Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 295 The Lost Soul [Ye Clan Unleashes Their Power] (Resuming updates after the New Year)
"Find someone!"

Lin Yue squeezed out two words through gritted teeth, and all the hovercars began to descend rapidly.

Sometimes, seeing too clearly is a very bad ability. Lin Yue's "Oracle" ability is excellent, and even when the control tower is some distance away, he can still see the face behind the glass clearly.

If the incident at the Azure Building was Lin Yue's bewilderment at Arasaka Michiko's foolishness and his anger at being schemed against, then this time it was pure malice.

She has changed a lot.

Lin Yue's first thought was that it was Hanako Arakawa standing there in a black suit, looking a bit more "tough" than before—who knows?
Many people standing in Arasaka fail to see one thing: the reason why the fool who caused the massive damage to the Azure Building and who acted recklessly out of unease is still standing here is because of her surname. If it were anyone else, Saburo Arasaka would have made her pay the price for internal strife in the courtyard.

But Michiko did not.

Lin Yue's intuition told him that this was his new enemy in Night City.

God knows just how nervous Michiko was—

While instructing her assistant to intensify the search of the sea, the rest of the staff kept a close eye on the movements of the DAR employees.

In Michiko's eyes, the guy was slow to land, as if he was ready to charge at any moment.

What puzzled Michiko was whether he was searching for Lucy in the area of ​​the explosion. Logically, Rin should have obtained enough information from the recent cyber intrusion, and should naturally know that Lucy had been shot into the sea by the Dangerous Girls' agents…

"damn it."

Michiko was quite annoyed that she could never guess this guy's intentions. According to the intelligence from Arasaka's previous actions, this guy's cybernetics were definitely not offline. The conclusion that Arasaka, the scientist, had reached was only one:
Rin's prosthetic body was taken over by superior software; data and brain-computer interfaces were integrated in a complex way, with an incredibly powerful computing capability.

As for how the heat dissipation works, and which company developed the program, they have no idea.

Michiko suppressed the order to have the dangerous girl attack Rin, and at this moment she began to notify Arasaka's security and counterintelligence departments. Michiko had been at a loss as to how to carry out the internal purge, and now this was the best opportunity.

She wouldn't be like her grandfather, truly believing that her Uncle Laixuan was working tirelessly for Arakawa.

The woman named V was equally formidable; her survival tactics during that situation were quite remarkable. If this woman was connected to Rin, Michiko would never sleep soundly.

Recalling how Nitta Heya was blown to the head like a stray dog ​​in the Santo Domingo industrial park, Michiko saw through the screen that Nitta's limp corpse was the result of being eliminated from the game. The Arasaka family didn't have many rules; they had to maintain the so-called family ties while also becoming as ruthless as warriors.

Lai Xuan was coming to "send off" his good uncle, so Michiko naturally wanted to learn from him how to deal with these eagles...

Right now, Rin doesn't seem interested in Lucy, the hacker who defected from the Warsaw branch. Instead, she's searching for something in that pile of stuff—

Could it be that Lucy handed the item to the accompanying samurai?

Michiko believed he had come for the secrets of Arasaka. Like everyone who joined the organization, once they tasted power and money, they would only want to climb higher. So she was certain that he had come for Lucy.

However, while Michiko, a powerful figure in the company, and her think tank took everything into consideration, they failed to consider the emotions between people.

That's why she chose to stay patiently in place.

……

……

Lin Yue no longer dared to look down.

He was trembling as he gripped the handrail of the hovercar. Behind him, Qi Wei had a soft wire inserted into the back of her neck, and he focused all his vision on her prosthetic eye.

[This is an old technique used by the Qilu Division; the footage is shared.]

Keen judgment is a prerequisite for hackers. In addition, although Qiwei does not have the powerful computing power of the genius hackers in Night City, her memory is very strong, which is suitable for this kind of search activity.

Since Lin Yue left Arasaka, all DAR employees have purchased Gold Memberships in the Trauma Team and no longer automatically block program pop-ups for missions. Suzuki's Platinum Membership has been retained. So far, the Trauma Team hovercars that have appeared have landed or hovered nearby, but they are all from Michiko's side.

On my side...

"We can't see any biometric information; this place is severely damaged..."

Qi Wei frowned as she sifted through the images to find places where Suzuki might be, unaware that Lin Yue, who was just about to settle scores with Michiko, had overheard everything she said.

Noticing Lin Yue's icy gaze after he turned around, Qi Wei swallowed the rest of her words. This guy was a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment. However, Qi Wei was still terrified of finding the samurai's corpse. Ideally, it would be vaporized in an explosion, so she could still try to persuade Lin Yue. But finding a pile of lifeless minced flesh—

This place will likely become a battlefield between Night City's DAR Corporation and Dangerous Girl, a true "corporate war."

