2077: V really knows how awesome he is

Triss didn't understand what insurance was, but she understood retirement, unemployment, medical care, and housing.

"You mean you're also going to be responsible for our retirement, unemployment, healthcare, and housing?!" Triss exclaimed in utter astonishment.

V was also incredibly surprised: "Since I'm hiring you, shouldn't I be responsible for your retirement, unemployment, medical care, and housing? Of course, these conditions are a bit basic, but as foreigners, I can't just raise the pay too high, as that would only breed resentment. But as long as you work hard, I guarantee..."

Triss couldn't hear anything more after that, because she didn't know what kind of life they were living if this was considered "basic conditions".

“Let’s go!” Triss said emphatically.

"Huh?" V was taken aback, not expecting the sorceress to agree so quickly, especially considering it was a super-amplified version of leaving home. "Won't you reconsider?"

Triss shook her head: "No need to even consider it!"

"What if your people object?"

"Then I'll kill him!"

V: "...There's no need to exaggerate like that."

Triss smiled and asked, "Your Majesty, when shall we leave?"

V glanced at the progress on the nanobots' end and replied, "We'll have collected enough C-particles in three days. I'll have Ciri send me back, and we'll go together. You can go and familiarize yourself with the environment first."

Triss performed a very formal courtly bow and left satisfied.

Three days later, the C particles were collected, and V began its return to Night City.

Chapter 136 The Emperor's Schemes

An earthquake suddenly struck Kaermohan.

Lambert, who was patrolling the city wall, quickly grabbed the top of the wall. Before he could warn the others, he saw an astonishing scene.

The ground suddenly turned upside down, and a huge rhinoceros made of rock appeared proudly in the castle. Lambert muttered, "What kind of monster is this?" and immediately drew his silver sword from his back.

The crowd was also drawn to the rock rhinoceros's movements, and everyone was quite nervous in the face of the enormous creature, which was almost two stories tall.

But V came out and waved to the rhinoceros, and the rhinoceros trotted over to her and nuzzled her palm with its head.

"What is this?" Triss asked on behalf of everyone.

"The nanobots I released a few days ago."

"Ah, wasn't there only three drops of blood back then?"

"Nanobots have the ability to self-reproduce, didn't I tell you that?"

“Absolutely not,” Triss said with certainty.

“Okay, my bad,” V explained. “Nanobots can multiply themselves, and this rhinoceros is one of those three drops of blood, responsible for absorbing C particles from the soil.”

"One of the three drops, which means there are two other things just like this guy?" Lambert discovered the key point.

As he finished speaking, a beautiful, pitiful-looking mermaid suddenly leaped out of the well in Kaer Morhen Castle with a splash.

Everyone was stunned, marveling at the sight of the legendary creature, when the mermaid, with her stunningly beautiful face, pounced into V's arms like a silly roe deer, rubbing her face against V's while slapping the rhinoceros's face with her large fish tail.

Now everyone understood, and Kayla asked, "This mermaid is also...?"

"Yes, the second of the three drops of blood is responsible for absorbing C particles in the water."

“And the third drop?” the Archdruid asked. “I remember it was bounced into the air.”

At this moment, a strange roar resounded in the sky. Everyone looked up and saw a huge creature with antlers like a deer, head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, body like a snake, scales like a fish, claws like an eagle, paws like a tiger, and ears like a cow circling in the clouds. Its body was made of air, and it only revealed its form when light was reflected at specific angles. It exuded great majesty and a sense of holiness.

“I have lived for over 400 years and have never seen such a creature before?!” Vesemir exclaimed in amazement.

400 years?!

V was also taken aback.

At this moment, Ciri helped Geralt out and explained to everyone, "This is an Eastern dragon, a mythical creature from the V-President world, which doesn't exist in reality."

V pouted: "If Xu Ling heard you say that, she'd definitely be furious with you."

Ciri snorted: "Stop showing off and get down to business."

"Yes, yes, just like a nagging mother-in-law, so annoying." V complained, pulling out his personal data cable from his wrist. The three magical creatures obediently opened their neural interfaces.

Although they appear to be earth, water, and wind, they are actually aggregates of nanorobots. Their shapes are merely anthropomorphic user interfaces. Not to mention the rhinoceros and mermaid, the dragon in the sky has transformed into an ancient-style man in a long robe, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, exuding an extraordinary aura. He completely outshines the rough medieval men present.

Everyone was surprised, including V, who asked, "What's with this look?"

