Cyberpunk 2074: Shadows of the Past

2074, January 13, 8:30

The weight on her body made it difficult for her to breathe. She struggled and kicked the stupid pig lying on her body out of the bed.

She straightened her long, messy blond hair and recalled the bloated belly and stinking hair that were constantly approaching in her field of vision last night. She couldn't help but lie on the edge of the bed and retched.

"*You* Wood," she couldn't find a tissue for a while, so she wiped her mouth with the corner of the quilt, "You're such a scumbag!"

She cursed and spit several times in the face of the fat man who collapsed on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Mary." Wood sat up from the ground with difficulty, a flattering smile on his round face, "I went too far, you know how happy I am..."

"Fuck you!" Mary picked up the tattered nurse's uniform thrown at the foot of the bed, balled it up, and threw it on that disgusting face.

"Dr. Howard is ten thousand times better than you!" she shouted hysterically, kicking the white fat mass on the ground with her feet.

"Mary... Dr. Howard has a wife and children..." Wood endured the pain and wiped the saliva from his face, "And you are also short of money, aren't you?"

"Get out of here right now!" She roared, veins popping up on her white neck.

"Okay...Mary...I'll leave right away..." Wood got up from the ground, grabbed his wrinkled clothes in a panic, and walked out of the door.

"Right..."

"boom!"

He was too bulky to dodge and was slapped hard in the face by the door.

"I'm sorry...Mary..." He covered his bleeding nose and mumbled to himself, "Don't blame me. If you want to blame, blame your favorite Dr. Howard..."

Mary Dunst, female, 20 years old, works as a front desk nurse at the "Night City Mental Health Center". She is young and promising.

"Go to hell for the promising young man!" She threw the diary open on the table aside irritably.

Mary couldn't remember when she got into the habit of keeping a diary.

Maybe she was subconsciously imitating Dr. Howard. That experienced, mature, and charming man stirred her heartstrings with every move he made.

Mary picked up the diary that had been thrown on the floor and spread it out on the table.

She has the habit of recording the lives of people around her, which she also learned from her sweetheart, Dr. Howard.

Howard Wilkinson, male, 57 years old, is a well-known figure in the fields of psychiatry and brain research. A year ago... or two years ago, memory erasure technology was invented...

"It's been a little weird lately..." She rubbed her chin and frowned tightly.

Not only did she lose her old black diary, she couldn't even remember which year Dr. Howard invented the memory erasure treatment.

"Did he come here in 2073 or 2072?" She knocked her head in distress, "Let's ask the doctor to come out and ask..."

Mary clapped her palms lightly, her worries turning into joy.

Today is her turn to work the night shift at the "Night City Mental Health Center" clinic. The doctor should also be free during the day.

As for Wood?

She almost forgot why she agreed to be with him.

For money?

The nurse at the "Night City Mental Health Center" has a high salary, so why is she short of money?

She seemed...to forget.

But it doesn't matter, just ask the doctor.

She thought happily, leaving the table and heading to the bathroom.

"Shua..."

She liked to listen quietly to the sound of water droplets falling on the tiles.

The steaming water mist enveloped Mary's whole body. She mixed the hot water with her hands to clean up the traces left by last night, but she recalled Dr. Howard's mature and handsome face in her mind.

The illusive sexy outline made her tremble all over and collapsed on the ground.

The hot water poured over her body mercilessly, taking away all the dirt.

Mary walked out of the bathroom, wiped her body with a clean towel, and chose suitable clothes next to the closet.

She fantasized about which outfit was the most alluring and would make Dr. Howard dazzled and willing to surrender under her skirt.

"Hello, Dr. Howard?" she said, making the sound of skin rubbing against fabric.

"Are you free at noon today? Just the two of us, let's come out and chat at the same place?" The corner of Mary's mouth raised, and the man's heavy breathing on the other end of the phone made her excited.

"Okay..." She laughed happily after hearing the expected reply.

Mary turned on the video mode, took out the white stockings from the closet, and carefully compared the front and back.

She sat on the edge of the bed, faced the camera, rolled up her stockings and put them on to her toes. Use both hands to adjust the position of the toe of the sock and the heel of the foot, and slowly roll it upward.

