American Strategic Deception Bureau

　If we say that during Emperor Showa's lifetime, he was still able to maintain some dignity and respect due to his dominance in World War II (original sin?), then in the Heisei era after the death of this old devil, the imperial family basically became a signature mascot that could be played with by anyone.

　Ordinary Japanese often sarcastically denounced the family as "parasites," and left-wing Japanese newspapers openly vilified the imperial family for wasting tax dollars. Even more tragically, the Imperial Household Agency, theoretically the steward of the imperial family, has, during the Heisei era, completely turned against them, dominating the imperial family with impunity. The Imperial Household Agency manages all so-called imperial assets, and its every word and action is strictly monitored by the agency, treating them like prisoners.

　Of the 120 billion yen in royal funds allocated by the government each year, at least 90% is swallowed up by the Imperial Household Agency. The remaining funds are used to maintain a large number of palaces and antiques. As a result, many seemingly respected royal members actually have little money and find it difficult to maintain the most decent life.

　Moreover, the Imperial Household Agency continues to release various soft articles and bizarre photos that humiliate the royal family, trying every means to make the outside world believe that the emperor's family are all mentally retarded and insects. The mysterious camera movements used every time to take photos of the emperor's family are quite similar to the underworld filters used by Western reporters when taking photos in Beijing.

　Whenever a member of the royal family has the slightest opinion of his or her own, he or she will be hung up by the Imperial Household Agency and insulted in all directions, besieged and criticized by the media, and forced to become a puppet - the Imperial Household Agency of Japan is probably the only royal servant agency that is so disrespectful to its own master.

　The Thai monarch enjoys a life of debauchery abroad and practically free rein at home. Meanwhile, the Japanese royal family has tried desperately to get the intellectually deficient heir to the throne, Prince Hisahito, to at least quietly attend the University of Tokyo and earn a degree, rather than becoming emperor with a high school diploma or a fake university degree. Despite their pleas, the University of Tokyo has refused admission, refusing to allow this idiot to lower the average IQ.

　In the end, the royal family had no choice but to let Hisahito study abroad. As a result, this little fool was bullied by foreign classmates and directly developed autism...

　- Look, does this miserable future Crown Prince of Japan still look like the heir to the throne of the world's third or fourth largest economy?

　It's clear that the actual status of the Japanese royal family in the 21st century is really like that of a precious pet. In terms of power, they really don't have even a little bit. Apart from good food, good clothes and a big house to live in, they are not allowed to move freely, and even cannot get a backdoor into school.

　Some people commented that the Japanese royal family is like pet cats in a cat cafe, being disciplined by waiters every day and having to eat by rubbing against the cats.

　Sounds pathetic, doesn't it? But this was the price the Japanese royal family had to pay to survive the punishment they endured after World War II.

　The whole family was not shot, the crown did not fall to the ground, they were just vilified and humiliated. This punishment was already easy enough for the emperor's family!

　They should have been doused in gasoline and burned to ashes like Hitler, or hung upside down at the door of a gas station like Mussolini!

　Author's words: PS: Saburo Arasaka in "Cyberpunk 2077" is described as a hardcore militarist remnant.

　But according to the canon, this old devil teamed up with other chaebols to kill three emperors and the entire imperial family, leaving only a young girl (who was left to serve as the empress). What kind of imperial warrior is he? Is this how he treated the Showa Emperor, to whom he once served?

　Chapter 535: The Queen is always the last to receive the news (please vote for more)

　Compared to the powerless Japanese emperor and his family, who were manipulated like puppets, the British royal family, as the monarchs of the victorious nation, were much richer and more powerful, and their image at home and abroad was much better.

　Although the British Empire collapsed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, few would blame the Queen.

　On the contrary, in order to continue to maintain the huge framework of the Commonwealth after the collapse of the colonial empire, Queen Elizabeth II continued to maintain a high appearance rate after the war, walking around the world for fashion shows and visits, hosting various ceremonies and events, and speaking out on various international affairs.

　From military parades to awarding ceremonies, from international conferences to folk competitions, members of the royal family always appear in newspapers and on television.

