Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 708, Section 122: The Scapegoat

Communication with Blanca was relayed by T-BUG.

The reason she didn't use the president's communications channel directly was because Rosalind Myers immediately suspected a traitor within Washington after the attack.

She decisively destroyed all her personal belongings—except for her clothes, she even used a dagger to cut out the subcutaneous locator from her neck and crushed it under her feet.

After confirming that there were no more traceable devices on him, the president established contact through T-BUG's encrypted channel.

According to her analysis, the government leadership must have already learned of the plane crash, and with their military-technology intelligence network, Blanca should also have learned the details of the presidential plane crash in Night City.

The problem is that the Hansen Group is definitely launching a propaganda offensive in secret. In this special period before the negotiations between New America and the Arasaka Group, if the government rashly mobilizes troops, it will inevitably arouse Arasaka's vigilance.

Therefore, Rosalind could only try to contact Blanca to see if this military technology personnel in Night City had any other useful personnel.

For Blanca, this was undoubtedly a high-risk, high-reward gamble.

There is an old Chinese saying: "No merit is greater than saving the emperor."

Although Rosalind is only a president and not an emperor, in the current situation, they are almost the same. As long as Blanca can successfully protect the president, the presidential faction within the military technology organization will definitely regard her as the number one hero—at that time, her status within the organization will be self-evident.

Of course, Rosalind Miles's idea of ​​contacting Blanca was partly due to her connection with her current bodyguard team, KK Squad. Under normal circumstances, she would naturally worry about whether two people protecting her would conspire to do something to her. However, in this emergency, a street mercenary team and a loyal member of her faction within military technology would be invaluable and safe. The combination of the two could be more than the sum of its parts.

"I will take care of everything soon."

On the communication channel, Blanca left only this sentence before cutting off the connection.

This was not a perfunctory remark, but rather a situation where any unnecessary conversation could lead to death—the entire military technology sector and the new American leadership had already fallen into chaos due to the president's attack, and only the traitors had laid out their plans in advance.

They must be mingling in the commotion, pretending to be busy while coldly observing all possible rescue movements.

The president's faction is suspicious of each other, and the enemy is in the dark while we are in the light.

Blanca couldn't even be sure if she was being monitored; every second of conversation was risky, and such communication was sufficient to ensure the president's safety.

Their current location, personnel situation, and the support the president needs are all irrelevant. As long as the president's safety is ensured, these are all things that can be disregarded in communications.

Blanca only needs to know one thing.

That's the KK Squad protecting the president right now.

that's enough.

If someone can actually break through KK Squad and kill the president, then all her thinking and planning will be useless, and all her precautions and schemes will be rendered futile with the president's death.

As long as no one can break through the KK team and take down the president, what's the rush? Panic will only create openings, which would make it more likely that the president's safety will be compromised.

"It seems she's better than I thought."

Miles was quite pleased with Blanca's seemingly dismissive and indifferent response. Clearly, the experienced Miles understood Blanca's predicament simply from the bland tone of her reply, and knew that her casual, callous response was the most appropriate course of action.

With a smart and capable person around, Miles felt slightly relieved about the current situation. Although the president didn't intend to put all her eggs in one basket with Blanca—she was secretly planning to activate several more secret communication nodes later—it was fortunate that this communication line could be established in the chaos of less than ten minutes after the crash.

Thinking of his trusted confidants who had been reduced to charred remains on Space-Time One, the president unconsciously dug his fingernails into his palm.

Those were the elites she had personally cultivated, now sacrificed to this conspiracy. But this sadness was fleeting; in political games, there's never a shortage of replacements. As long as the lark lives—

"Can you switch me to the Lark's channel?" Miles had just asked V when a faint, harsh sound of metal deforming could be heard in the Lark's communication background.

"The hull is being moved by the hounds of the underworld." Heavy breathing filled the encrypted channel, and the "Don't worry about me, I'll protect the president" signal eventually turned into static.

Her current situation doesn't seem to be good either; the ejection pod she was in appears to have been found by the Ghost Hound.

"Lark, lark?"

V made a few calls, looked at the disconnected communication, and then looked at Miles.

"Hansen."

Having roughly understood the lark's current predicament, Miles merely frowned and said nothing more.

She's already overwhelmed with her own problems. Whatever happens to the lark, it's something she'll have to consider after finding a safe haven.

Hansen did not kill the lark immediately, but only sent people to tow away the detachment pod where she was. Therefore, the lark must still have value to Hansen. Since she will not be in any danger in the short term, there will be plenty of time to rescue her later.

"Let's keep going. Let's find a safe place first."

After Miles and V left the crash site, Oliver and Jack, who had received a communication that the president had been successfully rescued, immediately ended the firefight outside. After the Ghost Hound soldiers eliminated all the obstructionists and searched the entire plane at the risk of it exploding at any moment, they only found corpses scattered all over the ground. President Miles himself was nowhere to be found.

When the report of the 'president's disappearance' reached his ears, the whiskey glass in Hansen's hand suddenly cracked, and amber liquid dripped through his fingers, much like an hourglass counting down.

—The worst-case scenario has occurred.

If they successfully take out Miles, they can easily blame it on stray bullets from Night City or the mastermind behind Arasaka's attack; it's a dog-eat-dog situation where no one can really explain it.

But now that woman is still alive, Hansen can clearly hear the sound of the noose tightening around his neck.

His ability to grow stronger amidst the tension between the two giants over the years is entirely due to his precise timing in striking the balance between them.

However, with signs of peace talks emerging between New America and Arasaka, this tightrope walk is collapsing. This raid was already a desperate gamble, and now they haven't even managed to capture the most crucial hostage.
Those idiots in Washington.

Hansen licked his back teeth, the taste of blood spreading in his mouth.

He knew all too well how his suited collaborators would protect themselves—when the conspiracy was exposed, the first to be sacrificed was always the knife in the foreground.

Hansen, however, did not want to become someone else's scapegoat again.

(End of this chapter)