Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

Amidst the ancient trees, accompanied by the crisp sound of bolts and the creaking of bearings, the two black lacquered palace gates with copper nails swung open. Beneath the green tiles and white walls, Takemura Goro, who was responsible for escorting Vera away, bowed to Vera once again and said, "Director Russell, please allow me to apologize again for my offensive words yesterday."

“I understand. After all, this is Takemura-kun’s duty. How can it be considered a mistake?”

Vera stepped out of the elegant and rustic single-eaved hip-roofed Arasaka Manor through its main gate, turned around to nod to Goro Takemura, waved, and then, led by a waiter, crossed the stone bridge at the main gate and headed toward the helipad not far away.

The surrounding area was filled with highly cybernetically modified cyber ninjas and agents, whose stiff, rigid, and indifferent faces were like polished, clean walls.

"Phew..." Vera sighed softly as her high heels clicked on the ancient stone arch bridge, rubbing her temples. It wasn't anything in particular; she was just hungry.

Yesterday afternoon, she met with Shintaro Takayama and Saburo Arasaka. She talked to both of them, and they used a combination of threats and promises. Vera also made promises to them. In short, everyone got what they wanted and everyone had a good time.

As it happened to be night, Saburo, to show his friendliness, invited Vera to stay for a meal and then invited her to stay overnight in a guest house in the family compound in Arasaka.

Well, Vera couldn't possibly refuse the boss's invitation to mentor her.

Then she accompanied that old bastard Saburo Arasaka to have an authentic Japanese meal.

Tea and snacks with kaiseki cuisine, the authentic kind of zazen (Buddhist Zen).

It's very well-made; saying it's bad is just unfair criticism. With high-quality ingredients, unless the chef's skill is truly appalling, it won't taste that bad. However, the portion size is really small.

Vera flew from Johannesburg to Cape Town and then transferred to Tokyo, before heading straight to see Saburo. She hadn't had a proper meal in the past two days.

During the meal, Saburo seemed to notice her embarrassment, but after serving Vera a bowl of soba noodles and ochazuke (rice with tea) in a Japanese bowl, he began to explain to her the Zen principles and meditation of Japanese Zen Buddhism, such as self-discipline, self-cultivation, and moderation. He even mentioned that the desires of the palate are also desires and need to be controlled...

It was as if he was admonishing a promising junior, imparting life experience, but Vera understood that Saburo was subtly warning her: having ambition and desire is a good thing, but it must be in moderation, or too much of a good thing will happen.

Kill!

Vera could only nod in agreement.

You're right now, absolutely right!

bang.

Following the attendant, Vera boarded the hovercar assigned to her. The hatch closed, and through the adjustable polarized glass, as the vehicle ascended, she looked out over the Arasaka Estate, where the moat meandered, streams flowed, and birds sang amidst fragrant flowers.

With its green tiles, white walls, and brown copper pillars, the castle exudes elegance and simplicity. The main gate, gate tower, and castle are all supported by massive stone foundations that rise from a person to several meters above the ground. The stones are specially designed standard cubes, and from the outside, the stones fit together perfectly, as if to say that the Arasaka family's rule is unbreakable.

However, it should be noted that strong fortresses are often destroyed from within.

"Lai Xuan." The name came to Vera's mind.

...

"Takemura-kun." At the doorway, as Vera's hovercar had completely disappeared into the distance and Takemura Goro turned around to return to Saburo's side, a deep male voice rang out.

A well-dressed man with a stylish, unconventional, long, slanted fringe walked over, bowed slightly to Takemura, and said, "Vera Adelheid, is that her? She actually entered the family compound? Shouldn't she be in South Africa dealing with the terrorist attack?"

It was Oda Santayu, Arasaka Hanako's bodyguard.

"Oda." Takemura nodded in greeting, but without using honorifics, speaking in the tone of a senior addressing a junior. He was of a higher rank than Oda, and Oda was the cyber ninja he had trained and mentored.

"It seems that Miss Hanako has finished her inspection of Kyoto."

