Cyberpunk: I didn't cheat.

Chapter 116 Don't Look Back

After returning home from the company, Valerie, as usual, set up a few guard puppets before heading straight into the dimly lit hacker 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 reports, street disturbances, and records of external infiltration are rapidly circulating.

Arasaka's intelligence system only believes in empirical 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 with "[credibility: 98%]", which was far more than the information that could be bought on the street.

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

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

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

Surveillance footage, prosthetic recordings, and behavioral data were all forcibly erased, leaving only fragmented images of the perpetrator's face...

Its body shape and all biological features are completely covered by dense mosaics, with no effective identification information. The only distinguishing feature is its bizarre blocky head.

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

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 of the Tiger Claw Gang, with some cleaners and people who filmed black-clad celebrities also interspersed in.

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 an absolutely professional hunting feel.

What surprised Valerie the most was the hidden traceability note at the very bottom of the document, 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 person commissioned to unpack this file was Vito, a mercenary from Haywood. After obtaining the file information, all personnel related to the file were killed by Square Head. This person has a very high degree of connection 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 pull out the black tentacles of Arasaka that are all over Night City, like weeding out weeds, cutting off the capillaries that Arasaka has taken root in the streets little by little.

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

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

Vito had warned him not to get involved in troubled waters last time, and this time he was repaying that favor.

After doing all this, she imported the files into the chip, got up, and walked out of the deathly silent hacker room.

Vito was unaware of all this; he, Liying, and Xiaocha were having tea and watching a movie in a luxury apartment in the city center.

After he no longer needed to buy expensive materials, Vito's financial situation rose directly to the middle class level in Night City. He bought a new house, but didn't return the old one, because Night City is a place where there are many burrows for every rabbit.

On the huge 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 box 1 at Riot Nightclub. I need to talk to you. It's important.]

When Vito saw that the contact 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'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 its security is naturally top-notch; their security guards are all big guys from the Animals Gang.

After meeting Valerie, Valerie handed Vito a chip.

Vito took the chip and inserted it directly into the brain-computer interface for reading; he wasn't as cautious with Valerie.

The list of data appeared before his eyes, and his gaze swept over the death lists, hunting records, and hacker data.

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 detonate the interior of Arasaka and instantly make Vito a target for assassination.

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

"This evidence is in my hands, and not many people know about it. I altered the original document as a way of repaying the favor I did for you last time. Now, leave Night City."

Vito smiled.

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

Valerie shook her head.

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

"Rintaro?"

Vito stroked his chin, appearing to be 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, I don't know if Saburo is involved, but you mentioned Rin Taro's 'black hand,' what's going on? Tell me about it."

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. Awesome!"

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

Valerie shook her head.

"Rintaro is the kind of person who has no family or 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 incredibly useful! I love this kind of pure capitalist old fighter; this time it's like killing two birds with one stone!"

"Killing two birds with one stone?"

Valerie hadn't 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 was useless; he either had to fill it in or plug his nose.

Let's first fill this hole with some dirt. This time, he's going to bring out Adam Hammer's magic! Let him remember what it felt like to have his first prosthetic body implanted decades ago!

Then, Rintaro and Vito will also send him to see his younger brother, so that the two brothers can become doormen in hell.

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

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

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