Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

Yoriyuki Arakasaka swipes the touchscreen.

He ignored all the riot control and security achievements, his gaze instantly settling on Vera's repeated collaborations with Michiko Arasaka, his so-called elder brother's daughter and his niece, regarding the rehabilitation and convalescent business.

Self-study?

Personal hobby?

【Regenerate】...rejuvenates the user by revitalizing dead cells through a certain technology...promoting health, relaxing muscles, healing strain, and leaving one feeling refreshed...

Arasaka Yorinobu saw this.

He muttered under his breath, "You old geezer, do you really want to live forever?!"

No one knows a father better than his son, and he immediately understood Sanlang's plan.

His immortal father, in order to survive and prolong his life, practically consumed all the "rejuvenation drugs" and "longevity drugs" from companies all over the world as if they were just a side dish, and his drug resistance had long since reached its limit.

Saburo Arasaka never hesitates to reward anyone who can activate cells, or anyone with the talent and invention in this area, if they can use it.

His sister, Hua Zi, is a conservative person who loves and values ​​family.

That old bastard Saburo used Hua Zi to have dinner with Vera's tablemate. The "conservative faction" was ultimately Saburo's idea. Otherwise, Hua Zi might have met her, but he would never have taken the initiative to talk to her so much.

That Vera, she's in the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo, right?

Arasaka made things easy for him, allowing him to major in law and minor in biology and virology.

When she graduates and returns to Night City, a promotion is certain. With more experience, and as long as she doesn't make mistakes, she'll be fully qualified to compete for the position of Second Assistant Executive Officer at Night City's Arasaka North American Headquarters. The First Executive Officer is Arasaka Michiko.

It's difficult. People of this rank are under Saburo's nose, so he can't easily deal with them. He can't easily deal with the 'hawks' behind the scenes either. Vera is from the North American faction of Night City, and Michiko Arasaka will think that she is targeting her, so she will definitely retaliate.

This level of internal strife won't destroy Arasaka; on the contrary, it will only weaken his own power...

He still needs to be patient.

His face clouded over, and after a moment of contemplation, Arasaka Yoriyuki narrowed his eyes, beginning to carefully review Vera's performance in security. "A militant type, with a 'hawkish' style, she joined the security department to follow in the footsteps of her deceased parents..."

"Aren't you going to inherit your father's position? Then go and accumulate work experience and achievements, go on field missions... keep working, in South America, North America, the South Pacific, give her all the riot control missions, bodyguard contracts, and public security contracts, keep her constantly on the move, she won't have time to take care of her hobbies, drag it out until that old guy dies!"

Even if other large companies have new drugs with exorbitant prices, they would never want to let Sanlang continue to live.

Sanlang, he doesn't have many years left to live!

"Her experiment..."

Rehabilitation and recuperation...

He absolutely wouldn't allow a new, drug-free "elixir of life" to appear on the market, especially one right under his nose! Even if it could be invented and marketed, he would wait until after Sanlang's death!

Yoriyuki Arasaka glanced at the Arasaka clover logo carved into the black marble slab of the room, a resolute look flashing across his face. "Regardless of the possibility of success, find an opportunity to leak this to a rival company..."

Behold, Father, I will save the world from the fear you have brought upon it! I will destroy Arasaka! I will destroy this dark world ruled by capitalism!

Hua Zi, wait for me. I swear, one day I will rescue you from this cage!

------

Chapter 048 New PPT: The Solar Ladder Project

As the first rays of sunlight in Tokyo in the early morning shine through the adjustable one-way transparent glass into the tatami floor of a detached house.

After washing up, Vera, who had slept soundly all night, was calmly getting ready in front of a full-length mirror, unaware that she had officially become involved in the internal struggles of the Arasaka family.

After smoothing out the last wrinkle in her collar, Vera looked at her reflection in the mirror, her clothes looking perfectly neat and normal, and then nodded slightly.

This isn't about being vain.

Real-world needs.

"The meeting begins."

Only the lowest-ranking employees are permitted to wear sexually suggestive clothing, and even then, only to a limited extent. Company executives, regardless of gender, should dress appropriately for their position at all times and in all places.

