In American comics, all your teammates are the main characters and bosses

Chapter 146: The first priority is to make money!
"I told you, David, to use the genuine product. I also gave you the money to upgrade. Why do you have to go to the prosthetic doctor to use a pirated copy?"

Gloria said helplessly, "Because you acted on your own initiative, we have to pay ten times the money now."

The prosthetic technology in Night City is very prosperous. Although the lower-class people do not have many channels for systematic learning, places like Arasaka Academy where children of dignitaries study are already equipped with virtual reality Mewtwo projections for learning.

Of course, every system upgrade costs a lot.

In order to save money, David chose to ask the prosthetic doctor to help him upgrade. Later, the pirated system bug paralyzed the whole classroom's Mewtwo system. There was no other way, Gloria could only grit her teeth and take out all her little savings to compensate...

"...Actually, I also know that you want to lighten my burden."

Gloria sighed and said as she drove her old, dilapidated car:
"I also know that you have made a lot of gadgets and earned some euros during this period. But your most important task now is to study. Only by climbing to the top of Arasaka Tower can you change your life. If it is just to reduce the burden on the family... leave this matter to mom."

Although she was complaining, there was not much anger in Gloria's voice, only helplessness. She was even trying her best to control her temper because she knew that for David, few of his classmates at Arasaka Academy were good people.

"I'm sorry." David just responded boringly: "But the last time I asked you for money, you said you didn't have any."

"That's because it's not payday yet!" Gloria didn't seem to be prepared for the situation. She sighed and said, "And if you want to apologize, you might as well not do it in the first place... Also, don't shake your legs!"

"I know... but I'm wondering whether I should drop out of school." David looked out the window, put his elbow on the edge of the window impatiently, and said with his chin on his head, "You also know that we can't afford the full cost of repairing the system. And you also know that I don't fit in at school, don't you?"

"As long as you are poor, you are just a low-level rat and will not be taken seriously. Even if you study hard, it will be useless. At most, you can be a clerk after graduation... I don't want to be a company dog!"

"..."

Gloria didn't say anything, but drove in silence. After a moment of silence, David looked at his mother beside him: "Why don't you say... uh..."

Noticing the tears in his mother's eyes, David, who was clearly full of complaints, found himself unable to utter a word.

"Why do you think I work so hard?" Gloria's voice was somewhat bitter and unwilling:
"I know you are very talented. You have been smart since you were young and you can quickly understand things that are difficult for others to understand. You are smart and talented. I have inquired about it. The little things you sell have received constant praise... But it is precisely because of this that you can't repeat this complicated and meaningless work like me. I work so hard just for you. What should I do if you don't study anymore?"

"I know you suffered a lot of humiliation in there... so did I. I know it very well. That's why we have to climb to the top of Arasaka Tower! I know you have such talent, so I know you can do it! So... you have to study, you can't give up studying!"

This kind of expectation and pressure from parents, this feeling of parents forcing their unfulfilled dreams on themselves is very uncomfortable. Especially for children and teenagers, this often makes people feel a strong sense of guilt, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are forcing children to study.

But David had no objection, because he knew very well that in Night City, where the lower class lived a life worse than that of a mouse, his mother, as a single-parent family, had gone through so much hardship to raise him. He also knew that it was precisely because of these obsessions that his mother was able to come this far...

Maybe these obsessions are wrong, but if all the obsessions are taken away like this...

Just like dominoes, they all collapsed at once.

Thinking in his heart, David pursed his lips and said: "I...I know, I will go back to school, okay!"

After hearing David's words, Gloria burst into laughter, and then scolded with a smile: "Go back to school if you want! You don't have to say anything! You——"

Before Gloria could finish her words, her gaze suddenly narrowed.

Behind David, or rather outside the car window next to David, a sturdy man with a highly artificial body emerged from a modified van. He raised his hand and aimed a heavy machine gun at a black car on the other side of David's family.

Through their tattoos, Gloria, who had been hanging around at the bottom of society for many years, almost immediately recognized that these guys were from the Animal Gang.

The radical street gangs in the western part of Pacific Island are different from other gangs. They never use traditional prosthetics, but instead rely on huge amounts of testosterone and animal supplements such as growth hormone to strengthen their bodies. They are violent and barbaric, have no fixed territory, and live like wild animals. The gangs are also divided into multiple teams, led by the most powerful men or women, and use fighting and violence to solve all problems and conflicts.

Now, completely ignoring David's family who were caught in the middle, the strong man from the Animal Gang just stared at the target vehicle on the other side and shouted excitedly:

"Open fire! Destroy the company dog's crappy car for me!!"

"okay!!"

As he spoke, the boy who had raised the heavy machine gun pulled the trigger without hesitation. Seeing this, Gloria suddenly shouted, "Get down! David, get down!"

"what?!"

While David was still puzzled, a series of flames had already torn the windows of the old and dilapidated car. The heavy bullets flying across the car shattered the front frame in an instant. Although David grew up in Night City, it was his first time experiencing such a conflict. For a moment, he felt a buzzing in his head and was at a loss. Gloria, who was experienced, almost immediately stepped on the brakes and tried to distance herself from the two cars.

But on the side, after discovering that the car had been reinforced with electroplating and was immune to machine gun fire, the burly man who had half of his body exposed from the Animal Gang's car directly took out a rocket launcher.