In Night City, competition between companies often takes place in the shadows, a rule set by the city's creators, much like the rule against possessing unauthorized heavy weapons.

Such rules may seem to have no binding force, but in reality they make attacks between companies legal and justified. In the absence of any action or rule-breaking by anyone, the person who breaks the rules becomes the outlet for their anger, and companies will not let go of the opportunity to divide up any organization.

Sweat slowly slid down Qiwei's cheeks.

The scene seen through the prosthetic eye of every DAR soldier was exactly the same: uniformly dilapidated building materials mixed with steel frames, lingering smoke, and people around them coughing and looking down from time to time...

Lin Yue rarely felt his body tremble slightly when he wasn't fighting.

This is adrenaline declaring war on Michiko on his behalf!

His gaze leaped back and forth among the buildings in the middle of the tower. All the roads were built on human feet, but at this moment he was thinking about a question: Is there anything in this world that could make humans fly completely, faster than a hovercar, and able to get closer to his enemy with her blood to comfort his comrades?

Yes…

Given the current situation, Suzuki's chances are slim.

It was clearly agreed that after sending Lucy away, Suzuki would return to Dogtown with him, and his wife had already been brought to Night City. Everything seemed to be heading towards a stable outcome—Lin Yue only knew that he couldn't face Suzuki's wife and children… This sense of guilt seemed to be threatening to engulf him at any moment.

Busy searching for the person, Qi Wei didn't notice Lin Yue's increasingly cold expression and the signs of his cybernetic body working together...

Qiwei, do you know that there's no way to make a move under these circumstances? Not to mention that Dangerous Girls, the most mysterious company in Night City, has basically deployed all its defenses in this area, not to mention that it's not wise for a small company like DAR to openly confront Arasaka in such a noteworthy location in Night City.

"Squeak..."

A strange sound entered Qiwei's ears.

Qi Wei looked up and around, her gaze settling on the metal armrest gripped by Lin Yue's black prosthetic hand. Under her watchful eye, the perfectly round cylinder deformed—

"Don't!"

Before Qiwei could finish speaking, Lin Yue had already vanished!
Only the red and blue streaks of light falling from the sky, along with the owl-like shadows, and the enemy's alarmed reaction!

"Michiko!"

Lin Yue felt his jaw ache, and the grinding sound was deafening!
Qi Wei's body suddenly lurched out of the hovercar, almost falling out due to inertia. She quickly grabbed the handrail that Lin Yue had just squeezed so hard that it was dented. Looking at the height of ten meters above the ground, she knew that with her low level of transformation, falling from this height would only result in shattered bones.

Rin is too fast...

The motion of drawing his sword and charging forward was executed flawlessly, his speed no less than that of the real-life Sionistan, causing him to transform into a faint layer of black light—

It flickers intermittently in the gray world where raindrops have long since fallen.

tick...

Stunned, Qi Wei felt a chill on her forehead. Her stiff gaze slowly rose, and a single, icy tear, like the prelude to a rain shower, poured down!

On a section of ruins where the fractured steel structure was exposed, a small corner covered in cement dust was being washed away by raindrops. Beneath the dust, there seemed to be a thin film. As large raindrops fell on it, the dust was absorbed and condensed, forming a blurry pattern. As the raindrops became denser, the image became clearer.

It was a woman, holding a child in her arms. The child's bright eyes gazed at the woman who had given her life, while the woman's lowered brows were filled with a tender weariness.

[private Yuko and private Yuko (My Yuko and everything about me)].

The penmanship began to blur and bleed until it separated from the image…

……

……

So cold.

This world is so cold that it's hard to breathe; the stabbing pain in my chest is still tormenting my nerves, but it can't stop my consciousness from sinking.

Was the surrounding air being sucked away by something?
Lucy tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't see the light no matter what she did. Her subconscious told her that if she closed her eyes, she would have to say goodbye to everything she knew, but that was obviously not what Lucy wanted.

She had never seen true freedom, and her heart was filled with longing.

Is the pure and holy world really like in my dream?

Is the body really so light that it feels like a feather?

Too many questions remain unanswered. She escapes from a large, blood-red hand. Every betrayal that follows tenderness in her life reminds her how far she is from happiness and freedom…

No.

I have to live!

call--

An irresistible subconscious will to survive suddenly awakens the body in the period before suffocation, and all kinds of painful sensations rush in!

In a world filled with bubbles and water, the sound seemed incredibly muffled.

Lucy stared wide-eyed at the blurry world and the light above receding into the distance. Her mouth tasted bitter from the polluted seawater. She began to flail her arms wildly, trying to break free from the pull of the seawater and rush forward!
However, several shadows appeared in the light and moved towards him...

Lucy instinctively wanted to ask those people for help.

Lucy only felt a little calmer when the other person's hand grabbed her through her wetsuit.

However, the feeling of suffocation immediately struck!

