"Um, Berry, I was wondering if we could hang out in Japantown this weekend?" Encouraged by Jackie's winks, V finally stammered out the invitation. "Just playing games, doing some shopping, stuff like that."
Japantown, Westbrook's most prosperous district, is filled with skyscrapers packed with clothing supermarkets, arcades, casinos, discos… in short, all sorts of flashy things that can empty your wallet. Tourists love to go there, and locals do too.
However, hearing the invitation, Berry raised an eyebrow in confusion. Going out to have fun was always good, but she didn't know why V would bring it up now; they hadn't even washed the blood off themselves yet.
Berry's silence made V's face flush instantly. Although Jackie, who was driving, kept signaling her with his eyebrows not to worry, that the situation was still under control, V's mind was a mess at this point, perhaps not even knowing where to put her hands.
The plan to ask Berry out was Jackie's idea. He said that if you want to pursue a Girl, you have to attack like a beast, take the Girl out, do some hugging along the way, exchange food, and then the feeling will come, right?
But even so, when it came to actually making the invitation, V was terribly nervous, her face flushing all the way to her ears, her whole body tense, not daring to look at Berry.
Before, when she took Berry out, she felt no burden at all, but as soon as she thought her intentions had changed, turning into a genuine ulterior motive, deliberately wanting to do this or that to Berry, V became so nervous she forgot who she was.
"Are Jackie and Misty coming along?" Berry clearly misunderstood. She thought V was suggesting a double date with Jackie. "Oh, that's fine, I've been wanting to relax for a while."
She agreed, but it didn't quite match V's wishes; she only wanted to be alone with Berry, to spark some potential romance. Thinking this, V looked to Jackie for help.
"Uh, Berry, Misty and I might not be able to make it; we happen to have something to do that day." Jackie, worthy of being a good brother, immediately provided an assist, creating an opportunity for the two of them to be alone.
"That works too, Big Sister V, just the two of us. I also wanted to go hunt for some used parts; Japantown has a pretty good flea market." Although she found Big Sister V a bit strange today, Berry didn't think much of it, attributing it to V not having slept well last night.
Though it was a bit bumpy, it finally worked out. V let out a long sigh of relief, slumping into the seat like a pile of mud.
"Hold on, don't relax, V, something's happening." Jackie, gripping the steering wheel, suddenly looked tense, glancing at the rearview mirror from time to time. The car's speed noticeably increased, clearly indicating something felt wrong to him.
Outside the car window, fine raindrops showered the asphalt road. Pedestrians were sparse on the sidewalk, and streetlights flashed blinding white light, dispelling the darkness of the road.
In the rearview mirror, Jackie noticed a truck following their car. Even after two turns, it was still behind them, clearly targeting them. "I knew it, that truck behind us is tailing us."
As if knowing Jackie had spotted them, the truck roared and sped up, overtaking them from the adjacent lane and cutting in front.
"Chingado (Damn it), I have a bad feeling, V, a very bad feeling." No sooner had Jackie finished speaking than he saw the truck door in front open, his eyes widening instantly. "Scavengers! ¡hijos de puta (sons of bitches)!"
The truck door opened, revealing two Scavengers inside, armed with assault rifles. Their dark muzzles were pointed directly at them. Without hesitation, Berry and V instantly tensed up, switching to combat mode. They both leaned out of the car windows, one on the left and one on the right, guns raised.
"Da da da!!!"
In front, the intense gunfire from the Scavengers became a continuous roar. Jackie gritted his teeth, sharply turning the steering wheel. The tires shrieked and spun, barely preventing the car from being riddled with bullets.
"Steady, Jackie!" However, V and Berry, leaning out, were not having an easy time. They were almost thrown out of the car by the violent force. Rain poured down as they struggled to aim their guns at the truck in front.
"thump thump thump!!!"
V pulled the trigger, and the crisp gunfire of the saratoga instantly erupted, forming a long line that peppered the truck with bullet holes. Two Scavengers holding assault rifles were shot down, falling onto the road. The car ran over their bodies, causing the vehicle to shake violently, and V's submachine gun went out of control, firing into the sky.
Before V could even curse, the truck in front suddenly decelerated, almost causing V's car to ram into its rear. Jackie violently twisted the steering wheel like a pretzel, narrowly missing the truck and swerving onto the sidewalk, startling several pedestrians who screamed and scrambled away.
"Damn it, sorry!" Jackie apologized, shaking his body as he swerved the car back onto the asphalt road. But the truck still wouldn't give up, accelerating alongside them and heading straight for them from the left to ram them.
"Shit!" Berry screamed, quickly retracting back into the car. The next second, the two cars collided. The powerful impact caused the car to shake violently. The three people inside were tossed around like clothes in a washing machine's drum. Berry in the back seat was even thrown off her seat, her face hitting the bottom of the seat, leaving her head spinning.
