[Johnny… Ironhand!?] Luo Qi thought in shock.
Not even in his wildest dreams had he imagined that one day there would be a voice in his head that didn't belong to him.
The feeling was novel, yes—but far more than that, it was terrifying.
[The fuck… my name is Johnny Silverhand. To hell with "Ironhand."]
Johnny's distinctively abrasive voice rang out, full of irritation and fury.
[Who the hell are you!? Who sent you!?]
Luo Qi: …
This guy was seriously high-strung.
But the one left dumbfounded wasn't just Luo Qi. Johnny Silverhand had only just clawed his way awake from some incomprehensible state, only to discover that he was trapped in a black world where all sensation seemed to be gone.
Just then, a strange voice had barged in out of nowhere, so his first instinct was naturally to assume Arasaka had gotten their hands on him and was putting him through some "unimaginable new horror experiment."
Just like what they had done to his girlfriend back then.
[Get your ass out here! You pack of barking dogs hiding under corporate protection!]
Luo Qi: …
Sir, I think you may be misunderstanding the situation.
[It's not like that. I'm not with the corp—]
[Cut the act! If you want something, then come on! Let's see what new tricks you bastards have got!]
Luo Qi: …
[Please, I'm not corporate. If anything, I'm one of Arasaka's enemies.]
Luo Qi gave a helpless, bitter smile and shook his head.
[…]
The voice in his head abruptly went quiet.
Then came a long, drawn-out silence.
V, Jackie, and Viktor all looked at him with concern, their faces openly worried as they watched his ever-changing expressions.
Takemura, meanwhile, looked at him the way one might look at a cyberpsycho, sighed in resignation, and seemed to conclude that this hastily assembled alliance of theirs was about as unreliable as it could possibly be.
[Shit… then who are you? Let me out already.]
Johnny sounding deflated was something Luo Qi had never witnessed before. In the very brief impression he had of this raging maniac, Johnny Silverhand was supposed to be an absurdly badass figure.
The kind of guy who nuked Arasaka Tower.
[I'm… I'm…]
Luo Qi suddenly had no idea how to introduce himself to Johnny Silverhand.
What was he supposed to say?
A transmigrator who got dumped into the world of Cyberpunk 2077 and has since ripped the plot and timeline to absolute shreds?
Trying to explain something like that to an "old-timer" from the early twenty-first century was, frankly, impossible.
At that point, it might be easier to just say he was a passing Kamen Rider.
[The rough version is this: it's 2077 now.]
[You fucking kidding me?]
Luo Qi could already picture Johnny's expression.
Probably one eyebrow raised, staring him down with that Do I look like an idiot to you? face.
[I'm not joking.] Luo Qi answered with solemn seriousness. [You died in 2023. Adam Smasher took you down, and then Soulkiller uploaded you. From the looks of it, you were later transferred onto the Relic.]
[Relic? What the fuck is a Relic?]
[A biochip.] Luo Qi still wasn't quite used to Johnny dropping an f-bomb every other sentence. [Its slogan is something along the lines of "preserve your soul."]
He began explaining this recent Arasaka "concept product" to Johnny—a prototype still deep in the experimental stage.
The Relic was built around the concept of personality transfer. It turned the data of a human nervous system into a digital imprint, then stored that consciousness on a biochip, with the stated goal of allowing users to communicate with deceased loved ones.
It sounded ridiculous. Unscientific. Utter nonsense.
Before Johnny's voice had erupted in his head, Luo Qi had thought exactly the same thing.
Until it had actually gotten into his brain—even if there was apparently a PDA acting as some kind of middleman.
[So you're saying I'm stuck on some bullshit chip?] Johnny snarled. [Fuck! Those Arasaka bastards!]
[Don't get mad. Getting mad won't bring Arasaka down.] Luo Qi tried to calm him. [What does it feel like right now? Can you describe it to me?]
Perhaps Luo Qi's tone was gentle. Perhaps Johnny sensed real sincerity in him. Whatever the reason, he finally calmed down enough to explain what he was experiencing.
[What does it feel like?]
