Chapter 365c

Chapter 365c

2-in-1-chapter

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"Wait, Judy."

"Where did you arrange to meet? Your place?"

Judy sounded a bit confused. "Yeah, why?"

"What about Evelyn?"

"I’ll lock her in the room. We won’t take long—an hour at most."

Leo frowned.

Something felt off.

It wasn’t just the two people Judy had mentioned—Maiko Maeda would be there too.

Just thinking of Maiko brought back the memory of their last meeting, and that insufferably smug, sarcastic look on her face.

"Let’s meet at Afterlife. I’ll cover the cost and get us a private room."

Afterlife offered various types of rooms. There were ones like Rogue’s—open to the hall—and others like the one Dexter used, tucked away in the back and built with privacy in mind.

Leo wanted the latter. The same kind Dexter used to discuss business—private, discreet, and far away from Evelyn’s presence.

Sometimes, mental trauma was far more devastating than physical pain.

It had been a long time now. Leo only felt sympathy and pity for Evelyn. She had brought it on herself, yes, but of everyone dragged into that mess, she was the only one still suffering. The others had moved forward with their lives. Evelyn alone was stuck in the aftermath.

Helping her in small ways like this cost him nothing, and Leo had no problem doing what he could.

"Wouldn’t that be too expensive for you?" Judy asked, hesitant.

She had never booked a room at Afterlife before, but she knew what kind of place it was—the legendary haunt of mercenaries in Night City. It couldn’t be cheap.

"It’s fine. Just a little money," Leo replied before she could protest. "It’s settled then. We’ll meet at Afterlife. When you arrive, just give Emmerick my name at the door."

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Evening.

Inside the private room at Afterlife.

Leo stepped inside and saw Judy seated on the sofa with two others.

On the glass table in front of them were several boxes of pizza and a few bottles of drinks.

Judy lit up with a smile when she saw him. "You made it. Great. Grab a seat."

After Leo sat down, Judy began introductions. "This is Roxanne. She’s been working at Cloud longer than any of us."

"And this is Tom. You should recognize him."

Roxanne aside, Tom was Evelyn’s friend—also a doll from Cloud. The two of them had been the closest at the club.

Back when Evelyn first disappeared, Tom had thought she’d gone on vacation abroad.

It wasn’t until Judy told him the truth that he realized what had really happened. The grief nearly broke him.

That grief was the reason he agreed to join Judy’s plan, flimsy as it looked. He didn’t want to end up like Evelyn.

Leo nodded toward them both in greeting.

Judy then passed out slices of pizza.

Leo noticed the food hadn’t been touched—they’d clearly been waiting for him.

"Why haven’t you started? It’s getting cold."

"It just feels right to eat together," Judy said.

Both Roxanne and Tom already knew who Leo was.

A company director.

Sure, it was a small private military company—but it was still a real company.

Neither of them had ever met anyone of his level before. It was the kind of person they’d never even dreamed of encountering.

Now, here he was, sitting in the same underground room as them, eating takeout pizza like it was nothing.

Their hands trembled from the tension.

How could they possibly eat first?

"Where’s Maiko? Didn’t you say she’d be coming too?"

"She’ll be a bit late. Don’t worry about her. Let’s eat first. We can talk plans once she arrives."

As if on cue, Maiko Maeda walked into the room just as they were finishing the pizza.

Still as arrogant as ever—especially when she looked at Roxanne and Tom. Her gaze, her expression… made it clear she didn’t view them as equals.

But when her eyes shifted to Leo, that arrogance vanished in an instant.

Her posture stiffened, her face lost all trace of smugness.

What replaced it was poorly masked panic and fear.

Still, she was the number two at Cloud. Maiko quickly regained her composure, wiping away any hint of her reaction as if nothing had happened.

"Judy, you can explain your plan now."

"I’ve modified the behavioral chip. Now it can be outfitted with a motion-reflex system for any doll… in other words, it lets them move and fight like elite killers."

