Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 517 Chips and Malicious Letters [8.2K]

[Lucy]: Sir, everything has been confessed over there... The intelligence all matches up, Sasha has taken care of him.

Lin Yue looked at the message on his phone, replied "Got it" and stood up.

"It's best to stay home these days, unless you want to die... then go ahead."

Lin Yue looked at Kerry and shook his head silently. The glory days of the Wushi Band were long gone, and Kerry had clearly become the kind of guy he hated the most—but that's life. Life doesn't give you a heads-up when it's going to change you.

After seeing Lin Yue, who had brought the lowest atmosphere in the entire room, leave, Kerry figured that the guy probably didn't like him...

"Has he always been like this?"

Perhaps Mendro knew about Kerry's private affairs, because he was no longer so hostile to the former rock star. He just stared at Kerry, who was sitting or standing, with a long face.

"you…"

Kerry thought these angry young rockers wanted to beat him up, so he instinctively gripped the bottle in his hand.

Then several postcards or musical instruments were held up in front of Kerry.

Lee was finally freed from his restraints, squinting and grinning. "A living superstar, Kerry Orodien! Could you please sign my bass? It's called Tata, and it's my good buddy!"

Not only Lee, but Mendro, who was all muscle and looked like a boxer, also held up a postcard, saying, "Please!"

Kerry felt his heart couldn't take a few more beats like that, and immediately scratched his head, "Of course! You can also ask for a blessing or something..."

It's unclear how many autographs Kerry has written at the signing event, but this was probably the first time he'd written his name so seriously. The gold powder marker he always carries left its mark on all the gifts people brought him.

"Speaking of which, he really does like the Samurai Band." Li Ai stroked the instrument in her hands, seemingly unable to put it down. "I vaguely remember the first time I met him, he sang one of your songs at a bar in the Japanese district..."

"So you're really not planning on singing rock or anything?"

Mendelsohn, like a big kid who had successfully met his idol, grinned foolishly for a few moments.

"Sorry, I'm not signing autographs today. If you like me, please give me some privacy." Kerry turned down a fan who approached him, shrugged, and continued, "It's not a question of whether I'll sing or not... I don't like this kind of awful life either, but you know what I mean."

"A lot of things have happened."

Kerry didn't say anything about the old Samurai Band, as if it were some kind of unspeakable scar.

“Relax, maybe K just doesn’t like your current lifestyle... Don’t take it to heart, nobody knows what he’s thinking,” another member of the band comforted him.

"It's undeniable that he's very dedicated to the band. We've been leading the team well all the way from Santo Domingo. This guy is also very talented, talented... but he's quite arrogant."

Mendelsohn handed Kerry a cigarette, immediately shifting the conversation from the somewhat somber atmosphere to the performance.

"To be honest, we've never had a proper performance yet."

Seeing the burly man in front of him seemed a little uneasy, Kerry leaned back on the sofa and waved his hand dismissively, "Just sing, there's no need to be so fussy."

Li blinked. "The tour venues and stuff must cost a lot of money, right? Are you really planning to pay for it out of your own pocket?"

At this point, Kerry's brows furrowed slowly behind his sunglasses. "Some things can be done with money... Money is the lowest cost I can afford. The hard part is avoiding them. After all, you don't have experience with large-scale performances, so you probably don't know that many venues actually go through the company."

“But you’re going against the company’s lead, and some high-quality performance centers have nothing to do with you.”

Li seemed thoughtful. "Oh right, I was thinking of holding a concert at NCX Spaceport on the poster... looks like that's not going to happen. But I still really miss that concert we had downstairs at Arasaka Tower!"

"I don't even want to think about it if a nuclear bomb comes at me—"

"puff!"

Kerry choked on his drink, "What did you say?!"

Hearing that KIA had put on such a grand concert in Arasaka that the entire Arasaka police force had been mobilized, Kerry was enjoying his relaxing vacation in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand at the time—he only knew the news that Saburo Arasaka had died.

Kerry was on the verge of tears.

Good news, they have decent performance experience.

The bad news is the kind that almost blew the roof off Arasaka Tower—

This means that the KIA band is basically being targeted by the record company, and simply spending money isn't a solution for them to hold a performance in a large venue in Night City that can attract a certain number of people.

