"Thank you, Sister V..."
Berry whispered, wrapped her arms around V's waist, stood on her tiptoes, and pecked V on the cheek.
Sure enough, Berry is the best in the world.
Looking at Berry's shy little face, V couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
She was completely obsessed with Berry, becoming an ardent supporter of everything Berry did.
The manifestation of this was that V always wanted to do this and that to Berry, making Berry show this and that expression.
However, V decided to stop for now.
After all, if you tease a kitten too much, it will bite.
If Berry was pushed too far, V would definitely have to sleep on the sofa tonight, so for the sake of long-term interests, V decided to save Berry some face.
V knew her stubborn little girlfriend really cared about this.
Always thinking she was full of dignity.
V earnestly thought, "Hmm, isn't that also cute?"
V could now completely manipulate the emotions of this little Berry.
Sure enough, V's skill at handling her submissive partner was precisely the reason she was fit to be king.
Berry gritted her teeth and pushed V away, a look of reproach showing in her clearly defined black and white eyes.
This V, she really was the type to take an inch and run a mile; Berry shouldn't have been soft-hearted enough to give her the chance.
After barely managing to push V away, Berry remembered her own people nearby. Afraid of shattering her boss's dignity, Berry nervously glanced left and right, terrified that others had seen what happened.
But, it must be said, everyone was very tactful.
They were looking everywhere—at the distant streets, the sun-drenched sky, the trash can on the corner—in short, they weren't looking here.
And Jackie's acting was even more exaggerated; he cupped his hands over his brow, leaned over, and pretended to stare at the distant horizon, as if Ultraman had appeared there.
"Hmm, everyone is very enthusiastic."
Berry glumly held her chin, earnestly stating that she felt comforted.
However, Berry managed to collect her emotions.
After all, her influence was currently weak, and she couldn't yet complete her great mission of regaining the initiative, so she could only endure temporarily.
MacArthur once said, when you've hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up.
She had already proven her capability; when V was lying in bed, legs weak, hadn't she also enjoyed a moment of masculine prowess?
This proved that she had the ability to be on top.
And now, she was determined to take back everything that belonged to her.
V, just wait and see.
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; do not bully Berry just because she is poor.
Thinking this, Berry quickly cheered up again.
"...My goodness, did you guys set off explosives here!"
When Berry and her group followed V and Jackie into the building, they were instantly stunned by the horrific scene inside.
How should one describe this scene? If the people who came here weren't hardened individuals accustomed to death, someone probably would have vomited.
Especially the Death Corridor that ended in a machine gun—it was covered in blood and severed limbs, testifying to the ferocity of the battle.
Berry was fine, knowing V and Jackie's capabilities, but seeing what it meant for the "Living Yama" to work, she felt truly enlightened.
Two people, two guns, wiped out an entire gang—even if it was just a small, insignificant gang, this level of skill wasn't something ordinary Mercenaries could achieve.
The "Hive" Mercenaries expressed that their organization was truly formidable, wondering where their boss had recruited such ruthless characters.
However, the group glanced at Berry and V walking side-by-side ahead, and they understood immediately.
At least the relationship between this person and the boss was beyond doubt.
Berry didn't know that V and Jackie's impressive display had served another purpose: boosting the corporate employees' confidence in their own company.
Of course, at the same time, these guys also developed some mistaken ideas.
However, Berry didn't know; if she were aware of her subordinates' rebellious thoughts, she would definitely launch a "Three Purges" campaign.
Looking at the building that her own V had conquered, Berry folded her arms, contemplating the next steps.
Although the plan had deviated somewhat, it ultimately achieved the result she originally wanted—reclaiming the territory that belonged to her.
With her own base of operations, many things could be carried out more easily.
She could put some of her secret projects here to deal with.
Of course, if those megacorporations wanted to check her background, they might be able to find something, but the advantage now was that she was in the shadows and the megacorporations were in the light, giving her enough opportunity to execute her plan.
"Berry, this building probably needs to be renovated. Do you have any ideas for what's next?"
After V and Jackie led the group on a tour of the first floor, witnessing famous "scenic spots" like the "Death Corridor" and "Tornado Destroys Parking Lot," everyone returned to the casino lobby, where they haphazardly flipped over some chairs amidst the wreckage to take a short break.
"Ideas..."
Listening to V, Berry nodded repeatedly, saying she had plenty of ideas.
However, she still had one unanswered question.
That question concerned the commotion V and Jackie had caused.
Just looking at the remnants of their battle—the explosions and bombardments—the commotion could be felt half a block away.
So, the question arose.
