2077: V really knows how awesome he is

"Of course, we should fire the first shot!"

Gant Odim nodded repeatedly: "Yes, you're best at firing cannons. Now you can finally return to your comfort zone."

"Who the hell thinks the comfort zone is sex?!" V roared.

"Huh, isn't that right? Isn't fighting your forte?"

V was taken aback: "Uh, you mean the artillery firing in combat?"

“Yes,” Gant Odim retorted, “What do you think?”

V's lips twitched: "So you've switched from watching movies to listening to stand-up comedy, huh?"

"Haha, a fine demon always knows how to liven things up." Gant O'Dim laughed: "Let's go!"

V's expression hardened, and she let out a low shout. Her eyes instantly turned red as she entered a cyber psychotic state. The energy of the non-material space was drawn by her mind, and a violent current of energy instantly spread outward from her body.

With two clicks, V raised his arms, the projectile ejection system popped out, locked onto the black jellyfish in a second, and then a salvo of missiles was launched. Nearly a hundred plasma missiles roared out and hit the black jellyfish with a series of "poof poof poof" sounds, exploding in the air into huge bursts of lightning and sparks.

"Oh ho ho!" Gant Odim exclaimed amidst the explosion. "That was brilliant!"

Melancholy and sentimentality are not in V's nature; she prefers to take control of her life. She hasn't been sitting idly for these thirteen days. First, she upgraded all her cybernetic implants to nanotech implants. Second, she explored the knowledge Vincent left behind in the virtual world. She made all the necessary preparations. Now, all that's left is to fight with all her might and see who the future holds!

However, it seems that no decision has been made regarding the future.

Amidst the deafening explosion, a sharp shriek suddenly rang out, and the glass of the Arasaka beach shattered instantly. V groaned and covered his ears, and the next second, countless black "tentacles" fell from the sky, crashing into the earth like meteorites.

"Heave-ho." Gant Odim nimbly dodged and leaped onto the roof of the main warehouse on the Aragaka Beach in a few flashes.

V, however, was struck by the black tentacles and sent flying like a marble, crashing into buildings with a series of loud bangs.

"Hehehe!" The black jellyfish let out a strange laugh.

Gant Odim shrugged: "It's too early to laugh."

As he finished speaking, the smoke and dust cleared, revealing V, her clothes slightly disheveled, kneeling on one knee, but firmly grasping the "tentacle" that had attacked her with one hand.

"Hey, got you!"

After saying that, V shouted, his gorilla arm went into full power, and with a strong pull, the black jellyfish in the sky staggered and fell downwards. V had already activated his leap and flashed into the air, crossed his arms, and the high-frequency mantis knife popped out. He raised his hand and launched a beautiful and rapid set of slashes.

Swish swish!

Countless wounds instantly burst open on the black jellyfish's body, spraying out large amounts of pitch-black code like black blood. It let out an eerie howl and launched a counterattack against V, but V shot out golden monomolecular rays from her wrists. With a pull and a tug, she not only dodged the attack in mid-air but also sliced ​​all the attacking tentacles to pieces like a hot knife through butter. Then, her reinforced tendons exerted force, and high-pressure airflow shot out from her feet. In an aerial dash, she crashed directly into the black jellyfish's body through the wounds, activating her brain-computer interface overclock, causing her entire prosthetic body to overload and trigger a massive explosion. With a loud bang, the black jellyfish was blown apart and crashed heavily to the sea surface. V, on the other hand, had already flashed back to the ground, hissing as she exhaled a cloud of high-temperature steam to cool herself.

“He’s really handsome,” Gant Odim said with a chuckle from the rooftop, “but he’s also really reckless.”

"Well, I'm a cyber madman now." V glanced at the black jellyfish sinking into the sea: "At least the results are pretty good."

Gant Odim gave a wry smile, remaining noncommittal.

