Night City might do without the Outlaw GTS sports car, but it can't do without the Villefort Columbus V340 utility truck.
Its unbeatable cost-performance ratio in the transport business is irreplaceable—Leo's knowledge of vehicles just leveled up again.
Leo's Team: 2 points, V's Team: 0 points.
The V340 is just that practical.
The person who stepped out was a lean, well-built young man with a small ponytail—he looked very young.
Seeing Leo and his crew standing at the clinic entrance, he paused, then asked suspiciously, "If I'm not mistaken, Sixth Street already sold the rights to this clinic. What's going on here?"
"We're here for treatnt. The patient's inside."
Leo stepped aside, allowing the man to see Murphy lying on the table.
It was clear that the young man's cybernetic eyes were top-notch. He imdiately noticed the substandard skin graft on Murphy and the unnatural faint glow beneath it.
He breathed a sigh of relief—at least there wasn't any imdiate trouble.
He'd heard that corporate employees often ended up dead on Night City's streets, so he deliberately chose a local gang as his protection.
If he were to be killed on his first night here, that would be too much bad luck.
"Alright... didn't expect the demand for doctors to be this high around here. Is it always like this?"
"I wouldn't know, I'm not from around here—better start moving your equipnt in."
Leo gave Jackie a nod, and the big guy stepped up to the V340, shouldering over a hundred kilos of gear on each side as if it were nothing, walking into the clinic like it was no big deal.
The delivery workers and the young man nad Martin were left dumbfounded.
Martin's initial examination made it clear that his skills were miles ahead of the previous, unlicensed ripperdoc.
First off, his gear.
Martin had an external neural signal amplifier installed on the right side of his skull, used to sync with precision dical diagnostic tools and track a patient's neural signals in real-ti.
Secondly, his cybernetic eyes ca with an extended scope that looked just like tactical goggles. The data it collected was tens of tis more detailed than standard cybernetic eyes.
In addition to standard scan functions, it also worked as a portable CT machine and even had 200x optical zoom capability.
His surgical assistance implants were top-tier, the sa external gloves that old Vic used—Leo's gloves were the sa model too.
Unlike the ripperdoc, who had replaced his arms entirely with cyberware, opting for heavy cybernetic enhancents to improve his surgical skills.
Martin also brought equipnt the ripperdoc wouldn't have even dread of buying—like a DNA scanner.
"This guy... was he part of so human experint?"
Martin could tell right away that Murphy wasn't in normal condition.
Leo nodded. "Biotechnica experint. It's deep waters. If you want to know more, you'll have to pay extra."
Martin gave Leo a aningful look. "I worked in MoorE Technologies' R&D lab for ten years—I'm guessing that's one of the reasons you were waiting for . But I'd rather not know the details, thanks."
"Doesn't matter, I was just ntioning it—so, can you treat him?"
"It's complicated. His DNA has been tampered with, but I doubt the experinters wanted this outco.
The inserted DNA is decaying, but the rate and encoded decay information have no discernible pattern.
If you insist on saving him, I suggest buying a DNA maintenance system and following a strict treatnt regin.
In about 30 years, he might be fully normal again—but it's going to cost you."
"I see." Leo poked the unconscious Murphy on the operating table. "Hear that? You might as well start waiting to die."
Martin didn't ntion the cost, but it didn't take a genius to figure out it would easily run into the millions.
Murphy was stunned. "Damn... isn't there a cheaper option? Or... could I sell this info to MoorE Technologies? You must have so connections, right?"
Martin shook his head. "MoorE Technologies might be interested in Biotechnica's projects, but not in a poorly executed failure like this. It could cause more trouble than it's worth.
A cheaper treatnt would be to use neuro-blockers and so specialized dical cyberware to keep the symptoms confined to your face. In that case, the cost would be limited to custom dical cyberware."
Martin made it sound easy.
But Murphy had spent enough ti at Biotechnica to know the score.
Custom dical cyberware—even the cheap stuff would run into the tens of thousands, and the expensive stuff would still be in the hundreds of thousands!
"That's still just waiting to die!"
"Can't be helped—if it were a limb, we could amputate, but the infection started on your face. We're not going to chop off your head, are we?"
Leo seed lost in thought—he had caught onto a key phrase, DNA decay.
After thinking it over, Leo asked, "Is the DNA decay algorithm part of your internal research?"
Martin wondered if he'd misheard, looking at Leo in disbelief. "You know about that algorithm?"
"Heard a little about it—you know, I'm investigating Biotechnica."
Martin thought for a mont, then shook his head. "No way, you've only heard the na."
Leo smirked mysteriously, picking up a piece of chalk from the floor and beginning to write out one of the models Professor Connors had given him.
Martin was stunned—
It wasn't just the na, or even demonstrating the algorithm's applications, that was remarkable.
Leo had pulled out a fully ford model!
This ant that Leo didn't just know the algorithm; he could apply it!
That was terrifying.
Martin tensed up. "So, which company are you with? Biotechnica? MoorE Technologies? I'm not going back to MoorE Technologies..."
"Relax, I just know a bit—think of as a freelance scientist."
"Know a bit? Freelance scientist?" Martin's mouth twitched.
If you're a freelance scientist, what am I? What is MoorE Technologies' R&D departnt?
"...If you don't want to say, fine. But since you know the algorithm, you should understand what's happening to him.
This is an unintended decay state—no researcher would want this outco unless they're planning a massacre.
If that were the case, Night City would already be full of corpses."
Leo stroked his chin. "Maybe I can treat him—can you recomnd so MoorE Technologies DNA equipnt?"
"That won't be cheap. All DNA manipulation equipnt is strictly controlled, and what's available on the market is heavily neutered and ridiculously expensive."
Leo thought for a mont and asked, "Could pet-grade equipnt work on a human?"
".That's a strange question," Martin's eyes narrowed, but after so hesitation, he added,
"Theoretically... yes, it could.
A skilled enough technician could jailbreak pet-grade equipnt's software and unlock its full potential.
Don't look at like that—I could do it, but I won't. But if you really want to try, I can help you find a source, get you so second-hand gear to ss with.
Although, you might not need my help?"
Leo responded slowly, "I do need it. I'm just a freelance scientist, I swear."
"Alright, 700k. Take it or leave it."
Five minutes later, at the Coastview Clinic, Leo bowed deeply:
"V, I've never begged anyone in my life—"
"Can I borrow 700,000 eddies? Please."
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