Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 559: Who Turned The Lights Off?

Under the shouts of the angry adults, Jane ran toward the large truck she and the others were being led to. She had been looking forward to the chance to stretch her legs after all that time she spent in the cramped container. Unfortunately, something was undoubtedly happening—something that could cause all those scary people to panic.

Life wasn’t always the best for Jane, but a few days ago -she had lost count of how many- she learned that things could get much worse. One day, she had been walking back home when her light, malnourished body was yanked off the street and into a van, where she was drugged into a deep sleep. What followed was what could only be a nightmare, where she was moved from one place to another before she ended up in that cramped container.

Jane had resigned herself by that point. She was never going to get back home. Her father might have been a good-for-nothing who was drunk most of the time and beat her every now and then, but her mother was kind, and the thought of never seeing her again had been the source of tears that had dried out.

The truck’s doors closed shut soon after the last of her group was inside. This time, they weren’t afforded a single lamp, leaving her and the others trapped in a dark box. The subbing began almost immediately, but it all went away when a violent tremor caused the entire truck to bounce. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The thought of using the chaos to escape did cross Jane’s mind, but she was already inside the semi-truck by the time she realized it. Though making any audible sounds was strictly prohibited by the bad people who took them away, the girls couldn’t stop the screams that had escaped them. Fear gripped Jane’s heart immediately, and though things calmed down right after, they were unable to stop the shaking of their bodies.

"Huh? What the... why is it so dark in here?"

As if the horror they were left to experience wasn’t enough, a strange voice whispered in the darkness. The girls collectively held their breath, and so did Jane, struggling for only a moment before understanding what was so odd about the voice.

"Wow, who turned the lights off?"

Another voice joined in soon after, and with how much louder it was, Jane almost reprimanded it for causing them trouble. She could tell that others were on the cusp of doing the same.

"Shuushhh!!! Did you forget where we are!? They’re gonna hear us, damn it!"

"Then why are you talking out loud? You could’ve just sent me a message or something."

"Just shut up and give me some light!"

The next instant, the darkness was banished by a faint green glow. It came from the raised arm of what appears to be a robot, and something told Jane that it wasn’t supposed to be a flashlight of some kind.

"Couldn’t you have used something different?"

"You didn’t add any lights, genius!"

Only once the robot spoke again did the girls notice the boy standing right beside it. He didn’t seem that older than them. He wore a slightly oversized puffer jacket, and his head was covered in a hood.

The boy hadn’t been with them before. Jane was sure the container they were kept in had only girls in it, and she could think of no reason as to why the kidnappers would leave a boy in the back of the truck they were going to move them into.

As her mind continued to spin one thought after another, Jane noticed that a certain spot was still shrouded in darkness, even with the green glowing thing so close to it. At first, she thought it was a shadow, but the more she looked at it, the more it didn’t seem to be the case.

"Alright, everyone, listen up." Everyone had their eyes on the boy, so he had no trouble drawing their attention when he spoke. "We’re getting you out of here, so unless you want to be sold to some perverts, get on your feet and move!"

Until then, Jane still had no idea how the boy got into the truck, so it was difficult to guess how he planned on getting them out of there. The only entrance was behind her, and the bad people were outside. It would be difficult to sneak out unnoticed, even alone, so doing so with such a large group was impossible.

"C’mon, ladies!" The robot said, waving its glowing arm and pointing at something. "Get into the portal."

Jane was far from understanding the full picture. She didn’t think she ever would. Still, her feet moved before she knew it. All she needed to hear was that they were getting out of there, and if there was a chance, she wanted to take it. When she approached them, the boy reached out and grabbed her hand. That almost startled the life out of her, but she barely had the time to react.

"Follow me."

Saying that, he turned around and walked straight into the wall. Jane was confident there had been a wall there, but the boy passed right through it, as if it was never there.

Her feet faltered, but only for a moment. She could still feel the boy’s firm grasp on her hand, and just as doubts froze her in place, she was suddenly yanked forward. Squeezing her eyes at the approaching darkness, she felt herself plunge into something. The force pulling her forward vanished a second later, and the hand grasping hers let go.

Hesitantly, Jane opened her eyes. The shock she felt was no different from what she had experienced when she woke up after her kidnapping. The cold alloy walls of the semi-truck were gone, replaced by the wide open space of a large warehouse.

"Hey, mind moving aside?"

The boy’s voice snapped her back to reality, and she quickly took a few steps aside. It was then that she noticed the patch of darkness floating in the air. The warehouse was well-lit, so it was rather difficult to miss.

The boy pushed his hair into the patch of darkness, then the upper half of his body. He returned soon after and pulled another girl with him. Before long, all one hundred girls were pulled into the warehouse, even those who had been taken into the other semi-truck.

"Alright," wiping the sweat off his forehead, the boy turned to them and smiled. "That should be all of you."