"Dr. Howard...I love you..." she said every word, slowly pulling the stockings down to her delicate knees.

She listened carefully and waited for Howard's answer. She stood up and slowly pulled her stockings to the top of her white thighs.

"I'm sorry...Mary...we can't..." The man on the other end of the phone swallowed and answered with difficulty, "I have a wife and children, you know..."

She turned a deaf ear and stretched the stockings evenly to her waist. After making sure that the stockings were close to her legs, she used her hands to spread the body of the stockings and slowly pulled them up to her tight waist.

"Huo, Hua, De..." She looked at the camera and adjusted her stocking legs with both hands.

"If you don't tell me, if I don't tell you, who knows?" She faced him and stretched out her toes, her white hair wrapped in pink that could be broken.

No one answered on the other end of the phone and hung up silently.

She sighed and collapsed on the bed, her long golden hair spread on the white sheets, like a silent blooming Lolimas rose.

2074, January 13, 12:15

She sat quietly at the dining table, watching silently as Dr. Howard and his wife walked toward her, holding hands.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Howard and...Mrs. Wilkinson..." She greeted as calmly as she could, reaching up to cover the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

"Mary..." Dr. Howard hesitated, turned to look at his wife, and finally did not speak.

The three of them sat together, eating lunch in silence, surrounded by the noise.

"Hello? There is a patient... who is suspected of recovering..."

The piercing sound of the phone broke the dead silence. Howard smiled apologetically at Mary, took the phone and left the restaurant quickly.

"I'm sorry... Mrs. Wilkinson..." Mary lowered her head, face down, and gently placed it on the table, "Don't blame Howard, it was me who took the initiative... to seduce..."

She spoke word by word, her throat and body trembling more and more, until she lost control of her voice and broke down in sobs.

"Mary..." Mrs. Wilkinson stood up and sat next to her, her old hands gently stroking the girl's long golden hair.

Mary raised her face in shock, her pretty face blurred by tears. Mrs. Wilkinson's attitude was beyond her expectation.

"Poor child, you don't have to apologize..." Mrs. Wilkinson whispered softly. Her somewhat old face was ruthlessly carved with wrinkles by the years, but it was full of pity that Mary could not understand.

"You can have him, because you have had him..." Mrs. Wilkinson murmured, her low words lost in the noise and carried by the wind.

"What? Mrs. Wilkinson? What did you say? I didn't hear clearly!" Mary was stunned in place, and she didn't come back to her senses until Mrs. Wilkinson left.

"What is she talking about?" Mary covered her head in pain, her face ferocious.

"I...ever?" She slumped on the seat, staring at the ceiling silently.

"What did I forget?"

2074, January 13, 19:00

Mary arrived at the clinic on time as usual and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"Good evening, Mary!" Dr. Wood's round face was filled with a smile and he leaned towards her.

"Go back to the second floor!" As usual, she cursed the stupid pig viciously, only to get an even more shameless smile from him.

She turned around and greeted the changing nurse with a smile, and walked to the changing room on the first floor.

Just like usual, nothing different.

"Dr. Howard is on the second floor. Do you want to go up and say hello to him?" Wood asked her as she walked out of the dressing room, still smiling.

"No..." She refused tiredly. Too many things happened today, and there were too many questions clogging her chest. She just wanted to be quiet for a while.

"Okay..." Wood's smile froze on his face, and he glanced at Mary quietly, but found nothing strange.

He breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to greet the guests who had already started lining up.

2074, January 13, 19:21

"Tick...tick..." Mary stared at the clock on the table quietly, her mind temporarily calming down as the hands beat at a steady pace.

"Welcome two guests..." The bell at the door rang, and she spoke in a routine manner, covering her inner emotions with a fake smile she had trained a thousand times.

"Please wait in line here..." After Mary said this, she allowed Dr. Wood, who came down from the second floor, to come forward to entertain her. She quietly observed these two unusual guests tonight.

She has never seen two lovers come together and erase their memories at the same time. Moreover, looking at their two handsome men and beautiful women, looking in a sweet state, they don't look like they need treatment.

Wood was crushed by the male guest.