Looking at the group of guys who seemed to have the flair of a young Silver Hand, Kerry pondered for a long time, "If we want my old team members to help us, it's probably only possible if Silver Hand himself is alive..."

Kerry doesn't think his former teammates, who now have stable lives, would still want to be rock 'n' roll rebels who could be dealt with by the company at any time.

"No, we need to prepare in advance."

After much thought, Chris felt that there were some things that needed to be done now.

Li immediately stopped him, saying, "Didn't you hear K tell you not to run around? Are you looking to get yourself killed...?"

Kerry stared at Lee and retorted, "Would you choose to stay at home if you were in trouble?"

Li paused for a moment, then shook his head.

Mendro also said with concern, "K told you not to get involved in this matter, and perhaps Lee is right."

Kerry raised an eyebrow. "In my experience, Night City cowards die the fastest. Besides, I don't want to bother those EC dogs at all. My good buddy K is busy with murder and arson outside, so we'll take care of what the band needs. Isn't that fair?"

"Are you really going to let K do all the work by himself? I can't be that comfortable with that."

A large group of people stood up and headed out of Lizhi, while Lin Yue, relying on his real-time connection to the Night City network, had already located the whereabouts of those company dogs.

By sparing their lives, Lin Yue was actually doing them a favor, saving him the trouble of finding their hideout.

Lin Yue's mind was elsewhere as he rested his hands on the steering wheel, his thoughts preoccupied with the sudden reaction of topological prediction after Kerry proposed cooperation...

In Lin Yue's subconscious, Kerry wasn't even considered a primary target. After all, there was no trace of him in the first reaction of the topology prediction. It was only the high computing power load and the fleeting glimpse that made Lin Yue choose to cooperate.

Lin Yue didn't see the specific details clearly.

In front of the seemingly endless crowd, Kerry was shouting something at the top of his lungs, as if he was about to crush the microphone in his hand. The scene of the future became clearer.

Although it's unknown how Kree can help in the future space battle, for now, we can only help him solve this problem.

At the same time, Lin Yue's panel also showed some strange reactions and data phenomena.

So Lin Yue brought up the panel and carefully looked at the text about Kerry…

[Character: Kerry Orodien]

[Affiliation: Night City]

【Favourability: 30】

[Cultivating Value: A Bond Between Excellence and Legend]

[Reward: You have already obtained 10 "Charm Points". Reaching a Favorability Level of 40 will double the value.]

Ordinary and unremarkable, nothing special.

There wasn't even any explanation of what charm value was.

Lin Yue could only recall his past life's memories in his mind; this thing didn't exist in the game's skill tree or panel.

Moreover, the feeling of this data being injected into the mind and body is strange, like a slight electric current running through the body, without any improvement in physical fitness.

"Could it be that there are even more brainless fans?"

Lin Yue sighed and muttered something.

The panel's values ​​never reached 100. Lin Yue discovered that the panel was more like an auxiliary tool. Some things were formed by experiencing certain events together with the legends on these panels, naturally building a deep bond.

The dream of a rock 'n' roll kid is probably to have something called "charisma," right?
Back then, Johnny was able to join Morgan's Black Hand team despite his rock star status and weak fighting skills simply because of his fans. These fanatical people, who were even willing to assassinate opposing forces for rock musicians, could be considered a kind of weapon in disguise.

"It's a pretty good product, anyway... let's give it a try."

Lin Yue didn't intend to let any reaction to the topological prediction go unnoticed, especially since Kerry had a legendary connection on him. Based on his understanding, he figured he could use Kerry to befriend those powerful figures from the fallen era.

However, it remains unknown who this person or group of people is.

It can't be Johnny Silverhand, can it?
Lin Yue thought to himself, Rebecca is now in Washington, D.C., in the new United States... If the treatment has started, Black Hand and Suzuki should have informed him.

As I was thinking, the car drove to a thermal power plant in Watson District. As soon as I got close to this "furnace", the air in the night city, which was chilly at night, became a bit drier.

Lin Yue wasn't worried about how to get in. He could make the network facility lose power in a second, or cause all the brain-computer interfaces in the subnet to crash and burn out. In short, it was all a very simple action.

