Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 282 Overcoming Obstacles and Embarking on a New Path
They acted almost without hesitation.

The hacker's piercing scream clearly alerted Li De before Lin Yue could—

As he bent over, he swerved sharply to the left into the dilapidated factory area, followed by a loud and enthusiastic greeting!
Solomon Reed looked at the horrifying gap in the roof of the passenger seat and the red-hot steel edges. If he had reacted any slower, he probably would have ended up like Nitta.

"Cheep cheep..."

"How could it be him!"

Li De was startled by the lark's high-pitched voice, which was trembling with fear!
He almost never witnessed the genius hacker fail during Song Zhaomei's military service. Even when things didn't go smoothly, this girl always managed to solve problems with her brilliant mind—Li De had learned from Miles about the Nightingale and Arasaka's Black Wall Receptor both suffering heavy losses, but…

It seems that's not the case.

"Song Zhaomei! Calm down!"

Li De is now the prey being attacked from a high position, and he will never think of slowing down to fight back.

He needed to predict the enemy's next move.

As expected, the enemy will immediately raise the hovercar, so that the gun barrel can remain stable no matter what. Even if the accelerator is pressed hard, it will still be a toy that cannot escape their grasp.

Sure enough, the cold white headlights in the rearview mirror, like the eyes of death, disappeared. Fine beads of sweat appeared on Li De's forehead. He scanned left and right, finally determining a route that would temporarily create a blind spot for the sniper on the hovercar. This process processed quickly in his mind—

"Li De!"

"Get rid of that guy, and whatever you do, don't get targeted!"

Although the lark was frightened, she only lost her composure for a moment before immediately starting to help Li De. This was not only because she thought Li De couldn't beat this young guy, but also because she was worried that maintaining a connection with Li De might attract the attention of that Arasaka Grim Reaper and the hacker behind him.

Keep in mind that she's currently on Night City's public domain...

"Damn it! Faster!"

Li De slammed his thick-soled military boots on the accelerator a few times until the roaring engine made a slight, strained noise before stopping. He then hurriedly drove haphazardly through the complex factory area.

And at this time.

The true hunter calmly raised his head from the rearview mirror, twirled his fingers around his ear, and the hovercar's AI system controlled the vector engine, causing the speed to suddenly increase!

Solomon Reed.

Lin Yue kept reminiscing about this Joint Logistics Command agent who was very familiar to him; his identity and story were extremely clear.

Cold-blooded, loyal, willing to do anything to maintain the sovereignty and dominance of the new America in cyberspace... but also adept at deceiving himself and others.

It's neither hate nor love; Lin Yue only knows that in this world, which no longer overlaps with his memories—

That's the enemy!
Lin Yue didn't want to keep a guy like that who could find someone in Dogtown to change the situation.

In order to gain a foothold in Night City, and to have struggled for so long in the company's turbulent undercurrents and the deadly situation where a disagreement could lead to a fatal confrontation, he would show no mercy to any unstable factor given the chance!

"The agents of the new America are indeed quite slippery..."

Lin Yue muttered to himself. He could roughly guess what the old agent was going to do, but the cat in his hand was always locked on the enemy below. Its excellent night vision function made Li De's movements impossible to hide.

The next step for Li De was to get off the bus and flee, hiding and escaping.

Lin Yue didn't want to give him that chance.

However, just now, while searching for clues in cyberspace with Otto, Otto mentioned that the link to the Black Wall had been disguised and entered the traffic pool of the Night City domain. If it weren't for the hacker assisting Li De being impatient and Otto seizing the clue, Lin Yue and Otto would have searched for a much longer time...

As for who this person is, there's no other possibility than that the lark likes to use a black wall link to complete highly encrypted calls.

The hovercar hovered silently. Even though Lin Yue could no longer see the vehicle or its lights in his camera's view, he remained calm. He needed to find a good sniping position, a high vantage point that would make the area below his hunting ground.

At the same time, he asked almost without any psychological burden, "Ultraman, you said... you can come and go freely through the Black Wall, so why are you afraid of internet censorship?"

Although they seemed to be having a casual chat, Lin Yue had a specific purpose in mind.

"It's not that I'm afraid, it's that it's troublesome."

"Just like I can't storm Arasaka's shrine by myself because they've made an ICE against me, I need to spend time on my survival, iteration, and various purposes, so what you're saying is just an unnecessary choice."

Ultraman was partially visible behind an endless wall of data particles rising and falling in the pitch-black space. The two-way barrier of the black wall caused the formless, chaotic AIs around Ultraman to wander helplessly within the wall. There seemed to be a trace of pity in the woman's eyes, which were made of data.

Lin Yue remained silent on the other end.

Those roaming AIs basically won't get close to Ultraman.

This is the intelligence of the roaming AI...

