Chapter 36: Undercurrents (Part Four)

After boarding the AV, Fiers felt noticeably more relaxed with Finkes beside him.

“Damn this Night City... I’m starting to miss home.”

Fiers let out a long breath, speaking with a hint of melancholy. His days in Night City had been far from peaceful—almost every day, someone tried to take his life.

Most attempts were nothing more than small-time scuffles, not well-planned assassinations—barely worth calling efforts at all. Still, that didn’t mean they had no impact on him.

Constantly watching out for stray bullets or lunatics launching sudden suicide attacks was exhausting. Mentally, it drained him.

Back in the New United States, he didn’t have to stay so tense. Chaos or not, it was still their turf. But Night City was different. Too many maniacs here were ready to die for nothing, and none of them actually knew who he was.

That was the most troublesome part. Their ignorance meant they had no idea what killing him would cause—so they didn’t care about consequences at all...

“After today, you’ll be able to go home. I’ll keep you safe, Mr. Fiers.”

Finkes said with a smile.

“Hearing you say that really puts me at ease.”

Fiers nodded. Based on the intel he had, Night City didn’t currently have anyone capable of taking on Finkes—unless Morgan Blackhand crawled out of his grave for an assassination.

And even then, it would have to be a suicidal one. In that case, Fiers could only accept his fate.

At that moment, on the rooftop of a distant skyscraper, a dark figure quietly observed the AV. In his hands was a strange, fully black weapon pulsing with crimson energy.

Jhin adjusted the energy rifle while searching for the perfect sniping window. He was confident in the destructive power of his “Whisper,” but he still didn’t plan to fire at the AV directly. If the target survived by sheer luck, the entire plan would fall apart.

He was only here to confirm the angle and get more familiar with the “Whisper” sniper rifle, preparing for the real operation later.

Once he confirmed Fiers had departed, Jhin put the weapon away, leaped off the high-rise, and disappeared into the steel jungle below.

The moment Jhin vanished, Finkes suddenly turned toward the building where Roland had been moments earlier but found nothing.

“Strange... was that just my imagination...?”

Finkes muttered. He had clearly felt a surge of danger just now. He’d been about to tell the driver to stop, but the feeling disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving an eerie aftertaste.

“Finkes, did something happen?”

Fiers seemed to notice something odd about him and asked.

“No... nothing. Probably just my imagination.”

“Is that so...”

Fiers nodded, then sighed helplessly. “I really don’t know what that idiot Myers is thinking. Starting a war at a time like this is basically handing Arasaka an opportunity. And now I’m stuck in a mess the moment I step outside the New United States.”

Finkes lowered his gaze slightly, choosing not to respond. Best not to touch that topic.

“If she keeps messing around like this, forget ‘great again’—we’ll be lucky not to repeat the disasters of the past.”

Fiers chuckled coldly and downed his glass of champagne in one go.

“Mr. Fiers, please try to drink a little less. You’ll be meeting with Biotechnica soon.”

Finkes reminded softly. Fiers slowly set the glass down. This meeting with Biotechnica was important—it concerned cooperation between them and the military.

...

“Well? Have you figured out their defense layout?”

Kuroda narrowed his eyes at his subordinate.

“Yes, we’ve mapped out almost everything. There’s still a small area that’s unclear, but we can confirm about eight snipers in total, each supported by three assistants.”

“Hmm... looks like they’ve added more guards. Send the intel to Jhin, then assign two men to back him up.”

“Aye!”

Jhin had already reached the outer perimeter of the venue. Seeing the massive crowd, the swarm of journalists, and the heavy presence of NCPD personnel, he felt this was the perfect spot to slip in unnoticed.

He soon received Kuroda’s intel, along with notice that two operatives would be assisting him. If he needed anything, he could communicate with them directly.

Jhin narrowed his eyes, scanning the surroundings for the best sniping point. Soon, he settled on the connecting bridge between two eastern buildings—an ideal vantage point.

But three snipers had clear sightlines to that location. If he wanted to operate from there... he’d have to take them out first.

“Troublesome...”

Jhin thought to himself. Those snipers communicated periodically, mostly to make sure their teammates were still fine.

“Draw the attention of the sniper watching the western building. I need to move in.”

After reading Jhin’s message, Kuroda turned to his men. “Go. Tell Ryuzaki’s group to send a small squad to stir up trouble in the northwest. Keep it small. Once it starts to escalate, they should stop resisting and let the NCPD arrest them.”

“Understood.”

“And have Takahashi and the other one walk around the other possible sniper points to draw the rest of their attention.”

Soon, a minor disturbance broke out within the crowd. The NCPD and the Biotechnica security forces immediately shifted their focus. Taking advantage of the chaos, Jhin activated his Optical Camouflage and vanished into the masses.

He then invaded the electronic door system, forcing it to open just a narrow gap—enough for him to slip through.

He could have gone invisible the whole way, but a door opening on its own under multiple snipers’ watch would be way too suspicious.

“Everything’s going smoothly so far... next...”

A faint red flicker pulsed across Jhin’s visor as the building’s personnel layout appeared before his eyes.

“Hmm... about fifteen people, plus eight AI security bots... A bit troublesome, but manageable...”

Jhin slowly drew his weapon—a distinctive Dagger. After all, the Ascension Template wasn’t limited to guns.