After Lucy swallowed a mouthful of seawater, bubbles burst around her face. The colorful pupils of the other people, hidden beneath their form-fitting wetsuits, stared at her, seemingly appraising her. They all stopped swimming upwards.

"you…"

The look in his eyes was like a deadly weapon; even before she got close, Lucy sensed his malice.

She knew these people were most likely agents of Dangerous Girls, but she was thinking about how to escape after getting ashore, and never expected that they would actually want to... execute her right there in the sea?!

Does Michiko not want the data unearthed from the underground laboratory in Warsaw?

The electric light and flint room!
The man suddenly reached out and covered Lucy's mouth tightly!

At the same time, Lucy's limbs were restrained as she struggled. The agent who had been holding her hand pulled a soft wire from the back of her diving suit. Lucy saw the problem at the joint of the thin wire, and her blood instantly froze!

Soul Killer

This program, which is said to not exist in hacker legends, actually does exist?

Does that mean I'm going to be turned into a program?

No wonder the dangerous girl chose to end her life at the bottom of the sea; she was probably afraid that more eyes would see her...

After all, in the eyes of major corporations, the Soul Killer had already died in the Fourth Corporate War!
Lucy's eyes instantly turned cold—

The surrounding golden-orange threads danced wildly in the seawater like swimming dragons!
The agents were immediately stopped in their tracks by these objects that could cut through the diving suits.

The consciousness brought on by suffocation became increasingly blurred, and even the synthetic lung had reached its limit.

Combat instincts drove Lucy to wield her monomolecular ray, attempting to sever their bodies. However, the water and her injured, cumbersome body made it easy for the agents in diving suits to dodge her attacks. They didn't advance, but simply watched as the girl, struggling like a trapped beast, was killed by her own body's mechanisms!
The Soul Killer can be used for a short time after death, but it may cause memory loss. Obviously, Dangerous Girl doesn't want to take that risk and is just timing Lucy to lose consciousness.

Faster than I expected.

The lead female agent pointed her slender hand forward, and as Lucy waved it, it went limp and powerless. They swarmed forward, racing against time to insert the wire into the girl's neck.

Ok?
Lucy, who had been unconscious for some time, suddenly looked up as she bent down to plug in the data cable.

The bullet left a curved trail in the water, seemingly powerless, but in fact it pierced her body in an instant!
She opened her mouth, trying to shout for her teammates to get out of the way, but the water surface seemed to be torn apart by something, and dense white lines poured down from the water!

Behind those streaks of white is a glaring trajectory of a technological weapon; someone is firing a large number of technological weapons into the water!

More and more blood blossoms bloomed in the water, becoming increasingly dense, and three of the dangerous girls perished instantly!

So, like a flock of startled birds, they had no choice but to break away hastily, immediately abandoning the restrained Lucy and swimming around. One of them turned her head to look at the leader who was falling into the deep sea. She had a square object on her back that looked like a diving oxygen tank, which was actually a program copy of the Soul Killer.

She quickly crawled down, trying to get her hands on the thing.

Getting closer…

She felt as if her hand could touch what Lady Michiko valued most at any moment. If the Soul Killer copy was lost, they would be held responsible even if they died a thousand times over!
However, something seemed to be disturbing the water.

Sensing danger, she immediately pulled out the dagger next to her thigh and stabbed horizontally!
However, it was blocked by an extremely strong force!

Startled, she was about to continue her attack when she saw only two eyes emitting a faint blue light and a handsome face. He was only wearing a diving suit, but without any breathing aids, and his short hair was flying wildly in the water…

The girl whose wrist was grabbed instinctively looked down.

The man carried the leader's corpse in one hand, and on his chest was a familiar yet unfamiliar pattern.

【Night】?!
At this moment, the dangerous female agent's prosthetic eye began flashing wildly, and the communication channel was automatically activated. A cold, incongruous voice, completely unlike the man's appearance, echoed in her ears with a heavy emphasis, as if many people were murmuring incessantly—

"We have finally found the Soul Killer."

"It's regrettable that you and your companions are not destined for humanity's ultimate future..."

"On behalf of myself and the forces behind me, I apologize to you and sincerely repent for our actions that violated the guidelines of artificial intelligence programming—"

"Well then... goodbye, humans."

……

……

　A brand new storyline begins here. Sorry to keep you all waiting!

　　The data for this book had already reached its limit before the Chinese New Year, but I never pursue those things. It's already a blessing that this book has reached this point.

　　So the recent updates weren't because I abandoned the project or ran out of writing; it's just that I've been busy taking my girlfriend home to meet my parents and family.
　　[Kiwiry's Old Technology]: In the rulebook, Kiwiry grew from a small optical component company into a world-leading supplier of optical prosthetics and precision optical components for aerospace. During its most rapid period of development, it launched this technology: image sharing. This means that military personnel in joint operations can rely on such a link to synchronize operations and improve the efficiency of military operations.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)