He looked at the chip, fearing it might be a copy of something from Relic, which would mean things were going to get really bad... At least the Pandora's box that Saburo had opened was already playing out in the Crystal Palace, far from the surface of the earth.

Lin Yue, leaning against his car and smoking a cigarette, squinted at the distant starry sky. Sparks from the cigarette butt flew everywhere. As he walked, many cameras in the facilities sensed the intruder.

The Cleaners' living conditions have been terrible these past few years. If Lin Yue remembers correctly... this should be the Cleaners' lair.

Judging from the equipment, this is already a temporary outpost established by a well-trained team.

The company is full of technology…

The sniper on the flank, positioned high up, had already locked onto the intruder through the gap behind the neon sign. He carefully reported the intruder's features, like an intrigued hunter watching a dying reindeer.

"Get a little closer... you idiot."

With his helmet and gun connected to an AI-powered ballistic adjustment system, the sniper wasn't worried about missing. He simply wanted to observe the enemy's death through a scope that wasn't too far away.

As the man approached step by step, he seemed to sense something and looked up at them from afar.

Within seconds, the targeted individual had already hacked into the subnet.

The network access compartment behind his neck was hissing hot air, making quite a frightening sound!

"what happened?"

The sniper's holographic helmet began to blur, with flickering and chaotic images appearing constantly. His teammates in the headset were loudly reminding him that this was Night City's number one mercenary.

A super lone wolf who once broke into the top floor of the Night Building.

But the gun in his hand was no longer obeying his commands. He could only watch helplessly as his weapon moved toward the sentry on the other side. Clearly, the sniper on the other side had also experienced this chilling turn of events.

The powerful high-tech sniper rifles fired simultaneously.

The man and the sniper rifle's support were shredded by the electromagnetically accelerated bullet—

Before the mercenaries, who had rushed out from behind cover, could even aim their weapons at the unyielding figure, the surveillance cameras behind them were like the eyes of death, fixing their gaze on the defenders.

A piercing roar, flames from melting synapses, and a metallic head that appeared and disappeared in the orange-red light emitted a teeth-grinding hissing sound. The soldiers who tried to pounce on that thing didn't even have the right to struggle one last time.

He knelt down cleanly on the ground, and ended the last excruciating pain in his brain amidst the flames.

puff-

Sianwistan left a trail of afterimages, and the person behind the scenes who hadn't yet lost control of the surveillance stared wide-eyed, wondering what kind of monster this was.

The black jacket became a thin layer of mist in the night, slipping through the heavy factory gate that had been slightly ajar.

A knife suddenly swung at Lin Yue, and the sound of metal clashing against metal rang out.

The soldier holding the knife looked in fear at the man whose features were so delicate that he didn't seem like an executioner. He saw that the man held the blade with one hand, and with his prosthetic body alone, he made this invincible cutting weapon impossible to penetrate.

Lin Yue gripped the knife and flung him violently into the stunned crowd behind him, who were unsure whether to continue charging.

The narrow passage instantly turned into a battleground.

The bullets fired from the pistols had not yet reached their targets as the afterimages flashed by.

As Lin Yue's figure overlapped with the scene behind him, the sound of gunfire exploded in a pile, and bodies fell like ripe wheat, with occasional severed limbs tossed high into the air. The passage was instantly filled with a nauseatingly strong stench of blood.

He is also controlling the network to locate the data core or important equipment.

The person behind the scenes immediately shouted to destroy it.

They severely underestimated the man in the city who was known as a living legend, thinking it was just urban gossip, but now it had become a reality, leaving the European visitors completely unprepared.

A barrage of hacker intrusions loomed over Lin Yue's path.

The prosthetic eye was covered with dense upload progress bars. The god of death-like man remained motionless, as if he were being countered by the data congestion. The hackers in the subnet, who were staring at him menacingly, were unaware that every inch of data here had become his possession.

"Phew, found it."

All the progress bars in the eyeball stopped instantly.

The data was reversed, and the hackers, caught off guard, did not expect that the malicious program would be released on their firewall exactly as it was.

In the dark and dimly lit network management equipment hub, the poor guys lying on the hacker chairs turned into fireworks that exploded one after another. The screams and the sound of electric current were endless. The black smoke caused by the high temperature short circuit immediately spread to every corner of the room.

