Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 464 Top-Tier "Outsourcing" (Part 2) [7.1K]

"It seems like she hasn't been taking any medication since leaving the trauma team... well, there's the wound infection, and some aftereffects of the prosthetic body's back door being locked."

"Of course, the most important thing is that she starved herself."

V looked at the woman lying on the sofa and came to a final conclusion.

While speaking, he also complained about Lin Yue, who didn't seem like a street kid anymore... What kind of mercenary fights on the streets without carrying medicine or anything like that?
Lin Yue watched as the woman inhaled several cans of the powerful medicine, while V sat quietly on the sofa, seemingly lost in thought.

"To be honest, even in my dreams when I was fired by Arasaka, I looked this miserable... I couldn't even use the bio-controller, and the aftereffects of working all night were deadly; I was living hand to mouth. I never expected that the Night Clan, which had the best benefits in Night City, would be controlled by artificial intelligence."

V's expression was somewhat complicated.

Lin Yue was both amused and exasperated.

Which company leaders are being attacked, both openly and covertly?
Indeed, the Night Clan's presence in Lin Yue's mind was rather low, but it seems that the methods used by artificial intelligence to purge rebellious employees are very similar to those used by humans.

Sitting on the sofa, Lin Yue tried to wake Sandra.

Looking at the makeshift, movable machine guns assembled in the living room, Lin Yue even wondered if he had stumbled upon a hacker's hideout...

Sandra's eyelids fluttered a few times as Lin Yue shook her, and she slowly opened her eyes—

"what!"

The moment Sandra got up, her hand frantically reached for her waist. V, standing beside her, reacted quickly, placing both hands on her shoulders. "Hey! Look closely, we're from the Rogue faction! Quiet down!"

Sandra, still shaken by the immense mental trauma, stared at the young man and woman.

To be honest, the two men did look like she had imagined them; neither of them seemed like someone to be trifled with. However, Sandra had gathered a lot of information on famous mercenaries in Night City, and she was certain that she had never seen these two men before.

Seeing that Sandra, who was panting heavily, was no longer making any extreme movements, V quietly sat down beside her, glancing at Rin with a clear meaning in his eyes.

This woman is about to break down...

Lin Yue's actual thought was very simple: get rid of this woman as soon as possible and hand over everything Sandra had.

He then pointed to his phone. "Miss Sandra Dorset, Roger told me about you, so please rest assured; could you tell me what you need to find out?"

Sandra huddled in the corner of the sofa, as if she had just experienced a terrible nightmare. Even the usually cold-faced V couldn't help but soften his tone when he saw her trembling like a lamb: "Rogge said the Trauma Team got you out of the Cleaners' clutches? Those bastards are all gone—forget about it. We're here, you're safe."

Sandra looked at the woman with striking, heroic features, and then nodded vigorously.

“V”.

Valerie gave a brief introduction of herself.

Lin Yue smiled slightly and, mimicking V's reassuring expression, introduced himself, "K, a rock singer from Santo Domingo, and a part-time mercenary."

part time?!
Although Sandra was extremely thin, she still had large eyes, which she stared at as if assessing whether the person in front of her could handle her troubles.

I don't know what she was thinking.

In short... after hesitating for a long time, she spoke with a hoarse voice.

"The company... the company's senior management are all a bunch of proceduralists."

"They are not human."

Lin Yue and V both knew about this news, but they still pretended to be skeptical.

“Really.” Sandra seemed to recall something extremely terrifying, and immediately reached out to grab V’s wrist. “V, do you know? They’ve been secretly discussing a lot of things and have infiltrated many organizations. I… I have evidence.”

"I know this is hard to imagine, but do you know about mobile AI? Or in the online world, do you understand hacking techniques?"

Lin Yue reached out and said, "Miss, the person sitting next to you is a hacker with a super brain. I'm the outsourced worker who does the hard work. She can understand."

The two worked together as a team.

V was quick to follow suit and immediately began to use language to highlight his professional status.

"Although I don't quite understand if the AI ​​control company you're talking about is like Delaman Taxi, I do know about roving AI. It's because of the Great Firewall that those things haven't turned our network into a dangerous wasteland, right?"

"However, that woman from Westbrook said that what you possess is the information about someone blowing up the Black Wall. Could you elaborate?"

"We've done a lot of research and gathered a lot of information to get this job for you, so please trust us."

Sandra has had dealings with mercenaries before.

