Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 437 Hero (IV)

This is a declaration of war, a blatant declaration of war!
Lai Xuan's voice echoed in every corner of the venue. The Night City officials and the companies looked at Lai Xuan's holographic image and Arasaka's wolf-like gazes, and they knew what Arasaka was planning.

"Nonsense! What could have been taken from Arasaka?"

The representative of military technology could no longer sit still. He suddenly stood up, put his hands on the table, and roared.

Lai Xuan's purpose in coming here was not to chat with these guys who were far below his level. His purpose was to send a strong signal, making Taipingzhou a place that not everyone could come and run wild.

On the surface, Arasaka is trying to secure Dogtown's location, but in reality, he's buying time for the Dreamers.

Lai Xuan is someone who likes to maximize profits. If military technology is willing to risk its life for Miles, it's not impossible... but the premise is that there must be enough time for that girl who was harmed by Relic to become a hero.

At this moment, Lai Xuan was also a "hero" in the eyes of the Arasaka militants.

Those in the European branch who had expected to be humiliated once again now had gleaming eyes. Everyone was staring at Arakasa's proud back, and this was not just empty bravado; it was a real signal that they were about to take action.

Europe has already received Lai Xuan's orders.

The Arasaka Security Force is, in this sense, an army at the level of the state apparatus…

"What are you trying to do?!"

"You want to start a war, don't you?!"

The officials of Night City could no longer sit still, and they also glared at Lai Xuan with menacing eyes, but Lai Xuan saw no threat at all.

"hehe…"

Emma covered her mouth and suddenly laughed.

"So you're here again, just like last time, trying to make things difficult for us DRAR? That's really boring..."

Lai Xuan didn't say anything more. He wanted to see the attitude of the company representatives present. If any of them showed the slightest sign of weakness, Lai Xuan would definitely retaliate.

Emma's appearance undoubtedly provided the corporate whizzes and politicians present with a real point of contention.

Perhaps this company has done too many self-destructive things, to the point that they prioritize their conflict with Arasaka... or perhaps rescuing Miles doesn't seem to be the most important thing.

Emma looked at the inhuman, ghostly figures present with a mocking expression.

When they questioned her about whether she wanted to start a war, she could only give them an infuriating smile.

"War?"

Emma sighed, "When the missiles from Dogtown were launched, I was really scared—I was afraid that our Pacific Island would become another Dogtown. I thought the company representatives were going to do something bad to us."

"It's because that plane was up there; it was all... accidental damage."

"We're also actively searching for Miles, look how nervous you all are—we'll return him to you!"

Emma covered her mouth and laughed, sending chills down the spines of everyone present.

Only the military technology representative, having been manipulated like this several times, reached the peak of his anger.

Nobody wanted to pull Miles out of that cesspool, but the hardest part was that Miles was still the president of the new United States, and many people in the government didn't want her to use war as an excuse to prolong her term.

At this point, it's an open secret that everyone knows the truth.

It's just a matter of... figuring out how to resolve this.

The best-case scenario for Miles is that he is rescued from Dogtown with the national secrets of the new United States, reducing the risk of leaking these military secrets; another possibility is that Miles dies in Pacifica while still serving his term, or is killed by the company.

The new America also needs war; the Free State still exists. From this perspective, Miles' death might be the best ending for some politicians in the White House of the new America.

"Damn it, I think you've all gone mad!"

The military-informed man pointed at Emma, ​​spitting as he spoke, completely enraged.

Emma's eyes locked onto him. "Yes, what's wrong?"

"What dreamers want is corporate warfare, come on!"

Dreamer's arrogant attitude naturally provoked strong reactions from many companies. What surprised Emma was that the representatives of Comto, the Comto manager of the New America region, just watched all this without making any comments from beginning to end.

"You think Night City won't make a move against you?"

"I suggest we start reorganizing Taipingzhou, this unstable factor, right now!"

When Emma saw that these people couldn't handle Arasaka and were about to cause trouble for the Dreamers, she simply said, "What? You all want to be part of the Night Clan, don't you?"

As soon as Ye started talking, the surrounding noise quieted down.

"you?"

With a cold laugh, Military Technology clearly didn't believe that the dreamer was the one who could take advantage of the network outage to wipe out the entire Ye Clan subnet.