Lin Yue snapped his fingers, and the entire facility instantly plunged into darkness…

He walked slowly with his hands in his pockets, while the bound S'anweistein hissed even louder, and thick white steam billowed behind his dark figure.

"What is this?"

"Wait...this guy can control the network!"

"He didn't have any hacker accomplices at all, he did it all himself!" The guy who made the sharp voice can't even delete data now. The power is off, and the data is still intact and stored on the internal disk.

"A parser? This thing looks way too much like Relic's data..."

As Lin Yue walked, he read through the messages in the log. Of course, he didn't care about things that had nothing to do with the digital soul. However, given the enemy's high level of defense, the fact that Hua Zi was stationed in space, and the fact that the chip was switched when it was in Crystal Palace, it was hardly a coincidence.

As for the urgency of this matter, Lin Yueguang could understand it by reading some of the emails.

【*@】：You should have found it before the plane landed. You have two more hours. If you still don't have it, you're all fucking done for! "All"! Understand?!
【*@】：If we lose the data, we'll throw you into space as floating balloons. If New America loses its goods, we're all doomed!

A new America...?
Seeing this name here, especially since it's associated with relic, makes me feel uneasy.

Lin Yue frowned, took a deep breath, and suddenly tore the door open with his two hands that were stuck in the crack. The creaking sound made the people inside panic and start firing their guns wildly.

After the woman's scream ended, Lin Yue grabbed the trembling, squinting administrator, whose eyes were wide open and whose pants were soaked, and dragged him to the identification key.

With a snap, the power was immediately restored.

Please don't...

Lin Yue simply followed the procedure and pulled out the human-computer interaction cable from the woman's wrist. When the dense data appeared on the screen, Lin Yue looked at her, holding the chip in his hand, and asked, "What is this?"

The woman pursed her lips and shook her head, her body trembling like a leaf.

"Don't kill me..."

Lin Yue repeated the question.

Seeing that the man showed no emotional response, the woman, trembling like a calm cyber madman, hurriedly said, "It's a program from the Crystal Palace transaction, a sample program! New...new America!"

The woman, having recounted everything in detail, faced her ultimate fate.

Lin Yue stopped wasting words. If he wasn't worried that the enemy would find his location the moment the chip was inserted, he wouldn't have needed to ask such a question.

Lin Yue squinted at the military technology logo on the chip and slowly pushed it into the slot in front of him. However, the area around the damaged security door began to blur as if optical distortion had occurred.

Lin Yue paused, glancing behind him out of the corner of his eye—

In the blink of an eye, Lin Yue flicked the weapon off the ground with his toe. His superior combat skills allowed him to lock onto the unidentified figure who had activated the optical camouflage!
call!
The pistol in his hand spun around, and a crimson glow, characteristic of hackers, burst from his prosthetic eye.

The reason Lin Yue sensed danger was that... he couldn't detect any information about these people within the subnet!

Optical camouflage, armed to the teeth—it seems there's more than one company involved here.

The muzzle of the gun touched the semi-transparent, blurry shadow with slightly colored edges. The man under the shadow was terrified, and the gun was immediately snatched from his hand…

At the critical moment, a crisp sound rang in my ears.

"Please stop, sir."

His Chinese was clear and articulate, with a hint of anxiety in his voice…

Hsu Ju-Chun?
Just then, the soldier clenched his fist as if striking from a distance, and Lin Yue quickly stepped back.

A wave of air swirled around his abdomen...

qigong?
Lin Yue's index finger was almost at the trigger point when he flung the pistol aside, and a flash of sparks immediately appeared on the ground from the friction of the bullet!

The soldier whose optical camouflage had faded stared wide-eyed, panting heavily, his gaze fixed on the other man for not a second.

The feeling of being close to death just now was too real—

That's terrifying! He'd never seen a prosthetic body move so fast before!
Judging by his attire... is he a lone wolf?!

Xu Rujun stopped two special forces team members whose equipment looked ridiculously expensive, and slowly walked forward with one hand raised.

Lin Yue's first thought upon seeing Xu Rujun was whether she could truly bear the weight of the weapons and equipment she was wearing. The girl, with a sickly pale face, was carrying a large gun, like a white rose covered in thorns that needed careful nurturing. Her delicately curved chin appeared to be covered with a special type of ceramic iron plate.

