Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 316 Borrowing a Knife (Part Two)

On the crystal floor of the corridor, delicate gold-trimmed high heels moved steadily. The black dress and the obsidian-like floor material blended perfectly. The woman's curly hair was smooth and voluptuous, just like her. Her red lips were as flawless as a serpent from ancient Greek mythology. Her waist swayed slightly with each step, as if it could stir up the darkest desires in one's heart.

The company's aesthetic of light and shadow has always adhered to simplicity and profundity, which makes the woman appear even more noble.

"Please wait a moment, we will process your visitor verification."

The receptionist at the company's real estate management office, whose entire face was covered in metal, had a smooth, silvery-white complexion, as if it had been randomly kneaded from mercury.

The service philosophy of Arasaka Hotel Management System has always been clean and tidy. To get this job, you need to have your whole body replaced with prosthetic skin. No one knows that these employees, who are as obedient as robots, are actually enduring the pain of nerve friction day and night.

The woman glanced subtly at the turnstile filled with red lasers, then revealed a charming smile.

"Okay, thank you for your help, darling."

The receptionist seemed surprised by the level of respect the other party would show her.

"Please wait a moment, that's all! Please upload your identity information."

The woman reached up and brushed the hair that had slipped off her shoulder back, then pulled the human-computer interaction cable from a small groove on her white wrist.

"You... wish to visit Ms. V in Room 3 on the third floor. Please wait a moment."

Perhaps because the other party had treated her with such respect, the receptionist seemed a little anxious.

Because deciphering the identity of the beautiful woman before him wasn't going so smoothly...

Seeing the garbled characters in the identity information, the receptionist, lacking any technical skills, could only repeatedly read it.

"Hey, look at my darling."

The woman reached out and lifted the receptionist's chin, her slightly lazy eyes staring at the girl whose hands were already unconsciously clenched in front of her—the girl was very nervous. The people in this building were all rich and powerful, and her former colleagues had a lot to say about the consequences of offending the powerful.

"Don't rush... chat with the guests or something."

The girl, who expected to be scolded and complained about, clearly did not expect the customer to be so gentle.

She just felt that the woman in front of her was so beautiful that she was somewhat captivated...

The woman's hand left the girl's chin, and the girl, nearly losing her balance, nervously took a step back. "Excuse me, I can try again. Are you... are you sure you want to visit Miss V's residence?"

"Yes."

The girl watched nervously as the data on the display screen repeatedly read out, until finally the data bounce stopped.

"Thank goodness, ma'am... your visitor verification has been approved—Miss Serena, I apologize for keeping you waiting."

The woman, a smile playing on her lips as she looked at the girl's adorable appearance, said, the purple glint in her eyes vanishing without a trace, "Perhaps you're just too nervous?"

The receptionist bowed repeatedly, saying, "You and Ms. V are both very pleasing to the eye and very beautiful. It's easy to get distracted by your appearance."

Women can tell the difference between truth and lies; it's just a sales tactic to save face at work.

"Also, what is the purpose of your visit? Is it a gathering or a business meeting? We can customize services for you."

Corporate real estate is really troublesome…

But the woman's good manners showed her great patience.

The woman chuckled softly, "You have a sweet tongue. The 'Miss V' you mentioned who invited me here isn't some kind of gathering or business meeting—"

She beckoned with her finger.

The girl innocently leaned forward.

"She's going to eat me."

The voice whispered in her ear made the receptionist tremble slightly involuntarily.

Only then did she realize that the woman in front of her, who resembled a datura flower, was a sex puppet kept by the powerful figures of Night City.

I just didn't expect Ms. V...

"Okay, here's your private confidentiality service..."

The woman chuckled softly, raised her hand, turned around, and beckoned with her finger. Accompanied by the crisp clatter of her high heels, the access control system, capable of sweeping away even a single strand of hair, opened.

"call…"

The woman, who had turned her back, let out a soft breath.

Two distractions suggest the woman may not be as composed as she appears…

"The data decoding package wasn't uploaded very smoothly, Angie, you really are a... clumsy girl."

"I hope you can handle the rest well."

They said Emma was no longer paying attention to what they were saying.

With a few simple makeup techniques, convincing words, and a bit of styling tricks, the receptionist didn't even realize that the woman named Serena looked very different from Emma.

Standing in front of the door, Emma gently knocked.

As the automatic door opened, V's face at the doorway displayed an expression of wariness, confusion, and a hint of fear.

Perhaps they didn't expect Emma to come in person...

