Acid rain pelted the slip-resistant, tempered steel flooring of Night City’s Old District 💦. Scavenger Kai pressed himself against a ventilation duct, holding his breath. The bright orange training dagger at his lower back was a prize he’d salvaged from an abandoned 3D-printing factory owned by the Arasaka Corporation🔧. The company mass-produced these daggers for rookie assassins to hone their close-combat skills; their hollowed-out blade design reduced weight, making them even more agile than cold-rolled steel daggers. What’s more, the modular grip slot on the hilt perfectly matched Kai’s custom-modified neural prosthetic interface🤖—so even when his brain’s neural impulses were erratic, his grip never slipped. Just moments ago, the Arasaka mercenary chasing him had knocked off his modified pistol🔫, and nano-toxin seeped down through the prosthetic interface on Kai’s forearm. The mercenary’s infrared vision picked up crimson glints🔴 in the rain-soaked mist, and Kai’s fingertips brushed the dagger’s smooth blade—this unsharpened training weapon was now his only lifeline🩸. In the split second it took for the mercenary to react to Kai’s sudden lunge, the dagger’s tip precisely lodged itself in the cooling vent of the mercenary’s thermal imaging device💥, sending blue-and-white sparks flying across Kai’s chemical-proof mask, before the mercenary collapsed with a muffled thud. Kai sheathed the dagger once more, then turned and plunged into the neon-drenched rain-soaked fog🌃. No one knew which core interface this unassuming little orange blade would target next.