113: Chapter 112 Moving into Gemstone Green

The main entrance of Heavy Hearts was much more low-key than Lin Yi had imagined, though that was partly because it was a repurposed building.

There were no massive signs, no dazzling neon lights, and even the lighting at the entrance had been deliberately dimmed by several shades.

The building's entire exterior wall consisted of dark, reflective glass, resembling a black monolith with its edges shaved off against the evening light, silently embedded in the center of Dogtown.

When the three of them walked over from Heart-to-Heart, they had already switched their status from "stealth" to "social"—V tucked her Monowire into her cyberware slot, Jackie zipped up his tactical jacket, and Lin Yi switched Baize's active scanning to passive reception.

On someone else's turf, seeing less meant fewer mistakes, and seeing nothing meant no mistakes at all.

In reality, he felt like he was about to enter power-saving mode; he was starving.

Two guards stood at the entrance.

Their hip holsters were quick-draw models, and the base of their right thumbs had calluses worn into them—these weren't the kind of security guards just standing around for show; they were the battle-hardened type who followed Hansen.

"Good evening." The guard on the left spoke, his tone professional and detached. "Do you have a reservation?"

Lin Yi handed over the invitation.

The guard took the terminal, scanned it, and then looked up at V and Jackie behind Lin Yi.

"Please wait a moment." He tapped his earpiece and spoke a few words in a low voice.

Lin Yi didn't intentionally listen, but Baize's passive reception still captured a few keywords—"Arasaka," "Security Department," "Colonel Hansen confirmed."

A few seconds later, the guard's expression shifted from "routine" to "taking it seriously."

It wasn't exaggerated enthusiasm, just a more subtle shift in attitude, his shoulders tightening slightly.

"This way, please. Colonel Hansen has already given instructions; you are distinguished guests sent by Arasaka, and we will handle your stay throughout." Lin Yi nodded and followed him inside.

The sense of space in the lobby was completely different from the impression given by the exterior.

It was at least three stories high, with the ceiling being a massive LED canopy simulating a gradient evening sky, transitioning from orange-red to deep purple so smoothly that the pixels were almost invisible.

The floor was dark marble, polished to a mirror finish.

The reception desk was in the center, a curved counter made from a single piece of ebony.

The guard didn't take them to the front desk but headed straight for the elevator, walking through the lobby toward the corridor on the right. "Colonel Hansen is temporarily away from Dogtown. He will likely return tomorrow afternoon. The three of you should rest tonight, and the Colonel will personally receive you tomorrow."

At the end of the corridor was a larger main reception hall.

Two bars were positioned on the left and right, with a small stage in the middle equipped with a full sound system, though no one was using it.

Walking past the left bar, there were a few gambling tables at the end of the corridor.

The second floor was an open loft, with several sets of sofas and low tables scattered along the gallery, offering much better privacy than the first floor.

V's eyes swept the area—it was an occupational hazard; in a new place, she had to ensure she could retreat as easily as she could advance.

"You are free to move around the hotel. However, there are a few restricted areas—the basement levels and parts of the top floor—that are closed to the public. I hope you understand."

Lin Yi nodded. "Understood."

The guard took two keycards from his pocket and handed them over.

"Two adjacent suites on the seventeenth floor. If you need to dine, you can go to the restaurant on the second floor or call room service. Just leave the tableware to the side when you're done, and housekeeping will take care of it the next day."

Lin Yi took the keycards and thanked him.

The guard bowed slightly and turned to leave.

Jackie leaned in and lowered his voice. "That's it?"

"What do you mean, Jackie? Don't tell me you wanted him to give us a tour of Little Beidou?" V said.

Jackie was choked up by that.

Lin Yi checked the time. "Let's go back to the room first. Hansen isn't here, and it's getting late. Standing around here is useless."

The room was larger than expected.

The entryway was covered in dark carpet, with a walk-in closet on the right and a bathroom on the left.

Passing through the entryway was an open living room, with a sofa, coffee table, desk, and floor lamp—there wasn't much furniture, but not a single piece was perfunctory.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was the night view of Dogtown. Looking down from the seventeenth floor, the lights were a few shades dimmer than the distant skyline of Night City, flickering like embers slowly dying out.

