Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077

He muttered to himself continuously.

"Can't be, it shouldn't be possible—this is just a coincidence, impossible…" 

Leo said nothing and merely accelerated his pace.

… 

A few minutes later, they arrived at the meeting spot that Max had mentioned. When they took in the scene before them, both were stunned.

This place had once been the final refuge of the marginalized—abandoned by the city and society due to the ever-increasing poverty rate. 

More than a dozen dilapidated tents stood beneath the overpass, basking in the cool shade and relative comfort. On one side of the camp was a sunlit hillside where, on fine days, one could climb up to sunbathe, despite the utter destitution.

Yet even under such harsh conditions, the people gathered there, struggling to survive, were still willing to help one another and even welcome other unfortunate souls. In the center of the camp, there was a chapel without walls. The Holy Cross was placed on a crude wooden table. 

Seeing this scene, one's mind naturally conjured up an image: 

—On every day of worship, people would gather before the Holy Cross to listen to and absorb the wisdom of the Lord.

But now, that beautiful scene had been shattered. The tents that once sheltered people from wind and rain had been overturned. The Holy Cross had been broken into several pieces.

 The chapel at the center of the camp erupted into raging flames, and the corpses of people along with that of the pastor burned in the fierce fire.

Max paused in astonishment. Then, he dragged out a charred corpse from the blaze.

"Is he the one who was supposed to contact you?" 

Max nodded. He put on his gloves and began to examine the remains. After a careful inspection, he stood up again and sighed helplessly.

"The neural slot has been destroyed, his cybernetic eye has been gouged out, and his brain has suffered irreparable damage that renders any data recovery impossible."

"Only the company's people could have done something like this." 

Ordinary gang thugs would only kill—they wouldn't handle it so cleanly. 

Only those from the company knew that even the dead might divulge information. So they had destroyed Esteban's neural slot, gouged out his cybernetic eye, and completely obliterated his brain—all to prevent highly skilled hackers from extracting anything from it.

Regrettably, Max would never know what Esteban had intended to reveal.

"I can't stay here any longer, or I might end up vomiting." 

Max could not stand the smell of burning human flesh in the air, nor could he bear that these destitute souls—who had neither provoked nor offended anyone and had only banded together for warmth—were being used as firewood for the raging bonfire. 

And all because Esteban had chosen this very spot for the meeting, only to have everyone killed by Arasaka, who had come to silence them.

"Do you want me to take you back?" 

"No, I'll call a cab myself," Max said. He had already walked some distance, but as if remembering something, he turned back. "By the way, here's your payment. If anything else comes up next time, I'll get in touch."

After transferring the money to Leo, Max hurried off without looking back.

After Max left, Leo approached Esteban's corpse. Just as Max had said, Esteban's body had been mutilated beyond recognition. Even if the most gifted hacker in history, Lachi Bartmos, were resurrected, he would never be able to extract even a trace of data from it. 

Leo then put Esteban's corpse back into the fire, hoping that Esteban—and the people here—might find a better world in death.

Just as Leo was about to leave, a strange "gurgling" sound suddenly emanated from one of the boxes in the camp. This was obviously not the cooing of pigeons; it sounded more like the rumbling of an empty stomach.

"Are there any survivors?"

Leo activated the scanning mode on his tactical sight, but he found nothing. He paused for a moment, then looked again at the box that had emitted the strange noise and continued scanning—yet there was still no response. He understood. 

Either the box was coated with counter-detection material, or the person hidden inside had installed a counter-detection jammer. 

Considering that this box was merely an ordinary storage container, the latter possibility was more likely.

Leo gripped the knife sheath in his left hand and walked over slowly, making no sound. Arriving at the box, he took a deep breath and then suddenly flung open its lid. 

Almost at that very moment, a streak of golden light pierced the darkness and shot straight toward Leo's face. Leo tilted his head and dodged the incoming monomolecular wire. He then drew his knife and blocked it from the side. The monomolecular wire wrapped around the blade, its deep red hue glinting as sparks flew like raindrops in a collision—neither side yielding.

It was then that Leo noticed he was engaged in combat with a white-haired girl. The girl quickly realized that the struggle was not in her favor, so she actively severed her connection with the monomolecular wire. She leaped out from the storage box, stomping on the scattered debris as she landed on top of Leo. Her legs locked tightly around his neck, attempting to use her momentum and body weight to throw him down. Both tumbled toward the ground simultaneously, but Leo broke free from her grip and, as they fell, twisted her arm behind her back, pinning her to the ground. 

Immobilized, the girl struggled several times in vain; finally, as if resigned to her fate, she closed her eyes.

"I'm going to let you go now, but I hope you won't act impulsively, okay?" 

The girl hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded.

Only then did Leo get up from her and step back a few paces. The girl immediately rose, glaring at Leo with a look of caution and vigilance, completely disregarding the dust and grime clinging to her hair, face, and body. Leo looked around.

"Who are you? Are you the one who killed the vagrants of this camp?"

The girl retorted, "Weren't you the one?"

"Huh?!" 

Leo and the girl glared at each other in astonishment. After a brief exchange, they realized that it had all been a misunderstanding. 

Leo had mistaken the girl for a cyber-crazed murderer responsible for wiping out everyone, while she had mistaken him for a member of Arasaka's special assault unit that had slaughtered the entire camp. 

That was why she had attacked him when he had opened the box. Now that the misunderstanding had been cleared, the girl's expression softened somewhat, though she still maintained a cold, wary look.

However, Leo could understand. After all, in Night City, there were very few people like Jackie who would lend a helping hand to newcomers—instead, most were scavenger gangs that targeted your organs and cybernetics. The atmosphere grew somewhat awkward.