　——Compared to the Showa Emperor who was essentially invisible after the war, Queen Elizabeth II's presence is more than a hundred times stronger!

　Every British Prime Minister must fully respect the royal power on the surface, so that the Queen still appears to be "ruling but not governing."

　This is completely different from the treatment of the Japanese emperor as a "national pet".

　You know, the Imperial Household Agency of Japan is nominally a servant of the imperial family. In reality, it is only responsible to the government and always trains the emperor like a dog.

　Yet, the Japanese Emperor, the world's least powerful monarch, is still trained by the Imperial Household Agency like a dog. Even a few barks are suppressed, and discipline is perpetually enforced until even strangers instinctively bow down to him. This is the Imperial Household Agency's sole purpose.

　Therefore, although in theory some proposals and appointments must be approved by the Emperor before they can take effect, in reality the Emperor has no right to express any opinions or take a stance on anything, and is not even allowed to sign in approval - because approval is also an opinion.

　In practice, the Japanese government would at most send someone to inform the emperor of any major event as a courtesy. The emperor would remain silent, not even allowed to ask what the matter was. If the emperor dared to ask, the question would be, "Why doesn't Your Majesty abide by the Imperial Law? Is he lacking in education?"

　Sometimes, the ministers even found this too troublesome and simply said a few words to the Imperial Palace from a distance, and considered the procedure complete.

　Furthermore, the Imperial Household Agency also stipulates that the Emperor must maintain a poker face and cannot show any expression. He is not even allowed to say what he wants to eat...

　However, Queen Elizabeth II and her successors will never suffer such grievances. The British royal institutions are truly royal servants. Their only duty is to serve the royal family diligently and there is no possibility of them rebelling against their masters and disciplining them.

　Every British Prime Minister must also frequently meet with the Queen with great trepidation and give a formal report on the government's work.

　Queen Elizabeth II is by no means a clay puppet. She often advises the cabinet, publicly expresses her opposition, and even warns the government (Queen Elizabeth had a bad relationship with Margaret Thatcher. She believed that the Iron Lady was too harsh and heartless in suppressing workers).

　——In daily political operations, the Queen of England has always had a strong presence, while the Emperor of Japan is basically transparent.

　Moreover, although Japan retained the imperial family after its surrender, it abolished the aristocracy (the nobility), leaving the imperial family alone and without troops. Although there were still many aristocratic families among the Japanese people, they all lost their titles, and thus no longer had even a nominal monarch-subject relationship with the imperial family.

　Not to mention those nouveau riche from grassroots backgrounds, who often change their family tree and associate themselves with celebrities as soon as they rise to prominence, and the outside world has no idea who has true aristocratic blood.

　Without the support of the nobility, the imperial family was left alone. Even during the reign of Emperor Showa, it was unable to influence Japanese politics.

　Although the old British aristocrats have also fallen, at least their reputation remains. They are still a huge powerful group that controls a large amount of land and assets. In addition, Britain has always had special institutions to record their identities and lineages to prevent impersonation.

　Although the Queen cannot count on the loyalty and ability of these nobles, it is still okay to have them show up and act as a cheerleader when things don't matter. In addition, the royal family can also use the method of conferring titles to win people's hearts and increase their supporters.

　In short, although it is only a constitutional monarch, if the British royal family is under the huge stimulation of life and death, the power they can seize is still considerable.

　Therefore, the MI5 experts who are responsible for collating and analyzing this "future information" are very worried that Queen Elizabeth II may be overly stimulated by this "future information" and, in a fit of anger, take precautions and suppress or even abolish MI5 in advance?

　——The "Martial Law Bureau" that appeared thirty years later is of course not available now. But MI5 is here, and I can recite it now.

　The blame lies with her: Never overestimate how calm and rational a mother can remain when faced with the life and death of all her children!

　What if the Queen, driven by the desire to avenge the extermination of her family thirty years later, desperately wanted to take revenge on MI5?

　Then, even Prime Minister Heath and the members of Parliament would probably find it difficult to stop them - they might just go with the flow and agree to abolish MI5, or at least greatly reduce its power, and then reorganize the domestic intelligence agencies at the same time to prove their innocence.

