Infinity, progress from Arasaka

clang.

Someone slammed the table in anger.

"Shit!"

The name tag prefixed with "California" revealed his identity: the head of the CIA branch responsible for intelligence work in California on the West Coast.

what is this?

"Although it is a secret outpost of military technology, located in the death zone in the badlands north of Night City, it was blasted hard by the cyborgs of the enemy Arasaka." Will Arasaka release a new gun version?

Regardless of other things, this incident happened during his term, which is a big black mark. If it goes wrong, his future will be ruined.

Panting, he finally calmed down and clapped his hands.

Boom!

The lights come on.

"Okay, each of you tell me what you think of Arasaka's new gadget. President Miles has ordered that we must understand the relevant parameters of this weapon."

He pointed at the enlarged, paused, and restored image of a giant steel cyborg on the holographic screen. Adam Hammer in his new prosthetic armor.

The emphasis was on his new prosthetic armor, with thick upper limbs and short and thin lower limbs, like a gorilla; several others seemed to be taller, and it was unclear whether they were Hammer clones or some kind of war machines; and there were also freeze-frame images of him manipulating the gravity field and magnetic generating device.

"There is also the reconstruction of the new transportation station and the re-infiltration of the Dog Town intelligence network. Do we need to 'awaken' the last deeply buried 'hidden stakes' that have not yet been dug out by the traitor Kurt Hansen?"

After signaling the staff to continue analysis and deduction, he looked towards a corner of the conference room and saw an external instructor sitting in the corner with his head down, seemingly thinking about something.

A woman with shoulder-length purple-red hair.

Slim build, Asian features.

The most eye-catching thing is her highly prosthetic cyber implants all over her body.

The high-capacity neural interface directly connected to the occipital lobe (the last lobe of the cerebral hemisphere), the life support system that almost fills the entire upper torso, the low-temperature constant temperature system, the blood cooling system... all tell one thing, she is a very skilled hacker.

The head of the branch office spoke up: "Ms. Lark."

"..."

"Ms. Lark?"

"Oh, sorry, sir."

Finally, the Asian woman raised her face, which was covered with traces of prosthetic reconstruction.

There was also a red light flashing in the pupils, indicating the flow of data.

"It seems that Ms. Lark has an idea?" he asked.

“Not really. But tracing back to its source, that thing appeared after Vera Adelheid took office. I checked some sealed intelligence files.” The woman paused, and the text and pictures on the holographic screen were reflected in her red eyes.

"She also seems to have a record of crossing the 'black wall' many times."

------

Chapter 105: The Bird in the Cage and the Phoenix with Spread Wings

(refresh)

"The Black Wall... that place is full of out-of-control killer AIs that want to burn your brains to medium rare. You don't want to make a breakthrough there, do you? With all due respect, I don't think this is a good idea..."

The deputy director of the NUSA Joint Intelligence Bureau couldn't help but rub his forehead, which seemed to be swollen and painful. His brows were furrowed, and a hint of thought gradually emerged in his eyes.

In his opinion, there are only three types of people who rush outside the "black wall": either they are mentally ill, or they are skilled and bold, or they are passive.

With that woman's current status in Arashi, apart from the people in Arashi's family, no, only Saburo can give her complete command. That old devil is reluctant to use her to fill the "black wall".

"Ms. Lark, is this the judgment of the White House Intelligence Advisory Committee?" After a pause, he looked at the Asian woman across the table.

Although she is still in the CIA, her status as the president's favorite and ace hacker allows her to often be by President Rosalind Myers' side, making her half a White House staff member.

"Partly yes."

Ignoring the other party's stereotype of a certain type of deep-dive hacker who crossed the "black wall", Lark's expression remained the same and he did not deny it.

"In that case." The deputy director raised his head, tapped the table with his round fingers, and whispered solemnly, "Then it's settled. All right, as long as President Miles gives the order."