Maiko replied with her usual sarcastic tone. "Sounds amazing. You sure learned a lot while boosting fake orgasms for the Mox."

Leo noticed both Roxanne and Tom looked visibly uncomfortable—but they held it in.

They knew Maiko. Knew her position at Cloud. And more importantly, they knew that this plan needed her cooperation.

Only through Maiko could they get close to the person in charge at Cloud.

So, despite the unpleasant atmosphere, both of them chose to endure it in silence.

Judy ignored Maiko Maeda’s sarcastic remarks and continued explaining to the others—mainly to Leo.

“The body’s reactions are just like executing a series of well-rehearsed moves.”

She smiled and gave Tom a pat on the shoulder. “I’ve already tested it on him. The chip’s impulse signals override all of the body’s natural reflexes, so the user ends up feeling like they’ve caught cyberpsychosis.”

“Martial arts chip?”

Leo immediately thought of that dead Arasaka executive’s son—Tanaka Katsuo—who had once installed one of the most advanced martial arts chips on the market.

Its effect was exactly as Judy described.

However, this kind of thing was mostly used by rookies—veterans wouldn’t even bother looking at it.

The reason was simple.

As Judy just mentioned, once this chip was installed, the user’s movements were executed like a programmed routine—disciplined, precise, but inflexible.

The real issue was that all those movements were pre-encoded.

There was no ability to adapt on the fly.

It might be good enough for dealing with beginners.

But go head-to-head with trained spec ops soldiers, and you'd get torn apart.

Judy heard Leo’s comment, paused for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“If it’s just a martial arts chip, couldn’t you just buy one off the shelf? No need to make your own…” Leo was about to say this, but then looked over at Tom, then at Roxanne, and finally at Judy.

He let the sentence die there.

While the chip’s value in real combat was debatable, the market price was wildly inflated. Aside from some rich kids wanting to cosplay as kung fu masters, the average person couldn’t afford this kind of implant.

Tweaking and modifying it was what normal people did to get by.

“How did you even come up with this idea?” he asked.

“I learned how behavioral chips function back when I was at Cloud,” Judy replied. “It always struck me how easy they were to manipulate. I still can’t believe that when we went to see Maiko, it never occurred to me.”

Maiko Maeda cut in, uninvited.

“You got lucky. That place is crawling with cameras and mics. The Tyger Claws would sooner dig out every chip with a screwdriver than let something like that ever have a chance.”

While Maiko preached, Judy lowered her head.

She absentmindedly touched her neck with one hand, and tapped the glass tabletop with her knuckles.

“Are you done? Is this why I called you here—to toss out sarcastic crap like that?”

Maiko raised both hands in mock surrender. “Don’t get mad. But if you want me to believe in your plan, you’ve got to show me what your modified chip can really do.”

“That’s easy,” Tom said as he stood and walked to the corner of the room.

Roxanne picked up a bottle of liquor from the table and hurled it hard toward him.

Tom timed it just right, punching the bottle midair and shattering it into pieces.

The alcohol sprayed out in every direction.

“Wahoo!” Tom shouted with excitement.

“See that? Still got doubts?”

But Maiko remained unimpressed.

“See what? That circus trick? We're talking about wiping out the Tyger Claws from Cloud, not putting on a street performance.”

“How about showing something real? We've got a pretty well-known guy here, don’t we? Let's see if your behavior chip can take down Leo.”

If Maiko had only targeted her, Judy might’ve tolerated it.

But once Maiko dragged Leo into it, that crossed the line.

Judy glared at her furiously.

“Maiko, what’s that got to do with Leo? Leave him out of this!”

“I just want to see, with my own eyes, how useful your toy soldier actually is.”

“It’s fine, Judy,” Leo stepped in, stopping her before she could get angrier. “I was curious about the chip myself anyway.”

In Leo’s mind, Maiko Maeda was already a dead woman.

The day they liberated Cloud would be the day she died.

There was no point in arguing with someone who was already marked.

Besides, he genuinely did want to test Judy’s modified chip.