70: Chapter 69. I had just arrived home when Lai Xuan invited me to our usual spot at the Ganbi Building?
The next few days, the two were completely immersed in their rare leisure.
They traveled from the rigorous order of Frankfurt all the way south to the vibrant Old Port of Marseille, where the sea breeze carried a relaxed and romantic atmosphere, so different from the North.
They shuttled between different cultural vibes, from Germanic precision and efficiency to the leisurely romance of the Mediterranean coast, as if to make up for all the colors they had missed in one go.
The only regret was Paris.
That legendary City of Light was now long gone, a fallen zone of the Old Net, officially designated as a no-go restricted area. One could only gaze at its silent, dark silhouette on the distant horizon, like a tombstone of a lost civilization.
Shortly after that reply from Arasaka, as expected, it was Yorinobu himself who requested to add him to his contacts. After Lin Yi accepted the request, the icon representing the Arasaka heir in his contact list remained strangely quiet, without any follow-up messages.
However, Lin Yi was happy to have some peace and quiet. Following the principle of "don't move until the enemy moves," he knew well that in this level of maneuvering, whoever lost their composure first would likely lose the initiative and fall into a passive position.
He suppressed this vigilance in his heart, not letting it interfere with the rare time alone with V, planning to touch base with Jackie and the others after returning.
On the last day of the vacation, on a whim, they boarded a short-distance rail train, deciding to go see the UK across the channel.
This country, which had suffered the most severe direct economic losses in the Fourth Corporate War, had now become a puppet regime heavily supported by the corporate alliance, and was also the place where Netwatch was originally founded.
However, stepping onto London soil, what hit them was not the vitality of a new regime, but a decadence and decay that seeped into the bones.
The wounds of war were far from healed; the Thames water level had risen, submerging parts of the low-lying urban areas, and rusted steel bars and abandoned buildings lay exposed like huge scars.
The eyes of the crowds on the streets were numb, the drifters huddled in alleys told stories of ruin, and the air was filled with a sense of oppression where hope had been drained away.
The glory of this country in the past was now left with only this shell, struggling to survive in the cracks of multinational corporate capital.
The silence before them was more suffocating than the naked madness of Night City.
After watching for only half a day, both of them felt as if a stone were pressing on their hearts, so they boarded the train again without hesitation and returned to the European continent.
They chose to spend their last night in a quiet little town in southern France.
At sunset, the "dream paintings" drawn by local residents could be seen everywhere on the walls of the town—colorful, imaginative graffiti depicting the longing and demands for a better life, forming a sharp contrast with the lifelessness of London.
Just as they were admiring this street art and preparing to return to the hotel to pack their luggage, Lin Yi's gaze accidentally swept across the street corner, and a figure made him stop abruptly.
It was a young woman with striking wine-red hair, her face exquisite but currently carrying a hint of melancholy.
"Aurore Cassel?" Lin Yi whispered almost subconsciously, his brows furrowing slightly.
This name and image gradually overlapped with the image he had glimpsed by chance on his way to "restock" at a certain encrypted data node, which was recorded in a highly confidential project within Militech, and was also a key supporting character in the previous life's DLC.
V keenly caught his abnormality, looked in the direction of his gaze, and asked suspiciously: "What's wrong? Do you know that woman?"
Lin Yi quickly withdrew his gaze, shook his head, his face returning to calm, naturally putting his arm around V's shoulder and leading her to continue walking toward the hotel.
"Don't know her," he explained with a relaxed tone, "I just seemed to have dug up some character portrait record that looked a bit like her when I was wandering around in Cyberspace before. When I scanned just now, it matched her digital signature. Let's go, it's nothing, we need to get back to the hotel; we have to catch an early flight back tomorrow."
He explained it reasonably, so V didn't suspect anything, only grumbled: "You hackers, do you look at digital signatures before looking at people?" She then threw this little episode to the back of her mind.
However, a faint doubt remained in Lin Yi's heart.
Aurore Cassel... According to the plot, this person shouldn't appear here right now.
The next day, the NCX flight took off on time, streaking across the European sky, engraving the brief holiday happiness into their memories.
When the plane pierced through the clouds and the familiar, vast silhouette of Night City—composed of steel, neon, and sin—appeared in his field of vision again, V leaned against the porthole and let out a soft sigh of relief.
"Finally back." Her tone carried a complex emotion; there was a reluctance to leave the outside world, but more of it was the peace of mind of returning to familiar turf.
Although it was fraught with danger, it was, after all, their "home."
As soon as they returned to the apartment in Japantown, V kicked off the shoes she had bought to match her outfit but were really uncomfortable, cheered, and threw herself like a cannonball into the soft sofa in the living room, rubbing against the cushion with satisfaction.
Lin Yi watched her childish actions, smiled, put away the luggage, and asked: "You lazy girl, when are we going to deliver the gifts we bought to Jackie and the others?"
V poked her head out from behind the sofa backrest with a sly smile: "Give what? Do you think I'm an old fossil like you? I already booked the delivery service for the gifts when I was getting off the plane. Calculate the time, they should be in their hands soon. Why, are you already looking for an excuse to sneak out now that we're home?" She said, leaping up from the sofa like an agile koala, jumping directly onto Lin Yi, wrapping her arms around his neck, and her legs around his waist, with a mischievous smirk on her face, "Heh heh heh... we're home, time to do what we should do at home... Stop talking nonsense, and fight me for three hundred rounds."
Lin Yi hurriedly supported her to prevent them from falling together, unable to laugh or cry at her sudden "attack."
Just as he was about to say something to respond to this "enthusiasm," the personal mobile terminal in his pocket vibrated inopportunely.
And it was precisely the message from the recently added Yorinobu Arasaka.
The playful atmosphere stalled slightly.
V also saw the notification lighting up on Lin Yi's terminal. She released her legs and slid down from Lin Yi, her face still carrying a hint of blush, but her eyes had already returned to their usual sharpness, looking at him silently.
Lin Yi took a deep breath and opened the terminal. There was only one concise sentence from Yorinobu:
[Tomorrow afternoon at three, old spot at Konpeki Plaza. Come alone. Awaiting your arrival.]