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Chapter 311 c
🕑 Added 2025-07-05 15:01:02 +0000 UTCChapter 311 c
2-IN-1 chapter
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David hesitated for a moment, but still said, “I could take a leave from school. Try to find a job or something.”
"Leave from school"—that was just a nicer way of putting it.
Arasaka Academy technically allowed leaves of absence, but for someone like David, a scholarship mule, there was no such option.
It was either stay in Arasaka Academy and follow the rules—or leave, and don’t even dream of coming back.
You don’t just come and go from Arasaka Academy like it’s a public restroom.
Sure enough, Gloria immediately became upset.
“What are you even saying?”
“Mom, you know we really can’t afford the system repair fees.”
By “system repair fees,” he meant the incident where David had overloaded and burned out the Arasaka Academy’s online learning system.
That incident had nearly gotten David expelled.
If Gloria hadn’t repeatedly pleaded with the principal, lowered herself in front of the faculty, and promised to pay for the damages…
David would’ve been expelled the very next day.
And it wasn’t even intentional on David’s part.
The braindance headset he used for classes was outdated garbage, and to access the school network, he needed the latest model.
After Gloria couldn’t give him the money for a new one, David went to a ripperdoc who usually fed him edgy braindance shows.
The guy installed some shady, cracked firmware on his old headset and told him, “Once this bootleg’s in, you don’t need a new headset—it’ll run like new.”
David believed him.
And that’s how he got screwed.
Even so, David didn’t really hate the ripperdoc for it.
If anything, he saw it as a turning point—assuming Arasaka Academy had taught him the word correctly.
Avoiding his mother’s eyes, David stared out the window and didn’t notice the change in her expression.
“Besides, I don’t really fit in at school,” David said, voicing a truth far beyond his years. “Poor kids never get taken seriously.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, as if seeing the arrogant face of that classmate who always looked down on him with his two lackeys in tow.
“No matter how hard I study, I’ll never be like them. And I don’t want to be.”
The car fell into silence.
Gloria’s voice trembled and cracked with emotion.
“Then why the hell have I been working all this time? I’ve been breaking my back so you could… and now… what do you think I’ve been doing all this time?”
Finally looking back, David saw the tears glinting in his mother’s eyes.
“You’re so smart, so talented,” Gloria said, unable to stop the tears from falling, “That’s why I work so hard to support you. If you stop studying now, what am I supposed to do?”
Night City was a city of dreams—like the old American Dream decades ago, everyone came here hoping to make it.
But reality was brutal.
Low status, poor education, and zero connections had slammed every door in Gloria’s face.
She had no choice but to take the dirtiest, lowest-paying jobs.
As if that weren’t enough, life had also saddled her with a pregnancy, and the father vanished the moment he found out.
There were times Gloria thought about ending it all—pills, a gun, or even just jumping from a building or bridge.
She couldn’t even support herself—how could she raise a child?
But every time she felt like giving up, she thought about David—and somehow, she chose to keep going.
She took on extra shifts, skipped meals so David could eat more, and barely slept.
And David rewarded her efforts—his academic ability was nothing like the other kids from the slums of Santo Domingo.
Gloria had never heard the story of “Yong,” but she understood—putting David in low-end jobs like hers would only waste his potential.
So, she made a bold choice: she enrolled him in Arasaka Academy.
A prestigious all-through institution, Arasaka Academy was filled with the sons and daughters of executives, politicians, and corporate royalty. It was basically a day-care for Arasaka’s future leadership.
Gloria knew this—but she also believed the only way David could reach the top was through the best education.
And David didn’t disappoint her. His grades steadily improved, and he became Gloria’s pride and emotional anchor.
Until today.
Last night, Gloria had worked all night and planned to sleep in—only to be jolted awake by a phone call.
The principal informed her that David had caused a major incident and was facing expulsion.
That news shocked her awake, and she rushed to the school, where she groveled and begged until the principal reluctantly took back the order.
And now? David didn’t want to study anymore?
Everything she had worked for—all those years—was supposed to be for nothing?
Right now, Gloria felt like she had gone back to the day she found out she was pregnant, and the man she loved vanished.
The loneliness hit her like a tsunami.
David’s chest tightened at his mother’s reaction.
“I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.”
Neither of them noticed the black armored sedan and the bright pink van that had quietly pulled up behind their car.
David’s change of tone softened Gloria a little. She wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“I know how they treat you. I’ve been through it too.”
She didn’t mean school bullying—but the humiliation of being at the bottom of the ladder in the workforce.
Even now, working in the morgue of a Night City clinic, she was overworked, underpaid, and mocked by her coworkers and superiors.
That’s why she didn’t want David to drop out.
His life was just beginning—she didn’t want his path to be another muddy dead-end.
So—
“We have to prove them wrong. I want you to try, really try, to become someone powerful—someone at the top of Arasaka Tower. I know you have it in you. You can do it.”
