2077: V really knows how awesome he is

Lucy didn't believe her, or rather, she didn't believe anyone in Arasaka.

V gained power, but also lost the friendship of some people forever.

Everything has a price, and V understood that long ago.

David said somewhat shyly, "Sister V, I'm troubling you again."

“No problem.” V sat on the sofa in the director’s office and gestured with his chin to the NCPD director standing to the side. The latter nodded and bowed repeatedly, saying “Yes”, and personally led Lucy out of the temporary jail.

“Lucy!” David went to greet her.

The girl in light blue was furious: "If it weren't for those damn drones, I wouldn't have missed!"

Thanks to Zeta Technologies' donation of 2000 police drones to the NCPD, Night City's crime rate has dropped significantly, most notably in petty crimes such as extortion and theft. As a thief, Lucy was naturally affected and ended up in jail six times in one month.

Hearing Lucy's indiscreet remarks at the police station, V glared at the girl.

Lucy suddenly tensed up, like a rabbit being watched by an eagle.

She knew how formidable V was; despite her distrust, she would never dare to provoke him.

V turned to the NCPD chief and said, "The bail has been transferred. I added a little more. I won't fill out the relevant paperwork."

"Yes, leave everything to us. Vice Minister V is very busy, so there's no need to worry about these details. Next time you have any requests, just have someone pass on a message. It would be really inconvenient for you to make the trip in person."

"Rules are still necessary."

"You're too kind."

V left with David and Lucy. Since it was a private matter, she didn't drive the hovercar, but instead discreetly chose a Lake Reef Sword for transportation.

David sat in the car, looking around in amazement at the luxurious interior. The price of a Lake Maiden Sword even exceeded the GDP of many island nations. He wished he could start his camera and take a hundred consecutive photos on the spot.

In contrast, Lucy looked like a sulking little wife.

"Rules?" the girl said sarcastically. "Isn't it just a disguised form of bribery? What kind of rules are those?"

V did not deny it: "It's not a good rule, but it's better than no rules at all. Also, no swearing."

"Fuck, I want you..."

Before Lucy could even utter the word "control," V glared at her again, and Lucy shuddered, swallowing the rest of the word back down.

Frustrated, she wanted a cigarette, but as soon as she took it out, V coldly said, "You're not allowed to smoke anymore. You've quit!"

Lucy gritted her teeth in anger. She looked at David, hoping her boyfriend would say something for her, but V spoke first: "David, you're in charge of keeping an eye on her."

"okay."

"You!" Lucy nearly fainted. "I'm your girlfriend, you listen to her!"

David smiled apologetically and said, "Sister V is only doing this for your own good."

"She's your sister, not mine!"

"Once we get married, my sister will be your sister too."

"Go away, who wants to marry you? You're just a poor student!"

Despite Lucy's words, the two became very affectionate.

V looked at it with delight and felt her stomach had been healed.

Just as David and Lucy were about to kiss, they remembered there was someone else nearby and quickly separated, feeling embarrassed.

V clicked his tongue: "Don't stop. Pretend I don't exist and keep going."

The two of them obviously couldn't continue.

David thought V was being sarcastic, so he quickly said, "V, I will focus on my studies, don't worry."

V wasn't being sarcastic, but she didn't intend to explain either, nodding and saying, "Okay, come help me after you graduate."

“No problem.” David replied without hesitation.

V then said to Lucy, "Stop messing around all day. Night City's security will only get better and better. You can't live off petty theft for the rest of your life."

Lucy knew this was true, but she still stubbornly insisted, "Who's messing around? The Voodoo Gang sent people to talk business with me just a couple of days ago."

“The Voodoo Gang? What business do they have with you?” V frowned.

“What’s in my head?” Lucy scoffed. “Those guys are all lunatics, constantly drilling holes in the black wall. The information in my head is priceless to them!”

The Voodoo Gang, a group of Haitian blacks, possesses superb hacking skills and is determined to break through the black wall to live on the other side. V has no liking for these "traitors".

However, Lucy's words reminded V that last time she and Jack became scapegoats and diverted Arasaka's attention, and if they wanted to do it again this time, they would definitely need another scapegoat.

