Great, we're doomed now!

"Oh?" V raised an eyebrow. "That sounds alright."

"Also, to ensure this doesn't take up too much of your energy—"

Jenkins paused for a moment: "Your debt will be restructured. In other words, starting today, all interest will be waived, and only the principal and basic handling fees will be charged."

"...Huh? Ha!"

As he finished speaking, V subconsciously checked his antivirus firewall:

Could it have been hacked by some kind of daydream Trojan?

These conditions are too good to be true!

"Why me?" His tone was more wary than before. V was no novice; he knew that a free lunch was impossible unless it was poisoned.

There must be some reason!

Jenkins didn't answer immediately this time. He was silent for a moment, then slowly began to speak:

"You can ask that question yourself... The high-ranking person who appointed you wants to meet with you."

-

The luxury hovercar glided through the night. V leaned back in the leather seat, watching the street scene outside the window gradually transition from the densely packed urban area with its varying heights to the relatively open suburbs. V tried to relax his shoulders, but that vague unease remained stuck in his throat.

The car finally arrived at the villa area and slowed down in front of a towering white stone wall. The gate slid open silently, revealing a meticulously manicured lawn.

“Mr. Jenkins, please wait.” The security guard’s voice was calm and emotionless, making one wonder if he was a robot.

"Only this gentleman received an invitation."

Jenkins' foot, which had just stepped onto the porch steps, froze in mid-air. In a fraction of a second, his expression shifted from astonishment to calm. He smiled and stepped back without any sign of displeasure.

—The advantage of prosthetics in interpersonal communication lies in the ability to control facial expressions using software.

Almost all of the management team members have prosthetic facial features, so they can always handle situations appropriately.

V chuckled inwardly, but showed no outward expression. He followed another security guard through the porch, went through security, had his equipment confiscated, and then entered the villa.

The floor is covered with dark wood flooring, and several ukiyo-e style prints hang on the walls. The Japanese style is even more pronounced on the upper floor, and the villa's owner is clearly very "nostalgic" from the doors, windows and floors.

Upon reaching the top floor, V's steps suddenly paused for a moment:

His environmental scanning system was forcibly shut down the moment he entered this space, leaving only the most basic optical display function. He glanced at the notification icon in the corner of his field of vision; all external networks were down.

But when he saw the interior, he was so shocked he could barely breathe, and he understood why:

It's a "garden"!

It's not the kind of virtual data you can see in dreams, but real, natural, and green data!

V couldn't believe his eyes.

Any one of these plants could cause a bloodbath in Night City, right?

No, even this air... can be sold for unimaginably high prices!

The damp soil and green plants, and... the slightly unsettling air, made V momentarily think he had traveled through time to the "wonderful modern era" described in textbooks.

The garden was enormous, with a transparent glass dome overhead and soft, slightly sinking soil beneath your feet. The air was moist and fresh, carrying a peculiar smell—V would later learn it was the earthy scent and the fragrance of grass.

He tried reaching out and touching it... and immediately felt like he'd been electrocuted.

All genuine products!

They are all real without a doubt!

He quickly did some mental calculations, trying to estimate the operating costs of maintaining such an ecological garden... but then realized he had no idea what it was and couldn't calculate it at all.

This isn't about money; it's about the scarcity of the resource itself. In Night City, a real lawn like this costs far more than a luxury property of the same size, and who would want to see him if they could afford to maintain something like that?

Upon arriving here, even the guards did not follow. He walked in with a sense of awe, passing through the Garden of Eden surrounded by various plants. Deep inside, there was a small open space with several round shrubs surrounding a stone flower bed.

A person was squatting by the flower bed with their back to him, holding pruning shears and trimming the old branches of a clump of roses.

—When he turned his face to the side, V held his breath.

It was an East Asian face, every feature perfectly proportioned. It wasn't the kind of optimal combination selected from the human gene pool using the most precise algorithms, but rather a beauty that science couldn't explain... V rejected the "artificial" assessment in a fraction of a second.

It wasn't because he could discern any technological traces, but rather the aura emanating from this person—something that could never be fabricated in any laboratory!

He stood amidst the soil and flowers, his presence transforming everything around him into a mere backdrop, yet his mere presence commanded the aura of the entire room.

V's intuition did not send a warning... Even though the other party seemed to be a powerful figure who could control his life and death with a single word, he surprisingly did not feel any fear.

So young, yet... is she a member of the Arasaka family?

No, that family… Yue Liu

"Oh, they've already arrived."

The man glanced at her, a gentle smile curving his lips—

V's pupils relaxed slightly.

In that instant, it was as if he had been cyberattacked; a simple smile had caused his brain to freeze for a moment.

"what?"

V belatedly came to her senses, but the man had already stood up and handed the scissors to the person next to him.

