2077: V really knows how awesome he is

“I am deeply sorry for causing you displeasure. This regulation is too strict, and the High Knight has reported it to the authorities many times. Although the European Space Agency also intends to change this regulation, recently more and more Earthlings have been smuggling into the Cloud Sea Base under the guise of tourism. In order to protect the common property of all mankind from loss, we have no choice but to take this measure.”

"Great, the property of all mankind. But it costs 25 euros to come once, and you have to get out after just one look!"

Gawain smiled and said, "It's free to take a look. The 25 euros is mainly for round-trip transportation costs."

No one present believed it, but that was the truth.

Johnny, being stubborn, still wanted to argue with Gawain, but Roger stopped him.

"Forget it, if we keep going, he'll just keep saying it's the maintenance fee for the Cloud Sea Base, the facility construction fee, the order management fee. Anyway, it's perfectly reasonable for them to make money from public funds. All scenic spots in the world are the same."

Johnny cursed under his breath and angrily gave up.

Gawain was satisfied with the result. Although he was mild-mannered, it was merely a manifestation of his professional ethics. As the景区 manager, he naturally had to greet tourists with a smile; otherwise, it would be tantamount to jeopardizing his own livelihood. But in reality, all the Gao Knights possessed a sense of pride ingrained in their bones, especially the new generation born in space. They considered themselves a new kind of human, viewing tourists as if they were poor relatives from Earth, filled with disdain and resentment.

"Ahead is Bailey Crater, the second largest crater on the moon. It's not normally open to the public, but as compensation for disturbing you, I can lead you to see it."

Gawain extended the invitation, clearly separating his personal life from his work. After get off work, he would angrily curse Earthlings, but during work hours, he would always greet them with a smile.

V discussed it with everyone and agreed.

She didn't care what the High Knight thought, nor did she care about the conflict between the new humans and Earthlings. She was just here to spend money and have fun, to be treated like royalty. Cultural conflicts and social clashes were none of her business!

Gawain then piloted his humanoid mech to lead the way, with five lunar rovers following behind.

Following the route, they first arrived at the location of the tour group, where a hoverbus was parked. The tourists, dressed in full spacesuits, had paid 25 euros to get on once, but now they were squatting on the ground with their hands behind their heads, like prisoners.

River Ward and Alex can attest to this, after all, the couple were indeed prisoners.

The "prison guard" is another humanoid mech, which is currently scanning while spewing out all sorts of offensive words.

"You stupid Earthlings, a bunch of stinking beggars. You all better sit properly! A single rock on the moon is worth more than you. They're hundreds of millions of years old. If you break even one, you're destroying natural relics, you're committing a sin against human civilization!"

Then V's five vehicles appeared, leaving countless tire tracks on the lunar surface and crushing countless rocks.

Tourist: ...

Humanoid mechs: ...

An eerie silence fell over the scene.

"Ahem." Gawain coughed to break the awkward silence and introduced, "President V, this is my colleague, codename Lancelot. Lancelot, this is the famous President V, come over and say hello!"

Chapter 76 The Death of the Mayor

"President V's presence is an honor to the Cloud Sea Base. Your name is renowned even on the moon. It is a great privilege to meet you today!"

The High Knight codenamed Lancelot came up obediently to greet him, his attitude very respectful.

They are codenamed after the Knights of the Round Table from history, speak in a refined manner, and carry a natural arrogance that makes them sound rather strange.

But as I said before, whether the High Knight is strange or not is none of V's business; she's here to act like a boss.

V casually hummed in agreement, and Lucy seized the opportunity to ask, "What's going on with these tourists?"

The mining girl saw the logo of the orbital aviation on the suspended bus.

Without V, she would probably have saved up 25 like these tourists to join an orbital flight tour to the moon, and she would have been one of those people squatting on the ground.

Feeling empathy, Lucy couldn't help but ask a question, but then regretted it, fearing she might cause trouble for V.

As mentioned before, the High Knights hate Earthlings.

Lancelot does indeed hate Earthlings, but he loves money. If an ordinary person asked him, he wouldn't bother to answer at all, but since it's V's attendant asking, he not only has to answer for V's sake, but he also has to answer properly and seriously.

Lanstrom replied very kindly, "These people have damaged the lunar soil and seriously harmed the lunar environment. According to regulations, they must be inspected and fined up to 10 euros."

This is undoubtedly extortion.

If the goal is truly to protect the lunar environment, then why open up lunar tourism?

But when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. No matter how high-ranking an official or how big a gang leader you are on Earth, on the moon, you have to coil up if you're a dragon, and lie low if you're a tiger. If you don't like it, then we'll just leave you to fend for yourself on the desolate lunar surface. If you're so capable, then swim back to Earth yourself!

