Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Doesn’t Want to Become a Night City Legend

Chapter 111: No Longer Ashamed of Myself (Four in One)

Afterwards, Lu Mingfei was told by everyone what happened after he fell into a coma.

Falco successfully transported David out of Night City and found some badlands where someone who seemed to be an acquaintance of Adekado State hid David temporarily.

Rebecca had originally planned to send Lu Mingfei out of Night City directly. After all, he and David were completely exposed to the public.

But in the middle of the journey, because there seemed to be signal marks in the blood of the heavy hammer on Lu Mingfei's body, the two were hit directly by missiles.

Although Lu Mingfei's magnetic field rotation barely prevented the two from being killed on the spot, they could only land in the area below.

Haywood Area

Of course, the result is almost the same no matter where you fall. There are few corners in Night City with simple folk customs.

unless
You have accumulated good deeds and performed virtuous actions, yet you have met a so-called "good person" who is grateful for your kindness with a probability even lower than winning the lottery.

They happened to land in Jack Wilson's activity area. This mercenary who was rescued by Lu Mingfei finally became an independent mercenary while still admiring L. He has also gradually accumulated some reputation recently.

Not only that, he has the backing of the Valentino Gang and his mother, Guadalupe Alhandra Wells, a well-known woman in the underworld.

In her territory, even gangs and companies dare not cause trouble.

Valentino thought about it and decided to help.

One reason was to repay a favor. Lu Mingfei had helped the Valentino Gang, not just that time with Jack. In the one or two months after that, Lu Mingfei, as L, had also communicated with the people of the Valentino Gang. With his methods and uniqueness, there were few people in this city who disliked him except for his enemy, the Whirlpool Gang.

two is
[No, big brother?]

[He attacked Arasaka Tower head-on. Although he didn't get through from beginning to end, he did steal Arasaka's military prosthetic body, and then killed Adam with a heavy hammer on the front battlefield!]

[This is fucking! ——]

[Super Metal! So cool!]

Although most of the so-called gangs have become corrupt, there may still be some bloodiness hidden in some corner of their hearts.

There are always some who are dissatisfied with the company's policies and who are eager to rebel against the world.

Therefore, they naturally have a high degree of favorable impression towards Lu Mingfei.

In this way, everyone hid Lu Mingfei and the other members of David's team, and then secretly deployed armed forces to deal with the investigators that Arasaka might send out.

However.
[No]

Yes.

To everyone's surprise.

Arasaka, no counter-measures.

Perhaps it's because no one has tried it before, but now the residents of Night City finally understand that this company is a machine that weighs interests.

When the trouble you cause is too small, he won't bother with you.

When you cause a big problem, they will weigh their face and interests and finally destroy you mercilessly.

When you caused such a big trouble, so big that you killed the strongest mercenary at his doorstep, he became silent.

Because if Arasaka wants to kill a mercenary who can kill Adam's Hammer, the cost of a frontal battle is too high.

Just look at the battle between Military Technology and David.

[Cyborg David] has already reached the edge of legend, and such combat power is enough to single-handedly defeat the third-tier army of military technology, not to mention Chongchui and Lu Mingfei.

Sending such a force would not only bring shame upon Arasaka, but also put them at risk of being taken advantage of by other companies.

then--

They chose to do nothing. After all, Arasaka Tower itself was badly damaged and they were busy repairing it.

At most, he would hire some mercenaries to cause trouble for Lu Mingfei.

This is the company.

And how many mercenaries can be found in Night City who don’t know Lu Mingfei?

[Ah? I'm going to fight Lu Mingfei?]

【real or fake? 】

People smiled—and then chose to decline the mission.

The company couldn't possibly get involved with more mercenaries for this matter. Right now, Arasaka Tower's power in Night City was at its weakest, and forces such as military technology were eyeing this opportunity covetously.

A chance to turn the situation around.

Arasaka concentrated all of their unused forces on important assets within the company, as if there was something that needed to be protected.

finally.
Three days passed.

Nothing happened.

And Lu Mingfei woke up.
-
Neon lights dragged long, thin streaks of light on the bulletproof glass. The car radio was playing an advertisement for the trauma team. The female driver swerved the steering wheel, and the SUV ran over the puddles on the road. The reflected neon sign shattered into blood-red spots under the tires.

