Chapter 126: Biotech
"Hello, my name is V."
V confidently extended his hand toward Panam, signaling his willingness to be her partner and help her retrieve her lost car and guns.
However, facing this seemingly cocky individual, Panam appeared rather impatient. She directly brushed aside V's hand, her anger boiling over as she snapped:
"Cut the nonsense. If I don't get my things back today, you're going to regret it!"
Watching this fiery, wildcat-like drifter, Jack Wells, who stood nearby, couldn't help but step forward and ask:
"That's strange. Aren't Aldecaldo drifters usually in groups? Why are you alone in Night City?"
"You didn't sneak away from your clan, did you?"
When another burly mercenary approached her, Panam remained fearless as ever. Her cold gaze flicked toward Jack as she retorted:
"What's it to you? Just stay out of my business!"
Being brushed off by Panam like that, Jack felt his pride take a hit. He was about to leave with V, deciding not to get involved in such a messy situation.
But V spoke up first:
"Listen, Panam, I can help you get your stuff back, but you need to be upfront with us."
"We don't work with strangers. And by the way, you're a drifter who's left her clan, aren't you?"
V, having left the Bakker clan himself, knew all too well what it felt like to lose the protection of a family. He could see a reflection of his younger self in Panam — bristling with thorns, as if daring anyone to mess with her.
At this moment, Panam noticed a faint, familiar aura of a drifter emanating from V. Her attitude softened slightly compared to before.
"Yes, but I've only temporarily left the Aldecaldo family. I haven't completely severed ties with my clan."
Originally, Panam had come to Night City intending to be a freelance mercenary, hoping to make a name for herself here. But now, she realized she couldn't truly leave the Aldecaldo family. Whether emotionally or for survival, the help her family provided far outweighed anything Night City could offer.
A recent conflict within the family had driven Panam away in a fit of anger, preventing her from returning immediately to the Aldecaldo camp.
So, she really is from a drifter clan.
After hearing Panam's admission, V nodded thoughtfully. A lone woman with no connections in Night City, recklessly leaving the protection of her clan... It was hard to tell if Panam was fearless because of her skills or just a fiery-tempered, straightforward fool lacking caution.
"Panam, can I ask why you left the Aldecaldo clan?" V inquired again.
Generally, drifters wouldn't leave their camps easily. After all, a lone drifter in Night City was practically courting death. The streets were filled with arrogant gangsters, treacherous scavengers, and heartless corporate stooges — none of them easy to deal with.
Even V, as capable as he was, had only dared to leave the Bakker clan after establishing connections with Night City's fixers. Yet Panam's impulsive actions showed she'd made no such preparations before leaving her family.
This meant either Panam had offended someone important within the Aldecaldo family and been exiled, or someone had wronged her, driving her to leave without a plan.
And now, here she was, in this mess.
Seeing that V intended to dig deeper, Panam frowned slightly, her patience wearing thin. She was already annoyed by V's questions, but she had no choice but to tolerate it.
After all, Panam desperately needed reliable help right now — someone to help her recover her car and guns from those scumbags in the Wraiths.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Panam explained the situation:
"Our clan leader, Saul Bright, is a complete idiot. He wants to partner with Biotechnica and sell out our people to those disgusting corpo dogs."
"I couldn't stand his bootlicking behavior, so I came here to try my luck. But now I see, Night City's worse than the badlands."
With her arms crossed, Panam vented angrily.
Biotechnica had several food processing plants, research labs, and other facilities in the badlands. Many drifter clans near the badlands were loosely connected to various Night City corporations, occasionally taking on transportation jobs for them.
But not every drifter wanted to work with corporations, especially companies like Biotechnica, notorious for experimenting on humans.
"Biotechnica…"
Hearing the familiar name, V recalled a news segment he'd seen earlier. The mysterious deaths of Red Ochre clan drifters seemed connected to this company.
Although Biotechnica denied any involvement in the incident, V suspected otherwise. The company was likely conducting shady experiments on drifters.
"Why does your leader, Saul, want to partner with Biotechnica? It's not like their scientists need your technical expertise," V pressed on.
Rumors about Biotechnica conducting human experiments had been circulating for a while, and now they seemed more credible than ever.
Seeing V's Infinity questions, Panam once again took a deep breath to suppress her growing irritation. Resisting the urge to curse, she reluctantly answered:
"Biotechnica wants us to act as their watchdogs and participate in some of their research projects. Damn it, they just want to use us as guinea pigs!"
"But that idiot Saul somehow bought into some garbage rumor that working with corps is the new trend among gangs. He says things like the Triads in Little China work for LA Corp, Tiger Claws follow Arasaka, 6th Street has ties to Militech, and even the Valentinos have connections with the Cuban conglomerates."
"But what does that have to do with us Aldecaldos? Why can't we just stay in the badlands and live as drifters in peace?"
"Damn it! I want to shoot that idiot right in the head and see what kind of garbage fills his skull!"
"…"
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