Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 125 103. Trust and Transformation

"Nice shot, David."

"You are still a long way from being as good as Carl."

After taking out the Tiger Claw gang member as revenge, David asked Carl something.

"Karl, can you recommend a mercenary team to me? I want to try to be a mercenary after class like you."

"You, want to be a mercenary?"

Karl looked at David, looking at his eyes that seemed to have made up his mind. After a moment of silence amid the constant gunfire outside the bunker, he said, "Does your look mean that you no longer intend to continue on the path of the company?"

"I still have one year to graduate from junior high school, and the university department of Arasaka Academy is a two-year system, which means it will take me three years to become a low-level company employee. After that, I don't know how long it will take to become a middle-level person with protection. This period of time is too long. I want to have the ability to protect my mother immediately."

“But weren’t you safe in the past?”

Carl stopped talking halfway.

How long can that kind of luck last? What happened today is the end of luck.

"Then there's no need to be a mercenary. The dangers of being a mercenary are greater than your current life. You could take a job in the morning and die in the afternoon, or even die at noon. Even if you want to grow, there's no need to be a mercenary."

Carl is very familiar with the mercenary business: "You can hire a professional to teach you."

Why did I say something stupid again?

Is it realistic for David's family to hire bodyguards and people to teach them?

Carl thought for a moment and said:

"I can lend you money so that you can hire someone to teach you or be your bodyguard. You can pay it back when you become a company employee and make money. I don't mind."

"No Carl."

David shook his head and rejected Karl’s kindness. He stared at Karl and said, “I have always been getting your help, but at least I don’t want to rely on you anymore for the things I have made up my mind about.”

David recalled that when he was in despair, he actually thought of Karl's matter first, and said slowly: "I am really grateful to Karl and you. You have helped me grow and helped me understand the truth about the company. I think, at least as a man, I have to do some things myself, things that require the sacrifice of my life."

"Your words are mature enough, David."

Karl looked at David and suddenly asked a question.

"What is your aspiration?"

In the past, David would have definitely answered this question with his mother's expectation, saying that he would become a top person in the company. But now, David answered it without hesitation, saying that it was his own dream.

"I want to be able to protect the people I want to protect."

This seemed to be no different from what David had expected in the past, but it was different when it was truly expressed as a "dream".

Looking at David, who had his own dream and was shining like gold, Carl asked the last question.

"Aren't you afraid that your mother will be sad when she finds out you're dead?"

"I also don't want to see myself crying because I can't protect my mother. I want to become stronger, not afraid of hooligans, gangs, and the darkness of the company. In this regard, let me, as a son, be willful for once."

Should he choose to live in fear knowing everything all the time, and step into the company which also requires fear, like now, the abyss where he could die at any time, or should he take the initiative to take a step forward, use his own will to find the way in the darkness, to become strong, and face the company in his mother's expectations? David obviously chose the latter.

Should I not move forward and wait fearfully for death which may come at any time, or should I move forward and face death myself and try to defeat it?
How to choose?
Everyone has a different answer, but those who take the brave step deserve Carl's respect no matter what.

"You are a great friend of mine." Knowing that he is not strong enough, he wants to become stronger and is no longer willing to rely on himself, Jack and Oliver. Now David is a man who can be equal to them.

It seems that I was not wrong to treat David as them.

Carl had no right to interfere with the man's belief, so in the end, he smiled and said something that made the determined David feel a little amused.

"You said you don't want to rely on us, but you still need us to recommend a mercenary team for you to join."

"This"

David's face turned red, and the resolute look he had just put on collapsed instantly. Then, he said a little embarrassedly, "Just this once."

"Then consider it as you, David, owing me, Carl, the first favor."

Carl smiled and said, "I have the favor of the future big shot, so I have to help you find a suitable mercenary team."

Carl thought about the mercenary teams he knew.

Not many, just two, each of whom was trustworthy enough for Carl to trust.

One team was the Brown team that David met during the escort mission. They were the team that went to their deaths so coolly that they were almost buried together with Carl and his companions. Even at the last moment when facing death, they were still taking care of the youngest person and letting him go to keep the fire. There would be absolutely no problem if David joined that team.

But Carl didn't know much about their team and didn't know if they were short of people.

Compared to this, Carl knows more about the other team.

Mann Team.

Thinking back to Mann, who said he would be at the front and really was at the front during the same escort mission, and then thinking about his efficient team organization with clear division of labor, Carl felt that he could ask Mann if he could send someone in to help and learn skills.

However, it is not a good idea to just stuff a baby bird with no prosthetics in there, even if it is just to help out or do the task of picking up the goods.

"To be a mercenary and a student, to have two identities at the same time, David, you need a certain prosthesis. Coincidentally, I have such a prosthesis here, and I just don't need it anymore. I don't like its neural connection. If you are willing, I can give it to you for free.

You don't have to refuse this, and it doesn't count as a favor. It's normal for friends to give each other small gifts, and the rest is just a reward for the mission."

"Mission reward?"

"Tomorrow I will take you to meet a mercenary team I am familiar with. You will be a handyman and help them with their work. If you do a good job, you will get the mission reward and the recommendation for them."

"What if I can't do it well?"

"Don't you have confidence?"

"Have."

"Then I will definitely owe you this favor of recommendation. I trust you, so I will pay you in advance."

Carl listened to the gunfire outside gradually subsiding and contacted Lao Wei.

"Old Wei, do you have a ballistic co-processor?"

[Ballistic Co-Processor]: Directly connects the user's optical implant and weapon system to provide real-time data tracking.

　ps. The update is late, so +1 if you owe me a chapter, then I still owe five chapters.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)