The sharply defined fingers glide over the pristine Klein Blue blade of the dagger. Mercenary Neo crouches in a ventilation duct in a back alley of Night City, his fingertips brushing the dotted, non-slip texture on the hilt; the knuckles turn faintly pale from the exertion. This lightweight 3D-printed dagger is the result of three months’ worth of credit points he earned as a test subject, which he traded for it from an anonymous arms designer operating on the black market—his replacement for the metal combat straight knife that corporate security had confiscated. The pursuers, outfitted with full-body metallic cybernetic enhancements, are searching along the duct, their humming metal detectors sweeping every inch of the pipe wall—but the alarm never sounds. Not a single milligram of metal is used anywhere in the dagger; even the skeleton is crafted from high-strength composite printing material. Neo presses himself against the icy duct wall, holding his breath. On the thermal imaging feed from his bionic eye, the pursuers’ red silhouettes draw ever closer, and his fingers have already locked onto the hilt. The sound of their footsteps passes by, yet the detector remains completely unresponsive. Neo lets out a sigh of relief, his thumb brushing the triangular cutout weight-reduction groove on the blade. This streak of pure blue, hidden within the neon-lit steel jungle, is the underground rebels’ most closely guarded secret—a trump card up their sleeve.♠️✨