MHGA Chapter 221 – The Arasaka Father and Son's Attention on the Hunters
In the short time Yorinobu Arasaka had been in Night City, he had already noticed many things out of place.
The current state of the city…
was completely unlike the chaotic mess he remembered.
He distinctly recalled that Night City was rife with black-market industries—
But now…
those operations had nearly been wiped clean.
Especially the Scavengers running human-trafficking rackets—
They were almost completely eradicated.
It was as if these new actors had no regard for consequences.
Relying solely on overwhelming force, they swept through the city and crushed the Scavs one after another…
Yorinobu had done his best to investigate this and finally found some lingering intelligence through his own sources—
Including a recorded braindance from a Scav's cyberware.
In that braindance, Yorinobu personally witnessed a young man with light blue hair,
wielding a longsword with a distinctly medieval aesthetic, and a small shield on the other arm,
effortlessly slicing open the Scavs' safehouse.
The safehouse, which should have been able to resist most forms of attack,
was cleaved in two by that sword—
as easily as a red-hot blade slicing through butter.
The Scav leader fired in panic—
but every bullet aimed at the blue-haired youth was cleanly deflected midair by the blade,
not even grazing the youth's coat.
Yorinobu could almost feel the Scav's terror and despair through the braindance interface.
Outside the safehouse, all the Scavs had already been neutralized.
The youth had taken them down single-handedly with what looked like a collector's antique blade.
And as the young man raised his sword over the Scav leader,
his expression looked… strangely regretful. Sad, even.
The braindance ended there.
Yorinobu stood up from the couch with a grim expression,
walked to the full-length window, and looked down at the glowing sprawl of Night City.
"…Hunters."
He rubbed his temples, starting to feel a headache coming on.
This group, these so-called Hunters,
had suddenly emerged in Night City with a style utterly alien to it.
Their weapons were crude, even primitive-looking,
with almost no visible cybertech—
and yet their destructive power was overwhelming.
Bullets barely harmed them.
They could wade through landmines and grenades to crush enemies head-on.
Even netrunners couldn't affect them.
Their cyberware couldn't even be scanned—
as if they weren't enhanced at all.
The braindance just now was undeniable proof.
"What are they trying to accomplish with all this…?"
Yorinobu muttered to himself, eyes darting as intelligence overlays flooded his vision through his implants.
He had to figure out what the Hunters were after—
and prevent Saburo Arasaka from gaining anything from them.
But just as he was sifting through the latest updates…
something caught his eye.
It wasn't a Hunter.
It was a member of a group calling themselves Edgerunners,
carrying a weapon remarkably similar to those wielded by the Hunters.
Yorinobu flicked his hand in the air to isolate the file.
"David… Martinez?"
The name rang a vague bell.
He quickly pulled up all available data—
and was surprised to find that this young man had ties to Arasaka.
Only recently, he had been a student at Arasaka Academy.
"A new recruit under an Edgerunner named Maine…
Dropped out of Arasaka Academy not long ago?"
Yorinobu focused on the footage—
David was clearly carrying a Gunlance, matching the style of the Hunters.
"Could he be connected to them…?"
Yorinobu pondered, narrowing his eyes.
But what he didn't notice was that…
his supposedly secure network had been breached.
A mysterious hacker had cracked open a hidden backdoor—
and was extracting swathes of sensitive intel…
…including everything about this investigation.
"Achoo!"
David, sitting in the back of a car and sharpening his Gunlance with a Whetstone, suddenly sneezed hard.
He rubbed his nose and muttered, "Why does it feel like I'm catching a cold…"
"Tch, you should just get yourself a proper cyberware upgrade—get a synthetic lung!"
Maine, seated beside him, slapped David hard on the back.
"With one of those, you'll never sneeze again!"
"Got it."
David collected himself and resumed sharpening the Gunlance.
He didn't really understand how just two strokes of a Whetstone could restore its cutting power—
even repairing fine blade damage.
But experience had taught him—
Sometimes it's best not to overthink things.
While packing up his Whetstone, he recalled how the Guildmaster had given him a strange pouch earlier.
A sealed envelope of sorts, with instructions:
"Only open this in a crisis. Absolutely do not open it otherwise."
David stared at the pouch, curious and a little unnerved.
It felt… superstitious.
He feared that opening it early would somehow render it useless.
Just then, he sneezed again—hard.
"Someone must be thinking about me…" David muttered.
He glanced toward another car.
Unlike the crowded ride he shared with Pilar, Falco, and Maine,
the other vehicle was reserved for the female team members…
David suspected Lucy might be the one thinking of him—
but of course, he had no proof.
He looked away with slight regret.
What David didn't know was—
his name, and the data surrounding him,
was now sitting in front of another powerful figure.
"David Martinez…"
Saburo Arasaka reviewed the freshly hacked intelligence that had been stolen from Yorinobu's files.
His son seemed unusually interested in a newcomer to the Edgerunners.
Saburo fell into silent contemplation.
"If we can't extract data on those other strange individuals…
then dig up everything on this David instead."
He issued the command coldly:
"Before I arrive in Night City."
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