Cyberpunk 2074: Shadows of the Past.

Chapter 28
Morning, January 2074, 1

Yao Ri caressed Lucy's angelic face with warm golden satin.

She covered her flawless face with her hands, and slowly opened her eyes.

Forget who once told her that if she spends the night in the wilderness, she must cover her face with her hands before opening her eyes when she wakes up in the daytime.

She couldn't remember the original words, but it roughly meant this.

The memories of childhood were deliberately abandoned by her in the corner, allowing the torrent of time to wash them into pieces.

Even so, occasionally she would inadvertently pick up a piece of the past.

After that, there was heart-piercing pain and sleepless nights.

It was the epitaph carved on her heart by dozens of dead souls.

When the whispers of the undead gradually faded in her ears, she sat up and patted the dust off her body.

She tightened the rags that wrapped her body tightly, and slowly but firmly set foot on the road to Night City.

Except for a huge pothole on the road, there is no interesting landscape, and the eyes are just a barren wasteland composed of mud and yellow sand.

She stared at the pothole from afar.

The bottomless shadow in the cave easily killed her slight curiosity.

So she slowly walked around the God's Punishment Land.

Under the shadows, the corpses of nine stars and tens of thousands of bones are buried.

Knowing nothing, she kept walking.

The sun high in the sky watched her silently.

Her shadow was dragged long on the ground.

February 2074, 1

Lucy's second day in Night City.

The disparity in rent between rooms in Night City left her speechless.

With little savings, she chose to temporarily settle down on the fifth floor of H4, a super skyscraper.

The equipment and pool used for deep diving were naturally left to the landlord's family, which is an extra reward for the meticulous care of their mother and daughter.

Temporarily unable to connect to cyberspace.

Gotta find a way to make money.

She sat on the subway, thinking to herself.

Soon, she found a way to make money.

2074年，1月14日，8：30
Night City Subway [-].

"Thanks for your help, Rob."

"So, have you reunited with Clementine?"

"Hmm..." The man in the long windbreaker nodded lightly, with a smile on his lips.

"Good job! Joel." The middle-aged man with thinning hair patted the back of his friend excitedly.

"What about you?" Joel leaned his head on the glass window of the train, but looked at his friend.

"Hey, you know, there have been some disasters in biotechnology recently, saying that there will be emergency layoffs. I'm running out of money recently, and my wife and daughter have to spend money on medical treatment..."

"Let me lend you..."

This old friend issued a task entrustment for himself without hesitation, and it was even worse for him who was not well-off.

Joel sighed and immediately transferred the money to Rob.

"Thanks, brother..." Rob was not hypocritical. Under the pressure of the company's layoffs and the illness of his wife and children, this middle-aged man had to abandon all decency.

Fortunately, he still has friends.

"What's up, Rob?"

About to get out of the car, Joel looked suspiciously at his friend who kept touching his neck.

"It's okay..." Rob scratched his few hairs and smiled awkwardly, "Maybe he was bitten by a bedbug, his neck is a little itchy..."

Joel punched his friend with a smile, separated from him in the company square, and waved goodbye.

2074年，1月14日，20：00
"Clementine!" Joel opened the door of the apartment, and gently hugged the long-haired woman who flung herself into his arms.

"Welcome home!"

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.

In the past, they took the initiative to accept treatment and chose to completely forget each other.

Now, they swear to Yue that they will never leave for the rest of their lives and stay with them until they grow old.

"Tomorrow night, how about we go to the restaurant for a meal?" Clementine asked softly, lying in the man's warm arms.

"Okay, let's call Rob again, without his entrustment, we might still be kept in the dark by the clinic."

"Hmm..." She responded softly, slowly drawing circles on the man's chest.

February 2074, 1

Lucy's fourth day in Night City.

Night City was like a million times in her dreams, full of filth and foul smell.

During the day, she likes to take the subway in Night City, steal criminal money, and by the way browse the pus-feeding flesh in the heart, spleen and lungs of this man-eating beast.

At night, she is used to smoking a cigarette, shuttling through the streets of Night City, like a lonely wandering soul.

Like the poet Dante, she croons the Divine Comedy and walks between the Nine Hells and the Seven Purgatory.

Walk with the evil spirits in the splattered lava and the diffuse gunpowder, and glimpse the mottled corner of reality in the blood and fire.