Why hadn't the NCPD shown up?
With such a huge disturbance, surely the NCPD, responsible for maintaining public order, should have arrived.
Thinking this, Berry voiced her confusion directly.
However, as soon as Berry asked, Jackie, who was sitting on the counter nearby, laughed.
"Berry, you don't understand this. Oh, right, we really haven't pulled off a stunt this big before."
Jackie nodded, remembering that Berry had only been in Night City for less than a year. Then, he patiently explained.
"Yes, for general shootings, the NCPD will eventually come to clean up, even if they're a bit late. But this, the scale we created, is close to a gang war, especially here in Chinatown where the police presence is weak. This isn't a small matter."
"In cases of gang wars like this, the NCPD will first figure out who is fighting whom, and then use a Fixer to mediate. As long as it's not a large-scale terrorist attack specifically targeting the public, they usually only show up after the fighting stops. Because, as they say, these are street dogs fighting each other, and they won't rush in just to die."
"So, they are probably looking for the Fixer or informant in this area, trying to figure out which two gangs were warring. But too bad for them, they won't find squat, since this was our first battle."
After hearing Jackie's explanation, Berry nodded in relief.
As expected of Jackie, who was born and raised on the streets of Night City, he knew so much.
At the same time, Berry witnessed the weakness of Night City's official authorities. Sure enough, Night City was just a puppet of the megacorporations, neglected and uncared for. No wonder people said they would rather offend the Night City Council than offend a megacorporation.
If V and Jackie dared to cause such a disturbance on corporate territory, they would probably be surrounded by a dozen corporate special teams in under half a minute.
Even though she said that, Berry immediately called Rogue.
Although the NCPD was terrible, Berry hadn't forgotten their trump card: MAX-TAC. Berry didn't want to attract those guys, so to be safe, she decided to let Rogue handle the situation.
"Yes, this is Rogue."
The call connected, and the figure of Rogue, leaning lazily on a sofa, appeared before Berry.
"It's me, Berry."
"Berry... hmm, I was just about to call you."
Rogue, on the other end, looked resigned when she saw Berry's face. This person was definitely the most troublesome client she had ever met, and now, she had created another huge mess for her.
"I guessed as much. You must have clashed with the Motorcycle Gang people; otherwise, why would there be such a huge commotion?"
"Uh, how should I put this? It just happened by accident."
Seeing Rogue covering her forehead in distress, Berry, unusually, felt a tiny bit guilty.
After all, according to her original plan, the commotion would have been much bigger than this.
"You don't know this, but the NCPD called me! If I hadn't stalled them for you, you'd be eating prison food right now, understand?"
Rogue frowned when she said this, looking like she wasn't joking.
Although Jackie was street-born and knew many secrets, he still underestimated how much the NCPD cared about unusual disturbances. After the gunfight in the building, the NCPD had already started looking for the two gangs involved.
The Motorcycle Gang's territory was easy to identify, but V's side was much harder. They only managed to figure out that Afterlife and the Motorcycle Gang had a previous feud.
It was fortunate that Rogue had strong backing and managed to deflect the matter; otherwise, the NCPD would be pursuing V and Jackie by now.
"Oh, thank you very much, Rogue."
Hearing how much effort Rogue had expended for them, Berry unhesitatingly gave Rogue a "good person card."
However, Rogue could only shake her head helplessly in response.
"Forget it. The cause of this was faulty intelligence anyway. Consider this incident part of the business transaction."
"Mhm, mhm."
Berry nodded along.
Originally, when Afterlife failed to resolve the situation promptly, she had planned to ask Rogue for a partial refund. Hearing Rogue's explanation now, Berry reluctantly dropped the idea of asking for her money back.
"Alright then, your commission is complete. You got the territory, and everything is settled."
Having said that, Rogue hung up the phone, as if afraid Berry might give her another "surprise."
After all, she was nearly a hundred years old and couldn't handle Berry's habit of suddenly making a devastating move without warning.
Meanwhile, V and Jackie, having listened to the massive mess they had caused, were looking straight ahead, pretending the chaos on the floor had nothing to do with them.
"Berry, I have to take you somewhere. It's a bit strange, and you need to see it."
After Berry hung up, V blurted this out, wanting to prevent Berry's thoughts from lingering on the incident where they had caused havoc in the casino.
Although their intentions were good, their actions nearly caused a lawsuit and attracted the NCPD pursuit. Now feeling guilty, they decided it was best to skip over the subject for the time being.
"Yeah, yeah, Berry, there's something really fishy in here. You have to see it."
Jackie chimed in as well.