The Knight wasn't stupid; he had already found this path to wealth.

The High Knights weren't stupid either. They only targeted these poor guys who went to the moon with a group. These people had no background, so even if they were killed, they wouldn't get into trouble.

The group from Night City came from a high-end server and had never suffered any losses since childhood, so they understood the ins and outs at a glance.

Although Lucy was furious, she didn't say anything. Like she said, she didn't want to cause V any trouble.

The others didn't want to either, so they remained silent.

But V spoke up.

She is not a saint, but she cannot stand seeing innocent people being oppressed.

Since we've met, it must be fate. And with fate, there's a reason to take action.

She paid to be treated like royalty, so naturally she can do whatever she wants. To swallow her anger? Not a chance.

"Let it go."

"Yes."

Lancelot waved his hand, telling the tourists to get lost. The tourists, feeling like they had been granted a pardon, quickly and tactfully scurried away.

Lucy was a little surprised. Was it really over so easily? She thought there would be a heated debate, with Lucy showing off and then getting slapped in the face, just like the old novel she found in the secondhand store last time.

David saw through his girlfriend's thoughts and patted her head, saying, "What are you thinking about? That's President V."

Lucy suddenly realized, "Oh right, this is President V." Although she was always approachable, she was also a genuine one of the Earth's gods.

It's true that the High Knight is a local bigwig on the moon, but so what?

To put it bluntly, they're just dogs kept by the European Space Agency, while V is someone who can sit on equal footing with the European Space Agency and chat with them casually.

Having the High Knight challenge V is no different from the doorman in Arasaka 2077 checking V's identity documents. V might praise the doorman for being loyal to his duty, but the doorman's ultimate fate would only be to remain a doorman for life.

V now stands at the top of human society. People either bow down to her or become her friends. Absolutely no one would point fingers at her.

Ordinary people wouldn't dare, high knights wouldn't dare, and even the gods, who are also deities, wouldn't dare.

V has no enemies among humans, because she has already killed them all.

The rest of the journey went smoothly. Gawain and Lancelot led V and his party on a tour of Bailey Crater with a respectful, even obsequious, attitude.

Two humanoid mechs, representing the pinnacle of human technology, resembled tour guides in short skirts, smiling and introducing the stories and history of Bailey Crater, occasionally interjecting humorous anecdotes that made everyone laugh.

V was very satisfied with the tour and subsequently transferred 20,000 euros, with Gawain and Lancelot each receiving 10,000 euros.

At her level, money is nothing more than a meaningless number. The main reason she gave so much was because of the two high-tech mechs.

No matter what, a tour guide in a humanoid mecha suit has more emotional value than a tour guide in a short skirt.

Gawain and Lancelot were overjoyed. Ten thousand euros was a huge sum of money for top knights like them. These fat sheep from Earth were really easy to fleece!

Driven by the promise of money, the two became even more enthusiastic and suggested many other attractions to V, but V shook his head: "Let's do it another day."

Gao Wen's expression tightened: "Did we do something wrong to displease you?"

"No, your explanation was very professional, I really enjoyed it." V waved his hand casually, "But I already have plans, I'm going to see a friend this afternoon."

“I see, that’s a real shame.” Gao Wen said sincerely, “I look forward to serving you again. This is my number, please feel free to contact me if needed.”

After saying thank you, V led his group away.

Gao Wen watched them go, his face full of reluctance.

"That's enough. Pretending to be respectful is one thing, but you're actually being respectful," Lancelot said sarcastically.

Gao Wen wasn't annoyed. He shook his head and said, "It wouldn't matter if it were anyone else, but that's the famous V. You've seen her story. A person like that only comes along once every few centuries."

"Hmph, I think it's mostly boasting." Lancelot sneered, "The more formidable the enemy is portrayed, the less conspicuous one's own defeat will be—we both understand that. We've both seen V in person; she lacks both imposing presence and authority, yet she's chatting and laughing with a bunch of subordinates, thanking us profusely. She's a complete fraud, far inferior to Lord Arthur. If you ask me, she's just lucky; she happened to be caught in the Arasaka civil war, and Earthlings are both stupid and incompetent. If you or I were in her position, we would only have done better!"

Gao Wen frowned: "Watch your words!"

"Be careful what you say! You're afraid of V, but I'm not!"

Gao Wen was startled: "What are you going to do?"

Lancelot sneered, "Don't worry, I'm just looking for her to make some money."

He thought Gao Wen would definitely stop him, but to his surprise, Gao Wen took off from the spot and headed into the distance without looking back.

"Get lost, don't splatter your blood on me," Gao Wen said.

Lancelot's eyes widened, and in the end, he could only stomp his foot and say, "Coward! You're a disgrace to the High Knights!"

