50: Chapter 50 Noon

The next day, V and Lin Yi headed to the safehouse address the fat black man had sent them.

Before they set off, Jackie still had some reservations. "Seriously, man? Are we really going to kill Dexter? If we take out a fixer, it's going to be hard for us to keep working as mercenaries around here, right?"

Lin Yi looked at Jackie's still sallow, weak appearance and couldn't help but recall his good brother from his past life's game, who had died on the journey home.

"Alright, alright. That fat black guy never had good intentions to begin with, and we have a score to settle with Evelyn too. We'll deal with whatever comes next when we get there." V said, looking at their good brother who was weak but still concerned for them.

"Jackie, stop thinking so much for now. Viktor only stabilized your body at the time; we still have to wait for the custom artificial organs to be delivered for your replacement. It's a miracle you're still alive after getting locked onto by Adam Smasher's smart artillery," Lin Yi advised.

"But you should also thank that old man Saburo for having such high-quality AVs. That hit only damaged your liver with shrapnel from the cabin door, not enough to kill you on the spot. Just rest up well; when we get back, everything will be settled."

After Lin Yi finished speaking, he and V took a car to their destination.

Dexter Deshawn's safehouse in Heywood, filled with the smell of cheap cigars and sweat, had an atmosphere so heavy you could cut it with a knife.

This burly fixer paced the room restlessly like a trapped grizzly bear, his gold-toothed mouth chattering incessantly, complaints spewing out like venom.

"Lunatics! You damn people are absolute lunatics!" He waved his fat, gold-plated cybernetic hand, pointed at the news on the TV, and gestured toward Lin Yi and V, who were sitting opposite him with calm expressions. "Assassinating Saburo Arasaka? Do you have any idea who that old geezer is? The emperor of Arasaka! Now all the corpo rats and ninjas in Night City are like hornets whose nest has been poked! You're going to get me killed, dammit!"

Lin Yi just leaned back slightly, his gaze sweeping over the two bodyguards behind Dexter, whose muscles were tense and hands were constantly resting on their holsters.

V stood with her arms crossed, her eyes full of cold impatience.

"Where's the stuff?" Dexter finally stopped pacing, his bloodshot eyes staring fixedly at Lin Yi. "The thing from Konpeki Plaza, did you get it?"

This was the critical question.

Lin Yi and V exchanged a glance, reaching a tacit understanding in an instant.

Telling this fixer, who clearly wanted to shift the blame or even silence them, that the Relic was intact would bring nothing but harm.

"No," Lin Yi said, his voice steady and devoid of emotion. "Security reacted too quickly. We were discovered before we could get the item. It was pure luck that we managed to escape."

Dexter's tense shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly for a moment.

What he feared most was that they had obtained the item, which would mean Yorinobu Arasaka would hunt them down relentlessly like a shark smelling blood. As the fixer for this job, he, Dexter, would be the most obvious target.

Now that they hadn't gotten the item, although the situation had blown up, at least the primary target of the investigation wasn't here, which would significantly reduce the pressure.

He took a deep breath, trying to force an ugly, placating smile. "Listen, friends, I'm sorry things turned out this way. But we're in the same boat now, we have to stay calm..." He turned to V, his tone carrying a sense of deliberate concern. "V, you don't look so good. Go to the bathroom and freshen up, splash some cold water on your face. We all need to calm down for a few minutes and then think about how to clean up this mess."

V raised an eyebrow and looked at Lin Yi.

Lin Yi nodded imperceptibly.

This scenario was too classic, classic to the point of being boring—separate one, focus on eliminating the other.

"Fine," V stood up, walked expressionlessly toward the bathroom in the corner of the room, and the door closed softly behind her.

Dexter's gaze instantly turned sinister. He turned to Lin Yi, the mask of gentleness on his face completely gone. "So, Mr. 'Ghost', now we need to talk..." He signaled, and the two bodyguards behind him stepped forward, forming a pincer movement.

In his mind, a netrunner without a Data Fortress or server support was no different from a lamb waiting to be slaughtered on a physical level.

Lin Yi didn't even stand up.

The moment the bodyguard on the left was about to touch his shoulder, Lin Yi moved.

His movements weren't particularly fast, but they carried a sense of extreme, precise anticipation.

He dodged, raised his hand, parried, and grappled—the movements were as smooth as flowing water, as if he had long since "seen" through all the opponent's movement trajectories. [Insight] outlined the subtle muscle movement trajectories and center of gravity shifts in his mind, allowing him to always be a fraction of a second faster.

