Cyberpunk 2074: Shadows of the Past

"Uh... 'Why did you do this for the first time? Can you tell me what it felt like?' Is this okay?"

While the live broadcaster tried his best to select less pointed questions from the massive barrage, he secretly used his peripheral vision to pay attention to the expression on Evelin's face.

As long as there is even the slightest hint of "unwillingness to answer" on that beautiful face, she will find an excuse to end today's interview.

It doesn't matter if the number of fans is lost, but the broadcaster still can't bear to greedily dig another hole in Evelin's already riddled heart.

Evelin stared at the live broadcast for half a second. Having watched countless people, she could easily see the true emotions of worry and concern from the wheat-colored green face.

So she really smiled for the first time tonight, and her smile couldn't stop being filled with joy.

"It's okay... I can answer this question..." Shaking the cigarette in her hand, Evelin slowly stopped smiling, ruffled her hair, and spoke to the camera.

"I was quite lucky when I was a child. Not long after I ran out of the clinic, I was picked up by a kind sister..." Exhaling circles of smoke, accompanied by a soft sigh, Evelin gradually fell into memories. "But she is not rich either, and can barely support herself... After picking me up, she often only eats the cheapest bread, and then gives me all the synthetic meat to eat..."

"One summer, my sister got a bonus and bought a few pieces of candy from the vending machine on the ground floor of the company. It was a hot day and she put it in her pocket. When she walked back and got home, the candy had completely melted... Then It was the first time I saw my sister crying. At that time, while she was crying, she kept banging her head and scolding herself for being useless... I held my sister’s hand and told her that she actually didn’t like sweets.”

After a pause, Evelin continued.

"When the economy was in recession and during those years of war, life became even more difficult..."

"At that time, when she came home from get off work in the evening, she would bring a dinner back, and then lie to me that she had eaten it at the company... Later, one time, I accidentally found her secretly rummaging through the trash can downstairs. Looking for something to eat..."

"Later... when I grew up, she went to the store to buy a cake to celebrate me... but when she came back, she was hit and killed by a drunk driver."

"The company didn't pay the insurance and the driver fled... The money she left behind couldn't even pay for the burial, so I went for it... and finally rented her a spot in a public cemetery... That's pretty much it. .”

"As for the feeling? There was just endless nausea and nothing else... After the first time, I took countless showers in the rented house when I got home that day, until I finally fainted in the bathroom..."

Evelin spoke plainly to the camera, with no trace of sadness on her face, only calmness and indifference.

It's like the heart has died.

Live Broadcast Jiang bit her lips tightly, her eyes flickering.

"Any question?"

As if she knew her mood, Evelin gently tapped Live Broadcaster's sore nose.

"have……"

The live broadcast Jiang answered shortly, for fear that the audience in the live broadcast room would notice the trembling and hoarseness in her voice.

"The fourth... no, the last question," the broadcaster changed her words. The feeling of depression spread from her heart to her whole body. She just wanted to end this interview as soon as possible, and then burst into tears.

"Did anyone show love to you when you were hosting those... people?"

"Huh..." Evelin blew out a beautiful smoke ring and lowered her eyes, "Yes, there are quite a few... but the one who impressed me the most is a girl..."

"She has a serious job and is considered one of the better ones in the industry..." Evelin opened her charming green eyes and stared at the camera, as if she could see someone's face through this cold lens. of.

"She often looked for me that week. She would wait at the door stupidly when I got off work...what a fool..." She smiled faintly. For the second time tonight, she felt as if happiness was flowing from her heart. Pure smile.

"Every time she saw the wounds on my body, she would take the trouble to express her distress; even though she couldn't cook, she kept trying again and again. It didn't matter how many times she cut her hand, she was already good at cooking now. Eat; she will always hold me tightly when I am sad, and she doesn’t care if her arms are sore or her body is stiff..."

"Just...a cute fool..." She threw away the burned out cigarette in her hand and squeezed out the last smoke from her lungs to cover up her fragile emotions at this moment.

"Okay, that's all the interviews for today. Thanks to Ms. Automatic_Love for her patient answer. Live Broadcast is very touched. I don't know how everyone feels..." Live Broadcast changed the camera in time, and with Evelin's gesture, While interacting with the audience, he took the live broadcast equipment out of the room.

Evelyn was left alone.

Curl up in a small ball on the sofa.

The live broadcast Jiang hurried back after settling the audience. Seeing her like this, she was a little helpless.

"It's okay, just leave me alone." Evelin did not raise her head and just whispered.

"Thank you very much...I..." Live broadcast Jiang tried hard to organize his words, but couldn't come up with a complete sentence for a long time, and he was so anxious that he was sweating.

"If you want to give me money, you don't have to. It's not easy for you either..."

"Why?" Live broadcast Jiang asked tremblingly as he wiped the tears across his cheeks.

"It's nothing, I just don't want you to become the second me." Evelin raised her head, the corners of her eyes were moist, but there was a gentle smile on her face.

◎

In the live broadcast, the familiar face disappeared from the camera.

Judy sighed and threw the phone on the passenger seat of the car.

Based on her understanding of Evelin, she would definitely huddle up alone and secretly wipe her tears at this moment.

"You actually called me a fool...I'm obviously a stubborn idiot..." She looked in the rearview mirror, gently wiped the red and swollen corners of her eyes, and muttered in a low voice.

I suddenly want to smoke.

So she took out a box of cigarettes left by Evelin from the passenger compartment, picked one at random, put it between her lips, and started smoking.

"cough……"

Judy is not good at smoking, and she always makes herself miserable because of this small and inconspicuous thing.

Evelyn loved smoking, though.

This reason is enough.

Judy smiled self-deprecatingly, leaned her head on the headrest of the seat, and looked up at the silent sky that was gradually dimming.

In the original work, Evelyn's portrayal was still too little, and she was completely reduced to a tool.

The story of Evelyn in this work is based on reality.