　Fortunately, even though she suffered a huge mental shock, Queen Elizabeth II regained her composure after her hysterical rant - although her first reaction was to disband MI5 immediately at all costs to prevent any further trouble.

　But after calming down, the queen realized that she had been blinded by anger and fear and almost did something stupid.

　MI5 is just a department that can be renamed and abolished at any time. The ones who actually committed the crime of killing members of the royal family are actually the agents within it.

　Even if the entire MI5 staff were now loyal to the emperor and patriotic, sworn to serve the royal family, what would that mean? After overthrowing the Windsors and seizing power in a coup, the "Martial Law Bureau" would undoubtedly purge MI5 of its royalist agents and replace them with traitorous henchmen, who would then be tasked with assassinating members of the royal family.

　Who knows where those MI5 agents who dared to hunt down members of the Windsor royal family more than 30 years later came from?

　Therefore, venting anger at MI5 now was completely meaningless. Once the United Kingdom collapsed and the crown fell, even if Britain did not have MI5 at that time, those future usurpers who were willing to kill the king would send other assassins to hunt down members of the royal family and royalist nobles.

　In short, after calming down, although Queen Elizabeth II was still in a bad mood, at least she no longer wanted to vent her anger on MI5.

　Next, she and her husband studied the "future world" information sent by the Prime Minister. Soon, from these texts and photos, they had a preliminary understanding of the most basic political tone of this cyberpunk society a hundred years later - government dysfunction and giant corporations in power!

　The vast majority of nations and governments on Earth have failed to adapt to the impact of this new era, becoming corrupt and weak. Powerful corporations have replaced governments as the leading actors in the cyberpunk world, waging wars against one another, overseeing mega-projects, and constantly changing the face of the world.

　Of course, there is also the shocking environmental pollution and the poor living conditions of ordinary people: it feels like we have regressed to the era of "sheep eating people".

　This shows that the high technologies of the future society have not yet benefited ordinary people. Even though huge spaceships crisscross the starry sea and magical space cities stand on the surface of the moon, people still cannot eat a bite of good meat or drink a sip of clean water, and life expectancy has even regressed compared to today.

　The remnants of the old era, such as the royal family and the aristocracy, disappeared completely under the cleansing of capitalism like a whirlwind.

　In short, after lamenting the cruelty of the future and mocking the optimists' rosy visions of the future, the Queen suddenly thought of something, and her face changed. She then looked up at Prime Minister Heath and asked hesitantly.

　"Although I can roughly guess, I still want to confirm with you, Mr. Prime Minister, how many people know about this?"

　She pointed at the scrapped prosthetic limb and miniature music player on the table, her tone vaguely sad and mixed with a bit of luck.

　Prime Minister Heath looked a little embarrassed at this, but he coughed dryly and told the Queen the truth: "Your Majesty, in the UK, if the Prime Minister informs the Queen of something, it usually means that the whole world already knows it."

　——Because the disappearance and reappearance of the Leander frigate were too sudden, MI5 was simply unable to control the situation immediately.

　In addition, the Stonehenge alien UFO incident happened at the Salisbury Plain at this time, and most of the best people in MI5 were transferred there to carry out emergency tasks, which made London relatively empty.

　Therefore, before the British intelligence agency took control of the sailors on the ship, at least twenty fast-running reporters had interviewed the survivors of the Leander frigate, and several omnipresent brokers had made deals with these people who returned from the future as soon as possible.

　Some sailors who suffered mental breakdowns even got off the ship and ran to the streets of London immediately. Some fled back home, some rushed into pubs to get drunk, and some ran to Soho to find prostitutes to vent... Since there were no mobile phones those days, the whereabouts of many sailors are still unknown!

　As for whether they will tell everyone about their "future adventure" or even be kidnapped by foreign spies, that is even more uncertain.

　Some of the "future items" these sailors brought back have probably already been lost on the black market and cannot be recovered...

　The exact amount of information about the future world that has been leaked is a mystery and cannot be checked.

　Queen Elizabeth II: “…”

　Prince Philip: “…”

　Chapter 536: Visiting the Original Site of Night City

　In short, the Leander frigate traveled to the future world of Cyberpunk 2077. Since the British officials had no prior preparation and no time to react afterwards, the intelligence was lost at the very beginning.

