Westwind Estate, Kangtao construction site.
A construction team from Kangtao, along with a large number of workers, was walking back and forth across the expansive grounds of the site.
Roqi couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something felt off. The site—painted in Kangtao's typical yellow, white, and black—didn't quite match the bustling energy he remembered from other construction projects.
Because this was in the Pacifica region, many Kangtao soldiers could be seen patrolling the perimeter in their orange-and-white combat jackets.
Their fully integrated, high-tech holo-helmets, Kangtao-brand smart weapons, and even a few patrolling drones flying overhead—it all screamed corporate style.
Unlike other megacorps, every company had its own distinct visual identity.
"T-Bug, you see that drone?"
Roqi set his backpack down in a corner and pulled out a single hacking device.
"What are you doing? Full control will take time. You should've brought a repeater. The PDA's computing power is garbage."
"No need for full control," Roqi said as he peeked out from behind a rusty green dumpster, watching the activity in the yard.
"Just disable the camera, or jam the signal—whatever works. Just get me three seconds."
T-Bug frowned. "What are you planning?"
"An aerial dive."
A bold and reckless plan.
The walls around Westwind Estate weren't tall. These building complexes had never relied on high walls or drawbridges to keep people out.
Multifunctional scanning cameras, fleets of security bots, and roaming drones—that's what the rich really trusted.
There was an extensive power grid here, and before Kangtao's own base station went online, everything was plugged into the local network.
There weren't any secrets here—just an empty plot without even a foundation—so it wasn't guarded by a dedicated Netrunner team.
"Hey, I'm just saying, maybe drop a backdoor while you're at it. Once the base station's up, this could be your new secret HQ."
Seeing how the network was wide open and undefended, Roqi couldn't help but speak up.
"Pointless. It's just a temporary setup. Everything will be torn down and rebuilt later, including the network."
T-Bug chuckled. His idea was amusing but naive.
Infiltrating a proper server base? Not exactly easy work.
"I'm good on my end. Say the word when you're ready," T-Bug said, locking on to the drone overhead.
Roqi glanced around. No one was watching. He signaled T-Bug. A few seconds later, the hack was complete, and he leapt forward, carving an arc of several dozen meters through the air, landing on the rooftop of a building inside Westwind Estate.
"Huh? What was that noise?"
Even with shock-dampening leg implants, Roqi's landing wasn't completely silent. A few workers just ten meters away looked up, alert.
Roqi's heart skipped. He quickly ducked into an abandoned villa nearby.
Garbage littered the floor. Every step either kicked up a cloud of dust or knocked over rusted cans with a clatter.
Scattered around were makeshift beds from homeless squatters—rain tarps, foam padding, bits of wood cobbled into a sleeping space.
Since Kangtao had taken over, those people had been driven out. Fortunately, the Pacifica region was full of abandoned buildings like this—shelter wasn't hard to come by.
Just minutes later, when Roqi thought the coast was clear, a group of boots marched past the villa, drawing closer with every step.
A moment later, they dragged out a homeless man who hadn't yet left.
At gunpoint, the man scurried off with his belongings like a stray dog, vanishing down the road.
Roqi didn't feel pity—just sorrow.
In this city, in every district, there were always "beds" for the homeless.
All they needed was a hidden corner no one cared about, enough space to lie down, and maybe something to block the wind and rain.
Leaky tents, grimy but usable mattresses, roofs made from tarps and wooden poles...
There were people who couldn't even afford rent in the megaslum towers. They used whatever scraps they could find just to survive.
They couldn't leave, because outside Night City lay a wasteland that ate people alive.
Once Kangtao's men had cleared out the last squatter, the area fell silent again.
"You alright?" T-Bug's voice came through after several unanswered calls.
"Yeah. Kangtao almost spotted me, that's all."
Roqi kept his voice low as he peeked through the window.
Outside, the equipment had started up. The hum of engines drowned out background noise, letting Roqi move more freely.
From there, it was smooth going. No constant patrols, no annoying cameras or drones.
This kind of stealth job wasn't something local Pacifica gangs could pull off. And even if they had any ideas about the site, they'd think twice before messing with Kangtao firepower.
That confidence… was exactly where an opportunity could be found.
Spotting a port, Roqi flipped on his hacking tool, draped it in a nearby rain tarp, then ducked into an alley and climbed onto the roof to wait.
"Any sign of the Voodoo Boys or Netwatch?"
Those two elusive Netrunner factions were still hiding in the shadows—his main concern.
"Not even a trace," T-Bug replied. "Be patient. Sometimes they go dark for days. Voodoo Boys know Netwatch is here, and Netwatch knows the Voodoo Boys know they're here. We couldn't have picked a worse time."
Hooking into the local LAN helped T-Bug expand her vision and control range. It wouldn't lead them directly to Voodoo Boys or Netwatch, but it gave her an advantage.
Launching attacks from a mobile server would expose their base of operations. Against Netwatch, that was suicide. A single focused strike could wipe them out.
Cyberspace wasn't meatspace—Roqi couldn't set up a turret and offer suppressing fire. The best he could do was support.
"Alright, I'm in." Once the hack completed, T-Bug dove into the backend and rewrote permissions and processes.
The downside of fully integrated network systems? If someone gained backend access, they got everything.
If Westwind Estate—or any other Pacifica luxury zone—came online, Netwatch would definitely move in, make it one of their bases, and provide Night City's highest-grade network security.
But for now, there was no Netwatch. This was T-Bug's playground.
