Cyberpunk Edgerunners: Demon Cyborg Genos [26]

“But,” Ethan added, “the past doesn’t matter. What matters is the future.” Rebecca looked at him for a second, then grinned.

“Damn right!” Without another word, she grabbed his hand.

“C’mon! Let’s go check out that street over there!” She dragged him forward, leading him toward the neon-lit sidewalks beyond the park.

For a moment, Ethan noticed her face was still a little red. She was trying not to show it. Trying to act like it wasn’t a big deal that she was holding his hand.

But— Her grip tightened. Like she didn’t want to let go. And as she glanced at him from the side, a single thought crossed her mind.

“Is this… what love feels like?” She had never thought about stuff like that before. But looking at Ethan now—laughing, talking, completely relaxed beside her— She felt like her world had just shifted.

….

Thirty minutes later…

They stood at a subway station near the park. And finally— They let go of each other’s hands. Neither of them spoke immediately. But there was a lingering hesitation. Like neither of them really wanted to say goodbye yet.

Then—Rebecca took a deep breath, gathering her nerve.

“Hey, uh—there’s a real-life shooting competition this Sunday night.” Her voice was uncharacteristically hesitant. Like she was nervous.

“I wanna invite you to come with me… so, uh, are you in?” She looked up at him, eyes filled with a mix of excitement and uncertainty.

Ethan didn’t hesitate. “Yeah. Count me in.”

Rebecca’s face lit up. “Hell yeah!” The train arrived.

As the doors slid open, Rebecca grinned. “Alright! See you then!” She hopped onto the train, turning to give Ethan one last bright smile as the doors began to close.

And then— She was gone.

Ethan stood there for a moment, watching the subway disappear into the depths of Night City.

Then, just as he turned to leave— His phone rang. The caller ID? Regina Jones. He picked up. The voice on the other end was direct, no-nonsense.

“You’re Ethan, right? I’ve been hearing all kinds of things about you. Word is, you’re the real deal.”

“I’ve got a gig for you— A Cyberpsycho needs to be put down. You interested?”

….

Regina Jones.

Her role? A fixer based in the Watson district.

In the game’s storyline, Regina frequently commissions V to handle tasks related to Cyberpsychos.

The core of these missions is simple: take down the Cyberpsycho and gather intel on the cause of their condition, either from their body or the surrounding area.

Ethan didn’t know how Regina had acquired his contact information, but that wasn’t important.

What mattered were the Cyberpsycho missions she offered.

Regardless of whether a Cyberpsycho had been a good person in the past, once consumed by cyberpsychosis, they inevitably devolved into inhuman, bloodthirsty beasts.

Most Cyberpsychos left trails of carnage in their wake, which inevitably drew the intervention of the elite Anti-Terror Task Force.

Ethan reasoned that if he could eliminate these killers, his role-playing metrics would see a significant boost.

“Listen, Ethan,” Regina said over the call. “There’s been a Cyberpsycho sighting near the Arasaka Tower—a hulking man with short golden hair. I need his personal neural chip.”

“This job pays well. Are you in?”

Ethan didn’t hesitate. “I’ll take it. I’m heading there now.”

“Good. But be careful—this one’s strong,” Regina added before disconnecting the call.

Almost as if punctuating her words, rain began to fall from the darkened sky.

Without delay, Ethan started moving toward Arasaka Tower.

At an intersection near the tower, he spotted signs of chaos. Gunfire, screams, and the shrill wails of sirens mingled into a discordant symphony of violence.

The NCPD had already cordoned off the entire block.

Scattered across the street inside the perimeter were countless corpses.

Blood mixed with rainwater, forming crimson streams that ran through the gutters.

Even from three hundred meters away, Ethan could catch the sickly-sweet stench of blood carried by the wind.

Without wasting any time, Ethan blinked forward, appearing at the heart of the cordoned-off area.

There, he finally laid eyes on the Cyberpsycho.

To Ethan’s surprise, the figure before him was none other than Lieutenant James—the same Cyberpsycho from the opening sequence of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

This guy was no ordinary target.

His cyberware coverage was staggering, with nearly his entire body enhanced by top-tier augmentations.

Equipped with a military-grade, epic-tier Sandevistan, four epic-tier mantis blades, and an arsenal of advanced weaponry integrated into his body, Lieutenant James was nothing less than a walking slaughterhouse.

Facing a Cyberpsycho of such caliber…

Only the elite of the Anti-Terror Task Force had the capability to take down a threat like James. However, even for such highly trained operatives, suppressing someone of his caliber was no guarantee.

As the hovercraft of the Anti-Terror Task Force arrived at the scene, five heavily armed operatives swiftly disembarked, preparing to engage James in combat.

Inside the hovercraft, the task force’s netrunner was already hard at work, attempting to hack into James’ personal neural chip. Yet, for reasons unknown, even after considerable effort, the netrunner was unable to breach his defenses.

Despite James’ formidable combat skills, he was no match for five elite operatives at once. Within mere seconds, his body was riddled with bullet wounds, and his external armor was severely damaged.

At this critical moment, the netrunner finally succeeded in breaching James’ neural chip and issued a synaptic burnout command.

In an instant, the neural chip embedded in the back of James’ head overloaded, sending a burst of electricity through his nervous system. His movements ceased as his body collapsed to the ground.

Seeing James motionless, the five operatives cautiously approached, keeping their charged rifles trained on his head and other vulnerable points on his body.

When they were within a meter of him, something entirely unexpected occurred.

In the span of less than a second, James suddenly activated his Sandevistan augmentation and surged to his feet. From his back, four additional mantis blades extended, joining the four already deployed.

At that moment, James became a whirlwind of destruction. His eight mantis blades slashed at an inhuman speed, creating a chaotic storm that distorted even the falling rain around him.

In the blink of an eye, the furious onslaught shredded four of the operatives into fragments of flesh and blood. Only one of the task force members, equipped with a military-grade Sandevistan, narrowly managed to escape the carnage.

However, she wasn’t unharmed. Her helmet and visor were partially sliced off during the attack, rendering her headgear useless.

Frustrated and wary, she ripped off the damaged helmet, revealing her face as she prepared for what might come next.