Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 449 62. Coincidence?

"The drinks you ordered."

The female bartender at the Hawk Moth Bar did not keep Carl and his team waiting too long. After everyone in Carl's team was seated, a cup of sweet tea was placed in front of Carl, who was the first to order a drink.

The sweet tea given to Carl was obviously prepared. It contained not only ice cubes but also a few mint leaves. This kind of sweet tea tasted refreshing and cool. In this gradually hot weather, it was obviously the most pleasant enjoyment.

"It seems that this shop is doing well. The ice cubes are nothing special. An ordinary ice machine can use the water that may not be clean to make ice cubes that look clear. However, mint leaves are not available in every bar."

Looking at the sweet tea brought to him, Carl stared at the mint leaves.

In bars in Night City, even if there are drinks with leaves attached, the green options are generally rosemary, because rosemary has the function of protecting and nourishing the liver. Drinking it with alcohol can slightly sober up and alleviate the damage of alcohol to the liver. Although most of the reformed personnel don't care about this, high-end bars will always have some corporate dogs who take injections every day but pursue health. Rosemary is prepared for those personnel, but mint leaves are different.

In terms of taste, mint leaves are cool and refreshing. This flavor is usually prepared in bars for guests who don't like to drink too much or prefer refreshing tastes.

These guests often come to the bar not to enjoy alcohol, or in other words, they don't come for the alcohol.

It is not surprising to see mint leaves in a bar like "Afterlife", because Afterlife receives a variety of guests and has the financial resources to prepare fresh mint leaves. However, does it seem a little unusual that ordinary bars in obviously poorer communities also have mint leaves on hand?
Calmly, Carl picked up the sweet tea, and just when he was halfway through, Jack reached out to the sweet tea in his hand: "Carl, I'm so thirsty, can you let me have a sip first?"

"I do not mind."

Carl naturally handed over the sweet tea, and Jack smiled sheepishly and took a big sip.

"I have activated the prosthetic 'Black Mamba' that I installed in the circulatory system, and have also begun to taste-analyze the liquid composition at the entrance. If I detect toxins later, I will take action immediately."

Jack drank the sweet tea with a smile, and at the same time notified his companions through the communication to be ready.

In order to cooperate with his violent prosthesis to regulate body hormones, Jack installed the prosthesis 'Black Mamba' a few days ago, which can assist the circulatory system to excrete toxins and resist toxins. As the only person in the team who is specialized in this, he naturally could not let Carl drink the uncertain beverage in front of strange people, so he took this responsibility himself.

Jack did not swallow the sweet tea directly. He kept pouring the glass but used his big hands to conceal the change in the amount of liquid in the glass. He just used his tongue and lips to take a little bit of the sweet tea into his mouth, and then moved his wrist slightly, pouring the liquid inside along his wrist into his inner sleeve.

"Ha, it's really enjoyable."

Leaving some ice cubes, Jack bent his palm slightly, covering his wet inner sleeve at an angle that the bartender of the Hawk Moth Bar could not see, and then put the empty cup with only some ice cubes left back on the counter.

"I'm wondering why you like sweet tea so much, Carl. Drinking it with ice cubes and mint leaves in this weather makes me feel refreshed. I feel like my mouth is no longer dry."

Jack was talking with saliva flying all over his mouth, showing a silly look of being surprised by the taste of sweet tea. While he was talking with his mouth wide open, he used his lips to move up and down to shake off some of the liquor that was stained on his lips and was about to soak into them. "You drank mine in one gulp, and I was thinking that I wouldn't mind you taking a sip."

Amid Carl's seemingly somewhat disgusted complaints, Jack had already completed the test.

"I can tell the composition of the wine based on my oral senses. I have given T-BUG full access to my prosthetics. T-BUG, can you find any signs of harmful substances invading the body through the circulatory system? If so, please call the trauma team so I can lie down and be carried up."

'The trauma team is not allowed to enter the Dog Town. I saw the news that the trauma team was shot down by the Hellhound a few days ago. After the test, the ingredients are normal. Except for the sweet tea, which has excessive sugar as usual, and some large doses added by the brand, everything is normal.'

'So, there was no poison?'

While chatting with Mann, Oliver sent a message on the comms: "Are we being too suspicious?"

"Everyone has secrets. Maybe that's the case. It's always right to be careful in Dog Town. But you should also be careful next time. Even if the first cup wasn't poisoned, the next few cups might be poisoned."

Looking at T-BUG's message, V didn't think his companions were making a fuss, but there was a problem:

"Jack found an excuse to drink the first glass of wine, so we can't find excuses for Jack to drink the rest of the wine. We don't have anything to resist toxins installed, so how can we drink? Otherwise, we should tell Mann and the others to leave. Don't stay in a bar that makes people feel weird."

"That's a good idea. According to Mann and the others, this bar is their base in Dogtown and nothing has happened to them, but we always have to be on the safe side."

Jack said in the communication: "Should we find a reason to drag Mann and the others away and let them show us around?"

"You can, but not now."

Carl also agreed with not drinking in the Uneasy Bar, but he had just visited the urban layout center of Night City and got the general building plan of this area before the Unification War. On that map, he found an interesting point.

According to the structure, this place has to have a large open space, and it is located in the basement of the Hawk Moth Bar. In other words, the Hawk Moth Bar is located above that large space. And judging from the aging of the structure, the Hawk Moth Bar was built six years ago.

Six years ago
It was when the Unification War ended.

This is too much of a coincidence.

(End of this chapter)