Arthur wanted to clench his fists countless times. Although he didn't understand why he was here, everything he experienced felt like he was living it himself.
Damn it, the feeling of someone else's fist landing on his body couldn't be faked; it was no different from Arthur getting beaten.
But his consciousness seemed to be blocked by something; even if he furiously swung his fists, his body showed no reaction.
Arthur was like a beast trapped in a cage, and outside the cage were a group of incessantly yapping pet dogs.
Until—
Led by that 'father,' a group of people stormed into his house and, without a word, pinned him to the ground.
They tied him up with ropes, like an animal, then blindfolded him, intending to take him somewhere unknown.
After a long period of jostling, a long silence fell around him.
"Who's this guy? So tall, but looks like there's not an ounce of meat to carve off him."
Abrupt conversation broke out, and then the cloth covering his eyes was yanked off.
From Arthur's perspective, a guy in a white lab coat had his back to him, busy with something unknown in his hands.
"Fu Er, you're really fucking disgusting. You bring the meat from the meat pigs home every time. Don't think we don't know what you use it for."
The person who replied was on Arthur's other side. He was tall, with a fleshy face and a bald head, like a pig farmer covered in fat.
"Disgusting? Bo Ye! You have the nerve to call me disgusting?
You hoard every bottle of anesthetic the higher-ups approve.
How many meat pigs have convulsed from pain during organ harvesting, ruining many parts because of it?"
"Save it, the higher-ups haven't said anything.
My son needs to go to a corporate school, what's wrong with making some money?
Everyone in Night City knows how expensive those dog-company schools are."
The fat man named Bo Ye stood in front of a machine, his complaints undisguised in his voice, and the hand operating the machine applied more force.
He impatiently interrupted Fu Er, then shouted again in a coarse voice.
"Goddamn it, shut your goddamn mouth first.
Look at this guy!
Almost all his parts are original factory, we've hit the jackpot this time."
As he spoke, he turned around, and Arthur finally saw his full face.
A cruel smile appeared on his fleshy face, yellow teeth protruding, and veins visible at his temples and forehead.
Even more disgusting were his eyes, which had been gouged out and replaced with a pair of black, deformed cybernetic eyes.
Both in design and installation, the cybernetic eyes were crude and low-quality.
The messy, dark metal even protruded from his eye sockets, with black and red wires connected, deeply embedded in the flesh around his cheeks.
"Quick! Anesthetize him, this guy's body is mostly original. Not doing so would be a waste."
If a meat pig's body was full of cheap, inferior cyberware, then violent disassembly would be no problem. But Arthur's body was much more valuable, so it naturally needed to be handled with care.
He seemed to see a large sum of money waving at him.
In this era, cyberware was rampant. Capital chose to control the middle and lower classes with these things, heavily promoting the convenience of cyberware.
They tell you to sell your organs and replace them with better cyberware, and you can even get a large sum of money in the process. It sounds like a free money deal.
But capital never mentions the maintenance of cyberware, or the huge burden it places on the nervous system, especially the brain.
Thus, the more widespread cyberware became, the more dependent the world became on capital's control.
In contrast, the price of healthy natural organs soared.
Rich people would constantly replace their own young and healthy natural organs to slow down aging and freely enjoy life.
"It's speeding up, he's not going anywhere, why are you in such a hurry?
Haha, are you perhaps in a rush to take your useless son to Clouds for his first time?
He's an adult this year, right, but still a complete good-for-nothing and an idiot."
On the other side, the pervert who liked to take meat home also came over to Arthur, holding a silver-white indwelling needle in his hand.
Seeing him approach, the red light on Bo Ye's cybernetic eye flashed rapidly a few times.
"If you dare mention my son again, I'll tear off your disgusting face and stick it on the wall."
His tone was chilling, and as he spoke, the gun handle at his waist unintentionally showed, embedded in the fat of his belly.
"I surrender, I surrender, I was wrong."
Fu Er's lips curled into a sneer; he clearly didn't take the other's threat seriously.
He spoke with sarcasm, even leaning his head forward provocatively.
"You, your son, will never go to Clouds, because you're all spineless cowards."
It was clear that his status was above the fat man Bo Ye's; Fu Er wasn't afraid of escalating the conflict.