"Damn it!" Jackie's driver's seat suffered the worst damage; the car door was twisted, the window shattered, exploding glass shards flying everywhere and hitting Jackie. Jackie gritted his teeth, enduring the impact, and held the steering wheel tightly, preventing the car from crashing into the curb.
V clung tightly to the car roof with her left hand to avoid being thrown out. The impact had given her a harsh blow to her waist. She bit her jaw, enduring the pain, and lay on the car roof with her gun, struggling to raise her weapon in the cold rain, aiming and pulling the trigger at the truck's open side door.
The truck's side door opened, and several gunmen were about to open fire and turn the three people in the car into mincemeat, but V's bullets arrived first. A series of crisp 'tut-tut' sounds rang out, and several Scavengers, along with their guns, were riddled with bullets.
"V, shoot the driver!" The two vehicles were too large, and V's car was already sparking. Seeing that the car was about to be squeezed and crashed into a roadside shop, Jackie urgently shouted.
As if hearing the warning, V desperately pulled the trigger. The saratoga in her hand continuously spewed fire, and bullets shattered the truck's window. However, the vehicle's shaking made her aim unsteady; the opposing driver was completely unharmed and was still gripping the steering wheel, intending to ram them again after gaining some distance.
"Damn it, I'm out of bullets!" Seeing the opponent about to ram them again, her submachine gun made a clear clicking sound, indicating it was empty. V cursed silently, realizing there was no time to go back into the car for a new magazine.
Just as the two bit their jaws, preparing for another round of impact, three crisp gunshots rang out consecutively, vibrating their eardrums and hearts.
One shot hit the truck's steering wheel, sparking and creating a dent. The second shot hit the driving Scavenger's arm, exploding flesh and white bone fragments, but the driver seemed to be high on drugs and felt no pain, gripping the steering wheel with his other hand, his momentum to ram their car undiminished.
The final shot, this time, finally hit the enemy's vital point. The golden bullet created a sonic boom in the air, drawing a straight line, and drilled into the driver's ear. The next second, half of the driver's head exploded like a watermelon, blood and white matter splattering on the car window like blooming flowers. The falling driver's corpse, however, caused the truck to veer off the road and crash straight into a nearby building.
"Damn it!" With a loud crash, Jackie and V, speeding past, only had time to see the explosion and flames behind them.
In the back seat, Berry leaned against the car door, her hand still in a shooting posture, residual gunpowder smoke gently wafting from the muzzle of the purple-painted "vitamin b" gun.
Berry panted heavily, still shaken.
With each near-miss, she began to wonder if she had transmigrated into a game world on 'Extreme' difficulty. Otherwise, why were they always in such critical situations, just barely escaping disaster?
"Nice shot, Berry!" However, the two who were saved were very excited. V reached out and pulled Berry up to sit back in her seat.
"Whew, almost lost my life." Driving smoothly on the road, Jackie let out a breath, clearly still a bit shaken. "But, I scratched your baby. Sorry, V."
"It's fine, Jackie, being alive is better than anything," V waved her hand, sitting back in her seat.
Surprisingly, such an intense gunfight on the road did not attract a single NCPD officer. It seemed, as Wakako said, all officers had been redeployed to blockade the roads leading out of Watson.
The three then continued without incident. Jackie drove them across the inter-district bridge connecting to Watson, the district where V and Berry's apartment was located.
Regarding the blockade of Watson, Berry had her own guess.
In the game, this was naturally a regional restriction set to prevent players from wandering around at the beginning and to facilitate the main storyline. But in reality, Berry speculated that it might be related to Yorinobu Arasaka, that 'filial son'.
Arasaka Corporation is one of Night City's giants. The top boss is Saburo Arasaka, who founded the Arasaka Group, but he is usually at the Tokyo headquarters. Yorinobu Arasaka, his son, is in charge in Night City.
Yorinobu Arasaka has always opposed his father, and recently even stole the relic chip containing the consciousness of Johnny Silverhand, the terrorist who blew up the old Arasaka Tower more than fifty years ago. Saburo Arasaka then came to Night City to confront his unfilial son. The blockade of Watson is inextricably linked to this matter, as many Arasaka Group factories are in Watson, and for Saburo's safety, it is not impossible.
On the inter-district bridge, red lights flashed, police cars were horizontally blocking the road, NCPD officers were setting up roadblocks, and there were even a few Militech mechs parked nearby, probably to prevent people from causing trouble. What a truly harmonious day between the police and citizens.
"Damn it, they've even brought out the roadblocks," Jackie lightly stepped on the brakes, and the vehicle slowly stopped in front of the roadblock.