　The whole thing was leaked and became a hot topic in the market.

　On that very day, a pirate radio host in London had already vividly described "Leander's Adventure in the Future World".

　The next day, British newspapers like The Times, The Mirror, The Guardian, and The Daily Mail all devoted varying lengths to detailed or brief coverage of the paranormal events that befell the HMS Leander at West India Dock. The Sun even took the unusual step of removing its three pages of erotic photos of women and replacing them with a poster allegedly advertising a "sex doll" club in Night City from the 22nd century.

　The plastic-feeling prosthetic limbs, the eye-catching Mohawk, Shamatte, Yin-Yang head and other bizarre hairstyles, as well as the faces painted in metallic colors, were deeply unacceptable to the old British perverts in the 1970s. They all complained that the aesthetic concepts of Americans a hundred years later were really weird.

　However, despite the near-complete intelligence leak, MI5, belatedly realizing the truth, eventually took countermeasures, releasing numerous versions of the "21st Century World Background Set" at lightning speed. These included scenarios ranging from radioactive wastelands to World War III apocalypses, space exploration histories, and alien invasions, with scenarios ranging from optimism to pessimism. Their aim was to confuse the truth with rumors, making it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

　But Fili's mouth twitched as he read, because he found that many of the settings here were taken from several Hollywood wasteland apocalyptic adventure movies that he invested in and filmed in the late 1950s, and they were slightly modified and promoted as serious - is the fate of a plagiarist destined to be copied by others?

　Then, MI5's strategy of "passing off fake news as genuine" worked well among the public, but it was ineffective at the international level.

　Soon after, at the United Nations General Assembly, which had moved to the Palais des Nations in Switzerland, France proposed convening a special UN conference to address these supernatural events that affected the fate of all mankind, and put pressure on the UK to demand that the British government disclose the truth about this "time travel to the future" incident.

　The above proposal was immediately echoed and responded by many small and medium-sized countries, because they all wanted to know the fate of their motherland in a hundred years.

　The United States and the Soviet Union also expressed support for this, saying that for the benefit of all mankind, it was necessary for the British government to disclose information about the above supernatural events.

　Although, at this very moment, a report and related evidence more detailed than the one Prime Minister Heath had seen had probably been delivered by KGB agents to the Kremlin conference room for General Secretary Brezhnev to review; and if the CIA had resumed normal operations, it should also be able to obtain sufficient real intelligence on this time-travel incident from the UK, where it had already infiltrated and cultivated for many years...

　But this did not prevent the United States and the Soviet Union from taking the opportunity to stir up trouble and stand with France to make things difficult for the British who had gained a huge advantage.

　As a countermeasure, the British, driven to desperation, immediately raised the issue of "New China's return to the United Nations" in an attempt to divert international attention... This indeed sparked a heated debate at the UN. However, it also led to a heated argument between the left and right factions in the House of Commons.

　Having accomplished his mission, Ferry did not care about these international games and undercurrents. Before the snow fell, he took Marita north to the Scottish Highlands, visited Loch Ness, threw some "souvenirs" into the lake... and then took a plane back to the United States.

　But for some reason, Fieri didn't choose to fly directly to Los Angeles this time. Instead, he went north to San Francisco first, rented a car there, and slowly drove south along California Highway 1 along the Pacific coast...

　Because he wanted to stop by a place called Morro Bay.

　Well, by the way, this place has a more resounding name in the world view of "Cyberpunk 2077" - Night City!

　-

　Morro Bay Beach in central California, more than 100 miles south of San Francisco

　Ferry found a flat open space on the beach, parked the car, then pulled Marita out of the car and squinted his eyes at the surrounding scenery.

　Well, the sunny sea, the fishing boats bobbing on the waves, the simple little pier, and the small village with only two or three decent streets...

　——Unlike the Night City in the game, the real-world Morro Bay is certainly not a bustling metropolis with a population of one million, but a rural town with only a few thousand people (until 2020, the local population barely reached 1).

