Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 487 Prelude (Part 1)

"I never expected everything to go so smoothly."

"I'm starting to understand what you meant more and more: it's better if nothing happens."

V reached out and caught a pink electronic petal, while Lin Yue beside her simply watched the electronic lights and shadows falling from the sky and the two swimming goldfish—

Goldfish, seemingly unaffected by the light and shadow, swam around the elaborate floats from the company plaza, briefly making V forget the countless tragedies and poverty hidden beneath the buildings that served as the parade route.

"You...don't like this flower?"

It must be said that V's intuition was very sharp; she could tell that Lin Yue was not interested in, and even somewhat disgusted by, the pink cherry blossoms.

Lin Yue shook his head. "Yeah, actually I don't have a good impression of Japan as a country."

There was nothing to hide from V. The woman nodded as if suddenly understanding, and rather charmingly withdrew her hand…

Lin Yue felt helpless.

"Past events often remind people to stay on the right path; I remember that day simply as a reminder of the way I came..."

Lin Yue didn't say the second half of his sentence.

If I remember correctly, although this world is a parallel world, certain memories are still unforgettable for every Chinese person. No matter how time changes, they will always be painful scars. Lin Yue will not forget to mourn the dead because of cooperation and the living.

"Okay, I vaguely remember the subjects I took in school. If I were in charge of Kangtao, I would have realized it immediately."

V, arms crossed, watched the giant, whale-like float slowly sail towards the end, his gaze tinged with worry. Although the parade itself went smoothly, the global convention following Arasaka was the most important thing… Raigen had done all this reluctantly; he had no choice. Saburo's influence still lingered in Europe, and a significant portion of the population was dissatisfied with Raigen.

There must be a pretext for murder.

What Lai Xuan feared most were these slippery fellows. They outwardly complied but inwardly defied the rules, thus constantly hindering Lai Xuan's progress in controlling Europe.

If it weren't for the formidable military strength of the Arasaka headquarters under Yoriyuki's command, those old Europeans would probably have launched sabotage before Yoriyuki even came to power.

"Valerie, don't be so cautious. I heard you and Takemura have a good discussion?"

"Thank you for following my advice and letting Takemura take the initiative to investigate these clues... I owe you and Lai Xuan this trust."

V pursed her lips and shook her head.

Even if Lin Yue doesn't explain things clearly, she and Lai Xuan will still do as he says because Lin has never made a mistake.

Since it was just casual conversation anyway, V seemed to be intentionally diverting Lin Yue's attention, "So in your mind, Takemura is a rather unstable guy, which is why we can use him?"

"Such a thing simply doesn't exist."

Lin Yue's smile held a hint of sarcasm. "Sanlang just likes to play those old tricks... Haven't you heard of the saying 'A scholar will die for one who understands him'?"

V pronounced the sentence in perfect Chinese intonation, which impressed Lin Yue... He hadn't expected V to have such a standard intonation even without a language module installed.

"Hmm, my translation system has figured out that Saburo is trying to use this kind of favor to control Goro's blind loyalty? What... is this?"

V was completely baffled.

Lin Yue said seriously, "It's just a difference in culture, but for a samurai like Takemura, anyone who helps them when they're starving will risk their lives for them. But Takemura is different; he's already risked his life enough. Saburo isn't someone who'll do anything for him."

At this moment, Lin Yue's mind was filled with various words from his memories of Zhu Village after it survived.

Saburo's resurrection, Takemura's self-doubt, and V's insults that he is a dog who follows Saburo without knowing morality, all of which he accepts without question.

Therefore, this has always been Lin Yue's method of using his memories from his previous life. So far, compared to simply waiting for some bad events to happen while ignoring the important factor of "people" and not intervening, the current method has been very successful without exception.

It's not that Takemura isn't strong; his greatest strength is his incredible patience.

Lin Yue was amused to see this guy still working for Hua Zi even when Hua Zi was trying to silence him. It wasn't entirely mockery, but rather a reflection that Zhu Cun was still the same Zhu Cun.

V didn't understand, but said that Lin Yue's methods were always surprisingly effective.

"I'm starting to believe more and more of what you said about 'knowing what's going to happen in this world'... To be honest, you and Lai Xuan have only met a few times, yet you shorted Kejing Logistics, surrounded the company's factions, fought for interests, and gained control of the Black Wall Prosthetics, etc."

"Someone who isn't familiar with it couldn't possibly do it, right?"

