Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 221 Peace of mind
The process of emerging from the embers went surprisingly smoothly.

Before Lin Yue, V had already thoroughly understood the structure of the entire Ember, and the retreat was carried out in an orderly manner.

Jack had received a warning from Lin Yue long before V made his move. Although neither Lin Yue nor Jack did anything, the feeling of being carried to victory was incredibly satisfying—this was also the first time Lin Yue had witnessed the entire operation of the counterintelligence department's top agent from an outsider's perspective.

Perhaps this is how things are done in Jakarta?
As the car slowly drove out of the parking lot, a light emanated from Lin Yue's body, and the continuous recording of his behavioral characteristics was lost.

V glanced at the awkward man beside her, a hint of a smile in her eyes, as if she intended to carry out the punishment to the end; she had no intention of being the first to speak.

If he had to use one word to describe his feelings at this moment, Lin Yue could only say that he felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. This feeling was not too strange. V's domineering nature was just like that of the woman who first rescued him in Dogtown, never giving anyone a chance to breathe.

Lin Yue, who was always clear-headed and meticulous, didn't know where the car was going. The atmosphere inside the car was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe. V, on the other hand, was still wearing her favorite dark gold military-style manicure on her slender fingers, and was leisurely tapping the steering wheel.

"Uh, thank you...V."

Lin Yue never expected V to be so considerate under the current circumstances.

V is quite generous.

"Hmm... You did a great job today, and you said something nice again."

Lin Yue spread his hands. "I mean, is there anything I can do to help..."

V shook his head.

“The company that is called Respectable Logistics cannot have any problems. You can’t say those childish things again. Although I don’t know why Lai Xuan is so lenient with your actions, I still have to remind you that this business involves Dogtown. Instead of worrying about me, you should think about how to deal with those people.”

"Things aren't easy these days, and you knew what happened at headquarters before you left,"

Lin Yue knew this, of course, but upon seeing the woman's calm profile, he didn't know where to begin with all the words he wanted to say.

Fortunately, V didn't intend to continue the topic. She took out a document from the side of the car door. Lin Yue had processed many such documents. It was Arasaka's internal information. According to Arasaka's management style, it was actually against the rules for Lin Yue to see now.

Since V trusted him so much, Lin Yue naturally accepted the information without any hesitation.

The information in the document is very clear; it's from internet monitoring.

At this moment, V turned the steering wheel and said, "The tail of the last operation, maybe you don't remember or... are aware of it? Anyway, things got pretty big back then, headquarters intervened, and the cyber police caught up very quickly, but luckily the people who came were dealt with."

Lin Yue frowned slightly.

He vaguely felt that V's deliberate exposure of Xintian's affairs to the internet censors today was somewhat related to this matter.

"There was an old cyber surveillance agent who was taken down offline by military technology—directly by explosion. This was a concession made by military technology, so we won decisively last time... But some people seem to have some knowledge of this. A young cyber surveillance guy is investigating Arasaka, and the counterintelligence department knows about it."

Lin Yue pondered carefully.

"what do you mean?"

V: "Since he wants to investigate, let him investigate... I'm sure the Black Wall issue was handled cleanly, the only possible problem is—"

As she spoke, V's beautiful eyes moved to Lin Yue's chest. "Afterwards, during the investigation of the logs, I discovered that your chip of unknown origin and the Black Wall were always connected, which is why that hacker from the New America Black Wall was able to find you quickly and even forcibly establish communication with you."

Lin Yue knew about this, but he still had a completely different understanding of the young woman from the company in front of him.

"So I suspect that the internet monitors may know about the loopholes in your system. I guessed you would come today, so I simply put everything together and dealt with it."

Lin Yue pointed out the window.

"so?"

V gave me a look that said, "You've gone stupid since you left Arasaka Tower." "Of course, it's to deliver on my promise. Although I deleted everything that was detrimental to Arasaka, and the shareholder who sold the information was executed by the counterintelligence ninjas, I kept all the things Nitta did for his own personal gain. There's evidence of him violating internet-related laws."

"I can't bring Nitta down, but at least I can make him afraid to entrust me with such matters again."

