Holding a crispy, wheat-scented piece of bread in his left hand, dipping it into a rich, creamy soup, while using his right hand to fork up a bite of Spanish omelet—
Carl swore this was the best meal he had eaten since arriving in 2075.
Real ingredients just hit differently.
After devouring his two servings of Spanish omelet and his creamy mushroom soup in just ten minutes, Carl made a quick decision—
He had to bring some of this back for Jack and Oliver.
He ordered three more soups and six omelets to go.
Total: 1,160 eddies.
Since Carl was buying in bulk, the restaurant waived the container fee as a small favor.
After paying, Carl lifted the bag of neatly packed food with one hand—
In Night City, you always had to keep at least one hand free—just in case.
Just as he reached the door, someone walked in from outside.
A corporate guy in an Arasaka uniform.
Eye contact.
Carl didn't recognize him—
But after a brief moment of hesitation, the guy definitely recognized Carl.
Through the man's cyber-optic lenses, Carl could clearly see a sudden surge of raw fear.
Huh. So cyber-eyes can actually show emotions now?
"Go ahead."
When Carl came across a dog on the street, he always chose to let the dog pass first.
Why?
Simple.
Who the hell would bother fighting for space with a dog?
"Y-Yes, thank you, sir!"
The Arasaka corpo, who had already begun shaking, visibly relaxed after hearing Carl's words.
Forcing a smile, he nodded politely, his face plastered with the kind of fake friendliness only a desperate lapdog could muster.
He then cautiously walked past Carl, stepping into the restaurant without daring to turn his back too quickly.
Inside, the corporate security officer felt both unlucky and relieved at the same time.
'Shit. Of all people... I had to run into this killer...'
But at least,
'Thank god he's in a good mood.'
Carl didn't recognize the corpo—
But the corpo definitely remembered Carl.
Back when they were assigned to protect Hanako Arasaka, this guy had witnessed firsthand what Carl was capable of.
He saw how Carl fought through that mission, and how Arasaka security utterly failed to protect their objective.
Step. Step.
As the corpo walked further into the restaurant, a strange sense of relief washed over him—
Like he had just escaped from a cyberpsycho's grasp.
But then—
Just as he exhaled, Carl's voice called out from behind him—
"Wait a second."
His body froze.
"I think I remember you now."
Carl hadn't recognized his face, but something about his back and posture felt familiar.
"You were part of that security detail, right?"
"...Y-Yes. Yes, that was me."
Spinning around instantly, the Arasaka officer—a man with East Asian features—almost instinctively moved to bow.
But Carl casually raised his hand, stopping him.
"I'm not your boss. No need for that."
Carl then smiled slightly.
"To be honest, watching you guys just stand around while we were getting our asses kicked really pissed me off."
"And the fact that you failed to protect your target and nearly got my whole team killed?"
"Yeah, that pissed me off too."
Then, after a brief pause, Carl shrugged.
"But... since you guys eventually helped Jack and the others hold the line, I guess I'll let it slide."
Carl's palm lightly patted the frozen-in-place Arasaka officer on the shoulder.
"Relax."
"I'm not some stereotypical Chinese guy who slaughters entire families just because I'm pissed off."
"If I'm annoyed, I won't take it out on your whole family."
Carl's voice was calm, almost casual—
Then, he patted the guy's shoulder again—
Harder.
Hard enough that the Arasaka officer nearly stumbled, his knees almost buckling to the ground.
"But if you piss me off again..."
"You'll be the only one in your family who dies."
Carl wasn't an unreasonable man.
If someone pissed him off, he only went after that person.
He even gave people a first-time warning.
But a second time?
No warnings.
People would die.
As Carl's hand rested on his shoulder, the Arasaka officer could clearly feel—
If Carl wanted to, he could have snapped his neck in an instant.
Desperate to show his sincerity, the officer frantically nodded, his head bobbing like a broken machine.
"Duties need to be fulfilled properly."
Carl wasn't mad about the security team not stepping in earlier—
After all, mercenaries like him were always prepared to be disposable cannon fodder.
As long as the money was good, that wasn't an issue.
But when Arasaka's so-called security failed so badly that their incompetence got their own target injured and nearly wiped out Carl's crew...
That was a different story.
There was a difference between expecting shit to go sideways and being dragged down by morons—
And the level of anger those two things caused was very, very different.
After giving his warning, Carl finally noticed the curious stares from the rest of the restaurant.
Even though both he and the Arasaka officer had been speaking quietly, people loved watching drama unfold—no matter what country they were from.
A mercenary forcing an Arasaka employee to nearly bow or kneel?
That was some top-tier gossip material.
Carl wasn't interested in becoming a spectacle, so he didn't say anything else to the shaken officer.
He simply pulled his hand back, scanned the restaurant once more, and—
With the Arasaka officer still drenched in cold sweat, he walked out the door.
'Weird.'
As Carl stepped outside, his mind wasn't on the Arasaka guy anymore.
Instead—
He was thinking about something else.
As a mercenary, it was second nature for him to constantly be aware of his surroundings.
And just before leaving the restaurant, he had noticed something strange.
When he had first arrived, that pink-white-haired girl had still been sitting there, eating her meal.
But when he scanned the room again before leaving—
She was gone.
Did this place have a back exit?
...Wait,
She didn't even go up to the counter to pay.
Dine and dash?
Blending into the chaos to sneak out without paying—
Yep. That was Night City, alright.
Damn. A professional dine-and-dasher, huh?
Carl once read about a fugitive who got caught simply because he couldn't resist watching a street fight.
"Beep."
A new message flashed onto Carl's comm-link.
Blanca?
'Intel's in?'
Carl assumed Blanca had finally gathered information on the ACPA pilots sneaking into Night City.
With mild anticipation, he opened the message—
Only to find out...
It was a new job request.
'Huh. Haven't even finished the last job, and she's already sending the next one?'
Interesting.
As Carl skimmed the details, a particular term caught his attention.
A phrase he had never heard before.
'Cyber-King Kong'?