Chapter 90: Chapter 86: Commission: Nightingale’s Nocturne (Five Updates)

"Hahaha—what kind of freaky name is that? Faraday, are these guys you brought along nutcases or what?"

Man burst out laughing, his tone full of mockery.

The three were already in a bad mood, and both Jack and V immediately glowered with a menacing look.

V retorted without missing a beat, "Who’s this gorilla? Which gang are you with?"

Man stood up, and in terms of height, he indeed towered over V.

"Man—I don’t run with anyone; I’m a tough guy myself. Let me count, I’ve already killed 17 people, who the hell are you?"

V’s expression turned slightly intrigued, "Not bad, but what about last week?"

"What?"

It’s worth noting that the kill counts for Cyberpunk Edgerunners are actually not very high.

Firstly, this kill count excludes regular people who lack combat capabilities.

Secondly, Man’s 17 kills surely only includes memorable opponents—at least those worth a few moves, right?

But Man’s proudly claimed 17 kills still wouldn’t amount to much in front of the trio.

Just on the way to Aloroy alone, V and Jack had to kill twenty to thirty members of the Six Street Gang, and there were too many injured to count.

Not to mention just before that, crossing international borders, the trio took down almost two entire squads of company agents.

And even before that in Atlanta, V alone gunned down two full platoons.

Company agents only die tragically; it doesn’t mean they are weak fighters. In fact, any team of company agents could cause significant trouble for seasoned mercenaries.

Both referenced missions above were far more challenging than regular contracts, and any other team assigned to them would have been doomed.

So even though a mercenary’s kill count includes only those with combat capabilities, the trio had indeed racked up countlessly many kills, only remarkable ones like James Norris and Steven Nott would be remembered.

And those guys were genuinely murderous, and their opponents were soldiers just like them.

Of course, the most important reason why a mercenary’s kill count isn’t too high is simple: they die fast.

The cycle starts with their first mission, followed by implanting combat prosthetics, making money, then implanting even more combat prosthetics...

They either get killed for not getting stronger fast enough or become mentally ill from too many implants and get killed by the Terrorist Mobile Team.

Man, who’s barely considered elite among the Edgerunners, found himself in a slightly embarrassing position—handling gang members was no problem, one against three.

But dealing with company folks was more challenging—their people had more professional prosthetics doctors, better prosthetics, higher efficiency, and lower risk.

If the enemy deployed a couple of military drones, things got complicated.

So, Edgerunners at this stage start to band together—being a Lone Wolf has its limits for most, which is why the famous ones are revered.

And Man, stuck in this situation, didn’t quite make the cut.

Seeing Man frozen, V immediately waved his hand dismissively—

"What trash, sharing a table with me."

Lille didn’t bother with Man.

Strictly speaking, Man wasn’t a bad person, and he showed plenty of brotherly love to his team.

It’s just that this ’big brother’ also had a past he preferred not to revisit, treading further and further down the path of a Cyberpunk Edgerunner, becoming mentally ill, killing his lover, and even attacking his own team members.

Unlike Man, not only was V highly advanced in terms of prosthetics, but Lille also meticulously selected each implant, sparing no expense where it mattered.

If it really came to a fight, V was far more stable—Jack, even with slightly less prosthetics, could overpower Man.

Jack’s body was covered in swathes of heavy subdermal armor that ordinary people, including Man, simply couldn’t withstand.

But Jack, by nature, was relatively amiable, just by standing there.

Lille didn’t mind the odd conversational setting and turned to Faraday:

"I’ve long admired you, the most famous middleman in Saint Domingo."

The flattery worked well on Faraday, who smiled, "Likewise, Mr. Burger King who thrashed the Six Street Gang—Man, sit down."

Lille’s mouth twitched uncontrollably.

Fortunately, this time Faraday didn’t mention that name.

Yet, it seemed like Man’s reaction was half a beat slow, only then realizing, "You guys are the dumb hotshots swapping the Burger King that’s been talked about on the streets?"

