2077: V really knows how awesome he is

future?

Song Zhaomei never dared to think of that word.

"Only by living can we have a future! Run away, as long as we run away, everything will be alright."

"What do you think I'm doing?" Xu Ling sneered, "I'm fucking creating opportunities for you people to escape!"

Song Zhaomei was stunned.

Xu Ling continued, "Humanity will not fail, humanity will not perish. Even if we are shattered to pieces, we will preserve the flame of humanity. Regardless of gender, age, race, or skin color, as long as there are humans alive, a great person will surely emerge from among them to lead people out of the darkness once again! Song Zhaomei, this is a racial war between humanity and AI, not the Aragaka attack or the New American FIA playing house. There is no melancholy here, no right or wrong, no tearful details, only lofty righteousness. Do you even understand that, you bastard?!"

Song Zhaomei was stunned again.

Righteousness...?

She looked at V, who was diving deep, and noticed that her mouth and nostrils were covered in blood.

V suffers from extensive nerve atrophy and can only fight for 3 minutes, which is already a well-known secret.

But Song Zhaomei checked her watch and realized that five minutes had passed since the V-dive.

Has the limit been broken?

Perhaps that is just the limit of science, not the limit of V. Then what is it that supports V to surpass the limit?

The lark of the past didn't understand, but now she does.

It's about righteousness!

Even now, Song Zhaomei doesn't understand the meaning of this word, but that doesn't stop her from realizing her own insignificance and patheticness.

Miles called her a maggot in a cesspool.

Song Zhaomei sadly realized that Miles was right. She was indeed a maggot, short-sighted, living only for her own benefit, always fantasizing that one day she could eat her fill of excrement and turn into a fly.

But now, Xu Ling and Night City are fighting desperately to create an opportunity for her to escape, and she suddenly remembers that she is not a maggot, but a human being.

For the first time, Song Zhaomei was exposed to the light of day in human form, but she was scorched all over by the sun and felt ashamed of herself.

Is it her fault for being short-sighted? Is it her fault for being selfish? That's how she was raised, because she couldn't survive without it!

Song Zhaomei stood up.

She asked, "Really, is there a better future?"

Xu Ling replied, "V said it will happen."

"Fine, I've been fooled by her so many times already. I hope she's not lying to me this time!"

After saying that, Song Zhaomei's eyes lit up with a red light and reconnected to the black wall!

Red and black electricity surged from her body, and the intense pain made her feel as if she were being bathed in flames!

But Song Zhaomei did not stop.

Because fire can kill her, but it can also purify her.

She will atone for everything she has done in the past, and then face death cleanly!

This life has been too painful. If there really is reincarnation, she hopes to be born in the beautiful future created by V.

Just as it was then, at this very moment, another legend has been born who “turned his broken body into flames”!

Song Zhaomei closed her eyes contentedly and collapsed to the ground.

But then two hands embraced her body.

I tried to open my eyes, and it was V.

"Well done, Akemi. Now leave it to me. I will protect you, just as I promised you in my past life!"

V pulled out Song Zhaomei's data cable and accurately inserted it into his neural slot.

In an instant, their memories connected, and the power of the black wall also connected.

A twisted, scorching, terrifying power instantly filled all of V's buffer zones, causing her to let out a low groan, and her fingers began to twitch uncontrollably.

But soon, a soft white light rose from her body, calming the violent power of the black wall and greatly reducing the pressure on Song Zhaomei.

The twisted and out-of-control fingers gradually became stronger, and finally, with a forceful clench, they tightly grasped the red and black current representing the power of the black wall in their palms.

"Come, let us join hands with the heroes of the past and create the future together!"

In cyberspace, the jellyfish, which was already on the verge of death, was suddenly entangled by a red and black power. Its wounds began to heal, and its severed tentacles began to regenerate. Suddenly, sharp teeth evolved on its umbrella, and it bit into the neck of the deity, swallowing the blood of the god with great hunger.

"Warning! The underlying code has been corrupted." The rogue AI emitted a dry, electronic voice: "You've already lost. The times have chosen AI."

V said in a deep voice, "The times have chosen you, but unfortunately, it is far from the time for humanity to exit the stage!!!"

With a snap, the monster chewed up the god's bones, snapped the god's tendons, and swallowed the god whole, blood and flesh.

In reality, V helped Song Zhaomei walk outside. Countless bizarre robots rushed towards them with malice, but V raised her fist and squeezed it casually. Red and black electricity surged from the void, causing all the robots to short-circuit instantly.

Connecting to the camera, V's image appeared on all the holographic screens in Taiping Prefecture. She raised her fist again and squeezed it hard, and tens of thousands of red and black electric currents descended simultaneously, accurately striking the heads of all the robots in Taiping Prefecture, burning the rogue AI that all mankind could not avoid to ashes!

