Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 51 Identity Swap [Please Read On]

Inside the car, V rested his chin on his hand, pondering his current situation.

What a coincidence! I had just finished talking to Lin Yue about the slider, and that very night he went missing—ICE was also hacked, and his self-defense mechanisms kicked in.

"Drive faster!"

The agent in front nodded, and the car sped off, finally stopping in front of the Dogtown checkpoint.

Before long, a sneaky-looking hound came over and took the digital encryption chip that V had handed out through the window.

"The money is here."

V's voice was cold.

The hound wiped the cold sweat from its forehead. "This is really the last time. If Hansen finds out—I'll lose my head. Can you guys please stay away from Dogtown?"

V raised his chin slightly, and the car slowly drove into the checkpoint in Dogtown.

The sentry at the inspection station, who was in charge of the scanning, was sweating profusely as he looked at the contents of the X-ray device screen. The trunk was full of guns and weapons.

"pass."

After the soldier altered the checkpoint's records, he waved, and the car, which didn't bear any Arasaka markings, headed towards Lin Yue's final location.

"Sir, I suggest you prepare for an activity that will be assessed as dangerous later."

V nodded, the car screeched to a halt, and everyone got out of the car at the same time, opened the trunk, and took out weapons such as rifles.

V checked the [Arasaka TKI-20 Shingen] smart submachine gun in her hand. After confirming that it was connected to her prosthetic body and that its functions were working properly, she gave the order, and the group rushed to the location where Lin Yue had last appeared.

A strong stench of blood wafted from the dilapidated buildings shrouded in darkness in the distance—a situation that Agent Arasaka and the counterintelligence department were all too familiar with.

The battle appears to be over.

That proves Lin Yue...

V couldn't help but feel disappointed and powerless about this somewhat reckless move. If they had waited for Arasaka's people to arrive, Lin Yue might not have been taken down like this. The disconnection was troublesome, meaning they would have to risk being discovered by Hansen in Dogtown to find Slide.

Suddenly, V stopped, raising his hand, and the agents raised their guns in a defensive stance.

Through her prosthetic eye, she spotted a man sitting outside the deathly building, holding a large gun and smoking.

V, approaching slowly, scanned the other party's personal information.

It's Lin Yue!
Lin Yue silently smoked a cigarette. Agent Arasaka turned on the flashlight in front of his gun. The young man, whose hands were covered in blood and flesh and whose face was covered in scars, looked very tired and didn't even lift his head.

"Are you okay?"

V put down his gun, and the two agents headed to the puppet workshop with the slider, keeping an eye on any possible changes that might occur at any moment.

"Send the money." Lin Yue stubbed out his cigarette, tossed out a chip, and stared intently at V.

His inbox was full of missed calls from V. Since Arasaka already knew this, he simply waited for Arasaka's people to arrive.

V instinctively caught what Lin Yue threw to her. "What's this?"

"The chip the slider gave me contains things he erased... Arasaka's arms sales list—and the database you or Agent Arasaka retrieved from Dogtown. His digital identity is on it; you should be able to understand it."

V looked at the chip in her hand, seemingly digesting the information Lin Yue had given her.

In the silence, Lin Yue took out a crumpled, red-stained cigarette from the blood-soaked cigarette box and lit it with a snap.

V frowned, reached out and took the cigarette from his mouth, tossing it aside.

Lin Yue stared speechlessly at the burning cigarette on the ground, smacked his lips, and seemed somewhat unsatisfied.

It might be the memories cultivated by the original owner of this body, anyway, after each time he experienced such a dangerous situation, he would smoke a lot of cigarettes to calm down.

"You're trying to kill yourself by whipping yourself instead of getting killed by the slider, huh?"

She inserted the chip behind her neck, her eyes gleaming as she checked and verified the data. Lin Yue was right… everything that Slider had erased from the internet that day was crystal clear—a very disturbing pornographic video. The location should be Hansen's Gemstone Green, and the details of this person's transaction with Hansen were all on this chip. "Why didn't you wait for us?" V pulled out the chip, squatted down, and spoke with a hint of helplessness. She couldn't understand why her subordinate was going to such lengths.

Do you really want to work for Arasaka?

