The Poor Chip Thieves

Night City.

Large displays used for public announcements could be seen all over the municipal center.

At this moment, Channel 54 News was broadcasting today's news.

"Welcome to WNS News, continuing with this week's major headlines."

"A week ago, a group of unidentified criminals broke into the municipal center, causing significant damage at various critical locations, including Municipal Plaza and Corpo Plaza, and killing numerous Militech employees."

"During the attack, the criminals breached the Biotechnica Tower and damaged the building's electrical control system, causing an abnormal electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to be released."

"Following the EMP, multiple corporate facilities and equipment were damaged, and several residents near Corpo Plaza reported malfunctions in their implants."

"Mayor Lucius Rhyne of Night City was also affected by the EMP, as he was working at the municipal center during the incident. The long hours and the EMP caused him some physical harm."

"But fortunately, the hardworking mayor woke up in the hospital yesterday."

"For our second story, a cyberpsycho attack occurred on Highway 96 yesterday. The cyberpsycho has been identified as Gabriel Blight, a security employee of Militech."

"The cyberpsycho killed five of his colleagues and caused 23 civilian casualties."

"In response to the incident, the City Hall has heightened security contracts and increased NCPD patrols on the highway."

The subway doors slowly opened.

Two chip thieves holding a handful of stolen skill chips stepped out. After a few steps, as the subway train departed, the white-haired girl tossed one of the chips in her hand and squinted, smiling as she patted the boy next to her.

"Not bad, you've gotten a lot better. When you stole from that big guy earlier, I was worried for you."

David smiled and handed the chips in his hand to Lucy.

"Had to learn something, right?"

As they walked, David glanced at the news playing on the large screen on the wall. He suddenly stopped, his expression showing a mix of emotions—admiration, maybe even envy.

Lucy walked a few steps ahead before noticing. She turned back and smacked him on the head with a quick chop.

"Still thinking about that day? Don't tell me you actually want to do stuff like that?"

David rubbed his head, "Well, it's dangerous, sure, but the money is good."

"A little dangerous?" Lucy squinted, tilting her head toward David. "I thought you were getting smarter, but here you are still being a fool."

"Let's not even talk about what happened that day. That cyberpsycho they mentioned on the news could probably take on ten—no, maybe a hundred of you! You really want to end up on the headlines?"

David took a step back under Lucy's intense gaze. "Hey, I was just saying. Can't I reminisce a bit?"

Lucy eyed him suspiciously for a few more seconds before turning and continuing to walk.

David spoke up again, "I was thinking, maybe we should take some different jobs from a fixer? Like rescuing people from the Scavs, for example."

Lucy stopped again and gave him a look that said, I knew you were thinking about something else.

"Are you getting a bit cocky?" she said, grabbing David's arm and waist, pinching his sides.

David was taken aback—poor guy, completely at Lucy's mercy.

"You've gained some muscle, but not enough. Maybe it's your brain that's malfunctioning."

Lucy's hand traveled from David's abdomen up to his face. "You still don't get it, do you? A shootout and stealing chips are two different things."

David stood up straight and said, "But we're not newbies anymore. We even took down a Militech guy!"

Lucy sighed and withdrew her hand. "That was me who took him down, okay? Want to see what kind of gun you were holding?"

"Liberty—it's not high-end gear, but it's more than enough to take on Scavs, right?"

Lucy turned and kept walking, asking as she went, "Are you really that short on cash?"

"Not exactly. I paid off the rent and loan with the last job, and my mom's salary should come through this month. After clearing out the remaining debts and expenses, I should be able to save a bit."

"I remember you said you were looking for a job during the day. How's that going?"

At the mention of this, David's face turned red with embarrassment. He pulled out his chat history with his supervisor:

Supervisor: The payment's in. Check your account. David: Why is it only 50 eddies? Didn't you say 200-1000 eddies? Supervisor: Don't slander me. Look again carefully. David: It says '0.2~1K eddies,' right? Supervisor: Exactly.

Lucy burst into a fit of laughter, clutching her stomach as she laughed uncontrollably.

David sighed in frustration, "I worked 12 hours a day with no breaks. This job's for idiots!"

Lucy laughed for so long that she had to lean against the wall for support. "Haha… Oh man, you're adorably dumb."

Though it was hilarious for Lucy, she instinctively checked her own account balance:

Account balance: 30,982 eddies.

Then, she stopped laughing. After all these years of stealing skill chips in Night City, if it weren't for the big job Leo gave them, she would've only had a little over 10,000 eddies saved.

A ticket to the moon, even the cheapest one, costs at least 200,000 eddies.

Noticing Lucy's sudden seriousness, David felt a bit down and said, "And my mom's been really tense lately.

Honestly, I kinda like our life now, but… every time she sees corpo people, her face changes. Even though she says she doesn't care what I do, I can tell…"

In this world, there are many outlaws and psychos.

But there are also plenty of regular people.

For regular people, their understanding of the world is this: Corporations are powerful, and while working for a corporation is exhausting and frustrating, it's stable!

Working for a big company also gives you a lot of social prestige. After graduating, some people even stay home full-time to earn work certification skills, doing everything they can to land a corpo job.

This was Night City, the freest city in the world. In places like Atlanta, Tokyo, or Europe's developed areas, only the most desperate street kids turn to theft and mercenary work.

Night City's "freedom" might seem like a false illusion to some, but in those major cities, the omnipresent surveillance and suffocating power imbalance between corporations and ordinary people make even that illusion non-existent.

Ironically, in 2077, the city still experiencing rapid economic growth was this twisted metropolis.

So, it's hard to say who's more naive—David or Gloria.

Lucy, too, was thinking—would her cautiousness ever really get her to the moon?

In Night City, is there anyone living a life of hiding who can die without regret?

She instinctively lit a cigarette. The two leaned against the glass wall of the corridor, watching the bustling crowd below.

"Alright, let's try some other jobs then."

David was surprised, though he didn't show much excitement—just a soft smile.

"Don't worry, there won't be any danger. And even if there is, I'll be in front of you."

Lucy didn't say anything, just smiled back.

Suddenly, David's system malfunctioned, and both of them froze.

Lucy quickly switched to analysis mode and found that the problem came from a channel and special software they had used to communicate with "Burger King" last time.

The source of the data was almost untraceable—and completely unstoppable.

Sender: Burger King.

Burger King: David, I've got a job for you.

David suddenly became extremely excited—Lucy sighed, speechless. Didn't you just say you'd shield me from danger? Looks like you're opening the door to it!

"Calm down! Ask what the job is first!"

David nodded quickly, but his mind had already sent the message.

David: I'm listening!