"I just got back, I'm with Lord Saburo."

As they talked, Takemura and Oda walked one after the other toward the main residence area where Saburo Arasaka was located.

"Takemura-kun, you still haven't told me why she's at the family compound?"

"To make a long story short, Lord Takayama greatly admires Ms. Vera Adelheid. She will be an important senior military commander at our Arasaka Mirai headquarters in North America Night City. Lord Saburo's intention is to include her in the list of candidates for the North American Management Council."

"No wonder."

...

Main residential area.

"Lord Saburo, Vera Adelheid has left the manor and flown to Tokyo," Shintaro Takayama reported to Saburo Arasaka after turning off the monitor projection.

"You have discovered a very talented young man, Shintaro."

On the futon, without turning his head, Saburo said, "Greed, ambition, and arrogance etched into her bones hidden beneath her seemingly gentle face. That's what I saw in her eyes."

Then he said with certainty, "Michiko and Hanako can't control her."

Shintaro Takayama was startled.

We're bringing this up again?

"Lady Yoriyuki's words..." Shintaro Takayama narrowed his eyes, genuinely becoming wary. "If she joins forces with Lady Yoriyuki... perhaps we should strengthen our precautions." He had absolute faith in Saburo's judgment.

"Lai Xuan? Him? Haha..."

Saburo chuckled.

Perhaps they looked down on each other for decades, and Saburo couldn't always figure out what his unfilial son was thinking, but he still had a certain degree of recognition for his son's abilities. In his early twenties, he was able to use his personal charm to raise a large gang to rebel against Arasaka, so his talent was not bad at all.

“His abilities are not bad, but he’s going in the wrong direction. My naive son and Vera Adelheid are not on the same page.”

"So what do you mean?" Shintaro Takayama paused for a moment.

"Intelligent, powerful, with subordinates and a solid foundation, ambitious, and skilled in fieldwork—isn't that ideal? We should be happy. Only someone like Vera Adelheid can deal with those more shameless Anglo-Jewish bastards than us. Besides, behind every successful person is a greedy, ambitious soul?"

Saburo's wrinkled old face showed a serious expression after careful consideration. He did not hide his emotions from his loyal old servant, who was also his last old friend.

“She wants to surpass her father and stand at the top of the world, so I will give her the opportunity. But her area of ​​operation is limited to Night City in the Americas and the Eastern Pacific. If she can suppress military technology on the West Coast and split the USA again, allowing Arasaka to return to the top, why not give her Michiko’s position and the board seat of the highest board of directors?”

"If the descendants of Arasaka are truly incompetent..."

At this point, Saburo sighed softly, his eyes lowered, his tone icy cold, "A misfortune for my family. Perhaps this is Amaterasu's punishment for me. I no longer have much time to cultivate a suitable successor..."

“Anders Herman’s Relic project has been slow to make any major breakthroughs. I originally planned to digitize my personality data and download it into the AI ​​when I passed away, but that was a last resort... Fortunately, Vera’s sudden emergence has given me a second option.”

“Lord Saburo…” Shintaro said at the right moment, “You mean to reveal part of her Solar Stairway project to Anders Hermann?”

"Do your best, Shintaro, and keep things in check. In official matters, treat her with the same seriousness you would when selecting new generation candidates for Arasaka. In academic matters, fully support her research, meet with her often, release information to the outside world, bind her to Arasaka's chariot, and completely brand her with our mark. She is a smart person, and I think she will soon bring us new surprises."

"I understand, Lord Saburo."

The servant and master were talking when a knocking sound came from the door.

Da da.

“Father, Uncle Shintaro.”

It's Hanako Arakawa.

With a dignified and elegant demeanor, she greeted her father and Shintaro Takayama on the prayer mat in a proper and respectful manner. Her textbook-perfect etiquette undoubtedly lacked the warmth and sense of home that was common in ordinary households.

But this is the norm in the imperial family called Arakasaka, and no one thinks there's anything wrong with it.

The most ruthless are those in the imperial family. Even though Sanlang cherishes Huazi, it is still an imperial kind of care.

