Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 190 49. Unusable Tools
Before entering Night City, the former ACPA trainee numbered 05, whose real name was Tatsuya, heard a piece of advice.

When you encounter something on the street, don't think too much. If you are not a top-notch shooter who starts taking action before thinking, it is best to turn around and run.

Tatsuya's marksmanship is among the best among his fellow trainees, and is not much worse than 01 who died in Night City. However, when he discovered an unexpected incident, he turned around and ran without hesitation.

It's not that Tatsuya really listened to the advice, but he is also a great "quick shooter" in some aspects besides his marksmanship.

In other words, he had finally escaped the constraints of military technology, had just enjoyed it, and was still suffering from the inevitable physical weakness left over.

Because of overindulgence, he made up for all his past restraint in one breath, and now the situation is that Tatsuya's hand holding the gun and his legs running are equally weak.

In this situation, even if facing street thugs, Tatsuya could be knocked down by them because his body was drained, not to mention that they attacked the entire Otori Zhuanzhuanzhuan bar at once. It was a bad thing no matter how you thought about it.

"I have to get back to the storage location of the exoskeleton as soon as possible. I was too careless. Night City is really dangerous. No wonder 01 failed at a street mercenary. There are too many places that attract people's desires. I can't resist it."

He ran all the way back, and the feeling of his soft legs stepping on the ground was no different from stepping on cotton. However, Tatsuya still relied on the momentum he had developed from past training to find the right position, knocked open a side door behind the Big Bird Bar, and came to the back of the bar.

Listening to the noise coming from the bar behind him, Tatsuya immediately saw his own motorcycle parked behind the bar. He rushed over excitedly and jumped on it.

I had indulged myself too much just now. Only after my brain was cleared did I react. There are many thieves in Night City. Fortunately, my car was fine.

I was so lucky. I had a great time and escaped the bill. I returned the car without any problem. Today is my lucky day.

As the thought just came to Tatsuya's mind, he found that he couldn't hold the handlebars of the motorcycle any further.

Moreover, a current of heat began to spread all the way from the right hand.

This feeling is.
"Prosthetic overheated!"

"Ahhh!"

Tatsuya fell off the motorcycle in agony, rolling on the ground holding his right hand.

"Stop pretending."

Regarding his rolling on the ground, Carl took off his night vision goggles and slowly approached him in a calm tone:
"When you guys are injured, don't you all pretend to be in a mess to let others down? An ACPA driver, who must have installed a pain editor, rolled on the ground because of a minor injury. Don't you think this disguise is too naughty?"

Karl also understood Tatsuya's current state of mind.

The prosthesis was overheated, but he didn't hear the next gunshot, and he wasn't chased the moment he landed, which means that the opponent didn't intend to kill him directly, so he could act and attract the attacker to approach him.

"I just want to follow the example of your classmates and let you die with a clear conscience."

"People from the same class?"

Tatsuya, who was rolling on the ground the moment before, acted as if nothing had happened the next second. His face was stern, and he pulled out a military-grade Omaha-tech pistol from his arms with his left hand and pointed it at Carl: "I think I know your identity."

"I didn't intend to hide it."

Carl moved his wrist and didn't notice that Da Ye was pointing his gun. As an ACPA pilot, because of the load limit of the prosthesis, the supporting prosthesis on his body is basically specially prepared for ACPA or exoskeleton. When he loses ACPA and exoskeleton, his combat effectiveness is really limited:
"I just want to know where you hid the exoskeleton. If you can tell me, I can save some effort."

As he said this, Carl had a strange sense of déjà vu. When facing the enemy, he did not kill him immediately, but instead chatted with him. It was the same thing between him and the ACPA pilot at that time.

This is the case when one is confident of their strength.
It would be bad if the car flipped over.

"Bah."

In the instant before Tatsuya could even react, Carl shot him in the wrist, crippling his left hand as well. Carl then stepped forward, surrounded by a single molecule line.

