Samsara Space: They're all begging me to heal them one more time.

Night City, the secret underground laboratory of Arasaka Tower.

"All life support equipment is now online, and the magic transmission circuit test is complete."

"Boss, we can start anytime."

Li Mo, sporting heavy dark circles under his eyes, pointed to the "Divine Carriage" access pod in the center of the laboratory, which had been drastically modified beyond recognition.

Around this technologically advanced operating table are alchemical arrays drawn using a mixture of high-purity holy water and mithril powder.

Zhang Yuan took off the arm armor of the platinum battle armor and put on a pair of clean white sterile gloves.

He walked to the operating table and looked down at V, who was already lying on it.

At this point, V's condition was extremely poor; the intense running around had brought the erosion of the Relic chip to a critical point.

Black blood kept seeping from his nostrils, and his electronic eyes were flashing red gibberish.

"V." Zhang Yuan took out a scroll that shimmered with a faint golden light, his tone as gentle as that of a true philanthropist.

[Heavenly Armed Forces: Medical Installment Loans and Exclusive Security Agreement]

"The cost of this surgery, including equipment depreciation, expert consultation fees, and those priceless sacred materials, will total approximately... 75 million euros."

V, writhing in pain on the operating table, nearly fainted upon hearing the number: "Even if you disassembled me and sold the parts... you still wouldn't get a fraction of that."

I know your difficulties.

Zhang Yuan smiled and considerately handed the contract to V, "So I'm offering you a very cost-effective installment payment plan."

"If you sign this agreement, your life will be saved, and Johnny will have a new home."

"In exchange, for the rest of the years, you will only need to act as the agent of 'Heavenly Armed Forces' in Night City, handling some trivial business for me until... the debt is paid off."

"Believe me, compared to military-tech bullets and Arasaka's 'Soul Killer,' this is definitely a win-win situation."

V stared speechlessly at Zhang Yuan's pure gold fox mask.

He knew all too well what kind of person this sly fox was. The so-called "until the debt is paid off" could mean a lifetime of working for someone else under this man's usurious loan scheme.

But this was indeed his only hope of survival.

He endured the excruciating pain in his head, which felt like an electric drill, bit his finger, and pressed his bloody mark onto the contract.

[Hint: The main character "V" has signed a faction employment contract and officially become an agent of the Heavenly Armed Forces of Night City.]

Based on the "God's Grace" talent, all subsequent faction outputs of V will provide you with continuous faith and profit sharing.

"Very good, I love doing business with smart people." Zhang Yuan put away the contract and nodded in satisfaction.

"Now, close your eyes. No matter how much it hurts, don't struggle."

Johnny Silverhand's silhouette appeared in the air beside V.

This usually fearless rock veteran, looking at the few chips emitting an eerie glow in Zhang Yuan's hand, swallowed hard, a rare occurrence for him.

"You charlatan, you better not mess things up. If I turn into a string of gibberish, I'll haunt you even in death."

"rest assured."

Zhang Yuan walked to the control panel, his eyes instantly turning cold and rational.

"The dissection surgery will now begin."

Click.

The first gray chip was inserted into the main control slot.

[Original Sin Chip - Sloth]

hum-

A gray halo instantly spread out, enveloping the operating table.

V's body, which had been convulsing wildly from the excruciating pain, froze instantly.

In his mind, the Relic data stream that was frantically devouring neurons was as if it had been paused, entering an absolute "stagnant" state.

"Physiological function and data erosion have solidified. Patient status is locked."

Li Mo looked at the data on the instrument and reported it to his supervisor loudly.

"Step two."

Zhang Yuan picked up the second red chip.

[Original Sin Chip - Pride]

As the chip was inserted, a terrifying pressure belonging to an absolute superior surged through the neural interface and directly into V's brain.

"Aaaaaah—!" Johnny Silverhand's phantom screamed.