At this point, Lin Yue's expression was full of admiration.

Perhaps this is how V should have performed. The sudden promotion was hard for V, who was used to the mindset of a secret agent, to accept for a while, but fortunately, her adaptability exceeded Lin Yue's expectations.

Outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant is the lowest level; V is playing the game of shifting blame.

But the most crucial question is: how will Nitta handle this matter?

Using V's poor performance as a pretext to cause trouble for her?

Upon hearing Lin Yue's question, V slowly replied, "Let him do as he pleases, but I have ways to get rid of anyone who is parachuted into either of these departments... Let's buy some time for you and me first."

Lin Yue nodded.

"One last thing, V, perhaps you could try not to take such a risk. After all, the Arasaka matter cannot be handled by someone with two ministerial titles like you. If something goes wrong, the consequences will be severe—and besides my dealings with Hanz from Taipingzhou when I was at Arasaka Tower, I'm not very clear about the Pedro petrification matter. I'm afraid—"

The car slowly came to a stop in Little Chinatown, next to the railing where V and Lin Yue had their first formal chat.

"Do you remember what you said here? No one can leave the table early in company games, Rin... so keep up the good work, I'll need your help later."

"As for gratitude..."

V thought about it.

"Maybe we can go to Honshu again if we have the chance. It seems like no restaurant in Night City can compare to that level, to be honest."

Sincerity is Valerie's greatest virtue; she never hesitates to express her feelings.

The atmosphere inside the car fell silent once again.

Humans are highly sensitive animals, and ambiguity is the most blurred boundary. Lin Yue clearly remembered everything related to V: the steaming ramen that day, the faint pink tinge on V's skin, and the noisy environment—

V swallowed back what he wanted to say.

Lin Yue suddenly spoke up: "V, I didn't lie about that chip."

With absolute certainty, she looked at the man in the passenger seat who was staring at her silently, "This chip is Arasaka's prototype. How it came to be is no longer important. What's important is that it will bring about a huge change in Arasaka."

V's expression seemed full of confusion, but then he smiled.

“You’re just as good as those monks sitting cross-legged on the grass in the company square… If that’s the case, you should tell Lai Xuan.”

V then ended the conversation, saying, "I'll try to keep you informed about company matters in the future. Consider today's incident an accident. However, I might need your help later, so let's talk again next time." ...
-
Afterlife.

This mercenary mecca has seen far fewer parties lately; on the contrary, some ruthless characters who haven't shown their faces in a long time have been appearing more frequently in the afterlife.

There's not much reliable news in Night City; most of it is just so-called street legend.

But if you believe the news, you're sorely mistaken. On the contrary, the wine lists of so-called "legends" are far more reliable than those of politicians and corporate mouthpieces.

Recently, a very important person has appeared in the next life. Everyone says he's the kind of guy even Roger would give way to.

People were desperate to land a big job and were all looking for that guy, but unfortunately, apart from Roger sitting in her regular private room, no other impressive-looking guy showed up.

Roger sat on the sofa with her legs crossed. She had been scrutinizing the young man for a long time, and finally sighed.

"It seems the rules of the game in Night City have changed a long time ago. I've been dealing with companies for half my life, and I never expected that you, who started from a lower point than me, would achieve this much."

"Is my client's request a bit too simplistic for you?"

Sitting next to Lin Yue were the members of his team, all of whom were young, but without exception, they all had the air of a leader who had fought their way up.

Every year, Rogue would see newly arrived bigwigs die in some corner of Night City, like fireworks, but now, under Rin's leadership, there was more than one such guy.

Lin Yue shook his head, "To be honest, this is not my doing—it was an excessively beautiful lady who did it for me."

Rebecca, who was standing next to him with her arms crossed over her chest, trying to look as fierce as possible, paused for a moment, pursed her lips, and stared at the man's jaw with suspicion.

Roger smiled, pursing his lips. "Romantic luck?"

Lin Yue smiled helplessly, "As for the reward, there's no need for that. Thank you for letting my team know this in advance—consider it my thanks for rescuing Rebecca before, and for helping my friends this time."

