Infinity, progress from Arasaka

The cyborg tyrant is the product of exploiting loopholes in the treaty.

She might be nearly invincible in a regular urban street fight, but when the proxy war she was planning started, her firepower would undoubtedly be insufficient and would need to be strengthened...

Including herself, she also needs to prepare new trump cards to ensure her life safety.

Considering her subsequent series of actions to dig up the lifeblood of military technology, what if the military technology all-in-one explodes with her, and she is decapitated like Arasaka Kei? When it comes to her own life, she must be lenient with the enemy.

Regardless of anything else, she must have room for maneuver.

Thinking about it, Vera got up and went upstairs to her research workshop.

A large amount of data fills the space in the form of light blue projections.

Vera stared at the blue light screen on display, on which her reflection was vaguely reflected.

The reflections seem the same yet different.

Some are playing as if they are in a laboratory filled with prosthetic limbs and mecha modules, some are directing the loading and unloading of arms at a port, some are speaking in the USA CCG hearing room, and some are standing in front of some kind of cylindrical container, tapping on operating buttons.

At this moment, her fingertips were hovering over the blue light screen.

Follow Vera's thoughts.

She turned around while standing in front of some kind of cylindrical container.

Revealing a naked blonde woman in the container behind her.

Alexia Ashford.

To be exact, T—Veronica.

He is brain dead and was turned into an unconscious virus-extracted body by Vera.

"The progress is faster than I thought. It seems to be applicable... but it still needs experiments. The social structure like ants... is very suitable for my needs... Candidates... Well, the other results obtained by 'me' also need to be implemented as soon as possible... Take your time, safety first, there is still time for direct conflict with military technology..."

Vera already had the answer in her heart.

...

a week later.

Night City Badlands.

David Martinez, a new field officer of the Arasaka Security Department, looked out the window curiously at the desolate landscape of the Badlands.

This world is as barren and desolate as its name suggests. Everywhere you look, you can see endless deserts, low hillsides, dried-up oil fields, and piles of waste...

The old asphalt roads crisscross the wasteland, and some of them have been buried by sand.

The only things that still looked alive, apart from the sparse intact buildings isolated from the outside world, were the slowly turning dilapidated wind turbines and a group of "diggers" digging holes in the sand with a sign saying "minefield".

The area around the armed men was filled with shabby modified cars. They were vagrants.

This was the first time David came outside the city and saw the real wanderers.

Oh, that black woman sitting in the rugged muscle car seemed to be looking at them with disdain, and she was about to raise her middle finger, but was forcibly held down by her companion in the hood next to her.

"Hehe... they are just a bunch of stray dogs that eat the scraps thrown to them by the company. They think that they are superior to us city natives because they have escaped to the wilderness. Their souls are free, while we are prisoners."

It’s Katsuo Tanaka.

Sitting opposite David, Shengnan, who was wearing a black combat uniform, a light armor layer, and a winged helmet, took off his tactical mask and sneered.

He looked at David and said, "But, if they really leave the company completely, where will their cars, weapons, energy, and supplies come from... Do they have to rub their hands?"

"Be alert, David. We have come at a good time. Soon, there will be no shortage of opportunities for rapid promotion." Shengnan pointed at the screen built into the carriage and said seriously, "But the prerequisite is that you can survive."

David looked.

It is WNS's international news.

Reporting on a meeting that is currently taking place.

In the picture, Arasaka and the western states and local parties represented by him in North America hold a multilateral dialogue with Military Technology and the eastern states and the ruling party of the new federal government in Washington on whether the recent increasingly tense situation on the West Coast violates the spirit of the Alvin Peace Agreement.

A number of international giants, including Su Petrochemical, Biotechnology, European Bank, Orbital Aviation, Petrochemical, Zeta Technology, Kangtao, Qilusi, Network Monitoring..., including both old-established overlords and up-and-coming companies, as well as industry leaders and companies with large commercial operations in North America, are among them as third-party observers and mediators.

Convening a treaty revision meeting does not mean revising the treaty.

The speaker now is Vera Adelheid Russell, the general management director of Arasaka's North American headquarters.

At the conference podium, a blonde with blue eyes took out a separation chip.

"...Contrasting with the serious atmosphere at the moment, we have reason to believe that NUSA's continued development and display of weapons of mass destruction on the border of the Independent State is a serious threat to the security of Night City and the local parties and free states that value autonomy. Obviously, President Miles and Washington have a plan to tear up the Alvin Peace Agreement in the future."

------

PS: Damn, I was able to come back to life successfully, but it took me five or six minutes to change the sensitive words. I was so annoyed.

I thought the time was up anyway, so I just typed a little more, and that’s how it turned out.

Chapter 108 The Divided New America is the Good Eagle Sauce

"...For six years, NUSA has never explained their lethal weapons and military deployments on the Free State border that seriously violated the Alvin Peace Agreement and the International Convention on the Proliferation of Excessive Firepower. Ladies and gentlemen, this is real evidence, not just speculation. This is true and it is well documented."

On the podium, the fluorescent display plaque of [ARASAKA] shone brightly, and a beautiful blonde with elegant conversation, graceful manners and decent behavior spoke slowly. Her cool and clear voice echoed in the spacious conference hall through the speakers.

Vera raised the separation chip in her hand.

