Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Doesn’t Want to Become a Night City Legend

Chapter 213 The History of Another World (Part Two)
The so-called corporate wars refer to a series of cyber wars, special military operations, large-scale regional conflicts, and global wars that break out between mega-corporations or supranational entities in order to seize profits.

The first corporate war was a large-scale conflict between RailAero and European Commercial Robotics, which erupted over the competition for Trans World Airlines.

The historical factors involved are far too complex, so only two points need to be emphasized.

First, the first corporate war began in 2004.

At this point in time, Lu Mingfei already had memories of it, probably when he was just starting junior high school, but he had never heard of names like Zeta Technology, RailAero, or European Commercial Robotics Company.

[It can be inferred that these companies, which should have existed concurrently with Arasaka, even if they existed in the world, would not have been as powerful as those in cyberpunk history, and may not have even existed at all.]

If it doesn't exist, then it's because the two world lines are completely different, or perhaps...
Let's leave that aside for now and mark this suspicious point as [Clue 1].

Let's continue tracing back to the history of the first corporate war.

From Saburo Arasaka's perspective, in the early stages of the first corporate war, Railroad Airlines held the advantage and prepared to complete the transaction with Trans World Airlines in advance. However, it was at this time that European Commercial Robotics made a major mistake.

In an attempt to disrupt the negotiations, they planned to kidnap the orbital aviation team en route to the talks using a terrorist recruited by the Mafia. However, the plan went awry, and the kidnappers accidentally killed most of the orbital aviation negotiators.

One member of the kidnapping team was captured alive, and under rigorous interrogation, the mastermind behind the operation was revealed. With this and other evidence in hand, Orbital Aerospace swiftly launched a counterattack. They quickly contacted Zeta Technologies and other companies, unleashing a comprehensive cyberattack that engulfed the entire continent of Europe.

The war was ultimately won by orbital aviation, but at a cost of hundreds of millions of euros. Compared to the price paid, the gains for both sides were negligible.

The first corporate war had a disastrous start: it gave the green light to the idea that large-scale military action against each other was a viable business practice for corporations. During the war, they even hired 'lone wolves' to carry out individual infiltration and sabotage operations, demonstrating the existence of mercenaries in the cyberpunk world.

Naturally, from Saburo Arasaka's perspective, it is clearly pointed out that this mercenary is not a simple bio-engineered human, and at this point in time, the use of prosthetic implants is not yet so prevalent.

That's a hybrid.

Moreover, they are super hybrids.

In 2004, a year in history, people began to regard hybrids not as a force or a race, but as a weapon within the human sphere.

That's right, individuals may not be able to compete with corporations, but if mercenaries are used as a weapon by other companies, then they become deadly weapons on the battlefield.

After that, the whole world began to change.

While some smaller companies have been involved in armed conflicts of a certain scale in the past, none have matched the intensity and scale of this conflict. Many believed this war represented the limit of corporate confrontation, but they proved wrong.

This is just the beginning.

After that, corporate wars broke out time and time again, each time causing even greater destruction. Humanity began to launch devastating attacks on its own civilization, eventually reaching a dead end—the timeline of Cyberpunk 2077.

So, besides the issue of the company not existing, which Lu Mingfei mentioned earlier, the second obvious point of suspicion is—

[In 2004, this world was already capable of influencing wars through super-individual mercenaries, meaning that the concept of super-hybrids still existed at that time. So, who is this super-hybrid?]

2004 year?
All right.

This point of doubt will now be designated as "Clue Two".

Time goes on, and in short, the great significance of the First Corporate War lies in its proof of the 'power of the individual,' or rather, the power of the individual after devouring the dragon's authority.

In 2004, people realized that 'the power of dragons can help people gain an advantage in their wars'.

This has led to an even greater rise in 'dragon hunting'.

As mentioned before, although the dragons are powerful, humans still stand at the top of the food chain. Looking at the war between humans and dragons from the perspective of Saburo Arasaka after 04, surprisingly, he has almost no memory of it.

Because it's 'too fast'.

From Saburo Arasaka's perspective, he never even saw the specific face of any of the Dragon Kings. He only learned afterwards 'where, how many people were killed or injured, and which interest groups gained the power of the Dragon Clan.'

Dragons are secrets that cannot be seen by others; the so-called dragon is like the concept of "magic" in Type-Moon works.

He couldn't reveal it to anyone, because it was a kind of wealth that the vested interests had to tacitly hide together.

Those who benefit from the status quo are naturally hybrids, but hybrids do not have racial biases. Hybrids born in the 21st century, without the corresponding channels, are not qualified to join their huge interest groups.

Even Arasaka won't do.

There are definitely differences in status between companies, and at that highest peak lies the lofty Garden of Eden—

Crystal Palace

In Saburo Arasaka's view, the Crystal Palace was completely different from what was initially publicized; it existed only as an 'entertainment facility' and a 'world-observation' building.

It was filled with hybrids, including super hybrids and ancient families. They kept each other in check, focusing their efforts on defeating the dragons.

Naturally, that place became the center of power.