Behind Vera, an automatic partition in the room was pulled open by a motor shaft, revealing a large projection screen—

"Manager Vera, this is Jimmy."

The dedicated communication line shows a muscular white man with a buzz cut, wearing heavy combat gear, without a helmet, against a background of the circular Arasaka clover logo.

Jimmy, captain of Special Assault Team 6, and Vera's adjutant assistant in Night City.

California's time zone is UTC-7, while Tokyo's time zone is UTC+9. Japan is 16 hours ahead of California. Vera is at 8 a.m. in Tokyo, while Night City is around 16 p.m. yesterday.

This was the schedule Vera set after she went to Tokyo for further studies, marking the daily work report time for the Night City Arasaka Security Department's Special Assault Team.

She wasn't dismissed, just temporarily suspended from her duties, with Deputy Director Thomas temporarily in charge. In reality, Thomas didn't touch Vera's core position at all, preserving Vera's considerable autonomy so that she could control things remotely. Jimmy was the temporary executor.

Vera returned the favor with a peach, and didn't make any unnecessary micro-management moves.

While granting Jimmy a degree of autonomy in decision-making, she should also be instructed to regularly report to her Uncle Thomas for his input. During this period of advanced study, her role will be more akin to that of a third-party supervisor and listener.

It's simply about making my presence felt in front of my subordinates, proving that I'm still here, and not letting my influence fade away.

"As of early last night, our department completed three tactical support requests from the counterintelligence department. We secretly coordinated and received them, and successfully evacuated a group of intelligence personnel from the Night City branch of the Military Science and Technology Department. Two groups were attacked by the military science and technology counterintelligence unit, resulting in three deaths and one injury. One group was completely wiped out, and the other group used gang informants to disguise a shootout. We worked with counterintelligence agents to rescue the wounded."

Jimmy finished his report, and whoosh!

The scene shifts, and the split-screen view moves to the lower right, where the mobile captain stationed at the Westwind Manor outpost in southern Night City begins his report.

"This is the Eighth Village Mobile Unit. In response to the Animal Gang's repeated attacks on company vehicles on the municipal center overpass and the cross-sea bridge, and in accordance with the NCPD's security and stability contract, our unit has issued a warning and organized an operation to crack down on them. All confirmed participants in the municipal center attack incident have been killed."

"This is Special Assault Team 3. We have completed our field security and defense operations in Argentina and are returning to our Night City camp for rest and reorganization..."

……

"Dogtown in Pacific State is in turmoil again. There have been clashes and bloodshed with the NCPD, the Voodoo Gang, and the Animal Gang. It is said that another batch of supplies has arrived, a huge amount, including heavy weapons and goods from Su Petrochemical."

After the official mission process report concluded, Jimmy stayed behind to continue reporting the major news that had occurred in Night City to Vera.

After the global internet crashed, the only way to understand global events was to look to media giants like News54.

But the media is always lagging behind; information is either inaccurate or key information is concealed. So, if you want to know accurate information from thousands of miles away, you still need to have your own people and channels to actually go to the front line of the incident to investigate.

Should we get involved?

"It's not time yet. Soviet petrochemicals, the new CCCP and military technology, the new USA... they're old rivals from the Cold War. Let them fight if they want."

Leaning back in a high-backed red velvet armchair, Vera smiled, her eyes slightly narrowed, as she thought of something pleasant. Her right hand supported her cheek, while her left hand rapidly tapped the armrest with her fingers.

"That NUSA rebels entrenched in Dogtown...tsk, they're a perfect thorn in the side. The signing of the Alvin Accords has made them hate the Military Science and New America to the core. When this bomb explodes, it will give them a surprise."

The Arvin Accord, also known as the New United States Unification Agreement, is a peace agreement signed by Rosalind Myers, former CEO of Military Technology and current President of New United States, and Arasaka.

In 2069, she led a war of unification to make America great again, but her efforts were thwarted by Arasaka's strong intervention and the overt and covert sabotage by giants like Sosin Petrochemical.

The withdrawal of New America's troops from California dashed ambitions to reunify the East and West coasts and expand territory, while Night City and Northern California continued to exist as free states.