Most of them had a "madam, you're alright" expression, or they were just having fun. Besides, few mercenaries were willing to get involved in company matters, since the cyber war in Night City had only just ended... Nobody wanted to court death at this critical juncture.

Of course, she was unaware of Rogge's underhanded dealings; she just felt helpless, as no one in the vast Night City could help her.

Lin Yue carefully recalled what Gloria had sent him. What he needed now was evidence of data type, so that he could completely reverse public opinion in Night City and make the Night Clan follow in the footsteps of network surveillance.

Without him.

These two companies, each with its own strengths in the networking field, were the biggest obstacle for him to go to Europe to solve the problem.

One is the foundation of powerful AI, and the other is the absolute power of censorship over the internet.

Once the Ye family can no longer cover up these things, they will naturally be unable to continue relying on this.

Sandra looked like she was about to cry.

V, being kind, grabbed a frozen treat (who knows if it was expired) and stuffed it into Sandra's mouth, saying, "Eat and talk."

Cold on the outside and hot on the inside.

V has always been like this.

Sandra's fear subsided slightly. "Thank you..."

In the face of fear, some basic human needs can be temporarily suppressed. Once it is relatively safe, she took a few bites of the frozen roll and immediately began to eat heartily.

"Hmm, V... and K; what I'm about to say might not believe you, but do you know the real reason why so many people died in Night City this time?"

"The Ye family blasted a hole in the black wall!"

To be honest, V and Lin Yue really wanted Sandra to talk more about things other than this... but then again, the matter of blowing up the black wall is itself a major piece of news.

V asked, "How did you know that?"

Sandra Dorset spent a long time organizing her thoughts and then recounted everything that had happened before she was kidnapped by the Cleaners.

The company's employees intentionally ignored the details.

It was probably while she was working overtime at the company that a set of software development data had a problem, and the software engineer who was supposed to be on duty at the time was not... Sandra's customer maintenance module staff member was temporarily reassigned because of some previous work experience.

While the subnet was running, a set of keys was verified without proper authorization, so Sandra took a closer look, and what she did was discover the entry point to the black wall.

What followed matched Lin Yue's actions that day.

"I don't know what method Ye used to make the black wall cover up this program... I panicked at the time, and before the employees reviewed it, I sent this to the Internet monitor anonymously."

"Damn..."

Lin Yue shook his head upon hearing this.

With the Night family's capabilities, the entire public network is basically under surveillance, so that email would never reach the network monitoring system.

Lin Yue just couldn't understand why the Ye family wanted to use the Cleaners to handle this matter...

As an omnipotent, roaming AI in the online world, if one wanted to do something to Sandra's brain, all it would take was a cyberattack... or at the very least, an offline unboxing.

The scavenger also needs to avoid Sandra's trauma group platinum members; if he gets rescued, wouldn't he be shooting himself in the foot?
"K...K?"

Lin Yue was lost in thought until V called him several times before he came to his senses.

"Those scumbags from the Cleaners, if I weren't working for the company, I would have been sold to Blackie's Dream Factory... Those guys are inhuman!"

Sandra appears to be explaining how she was caught by the Cleaners.

Lin Yue temporarily put this doubt aside, and as they talked, he and V finally understood what Sandra wanted.

"No matter how I run, I can't outrun it. I'd like you to find my backup data and help me locate the remote neural matrix projection position of the AI!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yue and V both saw speechlessness on each other's faces.

Lin Yue now only wants to know where the data falls and the fixed position of the matrix.

This is the key evidence that led to the Night Clan's complete withdrawal from Night City—

However, those in Europe who are willing to endorse artificial intelligence probably haven't thought about this crucial issue.

Internet surveillance is now going all out to investigate the reasons for the loopholes in the Great Firewall...

“Honestly, madam, if we were to get you out of Night City, we could help you out of any trouble the company might send to stop you on the way—but you’re going to pull teeth from the tiger’s mouth, which is neither rational nor worthwhile, madam.”

V frowned and added, "Sandra, I know this might be offensive, but using the Cleaners was a mistake... If it weren't for the network fluctuations caused by that Pacific company, and the subsequent network crash—"

"Your brain should have been burned through by now, do you understand what I mean?"

Without realizing it, V naturally started to see things from Lin Yue's perspective as a "top-tier outsourcer".