"Snap!"

A teeth-gritting sound of bone cracking and the bodyguard's scream rang out almost simultaneously.

Lin Yi snapped the opponent's wrist, grabbed the handgun from his waist, and without even looking, pulled the trigger behind his back.

"Bang!"

[Lockdown] activated, directly locking onto the other bodyguard.

The other bodyguard, who was just about to draw his gun, died instantly and fell backward, stiff as a board.

The sinister grin on Dexter's face froze, transforming into incredulous terror.

His massive body instinctively retreated, trying to reach for the weapon he had hidden under the table.

But it was already too late.

V heard the commotion and instantly emerged from the bathroom, approaching like a phantom, the cold muzzle of her pistol already pressed against the back of Dexter's sweat-drenched head.

The whole process happened in the blink of an eye, so fast that Dexter's brain couldn't even process the information.

"You..." A rattling sound came from Dexter's throat.

"You little punk, don't underestimate netrunners in your next life. Do you really not know that I'm always on the front lines during operations?" Lin Yi's voice remained calm, and then, V pulled the trigger without hesitation.

"Bang!"

The gunshot echoed in the enclosed space.

V was still holding her own pistol, her eyes sharp.

Then she finally saw the full situation: the two bodyguard corpses on the ground, and Dexter Deshawn slumped on the sofa with a shocking bullet hole in the back of his head.

Lin Yi was standing beside Dexter's corpse, a connection cable pulled from his wrist, linked to Dexter's personal communication device.

"You're fast," V said, holstering her gun and looking around at the brief battlefield, her tone carrying a hint of emotion.

"Cleaning up trash requires efficiency. Besides, you're not bad yourself. Just in time, his terminal can still hold on for a while," Lin Yi said, not looking back, focusing on the information in the data stream.

A few minutes later, he retracted the connection, and the last gleam of light in Dexter's cybernetic eyes vanished instantly.

"How is it?" V asked.

"Nothing," Lin Yi frowned. "He had a direct line with Evelyn, and all communication records have been wiped. I only know that Evelyn cut off contact and ran after the operation failed; I know nothing else."

"Yi, it seems the lead has dead-ended with Dexter for now," V sighed.

"Yeah," Lin Yi nodded. "I hope Jackie can pick up some info on that bitch." He walked to the window and cautiously observed the situation outside.

"Let's head back first. I really hope things go smoothly for Jackie. Although I did facial information masking for the three of us who were on-site during the operation—so they saw other people on surveillance and I masked us during the pursuit—the only problem is that T-Bug was completely eaten alive by Arasaka netrunners on the spot. If they investigate further, they'll definitely be able to trace it back to Dexter. Now, before Arasaka's people find him, we have to make Dexter completely 'vanish' from the network."

V watched as Lin Yi's cybernetic eyes lit up, and he began to skillfully operate in the NCPD database, wiping every single piece of information related to this fat black 'Jesus' from the network. She couldn't help but exclaim again, "You're really fast. This way, even if Arasaka comes knocking, they won't be able to dig any deeper."

"No," Lin Yi straightened up and said, "There's one more person who might have an impact."

"Who?" V asked, puzzled. "You mean... Rogue?"

"Hard to say, but probably not," Lin Yi shook his head and walked to the door. "After all, she and Arasaka are practically sworn enemies; there's no need for her to get involved in this muddy water."

"Wow..." V followed behind him, her eyes brightening. "Sounds like there's a story there! You have to tell me all about it when we get back!" She paused, her tone carrying a hint of envy and eagerness. "Also, when will I be able to learn to 'kill whoever I glare at' like you?"

Lin Yi stopped, turned back to look at her, and a playful smile appeared on his face. "Want to learn? I'll teach you, depending on whether you can master it."

V's face instantly flushed a slight red, and she gave him a playful punch. "Damn you, Lin Yi! Don't forget who lost yesterday!"

"Hey! I remember it not being like that, okay?" Lin Yi pushed open the safehouse door while laughing and defending himself. "It was your own request at the time, I just followed through, and then you were the one who said you couldn't take it and wanted to rest first. Can you blame me for that?"

"Damn it!" V, both shy and annoyed, grabbed his arm and practically dragged him out. "Let's go! Come home with me! I wasn't in good condition yesterday! Let's go again!"

Lin Yi let her pull him along, the smile on his face deepening.

The two left the place quickly, leaving the safehouse behind, along with all the secrets and corpses inside.