pertwk Page 43
Page 43
……
hospital.
A girl named Lina was rushed to the operating room for emergency treatment, while the man sat waiting outside the operating room door.
Anxiety, regret, fear—a host of negative emotions constantly appeared on the man's face.
His sister Nikki was bandaging the boy named Jackson, while Mo Jiang stood silently to the side, waiting outside the operating room, silently recalling information about this world in his mind.
Yes, the moment Mo Jiang learned the man's name, he knew exactly where this world was.
The man's name is Aiden Pierce.
This is the world of Watch Dogs, set around 2012 in Chicago, USA.
This was a year before the game started.
Aiden and his partner Damian hacked into the Melott Hotel, but were then hacked back by an unknown cyber force, exposing their personal information and that of their mentor Damian. As a result, they were both hunted down and killed, ultimately leading to the tragic death of their six-year-old niece in a car accident, orchestrated by the mastermind behind the scenes.
Yes, it's the six-year-old girl named Lina who was just taken into the operating room.
The incident that Aiden encountered was actually quite simple: the current mayor of Chicago accidentally killed his secretary at the Mellot Hotel, and the incident was recorded by the hotel room's surveillance cameras.
The owner of the Mellot Hotel, who is also the head of Chicago's largest gang, Lucky Quinn, used this to threaten and blackmail the mayor. When Quinn discovered that someone was trying to hack into the Mellot Hotel, he mistakenly thought it was for the video recording, so he directly sent people to make Aiden and Damian's hacking careers disappear.
In the game, Aiden is filled with remorse because of Lina's death, and he sees his lost niece almost every time he closes his eyes.
To keep himself constantly on the move and avoid reliving the memory of his niece's death, he used his hacking skills to fight crime in Chicago, earning the title of "private law enforcer."
At the same time, they are also constantly investigating the truth behind the events behind the Melott Hotel.
……
At that moment, the operating room door opened, and Aiden immediately went forward to ask the doctor.
"The treatment was very successful, but he still needs to stay in the hospital for a period of time."
The doctor's eyes were full of doubt when he answered. Logically speaking, a six-year-old girl with injuries from a car accident like that should not have survived for more than half an hour.
The treatment was simply a matter of doing one's best and leaving the rest to fate.
But the doctors never expected that the little girl with such severe injuries could actually be saved.
Mo Jiang didn't interfere in Aiden's family affairs, but silently walked to the hospital corridor and waited quietly.
Almost an hour later, Aiden finally appeared.
"Thank you. The doctor told me that without your emergency treatment, Lina..."
76. I haven't even left the country, yet I've become an illegal immigrant?
Mo Jiang accepted Aiden's thanks without hesitation.
To save his niece, Mo Jiang even gave up his last remaining supply of Lazarus Potion.
I want to create the [Lazarus Potion] myself, but I don't know how long I'll have to wait.
Mo Jiang felt that Aiden's gratitude was too little for Aiden to offer, as he had saved Aiden's nearly fatal niece.
"You're being targeted. There are obvious gunshot marks on the right front tire."
Aiden remained silent for a moment before replying, "I will investigate this matter."
At the same time, he probably guessed that the assassins who came this time were probably related to the operation at the Melot Hotel.
Mo Jiang looked at Aiden, the man in the trench coat and baseball cap. His eyes were cunning and determined, and he had an inexplicable aura about him. No wonder he was known as the "cunning fox" in private.
Mo Jiang didn't rashly suggest teaming up with Aiden to investigate. Firstly, this man, who had been involved in gangs since childhood, wouldn't easily trust anyone. Secondly, Mo Jiang already knew the answer to the whole mystery.
Watch Dogs is one of the few games he has completed multiple times.
After thinking for a moment, Mo Jiang said, "I know who is behind this and who wants to kill you."
The moment he spoke, Aiden's eyes changed drastically, becoming sharp and fierce, like a tiger that had discovered an intruder, staring menacingly at Mo Jiang, trying to find traces of his involvement in the matter.