If he could rise to the top—like that poster-boy Arasaka always showed off, the elite from humble origins, Takemura Goro—then Gloria could die with no regrets.
“Easier said than done.”
She’d said that dream more than once, but David—who’d already felt the weight of class divisions—didn’t believe the climb would be that easy.
Still, after seeing her cry once, he couldn’t bear to make her cry again.
So he leaned back in his seat, hiding the frustration in his chest.
That’s when he caught something in the corner of his eye—outside the car window.
A golden heavy machine gun, fed by a fat belt of ammo, was being slammed shut by a dark-skinned hand.
Thump, thump, thump—
In the next moment, a storm of machine gun fire shredded their windshield and ricocheted off the armored sedan up ahead in a shower of sparks.
David pressed into his seat as bullets screamed past his face.
If even one bullet had veered slightly off course—he and his mother would’ve been dead.
But whether by luck or divine mercy, the Animal’s gunner ceased fire.
Even though their windshield was shattered and the hood riddled with bullet marks, David and Gloria were untouched.
The armored sedan’s glass was fractured into a spiderweb, and the vehicle itself was peppered with dents and holes.
Seemingly trying to escape the Animals, the sedan suddenly gunned it and sped forward.
The pink van, realizing its target was fleeing, followed in pursuit.
“Wreck him!”
“Don’t let him get away!”
“That Corpo car’s electroplated!”
“Let’s show them what the Animals are made of!”
As if the heavy machine gun wasn’t enough, one of the Animals climbed halfway out the van with an RPG and fired at the sedan’s undercarriage.
The explosion flipped the vehicle upright—turning it from a “—” into an “|.”
With the Animals cheering behind them, the now-vertical sedan slammed into David and Gloria’s car.
“Mom! Hit the brakes! Mom!”
BOOM—
The wreck smashed into their old beater, causing a horrific crash.
The Animals in the van laughed like maniacs.
“Don’t mess with the Animals!”
“Let’s go get our reward!”
“Wait, we’re just leaving?”
“What else? You wanna go shake hands?”
“No, I mean—shouldn’t we double-check? You all saw how tough that Corpo car was. What if we leave and Trauma Team brings the guy back? Then what?”
“You’re new, but you’re thinking straight. I was too harsh on you earlier.”
“No problem.”
“Let’s go back.”
The pink van turned around on the overpass and circled back to the wrecked sedan.
Only the heavy machine gunner stayed behind the wheel—everyone else got out and approached the wreck.
“Car’s wrecked. They’ve gotta be dead.”
“Don’t bet on it. That armor held up during the machine gun barrage. We better crack the door open and light it up—just to be sure.”
“Aren’t you being too careful?”
“Better safe than dead. You—grab that side. You—grab the other. Let’s tear the door open.”
“Everyone ready?”
“Ready.”
“Alright—on three. One, two, three!”
They heaved—and the armored door began to crack open.
Then a hand holding a Kenshin smart pistol thrust out from the gap.
BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM—
Four smart rounds pierced four Animal skulls.
Their bodies dropped—eyes dim, their expression still filled with joy.
The gunner in the driver’s seat turned, trying to raise his weapon.
But the pistol poked from the wreck was faster—one clean shot blew his brains out.
After confirming that no enemies remained outside, Leo—his clothes slightly disheveled—finally climbed out from the overturned executive sedan.
“Everyone, come out. The hostiles have been neutralized.”
Jackie was the second to emerge, followed by V and Lucy.
Dante, José, and the two bodyguards along with the driver exited last.
The bodyguards were in decent condition, but the driver had a nasty head wound—his forehead split open from the impact, half his face covered in blood. The sight was unsettling.
“Mr. Leo, thank you,” Dante said with genuine gratitude.
Though the reinforced vehicle body had shielded them from most of the heavy machine gun fire and rocket blasts, Dante hadn’t anticipated that the Animals would double back and launch a surprise assault.
If Leo and Jackie hadn’t been there—even with two bodyguards in the car—Dante couldn’t be sure they would have survived.
One stroke of bad luck, and he and his son might have died right there.
So, once again, Dante owed Leo and his team his life—and his son’s.
“You’re welcome, Mr. González. But do you have any idea why they would attack you inside the city? Could it have been a competitor?”
As the saying went, the same trade makes enemies; business is warfare by another name.
Dante had taken a nearly bankrupt tire company and expanded it across the entire state of California. Along the way, he had undoubtedly offended people and drawn the envy of many.
It wouldn’t be surprising if someone who couldn’t compete with him through fair business had resorted to more sinister methods.
That possibility had occurred to Dante too, but for the moment, he couldn’t think of anyone with a clear motive. He shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t think of anyone right now.”
“No worries. It’s just… if only we had kept one of them alive.”
Leo had acted on pure reflex. By the time he realized they might need a live one for questioning, his body had already responded—killing every last attacker without hesitation.