"Arasaka's Hounds have deployed three additional squadrons in the Watson District."

Lucy's pupils glowed the dark blue of data streams, and her slender fingers tapped the invisible interface on her knees. "But it's still just a show."

"Ha, those cowards!"

Rebecca blew her bubble gum, and pink candy stuck to the corners of her mouth.

She was maintaining her beloved shotgun, the barrel gleaming with mother-of-pearl under the cold light of the dashboard. "If they wanted to, they couldn't fail to find us. They just don't dare to come."

"They're afraid of us!"

Outside the windshield, the searchlights of the corporate checkpoint pierced the night sky, and the holographic warning tape cast a scarlet grid in the night sky, like a spider web catching prey.

"."

Lucy said nothing.

She is the one in the team who fears Arasaka the most.

But after experiencing this incident, something has indeed changed.

She looked at the boy in the front row.

Lu Mingfei buried his chin in the stand-up collar of his bionic fiber jacket, his head nodding as if to rest. The woman couldn't help but laugh, "Yes, we have the blessing of a living legend~"

"?"

".Ha ha."

Lu Mingfei smiled foolishly and didn't say anything.

The strange female driver, seeing this, whitened her knuckles on the steering wheel and spoke nervously, "No. I said—"

"Are you really the mercenary team that crushed Adam with a heavy hammer?"

"Nonsense, who else could it be besides us?"

Rebecca interrupted, scratching her long hair that reached her heels.

"You, on the other hand, are quite brave. You dared to take us out of the city and even took the initiative to contact the family in the Bad Land to protect us. What's your name?"

"Panam."

The female driver finally had a name.

Her skin color was a little dark due to years of exposure to the harsh sun in the harsh soil, but her facial features were delicate and there was a sense of boldness between her eyebrows.

"I have some friendship with Falco. After all, we are both deliverymen. Besides, Roger also asked me to take care of you."

That's right, Roger.

The queen of the afterlife, the only living legend in Night City before Lu Mingfei came.

Although Rogge noticed some drawbacks in this "Choose One of Two" mercenary mission, she did not take it seriously at the time and eventually fell into Arasaka's trap.

Although no one would blame Rogge, he still took the initiative to take on this responsibility and helped Lu Mingfei and others bear some of the pressure from Arasaka.

[Don't let me know which counterintelligence bastard set me up.]

——This is the original text of Queen Rogge.

For her, who has been in the martial arts world for a hundred years, it must be quite humiliating for her to be deceived by Arasaka employees about information.

And that Arasaka employee.
Lu Mingfei remembered the blue-haired woman who had confronted him in the burning corridor of Arasaka Tower.

【V】

It must be her. She was even able to secretly trap Rogge in the interweaving of intelligence. What kind of evil person is she?
Lu Mingfei suddenly rubbed his face vigorously. For some reason, he found it difficult to forget those eyes.

It can't be love at first sight, right?

No way! I, Lu Mingfei, am a man with mature emotional experience—Oh, I’ve never had a girlfriend, that’s fine.

With his mind in a mess, Lu Mingfei rubbed his scalp. He felt like ants were crawling all over his body and he was lying on the passenger seat like a cricket.

".I don't see any sense of oppression on this young kid's part."

Panam, who was standing by, complained when he saw this.

“I couldn’t see it before.”

Lucy agreed at first, then her voice suddenly became sharp like a taut string. She looked off into the distance and whispered, "We're at the security checkpoint."

The ball scanner atop the checkpoint began to spin, sending a blue light across the car windows.

Rebecca spat out the gum and ran her hand over her shotgun.

Lucy put her hand on the back of her neck and bit her lip in alertness.

【Da Da】

A guard in an Arasaka uniform knocked on the car window, the company badge on his chest radiating a cold, emotionless color.

The moment the car window was lowered, the guard's pupils suddenly dilated - the Neuromancer's data virus was flowing upstream along his optic nerves.

Data streams flashed in Lu Mingfei's eyes.