At the same time, his hand subtly reaches towards his lower back, ready to draw a pistol at any moment to threaten or even shoot.
But it was at this moment that Aiden saw Mo Jiang's eyes.
It was as calm as a lake, yet it posed a great threat to Aiden, who couldn't help but recall the incident where his gun was taken from him.
At the same time, a certain intuition was telling him that drawing the gun was a dangerous act.
A potentially fatal mistake.
"I meant no harm. To be honest, I just happened to be passing by and had no idea I would get involved in this."
Finally, Mo Jiang added, "You should know that, according to the doctor's description, without my emergency treatment, your niece wouldn't have survived to enter the operating room."
Aiden's hand left his lower back, and Mo Jiang was right. If he was connected to the party that sent the assassin, then it would have been absolutely impossible for him to save her. Lina would have died from her injuries on the way to the hospital.
"what do you want?"
He didn't believe that Mo Jiang had been accidentally involved in this matter; if that were the case, Mo Jiang wouldn't have waited for him here.
With this in mind, Aiden's eyes sharpened instantly. His experience in gangs and organizations gave him a wealth of experience in dealing with all sorts of situations.
The first thing we need to know is what the other party actually wants.
"First, get me an identity, one that can withstand scrutiny. I know you have the ability to do that."
Aiden frowned. "Illegal immigrants?"
Mo Jiang didn't answer, but his expression confirmed it. In this world, Mo Jiang, who had no birth certificate, no vaccination record, and no spending record, was definitely an illegal immigrant.
If Mo Jiang wants to do anything in Chicago, he needs an identity.
Mo Jiang clearly didn't know anyone who forged the documents, but there happened to be a hacker in front of him, and a highly skilled one at that.
"Help me get an identity, as a way of repaying your niece. Then, put your wrecked car in a safe place where it won't be dismantled, and I'll give you information about the mastermind behind this."
Mo Jiang's coordinates in this world are on Aiden's wrecked car.
The car was first shot in the wheels by the assassin, and then it collided with a truck, causing severe damage. It was basically totaled and there was no need for repairs.
Mo Jiang didn't know how Aiden would treat the car. Hackers usually don't keep a fixed car, so he simply took it to ensure the safety of crossing coordinates.
Aiden nodded, which was considered as agreeing to Mo Jiang's suggestion.
He is a hacker, and for hackers, information is undoubtedly of utmost importance.
Mo Jiang was able to provide information about the incident, and Aiden only needed to pay with a scrapped secondhand car, so there was naturally no need for him to haggle.
"Lucky Quinn, the boss of Chicago's largest gang, gave the order that your activities at the Mellot Hotel were discovered, causing Lucky Quinn to mistakenly believe that you were commissioned by someone, so he sent assassins to end your hacking career."
Mo Jiang only mentioned who sent the assassin, but did not explain the whole story.
Because at this moment, he was not facing Zhang Sanfeng, who had no other options and could only wait in despair for Zhang Wuji's death.
He is now facing Aiden Pierce, a cunning fox who has spent years lurking in the shadows of the city and walking the gray and black lines.
Even if you tell him the complete information, he won't believe you; he'll at least conduct an investigation.
Rather than revealing everything at once, it's better to keep some intelligence to help Aiden when his investigation hits a dead end, or use it to exchange for something.
Putting aside other things, Aiden's hacking skills were at least very useful to Mo Jiang.
But he also knew that Aiden would never join any group or organization, so he simply traded intelligence for hacking assistance.
"Your identification...come back here in two days to pick it up."
When Aiden heard that the car accident involved the leader of Chicago's largest gang, his expression changed noticeably, but he quickly returned to normal.
It doesn't matter whether the other party is the leader of Chicago's largest community or the mayor.
Having already turned against his own family, Aiden had no other thoughts on his mind except revenge.
This Irish-born man values family above all else. At thirty years old and still without a wife and children, he considers his sister's two children as his own offspring.
