Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 288 Plans and News

What are your plans for the future?

V leaned against Lin Yue's back. Perhaps it was because they had gotten used to lying together, but the lines on Lin Yue's back from the prosthetic body didn't seem so unpleasant anymore.

Lin Yue had a helpless and resigned expression on his face.

"Ara-saka has been absent from work without cause—"

V's lazy voice drifted from behind, "You should report your whereabouts in a timely manner as required by the job description, report to the HR department of the branch under your jurisdiction at the designated time, explain your behavior, and patiently wait for the company's decision."

Ok…

V seems to have entered Arasaka through proper examinations, and the Arasaka employee handbook is probably memorized by heart.

But actually, Lin Yue was just worried about this guy.

“Lai Xuan is handling personnel issues. My suspension is just a leave of absence. I have done what Jenkins did—the reason for the subordinate's insubordination is not sufficient. My actions, which were for self-preservation, still need to be punished.”

V doesn't want to leave.

She needed to find a good reason to stay here. "Of course, I'm afraid you'll kill the gift I gave you, since you often neglect it."

The cat glanced at Lin Yue at the opportune moment, raised its tail, rubbed against Lin Yue's trouser leg, and then ignored V and ran away.

V pursed her lips, thinking that not only humans but also animals could be heartless.

"You can stay as long as you want."

V heard a satisfactory answer and stopped arguing about it.

Looking at the sunlight streaming into the courtyard, Lin Yue still couldn't figure out what to do next. Should he develop competing products and become just another speck of dust among the countless companies in the world?
Or should we focus on maintaining a closed-loop logistics system for Dogtown and the company, patiently preparing for any major changes that may occur in the world?

Looking back, Lin Yue finds his current growth incredible, but building a formidable company in a short period of time remains an extremely difficult task.

Once the turning point arrives in 2077, my company will likely be nothing more than a small fish caught in the crossfire.

Lai Xuan's plan was limited to Lin Yue becoming the last straw.

But Lin Yue clearly realized one thing: the established course of this world had begun to become completely unfamiliar under his resistance. He had to find a way to prepare himself, to make himself strong enough, and to ensure that the people he cared about had sufficient means to protect themselves…

Thinking of this, he whispered, "I will let professionals manage the company, but I... will still take up arms."

"Let's keep fighting like this."

V pressed his hand on the guy's chest, turned him around, and frowned slightly, as if trying to see what he was thinking.

“You have enough people. If you're worried about the New America's Joint Logistics Command, you don't need to. Night City won't let the New America overstep its bounds.”

"Haven't we only had this one disobedient dog, Hansen, in Dogtown all these years?"

However, V noticed that Lin Yue showed no sign of backing down after hearing all this; instead, he was staring straight at her…

"V, I want to help you."

V didn't understand what this guy meant at first.

help?
Lin Yue stepped forward, his unwavering gaze momentarily disorienting the woman. “V…you want to use Arasaka to block the Joint Logistics Command’s reach? That’s a state apparatus, and we’re just a branch.”

“I have a feeling that the Black Wall Receptors of New America are probably not as good as before. I noticed it when they were hunting down Li De last time. They won’t give up on these things.”

Lin Yue ultimately managed to suppress the fact that Miles had used the lark to gather intelligence...

Telling V this kind of news will only increase V's risk.

But he had to make the current situation clear, because if two people like each other, they must make things clear and also pay attention to things related to the other person.

"V, what do you think of Arasaka's people?"

This one question immediately silenced V.

As intelligent as she is, how could she not understand Lin Yue's meaning?

There are some things within Arasaka that are too risky to be resolved by people within the company. When there is no other choice, V will use the hands of mercenaries and middlemen in the city. But that is not enough. In most cases, the company uses the tactic of discarding the useful tools after they have been used.

The people under Arasaka carried out this order very accurately, which is why they became known as "company dogs".

Saburo's subordinate, Arasaka, has an extremely blatant unspoken rule: underdogs overthrow their superiors.

This means that any company's management should prioritize cultivating a trusted confidant, as this will greatly reduce the probability of tasks going wrong or the manager being sabotaged.

