Chapter 102: Chapter 98: The Wrath of the Petty Thief

Stealing a chip in Night City was akin to snatching a wallet on the subway back in 2011.

Getting caught was almost inevitable—of course, it wasn’t common to be nabbed by the NCPD right in the act, especially if you weren’t quick on your feet.

However, David was just such an anomaly—

"I told you to cover our rear, not start a brawl!"

In the NCPD cruiser, David and Lucy were gifted with Silver Hand bracelets—

David, barraged by Lucy’s scolding, kept silent, which amused the chubby officer from the previous shift.

"You two, stealing is one thing, but beating someone half to death—you think you went a bit too far?"

The officer opened a bottle of Dumb Monkey drink, contentedly saying, "But thanks to you guys, I don’t need to go on dangerous duty today.

I heard someone blew up a rocket downtown, the whole street’s torched—not sure if it’s cyber psychosis or terrorists."

"A rocket?" Lucy asked curiously, "You mean someone set off a rocket at the City Hall in Night City? Sounds like an urban legend." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Who knows, but the whole street being torched isn’t false, probably millions of euros in damaged cars alone."

Lucy scoffed, "NCPD is really slacking off, letting someone put a rocket in City Hall."

"Who knows what happened, maybe the corporation itself did it."

David stared wide-eyed, utterly shocked.

Since he stopped studying, he’d been hearing these kinds of urban legends every day.

It was City Hall, right?

Setting off a rocket at City Hall?

The cop glanced at the stunned David, "You don’t look like one of these uneducated street kids, get a decent job when you get back, stop hanging around with these hackers."

"I..."

Just as David was about to speak, a message box suddenly popped up on his prosthetic eye.

Lille: "David, I’ve got a job for you, this is encrypted communication, the cop in front can’t see it."

David: "Bro! How did you know I got arrested?"

Lille: "Listen, I need you to start a fight with the cop in front of you."

David: "What? Assaulting an officer? Won’t that get me..."

Lille: "Stop whining, if you can’t even hit a cop, you don’t belong on the streets."

David: "But I..."

Lille: "5000 euros, just say if you’re in or not."

What was 5000 euros?

Nearly a month’s salary!

David clenched his teeth, swallowing hard, "What should I do?"

Lille: "What do you need to be taught? Just hit him hard! If you have handcuffs, hit with the handcuffs, if there’s a partition, hit the partition, if you can grab hair, grab hair—"

Lille: "Just make some noise, the bigger the better!"

In the car, David suddenly fell silent mid-sentence, drawing a strange look from the police officer.

Next to David, Lucy didn’t just look puzzled, she looked terrified—

That was the aura David had before he’d hit someone that day!

No way—-

Bang!

David suddenly lunged at the window like a madman, the bulletproof glass cracked—but obviously, it was still sturdy and bulletproof.

Then David kicked violently at the front seat!

The kick wasn’t very damaging, but it was incredibly insulting, and it stunned the officer—

What was this kid thinking?

Just because he was told to go back to school?

"We have a situation, the guy behind me seems... like he’s having a psychiatric episode..."

Lucy turned pale, but seeing David’s gaze, she knew she had to act—

Or rather, she had been planning to escape too, just waiting for the right moment.

Now she had no choice but to move!

The electronic bracelet on her wrist snapped open, Lucy opened the door and ran outside!

Outside, the police officers immediately drew their weapons and fired!

Bullets hit the car, but fortunately, NCPD vehicles were bulletproof and the armor wasn’t penetrated.

Lucy hid behind the vehicle, lamenting, "David... you’ve screwed me over."

Just then, Lucy’s phone also began to ring—caller ID: Burger King.

Lille: "Well done, buy me 30 seconds."

Lucy saw David not far away jumping out of the police car, but then he was pinned down by the cops, veins bulging on his forehead.

So that was the plan!

"Person behind the car, don’t think about escaping—raise your hands, and slowly come this way."

Lucy looked helplessly up at the sky and then slowly stood up with her hands raised.