The gang called Barghest, which is based in Dogtown, is actually the elite vanguard of NUSA that stormed into Night City at the end of the 2069 Unification War. The signing of the Alvin Accords made them feel abandoned and betrayed, so they rebelled and became independent. It can be said that Nana just didn't like Rosalind Miles and military technology.

Even knowing that Arasaka would reap the benefits, they would still do it given the chance.

She should focus on honing her skills and consolidating her own power first.

"Let's talk about internal company matters... Is there any progress on the Tanaka project?"

“No. But… cough cough…” Jimmy glanced around, “The Counterintelligence Department’s Jenkins and Special Operations Director Abernathy are having a pretty big fight. It seems Jenkins has won by a small margin this time. Oh, and one of his most ambitious henchmen seems to have made a name for himself and has been quickly promoted.”

Vera, who had been somewhat nonchalant and preparing to pack her things to end today's meeting and head to the University of Tokyo, suddenly sharpened her gaze.

"Who?"

"V. Code name V. I haven't checked his real name yet, do you need to...?"

"Forget it. The Counterintelligence Department and the Special Operations Director are fighting each other. Our Security Department shouldn't get involved. Just pretend you didn't hear about it and let things take their course. Although they can't do anything to us, they're still good at being annoying and hindering us."

Special operations, meaning operations within a specific jurisdiction, such as counterintelligence, intelligence, corporate economic security, and protecting top-level personnel—special tasks that the opposing side can oversee. Internal security is at a high level.

However, the Security Department, despite its name, is actually an important supplement to the company's military system. As the largest and most well-known department in Arasaka, it is a violent armed department, and its level is naturally one level higher than other departments, on par with the banking department.

The responsibilities of the Security Department are also public knowledge. Riot control, maintaining public order, and everything from small bodyguard contracts to large defense and military contracts are all "routine business." Contracts that can be directly signed with foreign businesses and companies to make money are not under the supervision of the Special Operations Department.

Counterintelligence and intelligence departments obviously cannot be involved in normal business activities.

Therefore, Vera rarely interacted with Abernathy and did not want to have any contact with him.

Having already confirmed the news in her heart, Vera stood up, elegantly straightened her fitted uniform, and said, "Meeting adjourned."

"Yes!"

beep.

The video call ended, the wall partition closed automatically, and Vera looked away, silently murmuring to herself, "Valerie... an absolutely perfect tool."

She had no interest in getting involved in the mess between the counterintelligence department and the special operations director, but she was very interested in V.

There will be a chance to meet.

Thinking this, Vera glanced at the time, then paused the wicked idea brewing in her mind. She picked out a few test tubes of leech DNA reagent that she had purified the night before from the lab's refrigerator, put them in a metal storage box, then put them in her handbag, went downstairs, put on her shoes, and went out.

go to school.

At 8:40, Vera arrived at the University of Tokyo campus in Bunkyo Ward by airship. She walked slowly through the large group of young men and women who were still enjoying campus life and walked up the green path on the side of the medical school's laboratory building.

In the cyberpunk world, education has become extremely polarized, where the strong become weaker and the weak become stronger. Top universities like the University of Tokyo have the best facilities and resources available.

With her ID verified, Vera easily secured a lab spot. The University of Tokyo has ample resources; there was no need for long queues or waiting.

Since the purpose of this trip was only to leave experimental records and compare leech DNA, and not to directly synthesize the progenitor virus, Vera did not change into a white lab coat and special closed protective clothing, but started operating directly in her school's black and red uniform.

Deciphering the DNA profile of leeches.

Before I knew it, ring ring!

When the midday bell rang, Vera did not get up. Instead, her eyes flashed with orange-red light as she focused intently on the analytical instrument, reading the spectrum parameters.

"It seems...it really can work?"

With a thoughtful expression, she murmured aloud.

Recalling the DNA profile of the leeches specially bred by Umbrella, Vera was shocked to discover that, in the cyberpunk worldview, the leeches and their DNA, which could survive and be selectively bred in the harsh natural environment of 2075, seemed to have stronger tolerance and adaptability.

The biggest problem with the application of progenitor viruses lies in their stability. Stability, adaptability to the environment, and enhanced malleability are the key areas of research for their applicability.