2077: V really knows how awesome he is

"Jack, you're the real big shot!"

V's eyes widened. She recognized the scene—the same one from when she last escaped from the Azure Mansion, and Jack died in the Delaman taxi.

"That's, me?!"

The giant jellyfish remained silent, then extended another tentacle, summoning 0 and 1 once more to form a massive bonfire.

On the high platform in front of the campfire, V delivered an inspiring speech, and the wanderers of Adcado cheered loudly to welcome their new companion.

"This is me too?!"

The giant jellyfish extended another tentacle, revealing the Wild Wolf Bar. V, with a band-aid on his nose, walked up to the second floor and said to a man reading a magazine, "Kirk, I'm here to discuss something with you about Peppy's debt."

"Then it's still me?!"

Scene after scene emerges, and one V after another reveals their respective lives.

V was violently shocked and shouted, "What the hell are you? What the hell did you do to me?!"

The giant jellyfish did not answer, thus creating another scene.

In a huge garbage dump outside the city, a man wearing sunglasses spoke in a deep voice:

"Wake up, Wu Shi. Let's burn this city to ashes!"

V opened her eyes.

Beside her bed, Saburo Arasaka, wearing a jacket and leather pants, was adjusting his testicles by rubbing his crotch with his legs spread apart.

V looked at Saburo, and Saburo looked at V.

Damn, it's rising too fast.

V closed her eyes again.

"Hey, I fucking saw you open your eyes!" Saburo Arasaka yelled, clearly annoyed. "So you're the one who shoved me into this old bastard's body? You've got guts, you bastard! But whatever, I've heard about your exploits. You stormed the Arasaka Tower and became the CEO of Arasaka. You're fucking awesome! You're V, right? Wake up, let's team up and burn Night City to ashes!"

V sighed and opened his eyes: "I'm sorry, Johnny."

"Sorry, Chicken Feather?"

"This time, I will not burn Night City to ashes; I will protect it."

V woke up, and Johnny Silverhand woke up too, just like last time.

The only difference is that the two are not in the same body.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Johnny Silverhand, in his Saburo Arasaka version, yelled in frustration in the lab, "I'm not a criminal, I want to get out! Fuck these company dogs, a bunch of junks for me to play with, I..."

Before he could finish speaking, Joanne Koch pulled out a remote control, pressed a button, and Johnny suddenly passed out.

"Finally some peace and quiet." Meredith Stock breathed a sigh of relief. "How could he keep swearing for two hours straight without repeating himself? Is that a rock singer's specialty? Thank goodness Saburo Arasaka is dead. If he were still alive and had that kind of brain, it would be too damn annoying!"

Who can argue with that? V recalled painful memories.

“What did you do to him?” V changed the subject and asked Joanne Koch.

“I injected him with a sedative. I had previously implanted a miniature injection pump inside his body.”

“Wise.” Meredith Stock gave a thumbs up.

Joanne Koch handed the remote to V and asked, "What are you planning to do with this guy?"

"How long can he live?" V asked.

Joanne Koch replied, "Saburo Arasaka is well-preserved. Although his advanced age has led to the degeneration of his nervous system, preventing him from having many prosthetics, he still maintains health far beyond that of ordinary people thanks to organ transplantation through cloning technology. All his internal organs are very young, and he can definitely live for another ten or twenty years, provided that our rock star quits smoking and drinking, and stops being arrogant and irritable."

V shook his head: "That's impossible."

"Then his lifespan will be shortened, to about ten years."

This number might seem cruel to a normal person, but for Johnny, that bastard, it's pure profit.

V originally planned to use Johnny Silverhand's version of Saburo Arasaka to control the Arasaka Company and concentrate its efforts on healing her body, but now Tokyo Arasaka is on its last legs, with a large number of talents and technologies already in her hands, so the plan has come to an end.

"How about we destroy it?" Meredith Stock suggested, cutting through the mess quickly.

“If you ask me, we should freeze them; they might come in handy in the future.” Joanne Koch is more concerned about their scientific research value.

V had already made his decision.