Judging from their appearance, they had obviously infiltrated the area.

Of course, it's more likely that Lin Yue paved the way.

"It's you?"

Lin Yue raised his weapon again. He didn't think encountering Xu Rujun at this juncture was a good omen, especially since the chip in his hand hadn't been decrypted yet.

Lin Yue was wary of Xu Rujun.

The woman's fox-like eyes lowered slightly, and the patterns on her prosthetic face looked like ink paintings emerging from rice paper. Her gaze remained fixed on the chip in Lin Yue's hand.

"André Karl, the head of a European software company, has spent decades researching and cracking the core logic of Soul Killer, a crucial technology that has made humanity aware of the importance of data."

"You could call him a fake software scientist, which is how they made their fortune."

Xu Rujun slowly walked around Lin Yue as the center, introducing the situation.

Lin Yue stared warily at the soldiers, his peripheral vision constantly watching Xu Rujun's movements. This woman looked like "Lin Daiyu," but the sense of crisis hidden in his fighting spirit lingered in his heart.

"But he's dead."

"On that very plane you know about, the European Space Agency completely messed things up, and they didn't even hand over the cargo..."

Xu Rujun's tone carried a hint of resentment.

Lin Yue snorted coldly, "I should have known it was yours. After all, Hermann, the chief designer, is in your hands, and he is also an expert in bioengineering—it's understandable that you're eyeing Relic."

Upon hearing Lin Yue's words, Xu Rujun's face revealed a hint of helplessness that was barely perceptible.

Clearly, the other party had completely misunderstood her, but Xu Rujun couldn't convince them immediately, so she could only continue speaking to herself.

“You and I both know that, Mr. K.”

“Relic, as Arasaka’s flagship product, is not just about leaving behind an AI-generated virtual holographic image of your deceased loved ones. But if I told you… what you have is a self-developed soul killer using military technology, would you believe me?”

Lin Yue's eyelids twitched involuntarily.

He glanced at the chip in his hand in surprise, wondering if Xu Rujun was bluffing him or telling the truth. When did military technology become able to master Relic's basic technology, Soul Killer, so quickly? Unless... there was external help. You know, Hua Zi took all the technical personnel with him when he left.

Moreover, everything that couldn't be taken away was disposed of by Hua Zi's henchmen, which is a major reason why the wealthy and powerful Arasaka was unable to effectively treat Rebecca.

Lin Yue patiently listened to Xu Rujun finish speaking.

After all, he still really wanted to verify the data in the chip himself. Since Xu Rujun was here, he couldn't contribute any computing power. Lin Yue had already decided that if there was even the slightest logical flaw in this woman's words, he would immediately slit the throats of all these people.

"For the sake of your connection with Xu Zhi."

"So... what are you guys doing?"

Xu Rujun didn't hesitate before sighing, "What you have in your hand is exactly what we bought from our European clients at a high price, at the cost of many of our agents planted in various space companies and Crystal Palace..."

"As you can see, we did everything we could to bring it out, but because of Andrei's sacrifice, the chip, in order to avoid being tracked down, was handed over to a rock star named Kerry without the person in question knowing."

Lin Yue smiled.

If Xu Rujun expects Lin Yue to hand over the items to her with just a few words, then she is simply too naive.

“I understand now. Since it’s a soul-killing program developed using military technology, I can take a look at it.”

After Lin Yue spoke, he clearly heard a sneer from a member of the Kangtao Special Team.

However, Xu Rujun immediately gave the soldier a warning look and smiled at Lin Yue, after all, she didn't know that Lin Yue was the original author of Soul Killer.

Before the woman could speak, Lin Yue gestured for Xu Rujun and the others to leave.

"Then I'd like to trouble you, Ms. Xu, to make things convenient for me. I need to analyze this. Besides helping my client solve their problem, I'm quite interested in it myself."

Xu Rujun had brought along intelligent men. When they heard Lin Yue's words, the soldiers looked grim but did not make any rash moves. Xu Rujun's expression remained calm, as if she did not understand why Lin Yue wanted to take the item.

"Don't you want to know how military technology made this thing?"

Lin Yue smiled, seemingly uninterested in the answer, shook his head, and reiterated his gesture of asking him to leave.