V was unaware of the conflict between the two knights, and even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared.

To reiterate, she has no enemies among humanity. It's not that everyone likes her, but rather that no one is qualified to be her enemy.

After having a space-themed lunch, V led everyone to the Cloud Sea Medical Center in the afternoon.

She was indeed going to see a friend that afternoon, and that friend was the Nightingale.

Song Zhaomei went to the moon for medical treatment ahead of V, who did not tell her beforehand that he had come to the moon.

When everyone appeared in Song Zhaomei's hospital room, the lark stared wide-eyed, looking as bewildered as a silly goose.

"Hi, Song, you look great." Alex greeted him with a smile, and the others also brought gifts to express their concern. Most of them were nutritional supplements, but Johnny gave him his own records, while Misty gave him a tarot deck.

Of these people, only these two have their own businesses, and their businesses are not doing well. They never forget to promote their products, which is truly admirable.

Song Zhaomei was both amused and exasperated as she held a pile of miscellaneous items. The electronic disease she was treating was, strictly speaking, the repair of prosthetic bodies, not a real physical problem. So, consuming all these nutritional supplements would be useless.

But for some reason, her eyes were red and burning, probably due to a system malfunction caused by the black wall.

"What about you? Didn't you bring a gift?" Song Zhaomei asked V.

V shrugs: "Isn't my coming the best gift?"

"Tch, arrogant fool!" Song Zhaomei retorted, then smiled and said, "Thank you, V, thank you for coming. And thank you everyone, I'm so happy that you all came all this way to see me!"

Then, a certain rock kid who had no sense of the atmosphere said while pinching his crotch, "We're all on the same side, why are you being so polite? Besides, we didn't come here specifically to see you, we came to the moon for tourism, seeing you was just a side trip."

Song Zhaomei was stunned again: "Tourism?"

“Yeah, it’s a trip, President V pays, we just accompany him, it’s all free and incredibly fun!” Alex said, sending over a bunch of photos: “Look, this is a group photo of us at Bailey Crater, and this is the feast we had for lunch. It was all real meat, and every bite was bursting with flavor!”

Song Zhaomei thought about the nutritional paste she had been eating these past few days, and her mouth couldn't help but produce saliva.

"Are you fucking trying to tempt me?"

"Yeah, aren't you angry? Aren't you angry?" Alex made a face.

Song Zhaomei was so angry she was about to kill someone.

The most painful thing in the world is not suffering yourself, but seeing your former companions doing better than you.

She thought she had reached the deepest point of the tragedy, but half an hour later she discovered that beyond that deepest point lay an abyss called "despair."

Song Zhaomei cherished this treatment opportunity immensely, and thus extended her love for her hospital room to everything around it. During breaks, she would personally clean the room and even place holographic plants on the windowsill to relax and cultivate her mind. Yet, this very place she cared so much for was now a chaotic mess.

Johnny had somehow acquired a guitar and was singing, while Jack and River were cheering him on enthusiastically; Misty was using tarot cards to tell Alex's fortune, saying she would have two children; Roger was smoking, flicking ash all over the floor; Sasha and Michiko were playing video games on the holographic TV in the ward, dying eight hundred times in half an hour, shouting and making a racket; the most outrageous were David and Lucy, who were not only whispering sweet nothings in a corner, but Lucy also put on a white coat, clearly starting to cosplay, with everyone in the ward as part of their performance!

Song Zhaomei's temples throbbed, and she looked to V for help, hoping that V could control these people. But when she turned her head, she saw V fiddling with her beloved holographic bonsai, and then with a snap, it short-circuited. Startled, V quickly threw the bonsai on the ground and, while looking at the sky, swept it under the table with her foot.

Red and black electricity surged around the lark, snapping the string of reason.

"Get out of here, all of you!!!"

So V and his group were coaxed out.

V awkwardly touched her butt; she had just been kicked by Song Zhaomei.

"You look quite energetic; it seems the treatment is working well."

Everyone laughed.

"Will she get better?" Alex asked worriedly. She had looked at Song Zhaomei's medical records and found that her prosthetic body was 92% modified, second only to Adam Hammer's 96%.

"Don't worry, I spent a fortune. First, I lightweighted the prosthetic body, then cleared redundant data, and finally covered it with the highest-grade bionic skin. She'll be just like before." V laughed and shouted towards the second-floor window, "Akimi, get some rest and recover soon! I've assigned you a job in Arasaka 2077, and there's a ton of work waiting for you!"

A broken holographic bonsai was thrown out from the second floor.

"roll!!!"

Everyone rolled away, laughing.

Song Zhaomei, who was sulking in the ward for a while, then smiled.

A messy hospital room is hard to clean up, but this human chaos is precisely the breath of life.