Johnny was her friend, and although they didn't know each other in this world, she wouldn't be so heartless as to "destroy" Johnny.

It's true that the original plan was scrapped, but Johnny Silverhand's version of Saburo Arasaka is quite interesting in itself.

If it's fun, that's enough.

V laughed childishly.

Joanne Koch and Meredith Stock were both a little surprised, as it was the first time they had ever seen V make that expression.

“Let Johnny… uh, live on,” V said. “Since I resurrected him, I’ll take responsibility. I’ll take him out for a look around Night City in 2077. Of course, I’ll have him wear a mask so his identity won’t be revealed, so don’t worry.”

Joanne Koch shrugged, indicating she didn't care, but Meredith Stock's gossipy nature kicked in: "So interested? You're not a fan of Johnny Silverhand, are you?"

V almost vomited from disgust. She rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Yeah, I'm his female fan. Whenever he starts singing, I scream 'Ahhhhh' like a little fangirl."

“Fuck you.” Meredith Stock was also amused.

So when Johnny woke up in bed, he saw V sitting at the table, dressed in a sharp suit, drinking.

"Damn it, what did you bunch of bastards do to me?"

V tossed a mask over: "Put it on."

Johnny glanced at it and said, "What the hell is this ugly thing?"

"Masks modeled after the Temperance card from the Tarot deck, exclusively sold by Misty Psychic Shop."

"What nonsense! Even dogs wouldn't wear something this ugly."

"Put it on and I'll take you out for a walk."

"Wang Wang Wang!"

V and Johnny arrived at the roadside in the company square.

Johnny, finally seeing the light of day again, opened his arms and took a deep breath: "Ah, this is it! The decaying Night City, filled with... wait, why isn't there the stench of industrial pollution and garbage?"

V said calmly, "Because Night City has a pollution recycling center and a waste recycling law."

"Damn, is this still Night City?" Johnny looked like he was about to ejaculate but was stopped.

V ignored him and called over a Herrera GTS.

"Hey, nice car," Johnny whistled. "But it's still not as good as my Porsche 911 Turbo."

No sooner had he finished speaking than V actually summoned a Porsche 911.

Before he could even start yelling, V summoned a Porsche 911 convertible.

Johnny's eyes widened, and he was about to go up and kiss her when V summoned several more supercars, including the Sword in the Stone, the Lake Woman's Sword, the Gudara Type 66 Avenger, Mizutani Jun MZ2, and the 570 Mission.

"Fuck the company dogs!"

Johnny's hatred for the company deepened even further.

Although he insisted on driving a Porsche 911, V opted for the GTS.

"Why!"

Johnny asked indignantly from inside the car.

"Because the perpetrators had a five-seater car, and a friend of theirs was coming later."

Johnny was speechless. Is this how rich people choose cars? They don't care about power or appearance, they only care about the number of seats? Why don't you just buy a bus!

V says that the lives of the rich are so simple and unpretentious. If there are many passengers, choose a car with more seats; if you need to carry cargo, choose a car with a large trunk; if you are in a hurry, choose a lightweight car with a high horsepower. What does it matter if it's a supercar or not? Just drive according to your needs. Otherwise, why should you compromise yourself because of the car model?

The thug GTS circled halfway around the roundabout in the company square before stopping in front of the Contau Tower.

Xu Ling had been waiting for a long time, and she waved and opened the car door.

She saw Johnny, and Johnny saw her too.

The two spoke at the same time: "Damn, who the hell is this old Deng/girl?!"

V almost burst out laughing: "We're all friends, let's go grab a drink together."

Johnny and Xu Ling spoke at the same time: "I won't drink with old fogies/kids!"

V shrugged: "Then I'll go drink by myself."

Johnny and Xu Ling immediately shut up.

The thug's GTS engine roared as it sped onto the city highway.

Johnny, wearing a mask, sulked in the passenger seat. V asked Xu Ling, "How have you been at work these past few days?"

"Boring." Xu Ling's face fell. "I really don't know how my brother can enjoy doing this so much."

V replied, "Xu Zhong wants to achieve his goals."

"What goal?"

"Change the world and let the company benefit society."

