Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

"Hey, isn't this so-and-so... David Martinez? You poor wretch, don't you know your place? Do you think you're a big shot here?"

David thought to himself that it was like the speech of a minor character from an old anime from the early 2000s that he had picked up from a perverted prosthetic doctor.

With his hands in his pockets, he glanced sideways at his classmate who was walking out of the library.

A lean, arrogant blond-haired man with a mocking expression.

His name, I forgot... He's the descendant of a minor boss in the company's administration department. He's the typical spoiled brat type. Because he wasn't selected for the security department's practical training last time, he kept looking at the list. He was the easiest to bully, and David, who was lucky enough to be chosen, was unhappy.

In the period leading up to David's end of his practical course and the start of his exam break, he repeatedly mocked him. Although it didn't escalate to a physical altercation, it seemed that David's perfunctory attitude was making the signs of a grudge between the two increasingly obvious.

"Sorry, I have a library card..."

David maintained his unwilling expression, leaning to one side, pursing his lips, and pulling out a brand-new library card from his pocket, waving it around. "Excuse me, excuse me, I still need to study..."

boom!

Yellow Hair shoved David hard with his shoulder, his face grim. "You know what? What I hate most is your attitude. You're clearly a penniless wretch, yet you shamelessly try to fit in with us, and you always act like a complete slacker."

David stumbled backward, clutching his burning shoulder and wincing in pain.

The blond-haired man remained condescending: "With your family's income level, how could you possibly get a library card? You have a single mother, right? It's not like she's doing *that* kind of work, getting paid by a sugar daddy..."

Blood vessels welled up in his eyes, which had turned completely red without him even realizing it. David felt as if a string in his heart had snapped, and his legs trembled faster and faster as he stood on tiptoe. "Ah—!" David suddenly sprang to his feet and slammed a punch into the blond-haired man's face.

Snapped.

"A poor man is a poor man. Free, garbage fighting chip, a native arm, not a single decent prosthetic body..."

Easily deflecting David's punch with one hand, the blond-haired man grinned, his open palm revealing the red glow of the prosthetic arm's muscular lines. "Let me show you what real combat is!"

boom!

With a muffled thud, David lost his balance, his face scraping against the ground as he was struck. Blood dripped down his cheeks, but he still struggled to his feet, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the blond-haired man.

"The underground boxer's punching chip is really powerful... It's like this again. I really can't stand your face." Stepping forward, the malice on the blond man's face intensified, his left foot anchoring and his right foot swinging back.

You jerk, watch me!

puff.

Don't you feel ashamed?

A gust of wind swept by, and David heard a scream. With a dull thud as something heavy fell to the ground, the blond-haired man lost his balance and slammed to the ground.

"Tanaka, you bastard..."

"Shut up, idiot."

The insertion of a third-party voice made David look up, and he saw a man with a blue-black mushroom haircut standing in front of him with one hand in his pocket.

Tanaka Katsuo.

David remembered the name of this classmate and participated in this year's security department cooperation practice activity with him.

I've heard other classmates talk about it. His father is one of the council members of the college. Through this connection, he even met a big shot in the security department up close. It seems that he has already been selected as a security department officer. He is subject to the assessment requirements set by that big shot, and his father is extremely strict. He has been trained a lot in the past year.

"Tanaka!" The blond-haired man stood up shakily, pointed at the somewhat unkempt-looking man, and roared, "I'm going to tell the dean..."

"Don't have a long memory."

Katsuo Tanaka made a move.

He darted in front of the blond-haired man, using his body to prevent the man's arm from retracting, and then delivered a punch. Although the blond-haired man tried to block with his other hand, he couldn't stop it. After being punched in the stomach, he immediately curled up on the ground, vomiting stomach acid.

Katsuo Tanaka said, "They're still using these flashy but impractical things."

His old 400-series arm and kung fu chip were replaced because they were too flashy and extravagant, with too many additional performance moves and too little practical value. What was needed for his job in the security department was something simple, straightforward, and lethal.

"Hey, can you stand up by yourself?"

Katsuo Tanaka turned to look at David, who was standing up while covering his face.

Why did you help me?

"I'm not helping you. I'm defending your identity, including mine."

Katsuo Tanaka picked up David's library card from the ground. "A bunch of fools who've wasted their lives on trivial things."

He looked at the blond-haired man being helped up by his henchman, "Don't you know the practical results have been announced? His library card was given to him by Arasaka. Is your attitude an insult to the security department's examiners? I'm ashamed to be associated with you."

After the other person had slunk away, having been scolded, Katsuo Tanaka returned the library card to David.

"As a fellow recipient of the Outstanding Performance Award, you are too weak and a disgrace to all the participants of the 2074 cohort. It's not your fault that you were born into a poor family, but I hope you can demonstrate your abilities. I read the Security Department's evaluation report, and they said that you have high physical potential, but your family background is holding you back."

"Based on your usual performance, if you continue to maintain it, you will have the opportunity to join the security department with me and work under Director Vera Adelhead. I need a team, and you are one of the candidates."

After saying a series of cryptic words, Katsuo Tanaka stepped into the library. David wiped the blood from his nose, looked at the library card in his hand, and decided that since he was already there, he had to go in and take a look.

beep.

AI: "With special permission from the Night City Arasaka Security Department, the following academic disciplines are restricted: Security and Protection, Counter-Terrorism Policing, Criminology, Guarding, Criminal Investigation..."

