Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 270 The Undying Enemy (Part 1) [5.9K]

Ebnik Pier

Eighteen hours after the attack on the Arasaka Industrial Complex.

The technical experts from Arasaka lifted a cube-shaped cargo box from Arasaka's transport hovercraft and boarded the iron ship that had been docked at the pier for a long time and whose hull was corroded and rusted by seawater.

The air was thick with the stench of fishy, ​​salty odors and chemical waste. The Whirlpool Gang, usually a common sight at the Ebnik docks, seemed to have vanished completely today.

No one dared to disturb the enraged Arasaka at this moment.

The loss of the first lone wolf is unacceptable for any company, because it represents whether a company possesses the ability for "precision surgery"—

It's important to understand that in business, it's obviously unwise to try to persuade the other party with company law, which is above the law. Wasting a lot of time means losing opportunities, so they usually use tough measures to make the other party's CEO or actual controller suffer losses.

"Check the integrity, especially the brain part."

"Damn it, keep it horizontal!"

Even with their faces flushed, the technical experts in Arasaka's chemical suits dared not bump or knock the object in their hands. It was hard to imagine that there was a living person inside, or rather... a living person's head would be the most suitable.

No one dared to utter a single word about the damage Adam Hammer had suffered today, but everyone knew the extent of the damage. The entire prosthetic body looked as if it had been subjected to a massive attack by a dozen hackers; all the wiring was destroyed.

If it weren't for Arasaka's brain protection measures for the Heavy Hammer, the entire improved Ryuki prosthetic body might have experienced an explosive combustion near the brain, at which point there would have been absolutely no one to turn to for help...

Is that guy still alive?
Everyone couldn't help but wonder what kind of monster this guy, who had vanished without a trace, could strike with such force. Compared to the soldiers of Arasaka, these technical experts knew that the one who made the move was the Black Wall Receptor of Arasaka Night Castle.

Strict confidentiality agreements prevented them from revealing even a single word, not even to their own family members.

As the crew carried the boxes into the captain's cabin at the stern of the cargo ship, everyone was shocked by what they saw.

The brand-new prosthetic extension components of the Dragon Knight, which are extremely rare and expensive on the market, were carefully calibrated by Arasaka and Adam themselves. They now hang quietly in a completely transparent glass display case, gleaming with a cold, eerie light under the pale white lamplight.

The surrounding walls are covered with exquisite firearms on a beautiful red velvet fabric.

No one would question Adam's choices when it comes to killing. The weapons here are all handpicked by veteran lone wolves who have experienced the corporate wars. You can call Adam a madman, but you can't call him a fool. He will be very humble in order to complete the killings faster and more efficiently.

Of course, it's obviously not safe to leave the entire Dragon Knight cybernetic body here, since the core structure inside is very important.

Everyone looked away.

The defeated and kneeling cyber madman will not go to the trauma team, but will instead find a prosthetic body to help him recover, since treating a head is quite difficult for the trauma team.

click!
The cube-shaped box was opened, and the surrounding technical experts instinctively took a step back. Only the leader seemed to have some courage, reaching his hand into the container filled with a pale green solution mixed with ice.

Wow...

With a stirring sound, the Arasaka employee who had touched the object gritted his teeth and pulled out a milky white, basketball-shaped chunk of flesh with trembling hands. Below it were many forcibly severed prosthetic structures.

"Hehehe..."

On his head, which was being held up, Adam's prosthetic eye had long been burned away, leaving only an empty black circle. His jaw, which was made of metal, was open as if due to a nerve reflex caused by his underestimation of his opponent, and the burnt-out vocal system meant that he could only make the sound of airflow coming from his mouth.

"This is fucking..."

Someone was muttering curses under their breath, their eyes unconsciously glancing at the man standing in the doorway.

It is said that he was Hammer's second-in-command, a former street thug from Night City, just like Adam, who was aimless on the streets of New York at the age of eighteen.

"Get the prosthetic components out!"

As the prosthetic body was taken out of the display case, it was hard to imagine that all the nerve pressure of this 100-kilogram prosthetic body would be placed on a single head.

Scientifically speaking, doing this is tantamount to destroying the still-living brain, but everyone knows this is Adam's Hammer, and Arasaka just follows the instructions on his maintenance and inspection checklist.

The spacious captain's cabin floor was transformed into a makeshift operating table. Despite the discomfort, the technical experts gently suspended Adam's remaining parts above it. A retractable, disposable prosthetic assembly line was laid out on the floor, and all the hydraulic equipment was ready.

Looking at the dozen or so tubes of inhibitors, each as thick as an arm, on both sides of the production line, these things were being continuously fed into Adam's body, their effects almost the same as those of blood.

Accompanied by the rhythmic sound of mechanical transmission, assembly began.

