Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 619: Your Choice.

'A waste of time…'

Despite what he felt at first, Dante realized that the thought didn't come out of nowhere. It was the crystallization of something he had been trying to ignore for a while now, and the closer he came to understanding it, the more he felt the need to banish it to the back of his mind.

It felt like there was more than one voice in his head, neither of which belonged to Volcan. One kept getting louder and louder while the other struggled to silence it, getting drowned out by the second.

'Wasted. Two whole days.'

'Fuckin… hell…'

'Playing gangster wasn't enough. You just had to get wasted like that.'

'Stop it…

'A bunch of brats dies? Boo-fucking-hoo'

'No… don't you fucking…'

'March 20, remember?'

'Of course I fucking remember…'

'It's been two months already.'

'I know…'

'Doesn't sound like it. Aren't you even a little bit worried?'

'Of course I'm worried…'

'Then why the fuck are you doing? Playing gangster? You really think these people will be useful?'

'I will… make them…'

'Yeah, right. The first challenge you faced and they were so useless you had to do everything yourself. Just admit it. They're all so goddamn useless.'

'They need time.'

'So… what? You plan to waste another four years raising them?'

'It won't take that long. I have the money now.'

'And you're just going to waste it on a bunch of wannabe gangsters.'

'Just… shut up!'

[Dante.]

At long last, a different voice broke through the storm. Pulled back to the real world, Dante noticed that someone was standing before him—a young woman in her early twenties, dressed in loose street fashion. Her raven hair was cut at shoulder length, and she seemed to be wearing some rather peculiar makeup, choosing the same black color for both her lipstick and eyeliner.

"S-sorry, boss," She said, sounding a bit nervous. "I knocked a few times, but…"

Only once she pointed that out did Dante remember that he was in his office, and why the girl was there.

'How long did I space out?'

[About forty minutes.] Volcan replied.

If it hadn't been for his resident AI, Dante wasn't sure if he would have come to his senses any time soon. The girl seemed too scared to say anything, so she probably would've stood there for who knows how long.

"Sorry, Bella. It seems I wasn't paying attention."

"It's alright." She said. "I can come back later if you want."

"Nah, I already kept you waiting more than enough."

'You wasted her time, and now she's wasting yours.'

Doing his best to banish the thought, Dante grabbed a tablet that was on his desk and went to sit on one of the sofas. The girl took him on his offer and sat on the other side.

"So, did you make your choice?"

"Yes," She nodded. "I… I would like to get the Ares SRE…"

Her name was Bella Adams, and she was the leader of one of the teams that infiltrated Red Hill a while back. Thanks to her effort, they were able to uncover the location of several doll houses.

"Are you sure about this?" Dante asked. "It will eat all your points, you know?"

On top of paying them for the risk they were taking, Dante promised the leaders of each team that they would get a bionic implant of their choice based on their contribution. To calculate what kind of prize they can get, Dante assigned points to the goals he wanted them to achieve.

The challenge served a second purpose as well. The points each team gathers could be exchanged for Gold, which will then be split among the members equally. Depending on which implant they choose, the number of points they would have left to exchange for Gold could be reduced drastically. Dante wanted to see which of the leaders would be able to convince their team to have their back, but he didn't expect the first one to forgo the money for an implant only one of them could use.

"The others agree that this is the best choice." She said. "I promised to pay them later down the line."

"I see…"

Bella's team was the winner of the challenge, having gathered the most points. That went to show how truly capable they were, and going by the decision they arrived at, it was clear that their leader did her job well.

'Unlike a certain someone.'

"I have placed the order." Ignoring his inner voice, Dante looked up at the raven-haired girl. "I will inform you once it arrives so you can schedule the surgery."

"Understood."

Bella's expression brightened as she stood, and after thanking him multiple times, she left so the next team lead could enter.

"Hello, Martin. Have you made up your mind?"

Martin Murphy was both tall and athletic, with a face that elevated those traits. Apparently, he was aiming to be a professional basketball player in the past but was forced to retire due to a knee injury.

"I… talked things through with the others…" He paused, grimacing. "We will just take the cash."

Dante stared at him for a brief moment.

"You don't seem too happy with that decision."

The tall guy kept his silence for a moment, then let a tired sigh escape him.

"It's not the decision itself that bothers me." He said. "They all think that cyborgs won't cut it going forward, saying things like one implant won't matter that much."

"Is that so?" Dante said absentmindedly.

'They think you won't cut it...'

"They are holding on to the hope that Genome powers will be more widely available soon. I seriously don't know why they would think that after Red Hill."

"What about you?" Looking up from the tablet in his hand, Dante fixed the tall man with a cold glare. "What do you want?"

"I..." Gritting his teeth, Martin lowered his head. "I want to save for my own implants."

"I see..." Dante gave a curt nod. "The money will be transferred to each of your accounts by the end of the day."