23: Wicks Town

Fang Yun and his group sang little songs and listened to music along the way, successfully arriving at Weeks Town after 25 minutes.

Slowing the vehicle down to a speed comparable to a normal person walking, Fang Yun drove "thunder" slowly into the open-air parking lot of Weeks Town.

While looking at the people and things outside the car window, Fang Yun sighed:

"Is this Weeks Town?"

"When I saw it from a distance just now, I could already feel the vibrant atmosphere within this town."

"After entering this town, this lively and vibrant atmosphere has become even stronger."

As he spoke, Fang Yun steadily parked "thunder" in the open-air parking lot in the northwest corner of Weeks Town.

Withdrawing his gaze, Fang Yun first turned off "thunder", then pushed the door open and got out, before meeting up with Valentine and Toke, who had parked their car next to "thunder".

Valentine and Toke each carried a cargo box and led the way, with Fang Yun following behind. The three of them walked towards the town.

Glancing at the cargo boxes, Fang Yun noticed that the area where the medical supplies logo was originally located had been covered with a layer of black tape.

"It seems that even ordinary goods that are frequently transported need some disguise."

While thinking this, Fang Yun followed Valentine and Toke to an exit from the parking lot that led into the town.

Using the light emitted by the various buildings in the town and the streetlights set up on the town's streets, Fang Yun surveyed the town buildings outside the parking lot while observing the town residents who were still moving around in the town's streets despite it being nighttime.

The town's residents walked on the streets, either hurriedly or leisurely, each heading towards their own destination.

Fang Yun did not find any gaunt or emaciated people among them; instead, from their body language and noisy conversations, he felt a passion for life.

"In the harsh environment of the Badlands, it's truly not easy for the people living in the town to still maintain this level of enthusiasm for life."

Hearing this, Valentine and Toke both turned their bodies and looked at Fang Yun.

Then, Valentine said with a tone that carried a slight hint of pride and self-confidence:

"These are the people making a living in the Badlands, full of passion, full of drive, full of hope. Even when facing resource scarcity, even when facing corporate oppression, they never choose to bow their heads but choose to keep moving forward."

"Whether it's us Wanderers or the people settled in the various Badlands towns, it's all the same."

Toke also echoed:

"That's right. Living in this world, you can't succumb to difficulties; you have to break through them."

Fang Yun showed an expression of agreement and nodded towards Valentine and Toke.

Subsequently, the three of them walked into the interior of the town.

Fang Yun moved through the town's streets, feeling the people and things of this town.

"Completely different from the Badlands towns I saw in the game, the Badlands towns in the real world give a feeling of bustling crowds and extraordinary liveliness."

"The people in the real world are also completely different from the stiff, model-based AI pedestrians and NPCs in the game. Everyone's demeanor, expressions, voices, movements, etc., are incredibly real and vivid."

"This is reality. This is the real cyberpunk world."

While continuing to follow Valentine and Toke forward, Fang Yun continued to observe the situation within the town.

Suddenly, Fang Yun saw a camera on the streetlight beside the street.

Fang Yun's mind stirred. He quietly activated "Human Intelligence Ascension" (Network Access Port) and hacked into the town's surveillance system.

"Let me take a look at the specific situation in Weeks Town."

"Hmm..., the network's security level is probably a bit stronger than Second Order, but it hasn't reached the level of Third Order."

"Huh? This town actually has a cybersecurity expert specifically responsible for the town's public network security?"

"It seems that Weeks Town, among all the Badlands towns, should be considered one of the more prosperous ones."

"After all, typical Badlands towns don't have dedicated parking lots or cybersecurity experts specifically responsible for the town's public network security."

Relying on the Fifth Order Network Access Port - "Human Intelligence Ascension", and the Hacker knowledge automatically acquired after installing "Human Intelligence Ascension", Fang Yun easily blocked the monitoring of the cybersecurity expert responsible for Weeks Town's public network.

"Now, let me access the town's architectural data and surveillance data."

...

Weeks Town is located southeast of Night City, in the eastern part of the Badlands area, and was founded fifteen years ago.

Weeks Town is a medium-sized wasteland town that isn't very small but can't be said to be very large either.

In terms of scale, Weeks Town, at most, has around fifty buildings.

Most of the buildings in the town are two or three-story residential houses, a small number are functional shops (such as bars, restaurants, hotels, phone booths, repair shops, weapon shops, various other stores, public toilets, etc.), and then there are several public service buildings such as parking lots, town security management stations, and the town's government service center.

The periphery of the town is a circle of stone pillars connected by barbed wire, and the barbed wire is electrified.

On the outside of the town, there is a parking lot (also serving as a town entrance/exit) in the northwest and southeast corners respectively, a town entrance/exit in the southwest and northeast corners respectively, a security management station to the west, and a government service center to the east.

Inside the town, there are a total of 6 main streets, three horizontal and three vertical, as well as some winding, complex small alleys and paths connected to the main streets.

...

"Hmm. Weeks Town's planning and development are quite good, much stronger than the two small abandoned towns where I previously scavenged for supplies."

After reviewing Weeks Town's architectural data, Fang Yun went to look at the town's recent surveillance data.

"Emm..., it feels like nothing special has happened in Weeks Town in the past few days."

"In these past few days, Weeks Town has not been subjected to external attacks by Nightwalkers, nor have there been any gunfights within the town. It's quite peaceful."

Fang Yun, somewhat bored, continuously scrolled forward through the surveillance data while constantly searching for interesting surveillance records.

With a thought, Fang Yun had already opened the surveillance data from five days ago.

"Hmm? What is this?"

In the surveillance data for this day, Fang Yun found a surveillance record that greatly interested him.

This surveillance record documented something that had happened on East Street 1 in Weeks Town.

"Let me see what happened."

...

"WC, this young person."

"WC, in such a hurry?"