The red light on the fat man's inferior cybernetic eye flashed wildly, but he ultimately forced himself to endure it, and the cybernetic eye returned to calm.
"Hmph!"
Fu Er snorted, then roughly plunged the indwelling needle into Arthur's wrist.
Then he looked up, took out a bottle of yellow liquid medicine, and pushed it into the medicine bottle above the indwelling needle.
Although the memories Arthur received were frustrating and dark, and the original owner of this body had pitifully little normal contact with the outside world, he still knew basic common sense.
For example, now, that cheap father had clearly sold him, and to a group of Scavengers.
The exorbitant profits from organs and cyberware had given rise to this group of dirty rats.
They hid in the corners of the city, usually preying on society's cast-offs, like homeless people who had become idiots from drug abuse.
But there were exceptions, such as rich second-generations looking for thrills, or middle-class individuals facing economic crises...
In short, everyone was their target.
No matter what your identity, once you fell into their hands, you would be immediately disassembled into parts and then circulated in the black market.
Arthur could only watch everything unfold at this moment, as the yellow liquid in the medicine bottle flowed drop by drop into this body along the tube.
He struggled like crazy, but it was all futile, confined to the level of thought; he couldn't actually affect this body.
God knew how many years he had been tormented by this state—he could see, he could feel, but he couldn't do a damn thing.
Just then, the machine next to the fat man suddenly emitted a piercing alarm, so loud that even the medicine bottle delivering anesthetic to Arthur vibrated.
"Fuck! What's wrong?"
On the instrument's small screen, the display abruptly turned red, and the three wavy lines representing Arthur's heart rate overlapped, becoming a single straight line.
"His heart suddenly stopped, and all physiological indicators are rapidly declining."
The fat man's voice also became urgent as he frantically operated something.
"Damn it, what did you inject him with? All his organs are failing."
Fu Er frowned, looking at Bo Ye's machine, then lowered his head to look at the medicine bottle.
It should have been fine!
This guy in front of him was bought by the boss for a lot of money; if something went wrong, he wouldn't get off easy.
Gritting his teeth, Fu Er pulled a starting injector from his 懷, hoping this highly effective emergency medicine could buy them enough time to finish their work.
Aiming at Arthur's chest, he fiercely pressed down the injector in his hand, simultaneously pressing the switch.
A sound like a deflating ball escaped, and both of them looked expectantly at the instrument's screen.
No change, the heart rate line was flat as a dead fish.
The air fell into a deathly silence. Dead organs were worthless, even less than a dead pig.
The boss would definitely tie them to this table and slaughter them like meat pigs, as compensation for his loss.
After a long silence, Fu Er's words broke the heavy atmosphere, but it led to an even more tense situation.
"You're responsible for this, Bo Ye, it's your fault."
His tone was unquestionable; he once again adopted the posture of a small leader.
"No, Fu Er, it's the medicine's fault!
You!
It's you!"
All the flesh on Bo Ye's face trembled, and he shook his head so fast it looked like an epileptic seizure.
"Wrong, Bo Ye, it's you. No matter who it goes to, you did it, you can't shirk responsibility."
Fu Er's face was sincere, like he was comforting a subordinate who had made a mistake.
"Don't worry, I'll plead your case to the boss."
Normally, Bo Ye had offended many people because of his stinginess.
You see, they were all monsters in human skin, but Bo Ye unexpectedly cared deeply about his useless son, adding a lot of burden to himself.
Bo Ye's entire face wrinkled, and the red light of his inferior cybernetic eye dimmed.
He pleaded.
"Please... I... I still have a son... Please, don't throw me out."
If two people carried this burden together, they would both suffer, but they would have a chance to survive.
As long as both insisted it was the meat pig's problem, plus Fu Er, as a small leader, had some favor with the boss.
This was equivalent to Fu Er sacrificing his future and status to save both their lives.
But the other party was clearly unwilling. The sincerity on Fu Er's face showed no signs of fading, and he said in a serious tone.
"Don't talk nonsense. Whoever shits has to wipe their own ass, we all have to be honest."
Fu Er would never sacrifice himself for others; that's something only humans would do.
He didn't consider himself human.