Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 513 Prisoner
Night City.

Lin Yue, who had just woken up in the deep underwater facility, seemed to be disconnected from the real world and could not come back to his senses for a long time.

Sometimes Lin Yue even began to understand hackers like Barthes who would rather lose their bodies than stay online…

To be precise, cyberspace always gives people the illusion that it is a more complex and perfect world.

"Drip-"

"You have been removed from the device. Please wait for the prosthetic body to complete its self-check to avoid overheating."

Lin Yue chuckled.

It seems that Lai Xuan only uses the best of everything.

As Lin Yue emerged from the facility, all he could see was a silver-white corridor with virtually no gaps, which, combined with the stark white lighting, sent a chill down his spine.

Lin Yue then remembered that his cooling effect was due to the seawater; it was normal for the temperature to be low at such a depth below the sea surface.

"Boss Lin."

When I came out of the corridor, Suzuki was already waiting.

Lin Yue sent Suzuki a message online first, asking him to come over, because he wanted to know how the matter he had asked Suzuki to investigate during his time online was progressing...

"No leads?"

Seeing the old man's expressionless, troubled look.

Lin Yue felt a strong urge to give half of his body's combat power to another body so he could also take care of Mann's matter.

This is just wishful thinking. If someone walks right into a trap, the Terrorist SWAT team's hackers will inevitably uncover his true identity. But what if it's Suzuki…

Seeing his boss looking at him strangely after waking up from the internet, Suzuki instinctively took a step back.

never mind…

Yuko and Suzuki's children can watch.

My boss is truly the most considerate person to his employees in the world... If it were someone like Saburo Arasaka, he would definitely incite his subordinates to rush forward shouting "For the glory of Arasaka" or something like that, right?
"Never mind, is there anything else?"

Suzuki's face relaxed a little when he heard this. He sensed that Lord Rin was definitely not thinking anything good.

"Yes, I do. It belongs to Haywood."

Lin Yue subconsciously glanced at the time in his hand. He had been online for more than 220 hours, a week... Was Jack Wells really that big?

The reason why I immediately thought that Heywood would handle this was not only because I was confident in Jack's fighting ability, but also because Jack himself was one of the strongest guys in the Valentino gang.

"good news?"

Suzuki nodded quickly, "Mr. Jack of Heywood has basically stabilized the situation. The company didn't intervene at all throughout the process. However, some gangs and small arms companies from who-knows-where were scrambling to get in, but Miss Emma..."

At this point, Lin Yue felt a little ashamed when he saw this cold-blooded warrior, and he figured Emma's methods were probably not weak either.

Emma takes her instructions very seriously, and for these guys to come looking for the former Mad Queen of Taipingzhou at this critical juncture... they really picked the wrong time.

However, since Valentino's gang had good news, Lin Yue didn't plan to go.

This time, he woke up from the node of the underwater facility and went to Night City to do only two things: tell V Arasaka Warsaw Branch that they had done a lot of mess behind the Black Wall, and that the AI ​​virus outside the wall might even be used as a weapon for cyber killing; the second thing was the performance that he had previously proposed to the band.

This identity cannot be lost, at least not now...

Whenever Lin Yue thought of this identity, he thought of that woman.

Kangtao, a company I subconsciously avoided, actually possessed those unknown methods and strengths.

That's gas... right?
The name Xu Rujun, with its classical feel, seems unreal in a modern cyberpunk metropolis. Coupled with the act of pushing a cup from a distance... Lin Yue touched the slightly warm business card in his pocket and was momentarily lost in thought.

"boss?"

Suzuki tried calling out.

Lin Yue shook his head. "It's nothing, let's go."

Walking up the transparent, high-strength glass walkway, you'll find that this place, disguised as Arasaka Underwater Technology Facility, is usually frequented by Arasaka employees. However, the data and appearances of the two individuals are blurred, and they appear on the seaside road as if they were ordinary Arasaka employees.

"Yorinobu Arasaka is really rich and powerful."

Lin Yue exclaimed, "It's so good to be rich!"

Furthermore, the fact that a rebel like Lai Xuan was willing to give up everything, even his life, was truly terrifying.

Suzuki nodded and said, "Who says otherwise... Mr. Raigen has always been thoughtful."

Lin Yue remembered that this guy had always been hostile towards the Arasaka family, and he gave him a few amused glances.

"Let's go see V. We've arranged to meet at the Skyscraper Drive-in Restaurant near Little Chinatown in Night City."

