Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 506 Information
"Kill them all?"

Inside the Arasaka Tower, an agent whose eyes are scanning data is reporting to his "superior" on the screen.

Takeda's disdainful behavior was well-known in the Warsaw branch. He would almost never pay attention to the woman (V) on the Internet, let alone a greenhorn from Night City. In fact, this seemed to be the first time Takeda had inquired about matters related to "Martinez's assistant".

"Uh...yes! Yes, Lord Takeda, and they were all using Octaves equipped with the classic intelligent system weapons. Those maggots at the bottom knew nothing—the post-war estimated annihilation index is the highest in history!"

"Lord Takeda, Assistant Martinez, this is..."

The agent didn't say what he was going to say. Everyone knew that the Warsaw Arasaka branch had considered cleaning up similar underground streets like D District, but all attempts had failed. After all, the world wasn't just black and white, and part of the company's lifeline still lay with these people at the bottom.

Weapons are not just sold at the level of war.

Every bullet fired on the street, every innovation in prosthetics, every software optimization, every exciting and novel technological product... all contribute to the company's profits.

That being said, there has to be some pretense... After all, every promotional video by Arasaka has a theme of "committing to peace," even though Yoriyuki is a radical through and through.

So the agent thought that this young man from the Night City branch, which is now equivalent to the headquarters, was using the power of the Warsaw branch to suppress the long-established D District. Wasn't this helping President Takeda?
Takeda's face was half-hidden in darkness, and outside the window was a line of hovercars that moved like streaks of light. He simply looked down at the city.

"Hmph, forget it, just a lowly guy desperately trying to climb up the social ladder."

"I find it hard to imagine that someone like Martinez, with his background, could get into Arasaka Academy in this day and age. His entire resume is complete, and he entered through normal examinations. In comparison, I admire his mother who lived in the slums."

Takeda let out a mocking laugh and waved his hand, seemingly unwilling to waste his energy on such an insignificant character.

The agent seemed to be recalling Martinez's decisive order on the channel: "Take care of everything."

He had a vague feeling that Martinez was not as simple as he thought.

"Although this incident is a credit to Warsaw, you should know what to do about the person who leaked our product plans to Martinez, right?"

Takeda was giving this subordinate a reminder.

“Our counterintelligence division doesn’t have the authority to set up counterintelligence departments, but you’re already in that position… Don’t let me down.”

The agent, with a solemn expression, nodded, but he still wanted to know one more question—

"Don't we need internal oversight? Our product plans were sold before they even arrived..."

Takeda shook his head. "The technical network department is doing everything they can to deal with that woman named V... I have to admit that geniuses exist in this world. That woman is no pushover; she's got a sharp tongue, and even my wife can't quite gauge her online skills..."

"Forget it, these are things you shouldn't be concerned with. Now, just do the things I've entrusted to you."

The agent immediately bowed and said, "Yes, Lord Takeda."

Inside the office, Takeda, having hung up the phone, rubbed his chin, his eyes filled with a sinister glint. "That kind of offensive scum... if it weren't for dealing with that woman, would he really think he could have climbed up all that way?"

At this moment, the silent figure in Takeda's office slowly rose from the carpet, dressed in a pure white Japanese yukata, his eyes lowered.

"How's your investigation of the organization going?"

Takeda lit a cigarette, and the woman took small steps closer, gently massaging his shoulders. "It seems that pinning our hopes on disrupting the pathway is not feasible. We were overconfident—thinking she would be fooled, and the protocol she used would take us a very long time to decode, a random array—"

Seeing the man in front of her pause slightly while smoking, a sign that Takeda was about to get angry, the woman smiled gently, "You've endured this kind of surprise inspection from her, aren't you grateful?"

Takeda cursed under his breath, "A defensive strategy that could be exposed at any moment... I can't be thankful for this passive situation. If this continues, we'll be targeted by Yoriyuki sooner or later... Have you forgotten? After the last conference, those bastards from those two branches were all trying to kick Warsaw while he was down. Now they're hoping I'll be the first one to run into trouble!"

The woman paused her shoulder-massaging motion.

"How about... we use that one?"

