Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 403 16. Checkpoint
"Hera is mostly broken."

In an abandoned town on the road near Night City, V checked Hera and shook his head: "Oliver, you are operating too roughly. In addition, due to our modifications, it is unlikely that Hera will be able to start again."

"You mean, Hera is going to be scrapped?"

Carl looked at the Hera with its roof lifted up and white smoke still coming out from under the front hood, and couldn't help feeling nostalgic. Even though he had never actually driven a Hera, this Hera was undoubtedly a witness to his mercenary career in Night City and had accompanied him until now. If it was going to be scrapped like this, he would still feel a little reluctant.

"It's not scrapped, but it needs to be repaired professionally. After all, in its current state, it's no different from being broken down."

V looked at the road signs around the road, "We're not far from Night City though. We should be able to reach the checkpoint by pushing the car for a while. After we pass the checkpoint and push it for a while, we'll reach the Sunset Inn. Once we get there, we can fix the car and we'll be good to go."

"Want to push all the way?"

Jack rolled up his sleeves and said, "After all, this car has been carrying us for such a long time. We can't just abandon it in the bad land. I'll push it from the back and you guys push it from the front. But keep an eye on the steering wheel."

"Just do it."

Oliver also rolled up his sleeves: "After all, it's the car that's always with you."

After everyone decided to push the cart, Sky Hera drove on the road again at a slow speed.

By the time the personnel at the checkpoint saw an unmanned vehicle slowly approaching, the drone had already discovered four people slowly pushing a cart next to the vehicle.

There was a certain pattern in the appearance of those four people. The personnel at the checkpoint looked at them through the drone and felt that those four guys covered in gray were wanderers in the bad land.

"That cart must be the bottom of Hera's cart. It's broken like that, but they still want to push it. Are they another bunch of poor wanderers from outside coming to our Night City to beg for food?"

A checkpoint staff member connected to a drone was talking to his colleagues and operating the drone to approach the personnel who were pushing a cart into the checkpoint area.

"Pull your vehicle out front and it will be scanned and checked. We have to go through immigration inspection."

Oliver raised his head as he listened to the sound coming from the drone. "This is my first time going through a checkpoint to enter the city. It turns out this is the procedure. It's quite novel."

"After all, we used to go in through the Taipingzhou area, but now it's obviously not possible to continue pushing the cart to Taipingzhou and making a long detour to get into the city."

Jack used a little force and stopped the Sky Hera in the drone's scanning area.

The four of them stood by the car waiting, but the drone immediately showed a red light after a brief scan.

"Warning, warning, there are dangerous weapons in the vehicle. Warning, activate the fourth level prevention regulations, dangerous weapons have been found in the vehicle, please control the situation as soon as possible!"

When Carl and the others didn't quite understand, following the indicator light of the drone, fully armed checkpoint personnel holding Ajax rifles rushed out of the house next to the checkpoint and pointed their guns at Carl and the others.

"The personnel are in place and are now conducting verification and investigation."

A person wearing the thickest bulletproof vest, while keeping his Ajax rifle pointed at Carl and others, quickly walked to the side of the Sky Hera, and under the guidance of the drone, opened a compartment on the co-pilot seat of the vehicle, and then placed an RPG there.

"Warning, dangerous items are confirmed to be present!"

When the inspector saw that it was an RPG, his pupils shrank and he hurriedly took a few steps back, as if he was afraid that the RPG would explode. At the same time, he held the Ajax rifle pointed at Carl and the others more steadily.

"According to Night City's security regulations, I am interrogating you. Why did you enter Night City with highly dangerous weapons? Please answer your questions!"

"Highly Dangerous Weapons" Carl and the other three looked at each other, and then they reacted as if they had just woken up from a dream.

Oh, it seems that weapons like RPG are indeed banned in Night City. They forgot that.

Facing more than a dozen guns pointed at them, Jack thought about how to respond, but couldn't think of a good answer, so he asked tentatively: "Can we throw this thing outside now, drive in first, and talk about the thing later?"

"Give me an answer!"

The gun was obviously pointed more steadily. It was obvious that before he was just a little suspicious whether Carl and the others carried it intentionally, but now he was sure that they did it knowingly.

"Give an answer."

Jack scratched his cheek.

This kind of thing cannot be answered.

They couldn't say that they imported the goods from Dog Town in Taiping State, loaded them onto a truck, drove to Los Angeles, and then came back, but because the truck broke down, they had to push the goods through the checkpoint.

Seeing that the few people were silent, the personnel at the checkpoint slowly began to surround them. At the same time, the person wearing the thickest bulletproof vest once again issued a warning:

"We now suspect that you are involved in the smuggling of dangerous weapons and have triggered the Night City Law. We now require you to lay down your weapons, give up resistance, and accept detention and questioning. According to the Night City Law, you have carried out dangerous transportation and will be temporarily detained for two to four weeks."

"Four weeks of temporary detention?"

Oliver felt that the regulations were unexpectedly lenient. Only four weeks of detention was good, but when he thought about what he had heard from the Sixth Street Gang when he was a little kid in St. Domingo about checkpoints and NCPD detention, he didn't want to go.

I heard that in their temporary detention center, they couldn't even eat synthetic meat. They had to eat porridge twice a day, and they had to cook the porridge themselves. When they took it out, it was covered with mold, and only occasionally there were a few maggots that could be eaten as meat.

"Sorry, we may have to choose to resist."

Karl opened his hands slightly, his expression apologetic: “If you want me to pay the fine, I don’t mind, but I have to hurry up and fix the car now. I don’t have time to be detained.”

After hearing Carl's words, the sound of gun safety being released was heard almost immediately around them. Now the Ajax rifles were ready to fire at any time.

"The target may be preparing to resist!"

Seeing these people about to open fire, Carl sighed.

Since they were at fault first, I had no choice but to let them lie down and sleep for a while, and I will save some money for medical expenses as compensation later.

The other companions around Carl are ready to take action.

Just as the conflict was about to break out, a voice ended the tense atmosphere.

"Wait a moment."

A police officer with unfamiliar appearance and wearing an NCPD uniform came over.

(End of this chapter)