Cyberpunk 2074: Shadows of the Past

"Uncle, what are you doing?"

"On mission."

"On a mission?"

"Agent, secret mission."

"Sounds super cool. Can you send me a selfie? I like guns very much!"

The roar of gunfire interrupted the rare communication between them.

He was annoyed and responded with furious fire.

The resistance soon faded away, as easily as crushing a spark with one's feet.

"I'm really an agent." He casually threw away the steaming barrel of the gun in his hand and pulled out the huge heavy machine gun from his back.

"Tch! The secret agent thing is no longer popular! Old-fashioned uncle!"

"Bang bang bang!"

The remaining scattered enemies took advantage of his distraction to pour out their final firepower.

He walked leisurely against the hail of countless bullets, and the special armor-piercing bullets that were capable of penetrating tanks only left a few slight scratches on his body.

He raised the heavy Defender heavy machine gun flat with one hand, gently pulled the trigger, and swept the battlefield back and forth like he was sweeping garbage.

"Have you finished your homework?"

"It's finished!"

"study well."

"When will uncle come to play with me?"

He hesitated to speak, but a huge amount of explosives buried in the ground exploded under his feet, and his whole body was blown into the air by a strong shock wave.

"Let's talk about it next time." He said calmly, following the attraction of gravity, he quickly fell from the air.

"Hey, hey, hey? Uncle, are you setting off firecrackers over there? It's so noisy! Hey..."

He took out the intact kinetic energy pistol from his waist, raised his hand and blew open the last enemy's head. The discarded bullet casings fell to the ground at the same time as him, raising up scattered dust and sound.

January 18, 2074, 9:00

"No. 003, report the situation." The dazzling red light cut through the smoke in the sky, and the cold iron boots made of steel trampled on the ground, crushing several falling bullet casings to pieces.

"The enemy has been executed." He answered mechanically, as always.

"Judgment result - mission completed, allowed to return to the team, return to the Night City branch."

He gently touched his cold body and stood quietly.

There is a giant beast coming in the sky, making a silent mockery, and slowly descending with the strong wind.

Kangtao Company's special armored aerial vehicle - Zeta Technology Surveyor. Dedicated to personnel transportation, it can quietly carry heavily armed agent teams to and from battlefields behind enemy lines.

But he prefers to call these aerial behemoths "ghosts."

"Hey, Big Iron, are you okay?" The Kangtao driver, wearing a gray camouflage uniform and a pilot's helmet, got off the aerodynamic vehicle and waved to him.

He nodded, the scarlet light flashing in response.

"Go here."

The driver is a young blond guy who seems to be very concerned about his job.

He remained silent, followed the driver's guidance, and walked step by step into the open rear hatch of the floating car.

"Wow, that's really scary." The blond man moved his somewhat stiff joints back and forth, opened his helmet, and breathed in the fresh air.

The latest secret product developed by Kangtao Company is a murderous smart weapon.

The driver took one last look at the devastated land, then turned and walked into the armored floating vehicle waiting to set off.

In the floating car, all the seats have been removed, leaving only an empty silver space.

Sunlight shines through the cockpit windows, passing through the layers of isolation connected to this space, nailing several straight shadows to the silver ground.

Agent No. 003 was sitting in the center of this cage, with his head lowered, quietly waiting for this giant beast in the sky to carry him back to Night City.

He was a little bored and tried to dial the only private number in the communication channel.

"Hello? Uncle! I have to go to class now, let's talk later!"

Before he could answer, the voice ended.

After getting to know her, No. 003 often hides behind the cage and secretly learns new human knowledge in the world.

He was sure that what he just heard was her voicemail.

He sighed. Although he didn't know if he had the function of "sighing", he still did it.

He realized early on that he was completely different from others of his kind.

He is closer to a human being than a cold and heartless killing weapon.

For example, this unique number in the list.

He didn't even recognize the girl on the other end of the phone.

One night during an experimental mission, this number broke into his channel with a probability of one in a billion and started chatting with him on his own.

Before this, he didn't even know that he had a chat function.

At least No. 001 and No. 002 are not equipped with this function. They will always be silent stones.

Inadvertently, he would reveal a little bit of his story to the girl on the other end of the phone, telling it all in a vague way.

She didn't know whether to be happy or sad, but she didn't seem to believe it, and laughed at his old-fashioned ability to tell stories, calling him "uncle" in a playful way.

Fortunately, she is still willing to continue to contact him.

Sometimes it would take several days before they would communicate with each other, and most of the time it would be "Good morning, good night" or "Have you eaten?" and other short, nutritious sentences. One party would ask, but the other party would forget to reply.

Sometimes she would chat with him enthusiastically for a whole day, mostly on weekends, from morning until night.

He guessed that she was still a student and didn't have many friends.

A lonely little girl who longs for friendship will talk freely to strangers without warning, talking about everything from trivial things to big things that can affect her life.

He always tried his best not to betray her unreserved trust.

While refilling his ammunition, he would tell her to calm down, to control the impulse of youth, to study hard, not to rush to find a boyfriend, and not to let a boy with acne delay his life.

She would laugh and scold him as a lecherous and old-fashioned uncle who always liked to talk about such irrelevant things, and she would stop interacting with him in the future.

But she did listen. She has never found a boyfriend, and her academic performance has steadily improved under his time-based tutoring.

Even though he didn't know her name, and she didn't know that he was the murderous "003", they unexpectedly got on with the conversation.

He sometimes wonders if he has fallen in love with this girl he has never met, but his cold body is always warning him not to think too much.

At least, he would think.

Several of his companions seemed to have no brains. They just mechanically raised their guns and pulled the triggers hard, pouring out bullets and violence wantonly.

That seemed to be enough for them.

003 sat silently on the only seat, motionless.

The sun crawled across his cold face, the scarlet light danced, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Should I call her again tonight?

Maybe he thought so.

No one cares.

The armored aerial vehicle started, smoothly cutting through the floating wind, penetrating the sky, and flying straight towards the Night City.

The school is closed!

I want to go crazy alone!