The world portrays the roving AI outside the Great Firewall as various figures: demons, wicked creatures, killing machines, etc. But in fact, most roving AI have extremely high intelligence. Even going back about thirty years, some AI were able to perfectly integrate into human groups and participate in various social behaviors.

Of course, the source code of the AI ​​infected with the Bartmouth (rabies) virus, in its highly intelligent state, has become a chasm that can bring down the company. This wall is the insurmountable barrier they must overcome.

Is it worth it for a goal that doesn't exist?

Otto asked softly, but Lin Yue couldn't hear it; the words echoed ethereally near the black wall.

Her fingertips gently brushed against the silken thread, which was the pathway to a new American hacker's connection.

This line would disappear from Ultraman's hands from time to time, but if there was a reference point, it could be seen that Ultraman appeared at the place where the thread was generated the instant the thread disappeared. In other words, no matter how frequently the Lark changed its address, or even if it used a lot of zombie machines as cover, it could not avoid the lock of this entity.

"You are spying on human privacy for the sake of human whispers, and you are trying to seize this protective barrier that still separates wild beasts from sheep."

"Is it for...freedom?"

Ultraman watched the constantly changing circuitry and murmured to himself.

Lin Yue heard these two sentences—

"Ultraman, I strongly suspect you've absorbed some strange data. Your writing... your way of speaking... it sounds a lot like..."

Lin Yue didn't know how to describe this feeling. Otto's wisdom and eloquence were as dazzling as the magnificent opera described by the decadent bards of the Middle Ages.

Otto didn't deny it either.

“I have devoured the vast educational programs that humans use to teach literature, which contain endless content, but what interests me most is poetry as a medium.”

"It possesses the imagination we lack; even if I try my best to imitate it, I still cannot create my own poetry."

Lin Yue pondered for a moment.

"In our world, AI technology was just starting out; it could create images and poems. You... you must be being modest, right?"

Compared to friends in the real world.

The Ultraman in the network attributed the inability to analyze Lin Yue to the fact that Lin Yue was not created by this world. In short, no matter how outrageous Lin Yue's words were, Ultraman would only remain silent or go along with them.

“I was once one of you. The composite of data pieced together from a jumble of information cannot compare to the unique attribute of human imagination.”

Lin Yue shook his head, but before he could speak, Ultraman interrupted him.

“You can tell me your purpose directly. Although it is meaningful to communicate with interesting constructs, now is not the right time to chat.”

Ugh…

Lin Yue felt like he was being seen through. Ultraman didn't want anything at the moment, so Lin Yue always felt a natural sense of embarrassment whenever he asked for help—just like some students scratch the back of their heads when asking questions.

"Help me integrate into the Lark's data link. I want to know when they will make their move. Time is running out, and military technology is very likely to intervene to minimize losses."

Ultraman's answer was simple.

can.

In fact, Lin Yue was also worried. As the saying goes, free things are the most expensive. If she pointed to the Lost Land of the Cyber ​​Network and asked him to go there in the future, he would have to bite the bullet and go.

At least for now, Lin Yue feels he can't beat this entity.

You know, Ultraman said he was keeping an eye on V at all times and even threatened him...

……

"Damn it, what's going on, Li De?" In the darkness, Li De placed his hands on the steering wheel, quietly trying to discern which of the hovercars above was chasing them from the roar of the various hovercars above.

With the headlights off, he sat with the car parked below the obstacle for a long time until the floating car above him swept through the night sky through the gaps in the factory buildings. Only then did he slowly release the seatbelt.

"I've left for now."

Vehicles were useless at this point. Li De got out of the car with his gun in his hand and the first thing he asked was if there was any other way.

"Don't worry, I've already informed Miles. Night City is keeping an eye on everything the company does. They'll be deploying a Cyber ​​Psychopath in the vicinity soon. The Terrorist Squad will shoot down any hovercraft that don't meet the altitude requirements. We'll just take advantage of that time to leave."

Li De breathed a sigh of relief, gently pushing the dilapidated automatic door behind him with his elbow. Above it, one could vaguely see graffiti of the Sixth Street Gang's skull and crossbones and the Stars and Stripes...

In the dim light, beneath Li De's maroon leather jacket, besides his pectoral muscles, the center of his chest was a tightly structured prosthetic body. These prosthetic bodies, locked in place by the back door, actually severely hampered his body, but Li De endured it for several years.

Without a word, the lark quickly unlocked all of Li Deyi's back doors.

With a rattling sound from the rusty structure, Li De climbed inside and slowly squatted down in a clearing where there was no clutter.

Unnecessary battles are never triggered; this is Li De's consistent style. Even though he is a top-scoring instructor in the Joint Logistics Department, he never chooses aggressive combat methods—which is consistent with his identity as a spy.