Those golden eyes instantly switched the footage in the surveillance camera to a fake one that had been prepared long ago, and the guard in front of him was instantly overloaded with a large amount of junk information, depriving him of the ability to think normally.

".excuse me."

The guard's voice grew dull.

A holographic projection unfolded before them, a forged nighttime travel permit glowing a soft emerald green.

Hacking is completed in an instant.

Lu Mingfei's movements were so natural that they were almost like breathing.

Panam, who was watching this scene, swallowed his saliva and was terrified.

Hey, hey, hey, that's too exaggerated.

A single look can completely deprive a human being of his life, will, and dignity.

This is.
legend?

As the searchlight beam turned elsewhere, Panam stepped on the accelerator, and dust mixed with electronic components rose up from the rear of the car.

The cracked asphalt road suddenly disappeared, and the tires rolled over the rough salt-alkali land.

This is the Badlands.

The abandoned oil pipeline stretches across the horizon like the skeleton of a giant beast, and dust is dispersing in the distance.

The world outside civilization.

The Adecado bonfire appeared at midnight. Rusty fuel tankers formed a makeshift fortress, the machine gun turrets mounted on their roofs slowly rotating.

Panam honked the horn in the nomadic code, and the chained gate slowly rose.

"Welcome to the land of the free."

Panam slapped the car body with her oil-soaked palm, making a gesture that she probably thought was very cool.

In the distance, Night City flickered on the skyline like a box of overturned electronic components, and they stood on the edge of a civilizational ulcer, with the desert awakening behind them and a hoarse whimpering in the wind.

"So, you are L?"

A strong-looking man in a white vest came out. He first glanced at Panam with a complicated expression, then walked towards Lu Mingfei and others.

He was not armed with any weapons and didn't even look like a Badlands man.

However, perhaps this is also a signal of goodwill. After all, Lu Mingfei is now a living legend, and pointing a gun at him is asking for trouble.

"Hello, my name is Sol."

The man came over and shook hands with Lu Mingfei. The latter turned his head left and right, hoping that others would be responsible for communicating on his behalf, but he saw that they all pushed him to the front.

"."

There was no way out. Lu Mingfei had to keep calm and communicate with the man politely.

"My name is Lu Mingfei."

"Your name is well-known—please follow me, your companion is inside."

"Um, big sister?"

"Ah."

Lu Mingfei and Lucy walked towards the medical tent.

The wanderers along the way were installing bionic filtration membranes on the rusty water purification system. Lu Mingfei took a glance and felt that this was an "ecosystem" completely different from that in the city.

David lies in a cryogenic chamber powered by a car battery pack.

He didn't open his eyes.

"He was tired. After I told him you were safe, he just fell asleep. Although he occasionally fluctuated, it was obvious that his body was in an extremely fragile state."

Lu Mingfei glanced inside the temporary medical room.

The brilliant blue computer screens overlapped, David's heart rate flashing across them. The holographic projector rippled with the entrance of Lu Mingfei and the others, projecting twisted neural dendrites onto the hatch. "Arasaka's unknown model of prosthetic body is still devouring his sanity, and... his life."

This is an expected result.

[Cyborg] is such a monster. Once installed, it means falling into the abyss.

David is [special], which allows him to successfully move in and out of the army with the cyborg, and even fight with the strongest mercenary Adam Hammer.

This stems from his mixed-race qualities.

Lu Mingfei speculated that if the essence of the prosthesis was the connection between the dragon's flesh and blood and the human brain, then the human's tolerance would not depend on the bloodline level, but on the "brain", which is the so-called fifth element - the [spiritual element].

Perhaps David has a talent for this.

But this talent can only last for now.

"Leave it to me next, Big Sister."

".Sorry Mingfei, if I had hacked into that guy back then..."

"We agreed not to talk about this~"

Lu Mingfei waved his hand.

He knew what Lucy meant. She had killed Tanaka to protect David during the mission with Mann's team, and did not save the detailed data of the Cybernetic.

If they had those, they might not even have needed to fight Arasaka.

But - where do so many ifs come from?

What if Lucy hadn't met David?

What if David and his mother hadn't been involved in that gang fight?

What if Lu Mingfei had not come to this world?

