Cyberpunk: I didn't cheat.

"Forget it, that cunning old Tang is just making empty promises. He'll deliver five times the amount of the materials I asked for before."

Thomasino nodded in satisfaction.

"What you want isn't cheap, but I'm willing to help you reach the top of the tower."

Vito got up to leave the smoke-filled room.

"Wait, there's one more thing."

"Speak faster. You're already so old, haven't you learned to make the most of your limited time?"

Tommasino stared intently at Vito, tossing down their new bargaining chips.

"I'll be leaving Night City for a while, so I'll leave Romeno's council election to you to secretly protect him."

Vito cursed under his breath, thinking that the old man would never get a free lunch.

"My request is simple: anyone who tries to interfere with the election or sabotage Romeno, listen to Romeno and get rid of them."

Vito raised an eyebrow.

"So, just because he's about to become an official, Romano has already transformed from a champion of justice into a politician obsessed with his career?"

Thomasin said confidently.

"He is my child, destined to cause a hurricane in Night City."

"Alright, why don't you sort out my illegal residency issue? Maybe your son needs my vote."

Chapter 115 Don't Look Back

After returning home from the company, Valerie, as usual, set up a few guardian puppets at the door before heading straight into the dimly lit ghoul room.

Valerie was browsing through all the high-risk intelligence files she had recently obtained from the security department on her computer.

Countless encrypted intelligence, street disturbances, and records of external infiltration are rapidly circulating.

Arasaka's information system only believes in evidence and credibility rating. All purchased information is screened and ultimately labeled with a credibility level. Low-quality rumors are discarded and high-risk secrets are archived.

Suddenly, Valerie's fingertips paused.

She saw that the information about the blocky head that the anonymous hacker sold to Arasaka was marked [credibility: 98%], which was far more reliable than information that could be bought on the street.

The report originated from a middleman in Night City and his anonymous hacker, with an anonymous IP address and no traceable address.

It's likely that someone met with this middleman offline to conduct the transaction.

The assassinations of several field agents, team leaders, gray-market contacts, low-level intelligence informants, and individuals involved in smuggling in Arasaka were not due to gang warfare or street killings.

Surveillance footage, prosthetic records, and behavioral data were all forcibly erased, leaving only fragmented images. The perpetrator's face, body shape, and all biological features were densely covered with mosaics, leaving no effective identification information. Only a strange square head could be considered a distinguishing feature.

At the end of the file, there is a special encrypted unpacking firmware.

Valerie taps the keyboard, unpacking and decrypting layer by layer.

This is a list of people involved in the black market, ranging from members of the Arasaka Security Department to thugs from the Tiger Claw Gang, with some cleaners and people who filmed Black Super Dreams also interspersed in the middle.

The timelines of all the deaths are highly concentrated, all occurring within a three-month period. The manner of death is uniform, clean, and swift, with a touch of vengeful brutality, giving it the feel of an absolutely professional hunter.

What surprised Valerie the most was the hidden traceability note at the very bottom of the file, which was covered by double layers of encryption. If she hadn't been an expert in the old Arasaka encryption protocol, she would never have been able to find it.

[The client who commissioned this file unpacking was Vito, a mercenary from Heywood. After obtaining the file information, all personnel related to the file were killed by Square Head. This person had extremely high contact with Square Head and is suspected to be Square Head himself.]

Before Valerie's eyes, the truth suddenly became clear.

Square Head dislikes leaving traces, keeping his whereabouts secret, and getting involved in gang conflicts. Square Head is Vito; he is using this method to quietly remove the black tentacles that Arasaka has spread throughout Night City, like weeding out weeds, severing little by little the capillaries that Arasaka has taken root in the streets.

Valerie stared for a long time at the densely packed list of deaths on the computer screen, looking at the hidden request record, her heart filled with complex emotions.

She sat in the hacker chair, re-entered the security department's secret subnet, and altered the data about Vito to remove any traces.

Vito had reminded himself not to get involved in dirty waters last time, and this time he was repaying that favor.

After doing all this, she imported the file into the chip, got up, and left the deathly silent hacker room.

……

Vito was unaware of all this; he, Li Ying, and Xiao Cha were having tea and watching a movie in their upscale apartment in the city center.

After he no longer had to buy expensive materials himself, Vito's economic situation rose directly to the middle class level in Night City. He bought a new house, but did not return the old one, because Night City is a place where there are many burrows for people.

On the giant television screen on the wall, an old movie, Shutter Island, was playing, and Vito and Liying were watching it intently.

beep!

[Hey Vito, come to VIP room 1 at Riot Nightclub. I need to talk to you. It's important.]

When Vito saw that the contact person was Valerie, he realized that she wouldn't contact him easily, especially since she said it was something important.

But it's probably not a matter of life or death, otherwise the people of Night City would have chosen to meet at the Keep-Silent Inn.

He whispered to Liying in his arms.

"I have something to do and I'm going out for a bit. I'll be right back."

"Okay, I'll wait for you at home."

Vito put on his coat and drove to the location Valerie had given him.

Riot Nightclub is quite popular in Night City, so security is naturally top-notch; their security guards are all big guys from the Animal Gang.

After meeting Valerie, Valerie handed Vito a chip.

Vito took the chip and inserted it directly into the brain to read it. He wasn't as careful with Valerie.

The list of names appeared before his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the death lists, hunting records, and hacker data line by line.

He was very familiar with these things; he had a copy of them himself before.