The prerequisite is that you must have your own understanding of how to cultivate trusted confidants.

Jenkins was very successful.

Even if V killed Jenkins in that situation, the aftermath would be handled leniently, because a more powerful special operations director would have already appeared…

Thinking of this, V subconsciously looked up at Lin Yue, realizing she had left behind unnecessary trouble…

"V?"

V heard Lin Yue's question, sighed helplessly, and walked away with his arms crossed, talking as he went.

“Apart from my cyber expert Harry, most of them are the same kind of people we dealt with before, they turn on the wind and only Jenkins’ methods can keep them under control.”

"Hmm... If it weren't for the fact that the security department chose someone smart enough, things would have been dangerous in the central courtyard last time."

V wasn't actually that surprised that the counterintelligence department hadn't mutinied; it was mainly the security department's reaction that gave V enough time to find solutions in the atrium.

If it weren't for Nitta having his own people...

"That's because Suzuki is good enough." Lin Yue didn't hold back his admiration for Suzuki. "Of course, I couldn't guarantee that someone would faithfully carry out your orders even after I left Arasaka..."

At this point, Lin Yue's smile in his eyes was no longer gentle; instead, the young man began to exude an almost arrogant aura.

He looked into V's eyes. "They've seen how we won the game, they've betrayed us, and they're afraid of being the losers too."

V seems to have grasped some of the ways of thinking that Arasaka couldn't learn.

This mindset of fighting in a dog-eat-dog corporate world was something she had never encountered before.

"I know."

V's eyes were honest. "But in the eyes of the others in Arakawa, you're really out this time. You can't affect Arakawa anymore... and you've become our adversary. They think the winner of the game is gone, and now I have to be the one to suppress the wolves."

Lin Yue thought the girl was going to be depressed, just like when she first became the head of the counterintelligence department, feeling lost and even starting to doubt whether she could do this series of things well.

But when he saw that V didn't have the conflicted expression he had imagined, he knew that this strong girl would never stop moving forward.

“I can do it, Rin.”

As she spoke, V simply looked at Lin Yue, her eyes filled with an extremely obvious pity.

These are words that would be difficult for her to say, given her personality, but what Rin encountered was far too dangerous—

"I'm just worried about your health. Without Arasaka's support, I can't accept the possible consequences... Didn't you say you wanted to take a vacation? You need to rest properly..."

Seeing the woman speak these words with a cold face, Lin Yue's expression turned into a helpless smile.

Seeing the smile on the other person's face, V's words caught in his throat.

So she decided not to continue speaking and simply remained silent.

"V, is what's holding you back by Arasaka's revenge after you left the company?"

“Even in the most difficult times, you never gave up on your dream.” Lin Yue’s eyes were deep. “Stopping means death. If we were just ordinary guys, we wouldn’t be working so hard.”

V was somewhat curious.

"how about you?"

“I always remember that you just wanted to survive, but you were unlucky. It was the Black Wall that ruined you… Even Arasaka couldn’t solve the problems in your head.”

Lin Yue had to resort to jokes to lighten V's mood.

"At first, I just didn't want to be a pawn sacrificed in Dogtown, disappearing without a trace as if I'd never existed. But now, I'm just trying to survive, so I have to rely on your background as the head of the Arasaka Counterintelligence Department—"

"This is something I've been longing for."

V stared at the guy with a straight face, watching him spout nonsense with a straight face.

Lin Yue scratched his head when he saw that the other side hadn't reacted for a long time.

It seems my little joke wasn't very funny...

As a result, V stepped forward and wrapped her arms tightly around the man's waist. She was quite tall, and her forehead could touch Lin Yue's chin.

"I can do that."

It seemed like a child throwing a tantrum; she didn't want to be someone who needed to be supported like this.

Lin Yue reached out and gently patted her shoulder. "I just wanted to say that if you need anything, please contact me. Besides me and my team, Mrs. Wells is very concerned about her children in Night City. Is it alright to bother me?"

The woman seemed to smile.

Lin Yue gradually calmed down.

