Vash stepped out of the elevator, immediately hit by how out of place everything felt.
Inside, the cab had been bright and spotless, flooded with clean white light. A high-definition screen played an upbeat promo, the host's voice crisp as it introduced the company's latest tech product — now available in convenient installment plans.
The moment the doors slid open, the illusion snapped.
The hallway outside was dim and cramped. A short in the wiring had left most of the lights dead, and the crowd wasn't some planned "urban vibe" — it was simply too many bodies packed into too little space.
In 2077, technology had already leapt into the absurd, especially in cyberware. The so-called "Generation Four" implants were everywhere in the corporate game, while the rest of the world used the prior generations. Cybernetics fused with flesh as casually as an ear piercing.
And it wasn't only metal limbs and combat rigs. Artificial organs of every kind were on the market too. With enough money, you could replace whatever failed — and if you were rich enough, it was hard to die even if you wanted to.
Night City, that fully integrated mega-city, swallowed people by the thousands. Every day someone arrived, someone left, and someone vanished without a trace.
Yet one thing never changed: the constant hustle.
The corridor was a messy collage of humanity. Some people squatted in corners, smoking; others gathered in little clusters, talking big and laughing louder. Wallpaper peeled off in long strips, exposing the ugly concrete underneath. Water dripped steadily somewhere out of sight. Rats darted along the edges of the crowd when they thought no one was looking. Smoke hung in the air, mixing with the sharp, cloying stench of cheap perfume.
There were plenty of women too — bright red lips, outfits cut far too short, eyes that tracked every passerby. Every so often one would flash a smile and flutter their lashes like it was a reflex.
"Hey, handsome. Want to have some fun? I'm cheap."
As Vash pushed forward, a woman with a heavily modified face slid up beside him, curling her tongue as she spoke.
Honestly, he thought cyberpunk-style implants were cool — when they were meant for combat. This kind of facial modification, though? He didn't know how to react.
He forced his way through the crush of bodies and reached a room at the very end of the hallway. He set his palm against the scanner. A soft hum followed.
「Biometric identification passed, welcome home!」
The door unlocked and slid open. Vash stepped inside, and the apartment's smart systems came alive at once.
「Welcome home, master. Room temperature adjusted to a constant 26º C.」
「Lights on — fluorescent lighting automatically recognized!」
「Weather is pleasant today. Curtains opened.」
「Display activated. Now playing Channel 054 talk show.」
...
The whole place was automated from top to bottom. Vash looked around, and sure enough, it all felt far more real than even the game's highest graphics settings.
He took a slow lap around the apartment. It wasn't big, but at least it was clean. The view from the 23rd floor wasn't bad either — maglev tracks ran like glowing lines outside, luxury cars skimmed through the air, and neon billboards still screamed for attention even in daylight.
He hit the bathroom, washed up, then collapsed into bed. The "nap" swallowed the rest of the day and didn't let go until dusk.
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Ring Ring Ring!
A phone call yanked him awake.
「Incoming call: Jackie Welles」
He answered.
"Hey, Vash — you up, mano? You remember what we're supposed to do?" Jackie's voice crackled with excitement.
Judging by that tone, he'd probably managed to sell the iguana and pocket some decent cash.
"Drink." Vash said, swinging his legs off the bed as he headed for the bathroom.
"Christ, you just woke up? C'mon, choom — move it. I'm already in the garage downstairs. The girls in Night City? They ain't gonna wait all night." Jackie urged, then hung up.
Vash cleaned up, threw on whatever clothes were closest in the wardrobe, and headed out.
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In the underground garage, Jackie lounged in the driver's seat, nodding along to some hard-hitting rap.
When he spotted Vash, he lifted a hand and shouted, "V, over here!"
Vash walked up and saw that his "Rattler" had been fully repaired. The bullet holes were gone. Even the paint job had changed — rugged red and gray, like it belonged to someone who didn't care about being subtle.
{T/N: Originally it was supposed to have been destroyed beyond repair and abandoned.}
"V, check her out." Jackie said, grinning like he'd just pulled off a miracle, "Even if you didn't want your cut, I couldn't just keep all the spoils, ya know? Got the ride fixed up, swapped out the guts — real serious hardware."
"Not bad." Vash said with a nod, "So where to?"
In the original storyline, the moment you entered Night City, the game would jump ahead six months and drop you into the Scavengers job in Japantown.
But here, Vash had to start from scratch — step by step.
He didn't mind.
If anything, it made things more interesting.
"To the most interesting place in Night City." Jackie said, dropping his voice like it was a secret, "You'll see when we get there."
They rolled out of the garage and onto the street, and the city unfolded — Night City's other face, the eighty percent you didn't really see in daylight.
At night, there were even more people. The streets seethed with traffic, every kind of vehicle weaving through the neon glare of massive LED signs.
This was the real Night City: a place that claimed to embrace everything — and still found ways to reject it.
"V…" Jackie said with a laugh, catching him staring out at the lights, "Stay here long enough and you'll see — this place ain't all that."
"It's different." Vash said. Then, quietly, with the kind of certainty that sounded almost like a promise, he added, "Set the whole city on fire, and it'll be reborn — with new vitality and a new order."
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)