"Are you kidding me?"

Many companies in Night City dismissed this nonsense.

So if things go the right way, military technology will still try to find Miles's trail by starting from Pacific Island. Since Arasaka can cover for the Dreamers in Dogtown, then... naturally the Dreamers will also have to withstand the pressure from outside the Pacific Island blockade.

It seems these guys who're willing to argue here haven't decided who should lead the argument.

The only pretext Miles can use is the new America and military technology.

“Miss Emma, ​​I hope you can be more responsible in your words. It’s normal for the new algorithm to have some problems at the network’s underlying layer. Network monitoring has been fully mobilized to maintain the network—”

"Do you really think Taipingzhou is your home? You even fantasize about having a place for lowlifes like you online?"

Emma remained silent, her eyes fixed intently on the representative of military technology.

"So we're still betting on the Dreamers to lose this match, right?"

Military Technology suddenly fell silent, his expression shifting between light and dark. The scene of losing the bet two years ago was still vivid in his mind. An explosion had ruined most of the company's plans, which allowed Dreamer to become the manager of the Taipingzhou region, one of the major companies in Night City.

Nowadays, Emma feels a bit intimidated whenever she mentions this military technology company.

Last time it was biotechnology, this time it's the Ye Corporation... How can this be so weird?!
The military technology representative is temporarily out of contact, and the company's Night City branch has received explosive news—the military technology's birdcage project (Song Zhaomei) is currently out of control!
"Damn it, do these stupid politicians have to cause trouble at this time?"

"What are those idiots in Washington doing?!"

The military technology representative could have used this as a pretext to find a way to get Miles out, but now a secret that could be discovered by the enemy at any moment has gone out of control in the network, and the only key to control the birdcage is still with Miles…

This is a very serious matter.

Similar to how, decades ago, a head of state carrying a nuclear bomb key box ran around the world and ended up on enemy territory, the lark, a receptor constantly bound to a black wall, is a nuclear bomb threatening cybersecurity!

So now they have to make a decision.

Moreover, it's very likely that this time those "fellow buddies" won't be going deeper into Taipingzhou with them.

The military technology think tank and headquarters are in close discussion, and the issue has ultimately come down to whether the Dreamers possess cyber deterrence capabilities.

"We suspect it was Arasaka who did it because there is evidence that Arasaka was still online when the network went down, and the online targets were logged off normally afterward."

"With nearly a century of experience, Ye's company is not a small company that can be easily manipulated in the internet field. For them to announce the termination of their global investment in such a short time... this is a very big problem."

"What strange thing has Arakawa come up with in the network this time?" Military technology has been competing with Arakawa for a century, especially in recent years. Despite making excellent progress in black walls and cybernetic bodies, it has been suppressed several times by Arakawa, who is obsessed with network soul imprints.

“Miles is accompanied by Black Dream, so he can get out. We need to find a way to get through.”

"If there is a war, we can cover it up. If Miles is to die, she can only die in our hands. We can't let her hold the whole of New America hostage to prolong her life."

During the discussions, it was immediately apparent that Miles's adversaries were at odds with him.

With Lucas's death, the entire military technology sector underwent a major overhaul, meaning they had no intention of being hijacked by Miles in the first place.

"It seems this is the only way."

Immediately after the discussion ended, the military technology section returned to the meeting.

The situation remained as noisy as before, with the company in Taipingzhou refusing to budge, citing safety concerns and even preventing the rescue team from entering.

The representative from Military Technology immediately stood up. "If that's the case, Military Technology will certainly go all the way. Myers is accompanied by our company's best prosthetic product users—we hope you won't regret it."

"Military technology has announced that it will fight DRAR across the entire network layer and on the Pacific ground!"

Emma sat reclining in her chair, her fingers lightly tapping the table. When she heard the military technology representative's resounding words, she lifted her eyelids and looked at the military technology representative who had solemnly announced the decision with a smile.

"If there's nothing else, this discussion should end here."

Seeing that the other party was about to back out, Emma said, "Wait a minute."

The military technology representative gave a cold laugh. "We will continue to abide by the Night City agreement. Dreamers will face our strongest counterattack, whether it's your proud ground combat or your so-called ability to 'shut down the network'—it doesn't matter anymore."