Can’t blame him for the slow reaction; no one could remember such a weird name.

But the moment they mentioned the hit on Aloroy, he instantly remembered — there was a team with a weird name.

He even got the name wrong again, just 30 seconds after Faraday had mentioned it.

Faraday immediately said, "It’s Burger King’s big-time idiot, and forgetting someone’s name is very rude, Man."

The whole scene became extremely bizarre.

It felt almost as absurd as gangsters discussing whether the Ultraman on TV was the original Ultraman, Zuofei Ultraman, or Jack Ultraman.

Lille coughed twice and said,

"Ahem, let’s get to the point, Mr. Faraday, do you have a job for us?"

"It’s an unfinished job. I need some biotechnology data, but since someone messed it up before, we have to start the investigation from scratch."

Upon hearing this, Man felt bitter: My people died, and you just casually mention they messed it up?

Just as Man was about to erupt in anger, Faraday threw a Separation Chip onto the table.

"Of course, there has been some progress, but we need to replan the operation, and the target is now more cautious."

Lille picked up the Separation Chip and inserted it into the back of his neck.

This matter involved a fall from a building a year ago, the name of the deceased was redacted, but Lille knew who it was — Sasha Yakovleva.

Actually, Sasha was on an undercover mission at the time, entering a biotechnology building to retrieve specific information.

However, it seemed that the girl stumbled upon some deeply disturbing intelligence that she decided to download besides her assigned task.

This decision caused her to stay a bit longer than planned, eventually forcing her to jump from the building under the siege of security robots, leading to her death.

Lille knew the actual situation: Sasha had discovered a drug in the biotechnology database, a drug frequently used by her mother.

However, this drug had undisclosed side effects that ultimately led to her mother’s death, so the girl wanted to seek justice for her mother.

Unfortunately, the media outlet she chose to leak the information to, Channel 54, was sponsored by military technology, which had ties with biotechnology.

Naturally, this information was only known to Lille, and as far as Faraday and Man were concerned, they only saw Sasha suddenly disobeying commands and dying from the fall.

After reviewing the information, Lille sighed inwardly.

He began piecing together the puzzle in his mind, though it concerned a deceased girl.

The first keyword appeared in Lille’s visual system:

"Nightingale Plan."

This was the information the girl had desperately obtained, a name.

After removing the Separation Chip, Lille cut to the chase, "You want us to complete this investigation, but with past precedents, it will only be harder."

"Exactly," Faraday nodded, "which is why I want both your teams to start the investigation — of course, if you want to take on the commission exclusively, the payment will be doubled."

Lille glanced at the watchful Man and then at the cunning Faraday, slowly shaking his head.

"You don’t think that after what happened, I’d trust your capability to manage this? Change the plan: I’ll find the information myself without your involvement.

If I get results, I’ll sell them to you; if not, or if we’re killed by biotechnology, it won’t be traced back to you."

Faraday was somewhat taken aback, Lille’s reaction was beyond his expectations.

He had thought that Burger King would either accept the commission or, in a burst of pride, kick out Man’s team.

Both outcomes were actually acceptable — Man’s team was good at forceful tasks, but they often blundered on high stealth missions.

But Burger King’s team... according to rumors, they had a strong hacker behind them — but today, that hacker had still not shown up.

Faraday changed his posture, leaning back with his arms resting on the chair’s arms, continually tapping the chair. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Playing against the company alone gets you killed fast."

Lille shrugged, "Playing against the company under you isn’t necessarily much better — but if you’d like, I can still report to you every so often."

"Watch your language," Faraday paused, "— it’s not entirely unfeasible; if you want to die, I won’t stop you."

"Then get the payment ready."

Lille turned and left the smoky private room —

Damn, how much do these guys smoke in a day.

"Cough cough...damn uncomfortable."

Seeing Lille’s discomfort, V immediately laughed, "Weak."