Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 205 Morbidity and Malice (22)

That's very reasonable.

He Ye's arrogance deepened.

In some respects, Jenkins does indeed seem more like a subordinate.

So Nitta kindly reminded him, "Remember to make it clean so he can't find any fault with it. Once that guy loses his temper, we'll have a greater advantage."

Jenkins nodded and left.

After Jenkins left, Nitta slowly began to speak.

He said to the security team, who were at the level of a national vice president, hidden in the shadows: "Keep an eye on Jenkins... If he goes out and immediately goes to find that bastard from the counterintelligence department, then make him the first one to go!"

The prosthetic eye of the Arasaka ninja revealed a ferocious and bloodthirsty light. After nodding slightly, he slowly disappeared from the room.

Nitta Kazuya is notoriously petty and narrow-minded...

In fact, the Nitta family is a very influential family in Japan, so it shouldn't be like this. The reason he did this is because his path to success was not smooth.

Because of his low birth order and not being the eldest son, Nitta was never highly regarded at home.

His family only gave him a surname and some money.

In his youth, Nitta left Japan and came to the North American region, which was stabilized by Michiko after the company war. With the design of an ACPA, he rose from a scientific researcher to a core figure of the dove faction.

In this process, he gradually regained what he had never obtained in his youth: respect, money, status... everything was under his control.

However, when people are too easily satisfied with almost all their basic desires, some pursuits begin to become extreme; for example, Nitta's morbid rules, whether in the company office or at home, only he and his family are allowed to stand and walk.

If things don't go your way, someone else will suffer.

After all, He Ye has quite a few disabled service workers under his care—

Almost all domestic service companies in Night City know of He Ye, but many companies still accept his orders because He Ye is very wealthy.

The right to use the patent meant that, before he rose to power, this technocrat's annual income was not much lower than Michiko's—and without fail, he would spend a few days at the end of the year going to the Crystal Palace with his partner to enjoy their own time.

He looked with satisfaction at his "seemingly" regained dignity and face, and muttered to himself with a cold snort.

"Don't let me down, Jenkins."

……

Jenkins' office is on the 94th floor, and the elevator doesn't take long to reach it.

With a ding, he didn't speak to anyone along the way, nor did he greet the subordinates who automatically stepped aside. Instead, he walked straight back to his office.

His face turned extremely ugly as he entered the office.

All he wants to do now is question headquarters: why promote someone like this? Is it to showcase Michiko's abilities?

But he had to admit that being one rank higher in a position was a huge advantage!

While thinking, he subconsciously said, "Get me... um, never mind."

Nitta's liquor wasn't very good. He poured himself a glass of bourbon, rinsed his mouth, and slowly sat down on the sofa in the reception area, gazing out the window at the floating cars of Night City, lost in thought for a long time.

V... must know this.

But Jenkins knew perfectly well that He Ye was watching him, so he immediately arranged for He Ye to do the things the Tiger Claw Gang wanted him to do, and also selected some elite soldiers. The whole process was seamless, and no one else was involved.

In other words, these soldiers didn't know what they were supposed to do, and the Tiger Claw Gang didn't know who had assigned them to do it.

That's fucking ridiculous!

Even if any of the Tiger Claw Gang members and soldiers survived, they were all to be wiped out, because if Rin smelled the scent, she would probably be targeted by this killing god who came out of Dog Town.

And all of this was simply because Rin didn't take He Ye seriously—He Ye's revenge!

Therefore, Jenkins needs to weigh the pros and cons carefully.

After all, V was someone I personally promoted, so I might still feel some sentimentality. But that guy... probably wouldn't think that much about it.

How to break this deadlock? We can't contact V right now... The safest thing to do is to pass on the message from above that they want to take action against Rin's subordinates through V.

Jenkins kept thinking, if Rin gets angry, he'll have to absolve himself of all responsibility...

As he sipped his drink, Jenkins' expression kept changing.

I thought about it for almost ten minutes.

Finally, Jenkins let out a long sigh of relief…

He found a solution, and then, as if he had made up his mind—

The former intelligence chief reached into the list of employees in the special operations department and picked out the person most likely to sell his body.

Because he figured out how to notify V.

……

Carter Smith is currently busy cleaning materials at his workstation.

Yes, he had always dreamed of working in the Special Operations Department, and now that his dream had come true, he was extremely uneasy.

Because his boss... is about to pass away.

This topic was practically taboo on this floor; no one dared to discuss it casually, because Jenkins had already dealt with all the gossip about it.

A few months ago, before Jenkins was promoted to Director of Special Operations, everyone was saying that Abernathy had Jenkins firmly under his thumb.

As a counterintelligence employee, Carter was naturally not having an easy time.