“From General Xu Ling’s database.”

"I knew it! That little girl must have used her charm on your face quite a bit."

Everyone was speechless.

Although they all knew that President V was approachable, he didn't need to be this approachable.

V received the collected C particles from the three magical creatures, waved his hand, and the three little creatures returned to the earth, the water, and the wind.

“Aren’t you going to take them back?” Kayla asked.

V understood her unspoken meaning: "Don't worry, the core instruction of the biological AI is symbiosis and coexistence. They will not pose a threat to any living organisms. On the contrary, they will help purify the environment."

The Archdruid nodded: "I can sense their goodwill, a very gentle kind, like spirits of nature. They are not just simple puppets, but intelligent beings, right?"

“That’s right. Their intelligence level is not low, in fact, it can be said to be very high. You can communicate with them as normal creatures. If you can gain their trust, they will lend you their power.”

Lend us your power?

Everyone held their breath.

A warrior like Roche envisions himself riding a rock rhinoceros and wreaking havoc on the battlefield.

Archdruids, as spellcasters, envisioned entirely new abilities to freely control earth, water, and wind.

Halma, on the other hand, was thinking about showing off by riding an Eastern dragon and soaring through the air.

How do we call them?

"You can call them however you want; whether or not they show themselves is their own decision."

This method was a bit random, but it fit the idealistic style of the Witcher world, so everyone nodded and decided to try it later.

Now that we've finished with the trivial matters, let's get down to business.

Ciri asked, "Is the preservation of the C particles complete?"

"Don't worry." V ​​patted his chest. "The combination of nanobots and C particles ensures that they won't decay in low gravity. The theory behind this comes from your blood, mimicking the way red blood cells combine with C particles, guaranteeing absolute safety."

"Should I charge you some of that 'patent fee' you're talking about?"

V glared: "You eat my food, live in my house, and now you have the nerve to ask me for patent fees?"

Ciri immediately chuckled and changed the subject: "Let's go, Night City is waiting for us to go back."

"Why do you seem more anxious than I am? Is Night City my home or yours?" V couldn't help but mutter. If she could, she wouldn't want to go back so early, since she hadn't had enough of Gwent yet.

There were four people returning to Night City this time: V, Ciri, Geralt, and Triss.

Triss, needless to say, was there to scout out a way out for many non-human races.

Geralt's only purpose was to treat his illness. Although he was saved by V, his physical functions were severely damaged, and his combat strength was reduced to less than one-tenth. There was nothing that could be done for him in the Witcher world. Vesemir advised him to retire, but Geralt still had unfulfilled wishes, so he accepted V's suggestion and prepared to go to Night City to find a professional doctor.

Ciri asked curiously, "What unfulfilled wish do you have?"

The Witcher simply shook his head and did not answer.

With everyone watching, Ciri activated her ability and teleported back to Night City.

"Is this Night City?" Triss looked around, a little disappointed. "Are the stone houses the architectural style here?"

Geralt, having been there himself, kindly advised, "Look out the window, Triss."

“What’s outside the window…” Triss walked over and then was so surprised she couldn’t close her mouth.

A vast city came into view. Although it was already night, the entire city was brightly lit, with towering buildings everywhere, each displaying beautiful patterns and radiating vibrant colors.

"gorgeous!"

Triss exclaimed in genuine admiration, about to share the beautiful view with Geralt, when she turned around and saw Yennefer appear, embracing and kissing Geralt.

Triss's expression was complicated.

V quickly launched a camera app to take a screenshot, naming it "World Famous Painting".

What followed was logical and orderly.

V uploaded the collected C particles and various data, and the research team led by Nakamura Kayo immediately began the final preparations and debugging. According to them, the jump machine could be run for the first time in two days, with a chance of failure of only 0.000003%.

Hearing that everything was settled, V felt relieved. He arranged for Geralt to see Joanne Koch, while he took Triss on a tour of Night City. After two days, Triss completely fell in love with the city and became even more determined to move there. Her only remaining worry was that some of the non-human races had unusual appearances, and she feared that the residents of Night City might not accept them.

V thought to herself that the people of Night City had eaten everything and there was nothing they couldn't accept. But in order to gain Triss's trust, she took Triss to a place for 18+ people. That night, the sorceress truly witnessed the tolerance and generosity of Night City and matured a lot through repeated blushing.

With that, Triss had no more reservations and promised to contact her friends as soon as she got back, so they could meet up in Kaer Morhen and head to Night City together.