"Assuming that the sealed outdated intelligence is correct and not false information and bluffing released by Arata, does that mean that we are seriously lagging behind Arata in the iterative research and development of cyber implants in the fields of intelligent control AI, deep network diving, and professional hacking..."

"Or rather."

He looked gloomily at the combat staff and think tank analysts in the conference room.

"Vera Adelheid... fucking bitch, is that absurd bitch really a cross between Adam Sledgehammer and Lacy Bartmos?"

To say that Vera has reached the level of the deceased 'Hacker God' Lacy Batmos is definitely an exaggeration, and it may be an attempt to mitigate the guilt of negligence.

But as one of the main persons in charge of the CIA's intelligence work in California on the West Coast, he was no stranger to Vera's exaggerated combat hacking abilities.

"Spring Operation" in Johannesburg, South Africa, what a good chess game, the Sun Steps flowers were in hand, but in the end because of that stupid bitch's reaction, the plan failed, and both the wife and the army were lost.

Whenever they see the news about the great success of the "Stairway to the Sun Project", those who are aware of and in charge of the "Spring Operation" can't help but stamp their feet in anger.

Damn, it hurts more to see you making money than me losing money.

Why didn't we dare to go all in and send a few more hacker support teams? If we delayed for another minute, or even thirty seconds, the stuff would have most likely been rushed out!

Ugh……

"When Vera Adelheid first emerged in Night City, I took office... Never mind, I won't mention it. I didn't take it seriously at the time, and it's too late to say anything now."

He shifted the blame without leaving any trace and waved his hand.

"That's the logic. The key is to find out why she frequently goes to the ruins of the old network that was melted after the 'data nuclear explosion'. Why? It's not like what the informant said. She is looking for a roaming AI to play data PK and practice her computing power."

What are you talking about? Do your dead parents know that you are so arrogant?

A glimpse of the whole picture shows the disparity, which is so huge that it is hard to laugh at.

The lark looked at the beautiful woman who was marked with an extremely dangerous symbol and appeared on the holographic screen.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, delicate facial features with a hint of authority, dressed in a plain dark custom-made uniform. His indigo irises always seemed like a calm lake, without the slightest ripple. With a faint smile on his lips, his temperament was dignified and restrained.

This appearance, if nothing else, is a textbook spokesperson for the new militarism style.

Vera Adelheid Russell.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Lark knew what emotions he was feeling.

Yearning...envy...hope...jealousy...

The repeated updates of her hacker equipment and the repeated climbing over the "black wall" to complete her missions not only forced her physical body to be replaced with prosthetics on a large scale, but the indelible trauma to her nervous system also made her memories of the past gradually blurred and lost.

They both frequently cross the "black wall", but why does she no longer look like a human being, while Vera is still so glamorous and beautiful? There are not too many exposed signs of cyber transformation, but only just the right concave lines on the body that seem to be decorative, which instead bring out a kind of cold beauty.

The lark was puzzled.

She only knew that this would not work and she would surely die.

"Freedom..." The lark moved its lips silently.

Rosalind Miles was indeed her benefactor.

As a result, she was granted special permission to freely use all prototype technologies developed by the CIA. In daily life, the other party did care about her, but Miles was a political creature.

Ultimately, Miles treated her as a top-notch excavation tool to get through the Black Wall, as a walking human cyber-nuclear weapon, and never really thought about her feelings.

"Change." She tried to break free from Miles's grasp.

An inexplicable emotion spread in her heart. As she yearned for freedom, a crazy idea gradually took shape in her mind...

She became more and more sober and calm.

The time is not yet ripe.

Looking up at the NUSA national emblem of the bald eagle in the conference room, the face of the bird in the cage has a deeper glow.

"Cross the river by feeling the rough plank."

Not noticing this subtle change, the deputy director in charge of the matter leaned back in his chair, crossed his fingers on the table and continued to preside over the response meeting.

"Vera Adelheid's behavior is indeed very abnormal. It is possible that she has discovered something or gained something from the "Black Wall"... The network collapsed, the AI ​​rebelled, and Bartmos, that arrogant and stubborn idiot, messed up everything. If the White House has made up its mind to increase its investment in the infiltration of the "Black Wall". "

"Internet monitoring is easy to solve," he said.