　However, because it is adjacent to California Highway 1, transportation is quite convenient, and the beach scenery occasionally attracts some tourists.

　If it is between April and May, people will come here to fly kites, and even form a rather lively kite festival - Europeans and Americans also fly kites. It is rumored that the ancient Greeks used Egyptian papyrus to make kites, but later lost the tradition. It was not until modern times that Chinese kites were reintroduced.

　Of course, this is still the sparsely populated American West, far away from big cities, so there are still not many people here on ordinary days.

　Firi wandered around and realized he was on the same patch of land as the company plaza where Arasaka Tower stood in the game. As for the large rocky mountain at the end of the beach, it was probably Morro Rock, the rocket launch site in Cyberpunk 2077 that became a spaceport.

　The real town of Morro Bay is located in the Watson District in the game, but there is definitely no "Afterlife" bar converted from a morgue.

　Apart from

　Beyond Watson, Night City itself was still largely empty wilderness. The surroundings didn't resemble the Badlands of the game. Instead, they were lush and green, with vegetation considered quite dense for the West Coast of the United States.

　The clear stream flowing through this place, with small fish swimming in it, is a world apart from the muddy sewage ditch full of oil in the game.

　After strolling around, Fili brought Marita to the town to eat something, but found that although it was not the peak tourist season, Morro Bay had become inexplicably bustling with tourists with cameras hanging around their necks, many of whom were obviously from foreign countries.

　So much so that restaurants and hotels were packed, and even people had to queue up to fill up their cars with gas!

　——Although the scenery of Morro Bay is decent, even in California, it can only be considered a third- or fourth-tier scenic spot or even a low-end one.

　Normally, there wouldn't be so many outsiders, or even foreigners, hanging out here? Could it be...

　"Hey, dear, are these people from outside spies?"

　Marita looked at the abnormally bustling town with curiosity, hit Fili's chest with her arm, and asked foolishly.

　"There are definitely spies, but the majority are probably reporters with exceptionally quick legs, or simply fans of mysteries."

　Firi replied, "After all, the story of the Leander frigate has already been published in the newspaper..."

　Chapter 537: Night City isn’t even built yet, and it’s about to be hit by a nuclear bomb?

　Looking at Morro Bay (Night City), which had become abnormally bustling during the off-season, and the various random people with foreign and out-of-town accents hanging around here, Firi, the instigator, touched his chin and instantly understood - based on the current situation, the upper-level rulers of the countries in this dimension really regarded the timeline in "Cyberpunk 2077" as the unquestionable future of mankind, right?

　After all, standing at the time point of 1970, it would be really difficult to confirm what the world would look like in 2077?

　Just like during World War II, if you told those soldiers from various countries who fought bloody battles that in just over a decade, humans would be able to break out of the earth, travel through the universe, and march to the moon... they would probably just think it was a fantasy - but reality actually developed in this way!

　Similarly, if you had told the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers fighting on the beaches of Gallipoli during World War I that the British Empire they fought and served for would collapse in less than half a century... I'm afraid these Australians and New Zealanders would have scoffed.

　And if you told an American in the early 20th century that his country was on the verge of world domination... well, he might have actually believed it. After all, as early as the 19th century, Americans already believed that they were God's chosen people from the "City on a Hill," destined to rule the world!

　The fall of Tsarist Russia, the birth of the world's first red regime, the division of Germany, the rise of the United States to world dominance, and the dawn of the space age...

　After experiencing so many upheavals and turbulent changes in the 20th century, people today have come to accept that the world situation can easily undergo drastic changes. At least in their minds, they are much more accepting of a future time and space that is completely different from the present world than in the past.

　The cybernetic bodies, robots, internet, space stations, and lunar colonies in Cyberpunk 2077 certainly sound fantastical. But if Earth's technology continues to advance rapidly for another hundred years, it would seem normal that all these science fiction things could be realized, right?

　Therefore, it seems understandable that those who have learned some inside information from London, for various purposes, flocked to the original site of "Night City" in Morro Bay, California to "make a pilgrimage" and try to see something on this land.

　For old Europe, it seemed a little incredible that a sparsely populated and desolate bay could become a big city in just a few decades.