[Like being trapped in a pitch-black void where I can't see shit, hear shit, or feel shit. There's nothing here. Not a damn thing except your voice. I thought it was just some new torture method from Arasaka, something cooked up to amuse that hundred-year-old lunatic. Now it sounds like it's basically the same thing.]
Johnny gave a cold laugh.
Hearing that description, Luo Qi stroked his hair and clicked his tongue.
If events had followed the original timeline, the Relic would eventually have been slotted into V's neural interface and would have saved his life after Dexter's bullet.
Then, once activated, the chip would have begun steadily overwriting V's brain with Johnny Silverhand's personality until V himself was completely replaced.
V's brain cells—no, his entire body—would have become the vessel for this "terrorist from half a century ago."
During that irreversible, unstoppable process, V and Johnny would have ended up sharing one body, with access to each other's memories.
You are my eyes—that didn't even begin to cover it.
You are me, and I am you—that was far closer.
But now, Luo Qi had plugged the Relic into a PDA and somehow routed it into his own head through some "unknown system."
What would happen?
Even Viktor, one of Night City's best ripperdocs, wouldn't have had the faintest idea.
There was only one prototype Relic like this in the world, and only one Johnny Silverhand engram stored inside it.
Even the engineers who created the Relic probably wouldn't dare claim they understood what was happening now.
[Wait!]
At that moment, Luo Qi suddenly remembered something he had completely forgotten.
He turned on the PDA and pulled up the photos he had taken the previous night.
They were images of several messages he had snapped off the computer in Yorinobu Arasaka's suite at Konpeki Plaza.
He had forgotten to contact even Mo'er right away, let alone look through these pictures. If he hadn't started talking with Johnny about the chip, he probably wouldn't have remembered them until much later—and then he'd have been slamming his fist against his own thigh in frustration.
The first message:
Clouds—A Delightful Evening
From: Angelica Milioti, Clouds
To: Yorinobu Arasaka
Dear Mr. Arasaka,
As always, thank you for using our services…
No useful information. Skip it.
It was just a follow-up message from Clouds. Yorinobu had booked one of their girls—his old flame, Evelyn Parker—for private in-call service.
Basically the equivalent of a classy customer-service email after a premium appointment.
Worthless.
The second message:
Relic — Urgent!
From: Anders Hellman
To: Yorinobu Arasaka
Please forgive me, but the situation is truly urgent. The biochip must be returned to the lab immediately. Otherwise, I cannot be held responsible for its condition or its functionality. I assume you have been misled, but let me make this absolutely clear: the Relic is not in a condition suitable for use. I will continue trying to reach you by every possible means. I am more than willing to explain the matter to you, even over the phone if necessary.
Sincerely,
Anders Hellman
"Oh-ho. Now that's something."
Luo Qi whistled.
[Anders Hellman? Yorinobu Arasaka? Saburo Arasaka's son!?] Johnny exclaimed. [What kind of fucked-up play is this supposed to be?]
But Luo Qi didn't answer.
Because he was too busy staring in total disbelief.
What!?
What the fuck!?
[You can see the photos on my PDA???]
Luo Qi looked down at the device in his hand. There wasn't the slightest visible trace of Johnny Silverhand on its screen.
[Shit… I think I can enter someplace. Hard to describe. It's like you've been melted down and poured into a jar of jam, then stirred around a little.] Johnny said as he explored. [Oh… is this your PDA? I can see everything inside it.]
Luo Qi's face darkened at a speed measurable only in absurd numbers.
[The folder labeled "Study Materials," you'd better not—]
[Ahhh… too late.] Johnny Silverhand answered in a slightly hoarse, magnetic voice that carried unmistakable smug satisfaction. [I get it. Men, huh? Always like to look at a little—]
"Lucky, you okay?"
V patted the face-hidden-behind-his-hands Luo Qi on the shoulder. He was in the middle of discussing what to do next with the others and took the situation for simple emotional strain.
"I'm—I'm fine. Just a little… goddammit."
Luo Qi lifted his face again.
It was practically glowing with "joy."
Look at him. Smiling so happily.
[Who the hell is Lucky?] Johnny asked. [Sounds like a total pansy.]
