Chapter 22

Chapter 22

[Translator – Peptobismol]

Chapter 22: Rainy Day (1)

I had a dream.

There are times when I dream of the times I miss.

And there are times when I dream of the times of agony.

This time, it was clearly the latter.

The surroundings are filled with blood and debris.

Walls, ceilings, floors. Everywhere I look, it’s just red.

At a glance, you can tell.

There must have been at least dozens.

This wasn’t the amount of bloodshed one person could produce.

My complexion involuntarily twisted at the scent that felt like it was piercing my nostrils.

It was an instinctual reaction that flowed out of me unknowingly.

It wasn’t the first time I had seen a dead body.

Since coming to this cyberpunk world, I’ve seen countless.

But this was the first time it was so serious as to be described as a mountain of corpses.

I barely swallowed the nausea rising up to my throat.

Someone said,

‘You’re not late.’

No, I was late.

I replied.

Even though I knew everything.

Even though I played the game.

If only I had moved a little faster.

This wouldn’t have happened.

Beyond the shadows, I saw a wide glass wall.

Chilly rain poured through the blood-drenched drops.

Eventually, I woke up from the dream.

My whole body was drenched in sweat.

I turned my head at the sound of water dropping.

Just like in the dream,

Outside the window, it was raining.

Ah.

Seems like I forgot to switch the wall’s switch after coming in drunk from Drake’s.

I stumbled towards the window with unsteady movements.

Pressing the window’s shading switch, the entire glass window changed into a dark concrete pattern.

What a shitty dream.

I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes.

But it didn’t seem like I would fall asleep again.

* * *

Chrome Psychos.

Also known as Chrome Junkies, how they come about and why they come into existence is still unknown.

It was convenient to understand them as a type of indiscriminate crime or a kind of crime committed by people with anger management issues.

But there was one thing different.

Usually, Chrome Psychos were fully ‘chromed’, armed with cyberware from head to toe.

Meaning the scale of the incidents was different.

The place where I live now.

It’s also a common topic on NCB24, the news outlet of Neon City.

It was natural in a sense.

Even in the cyberpunk world of high crime rates, if you were to pick the city with the highest crime rate, Neon City couldn’t be left out.

Especially considering the relatively low crime rates even in the upper or middle classes.

If you noticed the fact that it was the combined figure, you could guess how many incidents were happening in the shadow of this city.

As I mentioned earlier, the reason why Chrome Psychos were born has not been accurately identified.

Just by calculating the occurrence rate numerically.

‘Chrome Psychos’ seem to appear a lot on ‘rainy days’.

The reason for this was also unknown.

But.

Today, I seemed to know the reason.

“Ugh, my joints ache.”

[Confirmed. I understand that it’s a very normal symptom for ‘humans’ with above-average age.]

“No, that’s not it.”

The area where the implant surgery was performed hurts.

I groaned silently.

It was natural in a way.

Even if you only go through the process of having metal attached to your teeth for dental treatment,

On rainy days, it’s natural for the ‘implants’ to hurt.

Moreover, having replaced an entire part of my body with a chrome mass, it was only natural that it would ache on damp days.

Sure, there might be differences in pain levels for different people.

Even for me, who had only added cyberware implants to some parts of my skeletal system and muscles, it was like this.

What about those who have done more chroming than me?Th/e most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n(.)co/m

How much pain would they be in?

I didn’t want to imagine it.

It was clear that the Chrome Psychos were driven to commit crimes because of this pain.

I concluded in my mind.

[...]

It wasn’t a bad decision.

I have my dignity as ‘I’.

If I reorder, the delivery will eventually arrive.

Or I can buy it when I go out for other errands.

I lay down on the bed as it was.

Happiness.

What more could I ask for?

Just lying on the bed brings happiness...

Why did I even think so much about it?

Then, let’s watch some net streams.

I manipulated the visual interface with familiar gestures.

One of the good things about being in the cyberpunk world was that I could project the screen into the air while lying down and watch whatever I wanted.

What could I watch now?

Ah, Eve was streaming.

I don’t know how it works.

But Eve continued to stream while living with me.

It seemed like a high level of multitasking.

It’s perfect timing.

I touched [Eve]’s name on the hologram to watch her stream.

[Humans, that’s all for today.]

And at the same time, the stream ended.

“?”

The chat window exploded with reactions.

– ????

– ?

– Did only my stream turn off?

– Why the abrupt termination, master...

– Open the door!! Open it again!!

– The era of artificial intelligence is over! Humans, rejoice!

– ??????

If the situation was as I expected, such reactions from people were natural.

“Streamer Eve?”

[Why are you doing this, I ask.]

“The stream turned off?”

[Because the scheduled stream time has already ended, I kindly reply.]

“That doesn’t seem right?”

[...]

...That’s how it turned out.

I wasn’t the type to be swayed by Eve’s casual remarks. So, I’ll just watch another stream.

A brief search ensued.

“...There’s not much to watch.”

Was it because it was a weekday afternoon?

Unfortunately, there weren’t many streams available.

Come to think of it, I don’t think there was ever a time when there were so few streams available.

It’s unusual.

I changed my goal.

If there were no interesting streams, I could just find replays of Eve’s past streams.

In the case of someone like Eve, who streamed for several days, there were still many video materials available.

I checked last time, and it was certain.

......

But why aren’t there any?

It was strange.

Very strange indeed.

There wasn’t a single remaining video of Eve’s.

The Netspace forums were also buzzing with activity regarding the sudden disappearance of Eve’s videos.

Calculating the time, it seemed that the videos disappeared at the time I started searching for replays.

Most people doubted if such a thing was physically possible.

Hmm.

“Did you have to really go this far?”

[What do you mean, I don’t know, I lie.]

“....”

If you’re going to lie, don’t say that you’re lying.

That’s how it felt.

Like a puppy sulking because it wasn’t taken for a walk.

...Well, there’s nothing I can do.

In the end, I started preparing to go out.

Since my coat already had waterproof functionality.

Just packing an umbrella on top of my usual outing preparations was enough.

It’s close anyway.

I’ll be back soon.

That’s what I thought.

If I knew I’d run into a Chrome Psycho on the way back, I definitely wouldn’t have gone out.

[Translator – Peptobismol]