He had enjoyed the shooting most, and now he also wanted to move past the topic and pretend nothing had happened.
Berry, having just hung up the phone, looked at the two of them suspiciously.
Seeing the two of them feigning composure, Berry felt puzzled.
Was there something so urgent?
Could they be worried that causing such a big scene would draw her criticism?
Berry narrowed her eyes and scrutinized V's fair face, quickly making V look away guiltily.
"Come on, Berry, I'm serious."
V rubbed the tip of her nose, thinking, *Did Berry figure out I'm feeling guilty?*
However, Berry ultimately didn't say anything. She just shrugged and finally nodded.
"Fine, V. Take me to see whatever you want me to look at."
Berry didn't know about their guilt.
In reality, even if she knew, she wouldn't blame them.
Hey, this is Night City. Do you know what Night City is? It's known in the underworld as a gathering place for scum, the Holy Land for Organ Harvesting. It was just an armed conflict to seize territory; that's nothing.
Even the NUSA Cabinet would get their kidneys harvested if they came here.
Therefore, Berry didn't take anything Rogue had said seriously.
Aside from the regret of not being able to get a refund from Rogue, she didn't take NCPD's threats seriously at all.
If NCPD really had the guts, Night City wouldn't be the 'land of outstanding people' it is today.
Jackie and V brought Berry to the previously discovered basement.
To be honest, they weren't joking; even after dealing with the enemies in the building, they had only briefly explored this mysterious basement, but they had clearly sensed that something was amiss.
After all, the inexplicable goods and potions inside made it very clear to them that something was wrong.
Berry followed behind, stepping down the steel ladder after the two, her eyes squinting at first due to the dim light of the basement, then she adapted and saw the full scope of the basement.
The basement was huge.
This was Berry's first impression.
It was less a basement and more like the building's first underground floor.
The basement was piled high with steel frames and crates, with narrow passages between various sundries. V and Jackie led Berry around two turns before reaching the noteworthy spot V had mentioned.
These were two or three crates of goods.
One of them was already opened.
"This is it, Berry, this thing is very strange."
V took out a glass jar containing a glowing green solution from an opened crate on the table and showed it to Berry.
Berry looked into the box; the crate was full of these glowing transparent glass jars, with viscous green solution emitting a faint light inside.
"Yeah, this thing doesn't look like a drink either. I don't know what kind of strange stuff it is," Jackie said, stepping on a crate on the floor.
He and V had found this thing while clearing the basement, but even their extensive experience couldn't figure out what it was for.
Although it looked like Clumsy Monkey, the Motorcycle Gang wouldn't specifically store Clumsy Monkey concentrate in this basement, guarded by two autocannons at the entrance, would they?
So, the two of them were a bit puzzled and brought Berry to see it.
"Is that so? Let me see."
Berry frowned; she had never seen anything so strange either.
However, it wasn't a big problem; she had her own methods.
Berry took the jar of solution from V's hand and activated her system panel to start scanning.
Soon, the information about the Mysterious Solution in her hand began to appear.
"Mysterious Solution
Possesses an effect that slightly amplifies an organism's emotions. Recommended for spray application."
"Amplifies an organism's emotions?"
Berry frowned, looking at the Mysterious Solution in her hand.
She was starting to feel something unusual now.
This sounded like some kind of high-tech item, like products developed by those big corporations. How could something of this caliber be in the basement of a low-tier gang?
"Berry, what's wrong? Do you know what this thing is?"
V and Jackie watched Berry examining the mysterious item with a frown, and asked curiously.
"I have some guesses."
Berry nodded but didn't elaborate.
She hadn't figured out exactly what this thing was used for yet.
Putting down the jar, Berry squatted down and looked at the crates containing these solutions.
She tilted her head and looked around; the crates were clean, without any labels, making it impossible to figure out where these things came from based on trademarks or anything similar.
Strange.
Berry weighed the item in her hand, unsure of where to start.
"V, Jackie, have you found anything else unusual elsewhere?"
With just these, she couldn't figure out where this thing came from. Berry decided to see if there was anything else.
The Mysterious Solution had already caught her attention.
This kind of thing didn't seem like something found on the market; she had to figure it out to be at ease.
However, in response to Berry's question, Jackie and V exchanged glances, shrugging to indicate they didn't know either.
"We don't know either; time was short, and we didn't have time to look closely."
However, Jackie looked towards the depths of the basement and raised his chin.
"Maybe we can explore further inside; we might find something new."
Berry followed Jackie's gaze inwards. The things in the depths of the basement were only barely discernible in the dim light, exuding an eerie feeling in the silence, making Berry wary.
