2077: V really knows how awesome he is

"No, biological AI has already spread into the Earth's environment; they have taken the first step. Destroying the laboratory is pointless."

"What to do?"

"Destroy V."

"What does this have to do with V?"

"The essence of biological AI is a combination of mechanics and biology. Although it is currently in a low form similar to bacteria, it will continue to evolve and eventually grow into a complex advanced life form like humans. At that time, it will eliminate mechanistic AI and become the new master of this planet."

"Wow, this sounds like science fiction. So what does this have to do with V?"

"V is that advanced life form that has grown up."

"What?!" Lancelot exclaimed. "You mean... V is a robot?"

"She is not a robot or android in the traditional sense, but she was indeed designed; she is a prototype created by bio-based AI."

“Wait a minute, I’m a little confused.” Lancelot waved his hand. “Wasn’t the biological AI just developed by Night City? You said they’re still in a low-level form, like bacteria, so how did they create a… living person like V?”

Ultraman remained silent.

Lancelot asked, "Can't you answer?"

"No, it's just an assessment of the necessity of telling you the relevant information."

"And what were the results of the evaluation?"

"You don't need to know."

"Fine, whatever!" Lancelot was in a good mood because of the 30 billion: "Does destroying V destroy the biological AI?"

"That's right. Once the bio-based AI grows up, it will become a completely new advanced life form, even more advanced than the traditional mechanistic AI. But as long as they don't grow up, they are not a concern. V was designed to protect the bio-based AI. Even if she herself believes it is her free will, everything she does is actually paving the way for the birth and growth of the bio-based AI. Destroy V, and the bio-based AI will naturally die in its infancy."

"I understand. V is the babysitter for the bio-based AI. If the babysitter is gone, the bio-based AI will starve to death, right?"

"The analogy isn't quite right, but it's basically correct."

“That’s right, so the problem comes full circle.” Lancelot shrugged. “How do we kill V? Let’s be clear, I can’t beat her.”

"No one can kill V. As the prototype of the biological AI, she certainly has many flaws and shortcomings, but she still belongs to the category of advanced life forms. Her computing power and combat power far exceed those of ordinary people, and even surpass those of small, wandering AIs."

"Then how do we destroy her?"

"Destroying her doesn't mean killing her. Destroying her social relationships and stripping her of her identity and status, as long as she loses the ability to pave the way for bio-based AI, then we have achieved our goal."

Lancelot didn't understand: "What do you mean?"

Ultraman replied, "Reveal her true identity to the world, and announce to everyone that V is a wandering AI!"

"Ah!"

V sneezed loudly.

"Do you have a cold?" Sasha asked with concern.

"No, I just got choked by the dust." V took the opportunity to scratch the pink cat's little paw, only to be pinched on the waist by the cat.

V winced in pain, her romantic thoughts vanishing instantly, and she threw herself back into her work.

To be fair, the European Space Agency has made a huge mess.

Those seven meteorites not only punished the new Africa, but also the whole world.

First came panic and soaring prices, followed by economic turmoil. Just as life around the world was beginning to improve under V's leadership, it was once again brutally thrown back down the drain.

But that's not all. After all, the spread of panic is the driving force behind the company, and soaring prices are also the company's ultimate goal. The so-called economic turmoil is, strictly speaking, a man-made disaster. Since it is a man-made disaster, it can be resolved artificially through external intervention and negotiation. It's not a big deal.

The real big deal is natural disasters.

The dust kicked up by the seven meteorites entered Earth's atmospheric circulation, further exacerbating the already precarious state of Earth's ecosystem.

Overcast skies have become the norm, insufficient sunshine has led to a decline in wheat yields, and the production of methanol 2 has also begun to decrease. The efficiency of solar power plants has declined, and a new generation of energy crisis is looming.