"Haha!" Before Xu Ling could speak, Johnny burst out laughing: "Let the company benefit society? Screw that! Companies only exploit people. Only by burning all companies to ashes can people live a good life! Who is this Xu Zhong? He's a complete idiot!"

Xu Ling pointed at Johnny's head: "Sister V, can I beat up this old man Deng?"

“No.” V sighed softly. “Johnny, if you burned all the companies in Night City to ashes, what would people eat without the insect farms outside the city?”

Johnny scoffed, "People can raise insects themselves."

"You also need to manufacture insect feed? And the building materials for the insect farm, all sorts of instruments to maintain temperature and humidity. Do you think everyone is an all-around genius, knowledgeable in agriculture, chemistry, architecture, and measurement?"

"Of course not. People can cooperate. You do this, I do that, and all the problems will be solved, right?"

"How should the output be distributed? The people who raise insects on the front line say that all the products belong to them, the people who provide the feed say that they also deserve credit, the people in the manufacturing plant say that without them there would be no insect farm, and the people who test the data also say that they should get the largest share because if they hadn't been constantly monitoring the temperature and humidity, all the insects would have died and nothing would have been produced."

“Hmm…” Johnny thought for a moment and said, “We can set up rules and systems, and then distribute the output according to the contribution.”

"Pfft!" Xu Ling burst out laughing.

Johnny snapped, "What are you laughing at, little brat!"

Xu Ling retorted sharply: "Of course I'm laughing at you, you old fool! Collaboration, setting rules, and using systems to distribute output—isn't that what a company is all about? You burned down all the companies, and now you want to build new ones? Are you out of your mind?"

"Me!" Johnny choked, unsure how to retort.

V spoke up at the opportune moment: "As human society has developed to this point, industries are becoming more and more numerous, and the division of labor is becoming more and more refined. Cooperation has long been indispensable. Companies unite people together, optimize resource allocation, reduce material waste, improve work efficiency, and increase product output. All of these are fine. There is only one problem, and that is allocation."

Johnny snorted: "That Xu Zhong guy wants to change the company's distribution system?"

"Yes."

"Leaving aside whether he can actually do it, even if he could, how can he guarantee that the company won't revert to its original state after his death?"

"He can't guarantee it, just as you can't guarantee that people will live a good life after burning the company to ashes. Everyone is exploring, working hard, and moving towards the same goal. There aren't many people like that, and each one is precious. You and Xu Zhong are comrades-in-arms with the same aspirations, and uniting is the only possibility of victory. Believing that your own views are the only correct ones and attacking comrades who hold different views is not only meaningless, but it will also make your common enemies laugh. They will say, 'Look, those guys are just a bunch of loose sand. We don't even need to lift a finger; they've already started killing each other.'"

"Damn it, you're lecturing me now!" Johnny said irritably. "Fine, I apologize for what I said earlier. Xu Zhong is a good guy. Where is he? I want to buy him a drink!"

V replied, "He was seriously injured while upholding his beliefs and is now cryogenically frozen due to severe brain damage, hoping that future medical advancements will be able to cure him."

Johnny was terrified.

Xu Ling launched a merciless attack: "Sister V, I feel like this old man has to sit up in the middle of the night and slap himself twice."

Johnny roared, "You damn little brat, I will never drink with you again!"

Xu Ling was at the age where she feared nothing, and immediately snorted coldly: "Tch, as if anyone cares. I will never drink with an old man like you!"

Ten minutes later, at the Laisheng Bar.

Johnny and Xu Ling were arm in arm, their faces flushed from drinking.

"Xu Ling, you really understand me. Come on, let's have another one."

"Old Deng, you're quite honest, unlike other old men who say one thing to your face and another behind your back. Here, this glass is for you!"

The two clinked glasses, downed their drinks in one gulp, then groaned in unison, exchanged a glance, and burst into laughter.

V was speechless. What happened to not drinking with the other person?

Oh well, as long as they're happy. Speaking of which, Xu Ling's personality is a bit like Johnny's.

Johnny and Xu Ling have already started the seventh round... or the eighth round.