Chapter 85: Chapter 81: The Reversed Pope (On the Shelf Tomorrow)

Tomorrow marks the first graduation exam of Arasaka Adult Education—of course, if you don’t pass, you can still continue the classes.

However, the longer you attend classes without passing, the less money Arasaka reimburses.

There are a total of four opportunities to take the graduation exam, which is an assessment for a technical license. Pass early and you get reimbursed sooner, pass late or fail and you lose all the money.

To get to old Wei’s shop, you have to pass by Misty’s psychic parlor—now there’s an extra person outside Misty’s place.

To be precise, a homeless figure.

This homeless person is dressed in black cotton garments with a black leather robe handmade and layered over top—kind of looks like a priest?

Well, strictly speaking, a priest wouldn’t wear a leather robe, but Lille thought the style was somewhat similar.

This homeless figure seemed somewhat familiar?

The Wanderer had apparently brought over a moldy mattress, seemingly intending to stake a claim on the corner of the street as his den.

This is the most common type of home for homeless figures in Night City.

Noticing Lille staring at him, he suddenly became wary.

"What do you want?"

"Just looking, wondering which new Wanderer has come to camp next to my friend’s shop, and don’t get any funny ideas."

Lille activated the scanner but found there was a problem with this person’s scan results—

The data on the Implant Prosthetics list was flickering, and it looked forged, real-time forging at that, with an extremely high difficulty to crack.

"I am not one of those Wanderers, I’ve come to spread the truth—this is your friend’s shop?"

Pointing towards Misty’s psychic items, Lille nodded.

He continued, "This is a good place, it brings peace of mind—"

Here, he paused, then said mysteriously, "You know, our world has been taken over by Lizard Men!"

Lille was stunned—wasn’t this what that neurotic prophet Gary in the game would say?!

This guy was said to have been implanted with an unknown origin prosthetic, and since then had become a master of conspiracy theories.

Every time V passed by Misty’s psychic parlor in the game, he could see this nut preaching nonsense that nobody could understand.

Like just now.

Lille said with a half-smile: "Are you also going to say, these Lizard Men have cold blue eyes? And they’re all minions of Necromancers from Centaur Alpha Constellation?"

Gary was taken aback, even more surprised, "You know too! You’ve also found the truth!"

"Cut it out, if I were you, I’d just go find a straight job—and don’t go around spreading rumors that Wanderers are werewolves howling under the moon.

If a Wanderer beats you to death, someone will still have to pick up your corpse."

"You really do know! But you don’t understand the severity of these matters!"

Lille shook his head: "Your Implants are having issues; they can pick up sporadic hidden communication frequencies, which are causing illusions. Get them fixed by a prosthetic doctor when you have time."

"No!" Gary suddenly yelled, "I will not give up on the pursuit of truth!"

"Whatever you say, but don’t die on the doorstep of my friend’s shop."

Lille shrugged his shoulders—

About Gary’s truth, both in and out of the game, people had speculated. But the likeliest scenario was what Lille had suggested.

Some weird Prosthetics were put into him by a prosthetic doctor, allowing him to receive hidden communication frequencies.

Then, Gary, by piecing together the sporadic information he received, scared himself into believing in conspiracy theories.

No longer entangled with Gary, Lille entered Misty’s psychic parlor.

Misty asked curiously, "Lille, aren’t you going partying with them? Jack said V rented out the Grey Wolf Bar."

"I’m not feeling well, I can’t drink, and besides, they can afford to be out of it, I need to stay sharp."

Having said that, Lille asked again, now curious, "Where did you learn your Tarot card reading? Does it require an Implant?"

"Of course not." Misty picked up the cards off the table and shuffled them idly, "The history of this thing is very long; the people who invented it didn’t have Implants."

"That’s true—tomorrow we’re off to the Afterlife club, how about another reading?"

"Sure, but don’t be too superstitious, it won’t work if you keep at it."

"Well, the last reading turned out very accurate, otherwise I’d consider drawing a couple of cards before heading out each time."

"If Tarot cards were always accurate, everyone would simply sit on the couch, think about making money, and then spend all day drawing cards."

As Misty spoke, she divided the deck into three piles.

"Let’s do a simple one this time—when I chime this crystal ball, you’ll draw a card."

"Clear your mind, relax, feel the connection between you and the universe..."

Misty’s voice gradually became ethereal, guiding Lille to relax, and then she gently tapped the crystal ball with the stick on the table.

Clang—

The melodious and crisp sound seemed to strike the soul; in a relaxed state, Lille’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound.

[Implant-induced thought drift removed.]

The same notification, it essentially confirmed there was a certain degree of connection between tarot divination and implants.

Some very covert, even potentially coincidental connection?

"...Is there something special about that chime?"

Lille drew a card from the middle pile, and Misty pressed it with a finger, sliding it towards herself.

"It’s a ritual, meant to clear the mind so that you draw a card without thinking of anything.

Mysticism is all about first impressions—the emptier the mind, the better. Let’s see what your card is."

Card: Pope, Position: Reversed.

"This card... it signifies misinformation, malicious advice, the outside world will feed you biased information, and the evil Pope tries to deceive and exploit you."

"Sounds... not very promising."

"Indeed." Misty hesitated for a moment before adding, "But it’s just a divination, it doesn’t mean the future is definitely going to be like this."

Lille shrugged, "Of course, I get it, just like you said, if divinations were 100% accurate, everyone would draw a card before doing anything."

"Glad you understand, be careful, Lille, Night City is full of lies and deceit."

"I will be— if I get conned, then those two guys probably won’t even have their underwear left.

Let’s leave it at that for now, I need to buy some stuff from Old Vic; take care."

Reversed Pope... the meaning is vague— but also quite accurate.

Which mercenary hasn’t been duped in their past life?

Lille made his way to Old Vic’s clinic— just as Old Vic was planning to close up for a rest.

"Lille? Coming so late, is there an emergency?"

"Sort of, I have my first licensing exam tomorrow, for an A-grade license as a prosthetics medic and technical specialist.

I want to equip a pair of tool hands, one for fitting and removing prosthetics and the other for modifying equipment and circuits.

Just like the ones you’re using."

"Tomorrow? That is urgent, sit down, let me find some usable stock that’s left—

How have you been recently?"

Lille lay down on the operating table: "Pretty good, made several hundred thousand— just between us, V’s carrying around eight hundred thousand plus now."

Old Vic looked surprised.

This V and Jack, following Lille, seemed to be striking it rich every day.

"...I’ve always thought V and Jack are the kind to take on big jobs, but this is still a bit beyond my expectations..."

"Ah, but I’m out of money again, Old Vic..."

Old Vic paused for a moment, then shook his head and chuckled, "So, that’s what you wanted to say, wanting a lecture from V again?"

"Hey—Old Vic, think about it, I’m the smartest one in the team, V is making so much, I’m sure I could make more, or at least..."

"I’d ask her for money—alright, confident about the exam?"

"Absolutely, pass on the first try."

Old Vic nodded slightly, his lips curling upwards: "For that bold claim, I can’t let you miss tomorrow’s exam.

Just don’t start stealing my business in the future."

"Hey, I’m just getting it to have it, how could I steal your business?"