Even though Gloria returned home from work at 1 AM, David, who had come home early to change, shower, brush his teeth, and gargle, still couldn’t escape the notice of his mother, who has long battled life and death on the medical frontlines.
She looked somewhat angry at this usually obedient son who never dared to defy her and asked with her arms akimbo,
"David... did you drink?"
Unexpectedly, despite his thorough efforts, David couldn’t wash away the smell, leaving him a bit awkward.
Seeing her son not refuting, Gloria became angrier.
"Do you know you’re not 18 yet? I told you that you can’t touch these things until you’re an adult! You’re still a student, do you want to be like those useless people on the street who numb themselves with alcohol every day? Do you know why I work so hard..."
As she spoke, David felt like his mom was about to slide into a rant about him imminently becoming a degenerate indulging in all sorts of vices, and as she seemed about to cry, he hastily interrupted,
"It’s not like that, Mom, I ran into Mr. Lin on my way back from school."
"Lin Miao? He took you drinking? Where did you go!" Gloria’s voice rose several pitches.
David suddenly realized Lin Miao had specifically stressed not to tell his mom about the drinking, and facing his increasingly angry mom, he could only explain nervously,
"No! No! It’s not like that, Mr. Lin didn’t take me drinking, nor did we go anywhere shady, he just took me home and we stopped by a store to grab a bite, and someone accidentally spilled drink on my clothes."
Gloria was skeptical, "Really?"
"Really!" David affirmed, "Mr. Lin even told me a lot of things, specifically advising me to study hard. I won’t disappoint you! I won’t complain about you making me attend Huang Ban Academy anymore."
Gloria didn’t believe David’s claim about not drinking, but seeing her son suddenly being so obedient, she decided not to pursue the matter further.
She pulled her son to sit on the sofa,
"What else did he tell you? Don’t try to fool your mom."
Gloria was a smart woman; although she didn’t know why Lin Miao suddenly approached David, she was sure it wasn’t merely from the kindness of his heart to guide David.
He definitely wanted something, and David’s face showed he was conflicted about whether to tell his mom.
Realizing he couldn’t hide it anymore, David had no choice but to tell Gloria everything Lin Miao said.
Honestly, even he knew that both he and his mother didn’t know much about Lin Miao, and the options Lin Miao presented were full of risks. Just hearing what that mercenary, Pira, and Lin Miao said, it was clear that following them would definitely involve taking risks.
Gloria looked at her son with some helplessness.
It was hard to say if this was good or bad, just like Lin Miao had told her before, opportunities in Night City often came with high risks, and seizing them might lead to soaring success.
However, a more likely outcome could be a painful end.
But did Gloria have a choice?
Looking at the monthly bills, if it weren’t for Lin Miao, she wouldn’t be so relaxed; she might even have to think about risking it all to steal advanced prosthetics to sell on the black market to Mann.
"I’ll go talk to him about this, David... You don’t need to get involved in these matters, just focus on your studies, alright? Even if you don’t want to join Huang Ban, you mustn’t become a mercenary!"
Anyway, the profession of cyberpunk at least went from being worshipped and longed for in David’s heart to being merely friendly. The importance of studying well slightly increased.
The efficiency of players’ actions might make 99% of corporate employees blush in embarrassment. He just got home, hadn’t even sat down yet, and there were already several new main storyline submissions uploaded to the official site by players.
Let me see what good stuff the players have prepared?
Hmm. [Jianxue Nameless]... PETN remote-controlled explosives... Semtine plastic explosive manufacturing process... Detonation devices...
Lin Miao hadn’t heard of this stuff, so he had to look it up online.
Hmm... Mossad just recently used this stuff to blow up thousands of walkie-talkies, killing many people.
Coming right at me with a big one, huh.
This little player’s thinking is great, but it won’t do, Lin Miao can’t make this, at least not in bulk.
Making and selling this stuff is an easy way to get the attention of watchdogs, leading to trouble, but it could be kept for players to use, not for sale.
Next one... hmm... Old Buddy Gas Cannon... can be made.
Although TNT and RDX explosives are not easily bought on the legitimate market, as long as you have the materials, you can make them, even directly using the submission from the previous player.
But buddy, do you really want me dead?
Mass-producing this thing, let alone selling it, even using it could lead to trouble, and the ones that come knocking would not be Night Wanderers but military tech.
In Night City, corporations can tolerate gangs having machine guns, grenades, or even some RPG rockets; they can even tolerate a wanderer’s 40MM nail bomb cannon, but they absolutely cannot tolerate this.
A household water purifier from the Blonde Egyptian Beauty, the structure and production process are very clear, capable of slightly purifying the current water quality, but unfortunately, such a product already exists on the market with better performance, and if Lin Miao really plans to make this, he’s likely to be crushed by competitors from cost to price.