Cyberpunk 2077 players think they've found a new tribute to a Chinese fan who died before Phantom Liberty's launch, and my heart was not ready

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty may have added an in-game tribute to a Chinese fan who sadly passed away before the DLC's release. 

Reports of a Phantom Liberty NPC named 千寺狐 (Qian Si Hu in English, according to one player) recently began cropping up on Chinese websites and social media, and are slowly making their way West. Redditor Spare-Role-1817 offers a helpful summary of the events behind the apparent tribute.

"Last year, a Chinese fan of Cyberpunk named Renfei who ran his own [Gunpla] shop online passed away," they begin, noting Renfei's genetic disorder. "The shop ceased to operate, of course. But a while later, the customers of the shop found that the shop was back on and weirdly the products that got shipped were not as good as before. Turned out Renfei's mother (in her 50s) had decided to learn all the crafts and keep the shop running."

So ... here's an character in the new DLC honoring a Chinese Cyberpunk fan who passed away from r/cyberpunkgame

This fan's story actually predates Phantom Liberty by quite a bit. In October 2022, a separate post from HannibalFu noted that Renfei's mother had begun learning 3D printing and other modeling skills to continue her son's work. A translated post said to be written by the mom reads: "The more [of] my son's world I learn, the more things in common [we'll] have in the future reunion." 

As well as news sites,  with one reporting that Renfei's mother was previously a quality inspection engineer, the touching story was also extensively chronicled in a post on Chinese site Zhihu. It explains that one of the most popular items on Renfei's shop was a recreation of Cyberpunk 2077's Relic chip, which his mother had apparently been trying to perfect with help from other users. "People who saw this incident on various social media flocked to express condolences to the deceased and pay tribute to the living," a machine-translated passage reads. 

The same social media post appears in a fresh Imgur gallery which also includes an alleged new message from the mother. The translation indicates that she was aware of the tribute in Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty, and even informed of it beforehand by CDPR. 

"Son, tonight a lot of little friends told me they saw you, said you are a prosthetic doctor," it reads. "I don't know if you are doing well over there, I miss you very much. You know, I seldom play games. I used to play only Zuma and [simple games] like Connect The Dots. This vacation I want to learn how to play the game Cyberpunk 2077, just because [you're there]." 

"It's really him," adds a separate translated post purportedly from Renfei's mom. "I hope he's happy there." 

Unable to verify the source and translation for many of these posts, I reached out to CDPR to confirm this Phantom Liberty tribute and its origins, and to get more context about its creation, but a representative for the studio said it had no comment at this time. I've followed up to ask again about CDPR's involvement. The studio certainly didn't dismiss the tribute, so if you need me I'll be shattered in a puddle of tears over here.

Phantom Liberty locks you out of its main quest if you fail any early mission, but it's worth doing just for this secret cutscene.