"30 seconds, right? David, you’ve really screwed me over."

"I was forced too, my partner is a nutcase, don’t shoot."

As Lucy slowly rose, the cops were puzzled to see her suddenly compliant and cautiously approached with their guns raised.

But Lille actually didn’t need 30 seconds. The duo immediately received a new message from Lille, "Prosthetics will malfunction in 5 seconds, take care of the cops."

Just as the cops were about to handcuff them, six cops suddenly froze and trembled on the spot!

David swiftly jumped up and fiercely struck a cop on the chin!

Lucy also turned and made a hold, grabbing the raised pistol and hitting another in the back of the head.

Having dealt with the two beside them, they quickly attacked the remaining cops still in a state of prosthetic malfunction, and soon had everyone down.

Seeing the duo’s clean collaboration, Lille breathed a sigh of relief—

If David had messed up again and Lucy had made a run for it, it would have been troublesome.

"My hand..."

In the end, Lille noticed David holding his hand and crying out again.

It seemed to be a sprain from exerting too much force...

.....

"So, why did you come and attack the NCPD? Looking to hack into the subnet?"

Having dealt with the cops present, Lucy and David joined Lille.

Lucy was somewhat shocked—she hadn’t expected that the person contacting David was the same one she’d pickpocketed on the subway.

No wonder the hacking into the subnet was so fast; he probably broke through as soon as the connection was made.

While they were caught off guard, Lille had already sneaked to the server next to the municipal subnet, conveniently hacking their systems as the cops in charge were also online.

Lille quickly processed the road network information, guiding Jack and V who were still fleeing.

After finishing up here, he didn’t bother to explain and sprinted straight for the police car.

The police car was connected to the police network, and by using this channel, he could send a Magic Doll to the NCPD’s LAN for remote hacking.

"Hello? Why aren’t you talking?"

"No time to explain, get in the car, David, you drive."

Lille got into the passenger seat, directing David to get in.

The kid had just pocketed 5000 Euro, and whatever Lille told him to do, he did it without a word of complaint.

Lucy was always hesitant—she was just a petty thief, and hacking the NCPD network made her uneasy.

Connecting to the police subnet, Lille had one hand on the still unconscious cop and the other hand’s personal link approached the car.

Using the same method of biometric spoofing, he was going to impersonate a cop.

"City Hall west-north traffic node has been attacked, the attackers are escaping, license plate and vehicle data uploaded...requesting support."

"Received."

Lille randomly reported the data of a sports car, stuffing a virus into the data packet.

With temporary database access, Lille began to erase V and Jack’s faces and information from the NCPD network and replaced them with that new car.

In the road network, the traffic gradually blocked the NCPD pursuers, and occasionally assistance was diverted to that unfortunate sports car.

But there were still some talented NCPD members clinging on tightly—

All earning the same salary, it’s a mystery why they went all out like that.

They would have to deal with them physically.

"Jack, V, head my way, we’re taking another exit on Japan Street south to Westbrook."

Having done all this, Lille threw the cop out, just as David started the car.

That’s when Lille remembered something.

"...David, have you ever driven before?"

David shook his head: "But if big brother tells me to drive, I can do it!"

"You... never mind, just go! A Mackinaw will pass by soon..."

"I say, what exactly did you do here?" Lucy, sitting in the back seat, had a bad feeling."I heard City Hall is all messed up now, someone is launching rockets there, messing with the NCPD right now isn’t a good idea.

It might connect us to the NCPD..."

The car’s engine roared, and as Lille was interrupted, he glanced at Lucy:

"...It’s the burning motorcycle ahead, see that motorcycle and burst out, ram the police car behind you and then follow it."

A burning motorcycle?

As soon as the words fell, the sound of the engine’s roar came from a nearby street—

A green motorcycle, ablaze, soared high off the road cars, its exhaust pipe still spewing flames, looking very much like a rocket!

David and Lucy watched, mouths agape—

Rocket!!!

So, it was you who did this!!!

"Follow it!"