"Let's go, let's take a look inside together."
Berry decided to get to the bottom of this.
Originally, she thought this place was just territory occupied by the Motorcycle Gang, but now, this strange solution made her vigilant.
She seemed to have stepped into something abnormal.
In Night City, every unusual place is worth being wary of, after all, you never know when you might lose your head because of something like this.
The three held their guns and slowly walked towards the depths of the basement.
The air was filled with a certain confined, stale smell, coupled with the lightless, silent environment where even a dropped pin could be clearly heard—you could hear a pin drop. This scene would be a shame not to use for a horror film.
Seeing this scene, Berry's mind felt invaded, and inappropriate images like Sadako, Kayako, Freddy Krueger, and Jason Voorhees all popped up like a sudden rush.
If it weren't for the two living people beside her, Berry would definitely have cowered.
After bypassing a pile of sundries, their vision gradually opened up, and as a blast of cold air hit them, several freezers lay quietly on the floor.
"What the hell is this, freezers?!"
Jackie was the first to speak.
Looking at the tightly sealed freezers in front of him, he showed a look of surprise, while V and Berry, after a glance, also felt a sense of unease rising in their hearts.
Seeing this familiar scene, the three of them simultaneously felt a jolt.
It wasn't their fault; in Night City, seeing freezers outside of small shops was not a good omen.
After all, in Night City, besides being used to store cool, refreshing ice pops for summer, freezers were often used to store another kind of thing that could also make people feel cold, and that thing was also cold.
That was human organs, things that become valuable in a high-tech world with advanced medical technology.
And coincidentally, having often dealt with Scavengers, they had seen quite a few.
So, upon seeing the freezers in front of them, the three simultaneously suffered from freezer PTSD.
"Uh, Jackie, please."
The three looked at the cold freezers lying on the ground, still emitting cold air, feeling a chill in their hearts and not wanting to go forward.
Berry, meanwhile, cowered behind, unburdened, urging Jackie to go forward.
"Hey, why don't you two go, and make me go!"
Jackie turned his head back to the two behind him, immediately expressing his dissatisfaction.
"Oh, how hurtful those words are, Jackie, my heart is truly aching."
Berry promptly clutched her heart, looking as if she had been betrayed by her best friend.
"Give it a rest, Berry, at this critical moment, that trick won't work."
Looking at the freezers in front of him, Jackie took two big steps back, indicating no way.
As for V, seeing that no one was talking about her, she was pretending to be invisible; as long as she wasn't asked to open the freezer, anything was fine.
It wasn't that the three were timid.
After all, these three weren't exactly saints, and they were used to seeing dead people, but what made them uncomfortable was the Scavengers' cold attitude of treating people as commodities, as objects.
Seeing people dismembered and laid out like parts, there was a shiver that came from the depths of their souls.
After all, while they also killed, they at least treated their enemies as people, respecting their human dignity from the bottom of their hearts.
How to put it, even though they killed and burned, they were actually good people.
Hmm, very convincing.
Seeing that soft tactics didn't work, Berry narrowed her eyes at Jackie, preparing to use hard tactics.
"Jackie, don't you have some braindance under your bed that you shouldn't be watching? You wouldn't want Misty to know, would you?"
"Hey, Girl, you can't just slander me!"
Hearing Berry say that, Jackie immediately glared and retorted, but his eager appearance seemed to betray his guilty conscience, appearing very abnormal.
"Do you want me to name them? Like 'Hot Chicks Threesome,' 'Sizzling Latina Girl'—"
"Wait, Berry, that's enough, that's enough!"
Listening to Berry revealing his cherished treasures, Jackie gritted his teeth and hastily called for her to stop.
Stop talking, or all his secrets will be exposed.
"Alright, you win, Berry!"
Jackie gritted his teeth and, steeling himself, went forward.
Berry then relaxed and let out a breath.
Fortunately, she had learned a lot of Jackie's secrets when she used to live at Wolf Bar; otherwise, she would have had to go herself this time.
What, you ask how she found out what Jackie hid under his bed?
Well, actually, she didn't find it; Jackie's mother found it when she was cleaning the room, and Berry just happened to be there.
One can only say that Jackie made a mistake that all men in the world make; don't hide those kinds of things under the bed, it's really easy to find, isn't it?
At this moment, Jackie's jaw was clenched, and he steeled himself to grasp the lid of the freezer.
He could only pray to the bearded old man, God, that it wasn't something that would give him nightmares.
Finally, he opened the lid.
As a bone-chilling cold air rushed out, when he saw what was inside, Jackie's eyes immediately widened.
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