chapter 63

.. Food..

"Ding...."

Accompanied by the sound of the electronic alarm clock, Karl opened his eyes and found that the alarm set by Oliver had no effect on Oliver and Jack, who were snoring loudly. It only woke him up.

Karl yawned and flipped through Blanca's communications but didn't see any mission messages from her.

That was to be expected. During this period, the people from Military Technology were still arguing with Arasaka about who transported the ACPA. Even if the group of pilots wanted to get involved, they probably didn't have the opportunity to enter Night City. Now, Arasaka was waiting for the pilots to show up and put pressure on Military Technology.

Karl thought about finding something to do. Yesterday, he, Jack, and Oliver discussed asking the priest for a task, but now Karl saw that Jack and Oliver were sleeping like the dead. There was no rush.

They had been staying up for two days and two nights by his bedside, and last night they stayed up drinking until midnight. It was good to take a break, a combination of work and rest.

As usual, after washing up and rinsing his mouth with pure water, Karl took a pistol with him to buy breakfast for Oliver and Jack. He brought a Lexington pistol. His Kenshin, which he lost during the battle with the ACPA, hadn't been replaced yet, so he was using the spare Lexington that he originally kept as a memento.

Before buying breakfast, Karl took the elevator to the floor where he first arrived in 2075 and walked to the spot where the previous owner of the Lexington on his waist had died.

Karl visited this spot daily as long as he lived in the super skyscraper. It wasn't to pick up a new Lexington but to repay a favor. The dead green-haired man with a cockscomb hairstyle had once given Karl his first gold and self-defense weapon, helping him meet Oliver later. Karl's mercenary life was "sponsored" by this act of friendship, and he felt he had to repay it.

But today, Karl found nothing again.

The deceased had lived on the eighth floor. Over time, Karl had "friendly" interrogated all the residents on that floor. The group was happy to answer Karl's questions, likely because of the pistol on his waist. According to them, the green-haired man was new to the building, having moved in a week before Karl arrived. No one had seen any visitors come to see him.

Karl had prepaid a year's rent for the dead man's room, ensuring any visitors would be recorded for him to check later. But over a month had passed since Karl arrived in 2075, and with 2076 approaching, no one had come to visit.

Karl didn't know whether the green-haired man had no relatives or if his address was unknown to them. Regardless, Karl was willing to continue paying the 12,000 euros annual rent until he could find a way to identify the man through Night City's records.

Thinking about the archives in Night City, it seemed that apart from the corporations, only the NCPD would have such information.

Karl remembered having the contact of an NCPD officer named Johnson, whom he met during a cyberpsychosis incident. However, they had only met once, and Karl doubted Johnson would take his request seriously.

Would he need to help with more cyberpsychosis cases to build a relationship?

Cyberpsychosis wasn't so easy to encounter.

After checking the room's access records and confirming no one had visited, Karl went down to the first floor, bought food at a familiar stall, and returned to Oliver's room.

Oliver's pork supply was due in a few days, and they could finally have some meat.

Karl woke up Oliver and Jack, tossed them pure water to rinse their mouths, and ate the Chinese cold noodles he'd had the most since arriving in 2075. His stomach churned with nausea.

Noodles were delicious, but having them too often was wearing him out. Karl, picky about food, was reaching his limit with Chinese cold noodles.

Watching Oliver and Jack eat with gusto, Karl thought of Haruko Arasaka from their previous mission.

'That guy can probably eat fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat every day. Damn corporate dog.'

"What's the plan for today?" Jack asked, eating tomato meat sauce pasta. He suddenly noticed the breakfast was different. "Karl, why pasta today? Doesn't the stall owner make Japanese food?"

"I don't know when the stall owner changed. The new one is proficient in all kinds of dishes."

"All kinds of dishes?"

"He can make whatever you want."

"Then I want pizza next time."

"Sure."

Thinking about pizza made Karl even more nauseous.

He didn't mind pizza for breakfast, but the toppings were the issue.

In 2075, the most popular street pizza was Spicy Italian Sausage Pizza, Jack's favorite. Karl's opinion was that people in Night City were skipping part of the name. The full name should be 'Locust Spicy Italian Sausage Pizza.'

Yes, locusts.

Though many people in Karl's era liked eating locusts and he didn't mind trying it, using locusts as regular meat on pizza was still a shock to Karl, a traditional pizza lover.

It felt as unreasonable as putting pineapple on pizza... Except in Night City, there was a law: illegal use of pineapples on pizza violated Article 1, Section 5a of the Pizza Blasphemy Act, punishable by being wanted and rewarded.

After finishing his noodles, Karl turned on Oliver's computer to check what had happened in Night City during his two days of unconsciousness. A full-screen ad immediately popped up:

'Arasaka Academy is now recruiting students. Join to become elites of the new era.'

This... It was almost the New Year. Recruiting students now? Was Arasaka crazy?

If Karl compared recruitment times with other schools, he'd soon know why.

Superman corporate dogs, never resting.

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