If, if, if—the world would scatter into countless scattered branches and leaves.

Even so
I also want to do everything I can in the present moment.

He asked Lucy and Thor to wait outside while he took the scalpel and many unnamed disassembly tools that were already on the shelf.

".Haha, how ironic." He looked at the man in front of him with his eyes closed, muttering words that no one could hear.

"At the beginning, I was also tied to the operating table, but now, I'm the one holding the knife. But don't worry, boss—"

Lu Mingfei's pupils glowed with molten gold.

"I will definitely save you. I am Victor's inner disciple."

"It's an appointment."

In his awakened dragon vision, David's shattered bioelectric field was like a torn spider web, and the cyber components deeply embedded in his flesh and blood were making greedy gnawing sounds.

At the same time, Lu Mingfei's vision was split into two.

Half of it was David's shattered bioelectric field.

Half of it was all the data Lu Mingfei had obtained from V on the cyborg from project initiation to production completion—even including the cyborg data obtained during combat with military technology.

These are his 'materials'.

The scalpel is just a medium.

The key item you really need is——

call--------

“Let’s get started.”

"The magnetic field rotates."

The young man placed his palm above David's chest, and the energy ripples flowing out from between his fingers caused polygonal crystals to form on the surface of the cryogenic chamber.

"One hundred thousand horsepower."

The rotation of the magnetic field is the most special [Word Spirit] that Lu Mingfei has mastered.

No, if you insist, this is actually not the Word Spirit, but is closer to the essence of the Word Spirit - the control of the five elements in the world.

However, this power has strict levels.

Just a hundred thousand horses' worth of strength is far from enough to bring the dead back to life.

However, if the magnetic field force is simply used as an extension of a fine scalpel, allowing Lu Mingfei to cut and decompose the structures in David's body at the nanometer level...
With Lu Mingfei's intelligence and his precision, which can be described as a humanoid Star Platinum, he can do this!
Absolutely.

It's easy!!!

Lu Mingfei's consciousness had sunk into the microscopic world, and his thought tentacles were wandering along David's spinal nerves.

In the magnified field of view, he saw the blood-red dots at the interface of the prosthesis gnawing at the myelin sheath like a swarm of metal locusts.

That might be the spiritual element of 'dragon'.

Once a hybrid is infected by this thing, it will turn into Deadpool, and if it uses a prosthetic body, it will turn into a cyberpsychopath.

Cold sweat broke out on Lu Mingfei's forehead. He had to control thousands of energy scalpels at the same time.

Some blades were responsible for severing contaminated synapses, while others guided stem cells to repair the damaged ones. Some had already sprouted neural tentacles, entwining the hippocampus like parasitic vines. Lu Mingfei had to separate the scalpels, weaving through the gaps in neurotransmitter transmission. Each cut had to be made with femtosecond precision; the slightest mistake could trigger a chain reaction.

The cell structure lights up again like a miniature power station, and the damaged double helix slowly heals itself under the influence of the magnetic field.

The blood vessels, once dyed indigo, were fading back to coral red, and bloated regenerative tissue was growing in the nerve junctions.

The alarm in the medical cabin suddenly sparked - the overly strong bioelectric current burned out the monitoring chip.

But none of these could stop Lu Mingfei from concentrating.

Don't worry, boss.

I will save you.

Boring man, boring story.

David slowly opened his eyes and found himself sitting in the passenger seat of a car.

The light inside the car was dim and hazy, as if shrouded by an old filter. The indicator lights on the dashboard flickered, as if they would go out at any moment.

The colors are blurred and the boundaries are difficult to distinguish.

here it is.
David's lips trembled slightly, and he slowly turned his head as if he had guessed something.

The light of the setting sun was a bit glaring. David squinted his eyes before he could see the outline of the woman clearly among the dazzling golden fragments.

Sure enough, in the driver's seat was that familiar presence.

Gloria Martinez

She has long red hair and a face that seems a little haggard due to years of overwork. Compared to Night City, she is one of the least transformed ones. She is beautiful and gentle.

David opened his mouth, but his throat seemed to be choked by something and he couldn't speak for a while.

