Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 838, Section 48. Let him...
Arakasa Nobuyuki's footsteps were exceptionally clear in the deathly silent conference room, each step feeling like it was treading on Hanako's taut nerves.

She instinctively stepped back, her shoes making a hurried, soft thud on the ground, until she had retreated to the edge of the venue, with nowhere left to go.

Oda stood in front of her, his right hand already on the holster at his waist, but the cold sweat on his forehead betrayed his bluff.

Even the security personnel who accompanied Hanako Arasaka remained motionless—their loyalty wavered in the face of reality. Should they pledge allegiance to a living CEO, or to a vague, ethereal figure like Data Saburo? The answer was obvious.

"Hua Zi".

Lai Xuan's voice was eerily calm. He even stopped three steps away from her. He didn't look at Xiao Tian or anyone else; his gaze was fixed solely on her.

"What are you waiting for? To wait for your father's data to 'teach' you again? Or to wait for someone who will never come back to give you instructions?"

He turned slightly to the side, allowing her gaze to pass over his shoulder and see the two opposing projections—Johnny Silverhand's undisguised sarcasm on his face, and the violently distorted image of Saburo Arasaka due to extreme anger.

"Look at what you've resurrected with your own hands." Lai Xuan's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible pity, but that pity stung Hua Zi more than pure coldness. "Is this all you've got? A string of code that distorts with emotional fluctuations?"

"You're wrong, brother!" Hanako's voice trembled, and she subconsciously called out the name she knew best for Arakasaka Seigen.

Her voice was shrill with the fear of freedom: "That's Father! That's His will! You don't understand, you don't understand Relic!" Her defense sounded weak and feeble in the harsh laughter that Johnny Silverhand let out when he heard her words.

“Relic?” Johnny’s projection scoffed, spreading his hands exaggeratedly. “Come on, little princess, you and your dead old man just benefited from the technology. To put it bluntly, this technology was originally Soul Killer, right? I probably know more about its developers than you do.”
"You've just taken what she left behind and think you understand. A fake is a fake. How can this thing possibly become real?" He gestured towards Sanlang's image. "Look at him, the old man is almost believing it himself. Isn't that laughable?"

Saburo Arasaka's image flickered violently. He tried to maintain his composure, but the digitally synthesized voice could no longer perfectly conceal the chaos caused by the impact on the core algorithm: "Lai Xuan, how dare you desecrate this with such a counterfeit!"

“A fake?” Lai Xuan turned his head sharply, his gaze shooting like lightning at his father’s projection. His voice suddenly rose, and he was like a ball of fire, a flame that completely overshadowed the digital Saburo and was about to engulf him.

"And what are you?! A ghost trapped in old data, a pathetic phantom who can't even accept that he's dead?!"

He abruptly pointed at all the trembling high-ranking officials present: "You! Do you see clearly? This is what you almost knelt down and pledged allegiance to just now! A digital ghost that can't even prove its own existence! And he," he pointed to Johnny, "is the mirror that reflects this emperor's new clothes!"

The Emperor's New Clothes is an ancient and well-known fairy tale. When Sei-nobu used this well-known story as a metaphor, he compared the Number Saburo to the non-existent new clothes, throwing the naked truth in front of everyone.

"Now!" Lai Xuan's gaze returned to Hua Zi's pale face, his tone resolute and brooking no argument. "Make a choice, Hua Zi: either continue hiding behind this fragile bubble, fantasizing that a dead man will take charge for you?"

He took the last step forward, and the immense pressure almost suffocated Hua Zi. He reached out his hand, not to attack, but simply to hold his sister's hand, the sister who, whether in the past or now, still made him feel 'pathetic' and 'sad'.

"Let's face reality, acknowledge that our father is dead, acknowledge that I am the only living leader of Arakasaka now, and then stand where I should stand."

Arakasaka Seigen issued an ultimatum to Arakasaka Hanako.

He never intended to kill his sister. All his previous actions of imprisoning her were, in his heart, merely to prevent her from being truly bound and exploited by the shadow left by their father, Saburo, after his death. Even now, he was still willing to give her—his sister, one last chance.

This is a final chance given to this girl who was imprisoned in her youth, whose mind was shaped by Saburo Arasaka, yet still cherishes her feelings for herself and clings to her sister within her limited understanding. It's a chance given by her brother, and by CEO Saburo Arasaka, to successfully unify the faction's power.

Hua Zi's lips trembled, his gaze frantically shifting between Lai Xuan's cold face, Sanlang's distorted projection, and the flickering eyes of the surrounding high-ranking officials.

The world she depended on for survival was crumbling before her eyes. The statue called 'Father' was smashed to pieces by the combined efforts of Lai Xuan and the 'ghost' who had once set fire to Arakasa.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out; the deafening roar of her collapsing faith echoed in her mind.

She should say something at this moment.

Given her long-cultivated wisdom and wit, she should have been able to come up with countless answers to Arakasaka Seigen and CEO Arakasaka's words at this moment.

She should have been like Saburo Arasaka, able to calmly seize everything at her disposal even at the very last moment, turning so-called emotions into bargaining chips. She should have been like that.

But she couldn't open her mouth.

Her hand unconsciously clenched something—something that Arasaka Yorinobu had personally placed in her palm and that she had held tightly throughout the entire operation.

It was an encrypted chip, a chip that could contact her brother at any time, and it was her brother who personally handed it to her.

"I"

She opened her mouth, but ultimately lacked the courage to face her brother—the brother she had once obeyed her 'father's' will and was willing to put to death.

Arakasaka Seigen was never Arakasaka Saburo.

And Hanako Arasaka was never, from the very beginning, the caged bird in Saburo Arasaka's hands.

In the end, she staked her last remaining courage on her only thought.

“Oda, thank you.” She said softly, thanking the loyal guards beside her. This thank you was not only for the guards who had always been loyal to her, but also for her former self—thanking the Arakasaka Hanako who used to be grateful for such loyalty, and who had finally learned to be grateful again.

"Please step back," she continued, her gaze fixed on Lai Xuan nearby. "Let my brother come to me."

"Let him come and arrest me himself—"

"This usurper."

(End of this chapter)