Even more serious is the severe decline in air quality. Now, even outdoors, the air smells like freshly masturbated hands—not only stinky but also sticky and uncomfortable. The amount of particulate matter in the air has also increased significantly. Even indoors, V gets choked by dust and sneezes, even though her office has an air purifier.

Unfortunately, no matter how much you filter a cesspool, it can only filter out excrement. Now, the air on Earth is like a cesspool that has been filled with seven stones, with excrement splattering everywhere. You should be happy if you only sneeze a few times.

V has been mainly busy with the promotion and application of the new nanorobot type II.

She doesn't care about the world, nor can she care; all V cares about is Night City.

With ample research funding, Nakamura Kayo unveiled a new type of nanorobot, Model II.

Type II nanorobots are still equipped with the latest bio-based AI. Unlike Type I, they are mainly designed to target air pollution and also have the ability to self-reproduce and automatically repair themselves.

As several shells were fired into the sky, the pale blue clouds spread out, almost visible to the naked eye. The gray sky was gradually clearing up around the blue clouds, and even though it was only a slight improvement, it still drew enthusiastic cheers from the onlookers.

News 54's star anchor Julian Jordan excitedly stated, "This will be a day Night City will remember. According to researchers' calculations, the new nanorobots Type 4 will reach their proliferation limit in six weeks, and Night City's air quality will return to previous levels in about four months. This purification effort will continue day and night, so don't doubt it, friends, in the near future, we will see clear blue skies again!"

People cheered again, and V and Kayo Nakamura breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for your hard work," V said with a smile to his chief researcher.

Nakamura Kayo responded shyly, "I have at least fulfilled my mission."

The two quieted down and looked at the sky. The gradually fading gray was the most beautiful sight.

A moment later, Nakamura Kayo suddenly spoke up: "President V, the investigation you asked me to do about the abnormal proliferation of the new nanorobots has yielded results."

V withdrew his gaze: "Tell me about it."

"Someone has granted the new nanorobots the authority to break through the proliferation limit."

"who is it?"

Kayo Nakamura hesitated for a moment, then bit her lip and said, "Yes...you!"

V stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

"I?!"

Chapter 102 The Law Must Be Followed

The new nanorobots have no upper limit on proliferation; the so-called 20-times limit is merely an artificially imposed limitation.

Since it was added manually, it can also be removed manually. The most direct way to do this is to grant permissions to V.

“But I didn’t,” V said very seriously. “I absolutely didn’t!”

“But that’s exactly what’s recorded in the message log.” Nakamura Kayo also found it unbelievable: “Could someone have hacked your account?”

“Impossible. I wrote my own ICE program. Even a whole team of hackers couldn’t break in. There’s absolutely no way someone could steal mine…” V paused abruptly as she spoke, because she remembered another entity within her body.

"I'll go back and do a self-check; I'll leave this to you."

"Yes." Nakamura Kayo quickly replied, watching V hurriedly leave.

Upon returning to Arasaka Tower, V locked himself in his office and instructed Sasha, "No one is allowed to come in."

After confirming that all doors and windows were locked, V pulled out his personal connection cable, plugged it into the access point in the office, and began his deep dive into the dark and hazy cyberspace.

"Come out, I know you're here!" V shouted at the world of 0s and 1s, but no one responded.

She angrily quit, and just as she pulled out her personal connection and stood up, everything went black before her eyes, and she plopped back down in the boss's chair.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a space without up, down, left, or right.

A giant jellyfish was right in front of her.

“You’re looking for me. I’ve told you, I’m not in cyberspace, I’ve always been inside you.”

"Fuck you, I don't care where you are!" V said, somewhat exasperated. "Did you grant us access to the new nanobots?"

"Yes."

"You're controlling me?"

"Yes."

"You son of a bitch!" V angrily mobilized her computing power, waving her hand to unleash a white beam of light. The beam pierced through the giant jellyfish's body with a "poof," creating a large patch of pixelated gibberish. Just as V was about to press on, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest, causing her to groan and fall to her knees.

