Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

On the ground, in a corner of the campus, a close friend who had just finished talking with Vera looked away, her prosthetic eye glowing orange-red in the shadows.

"The target has returned. No abnormalities reported today. Majoring in law and minoring in biology."

"Her goal is clear: to finish her studies, return to Night City, and rise to a higher position. She's an ambitious person. She has utter disdain for campus romance. Although she seems gentle and refined, and speaks elegantly and pays great attention to etiquette, there is a deep and subtle indifference hidden beneath that faint smile. It's easy to greet her, but difficult to have a deep conversation with her."

"As for her... Me? She's a genius. I don't know if she's even aware of me. Even with the help of the information cable interface board, I've never seen anyone with such high learning efficiency... She might break our Arasaka's record for the fastest graduation among our internal students."

Admission through internal quotas of large companies is different from admission through regular examinations.

The former are often geniuses who have emerged from countless competitions within large companies. They have strong learning and action abilities, are experienced, and their learning time is shorter than that of normal students, but the workload is no less. According to the company's requirements, the difficulty is higher and stricter, and those who cannot pass will be eliminated.

The latter allows for a more structured approach with greater flexibility, enabling one to succeed through regular exams, postponements, make-up exams, parental funding, or connections.

The former is often more valuable and more difficult than the latter.

"Today, she revealed that she has decided to go on a study tour to Africa. It seems that she has come up with ideas for her personal biology project, which should be related to the collaborative business of Michiko-sama's 'Dangerous Girl' company."

"Keep an eye on it? Yes, I understand."

...

Tokyo Arasaka Company Community.

Vera's temporary residence.

bang.

The automatic sensor lights came on, and Vera, carrying a handbag, stepped into the entrance hall of her Japanese-style detached apartment. On the long table outside, there was a rectangular box wrapped in industrial-grade synthetic plastic.

She put down her handbag and checked her emails.

From: Arasaka Purchasing Department

Recipient: Vera Adelheid Russell

After carefully examining the receipt, Vera suddenly smiled. In the dim light of the ambient lighting on the long table, her face was hidden in the darkness.

"Oh, the leeches have arrived."

------

PS: One more chapter.

Chapter 047 The Hoe-Wielder and the Lone Warrior

thump.

After moving the plastic box containing the leeches indoors and taking off her coat, Vera put down her handbag containing her law school assignments, then stepped forward, fastened the latch, and opened the plastic lid. Inside, she saw a metal box with the round Arasaka clover logo.

"Really thorough."

They're just a dozen or so leeches with normal characteristics; in a normal worldview, no one would consider them precious.

She reached out and tapped the touchscreen. The biometric reader on the touchscreen surface compared Vera's DI information with the recipient information inside the chip, and beeped.

The comparison passed, and with a 'hiss', the metal box opened, and cold air slowly drifted out.

The interior walls, resembling a sandy environment, are exposed, along with dark brown leeches that are narrow at the top and bottom and thick in the middle.

They were quite large, about one decimeter in length. Vera counted about 15 of them. She wondered what kind of T-virus these leeches, which had survived the war pollution caused by Cyber ​​Corporation, could produce after combining with the progenitor virus.

It is indeed very expensive.

Although these leeches are quite resilient and can survive in a variety of complex environments, including freshwater, seawater, and amphibious environments, unlike birds and beasts which have high requirements for fixed environments and overlap with human living environments, and are easy to raise, their risk of extinction is much smaller. However, the pollution in the cyberpunk world is simply too severe.

The South China Sea and Southeast Asian islands, which were devastated during the Second World War, are extremely polluted. It's as if those places experienced a mass extinction; even tardigrades probably couldn't survive there.

Naturally surviving plants and animals are extremely rare. Thanks to the numerous seed banks, animal banks, and gene mapping engineering banks built during the Cold War in the last century, the specialized breeding and cultivation of various animals has become the mainstream.

Many companies have made a profit and even gone public by focusing on this as their main business.

Observing animals in nature has become an exclusive privilege for the wealthy.

Leeches are already one of the cheapest visible and sellable animals on the market.

Even for just one, the price is exorbitant, making it unaffordable for the average person.

Ask the natives of Night City, and you'll find that many of them have probably never even seen any real green plants or animals more than a few times.

If it weren't for leaving a record so that the higher-ups could see the logic, Vera would be crazy to buy leeches from the cyberpunk world for experiments. Wouldn't it be better to just smuggle them from Umbrella?

Vera cited experimental consumption as the reason for placing the order through the Arasaka purchasing department.

It's not about having a perverse aesthetic when it comes to pet ownership.

To be honest, because she always has another perspective to see the green plants and animals, Vera hasn't developed that feeling yet, nor has she developed the habit of buying strange animals to keep as a status symbol, which is common among wealthy people in this world.

Click.

"Let's extract the leech DNA first."

Seeing the internal view displayed on the box's screen after the lid was closed, Vera acted immediately, lifting the metal box and heading towards the small laboratory in her temporary residence.

Although small, it has all the necessary internal organs.