Jackie took off his jacket and threw it on the sofa, sinking into it and letting out a long sigh. "Finally, I can sit down."

V walked to the window, took a look outside, said nothing, and turned to wash her face in the bathroom.

Lin Yi leaned against the desk and opened his terminal to scan Baize's passive logs.

From the moment they entered Heavy Hearts until now, there hadn't been any anomalies—no active scanning, no tracking signal markers, and the surveillance cameras at the entrance were all standard models.

Either Hansen truly trusted Yorinobu's "cooperation representatives," or his acting was so good that Lin Yi couldn't tell for now.

"Let's eat first," he said. "I've been hungry all day."

Jackie sprang up from the sofa and picked up the room service terminal to browse the menu. "Steak, pasta, salad... this place actually has quite a selection."

"Just order something for me," V said, emerging from the bathroom with water droplets still on her face. "Anything edible is fine."

Lin Yi was too lazy to order for himself, told Jackie "same as you," and went to rest on the sofa.

When the food cart was wheeled in half an hour later, all three of them gathered around.

They didn't care about any sense of ceremony; they were truly hungry.

Since the early morning, aside from that can of synthetic coffee for V and an energy bar Lin Yi had shoved into his mouth at some point, they had barely eaten anything.

Infiltration, walking, climbing walls, crawling through tunnels—after a high-intensity day, their body's reserves had long been flashing red.

Jackie had probably ordered everything on the menu that looked decent.

Steak, pasta, salad, soup, dessert—the table was covered.

When the three of them sat down to eat, no one spoke.

At least for the first five minutes, no one spoke.

The sound of V's knife and fork cutting steak, the slurping sound of Jackie drinking soup, and the chewing sound of Lin Yi stuffing food into his mouth blended together, forming a strange rhythm of eating that belonged to people who had been hungry all day.

Lin Yi was the first to speak, saying while chewing, "So Hansen is busy running around these two days? Aside from potentially squeezing in some time to greet us tomorrow afternoon, he's basically not in Dogtown."

"That's what the guard said." Jackie forked a piece of steak.

"Then I plan to—cough, cough, cough."

Lin Yi suddenly choked.

V put down her knife and fork to look at him, her expression shifting from concern to speechlessness. "My god, Lin Yi, can you swallow the food in your mouth before you talk?"

Lin Yi coughed a couple more times, his eyes turning red, and only recovered after taking a sip from the water glass V handed him.

After catching his breath, he explained in a tone he felt was a bit embarrassing: "Uh, recently, after Baize's changes, although the neural load has significantly decreased, energy consumption has increased. Plus, I haven't eaten much all day today..."

He didn't finish the sentence, but the meaning was clear.

V glanced at him and reached out to gently pat his back, using just the right amount of force to help him recover.

Lin Yi scratched the back of his head, revealing a rare look of embarrassment.

After dinner, the three of them returned to the living room.

Fully recharged.

With food in their stomachs and their blood sugar levels rising, the fatigue that had been seeping out from their bones faded significantly, replaced by a lazy sense of relaxation.

"Hansen won't be back until tomorrow afternoon." V leaned against the sofa, reviewing the information the guard had given them today. "We have an entire day to move around."

"Little Beidou." Jackie said.

"Little Beidou." V confirmed.

Lin Yi sat by the desk with his terminal open.

Baize was processing all the data collected today in the background—Heavy Hearts's network signal distribution, device address list, signal coverage strength, and various control system protocol types.

Everything was collected passively; there was no active intrusion, so it didn't trigger any alarms.

But in Baize's analysis model, these seemingly unrelated fragments were being pieced together into an increasingly complete picture.

"The entrance to Little Beidou is highly likely to be underground. But exactly which basement level, and where to enter from, still requires more data," he said.

"How do you plan to handle it tomorrow during the day?" Jackie asked.

Lin Yi thought for a moment. "You two rest tomorrow morning, and I'll take a look around first. Fewer people, smaller target; it won't easily attract attention."

V wanted to say something, but he stopped her with a raised hand. "It's not about showing off. Moving as a group of three is too obvious; in a place like Dogtown, we'll be remembered wherever we go. If I act alone, you two can provide cover."

V opened her mouth and then closed it.

Because what he said was right.

"Fine. But you have to promise me that if you encounter any situation, you'll notify us immediately and not try to tough it out alone."