Arrogance is a common trait among those who have just climbed up the ladder, but the man in front of him with his deep gaze did not have this trait. In other words, he valued his subordinates more than sitting here and talking business with him on equal terms.

Rogge raised his glass.

"Thank you so much."

Everyone raised their glasses and drank them down in one gulp. Then, Roger lit a cigarette and said, "The Night City officials call us middlemen shameless pimps—"

Lin Yue didn't intend to say anything about Roger's modesty.

"However, I still want to ask Mr. Rin what he thinks. There are too many wolves and not enough meat, which is the current situation. In Night City, wherever there are people eating, there is a guy doing these shady businesses."

"However, what Arasaka gave you was very generous, so I think you probably don't care about my little plot of land."

The meaning is quite clear at this point.

Roger was subtly asking Lin Yue if they wanted to take over the entire Watson District.

Lin Yue shook his head. "I worked as a middleman in Dogtown for a while. My connections, intelligence, tolls, etc., were all earned through hard work. I don't plan to interfere in the afterlife. My goal is simple: to do my job well—you can rest assured about that."

As the most established and longest-serving shrewd individual in Night City, Roger naturally possesses unique strengths.

The logistics company in Watson District is his base of operations, and he will have many opportunities to deal with Roger in the future. Lin Yue is not so tactless as to want everything, and besides, Roger has taken the initiative to show goodwill.

But as a young alpha wolf, Lin Yue still had to retaliate against Roger's slightly warning words.

"It seems your relationship with Arasaka isn't too bad. While Arasaka abandoned Heavy Hammer in Night City, you were rising through the ranks—"

Lin Yue's tone was indifferent, the cigarette butt at his lips glowing and dimming. Behind the swirling smoke, Roger's expression remained normal, but in reality, he was extremely uncertain.

"So let's go our separate ways. Sometimes I need your help, but you don't need to be too wary of me."

Rogge's face suddenly broke into a smile.

"That would be perfect, Mr. Rin."

The team members naturally didn't understand these hints, but Rin and Roger's tone and manner of speaking gave everyone a sense of reassurance and reliability.

After all, no one wants to work with a boss who constantly hinders them. Although Lin Yue's identity was extremely dangerous, the gains were enormous.

Now that the boundaries have been drawn, it's time to discuss the issues.

Lin Yue took out all the information he had investigated. As the underground queen of the afterlife, Roger's intelligence capabilities were the strongest. The reason Lin Yue was still sitting here and took out the information that V had stolen was to have Roger pave the way.

Rogge did not refuse and went through the entire document.

Lin Yue said, "I'll provide the manpower and money. Night City is your territory that you've been operating in for a long time. There are some complicated issues that I don't think I have time to deal with one by one. The action plan, intelligence, and how to start in the simplest way all need your help."

Looking at the contents of the intelligence report, Roger nodded repeatedly. "Then let's wait patiently for a day or two. I will make full use of all your resources and try to handle this matter well."

After saying that, Lin Yue seemed to remember something, "By the way, I want to ask you to help me investigate someone. You should have seen that our team is missing some people. Do you remember that guy named Mann?"

Rogge: "Hmm, looks like he has the potential to be like Big Brother. Something's happened?"

Lin Yue shook his head. "He's in the Terrorist Mobile Unit and has a strong interest in cyber madmen. I want to know who else besides Arasaka is deploying military-grade cybernetic bodies to Night City."

Rogge indicated that he understood.

The discussion went smoothly, and Roger left the private room first because Lin Yue hadn't given them much time.

Rebecca exclaimed excitedly, "So we really have to bring Mann back?"

It seems that Rogge's image is indeed deeply ingrained in the minds of these mercenaries. Qiwei, standing nearby, muttered, "But I think that guy isn't normal anymore, Mr. Rin..."

Lin Yue shook his head.

For both emotional and rational reasons, he still wanted Mann to return to normal. When he thought about the cyber madness, he suddenly thought of someone: Regina, the war correspondent in Watson District and the middleman who knew the Night City cyber madmen best.

But just as he was pondering this, someone he hadn't contacted in a long time sent him a text message:
Emma: I've come to you about Sasha's matter.

……

……

(End of this chapter)