Although he is a high-dimensional demon, the intensity of the current battle has long exceeded his capabilities. To be realistic, his combat power is slightly inferior to V's. Don't be fooled by the fact that he dodged the tentacle attack while V did not. It's simply because he, as a carbon-based creature, couldn't withstand such a blow. If he were hit, he would be shattered into pieces. V, on the other hand, possesses the most advanced nanotechnologies, and his defense is far superior to his. Even if he were hit, he wouldn't be seriously injured. It would be better to take the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

Gaunt Odim could no longer predict who would emerge victorious. He had to admit that the current V was the strongest V ever, and this ability to continuously grow stronger in cycles was precisely why he chose to place all his hopes on V.

Throughout history, from the rise to the fall of higher-dimensional demons, he has never found anyone with this characteristic except V.

Is V the chosen one? Or is there some other reason behind it?

Günter Odim has studied this for thousands of years without finding an answer, but that doesn’t stop him from seeing hope—the hope of breaking the cycle.

"Did you win?" Gant Odim asked.

"I don't know," V said honestly.

As the two continued their conversation, the black jellyfish sank completely into the sea. The sinking of such a huge creature should have caused a massive whirlpool and waves, but strangely, the sea surface quickly calmed down, as if what had just fallen into the sea was just a phantom.

“V, I have a bad feeling about this.” Günter Odim uttered a classic line from a rock star.

V felt the same way. She started scanning and was immediately stunned.

“What’s wrong?” Gant Odim asked.

"It's nothing." V licked his lips. "It's just that the real battle is only just beginning."

The high-dimensional demon was completely bewildered and was about to ask again when he saw another V slowly emerge from the seawater. Her appearance was exactly the same as V's, except that her body was only black and white, like a black and white photograph from the past.

"Hey, this isn't good." Gant O'Dim tensed up and asked V, "How do you think she's as good as you?"

"We'll only know after we fight."

Black V walked over, stood in front of V, the two Vs looked at each other, and then attacked at the same time.

With a loud bang, their fists collided violently, and Black V was sent flying. V immediately rushed forward to give chase.

But after Black V landed, he shouted loudly, his eyes turned red, and he suddenly entered a cyber psychotic state. V was slightly surprised and threw another punch. Black V also threw a punch, and their fists collided again, but it was a draw.

"Holy crap, it really is me!"

V cursed, then grabbed Black V's fist and pulled hard. Taking advantage of Black V's staggering forward, she tilted her head back and headbutted him hard in the nose. The force sent Black V sprawling on his back. Gant O'Dim, who was watching, had just shouted "Good!" when Black V, while falling, braced himself with one hand and kicked V in the face.

"Well!"

The two Vs groaned almost simultaneously and collapsed to the ground, but immediately sprang to their feet. V unleashed a monomolecular thread from her wrist, while Black V sprang a mantis knife from her arms. In a flash of light, the two exchanged blows. Black V's mantis knife pierced V's chest. Just as she was about to twist her wrist and shatter V's heart, V's monomolecular thread had already firmly wrapped around her arm. With a whoosh, Black V's arm was instantly severed, and V coughed up blood from internal organ damage. Both, writhing in pain, simultaneously tilted their heads back and slammed them down, their foreheads colliding with a loud thud.

"Damn it!" V squatted on the ground, rubbing his forehead hard, a tear rolling down his cheek.

Black V was also swaying, staggering like a drunkard.

"Damn it, even the habits are the same, it's really hard to deal with!" V pulled out a strong medicine from his pocket and injected himself with it.

Black V picked up the severed arm and, like a USB, snapped it back into his body.

V looks at Black V, and Black V looks at V.

Both of them were waiting for their bodies to return to their peak condition, but after exchanging a glance, they both decided not to wait any longer.

They attacked simultaneously, abandoning their defenses at the same time, punching each other through the body, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and collapsing limply to the ground.

Gant Odim's heart leaped into his throat: "To die together?"

