Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 528 141. A group of mercenaries

Dexter DeShawn, Carl didn't have a very deep impression of this middleman. After all, to be precise, Carl's team had only escorted him once when he sneaked back to Night City. And some of his impressions were that T-BUG often took over his work before he left Night City because he messed up the Voodoo Gang.

Remember that he was going to lie low for a while and slowly build up his reputation again, so how come he appears in the next life openly now?
This thought flashed through Karl's mind, and he understood it the next moment.

Lurking, lurking, bullshit.

Back then, he had to flee Night City in a panic after messing up the Voodoo Gang's business. Later, he asked Carl and the others to hire an escort because the Voodoo Gang still remembered him. Now, the Voodoo Gang is all dead, and the territory has been taken over by the NCPD branch and Mr. Hands. What is there for him to hide?

All the creditors are dead, so how can I not show up openly?
Looking at him sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, smoking a cigar and puffing out smoke, Carl was a little speechless.

He jumps out at such a timely moment. It seems that Mr. Dexter DeShawn also wants to return to his previous position.

However, Carl only cared a little about Dexter DeShawn. After all, he had sent a message to the middleman, stating that his team would not accept any work in the near future. He would not even accept work from the old captain and the priest, who had a close relationship with their team, let alone Dexter DeShawn, with whom they only had a little bit of affection and basis for cooperation.

Carl and his friends looked around and found that most of the seats were full, so they sat down at the bar one by one.

"Claire, give us something to moisten our mouths."

Oliver sat down and called Claire over. Claire, who had just served drinks to another guest, turned around when she heard Oliver's voice, which had changed in tone and seemed a little unfamiliar. Then she found that the person who spoke with a familiar tone was a strange blond young man.

Claire blinked, but didn't say anything rude like "Who are you?" Instead, she smiled and walked over: "Guests, what do you want?"

"Five French fries, first."

"French fries?"

Listening to the food that a certain team often ordered, Claire's eyes flashed with doubt. She glanced at the five people present, confirmed that the number of people was not the four people in the team she was familiar with, and asked tentatively:
"So do you need any dip?"

"Ketchup, salt and pepper, and yogurt sauce and mayonnaise."

After talking about these sauces, Oliver looked at Yori, who then said, "I'll just use ketchup."

"Then two tomato sauces, made from real tomatoes, not synthetic ones, and the money will be there."

'This dip, this way of speaking'

The more Claire listened, the more familiar it sounded.

As a bartender, especially a bartender in a place like Afterlife, Claire is always shrewd. After sensing this familiar feeling, she made a final test: "So, would you like something to drink?"

"Bring something non-alcoholic. I don't plan on drinking today. By the way, give that person a cup of sweet tea."

As he spoke, Oliver pointed at Karl and said, “I want pure water ice cubes with mint leaves.”

Choose to drink sweet tea in the bar, which is more popular among young people or children, and also require pure water, ice cubes and mint leaves.
There was a flash of understanding in Claire's eyes.

She already knew who the people in front of her were.

I see. No wonder the tone of voice sounded so familiar, we must be old acquaintances.

Claire's smile became more sincere: "I see. Wait a moment. It will be done in a moment. Do you need anything else?"

Looking at Claire's smile, Karl realized that she must have noticed their identities, so he asked, "Where's Roger? Why didn't I see her? There are so many customers today. I thought she, the boss, would show up."

"These people may not be enough for Roger to take action. Of course, if it is you, Brown, Mann and others, who want to see Roger, maybe she will really come to see her later."

"Wait a moment?"

Hearing this, Karl was a little surprised: "Japan Street should be very noisy today, but Roger is still busy assigning work to others?"

"Besides assigning work, the boss still has to do other things."

Claire blinked at Carl and didn't say it explicitly, but just hinted: "After all, she is Roger, right?"

"So, it's not the middleman's fault?"

Roger is not busy with the middleman business.
Carl immediately thought of Rogge's other identity.

Michiko Arasaka.
Could it be that Rogue is now in Arasaka Tower, meeting with Arasaka Michiko?

It seems that the real owner of Arasaka in America has also sensed something.
Is this an attempt to understand things from the street level? Considering the former detective's identity and reputation as a detective, this approach is similar to Sherlock Holmes's method.
Perhaps it won't be long before she knows that Saburo Arasaka is coming to Night City. She might already have the relevant information on her cutting board.

Before Carl could think about it, he noticed that after them, new guests entered the afterlife.

That group of people looked very young, probably no older than Oliver at most, but their weapons and prosthetics were quite sophisticated.

Carl took a quick look and saw traces of heavy subcutaneous armor on the leader's body. Looking more closely, he saw obvious signs of modification on his hands. Judging from the hugeness that could not be concealed by the sleeves, he should have been wearing a gorilla arm.

And the way he walks also has a feline feel. Judging from the angle of his hunched back, he must have a lynx claw prosthesis installed.

Heavy subcutaneous armor and gorilla arms, this kind of prosthesis is obviously designed for aggressive fighting, but it is also equipped with lynx claws that reduce the sound of footsteps and are suitable for stealth?

It feels like a strong man charging on a donkey.

Then the thin man behind him
Single molecule wire?

It was rare for Carl to see mercenaries using single-molecule wires. After all, for an industry like mercenaries, it was unnecessary to master both firearms and hacking skills.

If single-molecule wires are used without taking data intrusion into consideration, it would be energy-consuming and not as labor-saving as directly using a samurai sword or a gorilla arm to solve the problem. Therefore, among the famous mercenaries in the city, only Carl uses them. Now, seeing a mercenary who seems to be quite capable using single-molecule wires, Carl is more or less surprised.

When Carl paid a little attention, he saw the group of four mercenaries walking up to Dexter DeShawn.

(End of this chapter)