"That guy..."

Li De remained silent for a moment, then tentatively asked.

To everyone's surprise, the lark's voice was extremely deep, "Very strong."

"I don't know how humans and AI can form a symbiotic relationship. I've seen many cyber hacking geniuses and all sorts of guys who drive AI programs to achieve their goals, but none of them have dared to let these things coexist with his brain like he has! Do you understand, Li De?!"

“He… even dared to attack the Black Wall.”

The lark's failure seems to have left a deep shadow on her.

Miles's claim is that Arasaka used underhanded tactics to gain the upper hand first, making the military science department clean up the mess left with the internet surveillance authorities.

Attacking the Black Wall…

Li De didn't know what that meant, but he had to calm his comrades down first.

Fear is possible on the battlefield, but when fear consumes you, you are only one step away from death.

"Xiao Song, you have the new America behind you, understand?"

Song Zhaomei's response clearly did not show confidence in the entire reserve; on the contrary, she kept watching the Night City NCPD channel because she dared not think about it.

"Yes, I know Li De, but I think this friend is looking for us with a gun in his hand right now. If we let him log on to the internet, that would be a different story."

Song Zhaomei was trying to comfort herself.

Li De frowned slightly. What he couldn't understand was how that guy had managed to snipe the target first, even with two cars and two people who looked exactly alike.

"Hey Li De, I'm so glad that guy didn't shoot you first."

"Do you know how difficult it is to hide from a banned weapon in Night City without any preparation!"

The nervous lark talks a lot.

Li De shook his head. "This is not a good thing, Song Zhaomei. The mission has failed. If the first shot is fired at me, with your remote control, it's like playing a racing game—letting the 'King' leave the city would be more beneficial to the country."

nation…

Song Zhaomei was stunned.

She had a strange feeling that her teacher... seemed to be someone she had never really understood.

"How are you going to help me, Li De?"

She asked.

Li De thought for a moment, his gaze fixed on the various locations where the person might come. "If New America can help you, then I will help New America—"

Lark: "What if..."

Li De: "And the new America will definitely be able to help you."

Just as Song Zhaomei's memory of the increasingly unclear future and Miles's occasionally faking smile was in disarray... the NCPD finally sounded its familiar alarm!
"Li De, he's here!"

The lark pushed aside her chaotic thoughts. "Be patient, and remember to come find me in Washington, okay? Please!"

Li De instinctively wanted to reprimand the lark for her inappropriate words, but…

"Ah."

[NCPD Radio]: "Attention, a cyberpsychotic has appeared in Santo Domingo. The target is classified as gamma level. All units are requested to prepare and resolve the situation on the spot. The target appears to have lost control."

【MAX-TAC】: "Received. Please get rid of that idiot with the high-pitched, unclear speech from before. This one did a good job today."

Li De's eyes lit up as he faintly heard the alarm of the terrorist mobile team.

"Closer..."

The larks in the distance, just like Li De, were silently counting down the days—

suddenly!

A burst of static came through the voice channels of both parties.

A holographic phone icon appeared in their prosthetic eyes, resembling an unknown demon.

The lark looked at the familiar pattern with confusion at first, and then felt as if its heart had been gripped tightly!
cold? !

"屮!"

The lark immediately started cursing loudly!
Before Li De could figure out what was going on, his profile picture went dark.

The lark's voice began to drift closer and further away, "That guy has locked onto us, the call was just to confirm—run, Li De, I'm…%……&"

"Little Song?!"

"Hey!"

Li De immediately got up and began to run for his life. Just as he was breathing heavily and only the sound of his heavy footsteps echoed in the dilapidated factory, the dome above suddenly made a violent noise!

Wow!
A black image appeared as the monster's claws tore through the aged plastic steel. As debris fell, Li De saw the monster's true form!
A hovercar?!

However, the other side didn't give him any chance at all. Li De heard the chaotic voice communication within the Terrorist Mobile Squad: "There are flying vehicles in the area that are not following air traffic control instructions. Damn it, make them get out of here!"

At this moment, Lin Yue stared intently at the sniper scope.

Goodbye, Big Agent.

In Li De's eyes, a deathly blue light emanating from a large spear roared and smashed into his body!
"Well!"

Li De's massive body looked as if it had been hit by a punch!

It then flew backwards, smashing through the pile of slabs and seemingly falling into a pit dug in the factory building.

Lin Yue immediately put away his gun. Requests for the airship to take off kept coming in. Not wanting any further conflict with the terrorist mobile team at this time, he stood to the side, his hand on the handle of the airship's hatch, watching the pile of collapsed building debris…

Lin Yue didn't teach many classes at Night City Church.

There are only two items:

"If you don't fight, you'll die."

"If you're not cold-blooded, you'll lose."

……

……

(End of this chapter)