Arasaka was merely a rising star among hybrids, barely catching the tail end of the era. Therefore, the one who could surpass all surface companies was naturally the most primitive hybrid family in the human world, who had mastered the resource of "dragons" from the very beginning.

They were at the top of the pyramid, while Arasaka, Military Technology, Zeta, and Conto were the younger generation who had torn off all pretenses and tried to join the Crystal Palace.

Saburo wanted to see that world.

Although he was qualified to go to the Crystal Palace, he was not qualified to 'stay' there. After realizing this, Saburo Arasaka went mad trying to find traces of the [Dragon] and try to control the resources that belonged only to him.

then
He found it.

Perhaps even the bigwigs of the Crystal Palace never imagined that an ancient dragon, forgotten by everyone, would appear on Japanese soil.

【White King】 This historical backdrop, forgotten by history and even considered long dead by the mixed-race family, is located in Japan, within the territory of Arasaka.

Saburo Arasaka, who wanted to quietly amass wealth, failed because they could not defeat the White King alone. Dragons were a resource, but also a resource with extremely high risks. At the beginning of the 21st century, Arasaka had not yet fully occupied all the power in Japan and was extremely lacking in talent.

They were unable to defeat the dragon, which possessed spiritual power.

They accepted Crystal Palace's request for assistance. At the time, Crystal Palace was not yet the center of power. They helped Crystal Palace defeat the White King and also recovered most of the White King's legacy.

Only the remaining portion was utilized by Arasaka.

At this point in time, there were quite a few scattered mixed-race individuals, and among them, there was no shortage of geniuses.

Naturally, when the geniuses learned about the dirty deals taking place beneath the surface through their own methods, and tried to imagine what kind of world these interest groups would create, fear and anger overwhelmed them, forcing them to rebel against the corporation.

So, do you remember?
Bartmores, Spider Murphy, and Ottkenen.

None of these three internet legends have any powerful families backing them up.

They are the so-called geniuses born from wild hybrids, and their goal has never changed: to tell the world the 'history of the dragon race' and break the current order.

However, with shared interests, enemies can become friends, and the three of them will have to face companies all over the world.

Therefore, Ottkenning hacked into the Arasaka Corporation, found traces left by the White King, studied the spiritual element, and invented the [Soul Killer] program.

Soul Killer is a revolutionary technology designed to allow them to fight against the entire corporate network in cyberspace. However, after Otto Canning's physical body was captured and his consciousness was banished by Johnny, Soul Killer ended up in the company's hands.

But in the ensuing corporate war, Bartmos single-handedly broke through Arasaka and devoured the Soul Killer.

Finally, all the conditions were met.

With the "Soul Killer" ability, Bartmos launched a challenge against the entire corporate alliance after replicating his own consciousness. He single-handedly fought against almost all the hackers in the world, making this his most risky operation yet. He had to fight against the world while protecting his own physical body.

Arasaka's security services began trying to capture him, but his time was limited.

but.

He succeeded.

Bartmouth has ravaged the world's hackers with overwhelming force.

Single-handedly, he overwhelmed the entire world, silencing all the hacker attacks on every company.

He was almost about to reveal the "truth" to the entire world's internet.

But at this very last moment—

They heard a sound.

According to Saburo Arasaka's memory, almost at the same time, companies all over the world seemed to be possessed, as if they heard a voice.

So they made the same decision at the same time.

Since the transmission of intelligence requires a network.

Then we'll destroy the network.

Yes.

The claim that Barthemos killed cyberspace with a virus is false intelligence.

The true history is that because Bartelmos was about to threaten the interests of companies worldwide, these companies united to destroy the cyber world, releasing all their AI to thwart Bartelmos's plan in a suicidal act. This protected the history of the dragon race from outside knowledge and forced him to release a virus in a desperate counterattack.

Otherwise, wouldn't that be strange?

Why was the Black Wall built with such high efficiency while the company's military-grade AI was indiscriminately killing people during the Bartmouth demolition network?
Is there even a question?!

Protecting the company, of course, is because the black wall is the company's AI!
The company is eager to protect the history of the dragon race and its source of profit, but it cannot allow AI to kill it.

The so-called evil AI outside the Black Wall is the indiscriminate virus released by Bartmouth in her final, desperate counterattack. The Black Wall itself is actually the countless military-grade AIs originally built by the company. Therefore, only Lucy and Lu Mingfei, who was taught the experience by Lucy, were able to bypass the Black Wall and reach the outside world.

Thus, the cage was formed.

Thus, the great cyber hackers' resistance ultimately failed.

The world was divided, and all companies were exercising the most stringent management over their own territories.

And then [that voice] disappeared.

But Lu Mingfei, who witnessed Saburo Arasaka's memories, knew that there was only one being capable of issuing orders to the entire world at the same time.

Crystal Palace

Originally intended as an 'entertainment venue' and a 'fight against the dragons', Crystal Palace, contrary to its usual behavior, unexpectedly became the 'culprit' that actively urged the company to rule the world at that time.

That is, from that day onwards.

The world has inevitably and irreversibly become a cyberpunk world.

(End of this chapter)