For Sandra, two mercenaries willing to risk their lives to take on her commission, while she herself was presented with a briefing containing no evidence to support her death sentence…

The cards look very few no matter how you look at them.

Everyone wants to live.

Sandra's idea was to gain leverage in negotiating prices with the Night family.

“V, without that thing, I’ll die no matter where I go. Please help me—besides, the Ye family’s infiltration is through a small tech company. How much benefit can this thing bring? I won’t touch that, but if you get your hands on it, you’ll never have to worry for the rest of your lives!”

Sandra's tone was flustered; she seemed to sense that the two mercenaries were not going to help her, so her voice carried a hint of pleading.

Lin Yue, who was still trying to figure out how to get information out of him, immediately twitched upon hearing this news.

"and many more…"

"What did you say, infiltration?"

Sandra collapsed from the sofa, her legs giving way, and slumped over to Lin Yue. “Mind control and infiltration! Do you understand what I’m talking about? The list, the entire list is full of politicians and corporate executives from Night City and North America—please, K, help me.”

Lin Yue's expression was grim.

It's understandable that Sandra would lie to survive at this critical juncture, but the infiltration and control of consciousness... it seems to be a tactic of the Night Clan!
You have to take responsibility for what you say.

V found it hard to imagine how consciousness infiltration could be done, so her first reaction was disbelief.

"Leaving aside the politicians in Night City, what about the executives of other companies? What do you think you're talking about? Do you really think that internal audits and regular health checks are just for show?"

"If what you say is true, and the Ye family can control the company, then why were they still at a disadvantage in this cyber war and the Black Wall bombing incident? Now the company's important businesses have been cut off, leaving only an empty shell!"

V suddenly stood up.

Lin Yue subconsciously clenched his teeth.

He felt that it was best if Arasaka wasn't among the people Sandra mentioned. V was known for her strictness and seriousness in her work at the company, and she was the highest-ranking internal supervisor. If Yoru had done this, she probably wouldn't have even noticed...

So he first signaled to V with his eyes not to get agitated, and calmly said under Sandra's panicked gaze, "Whoever carries that list is doomed. Why don't you tell me what this so-called mind control is all about?"

V turned her head, and Lin Yue noticed a slight glint in her eyes.

I reckon he's communicating with his subordinates; once he gets the leads from Sandra, he'll eliminate Arasaka's mole. This is an unexpected bonus.

Lin Yue originally intended to find the key evidence that Ye Shi had fabricated the Black Wall, to create a complete chain of evidence for the media to handle the public opinion issue... but unexpectedly, pulling up a radish brought up the mud, and Sandra revealed this important information.

"You must not utter a single word of what I am about to say, not even to Roger. I beg you... you are all I can rely on."

V was still furious, but at this moment he could only patiently comfort Sandra with a few words.

"In fact, this started in 2077, no... even earlier."

“We can’t find any information about the first guinea pig on the list now. That’s right, it’s the CEO of this Brain Vitality Technology company…” Sandra, pale-faced, hurriedly got up and muttered as she rummaged through the clutter. “That guy must have died a terrible death, but the technology belongs to the Ye family.”

As she spoke, Sandra opened a safe that looked very secure, inside which were brand new document bags.

Lin Yue guessed that Sandra was hiding many details. She probably knew about the fact that the Ye Group's senior management was controlled by AI a long time ago, but she was just following the clues. As an employee responsible for customer maintenance, she naturally had access to a lot of information...

"Look, gentlemen, it's him."

Lin Yue's gaze swept over the image; although it was a strange man, half of the photo of the person below was visible.

Seeing Lin Yue's interested expression, Sandra hurriedly pulled out the details of Night City's "underground mayor" from underneath...

The above content is excessively detailed, including not only Jefferson's own family and his wife Elizabeth's family, but also information about his daughter's school security guard and whether she has a boyfriend.

Lin Yue felt as if someone was specifically standing in Jefferson's house watching and recording it, and the latest update seemed to be last month.

"Are they also interested in lawmakers?"

Sandra's words caught in her throat. "Are you kidding me, K? A congressman? Jefferson could have run for mayor three years ago. He simply rejected the wrong person... The Night family's archives have a very detailed record of this."

Jefferson believed that the Night Clan was hesitant and even passive in many decisions regarding Night City, and that they were weak; they were no longer the reliable asset they had been when Night City was being built.

Tear your face?
There's such a thing...

"Furthermore, Jefferson wants to emulate the new US President Myers. Do you think Mr. Ye would agree to that?"