The giant jellyfish spoke up: "I also said that I am you, and your attacks on me will be reflected back on yourself."

"Damn it!" V clutched his chest and gritted his teeth, asking, "What the hell are you?!"

"I am you!"

"Is that all the fucking thing you say? I'm a human being, not some giant, glowing jellyfish!"

"Are you really human?"

"What?" V was stunned by the question. If she wasn't human, then what was she?

The giant jellyfish continued, "Or to put it another way, what is a human?"

V frowned: "What are you babbling about? Don't try to change the subject. We're talking about how you control me!"

The giant jellyfish ignored it, still engrossed in its philosophical questions: "Is a human being a body made of proteins? A brain and neural networks? Or self-awareness?"

“Of course it’s self-awareness!” V answered instinctively. “A pile of rotten flesh and a brain doesn’t qualify as a person!”

"Is this your answer? I understand." The giant jellyfish repaired its wounds. "I will no longer interfere with your self-awareness. Goodbye."

goodbye?

I haven't finished speaking yet.

V panicked and hurriedly called out, "Wait a minute, I..."

She opened her eyes again and found herself back in the real world.

"Hold!"

V cursed angrily, opened the wine cabinet to pour himself a drink, but found that his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

"Stop fucking shaking!!!"

V slammed his fist on the table, causing the expensive solid wood desk to collapse.

Wood chips flew everywhere, sparks flew from the wiring, flames ignited, the sprinkler system was triggered, and water sprayed out with a whoosh.

V let the water droplets fall on his body and sighed helplessly.

That's right, it's just that there's nothing we can do.

There is no doubt that the giant jellyfish controlled her; the two minutes she was unconscious were probably during which the giant jellyfish was controlling her body.

So what exactly happened to her? Why is there a jellyfish inside her? If the other person can control her for two minutes, can they also control her for two hours, or two months? What if she does something against her will during this time? What if she kills her friend? What if she opens her eyes to find Night City littered with corpses?

V, soaked to the bone, couldn't help but tremble. It wasn't from the cold, but from the chill. The immense coldness, the loss of control over herself, poured into her body, causing her to curl up and hug herself tightly, yearning for that meager warmth.

An hour later, V opened the office door.

There were many people standing outside the door, including Sasha, Carter, Jenkins and other executives of Arasaka 2077, as well as Xu Ling and Joanne Koch, two friends from other companies. David and Lucy stood not far away, Kurt Hansen leaned against the wall, Johnny, who had the face of Saburo Arasaka, also came, and even Michiko Arasaka appeared together, standing next to her "grandfather".

"V, are you alright?" Sasha asked with great concern.

"It's nothing, I just ran into some troubles and needed to vent," V said with a smile. "I'll have someone get me a new table, and I'm going to take a shower first."

After saying that, she ignored Sasha's response and walked straight out. Just before entering the elevator, Joanne Koch spoke up: "V, do you remember what I said? You can talk to me about anything, anything!"

V turned around, opened her mouth to speak, and just then, the elevator arrived with a ding.

In the end, V said nothing, turned around and entered the elevator.

Johnny rubbed his crotch: "What the hell is going on here?"

No one could answer.

Xu Ling, however, seemed thoughtful: "I always feel like Sister V is just like how my father forced me to learn military strategy back then."

"What do you mean?" Everyone looked over.

Xu Ling shrugged: "I was forced to do things I didn't want to do. I had no choice in the matter."

Kurt Hansen burst out laughing: "Don't be ridiculous, who would make her do something she doesn't want to do? She even killed the new African president, she's the famous V!"

When everyone thought about it, it was right.

So what exactly is V worried about?

No one had an answer.

For a while afterward, everything went smoothly in Night City. The new type II nanorobots proliferated stably and operated well, with all the data satisfying the bigwigs of the major corporations. Soon, the third round of research funding arrived. V also returned to her normal self, laughing and joking all day long, as if she wasn't the one who smashed the table that day.