No, V's eyes suddenly lit up with blue light. Black V thought V was about to launch a cyberattack and immediately activated his personal ICE to be on full alert. But with a roar of an engine, V's car, which had just been parked in the parking space, suddenly started and sped forward with a screeching sound of tires screeching against the ground. With a bang, it slammed Black V against the front of the car and sent him flying.

"Vehicle takeover, kid." V gritted his teeth and stood up. "Next, engine self-destruct!"

As the words fell, the vehicle exploded with a deafening roar. A fireball rose into the air amidst the tremendous noise, and Black V was inevitably blasted into the sky. V raised her arms, and plasma missiles were launched, accurately hitting Black V and blasting her into pieces with a loud bang.

Crackling and popping.

Black V turned into black mud and fell like rain. V also clutched his chest, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth as he stood up.

Gant Odim appeared beside her and asked curiously, "How did you come up with the idea of ​​using an engine explosion?"

"I came up with this idea when I was doing street racing. As an amateur, I can't compete with those professional drivers, so as soon as I started, one of my cars had its engine self-destruct. That's how I got the title of Night City's racing god."

Gant Odim was speechless: "The god who controls vehicle explosions, huh? You're utterly shameless!"

"Shameless it is, at least in this respect, AI will never be as good as humans." V glanced at the black mud all over the ground: "Did I win?"

Gant Odim wasn't sure either. Just as he was about to check, he saw the black mud on the ground wriggling and gradually transforming into human form.

"Oh no, she's going to revert to her original state..."

Before the high-dimensional demon could finish speaking, V opened his arms and fired several plasma missiles.

The blast wave from the explosion splattered Gant Odim's face, but V's attack showed no signs of stopping. She wasn't some cartoon villain who would just stand by and watch the protagonist transform; of course, she was going to take advantage of the moment before he could recover and blast him to smithereens!

"Ada da da da!" V activated the Prince's Battle Tactics.

Because it has been upgraded to a nano-prosthetic body, the ammunition can be synthesized indefinitely, and its power is at the level of 2171. The dock in 2071 simply could not withstand such an attack, and it cracked and collapsed in the continuous explosions, raising a cloud of smoke and dust.

The attack lasted for over three hundred seconds. V fired nearly five hundred plasma missiles. Even with her nano-prosthetic body automatically synthesizing ammunition, she felt almost drained and couldn't fire a single more.

V looked at the smoke, panting.

Gant Odim was also extremely excited: "This time we should finally win, right? Great, after so many years of cycles, finally..."

Finally what?

Before he could finish speaking, Black V emerged from the smoke. If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad, but there were two Black Vs!

"This works?" V was completely dumbfounded.

"Well, good luck." The high-dimensional demon finished speaking and then teleported back to the rooftop.

"Damn, you're so disloyal!"

V uttered a single angry remark, but only one: it wasn't that she had forgiven Gant O'Dim, but rather that Black V had launched an attack on her.

Perhaps because she had just recovered, Black V's attack was not too fierce, and V easily blocked it. However, another "Black V" suddenly activated and took advantage of the opportunity when she was entangled to launch a very insidious attack, immediately forcing V to be busy and flustered.

She could block the left but not the right, and she could block one person but not two. She quickly fell into a disadvantageous position and was constantly being beaten back.

V quickly realized that she couldn't win by just defending. She activated her berserk chip and shouted again, once again boosting her physical abilities while completely abandoning defense.

She didn't want to do this, because she was already in a cyberpsychotic state, and activating the berserk state would greatly reduce her rationality. Without knowing what other tricks Echo Night had up its sleeve, this was undoubtedly a very risky move, because in her hot-blooded state, she would no longer be able to accurately judge the situation and might just fight to the death, completely forgetting about escaping.

But the current battle situation made her not care about that, because she couldn't escape even if she didn't activate Berserk, so she might as well activate it!

As a touch of yellow appeared in her blood-red vision, the berserk mode was activated. V felt a surge of anger and boundless power welling up within her. A black V punched her in the face, but she felt no pain. Instead, her eyes sharpened as she stared intently at her opponent.