V thinks the Voodoo Gang is pretty good, since we can't always rely on the Vortex Gang as a menace.

As her thinking expanded, V gradually formed a rough plan in her mind, as if she had completed a piece of the puzzle and was one step closer to final success.

"Hey, what are you daydreaming about?" Lucy waved in front of V.

“It’s nothing.” V came to his senses and said to Lucy, “If you do business with the Voodoo Gang, you’ll be treated as a ‘footprint.’ Come work for me. It has nothing to do with Arasaka. It’s my private business.”

"I already said it, I..."

"Monthly salary 800."

"When do I start work?" Lucy instantly transformed into a stunning beauty.

After all, even the finest wines at the Glamour Tower only cost a little over 1.

Lucy doesn't believe in V, but she believes in the Euro.

"No rush, next week. Before that, I'll give you a small job. Go meet with the Voodoo Gang and sell them some information. You can keep whatever you earn, it's just pocket money from me."

Lucy, who was so poor she could barely afford her rent, immediately brightened up upon hearing this: "What news?"

V's eyes lit up with blue light.

Lucy was shocked when she received the message: "Relic chip?!"

"Shh." V put a finger to Lucy's lips: "This is something you and I both know."

David, barely perceptible, asked timidly, "Won't it be dangerous? What if Lucy really gets mistaken for someone wiping her feet..."

“So you’re coming too,” V said to David. “You remember Carter, right? He also graduated from Arasaka Academy, he’s your senior. Go find him, he’ll help you prepare the prosthetic body.”

David was taken aback at first, then nodded repeatedly, his eyes shining with excitement.

Afterwards, V took the two of them to Tom's Restaurant for dinner, mainly for Lucy. She had been eating protein bars for several days, not because the NCPD was deliberately making things difficult for her, but mainly because that was all they had there.

Lucy wolfed down her synthetic meat burger, while V and David, who weren't as hungry, each ordered a coffee and started chatting about Mann and the others.

Mann and Dorio both underwent prosthetic downgrade surgery with Old Vie, and after this incident, they completely withdrew from the mercenary business. Now, the two of them run a gun shop in the Kabuki district, and business is reportedly quite good. Rebecca, on the other hand, has no intention of quitting. She called on her brother Pila, and through Lucy's introduction, found a hacker named Qiwei to form a three-person team. They take jobs from Okada Wakako in the Japanese district and have become somewhat well-known.

While not perfect, it is adequate as an epilogue.

"If they need any help, they can call me anytime."

David looked grateful and said sincerely, "Thank you, Sister V. Meeting you is the luckiest thing that has ever happened to us."

"Save your mushy stuff for your girlfriend. I'm leaving."

V summoned the hovercar, which took off amidst great anticipation, while the Lady's Sword of Lake Reyfield would return to the garage via autonomous driving.

"Tch, that annoying guy is finally gone." Lucy bit down hard on her straw.

"Don't say that, V really cares about you." David said with a smile, "She's always helping you out and taking you out to eat, just like your mom."

"Pah! We're not that much older than each other, she's more like my older sister!"

"See? You also think she's good to you."

"No Road Race!"

Tsundere might be phased out, but it's unlikely that tsundere will be phased out altogether.

Lucy's Japanese heritage began to emerge.

Nothing much happened for the next two days, and V continued to refine his plan. On the third day, Xu Zhong brought the blueprints for the Kangtao L-69 Zhuoshi intelligent shotgun.

The concept of smart firearms originated with Arasaka, but Comto later surpassed it. Whether it's smart pistols or smart submachine guns, Comto always uses Arasaka's firearms as an example, first imitating and then surpassing them, which is why it has always been criticized for its "copyright" issues.

But in 2069, Comto launched the world's first smart shotgun, the "L-69 Zoe," which not only solved the century-old problem of shotguns being inaccurate at long range, but also broke the predicament that smart weapons were limited to small-caliber pistols and submachine guns, which could not kill people in half a day.