Vito showed no surprise, no panic, and not a trace of unease at having his secret exposed.

"Oh dear, your disguise has been exposed."

Valerie frowned; in her hand lay evidence powerful enough to ignite the inner workings of Arasaka and instantly turn Vito into a target.

But Vito remained completely unfazed from beginning to end, utterly unconcerned about the catastrophic crisis this secret document would bring.

"I have this evidence, but not many people know that I altered the original file. Consider it repaying the favor I did for you last time. Leave Night City."

Vito smiled.

"I always advise people to leave Night City, but I never thought someone would advise me. It might be a bit much to repay this favor. Do you need me to help you take down Abernathy?"

Valerie shook her head.

"No need. Killing Abernathy won't help the current situation. This is all orchestrated by Rintaro."

"Rintaro?"

Vito touched his chin, as if deep in thought.

"I killed a guy named Hayashi Jiro. That little Japanese guy pretended to be an expert on China, and I remember him quite well."

Taro, Jiro, and I wonder if Saburo is involved? Tell me about Rin Taro's culprit.

Valerie didn't hesitate and recounted what had recently happened in Arasaka. Vito laughed after listening.

"You guys, Arasaka, are really something. Not only did you fight amongst yourselves, but you also got tricked by a hacker. But you're even more awesome than I thought, V. You managed to get in and out of the company network seven times without being detected. Amazing!"

"Don't worry, I have a plan that will make you completely discredit the security department. I'll let you know before I move out so you can show your face, but in exchange, you have to tell me Rintaro's location."

Valerie shook her head.

“Rintaro has no family, no hobbies. His office is his home. Giving him his position wouldn’t make any difference.”

Vito's eyes gleamed.

"Who said it was useless? This is extremely useful! I love this kind of pure capitalist old fighter. This time, it's like killing two birds with one stone!"

"Killing two eagles with one arrow?"

Valerie never expected Vito to plan a raid on Abandoned Tower; even the most insane cyber madman wouldn't do something like that.

Vito's idea was simple: fanning the latrine wouldn't work; either fill it in or block his nose.

Let's first fill this hole with some dirt. This time, he's going to unleash the full power of Adam's Hammer! Let him remember what it felt like to have his first prosthetic implant decades ago!

Then, Rintaro and Vito would also send him to see his younger brother, sending the two brothers to hell as doormen.

Finally, there's the Vito Tower built by Arasaka. Arasaka wanted the public to know that even nuclear bombs couldn't completely destroy him, so Vito wanted to show Arasaka that the most damaging thing to authority was for people to come and go from a place that was supposed to be a top-tier fortress, just like strolling through a park.

Valerie sensed the growing excitement emanating from Vito and thought to herself.

"This guy, did he take some kind of drug?"

Chapter 116 Now a flame is burning in my heart

The high-rise apartments in the city center are bright and airy, with floor-to-ceiling bulletproof glass isolating them from the hustle and bustle of the lower levels of the city.

This is Romeno's newly acquired campaign headquarters, overlooking the entire central business district, and he is also neighbors with celebrity councilor Perás, living on the same floor.

Romero, dressed in a well-tailored matte dark suit, had shed his usual impetuousness and gained a more composed and sharp demeanor as a politician.

He was standing in front of a holographic sand table, pointing to a floating map of the city's electoral districts. The members of his campaign team around him were each doing their own thing: some were compiling press releases, some were calibrating public support data, and some were coordinating resource support plans for neutral neighborhoods.

"Vito, Jack, you've come!"

When Vito and Jack entered, Romeno greeted them warmly and invited them to sit on the sofa.

Settling into the sofa, Vito leaned back lazily, casually holding a glass of whiskey on the rocks, his gaze falling on the busy crowd.

"You changed your identity so quickly? Or is the 'Justice Media Person' skin a limited-edition skin for you?"

Romeno chuckled softly.

“My father is right. One or two reports won’t wake up the public. My report was popular for a while, but Night City didn’t change much. At most, some people got to know Romano Musso.”

"The political arena will offer me a much wider scope; I will initiate a reform there and transform Night City."

"That's great, that's great. We are all changing Night City, and we all have a bright future."

Vito took a sip of whiskey, and Jack sat beside him, casually crossing his legs, watching the well-organized campaign preparations and clicking his tongue in amazement.

“I used to think I could run for office, but with this kind of opponent, I probably won’t get a single vote.”

Vito patted Jack on the shoulder.

"Don't think so badly. Mrs. Wells, Misty, and old Mr. Wells will all support Member Wells."

"If Romano really secures his position, things might change in Night City."

Jack spoke in a relaxed tone, full of anticipation for the future.

Vito did not respond.

No matter how determined Romeno was to reform, he was nothing more than a young politician controlled by the Zeta Company.

Vito continued sipping his whiskey, but his thoughts drifted away.

Qiwei, who seemed detached from all the conflicts, with a cold and transparent personality and who always kept her emotions at bay, betrayed him.

He had witnessed the despicable betrayals of Night City, the middlemen who would sacrifice their lives and relationships for Euros, and the wanderers who would sell out their families for fear of being exposed for their drug use.

But this time, betrayal from someone he had previously worked with evoked a strange sense of melancholy in him.

He didn't know many people in Night City, and even fewer he could really connect with. Deep down, he still cared a lot about those he could talk to.

Pity.

[Bug, have you found Qiwei yet?]

[I'm watching her closely, waiting for her to go online.]

[If she's online, find a way to burn her.]

……