V laughed and said, "So you probably know about my future, right?"

"What is it?"

“You didn’t say a word when I asked you before.”

Lin Yue smiled without saying a word, just staring at V. Perhaps this woman herself didn't realize that she was talking more and more frequently. Her humanity, which had been suppressed by the high-pressure work and unscrupulous behavior of the company, was gradually being released... V was a complex collection of multifaceted choices by nature.

"Your future..."

Lin Yue wanted to say there were many kinds.

But none of them seem to be related to happiness.

Even if a Lai Xuan appears, the company's strong control is useless. In the end, the best outcome is that the city king, the strongest lone wolf V who can be born in this land, becomes an ordinary person who is powerless against the lies of capital.

and so…

Looking at the complex interplay of light and shadow and the bustling cityscape, Lin Yue spoke of V's "future."

"There is me."

V paused for a moment, then rolled his eyes at the guy next to him.

"Fuck..."

Lin Yue scratched his head, still finding the forceful curse as satisfying as ever. However, he could see the bright lips curving beneath the electronic petals that stained her face on the V-shaped surface.

As the floats left the end of the Japanese street, V's eyes lit up several times, clearly signaling the orderly withdrawal of the security team; for high-ranking officials like Arasaka Yoriyuki, security is always handled by the local special operations director... If this matter is handled smoothly, Yoriyuki's televised speech will be enough to satisfy the Europeans.

Of course, Lai Xuan, who always pursues mutual benefits and even exclusive profits, would never let this opportunity pass.

V is a nail, a nail driven into the heart of this European Arasaka branch; he can also be called a watcher…

Lai Xuan's solution was simple: since the die-hards so highly regarded certain plans and strategies devised by Saburo Arasaka, why not simply bring out the functions and attributes of the old man's counterintelligence department and the former Abernathy department? You should know that when the counterintelligence department and special operations department conducted internal reviews, these people did not say that they would follow Lord Arasaka to the death.

"Night City, the world, my colleague Arasaka is already watching the people here right now."

"I am Arasaka Yorinobu."

Arakawa Yoriyuki stood at the front of the float, as if the world was in his sights, in a silver-gray suit and his classic brown sunglasses.

"These have been three difficult years for Arakawa..."

Lai Xuan looked down at the manuscript, and the almost imperceptible pauses seemed to go unnoticed by anyone.

"First of all, I want to thank my father, the helmsman of the giant ship Arasaka... I made many big mistakes when I was young and ignorant, but in any case, after I took over this company, I began to understand the saying that companies are the lifeline of the world, and it also gave me a more ambitious goal in life!" Lin Yue's expression was strange.

"Wow! Lai Xuan is really going all out? He actually said that."

Although he knew that doing so was actually a good choice, Lin Yue still felt that Lai Xuan was becoming more and more tolerant.

In the past, he would only curse these people as leeches sucking blood from the deserted slopes.

"Dignity first, then force, isn't that what you said?"

V asked with a smile, "Rin, guess what trick I gave Lai Xuan?"

Lin Yue thought for a moment, and figured that no matter what, they would have to go through a war of words after the Arasaka Conference started before they could finally insert V, which was just a dagger on the surface, into Arasaka's map of Europe.

Unexpectedly, V looked very proud.

Lin Yue's heart sank. Could it be that these two guys... are trying to take advantage of the situation?
Lin Yue, who had rebelled against the company's memories several times in this world, knew that no one would mourn Saburo. On the contrary, many people were delighted by Saburo's death and worried about whether a war would break out. But the other companies didn't think so—the media was the mouthpiece, and Arasaka Yoriyuki had to make the enemy create benefits for his next move in this situation.

This is not...

It's coming soon.

Lai Hsuan's lengthy eulogy for his father came to an abrupt end.

This is the best words Lai Xuan could think of to say so much. If we take the life support system for Sanlang as the basis, Lin Yue believes that Lai Xuan could curse for hours without stopping.

Saburo's pedantry was something that Lai Xuan could never understand in his lifetime.

"Next, I would like to thank my colleagues and seniors in Europe for their support. In many important decisions made by Arasaka in the 20th century, the European map has brought us a lot of benefits. In particular, the European Guardian of Souls project enabled Arasaka to fulfill his promise of using technology to restore memories."

“During this period, we received a lot of negative comments, fabrications, or... smokescreens released by people with ulterior motives.”