The wind and rain drowned out the melody she hummed softly.

2074年，1月15日 20：30
"Strange, why hasn't Rob arrived yet?" Joel glanced at the digital projection suspended on the wall in doubt.

"Are you going to meet him at the door? As we all know, Rob doesn't know the way..." Clementine laughed and made a harmless joke.

She holds two precious bouquets of flowers in her hands.

In Night City, these two bouquets of bright red and green are worth gold.

One bunch was bought by Joel for her to commemorate his undying love with her;

Another bunch they were going to give to Rob in memory of him and his long friendship.

"Okay..." Joel scratched his hair, signaled the waiter to serve the food later, left a heavy kiss on Clementine's lips, turned and went downstairs.

"Hello? Rob, where are you? Clementine and I are waiting for you..."

Joel was standing outside the gate on the first floor contacting his friends, and the ominous premonition eroded his trembling heart.

A torrential rain was blowing outside the door, followed by a strong wind, forcing Joel to squint his eyes.

"Joel...I'm done..."

"What do you mean?" Joel shouted in confusion, only in this way, the voice would not be swallowed by the wind and rain.

"The money...is gone..." The voice on the other end of the phone was intermittent, "The company laid me off...my wife and daughter have no money for treatment in a high-end clinic...just now...the operation failed..."

"Rob?!" Joel yelled, but the phone had already hung up.

"Joel..." A friend's hoarse voice came from behind him, like a hellish ghost walking in the world, screaming terrifyingly.

"Rob?" Joel turned around in confusion, the raindrops slanted against the wind, making him unable to open his eyes.

"Sorry……"

Some bald men stood silently in the rain, just behind Joel.

He lifted off the robe he was wearing and was strapped with explosives.

"I have nothing left! Joel!" He roared madly, with a hideous face.

The ticking of the countdown was drowned out in the raindrops.

"I only have you as a friend... Hahahahaha..."

His madness, his roar, and the flames of the explosion resounded in the torrential rain tonight.

The dazzling light soared into the sky, attracting the eyes of countless people.

Clementine, who was sitting in the restaurant on the fifth floor, was smiling, holding two bouquets of flowers, and staring at the beautiful fireworks that were as brilliant as the last bloom of life.

She was waiting for a pair of friends who walked into the restaurant side by side.

Join her under this grand fireworks to celebrate the pricelessness of love and friendship.

It's a pity that she can't wait all her life.

2074年，1月15日 20：45
The ghostly figures wandering around at night were also attracted by the soaring explosion.

Wearing a plastic raincoat, she stood quietly in front of the broken body of a man.

Shock and astonishment still seemed to remain in the mechanical pupils that rolled to the ground.

Lucy tried to light a cigarette, and the tiny flame that rose was snuffed out by howling wind and howling rain in an instant.

She sighed faintly, took out the plastic bag she carried with her, and collected the broken body for this strange man.

I made a lot of money today, and I feel good.

The stranger may be given a dignified burial by the way.

She thought to herself, but felt that the crippled face looked familiar.

Delusion.

She sighed, carrying a small plastic bag, and walked towards the nearby self-service crematorium.

Walking in the night, the wind and rain passed by her, and she sang the deep divine comedy again, like an angel of death.

2074年，1月16日 8：00
"Good morning...Night City...Last night...restaurant...crazy...explosion...dead...Joel Kerry..."

The host's noisy voice woke Xita from her dream.

"Yahwei?" She pouted dissatisfied.

She was a little surprised why the person next to her pillow sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the radio, and remained motionless.

"Joel's dead..." he said softly.

His tone was indifferent.

Like a cold blade indifferently carved on a cold stone, leaving only a simple epitaph.

Just like the gloomy man's life, it was dull and boring.

Hita hugged him from behind silently.

She felt distressed that he had taken another step in the direction of people.

This is the second time that Yahweh has had some kind of strong emotion towards someone other than Heta.

Hito didn't know if this was a good thing.

All she can do now is hug him silently.

Xita has Rogge, Gloria, and many kind-hearted people to rely on.

Yahweh can rely on only her.

She sighed softly, gently embracing his temporary fragility.

The sunlight penetrated the glass and shone on his side face, leaving a silent silhouette.

　I was very excited when I wrote it, and I don’t know how you feel when you read it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)