Maybe because it was rare to see such a young and decent-looking merc, and because he had been saved by him in a way, the officer actually explained. "He was only put on the list recently, and this is the first bounty issued after he went on the run. If you waited a few more days, it probably would have gone up."
"How much more?"
The officer thought for a moment. A Cyberpsychosis with a Dynalar Sandevistan Type One, Mantis Blades, and a good amount of subdermal Cyberware was not a small threat. If he had killed again and escaped before the heavy response teams arrived, the number would have climbed fast.
"Probably over a hundred thousand Eurodollars."
"That much?" Carl glanced at the corpse with some regret. "Sounds like the growth potential was way better than the cash itself."
"Just the 'Dynalar Sandevistan Type One' alone is worth seventy-five thousand Eurodollars if it's new," the officer said. "That's not even counting the Mantis Blades and the recoverable subdermal Cyberware."
Hearing this, Carl's eyes drifted back to the body. "So, could I maybe—"
"NCPD has to take the body," the officer cut in, sounding helpless. "This wanted man was an Arasaka security employee. According to the contract he signed while alive, all his Cyberware and assets, including personal funds, belong to Arasaka after death."
"Signing away your rights even after you die," Carl said. "That really does sound like a corporation."
He was not surprised that an Arasaka guard used another company's Sandevistan. Arasaka did not sell their own model on the open market, even if they might have something in secret. In any case, Sandevistan was not something ordinary people could afford, and those who used it often signed contracts that stripped them of everything once they died.
"Looks like I'm done here."
Watching NCPD officers move back in and start setting up light barriers around the scene, Carl asked the officer, "What's your name? Let's exchange contact info."
"For the bounty transfer, right? Don't worry, it'll be in by this afternoon at the latest."
The officer quickly sent over his account details and notes. As Carl received the message, he saw the name.
"Johnson. A standard America name."
"Then I'll head out, Officer Johnson," Carl said as he waved. "If there's anything like this again, feel free to contact me. I'm happy to help NCPD handle some work, as long as the pay is right."
During the fight, Carl had noticed Johnson trying to rush in to help. Whether it was duty or conscience, he remembered that attempt, and that was why he addressed him so politely.
"I haven't been called that respectfully in a long time," Johnson said.
It was not a word you heard casually on the streets. Watching Carl leave, Johnson smiled. "Seems like this city still has a few things worth hoping for."
"Officer Johnson, we need you to sign the incident report."
"Oh, I'll be right there."
Ten minutes later, a member of an Arasaka special response team received the report about Patrick. He glanced at it briefly and then tossed it aside.
"So you were taken out, Patrick."
"I thought someone from Tyger Claws like me might make a decent subordinate," he muttered. "Looks like you were nothing special after all."
His attention quickly shifted to another file in his mind. It was about volunteers for experiments on a self-developed Sandevistan.
"Breakfast for you."
"Carl, did you go out?"
Still half asleep, Oliver was woken by Carl and pushed away the foot that Jack Welles had stretched onto his stomach. When he looked up, he saw the large bag in Carl's hand and finally focused his eyes. The smell of food made him sit up a little straighter.
"What are we eating?"
"A Sushi combo. Two large ones."
"Sushi for breakfast?"
Jack Welles rubbed his eyes and yawned as he woke up, but then his nose caught a strange smell. He followed it with his gaze and frowned.
"Carl, why do you smell like blood?"
"It's on TV right now."
Carl pointed at the screen, where an NCPD live broadcast was playing. The report said that a Cyberpsychosis had been shot dead after a fierce fight, and the location was downstairs from their place. The image froze everyone for a second.
"You ran into a Cyberpsychosis?"
Oliver was fully awake now. He looked Carl up and down a few times, and only relaxed after seeing there were no visible injuries. "You got dragged into it. That's bad luck."
"Not really bad luck."
Carl took the plastic boxes of fake Sushi out of the bag and set them on the table in front of the two of them. His tone was calm, like he was talking about errands.
"That Cyberpsychosis was taken down by me."
"What?"
Going out to buy breakfast somehow turned into killing a Cyberpsychosis, and neither of them could connect the two. While Oliver and Jack Welles asked questions, Carl walked to the vending machine to buy two bottles of purified water and explained what had happened earlier.
"So you were not dragged in. You jumped in on purpose," Oliver said. "Sandevistan, Mantis Blades, Subdermal Armor. You actually dared to face something like that. You really don't value your life."
Oliver could not help admiring the nerve it took. If he ran into a Cyberpsychosis like that on the street, he would turn around and run without a word.
"I just wanted to make some money. Who knew it was only ten thousand Eurodollars, and I couldn't even get a weapon out of it."
"Next time something like this happens, call us," Jack Welles said. "Going alone is too risky."
He clearly did not agree with how Carl handled it. Hearing their concern, Carl nodded.
"I just wanted to test whether my judgment was right. It won't happen again."
He was not someone who liked courting death. Feeling a Sandevistan once was enough, and if he ever had to face one again, he would at least upgrade his Cyberware first. Or he could learn more techniques from a Braindance.
After buying the drinks and tossing them over, Carl remembered the data chip he had taken. He paused for a moment before speaking again.
"By the way, I picked up a chip. Plugging unknown hardware straight into my Cyberdeck isn't safe. Oliver, can I use your computer?"
"Go ahead."
With Oliver and Jack Welles eating Sushi with their forks, Carl walked into Oliver's room and inserted the chip into the computer. The data loaded quickly, and there was nothing special on it, just a short text record. Even so, the content of the message felt strange.
'The cherry blossom born from chrysanthemum and rose has arrived in the City of Night Radiance.'
Carl could understand the City of Night Radiance as a reference to Night City. The coded words before that made no sense to him at all. Chrysanthemum, rose, cherry blossom, were they really just flowers, or did they point to people?
The message probably meant that someone had arrived in Night City. There was too little information to be sure. Why a Cyberpsychosis would carry a chip like this, and what it was supposed to mean, were both unclear.
One thing was certain. This was all the information he was going to get from it.
Carl valued gathering information a great deal. Useful or not, he kept it all in his head, because his strengths worked best when built on accumulated details. After asking Oliver and Jack Welles to save him some tofu skin Sushi, he browsed other sites and soon landed on a car sales page.
"Isn't that Old Captain's car site?"
Drinking purified water, Oliver brought over the tofu skin Sushi that Carl wanted and glanced at the screen. He recognized the page immediately.
"Old Captain?"
"Someone from Santo Domingo. I heard he used to be one of the Corpo Rats. He quit because he hated corporate rules and started selling cars instead."
"Mostly secondhand ones," Jack Welles added as he walked over. "Cars where someone died, or cars people needed to sell fast. If you don't mind that, the prices are pretty low."
"They really are cheap."