After a brief silence, the soldiers who had fought until now cheered loudly.

Minutes later, news of the suppression of the rampant AI riots in Night City shocked the world!

V and Song Zhaomei stood supporting each other amidst the mountains of corpses and seas of blood on the machines, looking like heroes, truly heroes!

"Cut! That's a good take, let's call it a day!"

Looking down at the small stools, parasols, and the director and film crew, Song Zhaomei's eyes widened.

She gritted her teeth and glared at V: "Damn it, you fucking lied to me again!"

V: ???

Chapter 69 Flies Under the Spider's Web

"What exactly happened?" Song Zhaomei asked, barely suppressing the urge to punch V in the face.

V shrugged: "As you can see, we made a Mewtwo movie."

Song Zhaomei's lips twitched: "So everything was fake?"

“Not entirely,” V explained. “The two missiles that hit Space-Time One were real, the Beidou facility under Taiping State was real, the roving AI released by Miles was real, and your willingness to sacrifice yourself to save others was real. But the battlefield map you saw was fake. The roving AI did infiltrate the ground and control a lot of electronic devices, but I had screened them beforehand. Most of these electronic devices were old civilian products. No matter how powerful the roving AI is, it can't assemble a microwave oven and a coffee machine into a Terminator. So Xu Ling's side didn't get into a tough fight, but quickly dealt with the AI ​​rebellion on the ground. Those precarious situations were all just a performance to create dramatic conflict.”

Song Zhaomei looked at Xu Ling, who was squatting in the corner eating her boxed lunch, with a complicated expression: "I didn't expect Kang Tao Xu Shiming's granddaughter to be so childish!"

Xu Ling looked up with a righteous expression: "This human-machine battle is very valuable. I can learn about the behavior patterns and combat tactics of the roving AI from it, laying a solid foundation and preparing for possible future battles. So this is not naive at all!"

Song Zhaomei was taken aback. She never expected that this underage girl would have such a long-term vision. Just as she was about to express her deep admiration, she heard V speak.

"Don't listen to her nonsense, she's just trying to earn some pocket money. The Xu family is strict, she's poorer than you!"

"Damn it, Sister V, don't expose my weakness! I'm really into the role!"

"Don't get into character, you're just a show-off!"

"Showing off isn't illegal!"

"But showing off will only get you beaten up. Want me to punch you?"

"No, no, no, my command is maxed out, but my combat skills are a complete mess. I'll shut up and eat, so you can continue picking up girls." Xu Ling said, turning around and facing the wall to continue eating.

I don't understand what's so great about women; eating is still the most important thing!

Song Zhaomei still didn't understand: "So what exactly is the purpose of all this?"

“Like Miles, it’s all because of the roving AIs under Pacific State.” V stamped his foot. “With this thing under my butt, I can’t sleep soundly. But Night City doesn’t have the ability to deal with it. If we rashly discover one, we could become the sinners who released the roving AIs, so I’ve been in a dilemma. Fortunately, Miles is understanding and came all the way here to be the scapegoat. Of course, I can’t refuse this kindness. I have to make good use of this opportunity.”

"It's indeed surprising that two missiles failed to take down Sky One, but you don't think Night City only had two missiles, do you? Miles was seriously injured but was still able to manually control Sky One to make an emergency landing and crash into the Little Beidou facility. That's an extremely outstanding individual performance, but don't you find it strange? I hacked Sky One's operating system a long time ago. How did she switch to manual mode? It's simple, because it was all intentional on my part. Even if she sat in her seat and did nothing, I would still control Sky One to crash into the Little Beidou facility. She was just deliberately making things difficult for herself."

“But Miles really released the roaming AI, which could very well kill all of us. Aren’t you afraid?” Song Zhaomei still found it hard to believe.

“I’m confident in my abilities, but to be honest, I underestimated my opponent. The battle between humans and roving AI in cyberspace is like a human trying to hold their breath against a fish in the water. It’s not a matter of strength or weakness, but a pure case of inherent inferiority. Even the strongest human can’t beat a random little fish or shrimp in the ocean at holding their breath. The only way to defeat AI is probably to turn yourself into AI.” V sighed softly, gradually understanding why super hackers like Bartmouth and Spider-Murphy chose to digitize themselves and upload themselves to the network.

Humanity's path has come to an end; to go further, we must abandon our human identity.

It's not a matter of right or wrong, it's just a choice.

Song Zhaomei had also been to the other side of the Black Wall and understood this sense of powerlessness very well: "So, you lost back then?"