Luo Qi: …
He gave Jackie a stiff nod—though in truth he was grinding his teeth at Johnny—and inwardly wailed in despair.
[That's me, asshole. Could you maybe try being a little more polite?]
[That's just how I talk. Don't like it? Plug your ears.] Johnny shot back. [And stop talking all nice and formal. If pretending doesn't tire you out, it sure as hell tires me out listening to it.]
[The hell? I just talk like this. I'm not pretending. Go ask around—everyone in Night City knows Luo Qi's the goddamn "Model Citizen of Courtesy." Huh?] Luo Qi rolled his eyes. [What's wrong with being polite?]
[Nothing. Just not used to it.] Johnny replied. [In my experience, the only people who talk all refined like that are fake-ass corp dogs.]
Luo Qi shook his head.
What a rotten world. What a moral collapse.
And in Night City—in 2077—that wasn't exaggeration.
This city had only vaguely resembled something civilized when it was first built. After that, it had become a place where filth and corruption flourished together, where rot and decay blended into one vast, festering landscape. Luo Qi had spent just over half a year in Night City, and that was more than enough to understand this intimately.
For all his flaws, Johnny—this volatile, raging maniac—was still better than most of the garbage wandering around Night City.
At least he was reliable.
Luo Qi still remembered the force of him from that interlude, My Heart Is Fire—that overwhelming "Johnny-ness" leaping straight off the screen.
He was arrogant, narcissistic, stubborn, and self-righteous. But he was also a man full of defiance and rebellion.
He had refused to fight a rotten war, and so he walked away from the war in Central America.
He had refused to bow to oppression and exploitation, and so he used music to awaken a public too numb to resist.
He had refused to watch ordinary people continue to scream under corporate colonialism, and so he blew up Arasaka Tower.
He had done a great many reckless, unforgivable things.
But at the same time, he had introduced change into the world.
A bastard radiating charisma from head to toe.
Luo Qi smiled at the thought.
[It's fucking 2077, and Arasaka still hasn't gone under?]
Johnny sounded like he was rifling through the PDA's stored information, teeth grinding with disgust.
[Not only are they still around, they're one of the biggest powers in Night City.] Luo Qi began summarizing the city's history for him. [I forget whether it was 2069 or 2070. During the Unification War, NUSA tried to invade Night City and fold it into the federation. Lucius Rhyne—the current mayor—went and asked the long-neutral Arasaka Corporation for protection. Then one Arasaka supercarrier sailed into Coronado Bay, and NUSA backed off because they didn't dare risk kicking off a full-scale international war.]
[And the price for that was Arasaka's political power in Night City.] Johnny caught the implication immediately. As a born rebel, he had never underestimated the importance of understanding the battlefield. [Last I remember, Arasaka and Militech were beating each other into paste. How did that all end?]
[Arasaka lost. Then I think they basically got run out of America and retreated back to Japan.] Luo Qi thought back to the history texts he had read and rubbed his chin. [When did you blow up Arasaka Tower again?]
Johnny Silverhand seemed to shift posture somehow—though how he managed that in his current state was anyone's guess—and answered with the calm pride of a man recounting one of history's loudest achievements.
[August 20, 2023. I'd remember that date even in death.]
Well, yes. Because that was the day you died.
Luo Qi kept that comment to himself.
[By the end of 2023, Arasaka officially announced defeat. Arasaka operations got shut down all over the world—same for Militech in plenty of places. No surprise. They'd basically been fighting wars across the globe. Rio de Janeiro got flattened, if I remember right. Real disaster.] Luo Qi sighed.
[Trampling lives, slaughtering civilians…] Johnny muttered, listing the sins of the world's corporate giants. [Fuck. All these years later, and nothing's changed.]
[But there are still people who remember you.]
Luo Qi thought of the graffiti scattered across streets and alleyways:
WHERE'S JOHNNY?
Even half a century later, someone like Johnny Silverhand—someone who had dared to resist corporate tyranny and greed—was still a light in people's hearts.
[What do you think of that?]
After a long silence, Johnny finally spoke again, his voice carrying a tone Luo Qi had never heard from him before.
[Then I guess I didn't live for nothing.]
As if he were still that same samurai from back then.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
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