"Whoosh!" Adam Hammer's second-in-command, Maya Jerry, whistled, drawing the attention of the technical experts who were leaning against the display cases against the walls to the dashing young man playing with an old revolver.

This gun belonged to some rock youth.

"Aren't you guys leaving yet? If Hammer wakes up, he'll be furious."

The technical experts looked at each other in bewilderment. One of them glanced at his colleagues, who were the ones who had just pulled Adam's head out of the mixture.

"He needs a patch for his ICE system, and an external disk, which will be useful to him."

Maya shook his head. He had no interest in studying the ICE upgrade. Over the years, Hammer had never suffered such a loss. Adam, who was already somewhat disobedient to Arasaka, certainly couldn't swallow this insult.

"Then you should explain it to him."

Maya seemed to be preparing to surrender, and turned to walk to the opposite side of the deck to get some fresh air.

Adam has a high degree of freedom in Arasaka, and the company has specifically granted Adam the authority to accidentally harm his own people or civilians in any operation. In other words, this cyber madman can really kill innocent people indiscriminately when he is in a bad mood.

Just as he was getting ready to watch the show, Yu Guangzhong noticed a thin man with a samurai sword hanging from his waist, standing quietly to the side.

……

As the assembly line compactly installed all the prosthetic components onto the brand-new Dragoon prosthetic architecture, the system self-test began running without warning.

Pfft!

The first injection of the automatically administered inhibitor gushed into the inhibitor's inlet on Adam's side like a guzzling drink. No one could fathom the extent of the stimulation the bright green liquid caused to the human body, and soon the empty bottle clattered to the ground.

The inhibitors were injected one injection at a time, a dosage that would make those trendy guys in Night City who had gotten their hands on cyborg doctors blush with shame.

Even the dead shouldn't be beaten like that.

While everyone's attention was focused on the final injection of inhibitor, no one noticed that the system self-test on the instrument connected to the side of Adam's hammer had already been completely completed...

For ordinary people who haven't been fitted with advanced prosthetic eyes and combat prosthetics, it's just a matter of blinking an eye.

The needle was bent, the ground was empty, and the wires connecting the prosthetic body had long since fallen to the ground.

A series of afterimages slashed out from the center, and in the hammer's hand was the only smart shotgun model in the city. However, this efficient killing weapon from Contau had been given a new name by him.

【Eight-Star Gun】!
The heavy hammer seemed to be testing whether the prosthetic body was working properly, or perhaps it was the overwhelming rage brought about by the shame before the brain was disconnected that had nowhere to be released. Empty bullet casings fell from the bottom of the eight-star gun, while the other hand just coldly stuffed bullets into it.

The moment the tinnitus started, it was as if all sorts of sounds exploded in the room!
It was as if an invisible person was smashing those exhibition windows with an unseen force. The intelligent shotgun shells flying everywhere were all-pervasive, and the heads hidden under the silver-white sterile suits were too fragile, so they exploded one after another.

When Adam killed the last man, he reached into his empty waistband and pointed his gun steadily at the man's head.

The red paint splattered inside the room was splashed onto the silver-white material, and the guy stood there motionless, as if he were in a daze.

"No more bullets."

Adam clearly valued his weapon more than the lives that were arbitrarily taken. His massive body blocked the weak-legged man, attempting to crush his head.

"ICE with the Black Wall!"

Adam's feet were dangling in the air.

The echoing electronic sound effects rang in the ears of the guy who had already lost control of his bladder. He pointed to his head, clearly very interested in the thing.

"The ICE targeting the Black Wall receptor, an enhancement derived from Black Wall technology, is the research result of Ms. Michiko's team... and can resist the rapid cracking of Black Wall types."

When people are terrified, they exhibit only two behaviors: loss of speech or unusually clear thinking.

"The flesh that has been ravaged by humans is not entirely without merit."

The guy who noticed Adam wasn't moving cautiously found the external disk and download disk among the blood-stained instruments beside him. He was too short to get close to Adam, who actually knelt down on one knee and waited for the technician to make the modifications.

"I will spare your life, thanks to my weapon for speaking up for you."

The guy, who was desperately trying to keep his hands from trembling, was about to cry. However, Adam reached out and steadied his hands. The guy, who felt his hands being gripped by iron clamps, was sweating profusely as he inserted the port into Adam's brain-computer interface.

"Where's that guy?"

Adam felt that since he had paid such a high price, the other party must not be happy.

He has now changed his target; he wants to torture everyone connected to that guy to death. He hates the feeling of not being able to catch his prey and the shame of losing.

In his view, those bulk-carrying reptiles risked their lives to get themselves into this state.

However, the long-term pressure from the prosthetic body and the memory gaps caused by its high functionality made him unable to recall who the name "Ultra" belonged to.