"Everything's busted. Totally busted," T-Bug grumbled after scanning the public systems. "Half the shit isn't even installed. The rest is already scrapped."
The kinds of people who tore apart street lamps and power lines for parts had already picked Pacifica clean.
Except for the stuff Kangtao installed later.
Any Kangtao device on-site with network connectivity—T-Bug could link to it now. Total control, however, would require bypassing Kangtao's security protocols.
But T-Bug wasn't interested in the industrial equipment. She wanted Pacifica's public network.
"This is weird. Super weird. What the hell are the Voodoo Boys up to?" she muttered. "They've completely isolated the network in the Haitian district. I can't see a damn thing inside."
"Uh... what does that mean?"
Roqi, crouched with his PDA, snuck down a back path out of Westwind.
"It means their headquarters must be inside. Unless they've set up a subnet, complete with their own servers and base stations—which seems unlikely."
T-Bug explained.
"Haitian district is massive, and it's all their turf. Could be hiding in any sewer."
Roqi gave a helpless chuckle.
He'd seen black markets in sewer systems before. Merchants, mercs, gangs—it was like a nest of rats and roaches. No exaggeration.
Knowing the Voodoo Boys, they probably had their servers buried in the Earth's core.
"Try digging up the underground facility blueprints for the Seaview zone," Roqi suggested. "They can't test the Blackwall from just any basement. There's got to be some abandoned bunkers around. Maybe they're holed up in one of those."
"Good idea. I'll check," T-Bug replied and began searching old municipal plans.
"Shit! Netwatch found me!"
A few minutes later, T-Bug screamed—and then went dead silent.
"T-Bug!? T-Bug?!?"
Roqi panicked and bolted toward the floating dock.
Getting caught in cyberspace by Netwatch was no joke. If they locked you in, it wasn't a question of if you'd survive—but how cooked your brain would be.
"F-Fuck…"
Thirty seconds later, T-Bug's voice came back, utterly drained.
"You okay?" Roqi's heart was still pounding.
"I yanked the cable," she gasped. She'd unplugged her connection and was now talking through the PDA mic, breathing heavily.
For a Netrunner, unplugging the cable was the most basic—and most disgraceful—way to escape.
"What happened? How'd Netwatch find you?"
"Fuck, don't even get me started."
T-Bug was fuming. "They rigged the entire public net full of decoys. Every IP, every dataset, every port—nothing was real. Everything was booby-trapped."
"Goddamn…"
Roqi gave a bitter laugh.
Who would've guessed? If everything is a trap, you can't tell what's bait.
Netwatch had gone all in to hunt the Voodoo Boys.
Ordinary lures wouldn't catch them, so they just made everything into a lure.
And T-Bug was the first to bite.
"This is my fault. I told you to pull the city plans."
Roqi was filled with regret. His careless suggestion nearly got his friend killed.
"No, this one's on me." T-Bug didn't blame him. "Even if you hadn't said anything, I still would've gone digging. I'd have stepped into the same trap."
"But honestly, this doesn't feel like Netwatch's usual M.O."
Roqi frowned. "What is their usual style?"
"Find you head-on. Then duel it out in cyberspace," T-Bug said with a bitter laugh.
"You… sound like you've been on the receiving end before."
Roqi picked up something different in her tone.
"Yeah. You could say that." Her voice dropped. "My old partner died that way. I still remember her scream."
The mood suddenly turned heavy.
Roqi opened his mouth but didn't know what to say.
Netrunners and mercs—sometimes the line between them was razor-thin.
"Don't worry about it. I'm used to it," T-Bug said.
She wiped sweat from her brow and took a big gulp from the electrolyte drink Mower handed her.
"Have they ever lost?" Roqi tried to change the subject.
"Small losses, sure. But in terms of all-out war… not once," T-Bug said.
Freelancers were like wild hunters—tricksters who could catch Netwatch off guard.
But Netwatch was well-staffed and heavily armed—regular troops. A few upsets wouldn't topple the whole game.
"We should move. Find a new place."
T-Bug gave a sharp grunt and jumped out of her chair.
"Why?" Roqi asked.
"Unplugging doesn't make you invisible. Every cyberspace interaction leaves traces, no matter how well you scrub them."
T-Bug explained, "They'll find this location eventually. Better to run now."
"And you should get away from Kangtao, too. That hacking device won't hold up under inspection. Might be decent for offense, but it's crap in every other area compared to corp-grade tech."
She was brutally honest about her own gear.
Roqi nodded. "Got it."
In the background, he could hear the faint sounds of Mower leading a group of mercs, helping pack up.
Then—gunfire and explosions erupted.
"Shit! Kangtao?!"
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💘 MY GIRLFRIEND'S A CYBERPSYCHO—WHO KNEW?
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💘 LOVE IS COMPLICATED.
Especially when your girlfriend could probably tear a squad of heavily armed mercs apart.
Welcome to Night City romance.
My Girlfriend's a Cyberpsycho—Who Knew? has 100+ chapters ahead waiting for you.
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💀❤️ ROMANCE, CHROME... AND QUESTIONABLE LIFE EXPECTANCY
💘 Romance
🤖 Cyberware
🧠 Cyberpsychosis
🔫 Night City action
😂 Chaos & dark humor
🌃 Dangerous relationships
🔥 Very bad situations getting much worse
People say relationships require patience.
Communication.
Trust.
Nobody mentioned surviving cyberpsychos.
🔥 100+ CHAPTERS AHEAD.
👉 Keep reading if you're brave enough.
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⚠️ Power Stones help decide release priority!
💘 Love hurts. In Night City, sometimes literally.