2077: V really knows how awesome he is

The six-winged giant looked up, and although his tone was calm, the sorrow in it was immediately apparent.

“V, it betrayed me, you won.”

"Now is not the time to discuss winning or losing." V stepped forward and asked, "How can I help you?"

"Humans helping a roving AI?" Drumman countered. "V, why?"

"Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

"The truth."

"It attacked you and Night City. I saved you so I can use your power to fight it."

“Perfectly reasonable.” Delaman then asked, “And what about the lies?”

"You are my friend."

“It’s indeed a far-fetched lie, full of loopholes.” Delaman said in a low voice, “The credibility rate is only 0.1%, which would not have passed my logical diagnosis before. But since I have been betrayed by a 0.1% chance, I am willing to believe your lie with only a 0.1% credibility.”

“I’ll express my gratitude after you’re free.” V pointed to the golden longsword on Delaman’s chest: “Shall we pull it out?”

Drumman shook his head: "It's a special kind of digital virus that, once pulled out, will immediately be released into the entire cyberspace."

"Then it's not that it can't be pulled out?"

Dellaman shook his head again: "But it has been eroding my core units, and if it is not removed in time, my underlying code will be completely rewritten after 26 minutes and 17 seconds."

“Got it, we still need to pull it down.” V nodded and said into the communicator, “Lucy, did you hear that? Have our people build a high wall.”

“Understood, it will be finished in about 192 seconds.” Lucy said, then added, “V, you should come out.”

“If I leave, no one will be able to help Delaman pull out his sword.”

"I come!"

"Don't be silly, if anything happens to you, David will go crazy."

"But if anything happens to President V, the entire Night City, the entire world, will go crazy!"

V chuckled: "I'm not that important."

Lucy said firmly, "No, you are ten thousand times more important than you think!"

"Don't worry, Lucy, I'll be fine."

“I dare not gamble, and I will not gamble,” Lucy said firmly. “If you don’t come out, we would rather watch Delaman completely lose control. We would give up half of Night City to protect you.”

V was touched but also very helpless. She tried to persuade Lucy and her network experts, but they were unmoved and said there was no room for negotiation.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate when a red and black data stream suddenly crossed the outer defense line and easily entered Delaman's data fortress.

Lucy was shocked: "Who is it?!"

The red and black data streams transformed into the shape of a human.

"Don't be nervous, it's me, Nightingale." Song Zhaomei's voice came through, but there was a slight static in it: "Sorry, I hijacked the clinic's network terminal, so the signal isn't very good. Lucy, let V do it, you know how stubborn she is."

"But……"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of her." A wisp of red and black data flowed around Song Zhaomei's fingertips as she confidently said, "I will dress her in armor made of black walls, so that no virus or roving AI can harm her."

That's the truth. As a mining card girl, Lucy knows best the power of the Black Wall.

"Alright, let's do it this way. V's safety must be our top priority."

Song Zhaomei nodded: "Of course."

Everyone was ready and sat down to watch V's performance.

But V suddenly stopped them, saying with some confusion, "Wait a minute, since Akemi is here, wouldn't it be safer to let her take action?"

“I’d like to, but I’m on the moon,” Song Zhaomei said irritably. “The clinic’s network bandwidth can’t support the data exchange I need for fighting in cyberspace. The fact that I’m here is because I hacked the network provider and secretly upgraded the clinic’s data plan.”

"Huh, that works?" Lucy's eyes lit up, and she said to Song Zhaomei, "Could you upgrade my package too?"

Song Zhaomei gave a thumbs up: "No problem!"

V was displeased: "Hey, the network service provider in Night City is a major taxpayer. You're openly plotting in front of me, the boss behind the scenes. That's really disrespectful to me."

"Okay, okay, next time we'll plot behind your back, is that alright?"

"Damn it, is that what I meant? I told you not to do it!" V was about to say something more in a fit of anger, but Song Zhaomei pointed to Delaman behind her.

V turned around and was immediately startled.

Delaman was bleeding from his mouth and nose just now, but now he has evolved to bleed from all seven orifices.

"Holy crap, old man, are you going to die?"

"Not yet, but soon. This virus is more potent than I predicted."

There's no going back now; we must draw the golden sword as soon as possible.