The tech expert, who was struggling to understand Adam's question, was on the verge of a breakdown, fearing that a wrong answer would result in his head being crushed.

"cold…"

The technical expert's eyes lit up, and he started spouting lies.

"He...he definitely can't compete with the Dragon Knight, which is the strongest prosthetic body we've been researching for a long time and whose external components are the most mature. Of course, Honshu has also researched a new prosthetic body for you, which is said to have a unique gravity field design."

A strange sound came from Adam's throat.

Perhaps Maya knew that he was laughing.

Adam enjoyed watching people grovel and spout nonsense to survive; this pleasure greatly eased his displeasure.

In Adam's eyes, gravitational fields were rubbish; they couldn't accurately track enemy positions, weren't as satisfying as simple, efficient force, and even precision-guided weapons couldn't interfere with him. Adam, with a simple thought, pronounced the death sentence on Honshu's cybernetic prosthetics.

If I'm not mistaken, those people below will use this thing as a weapon to counter him and let him try it out—but Adam knows very well that he is the strongest.

Having survived the scorching heatwave of nuclear power, he gradually accepted the death of his nemesis, Black Hand. At the same time, he vowed never to fall easily again; he would become the nightmare of the city's strong, the ultimate lone wolf—

An invincible enemy!

When the ICE update was complete, all of Adam's implants were officially online.

The tech expert took a step back, shielding himself with both hands, but tripped over the corpse. "Don't kill me!"

Adam clenched his prosthetic hand, making a metallic scraping sound, and chuckled—

Just as he was about to attack someone else, the automatic door opened.

With his face bruised and swollen, Maya was thrown into the house by someone. Lying on the ground, he saw corpses all over the place, but he was not surprised at all. After getting up, he quietly looked at Adam.

"You little devil, if you're here, I'll kill you first."

Adam abandoned his plan to kill the tech expert who had fainted from fright, and instead rubbed Maya's head a few times with his large hand.

Kenichi Saburo crossed his arms, and behind him stood a short man.

Adam usually doesn't speak when he sees his superiors, or he shows them complete disdain. He only shows a little bit of attitude when dealing with Saburo Arasaka and Yoriyuki.

"You're not dead?"

Adam thought it was a miracle that Nitta was still around. The fact that V didn't make a move proved that Nitta's internal strife had completely failed.

Kenichi Saburo looked at the corpses scattered on the ground, unsure whether this guy was good or bad to Arasaka.

Nitta doesn't resemble a national president at all; on the contrary, he seems to be in a desperate state. Adam thinks that Kenichi Saburo brought him here because it's probably related to that guy from the Arasaka Park.

Kenichi Saburo wasn't going to say anything in defense of Nitta, who was there. Instead, he said with a warning tone, "If you keep doing this, I don't mind taking both your legs off and making you lie in bed for a few days."

Adam scoffed dismissively.

"Director Kenichi, my prosthetic body will stay young forever."

However, just as Adam was about to provoke this guy, Nitta, unable to contain himself, suddenly spoke up sharply:
"Adam! That guy might still be alive!"

call!
Kenichi Saburo's movement of drawing his sword seemed slow, but in reality, it was firmly planted on the metal of the door frame, which was as if it were made of clay, and the blade immediately pierced into it!

Adam's prosthetic hand was blocked by the back of the knife.

Kenichi Saburo is a conservative guy. Even if Nitta is indeed just a temporary puppet, he must prevent Nitta from being captured by Adam for the sake of this title, otherwise Arasaka would lose his dignity.

Nobody knows what these rigid samurai are thinking.

The heavy footsteps of Adam running, which blocked his way, made Nitta take a step back and almost fall. Kenichi Saburo reached out and grabbed the guy's arm, maintaining his dignity as the president of the Arasaka branch.

"What did you say?"

Adam's prosthetic eye was very somber.

Nitta was startled. On one hand, he hated Yoriichiro to the core, but on the other hand, he could only pray that Kenichi Saburo would value his life. So he quickly said:
"Someone knows that guy got into an autonomous vehicle belonging to a company in Night City."

However, at this moment, Kenichi Saburo, who had been persistently pestering him to bring Nitta here, finally realized what the guy in front of him was thinking. Even now, he was still unwilling to give up and wanted to use this madman to complete his revenge!

So he spoke up.

"Rin won't live much longer. The prosthetic body can't provide that much computing power. Even if he survives, the prosthetic body will burn up just like yours, unless there's a cooling device on his body to keep him cool."

"Adam, you've also studied prosthetics... Can't you even see that?"

Adam's hand rested on the back of the knife, as if he were deep in thought.

Theoretically speaking, there was no reason for that guy not to die.

Nitta was completely unprepared for Kenichi Saburo's attempt to undermine him, and in a fit of rage, he roared, "Am I your fucking superior?"

Kenichi Saburo's face turned cold.