Takeda frowned and turned to look at the thing in the woman's hand behind him. "Didn't we make it clear last time? As long as someone connected to Arasaka kills that woman... we won't have any good days left. Yoriyuki still has the company's military forces at headquarters in Japan. Are you kidding me?"

The woman was holding a blood-red chip, which looked almost alive and bore a striking resemblance to Relic upon closer inspection!
"It's obvious to anyone with a brain that we were the ones who created this virus..."

The woman leaned down and whispered, "Then let Yoriyuki's own people get involved. Why not make good use of that guy you just talked to—the one who considers you a benefactor? It's not surprising that this thing ended up in the hands of a traitor."

“Since Martinez is so eager, let him get involved… If that woman dies, they will all be implicated, and Lai Xuan won’t have a chance to cause trouble.”

“We’re not aiming for a quick victory… In another year, you and I will both know who will be in charge of Arasaka.”

The impatience on Takeda's face began to fade; he was seriously considering the feasibility of the plan…

Lai Xuan still needs to save face for these Europeans, and his wife is not lying about that. As long as he doesn't get the blame, it might actually work.

"Then..."

Takeda took the object from the woman's hand and examined it closely. "Let this thing appear where it's meant to be."

The woman chuckled softly, "You're still the same as before, Takeda... Over the years, only a man like you has this kind of temperament. I admire you."

A hint of tenderness appeared in Takeda's eyes as he looked at the woman, but her features inevitably reminded him of a girl who resembled her... their child.

Lucy.

Takeda is now filled with resentment. If Lucy had been captured a few years earlier, Warsaw would probably be the largest branch in Europe... something that even Relic couldn't compare to. But it's pointless to talk about that now.

"It's a clash of titans; letting Lai Xuan's men handle that woman is a smart move..."

Takeda signaled to the woman that she no longer needed to hold him down.

He got up and paced back and forth, seemingly uneasy. "Lately, I've been dreaming about Lucy a lot."

The woman's face turned cold in an instant, but her tone remained gentle, carrying an eerie feeling. "What a disobedient child... She's completely incapable of being grateful to her parents. I think you should just assume she's dead."

"What do you say?"

……

three days later.

"Cough cough..."

Lucy felt that she had mostly adapted to the climate of Night City; the wind in Warsaw always carried a chilly Siberian smell that made her nasal passages feel a little uncomfortable.

She leaned against the side of the bar's gleaming pillar, toying with a metal chip in her hand—a small item she'd taken from those bosses…it was gold.

No one at the Mama's Bar dared to approach the young woman anymore; after all, their eyes were not only on Lucy, but also on the "mysterious gentleman" who had appeared in the private room behind her.

No one knows the name of the mysterious man.

In short, he is probably the middleman and the only boss in Zone D right now.

Lucy turned her head to look at Rin, who was talking to someone inside. In that instant, she saw several unfamiliar people walk in from Mama's. At the same time, Qiwei's notification sounded in her earpiece. She was currently logged into Mama's Bar website. "From the company, Arasaka."

The burly men who entered looked around and found that the spot where Lucy had been standing was now empty.

They exchanged glances and quickly dispersed.

It was useless, because the people Arasaka sent would always end up as corpses carried out of the bar the next day. The three hackers turned Mama's Bar into an impenetrable backyard for Rin's squad.

The few who occasionally slip through the net are deliberately let out to complete the task.

Sitting in the private room, Lin Yue heard the team take down a few more guys from above and sighed at Takeda's caution. However, it was normal for Mama Mimi to have a new boss. As long as they didn't find out his real information, it wasn't a big problem.

"That's a great deal, bro."

The shifty-eyed guy opposite, who claimed to be the "living information bank" of District D, became anxious when he saw that Lin Yue's attention was not on him at all.

With the aim of gathering more intelligence, Lin Yue explored the commissions and various forces in District D. Of course, he also offered a reward for some information to attract knowledgeable people. However, the guy in front of him left Lin Yue speechless.

He didn't understand why someone would be so reckless.

“I told you, I only care about how much money I can make from that crazy dwarf thing. You come up here saying you have even more important information than that, and you want me to pay you a portion of the funds first. Do you think there’s such a good deal in the world? Or do you think it’s fun to play me?”