The single molecule line wrapped around and stayed on the surface of Tatsuya's neck, locking his neck. When Tatsuya was unable to move, Carl flashed behind him and propped up his waist with his knee, and used his left hand to hit his shoulder joint to dislocate it.

"Okay, let's continue with the topic we were talking about."

His spine was pressed down, making it difficult for him to exert force on his lower body, his hands were dislocated and he couldn't control them, and his neck was surrounded by a monomolecular wire. In just a blink of an eye, Tatsuya lost all his ability to resist.

"What a fast speed, what a sharp judgment, what an accurate technique!" Tatsuya was shocked. He thought he could still resist with the gun in his hand, but he didn't expect that the other party had completely subdued him before he could shoot.

Is this the mercenary who killed Number One?
If I were in ACPA or exoskeleton, I might have a chance to fight this kind of guy, but now
"Tell me where the exoskeleton is."

Carl's voice sounded again, and this time, Tatsuya no longer had the ability to resist.

The subdued Tatsuya raised his hands in a gesture of surrender: "I can tell you, but you can't kill me."

"It can't be done."

Carl said calmly: "The commission I received was to kill you, but I was too lazy to spend half a day extracting the exoskeleton information from your data chip, so I talked to you. If you speak faster, I can let you die peacefully."

"Is there no room for turning back?"

Tatsuya was very afraid of the monomolecular wire in his neck that was not activated but was slowly tightening and cutting through his skin, but his mind was working quickly:
"The information I gained in Night City could not have been revealed so quickly. As a mercenary, you were able to receive the information, so it must be someone from our group who betrayed us. I don't care who it was, and I don't dare to ask. I am willing to change my appearance and leave something that can prove my death to help you get the job done.

As a reward, I will provide the driving skills of equipment including exoskeleton and ACPA, as well as all the information I know, just to save my life. "

Karl listened, and the monomolecular line in his hand tightened a little: "How can I know if what you told me is true, and the personnel trained by military technology are so easy to sell things for their own lives. I can't trust them."

"Training? Being locked up in a fixed place and used as a tool. If the whole family had not been wiped out and a huge debt had not been inexplicably saddled at birth, who would be willing to accept the requirements of military technology to enlist at the age of three and become an ACPA personnel? Everyone knows that if ACPAs drive too much, they will sooner or later become like cyber madmen."

Tatsuya said, "It was only after I entered Night City that I understood what life was like. I have long since stopped wanting to go back to the hard days at the military technology company. If you don't believe me, I am willing to install a special control chip. You can blow my head off if you just think about it."

Hearing what Tatsuya said, Carl suddenly sighed.

He retracted the single-molecule wire and stepped aside.

"thump."

After being freed from Carl's restraints, Tatsuya took a few deep breaths, a look of ecstasy on his face. He looked at Carl who had walked to the side, with some incredible joy: "Are you willing to believe me!?"

"Is it possible for me to escape with my life and come back alive with a new look?"

In response to Tatsuya's joy, Carl simply replied:

"I'm not willing to believe you."

Carl sighed again, and looked at Tatsuya with a complicated look in his eyes: "I just don't need to kill someone who is already dying."

"What do you mean by that?"

Tatsuya was a little confused, and the next moment.

"Oh!"

His head suddenly exploded, and blood mixed with white splashed everywhere, but Carl's position just happened to avoid the range.

“That’s what I mean.”

Carl shook his head: "Even you can think of installing a special chip to increase trust. Do you think the person who made you an ACPA driver would not think of it?"

If a tool doesn’t work, don’t use it.

Carl took a few steps closer, looking at the headless body falling forward, his eyes fixed on the recording chip on the back of his neck that was not affected by the explosion of the control chip in his brain.

I don’t think the data this time will satisfy those people.

Regardless of whether those people could hear him or not, Carl spoke.

"Next time, send more people."

(End of this chapter)