It was a request made specifically by Vera, and given her rank, Tokyo Arasaka Tower naturally complied.

It's not excessive; Vera's personal interest in biology is something that anyone can easily find out about, and it has a long history.

Vera takes a leech from the metal box and places it into a sealed glass container. She then puts it into a sealed glass cabinet in the laboratory, precisely inserts it into the slot, and starts the instrument. The gene reader and extractor begin to work.

Beside her, Vera leaned against the cabinet, her eyes flashing with orange-red light. Her prosthetic eye was connected to the instrument's data panel, and various index parameters flowed on the virtual screen grid built into the prosthetic eye.

The key word is "foolproof" and "convenient"!

In fact, the biotechnology and gene editing technology in the cyberpunk world are by no means inferior.

Gene programming that allows the human body to overcome rejection; biosynthetic technologies that create various new drugs and foods; nanotherapy technologies that treat multiple diseases; and 'rejuvenating' drugs that extend human lifespan…

Cyborg advanced bioengineering technologies, such as bionic humanoid technology that can create entirely new life forms, are also involved. Furthermore, sixty years ago in 2014, the Seimei Crafts Co., Ltd. team in Japan successfully created a fourth-stage human clone with neural development and activity…

What they lack are super viruses like progenitor viruses and T-viruses, which can cause infected cells to proliferate out of thin air, defying the law of conservation of mass, as if drawing mass from subspace to modify and proliferate.

Vera's collaboration with Dangerous Girls' rehabilitation and wellness business largely leverages improvements made from Umbrella's research on supervirus byproducts.

And this is based on the premise that the cyberpunk world has experienced a major technological regression.

In terms of conventional technology, Umbrella is far inferior to the cyberpunk world. They were simply lucky to discover and possess the Progenitor Virus and the various superviruses that followed, a treasure trove that defies convention.

By taking a different approach and overtaking on a curve, they have achieved technological advancements in certain areas that rival or even surpass those of the cyberpunk world.

beep.

After a complex process and reaction, the purified leech DNA was injected into a special container. *Sizzle!* Vera took out the container, examined the translucent white liquid inside for a while, and then placed it in the refrigerator.

Based on my memory of the T-virus cultivation process of Drs. James Marcus and William Birkin of Umbrella Corporation, for the sake of stability, the progenitor virus should have been injected into leeches, which have strong tolerance and adaptability to the environment, before the T-virus was extracted.

But Vera considered the technological capabilities of the cyberpunk world.

Or, how about I try synthesizing leech DNA with the progenitor virus?

Hmm, the home-cooked lab just doesn't feel right. We'll borrow a lab in Africa when we get there. After all, she's still working part-time as a biotechnology researcher at Arasaka.

Extract several more DNA purification reagents from leeches.

After her law coursework tomorrow, she will go to the medical school at the University of Tokyo to borrow a laboratory to compare the differences between these leech DNAs and the DNA from the special leeches bred by Umbrella...

...

"Lord Yori Xuan..."

"Private words, private words, private troubles, don't bother me? (Didn't I say, don't bother me)"

In Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, there is a luxurious estate that is close to the Imperial Palace and occupies a similar size, making it seem rather presumptuous.

dong dong.

A retainer dressed in the distinctive insignia of the Arasaka family arrived at a Japanese-style sliding doorway, knelt on a luxurious yet understated dark yellow tatami mat, and bowed his head to report.

After hearing an impatient voice from inside the door, he lowered his head even further.

"Lord Lai Xuan...we have determined that it was the Night City security high-ranking officer summoned by Lord Hanako after he left the family's main compound last time. Our people eavesdropped on the surveillance reports from Shintaro Takayama's subordinates, and Lord Hanako took it quite seriously..."

wow-

"Who?"

The door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, wearing a blue striped shirt and a black jacket, with a haggard and sickly appearance due to mental and physical exhaustion, stood with his arms crossed and asked condescendingly.

Arasaka Yorinobu.

The heir to the massive Arasaka Group is the youngest and only surviving son of the group's head, Saburo Arasaka. Most people believe he will inevitably become the heir to the Arasaka Group after Saburo's death.

"Vera Adelheid Russell, Night City Security Department..."

"Send me the information." Arasaka Yorinobu interrupted his retainer's tedious explanation. "At this time, I don't want anyone to disturb me, you understand?" He turned around and looked back at the other person.

"Yes!"

Wow.

The door closed again. Walking on the wooden floor reflecting soft light, Arasaka Yoriyuki, with a gloomy expression, came to the table where the data tablet and mobile phone were placed. He picked up the data tablet and began to examine this rising star, who was hailed as the North American headquarters of Arasaka in Night City.

That old bastard Shintaro Takayama, who dedicated his life to Saburo, an absolutely loyal old dog, must have had a reason for spying on Vera.

Will you personally oversee the selection of Arasaka juniors who are worthy of being entrusted with important responsibilities? Will you check whether they are loyal enough to be granted an audience with Saburo?

Yoriyuki Arasaka doesn't see it that way.

That old man is so arrogant.

Ding.