However, due to the rules, he did not react. He used the knife to push Adam's hand away and then lowered his head slightly.

In fact, the more ruthless Nitta becomes, the closer he gets to his death or being replaced...

He's really not cut out for this.

Furthermore, Kenichi Saburo didn't believe that Nitta had any leverage to instruct Adam to go to NID to find Rin, since the headquarters' orders hadn't come down yet, and even if Heavy Hammer was stupid, he would wait for the headquarters' orders.

After all, Kenichi knew very well how the heavy hammer was tamed.

"Oh shit…"

Seeing that Chongchui remained silent, Nitta seemed to have gone all out. With his few useful brains, he saw through the key point: he had to get Kenichi Saburo onto this ship.

The companies were all watching Arasaka's actions closely. The Dogtown affair was something that couldn't be done in the open, and if Kenichi Saburo was to follow along, they would have to do things according to headquarters' instructions.

"Are we just going to watch Rin devour Arasaka's assets? An ordinary piece of trash... can't he even kill a woman?"

Kenichi Saburo was unmoved by Nitta's "barking"; the woman he understood was still the one who held the initiative and the upper hand in the courtyard.

“Whether he lives or dies, with a woman acting as his agent, there’s no need for Arasaka’s intervention. Don’t you want to help Arasaka recover some losses before headquarters has time to spare? Kenichi Saburo…you are Michiko’s confidant, are you going to leave her with a shrunken mess?”

Without a doubt, this statement hit Kenichi Saburo right where it hurt.

Nitta is going to be abolished, that's a foreseeable future, but... are we just going to stand by and take conservative measures?
Now that Lai Xuan's faction has also suffered a major blow, it's a good opportunity.

Adam cracked his neck. "Killing a woman you can find anywhere in Night City is so boring. Let this guy next to you, the one who sits on every ass and claims to have a knightly spirit, do it."

Without a heavy hammer, it can't be carried out...

Nitta was still racking his brains for a solution.

"If V refuses to provide information about NID's security, do I need to elaborate on what that means?"

"Even the Special Operations Department can't control her anymore. She already has all the power in the Arasaka Yoru no Shiro branch. Don't let her get played by someone else and still be happy about it!"

Nitta's voice was incredibly noisy, but Adam had absolutely no interest in it; all he wanted was the order from headquarters to attack the NID subsidiary.

"Adam!"

As a technocrat, Nitta used all his hidden talents.

"This is the IP address that the backdoor of the Arasaka-san prosthetic body read before it was overwritten!"

Nitta seemed to have gone mad, ignoring Kenichi Saburo's attempts to stop him, and threw a chip into his hand, which Adam easily caught with a gentle lift of his hand.

“Lai Xuan rewarded him once before. This ingrate who came from the bottom only trusts the prosthetic doctors in Night City. He got some prosthetics to a prosthetic clinic in Watson. My people handled that batch of prosthetic materials and procedures once, but V swept them away.”

"For Rin to use it safely, the back door must be cleared. Although the interval is very short, my people read it. Right here in Watson's Chinatown, that doctor is definitely clearing the prosthetic body. What if he's going to give it to that guy?"

Adam looked at the chip in his hand, seemingly pondering the truth of those words.

"Our people are still searching in Night City. Aren't you being too impatient, President Nitta?"

Nitta Kazuya sneered.

"But why don't you go to the NID subsidiary?"

Adam Hammer seemed about to ask a question, but Kenichi Saburo reached out and interrupted him.

"I'll kill that woman."

The humanoid weapon retorted, "I'll kill."

Kenichi Saburo shook his head and said, "You've already failed once."

Adam retorted without holding back, "Your supposedly amazing speed isn't enough to catch someone who looks like they're about to die... By the way, Black Wall ICE, do you even have time to fight back?"

As he spoke, Juujiro leaned closer to Kenichi Saburo, his eyes gleaming red.

Kenichi Saburo shook his head. He was indeed not as fast as Heavy Hammer, but Heavy Hammer didn't intend to tear off the mask and focus on dealing with him. He still had some self-awareness. "If you fail, you will have no excuse."

Heavy Hammer walked up to the unconscious guy, picked him up, and threw him at Sanlang's feet.

Nitta breathed a sigh of relief. Kenichi Saburo didn't even glance at the guy, seemingly lost in thought, before disappearing into the smog over the beach at Night City.

Staggering to his feet, Nitta, with the help of security personnel at the bottom of the ship, sat on the [Lake Maiden's Sword]...

His expression didn't show any sign of humiliation; rather, it was as if he had been relieved. He sent a short message to someone at a company—someone Arakasa had always been his enemy…

This is the final act of treachery by a true traitor.

[With everything in perfect order, I request to evacuate Arasaka when the court adjourns tomorrow.]

……

……

(End of this chapter)