I'll just pick the weak ones and solve one thing first. Just tell me whether I've done anything or not. Things that can be solved with money are not a problem. The key is——

"Deep dive, 'conventional' or 'unconventional'?"

The CIA officer looked at Lark meaningfully.

It seemed like a look of pity.

For large companies, the "normal" approach is to risk their lives by using large numbers of mass-produced hackers trained in batches to dive deep into the "black wall" to dig out old network data;

Huangban, or all big companies are players in this way. The voluntary elites are another matter.

'Unconventional' means taking extremely rare super hackers as the spearhead, providing as much as possible, capping the remuneration, and strengthening to the extreme, aiming to break the surface with a point.

For example, there are street hackers who want to play deep dive games and kill themselves, senior hackers who work as mercenaries, gang hackers with some backup and considerable financial resources, and a few talented and well-supported super hackers backed by corporate consortiums.

The gap between the upper and lower limits is huge.

Of course, for large companies, both are fundamental. There is the "surface" and the "details". It all depends on what the bigwigs at the moment prefer.

Judging from President Miles's cultivation and continuous transformation of Miss Lark over the years, the president obviously prefers the latter and has reaped considerable rewards.

"Both."

Lark still had that cold look, like a doll's face, and said in a businesslike tone: "Before the operation begins, Mr. Deputy Director, the President needs you to rebuild a new traffic station and open up the Dog Town intelligence network as quickly as possible."

"Don't suspend the new batch of material aid to the Sixth Street Gang. The president has approved the dispatch of NUSA veterans to Night City in batches. The Coronado Farm in Santo Domingo cannot be lost. This is the bottom line."

Soon, after the discussion on 'whether it is possible to cause trouble to Vera's Li Scenic Area security publicity pilot policy', 'do this to Huangban's overseas intelligence stations', 'add sand to Huangban's new scientific research center area', 'promote the expansion of Night City border outposts', 'allocate more special funds for secret operations to hire cyberpunk hyenas'... the topic ended.

Lark walked out of the meeting room.

"real."

Just as she was about to leave the CIA headquarters, a private video call rang with the location marked as the White House.

drop.

[Zhao Mei. Good news, the Advanced Research Projects Agency has a new prototype experimental product coming out, and your computing power will reach a new peak. ]

The lark's eyes flashed red.

[Song Zhaomei: Yes, Mr. President. I will be there soon.]

...

Night City.

Aerial route from Corporate Square to Westbrook.

Visual images dominated by cool colors such as blue and purple, with gorgeous neon lights, towering skyscrapers and huge billboards.

A formation of armored hovercrafts.

In the center of the formation was a red and black aerospace floating vehicle, made of extremely luxurious materials, with a streamlined body carved with silver trefoil patterns. Surrounded by an entire fleet of flying armored formations armed to the teeth, it looked like a mighty phoenix floating in the skyline of a gloomy city.

Jingle Bell.

After projecting the video call signal onto the car's onboard imager, Vera exited deep diving, removed the scalding hot head-mounted repeater, and sat up refreshed from the comfortable seat made of memory foam and smart fibers.

[Caller: Kurt Hansen]

Beep, connected.

"I hope I am not disturbing you, Director Russell."

It's still the same outfit that has remained unchanged for thousands of years, with a T-shirt and combat pants, a dagger sheath on his belt, a dog tag, and an American-style bald head.

Hansen glanced at Vera, who looked like she had just woken up, her hair was a little messy, and she was still sorting out her clothes.

"No problem." Vera picked up a cup of steaming black tea from the beverage bar beside her, took a sip, tilted her upper body slightly, crossed her legs, raised the corners of her mouth, and exuded a very lazy atmosphere. "Mr. Hansen contacted me specifically, so he must have important business."

"Is the Little Big Dipper Project, the parent project of Neural Matrix, important enough?"