Suzuki opened the car door. "You two are really cautious."

Lin Yue knew what this kid meant. "We can't afford to be careless. Even V's internal staff can't find us. We can't hold them back—besides, do you think I'm someone who can be easily investigated? You almost died from exhaustion during that period!"

Suzuki chuckled and started the car.

He saw the smile on his boss's face in the rearview mirror, and Suzuki, sensing that things were going well in Europe, was genuinely happy.

Suzuki couldn't wait to go to Europe.

"be honest."

Upon hearing this, Suzuki's smile vanished, and he pursed his lips, giving the impression that Night City was anything but fun.

Every encounter in Night City is a delightful surprise. Compared to Warsaw's technological feel, Night City seems to possess an innate, inclusive magic. Regardless of local customs, it's as if Lin Yue is just another ordinary person, and walking here feels like gaining freedom.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, Lin Yue, who had just sat down, watched as a woman with red hair, wearing a black jacket with the Deadpool logo, raised her eyelids and gave them a cold glance. Lin Yue had a vague sense of déjà vu, as if he were seeing Takemura here, a scene reminiscent of V, whose company's vigor had been drained by the city.

Fate, you old devil, always manages to create similar frightening scenarios.

"There's someone here."

For a moment, Lin Yue didn't even dare to make up his mind that this was V...

Suzuki, still with his butt sticking out, glanced at Rin before looking at the woman opposite him.

Lin Yue was secretly heartbroken.

V probably didn't see the cunning look in his eyes.

Lin Yue, on the other hand, had the carefree attitude of a rock 'n' roll kid, sitting down casually. "So many girls have asked me for autographs, and you've refused to go with them?"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Suzuki was speechless.

These two always treat him like a toy, it's really...

V, however, rested her chin on her hands, staring at Lin Yue with a half-smile, "Really? Big star—how many Chicas do you have? Introduce me a few, please."

Wasn't it her idea to play these little tag games?
They really can't take a joke...

Seeing Lin Yue's setback, Suzuki grinned a few times, then tightened his expression like a tightly screwed-in screw.

"Alright, Suzuki, you practically have the word 'company' written all over your face."

V waved her hand and glared at Lin Yue with annoyance.

When did you log off the internet?

Lin Yue looked around and saw that everyone there was just a regular customer before asking. V thought for a moment, “I usually log out once a day, you know… I’m always working on that damn report, after all, it’s hard to guarantee that there aren’t any of their people at headquarters; also, Lai Xuan needs to keep track of information—those crawlers think they’re hiding well, but we just let them off the hook to avoid making things bigger.”

"How...wise and clever."

Lin Yue seemed to have a good grasp of V's recent work from his words.

With Takeda and his wife from the 404 hacker group behind him, they would definitely try to cover things up as much as possible. It's understandable that they didn't get their hands on the sensitive data. In fact, that wasn't the way they were going to bring down Takeda.

"OK, what about you?"

Lin Yue shrugged. "The progress in District D went very smoothly. We took it over. We wiped out all those major forces, the Mad Dwarfs, and the like. There wasn't a trace left."

"After all, our data leaves no trace, so sometimes it's really impossible to pass messages. David can make good use of this; the kid has become much smarter."

After giving a brief explanation, V felt that Lin Yue's progress was quite encouraging.

"only…"

The two of them simultaneously changed the subject, and V, like Lin Yue, also turned cold.

It seems that both of them have discovered some suspicious points.

V gestured for Lin Yue to speak first.

Lin Yue first asked V if she had any insights into this matter, "Which branch of Arasaka do you think has made the most progress in excavating the Black Wall?"

V thought about it carefully, "Honshu is, after all, the place where Relic was created. It's the most awesome thing that Arasaka created on the basis of the Black Wall... Of course, most of it benefited from Ultraman Soul Killer."

"Back then, military technology went through a lot of effort to rival Soul Killer, didn't it?"

Lin Yue said in a deep voice, "But the Warsaw branch placed roving AIs at the nodes that were blocking us. We also discovered a facility, although we have no evidence—but even a fool knows what Arasaka used it for. Doesn't Takeda routinely report these things to headquarters?"

"Judging from the runtime and depth of the content, this is probably not something that has been happening in the last few years."

"Most of the prisoners in that facility were undergoing prosthetic experiments; it was a well-established assembly line..."

Lin Yue didn't continue.

Was Takeda keeping a private army?