Emma glanced at Lai Xuan, who had no expression on his face.

"Comply? Are you afraid of Arasaka?"

It has to be said that Emma is a very good person at provoking her opponents.

"No matter how stubborn you are, you can't change the fact that you're attacking the new US president. Just you wait, you bitch."

The mayor of Night City also stood up. "I hope Arasaka and Military Technology will keep their promise. Taipingzhou has always been part of Night City. It's time to stop the chaos here."

The military technology representative surveyed everyone present and said in a deep voice, "This time, military technology doesn't need allies, nor does it need your help. We just want to reclaim our rights and restore order to Night City!"

The other companies were now eyeing the opportunity with gleam in their eyes.

As long as they weren't the ringleaders, the atmosphere suddenly reached a fever pitch.

"If that's the case, we'll see how the dreamers manage to shut down the internet. Let's see if they can make us shut down too—"

"You damn dreamer, don't think that Arakawa is here to help you by preparing to eat your meat. Since you want to make trouble, Peizhuo Petrochemical will certainly play along to the end."

"Don't forget, Arasaka also attacked us before! (The protagonist of Night City Nocturne Club and V)"

Seeing how things had turned out, Lai Xuan was about to speak when he saw Emma's gesture and abruptly stopped himself from saying anything.

What does Rin's company plan to do?
If the military technology gains Night City's approval, it means that the armed forces of the New United States will be able to enter from the coast. If Arasaka dares to obstruct it, it will prove that the two sides are in cahoots.

"You crazy bitch, how are you going to perform opera?!"

Other companies were naturally very happy to hear the most satisfactory result.

Emma recounted how many times she had been insulted, knowing that someone online was listening.

So the woman simply pointed behind her, "What did you say was that thing next to Miles...? Never mind, I don't even know if that thing counts as a person, anyway—"

"He's dead, and he died a horrible death!"

The military technology representative slammed his hands on the table.

"Do you really think we're three-year-olds? How long are you going to keep using those low-level corporate negotiation skills?"

Emma pursed her lips; she still admired military technology... No matter how many times she was manipulated by dreamers, she remained stubborn.

When the image of Heimeng lying on the ground with her back hollowed out appeared in the shared meeting system, many company employees instinctively avoided the picture. The image of a dead person with their back gnawed out by a wild beast was displayed in a dilapidated building.

Just as the military technology team was about to curse Emma for using some dubious dead people to swindle and deceive, Emma waved her hand—

She held a bloody, mangled object in her hand, and a mixture of milky white and bright red liquid dripped from Emma's fair arm. "Wow, what a lovely child."

"That is…"

"what?!"

Lai Xuan turned his head and also saw this bloody scene.

Rin's women are really... scary.

"Thank you so much, Sinweistein and Network Access Warehouse, for providing technical support to a small company like ours."

The military technology representative hurriedly checked with headquarters, and the answer he received made him turn pale.

He's really... dead!
"In addition, Dreamer and Arasaka mean the same thing: since you like to fly planes over Taipingzhou to cause trouble, we can also deal with the war you talk about."

"We're ready to fight anyone who tries."

Other companies immediately became uneasy. Emma's blatant provocation only fueled suspicion among many of them.

If the events of a few years ago were to repeat themselves, it would undoubtedly be a heavy blow to the company's morale. Moreover, many lost rights would be amplified, and at that time, Night City, surrounded and protected by the Free State, would be the first step for the Dreamers to become the overlord.

"Looking to cause trouble online?"

Emma looked at the silent group and assumed they were suspicious, but little did she know that Dreamer's ICE was frantically calling the police.

Following Washington came attacks from the Night City Corporation.

"Petrochemicals declares war."

The representative from Peizhuo Petrochemical announced, as if cursing…

The first wave of attacks against Dreamers Network was based on their attitude.

"In that case, we also do not want this cancer to exist in Taipingzhou, so the Qilu Division has chosen to join."

The representative of the Qilu Division adjusted his glasses and smiled slightly.

Zeta Technologies announced corporate sanctions and armed action against Dreamers in hopes of stabilizing Pacific Island.

Scattered sounds came one by one—

A cyber war is sweeping in like a tidal wave!

The military-grade device stared intently at Emma's face, its peripheral vision filled with venomous resentment...

……

……

(End of this chapter)