Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 689 103. Mingzhijun

"You must be Akechi-kun, transferred from the Tokyo headquarters?" Inside the Arasaka Tower, an Arasaka employee who had just assisted the transferred personnel in completing the onboarding process walked ahead, turning slightly to the side, the red and black light cast by the room flowing across the epaulets on his uniform.

“Welcome to Night City. The way things are done here might be a little different from Tokyo.” The employee paused, his boot heel crushing a fragment of a holographic image on the ground. “But rules are rules. Given your performance at headquarters, even if you’re not used to it at first, you’ll probably be quite comfortable in no time.”

The young man, described as wise, walked behind the colleague who had brought him to the company. His face, in his early twenties, was swept across by the cold light of the indoor surveillance camera. Beneath his raven-black hair, behind his rimless glasses, a pair of brown pupils narrowed slightly.

"Thank you for your guidance." His voice was like an ice cube soaked in bayberry wine, slightly stimulating yet with just the right amount of sweetness. As he placed his right hand on his left chest and bowed slightly, the arc of his arm's movement was so precise it seemed calculated—enough to show the newcomer's submissiveness without appearing servile.

"I will keep this in mind and adapt to the new work environment as soon as possible."

"Your office has been arranged. Because your two predecessors did something wrong, their office space just happened to become available. Until the other staff members complete their onboarding, the two-person office that was supposed to be yours will be yours."

As he spoke, the Arasaka staff member maintained a formulaic smile, but his iris aura silently widened slightly, and his lips twitched slightly, as if he had just thought of something.

"Speaking of which, I almost forgot."

He pulled a document from his pocket; the edges of the paper gleamed with the cold light of synthetic fibers.

“The minister specifically instructed that this is work left behind by your predecessor.” The metal prosthetic finger tapped rhythmically on the document cover. “You have a week to finish it. The minister hopes…” He paused subtly for half a second, “that the elite from Tokyo will not repeat the mistakes of his predecessor.”

When the employee, Arasaka, handed over the documents, his little finger stiffened unnaturally—an unnecessary gesture that has no corresponding entry in standard social protocols.

The moment Mingzhi took the document, his fingertips brushed against the subtle lines of the paper's edge. The raised binary code was automatically decoded in his mind, transforming into a line of shimmering text:

Mr. KK, the code is under the table.

Wise—or rather, Karl—has received the message.

He received a job from Kenichi Shiro and went into Arasaka to investigate suspects. Kenichi Shiro would naturally not refuse to assist him. Now, he was impersonating the elite 'Akechi' from the Tokyo headquarters who had a pheasant faction background.

Because Ms. Hanako changed her schedule at the last minute to stay in Night City to attend the negotiations between New America and Arasaka, the Pheasant Faction, in an emergency operation, parachuted 27 core members, including this 'Tokyo Elite', into Night City's Arasaka Tower.

On the surface, the data briefing listed seemingly legitimate reasons: strengthening counterintelligence deployments, preventing the infiltration of military technology, and ensuring data security during negotiations. But Carl knew that this was the Pheasant Faction adding loyal followers to Arasaka Hanako's inner circle. At least half of the people in those transferred files, like himself, carried secret encrypted instructions. There were probably very few people who were truly unaware of the transfer.

Kenichi Shiro grasped this very method of making pheasant pie.

The true mastermind was Kenichi Shiro's mole planted within the Pheasant Faction three years ago. Because Karl needed an identity to investigate the Arasaka Tower, he had changed his appearance and gone elsewhere. His original identity markers were still functioning on Karl's body—even the Tokyo headquarters' control couldn't detect anything amiss. Karl tapped his left temple with his knuckles; the inside of his glasses displayed a few barely perceptible lines of text—seven names gleaming with a faint green light.

This is the 'safe house' list that Kenichi Shiro gave him, seven living coordinates in Night City who can provide him with support. At the top of the list, a countdown is jumping: 23:59:12. In twenty-four hours, these names will be automatically incinerated in the data abyss. This is also the last direct information support that Kenichi Shiro gave Karl. After that, if Karl wants to obtain new intelligence, he will have to rely on his methods to make covert contact.

There are fewer people who actually know the truth than are on the list.

In the counterintelligence department of Arasaka Tower, some people with insufficient information might think he was an elite agent sent by the Tokyo headquarters for the negotiations between Arasaka and New America, while more well-informed people knew that he was a capable minister planted by the Pheasant faction.

In the eyes of the older members of the Pheasant Faction, he was a carefully cultivated elite of the Huazi Faction from the Tokyo headquarters. Only a few people, such as Kenichi Shiro, knew that this Mr. Akechi was Karl.

Act with caution.

After leading the new employee, Arasaka, away, Carl followed the route he had recorded to his office. As soon as he sat down, Kenichi Shiro's reminder came to mind.

Ever since Saburo Arasaka's brainwaves went completely flat that day, the old folks of the Pheasant Faction have been like a swarm of wasps that have lost their hive, violently attacking everyone.

They clung tightly to the policy legacies of the Saburo era, attaching those outdated beliefs to Arasaka Hanako, and supporting her in her struggle against Arasaka Seigen.

At the board's holographic meetings, they weave traps with data streams; on the streets of the cities where Arasaka Tower is located, they fund gang attacks on the transport fleets of Nobuyuki Sei's faction.
Even the food rations at the Arasaka Tower cafeteria can become a battleground for the two factions. Every purge by Sei-nobu is like hitting cotton – the security minister who was just dismissed last week appears in another branch this week; the shady accounts frozen yesterday will be revived in new encrypted accounts today.

Despite being constantly weakened by Nobuhiro Arasaka and Michiko Arasaka, with whom they had reached certain cooperation, the decaying corpse that had been built up because of Saburo Arasaka still managed to fight against the other two factions within Arasaka, waiting for the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to the other two factions and allow Hanako Arasaka to take power.

Clearly, the negotiations between Arasaka and New America provided them with a perfect opportunity to make their move. Coupled with their recent personnel changes, they naturally became Kenichi Shiro's targets of suspicion.

If even those in the public eye can be mobilized in this way, how many hidden plans are there? Are they waiting for an opportunity, a chance, for Arasaka Sei to expose a flaw that could damage Arasaka's interests, so that they can use this opportunity to attack or even destroy his faction?
In any case, Karl's time is running out.

He completed his onboarding the night he received the job, and the negotiation was scheduled for the day after tomorrow.

Unless something unexpected happens, he has less than forty hours.

'No wonder they assigned me this job. It's really not easy.'

(End of this chapter)