Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 450 63. Daphne

In 2070, as the smoke of the unification war cleared, the New United States announced its withdrawal and declared that it would no longer interfere in the affairs of the Night City area. At the same time, above this huge underground space that was very suitable for lurking, a new bar was quietly born, dedicated to providing services for those residents living in Dogtown who were in fear all day long. It all seemed too perfect and too coincidental.

The coincidence is so strange that one can't help but wonder if all this is just a coincidence.

Change your mind.

Because the open forces of the New America are being forced to withdraw from Night City, it is more reasonable and natural for some people to stay behind as undercover agents, right?
Will it be?
After I came to this bar at the invitation of Mann and others, I happened to run into someone suspicious. Could she be that person?

After a little thought, Carl felt that he had more and more doubts.

Mann and his companions are outsiders to Dog Town, and the place where they can stay for a long time to access intelligence is obviously a place with many outsiders and intensive information exchange. Otherwise, Mann and his companions would not be able to use this as a resting place and collect information in Dog Town to hunt down and eliminate Faraday. In other words, this seemingly ordinary bar is a place where outsiders exchange information very intensively.

For ordinary people, where would be the best choice for choosing an intelligence gathering point in the city?
The answer is obvious – working as a bartender in a bar.

Bartenders come into contact with all kinds of customers day after day, and as long as they pay a little attention and listen carefully, they will be able to grasp much more information than ordinary people on the street.

Take Arasakase Nobuyuki for example. When a figure of this level arrived in Night City, Claire had already known the news in the Next Life Bar and told Carl and the others based on her guesses. This is enough to prove the bar's unique advantage in gathering intelligence.

"Your drinks are ready, handsome guys."

The female bartender had already prepared drinks for the other people. With the push of her hands, cups of drinks were delivered to Jack and the others. Then she looked at Carl, seeing the empty cup in front of him, and grinned: "Do you want me to prepare another cup for you?"

Carl raised his eyes slightly and took a serious look at the female bartender. Dogtown's personnel database was basically not connected to Night City's NCPD statistics, but this woman seemed to be a Night City resident in the past, so there was her information, and her name was Daphne.

Daphne is a good name. In Greek mythology, it is the name of the laurel goddess, symbolizing dawn. There is an allusion about this goddess. The god of light Apollo has always been in love with the laurel goddess and has been chasing her for a long time. Although Apollo is not the sun god, he has always possessed the attributes of the sun in a broad sense. Apollo chased Daphne just as the sun chases the arrival of dawn.

This name sounds really nice.

Carl, who is always considered by his friends to be a crazy sun, likes the name Daphne very much. Unfortunately, he thinks this name is just a disguise.

It is always said that if a person hides his own name, the new name he takes will always have its meaning. Daphne, who symbolizes dawn, is she looking forward to the dawn of the day when it will end?

"You have a great name, Daphne."

When Daphne asked if she wanted another drink, Karl did not answer. Instead, he naturally called out Daphne's name in the information. Her words obviously stunned Daphne.

However, the surprise on her face disappeared very quickly: "So you are a customer who has heard of me. I was thinking of introducing myself again and asking you to come and patronize more often, but I didn't expect..."

As she spoke, Daphne avoided Karl’s gaze, but her hand drooped slightly.

"KK knows my name, has he checked my information? Why would he think of checking the information of a person he just met? Is he very vigilant? But if he just knew the information, it would be fine. This information is completely consistent with mine. Even if he knew it and investigated it in depth, at most he would only know that I deliberately tampered with it and exposed my disguised 'secret' identity, which is nothing more than a former clothing store employee." When Daphne was thinking this, she noticed Carl's gaze.

Daphne had deliberately avoided the sight, using a method that was considered in the training analysis to avoid attracting the attention of the guests, but despite her attitude, Karl's eyes were still firmly fixed on her.

Where that line of sight is looking
It's my neck and chest.

There were obvious signs of modification on Daphne's chest, and on her neck she wore a small rosary necklace that fit tightly to her skin. Under the rosary necklace, there were tiny signs of modification, as if some modifications had been made to the sides of her neck, allowing something to fit her face at a good angle.

'Oops! '

Daphne's heart skipped a beat when she realized that Carl was looking at her transformation marks.

Some people from Militech once sold some experimental prosthetics that were considered unsuitable to the Sixth Street Gang. Among those prosthetics, one was redeveloped because it showed certain value when it involved KK.

Arasaka developed a chip version of that thing through a certain degree of "commercial operation", and its prototype is
"Behavioral trait synchronization template? No, it should be another type of mimicry mask. It does not require direct manipulation of the subcutaneous tissue, but rather changes the appearance through certain optical projections and facial muscle changes. This prosthesis is really good."

Karl said to Daphne in a tone that sounded like a question and a sigh: "If you don't mind, can you let me see your real face, just as if it were..."

Karl's eyes were sharp, as if he had seen through Daphne's disguise: "I just made a small rash request."

Can't wait any longer!

Realizing that she had aroused suspicion and was about to be exposed, Daphne, who had already lowered her hand to hold the pistol at her waist, tried to pull it out. But just as she tried to keep her expression unchanged and activate Swanwestin to make any move, a hand had already gotten to her and grabbed her palm.

With just a slight twist, Daphne's palm lost its strength due to dislocation, and the gun she had just raised in her hand fell as her five fingers loosened and was held in the hand of someone.

He removed the magazine and ejected the bullet in one smooth motion, without giving Daphne any chance to shoot. V, who was closest to Daphne, immediately removed the weapon and rendered it harmless.

"Don't rush into it, let's talk it over. How about we ask it in a proper way?"

After placing the harmless gun on the table, V and the other members of the team stood up and surrounded Daphne from three directions.

"Or you can try running backwards."

Carl sat down and smiled at Daphne: "I allow you to run."

(End of this chapter)