She doesn't believe it herself.

Lin Yue's eyelids felt heavy, and he stared at the beautiful woman in front of him without any emotion in his eyes. "By the time you arrive, the slider will be long gone. Also, I did this to complete the mission. Once it's done, pay me."

V pursed her lips, thought about Lin Yue's request, which seemed to be something she had agreed to before, and asked, "How much do you want?"

"I risked my life to go in and have a gunfight with a bunch of hackers. How much do you think that's worth? My good boss."

Lin Yue was naturally not in a good mood. If it weren't for the V incident, he could have easily obtained the behavioral characteristic faceplate, then quietly developed in Dogtown. If Arasaka assigned him work, he would have done it if he could, and if he couldn't, at least he would have the protection of his hidden identity.

He was confident that once he got the face, the Ghost Hound could easily infiltrate—at which point Hanz would pose no threat to him.

"There's cash in the trunk, 100,000 euros. I'll pay you another 100,000 later... You handled things very quickly and... perfectly."

She was truly flawless; she single-handedly stormed into the Voodoo Gang's lair and even managed to get a hacker working for Hansen to vomit everything out.

Seeing that she seemed hesitant to speak, Lin Yue asked, "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

"You think I don't need to risk my life, right? Or you think I'm someone who won't investigate things for Arasaka—I've said it before, if you help my business in Dogtown go smoothly, I'll give you feedback, and now my feedback is here."

Lin Yue appeared nonchalant, but he was actually waiting for V to speak. He didn't want to be a pawn of Arasaka; he wanted equality.

V is a very adaptable person, but at this moment she was also confused, feeling somewhat at a loss with such a highly efficient network of downlines.

Lin Yue: "I understand you. You're being pressured by your superiors to investigate, so you can only exploit me to get things from Dog Town. I have nothing to complain about; I was prepared to do business with the company."

V nodded. "That's true."

Lin Yue chuckled dryly, “So after this is over, I hope you can report what I did to your boss—what I want now is an identity swap. I can provide you with information about Dogtown later, and I can even help you put people in after I take half of Hanz’s territory, but I don’t want to be used as a common soldier by you anymore, do you understand?”

V realized for the first time the ambition of the clever guy in front of him.

There are too many people who want to climb up Arasaka, but Lin Yue is the first person who has the guts to say it to my face.

“You know that people who are good at their job are unlikely to be promoted. You did such a great job, but instead you’ll be used as a useful tool… that’s not a smart approach.” As a seasoned corporate worker, V knew that mercenaries like this, who were too capable, could only be used for dirty work.

Lin Yue nodded and let out a sneer, "Don't you and your boss want to know how I was able to find the slider in just a few hours? If it were you, would it take you days or months to find the slider?"

V was stunned.

“I have many ways to get intelligence on Dogtown. I suggest you call your boss now—or I can talk to him. There’s no more efficient middleman in Dogtown than me.” Lin Yue finished speaking in one breath. What he needed next was for the company to take his abilities in Dogtown seriously.

Need to handle things? Then let Arasaka's agents handle it. He won't risk his life for the company anymore. It's more worthwhile for him to risk his life on the streets of Night City than to work for those heartless people at the company.

"What you want is a partnership?"

V guessed it. Just as Lin Yue said, it would definitely be a lot of work for them to find the hacker's location, especially in Dogtown, but Agent Arasaka in front of them got it done in an afternoon.

Clearly, Lin Yue has his own intelligence network, so using him as a secret agent would be very inefficient.

While V turned his head to make a phone call, Lin Yue lit the last cigarette in the pack. V frowned, but did not take away his right to smoke.

More than ten minutes passed before V finally finished the call, and Lin Yue received the new contact information pushed by V to his contacts.

Arthur Jenkins.

"You can discuss the specifics with him. You're now in charge of intelligence gathering in Dogtown for the counterintelligence department. Arasaka's authority has been upgraded for you—"

"As for the rest of the money, just ask Jenkins."

Lin Yue finally laughed. V shook her head helplessly. There was a reason why she was bold enough to eat her fill. In just over a month, this subordinate she had picked up from the wasteland had become very familiar with Dog Town.

……

(End of this chapter)