His mother seemed to notice his gaze, turned her head, and raised the corners of her mouth slightly, revealing a gentle smile: "Are you awake?"

The voice was soft and familiar. David took a deep breath, trying to calm the turbulent emotions in his heart, and asked in a low voice: "Mom, where are we going?"

His voice sounded a little muffled in the dim carriage.

The mother gently turned the steering wheel, her eyes still fixed on the hazy road ahead, and whispered, "I'll take you somewhere, where you should go."

David glanced at his clothes.

It's a custom-made uniform from Arasaka Academy.

".Arasaka Tower?"

".And now you're still talking about this"

David showed a somewhat self-deprecating expression.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mom. In your opinion, I'm just a self-depraved guy."

"."

The time on the dashboard showed 15:47, the time when they had the car accident.

"I know this is a dream."

"Don't they often say in movies that people go through a revolving lantern of experiences when they are about to die?"

"That's how it is now, right? Or is this some brand new illusion?"

David gave a somewhat bleak smile and leaned his elbow against the car window.

"Come to think of it, that guy Lu Mingfei said that the revolving lantern and the like are all memories deep in the human brain that people don't usually recall. But if it's an illusion, then it means that you, Mom, are just the 'mom I think of' created in my memory, right? Then you must be very disappointed in me."

David's face moved closer to his forearm and then gradually slid down, his hair scattered messily and sticking to his skin. The famous mercenary in Night City looked so depressed and vulnerable at this moment.

"If that's the case, what am I pretending to be?"

The speaking speed suddenly increased.

David buried his face even deeper into his arms, and his shoulders began to tremble. He tried to maintain a smile that he thought was effortless, but his voice was intermittent: "I know perfectly well that if it were you, you wouldn't say that. I know perfectly well that there are other things I want to say."

I think every day, if I had been smarter, those kidney-stripping men would not have taken your life.

If I hadn't used those second-hand equipment, you wouldn't have come to pick me up and none of this would have happened.

If I just try harder, you won't leave me.

The pain and self-blame that had been suppressed in my heart for a long time poured out at this moment like a flood.

He knew clearly that if it was Gloria, even if it was "her in his own eyes", she would definitely say -

"Well done, David."

Hearing his mother's voice, David gritted his teeth and tried to look, but he didn't know whether it was the tears in his eyes that made it impossible for him to focus, or whether the illusion was about to end.

The woman's figure was so blurry.

"It's me who should say sorry."

"I'm sorry for making you carry guilt all the time. I'm sorry for making you live in pain all the time. I'm sorry."

"I can't hug you when you need me."

The car stopped.

The woman's hand gently stroked David's face with a cold touch, and the boy in the Arasaka Academy uniform suddenly turned into David with his entire body transformed into a cyborg.

He sat in the passenger seat, his giant gorilla arms covering his face, only transparent tears sliding down along the steel edges.

Silent crying, silent wailing.

Most people don't collapse when tragedy strikes suddenly.

When a loved one dies, the spirit often does not break down at the funeral.

But after returning home.

Look at the items left behind.

When I look at them and think, 'Ah, she will never come back,' my rationality will collapse.

and so--

David probably kept his mother's jacket on him.

Tasting the pain again and again, burning with anger, using himself as firewood, trying to set the city on fire, running all the time until the last moment.

But even he is like this.

In the final analysis.
He's just a seventeen-year-old boy.

"You made the right choice."

Gloria looked forward.

There was no tall tower that she had imagined for David. Instead, there was a burning bonfire, guns and flames, the girl who was important to him, the full moon that symbolized his dreams, and a partner under the moon who was willing to jump into hell for him.

In the rearview mirror, the shadow of the young David was holding a straight-A report card, while the seventeen-year-old was wearing a blood-stained jacket and holding a Stan Westin.

The neon lights on both sides of the street began to fade, and the world spread out like a water-soaked oil painting.

I honked my horn, but the sound was that of a church bell.

The roof of the car was lifted off by an invisible force, and the heavy rain turned into a waterfall of data streams pouring down.

The mother gently embraced David in her arms. Just like when he was a child, she patted his back and said softly, "My David, even if you leave me, you will be able to move forward well."