However, the woman's next words immediately changed Lin Yue's expression.

"Because this is something taken from a live prosthetic body software, and I heard it's a pretty cute girl... the only one you know in New America? Since you say you can verify the software, I'm sorry to say I don't really believe it. You know, we've only found Andre's company in the whole world."

"It's for verifying the authenticity of this item, but Mr. K probably doesn't have one—"

Before Xu Rujun could finish speaking, a hand suddenly grabbed the area of ​​her fair neck covered with dense, thin bulletproof ceramic, and Xu Rujun's words were immediately stuck in her throat.

"Well!"

This was practically a minefield for Lin Yue.

Xu Rujun in front of him was having difficulty breathing, and it seemed that he could hear the slight popping sound of the prosthetic structure in her neck shifting slightly. Her face immediately flushed with an abnormal suffocating red.

Once the action was taken, the soldiers reacted immediately. However, Lin Yue only glanced at them once, and the soldiers immediately began to convulse on the spot due to the error message from the exoskeleton.

The ICE is quite thick.

Lin Yue felt that the firewalls of the special squad members were comparable to those of some large military machines.

Xu Rujun's voice sounded like it was being squeezed out from between her teeth, "If you need to know that girl's name, we can... we can tell you."

If this woman knew about her relationship with Arasaka, it wouldn't have mattered. But given Lin Yue's quick wit, he immediately thought of Rebecca, which ultimately led him to take action.

"We...we have complete evidence that can directly prove it!"

Xu Rujun gestured to the two commandos on the ground who were roaring and struggling to stop resisting, while hurriedly pointing to the pocket on her side.

“Cough… You’ll regret killing me, Mr. K.”

Xu Rujun gently placed her hand on the back of Lin Yue's hand, not to try to pry it open, but to pat the back of his hand to indicate that her words were full of sincerity.

Lin Yue seemed to be trying to find some trace of something amiss in this woman…

A woman is fearless in the face of a man's dangerous gaze.

Finally, as time ticked by and Xu Rujun was nearly suffocating, Lin Yue let go.

The main reason why Lin Yue eventually let go was that Rebecca and the others had severed their connection with each other using network technology.

In other words, Lin Yue was unsure whether this thing was related to Rebecca.

Feeling somewhat flustered, he couldn't just get rid of Xu Rujun like that... Moreover, the prosthetic device on the woman in front of him was definitely not without the ability to resist.

Of course, her show of weakness was also one of the reasons why Lin Yue gave up.

"Before I question how you know about my past, tell me the whole story of this, along with supporting evidence."

“Xu Rujun, don’t think that Kang Tao can be your get-out-of-jail-free card.”

The girl, half-sitting on the ground coughing violently, had some of her cascading hair loose. She raised one hand to indicate she needed some time. Slightly out of breath, Xu Rujun, having calmed herself in the tense atmosphere, said, "Rebecca..."

"Joint Logistics Agency agent."

"This is intelligence that military technology obtained from her, intelligence that was passed down from within our organization."

Xu Rujun took the item out openly. Still affected by suffocation, she weakly raised her hand and waved it. It seemed that the holographic image map introduction device used by the temporary commander of the special forces team was playing Rebecca's image.

Joint Logistics Command?

It was only natural that Rebecca joined the Joint Logistics Command, given that Lin Yue still vividly remembered Johnny criticizing V's behavior after joining the Joint Logistics Command.

"and then?"

Lin Yue asked expressionlessly.

Xu Rujun, however, did not see Lin Yue's fist gradually clenching.

At this moment, his mind was filled with a repulsive name:

Miles…

Xu Rujun covered her throat. "This was leaked by our people in Washington. You must be an extraordinary hacker as well... It's not difficult to verify."

"Information told us that the military had extracted a technology from this and wanted to make a deal with Arasaka in space. As you can see, we got the product."

Lin Yue immediately interrupted, "Where is that girl?"

Startled, Xu Rujun subconsciously looked up, and a chilling coldness instantly swept over her. The man's eyes were cold and lifeless; Xu Rujun could see nothing but anger.

But then, a smile appeared on the lips of the woman who had lowered her head.

"Of course, sir, we will tell you everything if you want to know."

So she said.

……

……

(End of this chapter)