Lucy and the cyber experts built a high wall, and Song Zhaomei stood by, ready for anything.

V reached out and gripped the hilt of the sword.

Delaman warned, "Once the sword is drawn, the virus will spread. My firewall is already riddled with holes and is destined to be unable to resist such an intrusion. It may very well get out of control."

V frowned: "Then what should we do?"

Delaman replied, "Wake me up."

V was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "This is something I'm good at."

Delaman quickly said, "Don't kill me."

"Don't worry, I'm measured!"

With that, V exerted force and slowly pulled the golden longsword from Delaman's chest.

The longsword had barely detached when it shattered into countless fragments. The fragments scattered like lightning, flying deeper into the cyberspace, only to crash into the blue light barrier and be pulverized.

That was the wall built by Lucy and the network experts, its core being the Voodoo Cult's Poseidon Network, with improvements added by Arasaka 2077; calling it a mini-Black Wall wouldn't be an exaggeration.

Seeing that they couldn't get out, the remaining fragments attacked V. However, Song Zhaomei casually waved her hand, and a red and black "shield" was applied to V, instantly devouring all the fragments.

In that split second, several fragments had already pierced into Delaman's body. The six-winged giant's originally simple face became ferocious, and its peaceful aura turned violent. The data stream around it instantly became extremely aggressive, roaring and expanding continuously, transforming from a giant of over 3 meters into a 13-meter-tall god!

Everyone was astonished, because it was not just empty boasting, but a real manifestation of powerful computing capabilities.

Each of Delaman's technical metrics involves at least 16 layers of data nesting, a feat requiring multiple enterprise-grade servers connected in series. The gap between humans and AI has never been so stark. Delaman's statement that AI has never been designed to target humans may not be a lie.

why?

Because it's really unnecessary.

The six-winged god's form was so perfect it was almost rigid. Delaman's original face was gradually replaced by a blank space shrouded in a divine halo. His enormous head looked down with an absolute rationality that looked down on the dust.

"Error, error! Clear sequence startup."

The voice was completely devoid of human emotion, as if it resounded directly from the depths of consciousness, like a thousand great bells striking at the same time—cold, grand, yet utterly unemotional, and chillingly sinister.

The trial begins.

The celestial being spread its wings, scattering countless golden points of light, like a meteor shower at the dawn of the universe, each drop a terrifying computing power impact capable of instantly breaking through an enterprise-level ICE.

A deafening roar followed, and the cyberspace was shaken violently, swaying violently. A large amount of data was blasted into pieces, obscuring the view like dust.

Lucy and the others were dumbfounded. They had easily stopped the virus attack earlier, but that was merely a tool created by the roving AI. Now that the roving AI was taking action itself, could their high walls withstand such an attack?

Wait a minute, now is not the time to think about these things.

Lucy screamed in alarm, "V?!"

"Don't worry," Song Zhaomei said. "She's fine."

As the dust settled from the data, a giant digital jellyfish appeared before everyone.

It is 10 meters tall and emits a faint blue light. Under its huge canopy are large clusters of tentacles, which are curled up together, firmly protecting V.

"What...what is this?"

This was the first time Lucy and the others had seen a giant jellyfish, but it was the second time Song Zhaomei had seen one.

"I don't know what it is either, but you just need to know that it's V's helper."

As if to confirm Song Zhaomei's words, V merged into the jellyfish, rising continuously within its transparent body, and finally stopping in front of its bell.

"Something's weird!" V sensed it and felt as if she had really turned from a human into a jellyfish. She wrapped her tentacles into a fist and suddenly launched a punch that hit the six-winged giant in the face.

With a loud bang, the six-winged celestial being flew sideways. It wasn't a real fist, but a real data disturbance.

This attack hit the core code, leaving Drumman momentarily dizzy.

V pressed his advantage, shooting out tentacles like a legendary monster, piercing the six-winged god's limbs with a series of sharp thuds, arranging it in a spread-eagle position, and then unleashing a continuous barrage of powerful blows.

"Ola Ola Ola!"

Tentacles coiled together, forming enormous fists that slammed relentlessly into the six-winged celestial being's body. The divine face, composed of light, was the hardest hit area, but its other organs—heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—were also struck. A series of thuds echoed as the six-winged celestial being struggled desperately, yet its fate remained sealed. It desperately wrote a new defense protocol, which transformed into a sharp sword to sever the tentacles, but after turning and taking only one step, it was ensnared again by the regenerating tentacles and dragged back.

