Cyberpunk 2074: Shadows of the Past

January 20, 2074.

It's always sunny after the rain.

Even Night City is no exception.

The setting sun penetrates through the layers of thin clouds and shines on the shining glass of the tall building, leaving warm shadows one after another.

The violent wind and rain last night seemed to have washed away the filth in the city, and even the air became fresh.

Occasionally, a few floating vehicles cut through the clouds as soft as cotton wool, making a huge roar, passing overhead, and sending up gusts of breeze.

David Martinez walked slowly on the crowded streets, with a clear sky above his head, but his heart was filled with ups and downs of melancholy.

Tomorrow is the deadline to pay tuition fees, but he has not mentioned the increase in tuition fees to his mother Gloria.

The salary Gloria earned from working 18 hours a day, combined with the full scholarship he received, was only enough to pay a fraction of the new tuition.

In Night City, money is the real source of life.

In the past few days, three or four students in David's class have stopped coming to school.

Generally speaking, the family situation is similar to his. He is the kind of poor kid who spends all his family efforts to barely reach the high price threshold of Arasaka Academy.

If you can't pay tuition, it's useless no matter how good your grades are.

Sometimes, David didn't know what he was living for.

I studied hard for ten or twenty years and spent all my wealth and energy just to get an ordinary position in a big company.

After decades of hard work in a blazing furnace, he finally turned into a hard-working screw?

What’s funny is how many people’s ultimate dreams are within easy reach of some people.

The children of large companies and nobles have already reserved their quotas for the middle and upper levels of the company, and are just waiting for the time to come.

Those students from poor backgrounds who are immersed in studying hard work hard and spend their entire lives just to fight for these leftovers that are scorned by others.

Even if luck and strength coexist and you succeed in the end, you will just become an ordinary company employee.

For gangsters and fringe walkers on the streets, corporate dogs are corporate dogs. Who cares that these people were once ordinary people, and they only got to where they are today through hard work, blood, tears and sweat.

They will only use the tip of their knives and bullets to target those they regard as corporate lackeys indiscriminately, "treating them equally."

For large companies, ordinary company employees are just consumables, not even low-end firewood.

Countless employees die suddenly on the job every year.

In Night City, the number of employees who died on the job is among the highest in the entire New America.

Even public opinion is not friendly enough to company employees.

People are generally hostile to corporate dogs, but whenever it is mentioned in the news that someone who is an employee of which company dies unexpectedly due to certain reasons, no one will express sympathy and will only applaud.

These people transfer their cruelty towards corporate giants onto innocent ordinary employees.

He is really not a human being inside and out.

So, what are these poor students working hard for all their lives?

Is it worth being forced to bear the reputation of a brainless "company dog" forever?

It's so ironic that after a miserable life, he just jumped down to hell with his eyes open in the end.

David messed up his hair, but he could not vent his irritability and confusion.

Wearing his school uniform, he waited silently for the red light to turn green, his toes rubbing against the hard asphalt road back and forth.

"David."

The familiar deep male voice came along with the blowing breeze, awakening the thoughtful David.

"Brother-in-law?" David trembled, shuddered, woke up from his wild thoughts, and was slightly startled.

"Does school get out early today too?" Yahweh asked softly, walking slowly on the crosswalk with David, going against the crowd, through the bustling street.

"Ah..." David nodded, his eyes couldn't stop looking around.

"Are you looking for your sister?" Yahweh chuckled, "We came home very late yesterday, and she was like a little slacker. She hasn't gotten up yet."

David glanced at the holographic clock hanging on a tall building not far away and raised his eyebrows.

"Didn't you say you had something to do with us before? Now that we have met, can we talk about it?"

"Uh... It's a bit hard to say." David scratched the back of his head, feeling uncomfortable all over.

"About the money?"

"Um."

Chatting with smart people is always convenient and trouble-free. The other person has already guessed the reason before you even open your mouth.

"How much?" Yahweh said as he walked into a large shopping mall.

David followed him, frowning, opening and closing his mouth several times, back and forth.

"I actually...want you to help me convince my mother...that I don't want to study anymore."

In the end, he did not lose face and went to beg for money.

Yahweh sighed softly, stood at the entrance of the shopping mall and supermarket, picked up a shopping cart and pushed it.

"Has tuition increased?"

Yahweh squinted his blue eyes and thought for a few seconds before deducing the only possibility.

"Um."

David didn't have time to ask Yahweh how he guessed the real reason why he didn't want to go to school.

A burst of sadness that pierced his heart had strangled his throat, and the pain of suffocation almost made him speechless.

He didn't want to do this, but he had no other choice.

"No matter what decision you make, your sister and I will support you unconditionally." Yahweh gently patted the boy's slumped shoulder, "But you have to tell your mother the real reason yourself."

"Why?"

"Don't deceive those close to you..." Yahweh touched his chin, stared at David's confused expression with his blue eyes, and smiled meaningfully, "Don't go under the banner of 'for your own good'. lie."

"Won't my brother-in-law lie to my sister?"

"I just kept too much from her, and now it's getting harder and harder to speak up and tell the truth."

"Ah?" David was startled, and all his worries were forgotten.

"You lied to your sister?"

"It's not about feelings, that's not what I meant." Yahweh shook his head, and David's expression looked like he was facing a powerful enemy, revealing the meaning of "I didn't expect you to be such a person", which made him laugh a little.

"I just want to say, don't underestimate your family." Yahweh pushed the shopping cart, took down bags of snacks from the shelves, and continued, "Family is the one who can face difficulties together. So don't be too old. I just want to show off my strength alone..."

"So why did you lie to your sister?"

"My situation is different from others..." Yahweh rubbed his eyebrows with a headache, "But in the end, I will tell her the truth, but not now..."