Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 98 The Vanished Employee
Arasaka Counterintelligence Department.

[To-do list: A conflict has occurred at NID's company facilities in Watson District; there is a 10% chance of Arasaka intervening. // Military Technology's stock price has fallen by 8%. Recommendation: Reduce holdings...]

V rinsed her mouth with water, and the pressure caused her to vomit more than once or twice.

[Calling: Rin]

The user you dialed is not in service area.

V kept dialing the number, unwilling to give up, but no one ever answered.

"Depend on!"

V slammed his fist on the sink. A female employee who had squeezed in behind him saw V's appearance and took a step back in fear.

V ignored it, and Jenkins' call immediately came in:
Have you read the briefing?

V nodded, "I knew I shouldn't have let him go... It's been three days, and we still haven't found him—"

Jenkins interrupted V, "But the operation was a success! Wasn't it?"

"Rin's smartest move was sending us the information from the database. The disappearance of such an excellent agent... is a great loss for us. I promise you, V, the security services will search Night City day and night, we'll find him alive or dead!"

What V cared about wasn't the corpse, but his own misjudgment of the situation.

Because V treated this task as a regular job, she was too busy to handle it all herself and thus passed it on to Rin.

At the time, she thought it was a small project involving military technology to modify special agents. After all, it was perfectly normal for companies to do things with each other; there were dozens of such cases every year.

But she didn't expect that this facility was a hideout responsible for changing the identities and identity information of new American agents.

That night, Rin's last phone call was to Jenkins.

He sent Jenkins an encrypted file containing information about a covert operation called "Face Swap" conducted by Night City's military technology division, targeting multiple Night City companies.

Arasaka, adept at waging public opinion warfare, immediately leaked the list of these agents, sparking protests throughout Night City against the practice of allowing spies to infiltrate the populace and gather secrets.

But everyone knows that what else can secret agents do besides running companies?
It's all manipulation.

"Come to my office. I have some things to tell you before I go to Osaka. Rin is currently offline, so you'll have to handle these tasks."

The phone hangs up.

V sent Rin a message, unsure if she would ever see it.

[V]: How is it? Can you give me a reply?

Rin is probably the one who has said the most off-topic things besides missions.

[Caller: Jack Wells]

"Girl, you finally answered the phone. Are you in trouble? You're frantically messaging me looking for someone... Could it be Arasaka?"

As V walked, he said, "There's something I sent someone from my company to handle in Watson District. I even hired a hacker, the kind who takes cash—but now we can't find him. Do you have any connections?"

Jack fell into deep thought.

"Let me think... A hacker, plus one of your agents. Why does this feel so weird? When did Arasaka start getting involved in operations himself?"

V said helplessly, "Jack... there are very few people as reliable as you."

Jack: "Oh! Right, that's right. A fresh-faced newbie who just joined the department, not very experienced... He took on a job and went all out! — And then he messed up, right? Okay, okay, girl... send me the information, I'll try to find the little punks in the Valentino gang. They're always messing around with Watson's Vortex gang, maybe they'll have some information."

Good luck, V.

V watched as Jack's profile picture went out, and the door to Jenkins' office opened.

Jenkins turned on the large screen behind him, and databases of military technology information popped up, containing basic information about soldiers.

"That was handled brilliantly!"

Jenkins clasped his hands together, completely unaware that V behind him was staring blankly at the big screen.

V's voice was cold: "Are these all agents planted in Night City?"

Jenkins nodded. "Not only Arasaka, but also biotechnology companies like Compo and Zeta Technologies... those bastards from the military science department really messed up this time—"

"The purge has begun. Other companies are scrambling to buy our data. The board wants to see Rin... Uh-oh, I forgot. We'll have to wait for news from the security department." As he said this, the worry in V's eyes deepened.

She knew that with such a huge basket, no one could survive outside the Abandoned Tower.

Jenkins tapped his finger, as if someone was making a phone call, "This is Jenkins."

"Yes...yes! You're too kind. It's an honor to do something for you. I'm very grateful..."

Jenkins could hardly contain his joy, and even replied in Japanese with his last sentence.

"The Emperor called. Tokyo knows about this. The credit will be temporarily given to you and Rin."

Next are some arrangements made before the boss goes on his business trip.

V's lips curled into an indescribable smile as he listened quietly to Jenkins finish speaking before getting up and leaving the office.
-
Tai Ping Chau, 1:00 AM.

Mann lit a cigarette, and the car behind him shook violently.

The guy in the trunk woke up.

"Mann! What do we do with this idiot? He's like a bull!"

Rebecca opened the trunk with a helpless expression. With the help of her prosthetic eye's night vision, she saw a muscular man, bound hand and foot and with a flushed face, struggling incessantly.

If you look closely, this person is the bodyguard who gave orders to Hans behind him.

"Then knock him out with one punch."

Rebecca raised her fist, and the guy stared at Rebecca's mechanical hand in terror, making incessant whimpering noises.

"Don't kill me! I'm fucking rich! I have a wife and kids—"

The program that was supposed to silence him failed, and he opened his mouth and began to plead with Rebecca intermittently.

Just then, Dorio, who had walked over quickly, grabbed the trunk and delivered a powerful punch to the guy's face. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out completely.

"Still can't get in touch with the boss?" Dorio asked, rubbing her fists.

Mann, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, glanced at the time. "No news. We can't get in touch with Lin Yue either. The hacker who joined with him has disappeared."

No one can explain exactly what happened.

A week ago, Mann and his team received instructions from their boss to follow this brooding security guard.

During this period, neither the boss nor Lin Yue contacted them.

Just last night, Rin sent a text message, asking Mann and the others to kidnap this guy and take him out of Dogtown, waiting at the end of the road where a large number of homeless people and shacks had gathered in Taipingzhou.

"We haven't had a quest for many days. Do you think the boss... is okay with that?"

Dorothy was somewhat worried. Although she was still being paid, the missions were mostly to stop other mercenary teams, and in most cases, she would be caught in a tough fight.

You could say that Mann and his team have been working themselves to the bone for the past two weeks.

“Dogtown is, after all, someone else’s territory. To be honest, I never expected that Arasaka would get this far.” Mann clearly didn’t think his boss could reclaim that part of his base from the aggressive men in Dogtown.

Just then, a text message arrived.

【凛】：Put the person in the trunk, leave the car there, I'll pay you for the ride.

Mann looked at the text message, thought for a moment, and immediately 150,000 euros were deposited into his account.

At this point, Mann didn't know what to say and called his teammates to leave.

Flames roared from burning oil drums in the distance, homeless people sang loudly in the shantytown, and strange shouts rang out. The Taipingzhou Highway, without electricity, seemed desolate and empty after Mann and his companions left.

A tall, dark figure covered in wounds emerged from behind an abandoned car in the distance. He stood silently for a long time before staggering toward the car.

Lin Yue, sitting in the soft armchair, let out a long sigh:

"Sasha, it's time to go online."

……

(End of this chapter)