Lin Yue and V were surprised that the woman in front of them, who was only a few years older than them, was so politically astute…

Sandra, perhaps having opened up, patiently explained, mistakenly believing the two mercenaries wouldn't understand. After all, at this point, she couldn't complain that they weren't professionals hired by the company.

“After Miles took office, he joined forces with many military industrial companies and conglomerates of New America to complete a second merger of military technology. Some people outside say that New America is military technology and military technology is also New America, but anyone who works in the company knows what’s really going on.”

"Military Technology is a vicious dog, and only Miles is holding the reins. Moreover, the CEO of Military Technology has been in cahoots with Miles for the past few years, and the new U.S. Department of Defense is already showing its strength... Military Technology will not benefit from internal strife."

"Damn... why am I telling you all this?"

"In short, Jefferson wants the Night Corporation to listen to him, but he is not willing to be manipulated by the Night Corporation... It seems that Arasaka had previously consulted Jefferson, leaving him with a lingering problem, and this guy doesn't trust any company."

Lin Yue is now completely matched up.

"so--"

Sandra said confidently, "So the Night City made Jefferson sit on the sidelines, do you understand now? But this time Jefferson made a good move. Look at him, pretending to mourn the former mayor, and even letting the most qualified councilor take over according to the Night City treaty... Who can't see that he's clearing his name?!"

Lin Yue taught the girl a lesson.

But what she said actually turned out to be true...

"Girl, I'm not here to listen to the lecture."

Sandra was talking non-stop, clearly engrossed in her speech, rattling off a string of words, "In short, what I'm telling you is that the Night Clan has discovered that this female mayor has serious problems. They've already taken action against Jefferson. If you want to verify the technology, you can go find Jefferson."

"Okay, even if what you're saying is true, how exactly do we do it?"

Lin Yue recalled the details of Jefferson's altered memories within the original timeline.

In addition to brain technology, they also used a method of tracking and surveillance. Things that happened in 2077 are still going on now... It seems that the Night Clan has done a lot of work in this regard.

"what about others?"

Sandra shook her head. "We didn't have time to retrieve it, but the server is offline. It's impossible for the Ye family to touch that module; at least they wouldn't want to destroy all the data."

V crossed his arms and pondered carefully, picking up the so-called technical principle of brain memory alteration.

This is far more insidious than any AI implantation. According to the technical description, it will eventually blur the host's consciousness and inject memories that don't belong to them, achieving extremely difficult-to-censor mind control… The entire process is accomplished using biological drug technology. The only problem is that it requires 24-hour monitoring of the host.

This is to prevent unstable factors from affecting the still-developing memories.

That's really impressive...

Lin Yue felt that Ye's Group was the most troublesome company in the city.

Too many questions remained unanswered. Realizing the situation was spiraling out of control, they decisively breached the Black Wall, attempting to replace V's original ecological niche in the timeline with Lin Yue to launch an attack on Crystal Palace. Meanwhile, NCX was tracking Lucy, though their plan was thwarted—

However, it's said that Michiko possessed a copy of Soul Killer at the time, which caused quite a stir online regarding the entire incident.
"Soul Killer!"

Lin Yue felt as if a deafening bell or drum sounded in his mind!

Black walls, outer space.

These should be the ultimate goals of the Night Clan... Lucy is probably an attempt by the Night Clan to build the Black Wall, while he himself is the one among the Kings of Cities who is heading into space.

These two changes will undoubtedly alter the world.

Sima Zhao's intentions are obvious to everyone... Lin Yue understood what Ye Shi meant.

"So you mean we should run right now into the Ye Corporation building in the company plaza, where we don't even know if anyone's still alive?"

V knew that Sandra's 50,000 euros weren't wasted.

They were right there, and Sandra was determined not to budge until she got what she wanted, while V's hand was already fiddling with the knife in his jacket pocket.

No matter how you look at it... this seems to be the cleanest way.

Rin would definitely not do that, but if he struck first, there wouldn't be so much trouble. Just as V was calculating all this—

"The offline server's key is quite complex. Using my biometric information and password, as long as Ye Shi isn't insane, he wouldn't dare let the server go online to modify the management partition, so we can steal it."

"I'll wait for you here, I'm not going anywhere."

V put the knife away.

Hmm... they have the password.