Just as she was about to warn the crazy woman not to talk nonsense, Emma had already pressed herself against her—

As if an electric current was coursing through his body, V's body instantly stiffened, and he instinctively wanted to push her away.

"Honey, everyone's watching."

V could only stiffly lower his hand; up close, the carefully blended perfume on the woman exuded a fragrance as rich and full as ripe fruit…

"How did you come?"

She tried her best to act like a familiar lover, but her movements were far from natural.

The company could easily monitor its employees, and V couldn't guarantee that her residence was currently safe and secure—she had no choice but to continue acting. If there were external recording devices, her biggest fear would be the audio recordings.

The monitor can see the source of various sounds and analyze them one by one. Speaking in hushed tones is useless; the only way to hide information is in seemingly casual conversations.

Thinking of this, V even wanted to immediately push Emma aside and sweep the entire room clean.

"Hmm, you've been very busy lately..."

Emma has never been very generous.

This woman was like a flawless work of art, with almost no weaknesses. She only showed a slight emotion when facing Lin Yue, like a perfect warrior, which is why Emma suffered a great loss when they clashed.

Therefore, "revenge" is especially precious at this moment.

"So you never came to see me, and I showed up uninvited, shouldn't I be happy?"

V's long hair was gently lifted, and the woman's soft, boneless fingertips lightly caressed the back of V's neck. Emma lowered her eyes and watched with great interest as V dared not look directly into her eyes.

This woman is indeed perfectly born.

Even the best prosthetic surgeons couldn't perfectly replicate this harmonious beauty; the subtle blend of strength and grace in the bridge of her nose as she slightly lowered her head made Emma's heart skip a beat...

Rin, that bastard.

"... "

V gave a rather "cute" twitch at the corner of his mouth and reached out to try to change to a less awkward posture.

God knows what clever idea V came up with since she had never experienced this situation before. She carefully recalled the few couple behavior patterns she had ever encountered, and even used material from movies and stories.

Holding her hand?
Then she tried to pull Emma to a place with fewer electronic devices around to reduce the risk of being exposed...

With just a flick of her arm, her boyfriend's lover coiled around her like a powerfully binding vine. V instinctively lost her balance, and as she stumbled, Emma chuckled and kicked off her high heels—

V almost resorted to violence; she wanted to grab the woman by the neck and tell her not to touch her, but she was also afraid that the woman's reaction would frighten her as it had last time…

In short, for some people with peculiar tastes, using force is not a good thing.

But remaining passive like this is not V's style.

"what."

Emma gasped in surprise. A sharp pain shot through her wrists as they were grabbed. Suddenly, she felt weightless and was shoved against the clean wall beside the French windows, knocking over a bunch of glassware, including wine glasses, from the dining table.

"We're away from the equipment now."

V lowered his head and whispered something important in Emma's ear.

If the angle is different, then you will most likely see a different scene that deceives the observer.

"What if I didn't manage to fool them?"

Emma wanted to take the opportunity to get revenge.

"crazy?"

V's cool voice, tinged with a hint of annoyance, greatly pleased Emma. Under the guise of her pretense, Emma noticed a cold, metallic chip had appeared in her brain-computer interface…

Emma, ​​whose reaction time was equally quick, immediately interjected, "You..."

Now we need an opportunity—

A perfect excuse to leave.

A contradictory performance is clearly the best approach.

Seeing that V still wouldn't let go, Emma started to pretend to struggle, but the more she struggled, the weaker her body became.

This guy did it on purpose.

He was retaliating for offending her earlier under the pretext of acting.

From the observer's perspective... it seemed that the woman's struggle had angered V.

V decided to go all the way and make it a complete performance.

A crisp sound rang out in the room before Emma could react!

Emma, ​​kneeling on the ground, stared in disbelief at the woman looking down at her…

A tingling sensation that shot through the top of her head almost made Emma gasp for breath the moment she opened her mouth—

The stray hairs falling around her ears made the woman look pitiful.

I'm afraid I've just played right into Emma's hands...

In fact, she still restrained herself a lot, after all, V has an advanced combat prosthetic body.

Gently forming a dent in the palm won't hurt the other person much, but it will make a loud noise.

It must be said that intelligent women are almost always on the same wavelength…

Emma, ​​naturally, couldn't continue the messy relationship with V that the company's prosthetic repair room had been with, so she forced an angry expression.

We can retreat now...

"Are you crazy?! Let whoever wants to do this job do it, I'm not doing it anymore!"