"Okay."

Jackie was the first to leave the room.

He stood up, stretched, and let out a satisfied sigh.

"I'm going downstairs to look around. Now that I'm full, I need some entertainment."

"Don't cause trouble." V said.

"When have I ever caused trouble?" Jackie said with an innocent look.

V and Lin Yi stared at him with deadpan expressions simultaneously.

Jackie raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I'll be back soon. Just going to have a couple of drinks, check out the pool, wander around, definitely won't cause any trouble."

The room quieted down.

V stood up from the sofa, walked over to Lin Yi, and leaned against the armrest of the desk chair he was sitting in.

She didn't speak, just leaned there, her fingers absentmindedly drawing circles on his shoulder.

Lin Yi knew what she was thinking.

"Still worried about tomorrow?" He asked.

"No," V said, pausing for a moment. "...A little. But that's not the main thing."

"Then what is the main thing?"

V didn't answer; she lowered her head and blew a breath into his ear. Lin Yi's body stiffened for a fraction of a second.

"Are you tired?" V asked, her tone sounding like concern, but the light in her eyes clearly meant something else.

Lin Yi looked at her. "What do you think?"

"I think you're not tired." V smiled, straightened up, and reached out to him. "Let's go."

Lin Yi looked at her hand, hesitated for less than a second, took it, and stood up. The bathroom door closed. The sound of water began to rush, drowning out other noises.

After washing up, the two decided to study the standardization process of maglev rail integration together.

When V started this project, gravity played a crucial role.

Successfully converting gravitational potential energy into elastic potential energy, they smoothly advanced the project's research progress, and reaching the critical part made V let out a gasp.

After putting in some effort, the project was finally completed smoothly with Lin Yi deciding to invest hundreds of millions in output value.

V chuckled softly beside him, not knowing what she was dreaming about, rolled over, and took half the blanket with her.

Lin Yi didn't take it back; he just lay there, watching the slightly oscillating blades of the air conditioning vent on the ceiling.

Tomorrow, he had to explore Little Beidou.

Tomorrow, he didn't know if Hansen would return early.

Tomorrow, there were too many uncontrollable factors.

But for now—he turned his head to look at V's side profile buried in the pillow—for now, he could stop thinking about it.

Jackie didn't go to the casino, even though that was his original plan.

He went to the bar first, scanned the liquor shelf, and discovered a few brands that were not easy to find in Heywood.

The bartender was a woman in her thirties, with short hair, a snake tattooed on her arm, and deft movements. Jackie said, "Give me a glass of your specialty," and she looked at him, didn't ask what he wanted, turned around, took a bottle of dark whiskey from the shelf, poured a third of a glass, and pushed it over.

Jackie picked it up and took a sip.

It was different from the liquor in Heywood—it wasn't a question of whether it was good or not, but a completely different style.

Heywood's liquor was strong and pungent; the moment it touched your mouth, you knew what you were drinking.

This glass was very smooth going down, but after swallowing, it had a long, lingering aftertaste that burned slowly in his throat.

"Not bad." He said. The woman's mouth twitched, which counted as a smile.

After finishing that glass, he sat at the bar for a while longer, looking around.

There were people playing cards in the casino, but he had no interest—it wasn't that he didn't know how; he just didn't want to be distracted in a place like this.

He got up and went to the balcony.

Heavy Hearts's balcony was on the eighteenth floor, an open-air swimming pool.

The pool wasn't large but was well-maintained; the water was clear and glowed with a faint blue light in the night.

There were a few people lying by the pool, men and women, wearing swimwear, drinking beverages, and whispering something. Jackie didn't go into the water; he sat on a lounge chair for a while.

He looked up at the sky.

The sky in Dogtown was different from North Oak; there were more stars—it wasn't a weather issue, but because there were far fewer lights nearby, those faint starlights could finally be seen.

He lay there for a while, feeling his body getting heavier and heavier.

That fatigue seeping out from his bones became even more apparent after he was full and satisfied.

He walked back to his room, washed up briefly, and collapsed onto the bed.

The bed was very soft, and the quilt had a faint, fragrant scent.

He closed his eyes, and within a few seconds, his breathing deepened.

Everyone slept soundly, as if gathering strength for tomorrow's events.