Feeling happy in her heart, she rubbed the corners of her mouth to make sure she wouldn't laugh out loud.

"Hello sir, how can I help you?"

When she saw the man walking towards her, she immediately put on a professional fake smile and carefully disguised herself.

"Hello," Yahweh nodded politely, "Following the procedure, I will register personal information." He pulled out the data cable of the personal terminal from his arm - a nanomachine simulation, which has the same function as the real thing.

"Do you really want to... clear your memory?" Mary glanced at the smiling silver-haired girl lying behind the man. Her cute and pretty appearance made her envious, but also pitied her.

"It's just a registration first. I'm still considering whether to clear my memory..." Yahweh knocked on the table and silently took in all the detailed changes in her expression.

"That's good..." Mary breathed a sigh of relief, "Just use this interface to register." She pointed to the computer interface placed at the front desk.

"What's your name? Nurse?" Yawei smiled friendly and used the terminal to connect to the interface to cover up the fact that he had stolen the local data of the clinic.

He asked softly while avoiding the attack from Xida's claws.

"Me?" Mary looked into those blue eyes, inexplicably unable to think of a single thought of refusing to answer, "Mary...Mary Dunst..."

Yahweh raised his eyebrows. He saw the disgusting truth in the huge flow of information.

"Mary..." He whispered, took out a brand new revolver from his waist pocket, and placed it gently on the table. Before Mary could react, she pointed at the computer screen on her desk.

"Take a look at this, I believe you will be grateful for this gift..." He narrowed his blue eyes slightly and pulled Xi Da out of the clinic.

Mary tilted her head in confusion. She just seemed to hear a strange noise coming from upstairs.

After she carefully put away the revolver on the table, she turned to look at the computer screen on the table.

In an instant, all her thoughts were interrupted, and her mind went blank.

Because at the top of those hundreds of registration files, she saw her name—Mary Dunst (3)

"You mean, her memory has been erased three times?" Xi Da held Yahweh's hand and wrinkled his beautiful eyebrows in surprise.

"Poor nurse..." Yahweh shook his head gently and pulled Xida away from this sinful place quickly.

"And they are all about the memory of the same person - Dr. Howard Wilkinson." He added softly while looking at the flashing neon lights on the street.

"So you left her the gun you bought that morning?" Xi Ta poked him gently, pretending to be jealous.

"Well, I left three bullets..."

"One for Dr. Howard, one for Dr. Wood..." Xi Ta sighed softly, "There is one for herself, right?"

"The name of the gun is 'Amnesty'..." He whispered softly, opened the car door, and got into the passenger seat, "It's just in time for the occasion..."

"What about Joel and Clementine?"

"I have copied all the patient's data. When the time comes, you can send it to them anonymously..." Yahweh looked at the pale building not far away from the window and sighed, "It's better to recover a little bit..."

"What about the machine that erases memories?"

"I just took care of it..."

They sat in the car, listening to the patter of rain outside the car window.

"Sisyphus..." Xi Da hugged her legs and turned to look at the man's silent profile, "What did you mean by Sisyphus before?"

"Sisyphus was punished by God and had to push a huge boulder from the bottom of the mountain forever and ever. Whenever the boulder reached the top of the mountain, it would roll back to the starting point. He had to push the boulder forever and ever in this endless cycle of punishment..." He Lowering his eyes, he quietly told the long-standing story.

"It's just like the love between Joel and Clementine, right?" Heda gently hugged Yahweh's arm, "No matter how many times they forget, they will still fall in love with each other..."

"I will suffer the same injury countless times..." Yahweh raised his head and looked at her, "Just like between Nurse Mary and Dr. Howard..."

"Tragedy has happened, and it will continue..." Yahweh sighed.

"At least we stopped the cycle, didn't we?"

"At least this time, yes..."

Xi Ta started the car and stayed away from this clinic that was destined to be destroyed tonight.

The sound of rain and wind howled, drowning out the three shrill gunshots.

At the beginning, I tried to write about the protagonist’s dank corner where the light does not reach.

When the protagonist is away, Night City truly looks dark.

The two updates were posted together, and I don’t know if they will pass the review.