Cyberpunk Maniac

"What kind of nonsense is this? Just a reminder, this company is an outsider too, the warehouse security level is very high, definitely has contraband, remember to always carry your gun, those Whirlpool Gang nutcases have scoped the place out, and you never know when they might attack."

So that's the case. This metal hulk knew the warehouse had been targeted by those Whirlpool Gang thugs. Facing a formidable enemy, he didn't want to get fried by a bullet, so he urgently recruited gunmen. At least Li Pan was the son of an old comrade-in-arms, fresh out of school, not a gang member, so his background was clear, and he was roped in to guard against the gang.

Although it seemed a bit low for an intern to risk their life guarding the warehouse against the Whirlpool Gang for only 2500 a month, when you think about it, the company provided social security, which meant he could raise his credit card limit, and there were extra allowances for night shifts too. So Li Pan thought it over and took the job. Repaying his debts was crucial, after all.

With that, the hulk took Li Pan around for a tour, checking the warehouse environment, duty hours, patrol routes, and even had Li Pan show off his quick draw by shooting some cans as a test of skill, before ending the assessment and registering him in the company's subsystem as a temp.

However, there seemed to be a problem at this step. Whether he was rattled by the nine blue mental assessments or something else, there was a login failure with the company system.

The hulk made a call through an encrypted channel to confirm, then sent an electronic business card to Li Pan using an account called 'Big Bear'.

TheM company

TheM company? Easy enough to remember.

"No worries, probably to guard against Whirlpool Gang hackers, the warehouse's sub-net security system was temporarily updated. I've already authorized that you passed the interview. Go to this address, to the company's headquarters in the office building, find the HR department, and complete the onboarding. Although you have to intern for three years, there is a monthly salary and social security. You can start working directly tonight after going through the onboarding process, having one more gun and an extra hand is always good."

"Oh, don't worry, Big Bear bro! Those Whirlpool scumbags always try to snatch my trash, I've wanted to sort them out for a long time!"

Awesome, at least the formal attire rental wasn't a waste, at 50 bucks a week.

TheM company's warehouse was in the suburbs, but the office building was in the Downtown District.

Lucky for Li Pan that he had shaved his head and wore formal clothes with a tie, otherwise, with everyone commuting in hovercars and him walking in, he probably wouldn't even have made it into the corporate park before being blasted by the heavily armed security drones of the company's security department.

But Li Pan was indeed fortunate. After scanning and confirming his mental certificate and TheM company logistics intern access, no more security robots appeared in front of him to hassle him. However, TheM company seemed pretty wealthy, with their office building actually situated in a corporate park under the protection of 'CSI Citizens' Safety Insurance' security firm.

'CSI Citizens' Safety Insurance' was quite a formidable private security firm, one of those Celestial chain enterprises, and it had no direct capital ties with the Ye Clan or Takamanohara, making this neutral zone at least spare the concern of those two packs of mad dogs barging in and slaughtering everyone.

With the company's authorization, Li Pan smoothly found the central tower, Twin Towers indeed. He passed through a cathedral-like, glittering marble LOBBY, led by the smart host at the front desk, stepped into an elevator larger than his apartment, ascending skyward as if lifted to the heavens, reaching TheM company's affairs department in Tower A.

Li Pan activated the elevator's panoramic sightseeing mode, gazed down at the clouds beneath his feet, the air cities shuttling among the clouds, the shadow of Night City Megalopolis covering the Pacific, and couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

"Smoother than diarrhea..."

A ding sound, like bread being toasted—cough, cough.

"You have arrived at TheM company, business department."

Li Pan quickly straightened his tie and stepped out of the elevator, his legs going soft.

Damn, carpet! So soft! It's not real fur, right? Such extravagance... damn! And the potted plants! They can't be real flowers and grass, right? Such extravagance...

As Li Pan walked into the front desk of TheM company business department with his mouth agape and no grace, he stopped in his tracks.

Coming out from the elevator corridor was a spacious circular lobby suitable for a five-person combat ball game. In addition to the elevator corridor, the lobby circumference had eleven doors, all closed, probably leading to various departments; inaccessible without permission.

In the middle of the lobby was TheM company's service front desk.

But at this moment, there was no one, not even a smart host.

No internet, public system with no signal.

In this era, every citizen is connected to the public safety network, and all aspects of production and life are dependent on the QVN quantum virtual network linking the Celestials together; being without the network truly meant being unable to take a single step.

And for information security considerations, those big companies naturally wouldn't store all their data on the public net to avoid the risk of electronic hacker intrusions. Hence, they would set up their own private systems and intranets, and this TheM building clearly blocked the public network.

"...Hello? I'm here for an onboarding today."

With no network, Li Pan was unable to contact 'Big Bear' or TheM company, so he tried calling out a few times, and waited.

Okay, after about half an hour, Li Pan started getting impatient.

It's not a prank, is it? Maybe take the elevator down to the lobby and ask?

"Hello? Is anyone there? Hello?"

Li Pan didn't dare to kick the doors in case security robots rushed out and killed him, so he just tried poking his head inside the front desk to see if there was a contact list or something.

Then, he saw a telephone on the desk behind.

Li Pan rubbed his eyes.

Damn? A telephone? A landline?? With a rotary dial??

In this day and age, when people generally have communication chips implanted in their bodies, who in the world would still know about such old-fashioned stuff as landlines? If he weren't a time-traveler, he probably wouldn't recognize it either.