This kind of thing would never be allowed by Saburo Arasaka, as the number of armed personnel in each branch is limited... Saburo is most wary of this kind of thing.

After a long pause, V shook his head. "How about we talk about the two of us..."

"Alright, regarding the experimental conveniences you mentioned with these prisoners, is it possible that the target provided by Takeda was never headquarters? Let me put it another way, it wasn't Yoriyuki?"

Lin Yue nodded with a serious expression.

"It's not impossible that guy is really keeping in touch with Hua Zi. You know, it saves us a lot of trouble by leaking his research results to other companies."

V shares this view.

"Speaking of prisoners, do you know what I found in the data they ignored in Warsaw?"

Lin Yue shook his head, pressing something down under V's hand.

As Lin Yue took it, his eyes gleamed with the light of flowing data. In astonishment, he looked up at the V in front of him in disbelief.

"Look, they're also very interested in military technology and the prisoner technology of the Terrorist Mobile Unit. And the little Warsaw branch is even more proactive than headquarters. They've actually produced some things that headquarters didn't require."

"They said that to prevent hackers from malfunctioning the mental prison, these data centers are scattered randomly in cyberspace, following a new algorithm that has not been infected by the rabids virus. In other words, the data points move because of repulsion."

"The person who designed this thing is an insane genius."

V exclaimed in this way.

Perhaps it was because V noticed that Lin Yue was very concerned about Mann's affairs that he paid attention to some of this data, but it gave Lin Yue more direction.

The Terrorist SWAT team is a dangerous place, and if I go there myself, it could easily lead to a loss of control. But if Suzuki goes, he is worried that he will become the second Mann.

Lin Yue had never experienced the power of that thing.

"The line between madness and genius is very thin."

Lin Yue also remembered a strange book he had read; in short, the things that paranoid people do are often terrifying.

Lin Yue no longer thinks about why Mann could become like that. In other words, the fact that he was able to remain sober in Dogtown and not make a move was probably the limit of his ability. You have to understand that a person's consciousness is worn down in hundreds of years of imprisonment, and when they realize that reality is only a few days away, this kind of collapse is a complete relief.

"But... thanks, V."

Lin Yue put away the chip.

"But I have to tell you something. My men are interrogating a hacker who was pulled out of a factory. There might be a virus dug out from outside the Great Firewall. I guess that's what Takeda is using against you."

"At worst, they'll find a way to pin the blame on us."

V's reaction was indifferent upon hearing this: "I know, I'll take precautions against this. It seems you haven't fully grasped the situation yet. If it were the old you, you would have already thought of all sorts of solutions."

Lin Yue said helplessly, "That's what I mean, but I just want you to be careful lately. You can still escape without any problem. The virus outside the Black Wall is better than those indiscriminate bastards."

V breathed a sigh of relief, realizing the information exchange was complete.

Perhaps they will have to abide by this method of intelligence exchange for a long time to come. Once they take down Takeda, the toughest nut to crack, then nothing else will be a problem.

"Alright, that concludes the discussion about the prisoners and the virus; by the way... how long will it take you this time?"

V asked tentatively.

Actually, she didn't want to say that even though she couldn't contact Rin online while she was in Europe, she felt incredibly safe because she could sense someone was there to support her.

Lin Yue needs to handle the band's affairs.

So, despite his hesitation, he still asked, "How do we arrange for the band to have a performance?"

Performance?

Hey!
V thought the guy in front of him was really high-profile.

Not content with just being a legendary figure in Night City, he's actually planning to bring his rock 'n' roll buddies to put on a massive "anti-establishment" punk band show.

"It's hard to say, most of them are concerts held in bars or illegal gatherings."

"Even a band like Samurai needs... the backing of managers and record companies, right? Don't you have that right now? Let Dreamers handle it—"

Lin Yue shook his head.

"What's the difference between this and playing cards openly?"

V didn't seem to want to offer Lin Yue any advice on this matter. Instead, he stood up and patted Lin Yue on the shoulder with a rather manly air, "Big star, find your own microphone... Also, I have something to do at your place tonight!"

A beautiful figure passed by.

Lin Yue was left bewildered, and Suzuki looked on with a strange expression.

"Suzuki?"

Suzuki stood up. "Boss, Miss Emma has something to discuss... You're capable of handling these issues."

Lin Yue frowned as he watched the two people leave one after the other.

"Is this bullying honest people?"

……

……

(End of this chapter)