Because the other person's presence was so strong, V only just realized there were two other people beside him, and his gaze swept over them:

One was a maid, wearing a dark long dress with neatly trimmed collar and cuffs, as if measured with a ruler. One glance told you she was an extremely self-disciplined and highly professional person... For some reason, as a maid, she exuded an aura of awe, even stronger than the V that the man had given her.

Her features were well-proportioned and delicate, practically perfect for an Asian, but V's gaze hardly lingered on her, because there was always an alarm bell ringing in his ears: "Don't let her notice you."

On the other side, a thin "middle-aged man" wearing square-rimmed glasses was standing there holding a hand towel, respectfully handing it to the young man. He looked like an old butler from England... no, Japan.

"!"

wrong!

The moment V saw that face, his pupils involuntarily contracted.

"Thank you." Ye Shou took the hand towel and said sincerely to the butler, "But you don't need to do these things. We are not in a master-servant relationship."

"This is my own choice, please allow me to do so."

The man's seemingly content appearance made V feel as if he were witnessing a saint serving his faith.

“I have received a lot of help from you all along, Lai Xuanjun.”

Take a deep breath—

Yoriyuki Arasaka!

Chapter 474: Kuze is the ideal Arasaka Group! (4K)

Yoriyuki Arasaka, son of Saburo Arasaka and the nominal heir of the Arasaka Group, is a figure of great prestige in the world of capital. If he were in ancient times, his status would be similar to that of a crown prince. Yet now he stands there with the respectful demeanor of an old butler who has served in a noble family his entire life.

He looked extremely plain, but V recognized the face—

News, financial report meetings, and company publications—this bigwig occasionally appears at such events, but V has never had the honor of seeing him in person before… Today is the first time.

V was initially shocked, but then returned to normal, without asking the question that had been bothering her:

Having been in this industry for so long, he had long since learned not to ask questions that would get him into trouble.

Or rather, people with excessive curiosity don't last long in Night City.

The fact that Arasaka Yoriyuki appeared here in this manner speaks volumes—for example, the energy possessed by this seemingly young person in front of him far exceeds his imagination!

Could it be... Saburo Arasaka?

Although they look completely different, in this era where the whole body can be replaced with prosthetics, appearance is actually not reliable at all.

But... even Saburo Arasaka couldn't command such respect from Yoriyuki, could he?

After all, the parent-child relationships in large families are extremely complicated. Although the two are said to be father and son, one is an "immortal" monarch and the other is a crown prince in the twilight of his life—it is impossible for them to be very harmonious.

This is a real power game, unlike the nominal British royal family!

"Hello, I am V."

I bowed respectfully in the Japanese style (because of the company's background, Japanese culture is very popular in Night City, especially in Arasaka).

V's self-introduction was extremely brief; he didn't even mention his job title or employee number—since they had contacted him, they must have already known.

At this point, he didn't need to do much; he just needed to obediently follow orders.

“Hello, V…really, both Lai Xuanjun and you are like this, but actually I have never really liked this kind of cumbersome etiquette.”

Ye Shouda generously extended his hand, his face as gentle and relaxed as described in many novels, instantly easing V's anxiety.

"My name is Ye Shou. Let's shake hands since it's our first meeting."

"...I am terrified."

V, in a daze, shook hands with Ye Shou, and after pulling back, stared at his right hand for a moment in a daze.

For some reason, after making physical contact with the other person, he suddenly felt at ease, as if this man named Ye Shou possessed some kind of magical power.

“You can think of Lai Xuan and me as friends despite our age difference. Although he has always insisted on this, I have never treated him as a servant.”

Ye Shou briefly explained the relationship between Lai Xuan and him, but did not go into too much detail. He simply smiled and glossed over the details, as if to say, "It's not worth mentioning."

In fact, in this man's plan, Arasaka Yorinobu's identity was indeed just an insignificant factor.

There are at least ten corporate executives of Lai Xuan's caliber worldwide, but Lai Xuan himself, due to being restrained by his father, does not actually wield that much power, and ranks relatively low among these powerful figures.

Among Ye Shou's main targets were quite a few important figures even more significant than Lai Xuan.

What he does in the cyberpunk world is completely different from what he has done in other worlds.

For example, on the battlefield of "Iron Blood," he used honorable methods—

He purged the corrupt high command, crushed the enemy with force, won people's hearts with his lofty prestige, and then implemented his will in every corner through a complete organizational structure.

This is the kingly way of playing!

Clean and efficient, without any unnecessary delays.

But in Night City, or rather, in the cyber world, the situation is quite different.

The enemy here is not some tyrant sitting in a high position issuing orders, but the "ideological imprint" of the entire society. Killing only the meat-eaters is useless, so Ye Shou changed his tactics.

He first wanted to build a massive, unshakeable Leviathan, leaving the world with only one voice, and then use this vast amount of resources to carry out reforms from top to bottom.