"Qiwei! This is the employer’s mission. His men failed, how can you blame me?"
"I say it’s about time we took action. I really don’t know what Mr. Lin is thinking, letting his people get killed and injured ."
"This might be the warrior’s dignity. After all, it’s against the rules to snatch other mercenaries’ assignments before the mission fails."
"What about the last one? It’s really a pity, I even went to the Phoenix Club a few times."
"It’s like that. I suppose he’s probably fallen to his death."
Zhengfa Chengtailang couldn’t hear anything behind him, rolling all the way down on the descending elevator. With his world spinning around him, he felt as if his brain was about to shake out, unsure of how many bones were broken all over his body.
But a miracle happened, having rolled all the way to the bottom, he didn’t die, not only was he alive, the subway also entered the station and stopped at that moment.
The subway gates opened, and people initially intending to exit saw the tragic state of Zhengfa Chengtailang in front of the elevator. Some were shocked, some glanced with flickering eyes, thinking who knows what.
Yet the crowd gathered around the twisted and still Zhengfa Chengtailang didn’t disperse.
Greed, covetousness, probing, in their eyes, Zhengfa Chengtailang suddenly felt like that person tied to the operating table, made to extract organs for entertainment.
Whether it was a flash before death or the will to survive, Zhengfa Chengtailang still managed to speak at this moment.
"Help me! I’m Zhengfa Chengtailang of the Tiger Claw Gang. Return me to the Phoenix Club, I can give you money!"
"One hundred thousand! No no! Two hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, name your price!"
"Just get me back, I can even be your lackey!"
The crowd immediately stirred, after all, not to mention ordinary people, even mercenaries or corporate dogs, tens of thousands were an enormous figure for them, entirely worth the risk.
The only question was, who was his enemy?
But as they hesitated, unsure whether to save him, a dazed, distracted middle-aged woman with messy hair squeezed out of the crowd, stumbled over to the immobile Zhengfa Chengtailang and squatted.
"You say... your name is Zhengfa Chengtailang? That Zhengfa Chengtailang from Kabukicho?"
Seeing someone willing to step forward, Zhengfa Chengtailang was overjoyed, using his last strength to admit.
"Yes, it’s me... Ugh..."
Before he finished speaking, the woman pulled a dagger from her bosom and stabbed it viciously into Zhengfa Chengtailang’s temple, killing him with one blow, so fast that the crowd behind didn’t have time to stop her.
Raging flames of anger ignited in the woman’s eyes at some unknown moment, her face growing more ferocious, repeatedly stabbing Zhengfa Chengtailang’s face with the dagger, cutting flesh, piercing eyeballs, not blinking even as blood splattered in her eyes, wanting to personally witness this demon’s death in front of her.
Nearly a month and a half later, Lin Miao came to the Japan Street Super Skyscraper for the second time, having previously sent people to deliver goods to Wagako but never having come himself, yet the circumstances had changed.
At least this time he didn’t have to worry nervously about being double-crossed, nor did he have to forcibly maintain his composure.
Only this time, the meeting place with Wagako wasn’t the pachinko parlor downstairs, which was for negotiations with mercenaries and underlings, but moved to the top floor’s Cloud Summit Club.
This well-known high-end club in Night City is actually divided into two levels.
The entrance to the lower level is inside the skyscraper, and the interior decor is not significantly better than other clubs, mainly serving mercenaries and members of the Tiger Claw gang.
The upper and lower levels are completely separated, and even Lin Miao was slightly amazed when he got out of the hover car.
You’re at the very top of the skyscraper, just standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows and glancing down gives you a view of the throngs of people in Night City, creating an illusion of controlling everything, no less impressive than those corporate towers in the distance.
The decor here is opulent to the extreme: gilded ornaments, dazzling crystal chandeliers, fresh air, luxurious and exquisite artifacts, precious plants and flowers long extinct, complemented by the misty scenery outside the palace like a paradise.
This is genuinely a palace on the cloud’s peak.
Not even in his lifetime had Lin Miao seen such a place, those reputed five-star hotel decorations didn’t come close, maybe only those luxury private clubs could match it.
It’s hard to imagine the common people living below could ever think a celestial palace as lavish as this was built just
In fact, it’s the same in every skyscraper. The underground area is a gray market, the bottom 10 floors are residences for civilians or hoodlums, the middle floors have rooms for mercenaries, small company employees, or NCPD officers, and the upper floors are office spaces for gang elites.
The top floor is a vast floor or a detached villa style club, where patrons don’t take elevators but arrive by hover car, avoiding contact with lower-floor people to protect their privacy.
The higher you go, the better the living environment, each skyscraper is almost a miniature microcosm of society.
The maid responsible for greeting Lin Miao bowed and said,
"Mr. Lin, please follow me."
Lin Miao said nothing, just followed.
Her demeanor and tone were impeccable, carrying a kind of demure innocence like a soon-to-be adult noble lady, making one easily feel protective and possessive.
But Lin Miao knew it was all fake.
Every move, every glance, every inch of facial bionic component movement was a perfectly calibrated gesture by engineers after thousands of adjustments.