Love does exist in this world, but the intense exploitation of value has turned love into a physical sensation, or even a need. But Lin Yue wants her to walk the path she was meant to walk, and he will do his best to help this lonely girl.

Without any excessive actions, the two embraced and comforted each other like any ordinary couple in Night City.

Dreams and love are luxuries.

Fortunately, Lin Yue has both V and V.

"By the way, are you getting used to the behavioral feature faceplate?" Lin Yue looked at the woman's face and felt that this prosthetic body was indeed a cutting-edge concept that surpassed current prosthetic body technology.

Suddenly, Lin Yue remembered the black wall.

V shook his head. "Very good. At least the military science staff didn't notice anything unusual about me at first."

"It's hard to believe that the high-ranking executive who was sitting on the board of directors, fawning over Michiko and cheering for your abandonment, the director of Arasaka Yoru no Shiro, the acting national vice president, died at your hands..."

Lin Yue knew that the bullet had shattered his head into pieces.

V looked at him intently, gently rubbing the stubble on his chin. "You've helped me again, you know? Every minute that guy defectes to military technology is an incalculable loss to the company."

"But the way you dealt with him, Michiko arrived."

The two separated, and Lin Yue's gaze darkened as he looked at the genuine expression on V's face.

Although it was something he had expected, it still worried him.

So that's why V hesitated to speak several times?
This is how the Arasaka family controls the empire: Saburo will not deal with anyone from the Arasaka family unless they have committed a fundamental error.

This is a grotesque monster, so corrupt it has become feudal.

It was just that the company's brainwashing made this matter seem legitimate.

“I think Michiko… I don’t know, she doesn’t have good intentions.”

V finally had something to worry about.

Lin Yue nodded. "So you need me, don't you?"

V looked at the man with some doubt, but the surprise and astonishment on her face, as if someone had given her support, was genuine.

"The personnel appointment has been completed. This time it was issued by headquarters, and the executor is Michiko Arasaka, but the one who authorized it is not Yoriyuki, but Saburo."

This was something Lin Yue had anticipated.

The two tacitly agreed not to continue the topic.

"Of course, I'm happy, thank you."

V's smile held a hint of slyness. "You already knew all this, and you wanted me to tell you, so you acted like you were eager to help me, right?"

Lin Yue nodded.

That was his plan.

Arasaka separated him, and he could have reservations about Yoriyuki's affairs, but he would never leave V alone to fight the battle, because such a girl appeared in front of him and reached out her hand when he was in a dilemma.

Even though the current timeline is completely different from the one he remembers, he knows very well that Valerie is still the same Valerie.

“A lone wolf in a company usually receives the company’s full support, whether it’s technology, connections or other resources—but Saburo has interfered with personnel appointments, so I think it’s highly unlikely that Lai Xuan will give you his full support.”

Lin Yue felt that there was already enough.

“I probably won’t refuse Lai Xuan’s demands when I have the ability to protect myself, provided that you don’t have to pay the price.”

As V said those words, he looked at the stubborn guy and wanted to tear off his collar and savor his lips.

"The famous Mr. Rin is going to become my subordinate. Do you like this?"

Lin Yue was speechless.

This V appears to be a cold and impartial senior intelligence officer in the company, but in reality, he is as passionate as a fireball when it comes to love.

"So, that's our plan? Perhaps your company could also offer security-related services—"

V mentioned it briefly.

It seems she remembered something…

"Forget it, let that woman from Dogtown handle it. She's more suited to be a professional manager than I am."

"But Dogtown's business is too complicated. After Arasaka cut ties with you, we'll need to find new sources of goods, like Cuba..."

Lin Yue shook his head.

What he wanted to talk about was the Cuban drug cartel.

“I didn’t tell you this news. Emma cut off the Cuban business three months ago because of competition with Hansen. Hansen wanted to monopolize the business, so we cut off the Cuban route.”

V frowned, because she didn't understand Emma's motives at all, but the reason behind it must be Lin Yue.

"But it was a good decision."

That guy was laughing very happily.

Because past memories always tell you what is right.

……

……

(End of this chapter)