Cyberpunk:Gained a body of steel

Sitting where he had started from, Peter crossed his legs and looked at the disbelieving Placid with a sneer.

"Mr. Placid, I have completed the commission you entrusted to me, but you don't seem too eager to pay me. If I hadn't installed the Relic, wouldn't I have been killed by you?"

Peter played up his acting skills, feigning anger while subtly revealing the information about the Relic chip in his possession.

Placid was taken aback when he heard that the Relic was installed in Peter's body. He hadn't expected Peter to be the mercenary who had stolen the chip before.

"Since that's the case, you must know the danger of the Relic, and you've come to Bridget to ask us to help you extract it."

Placid crossed his arms, acting as if he had Peter in his grasp.

Seeing the calm expression on Placid's face, Peter was speechless—this guy really had thick skin. There was no mention of the virus embedded in the previous mission chip.

"That's right, but you seem to have left something out, like the fact that you want to see Otto. Of course, this is one of my goals as well—after all, the consciousness of Johnny Silverhand is still in my head."

Hearing Peter's words, Placid felt another chill run down his spine. Who was this mercenary, and how did he even know about Otto?

"We can help you enter the old network to meet Otto, but we will go with you," Bridget interjected.

"I want to confirm something. The employer who hired us before was Evelyn Parker. When I found her a few days ago, all her behavioral chips were burned, and she was dead. Was that your doing?"

When Placid heard Evelyn's name, a hint of disdain appeared on his face. "You mean that plaything from Yunding? A little prostitute dared to covet something belonging to the Voodoo Boys—she deserved to be burned."

Peter showed no emotion at this. Evelyn had made a mistake, but her goal had been to climb higher. In Night City, there was no absolute right or wrong. If Peter were in the Voodoo Boys' shoes, he might have made the same choice.

But Peter didn't concern himself with such things. After meeting Otto, all these Voodoo bastards would be dead anyway.

Who was right and who was wrong? The person with the bigger fist was always right.

Without further conversation, Peter followed Bridget into the core hacking room of the Voodoo Boys. Inside was a massive server, seemingly used to run the subnet Poseidon.

"Lie down in this freezer. You don't have a deep interface on your body. If you don't lie here to connect to cyberspace, your brain will be burned to a crisp."

A Voodoo Boy technician explained while adjusting some data.

Peter didn't argue and simply lay down in the freezer.

Seeing Peter cooperate, Bridget reclined in her hacking chair and nodded to the technicians beside her.

As the technician activated the system, Peter felt his consciousness being pulled into a space composed of countless blue light spots.

"Is this cyberspace?"

Peter looked around. He had played countless games and entered cyberspace many times in virtual reality, but reality was far different from games.

Bridget and several Voodoo hackers appeared beside him.

"Next, the neural network connection between you and Silverhand will be temporarily strengthened to capture memory traces. Of course, all we need is Otto's data memory," Bridget said.

"That won't be necessary. I remember Johnny's memories clearly."

Peter moved fluidly, in stark contrast to Bridget, who appeared composed of red dots with noticeable delay.

He retrieved the needed data, which transformed into light particles before flinging it toward Bridget and the others.

"Alright, now we need to go deeper into cyberspace until we reach the Blackwall."

After Bridget finished speaking, they moved forward.

After a while, Peter spotted a massive red barrier of light ahead.

More precisely, it was a wall.

"This is the Blackwall. It protects the current cyberspace, separating it from the shattered remnants of the old world's cyberspace."

"Beyond the Blackwall are wild, rogue AIs—very dangerous. If you touch them, you'll die in cyberspace, and your real body will die with you," Bridget explained.

Peter already knew this. Lucy had been trained as a child by Huangban to mine data and knowledge from the old world's cyberspace.

"Now, we need you to pass through the Blackwall to find Otto."

Hearing Bridget's shameless words, Peter shook his head.

These Voodoo Boys were hopeless. They always wanted to use others, and Bridget clearly wasn't sure if this method would even work.

"Didn't you just say that rogue AIs are extremely dangerous? And now you want me to go through the Blackwall to find Otto? Are you sending me to my death?"

"This is the only way to communicate with Otto through Mikoto. If you refuse, we won't be able to help with the Relic chip."

Bridget's tone was utterly shameless.

Now Peter understood where the Voodoo Boys got their attitude—their boss was the worst of them. What loyalty could the people under her possibly have?

All the ones who talked about loyalty had probably been used up and discarded, leaving only the old, cunning survivors.

Peter didn't argue further. He had to meet Otto anyway. Plus, he felt no different in cyberspace than in reality—perhaps due to his enhanced brain.

Touching the Blackwall, Peter saw a massive woman composed of blue light approaching rapidly.

"Otto?"

Johnny stood beside Peter, muttering to himself as he watched the figure draw near.

"Johnny..."

Otto's voice from his memories echoed in this space, but it was hollow and cold.

"Otto! It's me, Johnny!"

Johnny became excited as Otto neared.

"Otto no longer exists. What you see now is merely a consciousness fused from countless others."

The voice of 'Otto' rang out again.

Johnny, who had initially been happy, suddenly looked like a deflated balloon.

"Cheer up, Johnny. At least she recognizes you, doesn't she?"

Peter patted Johnny on the shoulder.