A change of boss inevitably leads to a major purge. [His family and relatives all thought he had a respectable and stress-free job; even his mother casually told him not to complain too much, that working at the company was much better than finding work on the street.]

But no one knows that sometimes losing your job can cost you your life.

On weekdays when he only gets five hours of sleep, Carter often fantasizes before bed that he might overhear something outside Jenkins' office and report it to Abernathy, which might make his job a little easier.

Of course, money is the most important thing.

However, things didn't go as everyone had predicted. Some heard that something went wrong at the shareholders' meeting, and in short, Abernathy disappeared without a trace, while Jenkins was promoted overnight…

Carterton felt his life was bleak. After the merger of the counterintelligence and security departments, his most hated superior, Team Leader V, became the minister, and another young Asian man who seemed to have barely grown up became the security minister—although everyone knew he was very capable.

Watching V, who used to spend her days researching in a small office, now occupy a luxurious one, while she herself remained stuck in the same place—

Thinking about it this way, I felt extremely unbalanced.

It seems my resentment has been answered... or perhaps it's because I'm a devout Catholic...

In short, good luck has arrived!
One day, the cold-faced woman who had just become his boss called him into her office and told him he was going to work in the special operations department. Carter was overjoyed and immediately assumed it was a sign of his boss's appreciation.

She even wondered if V had some special feelings for her.

Carter thought this was the beginning of his rise to the top, but little did he know it was the end.

On his first day at the Special Operations Department, Carter heard "rumors".

The content doesn't matter; what matters is that Jenkins is finished. The two young guys below him have merged together and are ready to kick out the "golden nest" he just arrived in at any time!
During that period, work efficiency was extremely poor, and the work content was, as employees had described, simple and chaotic, like a subordinate unit of the counterintelligence and security departments...

Carter panicked completely.

The promotion he thought he was getting was actually a way of throwing himself out of the core of the counterintelligence department.

He had no idea that he was transferred from the counterintelligence department because a man named Rin had mentioned it to V... and he also didn't know that, on some twist of fate, he had revealed Jenkins' assassination plot to Abernathy.

Carter, living in constant fear, could no longer tolerate it. He secretly began to cultivate relationships with old acquaintances in the counterintelligence department, and sometimes even gave them special favors in an attempt to gain their favor.

But all these actions were observed by a seemingly unambitious director. When an operation in Dogtown concluded and the security and counterintelligence departments distributed hefty bonuses, Carter's world collapsed—

Going to work every day feels like digging a hole for yourself to bury. Everyone's saying that Jenkins is going to be in big trouble this time!
Even someone of Carter's caliber could sense the chilling atmosphere at Arasaka Tower...

So he had the idea of ​​running away.

Today marks the seventh day of his hesitation…

Sitting at his workstation, he was absent-minded, contemplating whether to find a reliable hacker through the Night City middleman to transfer the company employees' savings out of their accounts and then run away with the money.

Correct!
We must go.

Carter tried to mentally prepare himself, glancing somewhat awkwardly at his colleagues at their workstations, whose expressions were all rather unpleasant.

The intelligence analysis team of the Arasaka Tower Special Operations Division had a half-day break. Carter secretly slipped the Trauma Team Gold Membership Card from his drawer into his jacket pocket and downloaded some valuable items and information into the separation chip…

[Special Operations Unit "Black Shark" Operation Log]

This was a kidnapping operation targeting tech personnel from a rival company, and it was nearing its end. Carter looked up, glanced at the list, and began downloading it, while keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings.

It wasn't as slow as I imagined; in less than a second, the data that was strictly prohibited from being copied was downloaded to the separate chip.

Carter was completely stunned, and cold sweat kept pouring down his hands.

Just as he was about to install the chip, a hand suddenly pressed down on his shoulder!
"My grass!"

Carter nearly jumped up in shock.

His colleague glanced at the silent, unresponsive colleague and said, "What are you doing? I almost thought you hadn't pulled up your pants—the director wants to see you, so hurry up."

what?
Carter pointed to himself instinctively, his voice slightly stammering.

To his surprise, his colleague glared at Carter and said, "Don't want to go? I'll go! Damn it... you always have that weird, absent-minded look on your face."

Carter swallowed hard, sensing something amiss from his colleague's words. He wiped his sweat from his brow, placed the chip on his person, adjusted his posture, and hurried toward Jenkins' office.

……

Jenkins has never felt guilty about playing dirty tricks.

When his subordinates came in, Jenkins still acted the same way.

The special operations director poured his heart out, gave him a pile of cash, and while his subordinates were still in a daze, he made a request: investigate V—without taking any action, just find the woman's weaknesses.

Jenkins has heard a lot of rumors since his promotion.

He received numerous reports, both overt and covert, about how he had been sidelined and that two people below him would eventually take his place.