“Yes, I lost.” V readily admitted defeat: “I had the upper hand at the beginning, but as my body reached its limit, I fell into a slump. If I were fully recovered, I could definitely defeat this roaming AI, but that would be meaningless. There are countless AIs like it behind the Black Wall, while I am the only human like myself. So I lost, but luckily I had a contingency plan.”

Song Zhaomei pressed further, "What contingency plan?"

"you."

“Me?” Song Zhaomei smiled bitterly: “Are you so sure I would sacrifice myself to save others? I didn’t know I was valued so highly in your eyes.”

V shook his head: "Actually, I don't have a high opinion of you."

"Then why did you bet everything on me?"

"I didn't gamble. It's fine if you remain unmoved. Remember the backdoor I left in you? If necessary, I can directly control you to connect to the black wall, regardless of whether you agree or not!"

Song Zhaomei was stunned for a moment, then gritted her teeth and cursed again: "V, you're a bastard!"

"Yes, I'm a bastard. But it's precisely this bastardness that made you rediscover yourself, isn't it?"

V chuckled, his composed and effortless demeanor sending a shiver down the spine of the lark.

She subconsciously avoided V's gaze and asked defiantly, "You can use the Black Wall as a last resort to eliminate the roving AI, but aren't you worried about the people on the ground? Those civilian electronic products don't have much combat power, but the most terrifying thing about the roving AI is its ubiquitous electronic warfare. With just one slip-up, it can burn everyone's brains in an instant!"

Instead of answering, V asked, "Do you know who the biggest investor in our film is?"

"Who?"

"Internet surveillance."

Song Zhaomei: "...Damn it!"

V laughed and said, "The core spirit of humanity uniting to fight the roving AI is like stabbing the heart of the cyber surveillance team. I only mentioned it to them briefly, and they were rolling their eyes, drooling, and constantly shouting 'I want it, I want it!' So they not only provided a large sum of money for filming, but also provided technical and equipment support. The network in Taiping State was completely cut off from the outside world to ensure that the roving AI could not escape; all the frontline combat personnel were equipped with the latest personal ICE from the cyber surveillance team to ensure that they would not be brainwashed by the roving AI. The price is that in the plot, you, the super hacker who ultimately turned the tide, are the daughter of the head of the cyber surveillance team. As a genius girl, you were forced into this role, but you always resisted and feared the struggle. However, in the moment of human crisis, you finally understood the noble sentiment of the cyber surveillance team to protect all mankind, and bravely stood up to use the power of the Black Wall to defeat the roving AI."

Song Zhaomei couldn't help but complain, "This plot is so cliché!"

V shrugs: "It's vulgar, but the investors are the bosses."

The reason was impeccable, and even the lark couldn't find fault with it, but then she suddenly thought of another problem.

"Wait a minute, if the roaming AI robot army was already wiped out, then what were those we just destroyed?"

"It was a friendly donation from the second investor, Kangtao. They were just some old robots that were too bulky to store in a warehouse, so they decided to make use of my junk."

"What will be the price this time?"

"Of course, we should make Xu Ling the second female lead. Otherwise, how could she have so many lines? A military genius who leads the people in their struggle. Kang Tao is particularly fond of this kind of character, you know what I mean."

Song Zhaomei was completely speechless: "You've really fooled me so badly, with both internet surveillance and Kang Tao."

“That’s more realistic, it’s all for art.” V gave a thumbs up: “And you’re not the only one who got fooled?”

"Oh, who else got scammed?"

V chuckled: "The president of a branch of a certain military technology company, oh, now I should probably call her Your Excellency the President."

Washington, D.C., thousands of miles away.

"What? An AI rebellion has broken out in Night City?" Meredith Stock heard the news as soon as he rescued the hostages and immediately jumped up in panic: "Quick, prepare the plane, I need to return to Night City immediately!"

"President, don't worry..."

"Bullshit! How could I not be worried! That's an AI rebellion! The whole world is waiting to kick V when she's down. Only I can help her now!"

"Yes, yes, you need to change your clothes, you're covered in blood."

"Damn it, what time is it and you're still worrying about this? Just find me anything!"

"Yes!"

A short while later, the adjutant returned with a brand new uniform.

Meredith Stock kept calling V, but couldn't get through. As everyone knows, when you're on the phone, you'll accept anything someone hands you, so Meredith Stock, lost in thought, put on his new uniform, only to realize upon looking down that it was the uniform of the new US president.

"Hey, hey. Hey? Hey!"

The blonde, slicked-back-hair woman was shocked, letting out four consecutive exclamations of surprise to fully express her bewildered state of mind.

But her subordinates didn't care about any of that. Some grabbed her legs, others grabbed her hands, and while pulling down her pants, they shouted, "President, it's cold. Wear this one, it's warm!"

It's freezing cold, it's almost June already!