Lin Yue was sweating profusely. V's actions were really very corporate... But in any case, Gloria's reminder and Sandra's "uninvited confession" did provide a lot of proactive information, allowing the enemy hiding in the network to reveal their true colors.

“Sandra, listen to me, these things won’t save your life. Take some company data and I’ll act as your middleman. Sell it for a good price and start a new life.”

Sandra was clearly taking a desperate gamble, but she wasn't sure if she could negotiate with the Night family.

"Where to... K, easier said than done."

"As long as the internet exists, they will find me someday... no, it might not even take long."

Lin Yue looked at the woman who was slumped on the ground and said, "No, there's a good place for us right now."

Sandra looked very confused.

"Wanderer, outside the Badlands of Night City."

"If you have any news discernment, you should know that Channel 54 is talking nonsense, right?"

At least Lin Yue thought Sandra was intelligent enough to distinguish between the homeless, the thugs, and the night ghosts…

Sandra's eyes lit up. "The nomadic camp is in the Badlands; they definitely don't have internet access..."

But his expression only brightened slightly, because homeless people don't easily accept their tribes, especially strangers, let alone a former company employee...

Lin Yue, however, was full of confidence.

"Trust me, we can set off right now. If you're really worried, my advice is not to tell us the key."

V's expression was somewhat grim. Sandra's move would undoubtedly draw a heavy pursuit from Night City. She wasn't worried about Rin; it was Sandra's current state...

The guy in front of him never used extreme measures against neutrals for personal gain. Perhaps it was this subconscious kindness that made V feel a sense of comfort, like being close to the warm sun. And it was precisely because of this that what he did was more like that of a true "dreamer".

Lin Yue gave him a meaningful look.

She gestured for V to brag a bit about himself as an outsourced employee, since Sandra only knew him as a rock singer.

V sighed slightly, his expression a mix of helplessness and indulgence. "Sandra, a girl who can take down a dozen people in the Valentino gang and still ride a motorcycle with me out, if I were you, you would wholeheartedly agree to this proposal."

Lin Yue felt a chill run down his spine from embarrassment, and his toes clenched instinctively.

The director of the special operations department, a man of great stature, has absolutely no talent for flattery... He's like an NPC programmed to learn how to say nice things.

Lin Yue then pulled out a weapon from his pocket. "A Valentino revolver. Looks good, so I'll keep it. You can borrow it for now—there's no reason to sit around and wait to die, is there? Rather than waiting for the company dogs to negotiate with you, why not make them suffer?"

V's expression also conveyed a sense of shock, as if to say, "You actually managed to pull this off."

to be honest…

She couldn't bring herself to curse her own company's dogs.

Lin Yue winked. Sandra, seeing the shocked V, assumed it was Lin Yue's inspiring speech that had worked. She gritted her teeth, grabbed the pistol, and hurriedly turned to pack her money.

……

After going downstairs, Lin Yue made a phone call to the old captain. This motorcycle can only travel a short distance, meaning it can only travel from the parking lot to a car owner who has difficulty passing by, which is only a few hundred meters.

So, to avoid his car being stolen, he had this jerk tow it away first…

V skillfully pried open a blue van with a box downstairs; she was good at this kind of technical skill, and it didn't trigger any alarms or anything.

Why are there so many devices in the carriage?

Sandra muttered something to herself, and Lin Yue, turning his head, saw the interior behind them, which looked like a mobile TV station. He scratched his head, thinking that it seemed a certain tech geek's hard work was going to be wasted.

In the blink of an eye, V spoke through the silent voice mode—

"Alright, the company will transfer the payment."

In the past, requisitioning a car was just a piece of cake for V, since it was Night City anyway... what's so strange about losing a car?

If she had any morals, she wouldn't have pursued Rin. However, this stubborn girl doesn't realize that her kindness is also a crucial factor.

Lin Yue started the car with peace of mind.

The moment the entire vehicle infotainment system connected to the city's subnet, it was as if a pair of eyes in the cyber network had instantly opened...

The car drove smoothly for less than half an hour, just reaching the border of Santo Domingo. The three of them didn't say much along the way. V had one arm on the car window and glanced at the rearview mirror. Several motorcycles were emerging from the traffic at high speed, like venomous snakes rushing towards their prey.

However, V overlooked the fact that there were also small windows at the back of the carriage.

Sandra's face was deathly pale as she stared at the mantis knives gleaming coldly on the wrists of the drivers.

"K!"

……

……

(End of this chapter)