Having established his authority, Jenkins decisively dealt with a group of people, but in the eyes of those with ulterior motives, this was just incompetent anger. Therefore, the rumor that Rin and V were going to kill him was almost a certainty.

Jenkins had his own plans for bringing in the disloyal subordinate to make arrangements.

This is the only win-win approach.

The clever part of this move is:
If a disloyal subordinate complies, He Ye will have no leverage over him, since this is paving the way for He Ye's revenge; if the subordinate does not comply and judges that Jenkins is going to take action against the powerful Lai Xuan faction that is gaining momentum, he will naturally inform on them in order to get promoted and make money.

Sure enough, under Jenkins' watchful eye, the subordinate held the money in his hand, trembling with excitement.

Choose whichever you pick, this guy's doomed no matter what.

Night City calls people like Jenkins "corporate dogs," why?

Because no one here values ​​human life.

The word "dog" is simply "dog" here.

"Mr. Jenkins... Shall I go?"

Jenkins raised his hand to stop him, saying, "By the way, there's a chip here. It's surveillance software that hacks into the AI ​​system of the counterintelligence department. It's from the Japanese headquarters. My old office had a ventilation duct where I often hid important documents, and the AI's access point was also there."

"You can crawl into the third ventilation duct of the safety staircase in Zone E2 on the 90th floor. Be careful of the detonated landmine inside. Go ahead."

Jenkins sipped his drink until the sound of his subordinate's footsteps faded from the office.

In a daze, he remembered the first time he met V.

A woman of strong will.

He found it hard to explain why he would use such words to describe V. Jenkins had no children, and V had accomplished many tasks under his command, but had also caused a lot of trouble—which Jenkins accepted without question.

That's not because of any romantic or romantic reasons.

Rather, Jenkins wanted to make up for the regret of not having a boss like himself when he was young.

V, born into a family that owned a company, has seen her family's fortunes decline.

Otherwise, a woman like her, who has received etiquette training and whose behavior is completely upper-class, would be more suited to doing something less... heartless.

But that's how the world is; accept the status quo and try to change it.

On this idea, V has always maintained a high degree of consistency with himself...

For a long time, Jenkins regarded V as his successor, and the trust was so great that he never felt that V would ruin him.

However, with just a slight flick of the wrist from above, the people below will change accordingly. From 2075 to now, less than a year has passed... The two may become complete enemies due to a single oversight.

Jenkins likes to get things done completely, but this time, he chose the gentlest approach he's ever taken in his career.

This is neither begging for mercy nor weakness.

Regardless of how Carter handles the chip, V will obtain a line of text on it. The text is simple: "Nitta is also going to make a move against Rin's people. Be careful too."

Jenkins found it difficult to describe his current conflicted feelings.

On the one hand, he hoped that V was wary of him, which at least proved that she had completely grasped the first essential element for the company's survival; on the other hand, he didn't want V to already regard him as an enemy, as that would lead to a very ugly situation.

In this melting pot, one is always not in control of one's own destiny, and Jenkins understands this principle.

only…

Everything happened faster and with more variables than I had imagined—the root of which was Rin, the young man from Dogtown, whom I had once used through V's connections.

Jenkins rarely felt fear, but the guy's learning speed completely exceeded his expectations. He was willing to risk his life for big profits—a born corporate dog.

Sometimes he wondered if Nitta's choice was right, and whether that guy would really be willing to leave Arasaka temporarily.

The merging of the counterintelligence and security departments is now a foregone conclusion, and for Rin to withdraw at this critical juncture...

Jenkins couldn't help but think of a terrifying possibility:
That guy has completely centralized power in V's hands. This way, V's safety level will not decrease, but rather increase. He will also lower his guard. The next time he returns here, things will probably really change.

Jenkins, who has been living on the edge of danger for so many years, hopes he's just overthinking things.

If Rin gets scared and abandons the project at the last minute, it will be bad for V...

Perhaps it's just part of growing up?

Jenkins straightened the Arasaka logo brooch on his suit jacket, a symbol of his director status. Its bright silver-white metallic sheen seemed to be the only bright spot in this towering structure, a mixture of morbidity and ruthless tactics.

Little did they know, it all started with this thing.

……

……

　Carter Smith is employed by the Arasaka Corporation's counterintelligence division, led by Arthur Jenkins. Carter's mother, Mary, is very proud of his success; in the 2077 main storyline, he leaks Jenkins' assassination plot to Abernathy, and is subsequently used and discarded by Abernathy, making him a tragic minor character.

　　[Arakasako Website Notice]:
　　This is the update for October 25th. I'll be very busy tomorrow, so I updated it early, after midnight on the 10.25th. Please understand, everyone!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)