessica still believed her father's strange behavior was just financial stress.
But that was no surprise—if she were good at reading people, she wouldn't have been sold to the Scavs so easily.
William, Jessica's father, had already left home.
It wasn't that he didn't want to take his daughter away from danger.
The truth was, as corpo employees, their lives were already firmly in the company's grip.
Every so-called "voluntary" cyberware implant was just another leash the corporation had locked around their necks.
That was how they got their nickname.
This time, William was heading back to the company to find the academy archives and erase his daughter's behavioral model.
A behavioral model was just as unique as a person's biometric data.
With it, and the company's supercomputers, they could trace anyone's activity in cyberspace.
If you were useless to the corporation, it didn't matter.
But if they wanted you gone, that model was the leash they'd use to drag you in.
Driving toward the Municipal Center, William looked as weary as ever. But deep in his eyes burned a determination not seen in years.
After a biometric scan, the veteran employee passed the security gate without issue.
Compared to the dim, cavernous Arasaka Tower, the Militech complex inside was brighter, busier, and more crowded.
People hurried past, and William blended right in, unnoticed.
His leather shoes clicked against the floor as he reached the elevator.
This time, however, he pressed a different button than he had for the past ten years.
Standing among the crowd, he calmly watched the numbers rise, then slipped away from his colleagues.
The Corporate Academy's student records were stored on this floor.
The company didn't value these kids as much as outsiders thought.
The real talents were usually recruited early into internal training programs.
Because of that, the student files weren't heavily guarded.
This place was rarely visited—sometimes completely deserted.
If his suspicions were wrong, destroying the file would be harmless.
But if he was right, then erasing it would save his daughter a lifetime of trouble.
Suppressing his unease, he sorted through the files by date and quickly found his target.
A shelf stacked with black boxes.
Inside each lay a shard tied to a student.
Clutching his daughter's shard, William stepped to the window and stared out at Corpo Plaza.
It was a pity it was still daytime. At night, massive holographic goldfish—dozens of meters long—would glide gracefully through the skies.
So lifelike they could have been real, they were among Night City's great wonders.
To the corpo employees who had truly put down roots in this city, it was a source of pride.
Even now, the archive room remained utterly silent.
Maybe, after all, the danger he feared had just been in his head.