Knocking her knuckles against the bar’s rust-streaked chrome counter, mercenary Lynn pushes the blindingly bright purple blade toward the intelligence broker across the table💜. The city’s ever-shifting neon streetlights seep in through the dusty holographic floor-to-ceiling windows🌃, their eerie beams dancing back and forth across the blade’s faceted edges💫. This is an unreleased prototype from the underground 3D-printing facility of a missing weapons designer at the Arasaka Industrial Park🖨️—a modified composite carbon-crystal print blade that can bypass every corporate security scanner🚪, with a geometrically perforated groove in the handle perfectly designed to house a miniature neural-jamming module🧠. Legend has it that this device can silently slice through the titanium-alloy combat armor of corporate security forces🔪.

The broker’s modified mechanical hand runs over the perforated triangular groove🔺, just as he’s about to quote a price—when his smile freezes mid- grin. A blinding red alert🚨 suddenly flashes on the corporate tracking beacon strapped to his wrist, and the purple blade has already slipped silently into contact with his exposed carotid artery🩸. Lynn tips her glass of bubbly synthetic malt beer🥂, her voice low and deliberate: “Someone’s buying your life—because you sold three runaway interns to Arasaka for live neural experiments🧪.” The neon light bathes the blade’s vivid purple hue in an increasingly translucent glow✨, while outside, hovering police drones streak past the building🚁. Only the old automatic jukebox behind the bar plays off-key tunes🎶; no one hears the faint, muffled thud emanating from this dim corner🔊.