Lin Yue was clearly losing patience.

The mad dwarf's information was still missing one link. Right now, he just wanted his men to cause trouble for Arasaka as soon as possible, so that V would have more opportunities to seize on their weaknesses.

The shifty-eyed fellow looked slightly embarrassed upon hearing these threatening words, but he wasn't afraid; he just kept chuckling.

Sasha, who was standing behind him blowing bubblegum, had just raised her gun when the guy pretended to be scared and yelled, "No! Girl!"

Sasha brandished his gun. "Let's move, buddy."

With that, the black prosthetic markings on his arm appeared, and he was pulled off the sofa like a chick, then pushed outside—

"Sir, you will absolutely regret this! Really!"

"Don't you want to know Arasaka's shocking secret?!"

Lin Yue waved his hand and said, "I only care about the crazy dwarf. Besides, if you want to join this, you have to prove your ability, instead of coming to Mama's Bar to die with your unmodified body."

There are no cleaners in District D, but those "garbage collectors" are even worse than cleaners... Not to mention basic operations like cutting off kidneys, more importantly, they sell people to the black doctors in District D to test prosthetic bodies.

In this place, nobody cares about morality. If you need to see a doctor, you need a few good friends to keep an eye on you. If you go alone...

In addition, the garbage collector would randomly target people moving around on the street—and even occasionally go upstairs to kidnap people. Lin Yue really couldn't understand how this guy had survived until now.

"Fuck me!"

"Ouch, ouch, ouch... The idiot who leaked information to the crazy dwarf is dead! My own sister copied something, and it's absolutely top-notch! A super virus that can take down all those pretty female hackers under your command!"

The guy who was being pushed out, in a fit of desperation, started shouting—

"and many more!"

Lin Yue, as if possessed, made Sasha stop.

Sasha turned her head, biting her little fangs angrily, and said, "This guy is a liar. This kind of prosthetic body has no fighting power at all—how could Arasaka's super virus be in his hands?"

However, to her puzzled look, Lin Yue still waved his hand, and she muttered a few more words before pushing the guy back in.

Lin Yue stared at the guy rubbing his arm. He felt that this guy might actually be quite capable to have survived in this area for so long, so he asked, "What does that virus mean to me... The hacker who can solve my problem isn't necessarily targeting me. I think you're planning to sell other information, right?"

When the guy realized his plan had been foiled, he immediately scratched his head. Sasha immediately added fuel to the fire, "This guy just wants to scam money, he should be shot!"

"You are a very smart and handsome man."

"I only know the information in that thing; the copying is just a log entry... But hold on, don't you want to know who's going to use it? The real culprit behind that day when you were all showing off your prowess but were driven to the brink by those idiots from Arakawa—"

"David Martinez!!"

"So, I got this idiot's name. With your abilities, you shouldn't have trouble figuring it out—"

"Uh!"

As the guy was smugly saying these things, Sasha, like a streak of light, grabbed his neck tightly...

This time, they're really serious.

Lin Yue felt a sense of dread. How could such an insignificant guy, who was as insignificant as dust, know such inside information? What exactly was Warsaw doing?
Based on his intuition alone, Lin Yue guessed that Takeda was probably starting to retaliate.

The purpose is self-evident.

Martinez and V—one of them is the one he needs to deal with right now, but does the virus this guy is talking about really exist? Lin Yue didn't know which one to start with.

"I will verify the message—"

Lin Yue sighed.

Sasha frowned slightly upon hearing Lin Yue's words. If she had to kill this guy right now, she really didn't know what Rin was thinking.

"Also, I can give you the money."

Lin Yue stared at the guy who was initially surprised but then became excited and asked Sasha to release him, and slowly continued, "But you have to tell me, who is the person who told you this information? I'm afraid there's more than just Mamamy as an intelligence hub in District D, right?"

The money chip was slowly rolled out.

Lin Yue's voice made that fearless guy start swallowing hard.

"Tell me, and also tell me how that crazy dwarf bought information from him—you have both money and your life, otherwise..."

at last.

The guy who had seemed to have never taken Lin Yue and his group seriously immediately panicked.

"How...how did you know?!"

……

……

(End of this chapter)