Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 221 80. The Past and Numbers

“Spanish seafood paella, cold soups, stews, garlic shrimp, sweet cakes”

Blanca looked at the food in front of Carl, which almost completely took up half of the table in front of him, and realized that Carl was indeed here to eat.

Soup, dessert, staple food, everything is available, and all served at once. Is he going to eat it all in one go?

Blanca looked at the lonely, small portion of avocado and artichoke salad in front of her and felt that all the effort she had put into arranging it had been wasted.

While eating risotto and drinking soup, Carl looked at the salad in front of Blanca and asked curiously, "Is this salad delicious?"

"very healthy."

"Oh."

In other words, it’s not very tasty, right?

Senior corporate employees are indeed different. They pay more attention to health than filling their stomachs and enjoying good food.

Seeing Carl eating happily, not starving but with an unpleasant appearance, Blanca moved her lips and finally spoke:
"Do you want to hear something about me?"

"You are under a lot of pressure and want to talk to me."

Carl took a bite of the real shrimp, feeling its taste in his mouth, and looked at Blanca with a serious expression: "I want to listen."

He has no good points, and he knows that all his behaviors are extremely rude in front of women, but if someone needs to talk and wants to tell his story in this suffocating Night City to relieve his depressed emotions, he will listen and he wants to listen.

It would be suffocating if there is no one to listen to you when you are depressed.

Seeing Carl's serious look, Blanca's eyes flickered, and she finally said thank you: "Thank you."

Blanca understood why she could remain calm even though Carl was so rude so many times and seemed to lack respect for her hard work in dressing up.

Because he is sincere.

The rare sincerity, no, it should be said that sincerity has become extinct in Night City in Blanca's heart.

Looking at Carl, Blanca could feel his sincerity and knew that this was what he thought and did.

He wanted to eat because he really wanted to eat, not because he wanted to hide something.

He said the clothes might be cumbersome, and that's what he thought, because the clothes did drag, but he also understood the meaning of wearing the clothes, so he praised the beauty quite seriously.

Do what you should do when you should do it, and do what you want to do when you want to do it.

Free, unrestrained, and relaxed, just like the sun in the sky, rising and falling according to your wishes, shining on you no matter what you do.

Maybe there is no need to talk.

Just looking at him can relax the mind.

This is a sense of relaxation that is hard to find in the suffocating Night City.

You don't have to worry about being killed suddenly, or about angering the other person with just one word, or about being hit by a bullet from nowhere. You just need to sit quietly and chat easily, freely and unrestrainedly.

Just, chatting.

"I was born in Alcázar. Have you ever heard of this town?"

“Of course, the hometown of Don Quixote is also the hometown of Cervantes.”

"The characters in the novel share the author's hometown, which is a beautiful and peaceful town."

When Blanca talked about her hometown, the smile on her face was genuine: "It is also a place that I will reminisce until now. It is so beautiful and so moving. Until I was eight years old, because of the departure of my grandparents, I left it under the leadership of my parents and moved to Malaga, Andalucia."

She recalled: "Malaga is also a good place, with a mild climate and beautiful scenery, but I didn't feel much warmth there, because during that time, my parents were exposed to military technology. From then on, my home was no longer my home, but a place where my parents and colleagues discussed things;

At that time, I could only stay in the attic on the fourth floor and could not go downstairs. All my entertainment every day was reading and looking out the small window in the attic at the streets illuminated by the bright sunshine outside, and my peers running around happily. I watched them being free, watching them laugh, watching them cry. In my heart, I envied and admired them, but I could do nothing about it. "

Helpless
"Is there no way out?"

"There is no other way, because in the company's struggle, relatives may become hostages of power. My parents don't want their colleagues to know where I am. All they told others was that their daughter was placed in a safe place. No one knew that I was right above their heads."

"Later, to prevent accidents, my parents even sealed the windows. From then on, I could only stay in the attic where I couldn't even turn on the light. Through the only crack left by my parents, in the only sunlight, in a space of less than ten square meters, I read books that told fairy tales and various stories."

Blanca blinked her eyes. "Maybe it's because I'm smart. After four years of studying, I figured out how to control electronic devices. With the help of my parents who discovered my talent, I got my first official computer. Since then, I gradually forgot about the sky and sunshine outside. I learned to look at the outside world through the small device in the dark attic."

"Is this also the reason why you were able to see me on the surveillance camera when you were worried about your subordinates?"

"That's true, but more reasons may still be due to the lack of authority. I think my subordinates can still be trusted for such a small matter on the street. I gave four people exactly the same request, and they also gave me four identical videos. If they had discussed this matter, then there would be no need for me to struggle in the first place."

As she spoke, under Carl's waiting gaze, Blanca picked up a piece of avocado with her fork, put it in her mouth and began to chew.

After she ate the avocado, she looked at Karl but kept silent.

Karl could see the meaning in the look in her eyes.

Although I am the one who confides, I feel a little embarrassed to confide in someone else alone. You should also talk to me.

"It's my turn now."

Carl didn't have much to talk about, but he reminisced about the past and talked about his glorious deeds during the meal. He did this a lot when he had dinner with Jack and others, and he didn't mind talking about it with Blanca.

only.

"not now."

Karl smiled slightly.

"Can you bow your head for a moment?"

Bow down?

Not knowing why, Blanca did as Carl said.

She lowered her head, and then a ray of light flashed from where her crown was originally.

When Blanca came to her senses, Carl had already stood up, the single-molecule wire in his hand had popped out, and in his palms, he was holding two objects that he had grabbed from mid-air.

"Mechanical insect, you are being targeted Blanca."

Carl spread out his palm, and in the palm of his hand, there was a broken machine that was split into two. Judging from the red fragments, it was a seven-spotted ladybug.

"There aren't any ladybugs that big and active in Night City."

Looking at the ladybug in Carl's hand, Blanca was a little dazed.

Mechanical ladybug, is this a surveillance device?
How is it possible? I had already sent people to scan this place before I came in, and my subordinates were monitoring the whole process.
"coming."

Carl noticed the light.

It is different from light. It is a bright light that can accurately scan and lock in a light-dense environment.

And that light was very familiar to Carl.

"Be careful Nekomata."

At the moment when the glass of the Spanish restaurant shattered due to the impact of sound waves and bullets, Carl had slowed down time.

With a commission of 40,000, now has come the time when I really need to work.

Walking among the broken glass, Carl pressed Blanca's head down again, then raised his eyes and saw the sniper on the third floor of a building 400 meters away from the restaurant.

Eye to eye.

opponent
"What's your number?"

(End of this chapter)