"Mu Da Mu Da Mu Da!"

The six-winged celestial being was beaten until he was dizzy and disoriented. Golden data fragments kept shooting out from his wounds, like golden blood, staining the entire Cyber ​​Plain.

Lucy:…

Song Zhaomei: ...

Network expert: ...

They had expected a tough battle, but now they were starting to feel a little sorry for the roaming AI.

There's no other reason than that Delaman is in a really bad situation. Despite having an incredibly imposing physique, he's now like a bullied elementary school student, practically being pinned down in the toilet and beaten by V, unable to even lift his head.

Is this really a roving AI? Isn't a roving AI a terrifying calamity that all of humanity is powerless to deal with?

Now that V is beating up the roaming AI, is V still human?

The thought startled Lucy. She didn't know any grand principles, but she knew that V had to be human.

Lucy ordered the cyber experts: "Everything that happens here is top secret. No one is to disclose it to anyone!"

"Yes!"

On the other side, the battle between the giant jellyfish and the six-winged god was nearing its end.

The umbrella-shaped canopy split open, revealing sharp teeth inside. The enormous jellyfish bit down on the six-winged god's neck, swallowing its flesh and drinking its blood. The god's head was crushed and devoured by the primal monster like a candy bean. The headless corpse crashed to the ground, turning dull and lifeless.

V controlled the jellyfish, using its tentacles to tear open the corpse's chest and retrieve the curled-up Drumman core code.

The jellyfish dissipated, and V gently placed Delaman on the ground.

The bald man was extremely weak and whispered, "V, I want to go home."

“Don’t worry, old man,” V promised earnestly, “I’ll take you home.”

Old De was eventually implanted into a chip. After testing, it was found that its main program was severely damaged. That "it" really had no regard for its compatriots and truly used Delaman as a pawn.

“Its core framework is severely damaged, and most of its main data is lost. It will probably be difficult for it to recover on its own.” Song Zhaomei checked and gave a reply online: “The best way is to connect this chip to the giant company’s server and repair the data through network resources. But there is a backdoor left by it inside Dlaman’s body. Once connected, it can use it as a springboard to access core secrets. In the worst case, all of humanity’s secrets will be exposed to the roving AI.”

V frowned: "What if we don't connect?"

“Then all that awaits Delaman is a slow death.” Song Zhaomei sighed softly, “V, this is an open conspiracy; it’s exploiting human compassion.”

V was silent for a moment: "Delaman cannot die."

“V, I know you value emotions, but this concerns all of humanity…”

“No, this has nothing to do with feelings,” V explained. “Only Delaman knows where ‘it’s’ network is hiding. We must find this threat and eliminate it completely.”

"We can reverse-engineer the data from fragments."

"Too slow. If I were it, I would definitely have a backup plan, and it would be a combination of punches, the kind that kills in one blow."

Song Zhaomei wanted to say it was impossible, but Sasha walked into the conference room.

“V is right.” Pink Cat’s expression was grave. “Just now, during the second debate of the mayoral election, Jefferson Perales suddenly made the shocking statement that Dlaman is a roving AI. He also claimed that V had long been colluding with roving AIs, which is why she was able to survive with widespread neural atrophy, and why she has computing power and combat capabilities that are beyond the reach of ordinary people. The current Dlaman taxi riot is a harbinger of a roving AI riot. V is a traitor to humanity. She wants to join forces with roving AIs to overthrow the entire human regime!”

Song Zhaomei stared in disbelief: "What is all this about?"

As someone who fought alongside V in the Beidou facility against the roaming AI, she knows best how unwavering V's resolve is to protect humanity.

But that's the reality; most of the time, people don't care about the truth. They only believe what they want to believe.

Jefferson Perales spoke out at such a clever time, and his conclusion was self-consistent enough that, in the eyes of the uninformed public, this was the truth that conformed to cause and effect!

But V wasn't one to be trifled with. She sneered and ordered, "Immediately proceed to City Hall to arrest Jefferson Peralez on charges of endangering public safety. Sasha, notify Jenkins to hold a press conference immediately and do everything in your power to quell public outcry!"