As she spoke, she stood up, pushed aside V who was blocking her way, bent down, picked up her shoes, and walked straight out of the room.

Feeling a sense of relief, V bit her lip and tidied her hair with her other hand. In her palm was the contact information Emma had left for her, the hacker.

then.

An intelligence exchange was completed without leaving a trace.

V wasn't completely at ease yet.

I wonder if I can pass Michiko's level.

after all…

Many eyes are aware of what's going on here, and they just hope not to give themselves away in the slightest.

……
-
Afterlife.

There's some new underground news in Night City—

Dexter DeShawn, the legendary middleman who once handled many big deals in this city, is back.

A thick gold chain, heavy, indicating connections to the highest levels of society.

These are the various adjectives used to describe "dark-skinned, fat Jesus".

"I thought you were going to pretend to be deaf and dumb for a long time. The communication software was made by a European company—it's one-way data, you should be able to understand it."

Emma's car was parked in the backyard of the afterlife, and she was talking to V via a private line.

Emma still remembers that slap, so naturally she won't say anything nice.

While admiring the intelligence officer's quick thinking, Emma sensed displeasure at the slap.

"Company matters aren't so easy to handle... Do you think I want this? If Rin gets into trouble, the company—"

That doesn't seem quite right.

"Alright, let's get down to business."

V didn't care about Lai Xuan's grand plan; she only knew that she would be restless if she couldn't help Rin, and if Rin made even the slightest mistake because of the prosthetic body, she would make Michiko pay an unimaginable price.

Emma loved seeing her stubbornness; even someone like Rin couldn't soften her tongue.

With personal grudges settled, it's time to get down to business, as V suggested.

V's brow remained furrowed. "What exactly is Rin planning? Is she going to rely on the people at the company to take her down...?"

Emma shook her head, gazing at the dazzling lights and bustling activity outside.

"Rin certainly had his own considerations... He only asked me to release this information to more intermediaries, and I just did as he asked. You know, I've never been one to ask for reasons."

"In addition, you need to tell us the route for transporting the prosthetic body."

Only Emma could think like that.

However, V immediately saw through Rin's plan—

He probably wanted the company to be besieged.

Are just some cyberpunk squads? Can a lone wolf really cause trouble for Arasaka's current escort team?
V doesn't think that way.

It's important to know that due to the changes to the Night City Treaty, more of the company's armed personnel are now using implants that were previously prohibited by law...

In other words.

It's ironic that the heavy hammer, which was illegal in Night City before, is now legal.

"The transport routes for the cybernetic body are random. I only know a few routes right now. Arasaka is taking this cybernetic body very seriously this time... but in my opinion, this device puts too much strain on the nervous system and is almost meaningless. It's just that the people above have gone mad."

Emma smiled, pursing her lips.

“I can handle random routes; at least I can find enough greedy villains to cause trouble for the company.”

V shrugged. "Using someone else to do the dirty work, a brilliant method... Was it your idea?"

Emma: "Yes, darling."

V had already heard from Rin what Emma had done to the Ghost Hound, and V could understand even the most outrageous things this woman did.

However, as the information became more equal, V's expression grew increasingly serious.

Emma keenly observed that V seemed preoccupied in the holographic display. "What's wrong?"

Where is Rin?

Emma shook her head. "The company's technical experts are examining Rin's prosthetic body to see if they can reduce some of the burden and optimize the firmware. The team members and everyone involved in the operation are doing this; otherwise, I'm sure Rin would really want to see you."

Even knowing that Lin Yue needed the core firmware of the prosthetic body, V still said it out loud.

"Let's abandon the operation. According to the intelligence analysis, Rin has no chance of winning at the moment. Even with the addition of those lone wolves and squads from Night City—if they get the Cybernetic Kong, it might not be a good thing either. You can fish in troubled waters, but sometimes it will also block your view."

"Moreover, as the chip suggests, there is a mole within Rin's company."

There was silence.

"You and I both know that Rin needs that. If the company finds out about this, they will definitely find a way to deal with him quickly."

Emma's expression was unusually serious, unlike her usual one.

“V, don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment. If you want to help Rin, giving up on this option is never the best solution.”

"Besides, I have an idea; Rin told me about it."

V was completely confused.

"If these methods don't work, then I'll find a way to let other companies know—"

"I'm planning to do that right now."

"Borrow a bigger knife."

Seeing the madness in the woman's eyes, V's expression slowly darkened.

……

……

(End of this chapter)