Most importantly, Arakawa was completely blank in the field of intelligent shotguns, and Kangtao completely shed its "copycat" reputation and achieved true independent innovation.

For a time, Arasaka treated Kangtao as a formidable enemy, placing even greater emphasis on it than on its long-standing rival, military technology. Even Saburo Arasaka acknowledged the "Kangtao threat" and repeatedly changed his strategy to counter Kangtao's rise, demonstrating Kangtao's peak in recent years.

But now, Xu Zhong, a nobody, has actually managed to get his hands on the technical data for the L-69 smart shotgun. Apart from Joanne Koch, who isn't very knowledgeable about military technology, V and Meredith Stock are a bit bewildered.

"Is this real?" Meredith Stock held the chip, turning it over and over in his hands.

She knew Xu Zhong probably had ulterior motives, but using state secrets to gain trust seemed like overestimating her group.

She looked at V, who thought for a moment and said, "Kantau's three-in-one strategy."

"What three ones?"

“It’s about ‘publicly revealing one generation, hiding one generation, and developing one generation.’” V looked at Xu Zhong: “I think Kangtao should already have a smart shotgun with better performance than the Zhuoshi, right?”

Xu Zhong's heart started beating faster.

Meredith Stock also realized: "An eight-star gun? Isn't that thing not mass-produced and only available by pre-order?"

"They're even willing to use Zhuo Shi as bait, what do you think?"

"Damn it!" Meredith Stock was seething with anger. The military technology team had been using the Zhuoshi method to evaluate Kangtao's technical level, and now this had rendered all their previous research and reports worthless in an instant. But Kangtao had done a good job of keeping secrets, winning honorably, so she couldn't find an excuse. In the end, she could only mutter in a wronged and aggrieved tone, "The Chinese are so damn wicked!"

V ignored the blonde, slick-back-haired woman who had already moved on, and turned to Xu Zhong, asking, "I understand your sincerity. Now, tell me your demands."

Xu Zhong said awkwardly, "What do you mean 'you guys'? It's just me. This is all my personal behavior and has nothing to do with anyone else."

V stared intently at Xu Zhong, and Xu Zhong returned the gaze without blinking.

His eyes were filled with determination, while V's eyes were filled with... blue light.

Xu Zhong: ? ? ?

Xu Zhong: !!!

His head got hotter and hotter, and then his hair burst into flames with a "pop".

[Prosthetic Overheating]

Artificial hair is also a prosthetic, and its length can be adjusted at any time, with a variety of colors to choose from.

"It's so hot! I really can't say that, we have rules!"

Okay, with that statement, not saying it is the same as saying it.

V stopped the puppet.

Xu Zhong sported a half-shaved head and looked utterly dejected.

"Tell me, what do you want?"

"It wasn't us, it was me!" Xu Zhong stubbornly insisted.

"Fine, you can have it." V didn't hold it against him. "What do you want?"

"I want to join you guys and work with you."

"If it's just about joining, there's no need for such an expensive price like Zhuo's. What else is there?"

"Jiang Ping, I'm going to bring her down!"

"You said before that you and Jiang Ping are not on the same side. Is it you who wants to bring her down, or is it the people behind you who want to bring her down?"

Xu Zhong did not answer, but no answer was the best answer.

V stopped asking questions: "Alright, joining is fine, and taking down Jiang Ping is also in my interest. Where do you plan to start?"

“The Kangtao Power Plant outside the city,” Xu Zhong said. “I received information that she was using the power plant to line her own pockets, and I need to get the evidence.”

V looked at Xu Zhong strangely. "He's lining his own pockets. This doesn't sound like a factional struggle. It sounds more like someone sent down from above to audit the accounts."

Forget it, Kanto is too sensitive; V doesn't want to provoke them easily. As for the Kanto power plant outside the city... V's brain raced, and he figured it could be integrated into his plan.

She said to Xu Zhong, "Do you know Anders Herman, the chief bioengineer at Arakawa?"

Xu Zhong looked completely bewildered.

"It doesn't matter if you don't know him. All you need to know is that he will soon be working for Kang Tao. What you want and what I want are both in him."

Another piece of the puzzle has been found.