V was overjoyed; as the saying goes, good things make people feel refreshed, and these two days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the third day, the jump machine was ready and debugged normally. V acted as a guinea pig and was teleported over first, followed by a fully armed combat squad, and finally Xu Ling.

At this point, Night City had officially mastered warp technology. All that remained was optimization and improvement. The entire science team cheered excitedly. Jenkins immediately had the pre-arranged media conduct interviews. When V announced that he would give the science team a raise, the cheers grew even louder.

Meanwhile, in the Witcher world, since they had already heard that people from Night City were coming, they weren't too panicked; they were just observing and scrutinizing with curiosity.

At first, the crowd was somewhat dismissive. Although the Night City's troops seemed well-trained, they numbered at most 30 people. It was wishful thinking to think that such a small force could attack the Elven Empire.

But as the guinea pigs finished their tests, the modern troops, who had been poised for action, began entering the "portal" one after another. The natives of the Witcher world saw a series of steel war machines, whose names they did not know, emerge and cover the plains outside Kaer Morhen Castle.

Everyone stared in disbelief, and Vesemir shouted, "My pasture!"

Lambert reminded him, "You've already lost Kaer Morhen to President V, and now this is her pasture."

Vesemir, a centenarian over 400 years old, was almost sent away on the spot by Lambert.

At this moment, Xu Ling stepped out of the teleportation portal, hands in her pockets and a protein bar in her mouth: "Combat teams, begin deploying defenses around the area. Engineering teams, begin building communication and other infrastructure. Hurry, hurry, get moving! Oh, and remember to behave yourselves. Don't take a single needle or thread from the civilians!"

As she spoke, she saw Vesemir, immediately stepped forward, grabbed his hand, and shook it vigorously: "Fellow countrymen, you've suffered so much, we're late!"

Vesemir: ? ? ?

V slapped Xu Ling on the head: "Stop playing around, get down to business!"

"Let me have some more fun, Sister V. You have no idea how exciting it is for a Chinese person to expand their territory. It's more important to me than losing my virginity!"

"You didn't break through here... no, you didn't expand your territory here either, so why are you getting so worked up!"

Xu Ling then realized, "Oh right, we're fighting the Elf Empire. Haha, I had no experience the first time, so I just stuck it in every hole I saw, and ended up sticking it in my ass, hahaha."

V's expression was unpleasant.

Xu Ling was startled and quickly asked seriously, "Where is the teleportation portal again?"

V said irritably, "One is on an uninhabited island west of the Skellige Islands, and the other is on the western coast of Temuria, specifically on the island of Shanede in the bay northwest of Velen. Which one do you want to go to?"

Xu Ling is usually unreliable, but her military intuition is absolutely unquestionable. After thinking for a moment, she decided to go to Shaned Island in Temuria. The reason was simple: Shaned Island has a bridge connecting it to Velen, which would facilitate troop movement.

Triss also agreed with the plan, saying, "The Aretusa Academy on Xenide Island is an important sorcerer's magic academy. That's where I studied. If I go forward, we should be able to get their cooperation."

After thinking for a moment, Roche also stated, "If it were in Temuria, I could also support General Xu's operation."

V asked curiously, "You also graduated from Aretusa Academy?"

“No, I don’t have any talent for spellcasting.” Roche said with a wry smile, “Temeria is my homeland. In the Third Northern War, Nilfgaard defeated Temeria and conquered that beautiful land.”

Xu Ling felt a deep sense of empathy: "Those despicable Japanese devils!"

V was speechless: "This is another world!"

"Oh," Xu Ling changed her tune, "Those despicable Nilfgaardian devils!"

In short, with Roche's combined efforts of both strategy and combat, taking the portal to Shanede Island would be a piece of cake. V then planned to hand over the affairs here to Xu Ling and return to Night City.

Because Yennefer told her that the rules of the nanonetwork had been established, and that supreme control would fall to her, so she had to be present in person.

However, a small incident occurred before leaving the world of Witcher.

It was only after the Night City soldiers on guard around the area captured a group of spies that they learned, upon questioning, that the spies were from the Nilfgaardian Empire.

Roche meant that the Nilfgaardians should just be killed, but V was very kind and always opposed to violence, so he wanted to ask about their intentions first.

At first, these Nilfgaardian spies were incredibly stubborn, but after a few doses of truth serum from Night City, they confessed everything, even the scandal of eating something bad and soiling their pants last week.