"Hua Zi, come here."

Without asking Arasaka Hanako anything about her inspection tour of Kansai, Saburo affectionately called to his daughter, gesturing for her to sit beside him.

Just as Hua Zi slightly bowed and sat down next to Sanlang, as he had done many times before, and began to arrange the tea set and brew tea, Sanlang spoke.

A very abrupt question.

"Hua Zi, what do you think of Vera Adelheid?"

......

Meanwhile, in the Arasaka Company community in Tokyo.

After parting ways with Goro Takemura, Vera took a hovercar back to her temporary apartment, which she had been away from for almost half a month.

During this time, Arasaka, the agent responsible for protecting Vera and the security of the area around her residence, suggested that she could apply to move to a larger and more luxurious residence.

Vera refused.

She does enjoy material things, but not to the point of being extravagant or decadent. This Japanese-style detached house is enough for her to live in until she finishes her studies at the University of Tokyo, and besides, she really doesn't like moving frequently.

After unlocking the door and returning home, Vera glanced at the display case, which was spotless.

Hmm, someone must have been here, but I don't know if it was a secret agent or just a cleaning worker.

Anyway, she had no interest in investigating further.

Aside from the annotations and related materials for law and virology courses at the University of Tokyo, there wasn't much else noteworthy in the house; they could take the leech DNA if they wanted. Even the duplex apartment in Night City wasn't so careless as to continue storing viruses after her trip.

She then walked through every room and scanned every corner. The Arasaka agents, being on their own and understanding Vera's job, might not have gone to such lengths, but a spy from a "foreign friendly company" infiltrated into Arasaka could very well have done just that.

You can never go too far wrong.

After finishing everything, Vera changed out of the formal attire she wore when she met Saburo, put on some casual clothes, lay down on the sofa under the skylight in the living room, picked up the data tablet, and opened the Arasaka Diner app.

Busy as I am, let's eat first.

Maintaining a high level of energy is very important.

After stuffing her shopping cart with a bunch of high-carb, high-protein, and high-calorie side dishes for Arasaka Diner, Vera placed her order and paid.

While waiting for her meal, Vera listened to news from Night City while also receiving messages from the Arasaka Biotechnology Department.

Her Sun Ladder Project laboratory is being rapidly assembled and completed, including the Sun Ladder flower brought back from Johannesburg, the progenitor virus sample, and the infected experimental subject.

Similarly, to prevent a recurrence of terrorist attacks like those in Johannesburg, a dedicated project laboratory security and defense force has been established and its structure defined.

Oh, and there's also the online flame war; it's quite a spectacle.

The Johannesburg incident has caused a global sensation. Vera announced a city-wide lockdown and a massive search, then left for Tokyo. But the local branch was not about to let it go; they investigated relentlessly. Regardless of whether they found anything, the suspicion of military technology was the strongest!

As a result, Arasaka's influence in public opinion began to take hold.

For example, rumors began to circulate that the military technology was used with ulterior motives, that it funded terrorist organizations, killed my employees and bombed my factory, that it was an evil company, that it was plotting to start the fifth corporate war, and that it was a threat to world peace.

Military technology is something I don't possess, so don't make baseless accusations.

What do you mean your evidence is false? What do you mean your assumptions are invalid? What do you mean the person is neither a current employee nor a directly employed staff member but a retired staff member? What do you mean even if what you said is true, you are not wrong at all?

Why did those third-party contractors and outsourced staff target Arasaka after their terms ended? It's because what Arasaka did was so outrageous that it angered everyone. Otherwise, why would they still target you after you've retired?

Then they dragged Su Petrochemical, who had been watching the show and fanning the flames, into the mess as well.

Anyway, we're old enemies, what are you Russians looking at? Back then, you were doing a top-notch job in Africa, leaving behind Soviet-style Maoist weaponry everywhere. Look at the wreckage at the scene, it all belongs to Gaoke Military Industry, a major partner of your Soviet petrochemical company! You must have done it!

Su Petrochemical was furious and went down to the scene to rant.