So if the information Mo Jiang gave is true, then his feud with Lucky Quinn is already at the level of mortal enmity.
……
After leaving the hospital, Mo Jiang wandered aimlessly through the streets of Chicago.
At this point, he didn't know what he could do. He had planned to go back to the modern warehouse first, but considering that Aiden's car was severely damaged, he didn't plan to leave this world so soon.
What if there's a problem with the coordinates?
"So, what things in this world are beneficial to me?"
Mo Jiang quickly came to the answer: "Firearms! Pistols, rifles, fully automatic weapons, sniper rifles, and even anti-materiel weapons."
Now that we know our goal, we have a clear idea of what to do next.
"So now, let's make some money."
The author says:
Author's note: Thank you to [Haibin], [Reader 1702977537], and [Tonight the Stars Are Shining] for their generous donations.
77. Chicago is an exciting city.
If you're going to make money, you need to figure out which of your assets are valuable in 21st-century Chicago.
Spices and fabrics were valuable in the Middle Ages, and sugar and salt could fetch a high price at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, but if Mo Jiang dared to sell those things in Chicago, he would only be looked down upon as a fool.
That thing is worthless in modern times.
Meditation techniques and the like, such as the Nine Yang Manual, will definitely not be sold.
The former requires some unknown medicine to activate mental power, while the latter requires extensive knowledge of meridians, acupoints, and both Buddhist and Taoist teachings.
More importantly, these two things involve extraordinary abilities. Although Mo Jiang has enough power to protect himself, if he attracts the attention of conglomerates or the state, he will only be on the side of the "weak".
The idea that the government would dissect and study people with superpowers is probably a joke in China.
But abroad, especially in the United States, that's no joke.
Humans cannot conceive of things they have never seen before. The fact that so many Hollywood superhero blockbusters relentlessly promote the idea that superpowered individuals will be dissected suggests that they have already expressed some kind of ideology.
The US government is quite inhumane when it comes to not treating its own citizens as human beings.
There are countless instances of people being used as guinea pigs for experiments.
Mo Jiang would not believe that as an undocumented immigrant, he would receive the treatment a human being deserves from the US government.
Potions with special abilities, such as calendula potion and stag blood potion?
This might be a good idea, but it also faces many difficulties.
While lost in thought, he wandered aimlessly, not even knowing where he was going. Lost in his quest to make money, he was completely unaware that he had strayed from the main road.
"Hey, hand over your wallet!"
Suddenly, a voice interrupted Mo Jiang's thoughts. Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw a young man robbing someone with a pistol.
The person he pointed the gun at was a teenager who appeared to be an Asian student.
The young man with the gun had his finger on the trigger, and his hand was trembling uncontrollably. It was unclear whether he was nervous because it was his first robbery or if he had taken something to embolden himself before the robbery.
In either case, Asian students are in a rather dangerous situation.
"This...this is the money I earned from my part-time job..."
The Asian student's words contained so little refusal that the armed youth completely disregarded his words, which barely even qualify as resistance.
"Oh, what a good boy! Hand over your wallet, now, immediately!"
Perhaps the idea that Asians are incapable of resisting is a stereotype in the eyes of Americans, so the young man with the gun did not shoot directly to take the wallet from the body, but he was clearly running out of patience.
"Hey!"
Mo Jiang watched the clumsy robbery from the side and couldn't help but laugh out loud, which caught the attention of the young man with the gun.
He abruptly pointed the gun at Mo Jiang, and upon discovering that he was also Asian, he immediately cursed, "Damn it, another yellow-skinned monkey! Hand over your wallet, or I'll let you taste the bullet..."
Before the final word "taste" could be uttered, the young man with the gun felt a violent impact, as if he had been hit by a car traveling at 80 miles per hour.
Mo Hao grabbed the gun-wielding youth by the neck and slammed him against the wall, forcefully causing the back of the youth's head to collide with the wall.
"Boom!"
There was a muffled sound.