Under the suppression of this royal domain, his unruly electronic consciousness was forcibly suppressed, all the underlying firewalls that tried to resist were instantly taken over and paralyzed, and Johnny's consciousness was also stripped of control over V's body, turning into a pure mass of data to be processed.

"The third step is to pump out the water."

Zhang Yuan, expressionless, inserted the third green chip.

[Original Sin Chip - Greed]

The core mechanism of this chip is "forced collection".

The green light transformed into invisible tentacles, plunging deep into the Relic chip through the back door opened by [Arrogance].

Hiss hiss hiss—!

Before everyone's eyes, a massive blue data stream was forcibly extracted from the back of V's neck interface and surged wildly along the alchemical array's wires towards a huge biochemical culture chamber next to it.

"The final step. Creation."

Zhang Yuan threw the last pink chip into the control panel of the biochemical culture chamber.

[Original Sin Chip - Lust]

Glug glug...

Inside the incubation chamber, the culture medium, which Li Mo had prepared in advance and was rich in high concentrations of life-sustaining substances, began to boil violently.

The flesh-remodeling ability of [Lust] is fully activated.

The moment the azure blue holographic data stream was injected, the organic matter in the culture medium began to proliferate and intertwine wildly.

Bone formation, muscle fiber attachment, blood vessel connection, skin coverage...

In just three minutes.

A young adult male body, perfectly matching Johnny Silverhand's consciousness waveband, slowly took shape inside the incubation chamber.

"Surgery is complete."

Zhang Yuan snapped his fingers, cutting off all energy supplies.

puff!

A soft popping sound came from the nerve socket at the back of the neck.

A specially made Relic chip, which had lost all its blue light and instead emitted a deep black and red aura, automatically popped out and landed on the operating table.

Zhang Yuan stepped forward and took it in his hand.

[Original Sin Chip Detected: Gluttony.]

[Limited to the current world, you have gained the passive skill: Data Devouring (by killing a target, you can randomly plunder a portion of their attribute values).]

Zhang Yuan's lips curled up slightly.

The fifth chip has arrived.

"Cough cough cough..."

On the operating table, V suddenly opened his eyes and gasped for breath.

He touched the back of his neck, and the oppressive feeling that had been like a time bomb in his head completely disappeared.

"I...I survived?" V looked at his hands, his face full of disbelief.

Whoosh!

The door to the adjacent culture chamber opened.

Johnny Silverhand, covered in slime, stumbled out.

He was naked, looked down at his healthy hands, and then touched his left arm, which was no longer made of metal. His expression was extremely interesting.

"Grass."

Johnny cursed, looked up at Zhang Yuan, and although extremely annoyed, he still gritted his teeth and spat out the rest of his sentence: "You charlatan... you actually fucking did it."

"Go put on your clothes, then go to the armory to get your weapons."

Zhang Yuan ignored Johnny's thanks, put the [Gluttony] chip into his storage space, and turned to look at the ceiling.

Just now, the chip popped out.

Boom! ...

A violent earthquake struck the entire Arasaka Tower.

The overhead lights flashed wildly, and a piercing red alarm, the highest level, resounded throughout the entire building.

【warn!warn! 】

The building suffered devastating firepower! 30% of the lower floors were damaged!

[High-energy reaction source detected! Distance: 0.5 km!]

"What's going on?!" Ah-Qiang grabbed the Gatling gun. "An earthquake?"

"It's not an earthquake."

Li Mo typed rapidly on the keyboard, bringing up the surveillance footage outside the Arasaka Tower.

on the screen.

A towering, black steel monster, fifty meters tall, hovered above Arasaka Plaza.

[War Fortress]

The electromagnetic railgun on the back of the mech was still emitting hot white smoke.

That last shot completely vaporized the blast-resistant armor on the three layers below the Arasaka Tower.

Countless military-tech armored vehicles and drones swarmed into the streets of Night City like locusts, engaging in fierce firefights with the NCPD and the Arasaka Guard.