He raised his hand and grabbed the other person's face, then punched him hard in the stomach. The black V-shaped hairpin was launched like a cannonball, crashing into the sea with a loud bang and creating a wave tens of meters high.

Another black V attacked, but V grabbed his fist, pulled him over her shoulder, and threw him to the ground, creating a large crater.

Before the other person could get up, V sat down on him and then swung his iron fist, smashing it hard into the other person's face again and again.

One, two, three... each blow was heavy, causing the entire dock to tremble. Gant O'Dim thought V had the victory in his grasp, but when he threw the fourth punch, V was actually caught by Black V.

Even in her current state of cyberpsychosis and rage, V couldn't help but be taken aback, because the black V she was hitting suddenly burst forth with countless electric currents, and then shouted loudly, sending her flying.

"Holy crap, a hyper-cyber psychopath?!" V exclaimed in astonishment, staring at the streak of air shooting into the sky. "This isn't Black V, it's Black Vera!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Black Vera charged forward with electricity at an absurd speed, so much so that V had no time to dodge and could only raise his arms to defend himself.

However, the power of the super-cyber psychopath was unparalleled. Even though V had entered a cyber psychopathic state and was in a berserk state, with all his prosthetic bodies overloaded, he still couldn't withstand a single blow from the opponent.

With a deafening bang, the air exploded, and the air currents raged. V's arms were instantly shattered, and various parts flew everywhere. She herself seemed to have been hit head-on by a meteorite, spitting out blood and flying backward like a cannonball. With a loud crash, she flew into the fourth warehouse and collapsed the entire building.

Gant Odim instinctively ducked behind the signboard of Arasaka.

V lay in the ruins, struggling to open his eyes, when a bunch of error messages instantly appeared before him.

With just one blow, Black Vera destroyed most of her prosthetic body. She struggled to open her eyes, letting the blood from her forehead flow into her eye sockets, but she could only vaguely see Black Vera's figure walking towards her step by step.

"Damn it, I really... can't beat them..."

As V murmured, Black Vera approached, grabbed the lower half of V's face, and pulled V out of the ruins.

V bit down hard on her opponent's hand, and Black Vera delivered a decisive punch to her stomach, causing her to scream in agony and completely shattering her chances of retaliation and victory.

Black Vera's hand turned into black mud again, spreading towards V's mouth and nose like slurry. The Night of Echoes would not kill her, because that would disrupt the cycle. The Night of Echoes would only destroy all her memories. She would "awaken" again in 2076, five years later, and that would be the start of a new cycle.

So, is that the end of it?

I failed again.

V smiled bitterly to herself. All she could do now was smile bitterly, but she would not give up. Even if she failed this time, she would make a comeback next time!

V, will never let go...

Before he could finish expressing his grand ambition, the sky suddenly split open—literally split open—and a figure descended from the sky, smashing Black Vera away with unparalleled power and rescuing V from the clutches of evil.

V stared at the person before him with utter disbelief, for that person was actually:

"Vera?!"

Chapter 196 Hyperlink Activation

"V, you want to take all the blame and do all the work by yourself again, don't you?"

Vera asked, dissatisfied.

“You, someone who ‘turned my broken body into flames,’ have no right to talk to me like that!” V retorted, then asked uncertainly, “Are you really Vera? How did you get here?”

"Of course, it's to find you!"

"Find me?"

“You disappeared into the time tunnel with Vincent, so of course we have to find you.”

"us?"

"That's right, everyone from 2077, everyone from 2171, everyone from V Calendar 2077, everyone from the Witcher world, everyone from the Alder world, those who are scientific and those who are magical contributed money and effort. In the end, it took a whole year to locate your coordinates. So everyone worked together to break through time and space, cleaved a hole in the sky, and sent me here to pick you up and take you home!"

After Vera finished speaking, she looked around and said strangely, "Speaking of which, what kind of place is this? It's so deserted and the saturation doesn't seem very high."