"Arasaka has always adhered to the requirements of the International Human Rights Council and will not use the Relic series for any healthy, living natural person, except for those rebellious individuals from outside the world who illegally occupy Arasaka's assets—"

"All of the above are the result of the efforts of our European predecessors and colleagues."

Lin Yue frowned slightly.

"However, because Arasaka lost my father, such a strict 'whip,' some people have betrayed their promises and original intentions. For the sake of profit, they have lowered Arasaka's image all the way, causing many incidents, and even at one point there were cases of violating the headquarters' agreement and causing widespread negative impact."

"I hereby announce that on my father's anniversary, I will announce the reinstatement of Arasaka's strict system, so that this battleship, representing the highest level of human technology, which has used technology to change everything around us, will reflect on itself..."

After Lai Xuan finished speaking, he looked up and stared directly at the screen.

"Please be sure to... give me your support!"

bow.

Lin Yue and V stared at each other for a long time. He said with some helplessness, "Valerie, you guys are really not afraid of hitting rock bottom and rebounding. But I have to admit you are very smart and as bold as ever."

The V-sign had a hint of pride in it.

Unbeknownst to Lin Yue, he noticed that the people around him were all doing things at a high level. V's abilities had improved too rapidly, and he was still using the same old method of exchanging benefits.

Since things have become so urgent, Lai Xuan has to at least insert V as a figurehead first:
The only problem is that the outer perimeter of the Night City network is now blocked, and he needs to find a reasonable and appropriate way to leave a passage through the network.

For a hacker of Lin Yue's caliber, this was not a difficult task; he even had the audacity to launch an attack on the network surveillance headquarters.

V said, "Lai Xuan needs to use this as an excuse to connect the network facilities 20 nautical miles off the coast of Night City to Europe, but do you think the European Internet Regulatory Commission, which suffered a setback with Arasaka that time, would agree to this request if it were done in a normal way?"

Lin Yue felt that his girlfriend was becoming more and more like him.

"so…"

V said nonchalantly, "So they're happy to see the internal strife in Arasaka, it just means they'll have more means of surveillance on the passageway... But with you around, it's hardly a problem for you."

Lin Yue rubbed his chin.

"I never expected Valerie to learn so quickly."

V's sharp tongue never backs down. "Of course, someone's ruthlessness has its merits; after all, you're so clever."

A V, and an Emma.

If Lin Yue felt he hadn't figured things out, he might not be able to outwit them in terms of strategy.

Lai Xuan's speech naturally wouldn't cause any stir in the city; the citizens were never concerned with such things, but they were quite interested in Arasaka's negative news.

Just then, Lin Yue's phone rang.

Several messages from Emma appeared in the chat box—

[Emma]: I've heard that even the wildest man knows to go home and visit his family. :p
[Emma]: So when are you planning to come back? We've made progress on obtaining the Night Clan's technology and the body, and the team is waiting for your call. Also, I'm very well prepared, so I hope you don't feel tired. If you still don't understand, then I'll just tell you, "I miss you."

[Emma]: Also, my generosity has its limits :)
V didn't seem to even glance at the information, but still said, "You need to sort out some things before going to Europe, so you have to come to the upcoming Arasaka Conference, which is not scheduled. At least you need to get to know who doesn't get along with us... Don't come to Europe and still need to ask me for intelligence."

"How did you learn to speak like that?"

Lin Yue didn't reply to the message; he simply put his phone away.

V gave me a knowing look and said, "Sometimes I wish you were the cool rock star from Night City who knows nothing but how to play guitar. At least if I found out you had other girls, I could take your legs off and, depending on my mood, put on prosthetics."

"But there's nothing I can do..."

V shrugged. "I've missed that opportunity, so I can only pretend to be magnanimous."

Lin Yue was about to speak when V waved his hand, "Want to come? Just change your appearance using your panel. No one can read your information through the screen anyway; you can just listen in—"

The grand drama in Europe is about to begin, and Lin Yue naturally needs to know which obstacles are outwardly blocking his way, so that he can make his move more effective when the time comes.

"With great pleasure."

"And I will take careful notes, Director!"

Lin Yue nodded, his expression serious and earnest, though it wasn't entirely a joke.

V wore a strange expression, as if he couldn't do anything about him but was also unconsciously amused, and reluctantly let the guy go.

The airship blew away the dust on the top floor of the building. Lin Yue climbed up, reached out and pulled V into the airship to rush to the banquet called "Dispute". After all, the appetizer and the prelude cannot be without the main character.

……

……

(End of this chapter)