My Cyber Psychosis is Task Prompt-Chapter 445 - 276: Old Memories

[Eden City - East District Underground Shopping Street]

The East District is filled with commercial buildings, sleek glass curtain walls, and citizens who look sophisticated and upscale, bustling about. It’s the area with the most commercial vibe in all of Eden City, except for Chengxin Square.

Passing through underground tunnels and hidden doors on the street, in places where sunlight doesn’t reach, a vast expanse of neon still surges.

The concrete steps are covered in graffiti.

The ventilation system roars, barely drowning out the wild music reverberating through the entire underground of the East District.

Illegal shops are embedded like ant nests in every usable corner.

Steam rises from manhole covers.

Contraband substances disperse in the air, and sharp industrial wastewater rushes through the pipes beneath your feet.

Goods of every kind are displayed.

In the most crowded places, you can’t even walk, but if you dare to swipe even a button, be prepared for the shop owner to burst out and shove a gun barrel up your intestines.

The best mercenary teams in Eden City get jobs here.

Thinking back to those early days, when he first arrived at the East District Underground Clinic, he was mugged by a bunch of young punks near the entrance. But now, no rookie looking to make a name for themselves would pick someone like John as a target.

On the way here, John chatted with Sora about Raphael’s intel.

As a "middleman," the sense of oppression Raphael brought John was no less than Oulos.

The former is a genuine local tyrant, with a high degree of control over the city. Mercenaries with potential on the streets are all under her watchful eye.

Raphael’s businesses are on the surface of the East District.

Kaufoglandon Auto Sales Center should be her stronghold, as the employees who go out to do business for her all wear uniforms.

Ryan Randall was her former teammate.

[So, she also used to be a mercenary. I mean, she worked on the streets and even formed a team? Was she a leader?]

"Not quite, the doctor mentions her like an old friend, without the kind of respect you’d have for a boss."

John walks toward the clinic under the gaze of patrolling soldiers—the reputation of the underground world is growing, and so is the attention it draws.

He turns his head to look around.

Pairs of prosthetic eyes avert their gaze, as crowds surge and countless illegal transactions unfold.

[Mission Objective Updated]

[Head to the East District Underground Clinic. (Failed)]

[Switch the clinic’s surveillance. (Optional)]

John stopped in his tracks.

[What’s up? Not going in?]

Sora couldn’t see the mission prompt messages.

Back when John helped the doctor evade capture at the Nocturne Bar, as compensation, he received a prosthetic body from Ryan during surgery and used Black Light to hack into the clinic’s control system.

This happened a long time ago.

John could remotely access the clinic’s internal data through [Prosthetic Body: Atlanta Virtual Network], even paralyze the main system or exploit the freight system to loot the doctor’s precious treasures.

But he had never done that.

It was out of respect for a friend.

John stared at the mission prompt and opened the clinic’s surveillance.

Black Light surged.

A pop-up appeared in the corner of his vision.

[Wow, you’ve kept a card up your sleeve?]

Sora could share vision.

It knew John had "Black Light" hidden in his body but wasn’t aware of the past events—just thinking John was being cautious, performing a remote reconnaissance before heading to the meeting spot.

The image of the clinic’s interior unfolded before them.

The environment was dim.

The light from the wall-mounted TV didn’t illuminate the entire room.

Ryan slumped on the sofa, with bottles pressing down on medical records, and bloody medical supplies that hadn’t yet been cleaned up.

He had a guest, not a patient, but a woman.

In the shadow against the wall, there was a long metal table frequently stacked with odds and ends left by the doctor.

The woman stood by the table, shaking a beer in her hand.

She should be Raphael.

Not in person, but another employee controlled via a chip to deal with John and to check on an old friend.

John had installed a language plugin.

Through the surveillance, he captured Raphael and the doctor’s conversation.

[ (Female) ...He completed it quite well, very talented, but we all know that kid is doomed, beyond saving.]

[ (Male) Ha, isn’t that normal? There’s plenty of incurable ailments in the clinic; by the time I have a sip of my drink, countless morons die on the city’s streets...]

[ (Female) Cap, stop complaining.]

[ (Male) Fuck you, bitch, you don’t have the right to call me that name.]

[ (Female) Does it bother you that much? Be realistic. If something bad really happens, which of those young folks you’re acquainted with can be relied on? In all of Eden City, only I can cover for you, showing a little courtesy won’t cost you.]

Ryan didn’t turn his head, and raised his middle finger high.

[ (Female) You shouldn’t have given the Martyr to John, revealing more will only get you another cause of death besides drinking.]

Raphael tilted her head back, emptying the beer bottle.

[ (Female) John isn’t William. Another naïve mercenary dying in the city won’t make you feel any better.]

The doctor was a man who liked to dream.

He often put on an all-knowing face, got drunk, and lamented about the past.

Raphael’s words revealed:

The doctor seemed to want to make up for certain deficiencies through John.

This explained why he was particularly lenient with John, even allowing him to test the market’s discontinued Martyr GTX for free.

Ryan remained silent for a long time.

[ (Male) William is already dead, and you are not Raphael.]

Raphael was silent.

The doctor put down the bottle, picked up a cigarette from the table, and left the clinic.

He walked through the hallway of disinfectant spraying, exhaling white mist, only then noticing John leaning at the entrance.

"Shit, you’re the most troublesome patient I’ve ever seen, John, do you fucking have dreams of stardom? Going all out to get on TV!"

"Just don’t want to stay idle."

John shook his head with a wry smile, gesturing with his eyes at the cigarette in the doctor’s hand.

The doctor didn’t move, tossing over the entire pack.

John lit one, took a drag.

The white mist harmed the lungs, slowly escaping from his mouth and nose, only then did he feel he truly survived the corporate assassination.

"There’s someone waiting for you inside."

The doctor said flatly, not looking at John, just staring at the flowing crowd in the underground market.

John smoked slowly, inhaling drag by drag.

"You’ve met already, what did you talk about?"

He asked.

The doctor’s smoking paused for a moment, seemingly thinking of the surveillance system inside, smirked, glancing disdainfully at John.

"Old stuff."

[Confront Raphael. (Failed)]

John walked into the clinic only to find Raphael still standing by the iron table, looking up at the surveillance system in the corner.

[Uh-oh, caught peeping.]

Sora quipped in his head.

Raphael smiled slightly, gesturing to the TV in the corner.

The news channel was airing John’s handiwork.

Mr. Tommen Gark’s body had just been taken down from the building’s exterior wall by Rongju Company’s people. Those who had offended Raphael would be contemplating if there was room for reconciliation upon seeing the news.

"I rarely commend people twice, but well done, John."

"Oh, really? You certainly didn’t make it clear beforehand there were over two hundred damn people in that fucking building! Fuck you, Raphael, let’s be straightforward, were you secretly hoping I’d die in there!"

John’s tone was aggressive.

But Raphael spread her hands, appearing very straightforward.

"You survived just fine, I didn’t misjudge, Kenichi Sora wouldn’t let you die in the Morton Building."