"Die! Company dog!" With a roar, the rocket hit the ground, rubbing against the chassis of the car, and burst into a huge flame. The powerful impact blew the car away, and amid the excited shouting of the Animal Gang, Gloria and David looked at the heavy car flying towards them, their eyes widened with despair.

But at this moment, before the heavy car fell, a dark figure fell from the sky. Facing David's eyes, which were still filled with despair and confusion, the burly figure directly smashed down the car that was blown into the air.

No, it didn't fall down, but it smashed through directly. The car that was originally flying out of control in the air was nailed to the ground almost instantly.

Looking up, Armstrong, who was falling from the air, moved his neck twice. He felt the restrictions around him, but did not care much. Instead, he directly tore open the iron sheets around him and looked at David.

Touching his chin and glancing at the city in the distance, Armstrong showed a cheerful smile on his face.

"Ha! That's David! I saw your introduction in this thing called the system! David Martinez!"

"David?!"

After hearing Armstrong's words, Gloria was suddenly awakened, and then she looked at David, whose face was still filled with fear.

"You know him? How did you know each other?! What...what on earth is going on?!"

"I, he, this..."

Seeing the confusion on David's face, Armstrong didn't care much. He just straightened his suit. When his hand passed over his chest, he paused slightly, but then shook his head with relief.

"Damn Raiden, I hope he can carry out his ideals. But then again, it feels really good to be able to come back to life after dying once."

Armstrong quickly regained his energy while talking to himself. He patted the hood of the old car, and the banging sound quickly brought David back to his senses. He then hurriedly got out of the car and said:
"Is this Mr. Steven Armstrong? I'm David Martinez! Um, I'm here to pick you up... uh, thank you for your help."

Scratching his head and taking a look at the heavy car that was smashed to the ground by Armstrong and then torn in half, David couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

Although the series of events was truly shocking, he still remembered the scene just now. If I remembered correctly, the gang members just now couldn't penetrate the electroplated coating of the car door with a heavy machine gun. And now...if there are some unexpected factors in breaking through, then tearing it open directly with hands, no matter how you think about it, it's a bit unreasonable, right? !
Yes, if I remember correctly, the information shows that Mr. Armstrong also comes from the technological world, and perhaps he has also undergone a high level of cyborg transformation?
Thinking of this, David couldn't help but take a few more glances at Armstrong. Unfortunately, from the outside, Armstrong didn't have any signs of prosthetics. If there was any difference, it was that he was strong.

This is a kind of strength beyond imagination, the neck is almost thicker than the face. The oversized suit pants and white shirt are bulged on Armstrong's body like a balloon, giving people the feeling that they will be burst at any moment.

The Animal Gang would inject large amounts of growth hormone, artificial testosterone, and biological supplements to increase the strength of their body's toxins, and use a certain degree of prosthetics to allow their bodies to withstand greater subspecies transformation. But even so, David had never heard of anyone as strong as Armstrong in front of him.

In particular, Armstrong seems to have no signs of transformation at all. His hairline is even a little high. He also wears a pair of gentle black-framed glasses, giving people the contrast illusion of Zhang Fei embroidering.

Just as David was about to say something, the Animal Gang's modified car, which had already driven away, came rushing towards David and others with the roar of the accelerator, accompanied by shouting and cursing.

With a sharp brake sound, the burly man holding the rocket launcher jumped off the car. After the transformation, his burly body looked down at Armstrong and looked into the car. After seeing that the person inside was not dead, his eyes showed a trace of shock and anger, and he shouted:
"Damn it, he's not dead yet? Then just go die together!"

As he spoke, the sturdy man returned to the car, and then threw a grenade with the pull ring removed at the car like throwing garbage, and then shouted excitedly: "Run! Otherwise we will die together, hahahaha!!"

"Boss, you're awesome!" Upon hearing that, the younger brother who was driving was not afraid, but immediately started the car and moved away from the explosion area.

After a large amount of hormone transformation, the people in the Animal Gang have become seriously different from ordinary people in both their mental state and way of thinking.

As they looked at the falling grenade, David and Gloria's original relief for surviving the disaster immediately turned into deeper despair. But before the grenade fell, a big hand reached out and grasped the fist-sized grenade in its palm like a cultivation toy.

Accompanied by a roar that seemed to shatter his eardrums, David only felt the air around him shake, and then a tinnitus like deafness came from his ear hole.

When David came back to his senses, he saw Armstrong clapping his hands with great interest, and then threw the ashes in his palms onto the ground beside him.

"This city is really nice. I like the power brought by this wildness." Armstrong smiled, his broad square face dotted with a little excitement. His neat white teeth sparkled in the sun. Taking a look at David's old clothes and Gloria's broken car, Armstrong could more or less realize that the young man who hosted him was from a poor family.

Thinking of this, without waiting for David to react, Armstrong turned his gaze towards the Animal Gang modified car that had already driven away in the distance.

The smiling face was filled with undisguised arrogance. While making a running gesture, he said to himself: "Next, let's collect some interest! Haha, coming to this world..."

The next moment, Armstrong's nano-heart beat violently, and his strong body turned black for a moment, and then quickly returned to flesh color. At the moment of exerting force, David only heard a buzzing sound of the road breaking, accompanied by the steel and concrete being crushed directly. The seemingly bulky body rushed towards the modified car at an astonishing speed, like a hunting brown bear!

“First pot of gold!!”

(End of this chapter)