The library card was recognized.

"They've already entered the security department... Fine, let them in!"

Shaking his head to clear his mind of these random thoughts, David stuffed a tissue up his nose and followed the guidance of the teaching AI into the knowledge chip storage and borrowing area for security professionals—his first destination.

Fighting chip area.

...

Company Plaza, Arasaka Tower.

Vera was unaware that her guidance and intervention had caused many wonderful changes in her juniors.

After today's routine meeting of the Security Bureau, she is studying on the floor where the biotechnology research and development department is located.

She learned how to rationalize the emergence of the T-virus, its logical origins, and how it was discovered.

------

P.S.: The pricing system made by idiots... I'm speechless.

In the Company V start, when you accept the initial suicide mission, you can see Abernathy's assets, which are around 700 million or more.

In the game, there's a boxing match mission where you can buy a car for 2 coins if the boxer's wife is pregnant, and he'll never lack money to raise his child in the future. It's outrageous.

The most outrageous thing is the DLC, where saving President Miles only earns you 3 coins.

Okay, the game and the game background are different.

I'm not a full-time writer for Qingjiu, so I'll take a break today. I'll continue to update tomorrow to return the treasure chests. I need at least another 20,000 to 40,000 words.

what……

Chapter 043 Vera decides to go to Africa to 'search' for the T-virus

"Director Russell."

In the Biotechnology Research Department, the receptionist in the records room smiled and bowed to Vera, saying, "The relevant R&D records of the African branch are stored in area A-06."

Vera nodded to indicate that she understood, then leisurely took her disposable coffee cup and strode into the recording room in her office shoes. After several twists and turns and past several embedded scanners, she found the corridor next to the 'Africa - 06' sign.

Luxurious yet understated, the dark gray decor, exuding a strong sense of metallic technology, leads into a long, narrow room with a high dome.

The layout is similar to the libraries popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. The only difference is that instead of books, it houses towering and enormous database cabinets. In the center is a lavishly decorated oval table with an image device, personal connection interfaces, and a separate chip slot for downloading and storing information. Several sets of fixed sofas are placed around it, making it look like a salon.

After Vera randomly chose a seat, the imaging device activated in front of her, displaying a virtual, human-shaped, bald, blue-light AI image.

"Index, South Africa, 2016 to present, geographical survey reports of the manufacturing and R&D sectors in South Africa following the 'metal vein incident'."

AI: "Please wait."

Vera tapped her fingers on the armrest as she connected the data cable, her eyes narrowed, a glint of orange light in them. The data characters displayed on multiple projection screens filled the image scanner's page.

In 2016, Arasaka discovered a large vein of rare metals underground at a training facility in South Africa.

Thus, the Cape Town branch in South Africa became an important part of Arasaka's global network.

Although local warlords claimed ownership of these rare metals, Arasaka withstood the pressure, drove away and reprimanded the surrounding warlords, and subsequently suppressed and defeated the military technology and the warlords they supported.

Arasaka's manufacturing sector, along with its affiliated and cooperative enterprises, has built numerous factories in South Africa, expanded its original training facilities, and stationed a considerable armed force there.

Even during the Fourth Corporate War, when Arasaka was outmaneuvered by military technology, the North American headquarters was attacked by nuclear weapons, and the company's CEO, Kei Arasaka, was assassinated, resulting in defeat, a significant loss of strength, and withdrawal from North America, a considerable portion of the interests in South Africa still belonged to Arasaka.

Vera retrieved a document.

A small archaeological document, recorded incidentally during underground mining by the Arasaka manufacturing department, is filled with animal bones and pictorial data of geological strata.

There are also experimental collection records from the research and development department on some local plants, animals, flowers and grasses.

"Africa, huh..."

Thinking of something, Vera smiled slightly, "What a wonderful place with so much to offer."

In Resident Evil, it seems that the key prerequisite for the T-virus, the Progenitor Virus, was extracted from a flower called 'Sonnentreppe' that grew in the ruins of the Dubaiya tribe in West Africa by the three founders of Umbrella.

So, if I'm in cyberpunk, could I also make a discovery in Africa?

Africa has no powerful nations or companies. It is not only fragmented by various dictators, but also faces the encroachment and 'intensive cultivation' of land by various new-era corporate colonial powers.

It was indeed tragic, but it had nothing to do with Vera. The chaos only made it easier for her to take advantage of the situation.

Unfortunately, West Africa falls within the sphere of influence of traditional old Europe. France and its large corporations are not the "Little Britain, barely able to unite without Northern Ireland, a federal state without a king." (PS: In the cyberpunk world, the UK abolished its constitutional monarchy in a coup in 2001.)

The European Economic Community (EEC) is the supreme ruler of Africa, holding absolute dominance in North and West Africa. Arasaka has a regional office building there, indicating he is a participant but not the leader. Otherwise, Vera could easily replicate that.

As for operating within Arasaka's territory in South Africa, he plans to find an African tribal ruin to carry out the operation...

Not advisable.

Why can you extract it, but our Tokyo headquarters can't? Once Vera makes a discovery, Arasaka will definitely dig up the surrounding area from top to bottom, and it'll be too much trouble to explain...

"China-Africa".

Drawing a map projection of the African continent, Vera focused her gaze on the central part of Africa.