David leaned in his mother's arms, feeling the long-lost warmth.

The surrounding environment began to become increasingly blurry, and the darkness slowly receded like the tide, replaced by a faint light.

David knew that the dream was about to end.

He struggled, trying to squeeze out the words he had never said through his trembling throat.

"Love you, Mom"

and also
"Goodbye."

Those words came out of his mouth at the age of fifteen and now at the same time. His mother's laughter mixed with the sound of rain, chaotic and fragmented, going away into the distance.
-
As time passed, the patience of Lucy and the others outside the medical tent wore out.

The cyber hacker, who never believed in gods or Buddhas, now clenched his hands and prayed for the next outcome. Rebecca wanted to comfort him, but didn't know what to say.

Although surgery usually relies on the help of prosthetic doctors, in this special case, they can only rely on Lu Mingfei's personal strength.

It must succeed.
Time keeps getting longer.

There is music playing in my ears.

Lucy's mind was filled with memories of the past.

【I will take you to the moon! 】

convention.

[Lucy, you would never tell me that I can do it.]

conflict.

And there are wars in the Badlands, where men wear mortal prosthetics to cover the rear.

He was indeed so powerless, so special and ordinary - that's why he chose the only thing he could do, which was to protect her in this city.

Pray and ask.

If there is a god in the world, he must be a villain because he allowed the tragedy of cyberpunk to happen.

So Lucy wasn't actually praying, she was just asking.

Asking the genius boy who brought them countless miracles to do it again——

【call--】

"Where are the family members!"

Lu Mingfei shouted loudly, and his voice spread throughout the tribe. Lucy jumped down as if her neurons were stimulated and rushed to the medical tent.

As he ran, the view kept shaking, and then he gradually saw the corner of Lu Mingfei's clothes, and...
The embers of the campfire were drifting in the wind, like countless orange-red fireflies dancing in the night sky.

Lu Mingfei lifted the anti-radiation curtain and saw Lucy. He smiled and said, "Well, I'm sorry. I've tried my best."

"So as you can see—"

Lu Mingfei pushed the wheelchair in his hands.

"I succeeded~"

The moonlight shines down.

David sat in a wheelchair, his face pale. Those once hideous prosthetic interfaces were now only faint scars, like healed meteor scratches. His fingers unconsciously stroked the wheelchair armrests, feeling the long-lost, pure touch.

Lucy's short hair was lifted by the night breeze, the residual warmth of the campfire dancing in her hair. When her eyes fell on David's clear eyes, the coffee bottle she had been holding fell to the ground, and the brown coffee scattering in the sand.

".Feel sorry."

David smiled wearily.

"I am back."

Lucy's voice choked in her throat. She saw David give her a long-lost smile. There was no mechanical texture in that smile, no cyberpsychosis mania, only the purest human emotion.

When Lu Mingfei saw this scene, he couldn't help but smile.

His palms still retained the residual warmth of the magnetic field, and his knuckles were slightly white from excessive force. He let go of the wheelchair handle and was about to take a half step back. But the next second -

Lucy had already pounced on him.

She hugged David, but felt that Lu Mingfei was standing too far away, so she pressed Lu Mingfei's head down and pulled him into the hug.

The night breeze suddenly became gentle. David froze in place. He looked at Lu Mingfei, and Lu Mingfei gave him an expression that said "I'm used to it."

The man waited until he felt Lucy's trembling shoulders before carefully hugging her back.

"thanks, thanks"

Her fingers were tightly gripping their coats, as if if she let go this beautiful moment would slip away like sand through her fingers.

Lu Mingfei didn't know who she was thanking.

God?

Yourself?

Or David who didn't die?

have no idea.
but.
Lu Mingfei tried to raise his head. The light on the horizon was already turning pale, washing away the stench of everyday pollutants and leaving behind the unique freshness of the desert morning.

Lu Mingfei looked at the sky gradually brightening in the distance, a relieved smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.

In this moment between night and dawn.

He felt that he had indeed lived a down-to-earth life and achieved something.

Finally I can no longer feel ashamed of myself
live.

That day was the boy’s rebirth.

(End of this chapter)