With a sound, the big screen on the background wall covered with the glittering logos of major participating companies switched to the background wall.

Several photos and videos and audios that seemed to be secretly taken or recorded in very dangerous situations appeared on the screen.

In the trembling picture, there are skinny, half-dressed former independent state veterans being bullied by soldiers wearing military-tech camouflage combat uniforms; there are formations of main battle floating tanks rumbling into a breach of contract military station near Northern California, hollowed out from the Nevada Mountains, under the covert transfer of carrier vehicles; there is audio accompanying the massacre of unarmed residents, and in the sound of gunfire and wailing, the key words that appear in their conversation are "batch", "work above", "complete", "clear"...

"...There is no doubt that all of this was premeditated, planned, systematic, and large-scale, blatantly disregarding the independence and sovereignty of the free states and trampling on the dignity of the citizens of the western states."

Amid the timely exclamations and discussions of the participants, Vera spoke in a tone of suppressed anger and indignation.

They are all a group of actors!

At the multilateral dialogue open expanded meeting, one of the "best actresses" in attendance, Ms. Vera, inconspicuously glanced at the bunch of vampires and corporate dogs who were eating people without leaving any bones.

It's so exaggerated, really exaggerated, and not professional at all.

Some people exclaimed "Oh my god" because of some live videos, some looked as if their father had died, some even squeezed out tears, covered their faces with their hands, and I don't know if they were putting eye drops in or something, but their shoulders were shaking...

If you didn’t know better, you would think they really cared about the post-war welfare of the citizens of the western states of North America.

Oh, there were also seats with nameplates belonging to [NUSA] and [MILITECH]. Those attendees from New America and Military Technology, who were dressed like they were paying a fee, looked livid and were banging on the table in protest and standing up to question.

But no one paid any attention.

Although this place is not Night City, Northern and Southern California, and other areas of Arasaka's sphere of influence, it is also not an eastern state influenced by Washington. It is Texas, or the Lone Star Republic, with its capital Austin.

As the state with the strongest desire for independence in the old United States.

Perhaps during the Metal War, the Federal Party that ruled the southern state of Texas chose to remain neutral and form an appropriate alliance with Washington, but by 2076, facing the Washington authorities who claimed to "strengthen national strength", promised to expand federal rule, and insisted on returning to the old American system, Texas' attitude had subtly changed.

Does the Lone Star State want to once again be one of the fifty stars on the Star-Spangled Banner?

Vera looked away and ignored the protests of the military technology representative. She used this pause as a chance for the participants to review the evidence to calm down a little.

Um, do you want to squeeze out a tear?

Forget it, overdoing it will only backfire.

Fortunately, I was prepared...

Taking a deep breath, Vera raised her head and looked at the audience with her warm eyes that seemed to have turned into a pool of clear water. The beasts in human clothing present became unreal in the ripples. She saw herself, attending the antitrust hearing, another version of the CEO of Military Science.

Ugh.

With a sigh, I feel the same pain as those who are being investigated for antitrust violations and attacked by jealous people. They want to shoot them but have to endure it for a while for the sake of the overall situation.

Suddenly, Ms. Vera, with a sad and compassionate look on her face, continued to speak.

It is eloquent, emotionally sincere, and has just the right tone.

After describing the evidence and details of NUSA’s violation of the agreement, its secret deployment of troops to the West Coast, and its oppression of the people of the Western states, its violation of the agreement to retaliate against veterans of the Independent States, its persecution of the three respected elders of the local party, and its failure to fulfill the agreement to give the Western states the same electoral rights and corresponding respect as the Eastern states—

"Thank you for listening."

After he finished speaking, he walked down from the podium and passed by representatives of military technology. Vera looked at him deeply before taking her seat.

Rosalind Miles and the current CEO of Militech didn't come. Apparently, based on the principle of equality, Vera's rank wasn't high enough for them to be there. Saburo Arasaka or Yorinobu Arasaka would be fine.

"This is a false accusation, a rumor without any factual basis. Director Russell's accusation is untrue and imprecise."

With the iconic 'accordion' gesture, the military technology representative's rebuttal speech began, "No one knows how to serve the citizens of America better than us..."

Under the podium, Vera unscrewed the bottle of mineral water and took a sip, just as she was listening to trash talk. After nodding to the biotechnology representatives, European bank representatives, and Su Petrochemical representatives who were showing their goodwill and concern, she sat up straight, crossed her hands on her lower abdomen, and listened to the rebuttal of her old opponent on the stage.

At least on the surface he was listening.

This meeting will not produce any results.

Vera knew it well.

Never expect to get at the negotiating table what you can't get on the battlefield.

But it is a political statement.

Win over people in the western independent states who are pursuing state independence, inspire the rebellious consciousness of the former free states in the middle that have suffered from regional discrimination and wealth harvesting in the eastern states, and shake the banner of the new American ideology emphasized by Miles, "unity, make America great again."

At this point, Arasaka would have countless potential allies internationally.

There is no country or force in the world that wants the United States to be unified again and regain its hegemony as one of the two poles of the world after World War II.

European banks don’t want that, because they took advantage of the collapse of the dollar settlement system, the global economic crisis, and the division of the old United States in the 90s to break free from control, and finally allowed the old Europe to usher in a second major development.

Su Petrochemical does not want this, which is due to both its own interests and the influence of historical factors.

Biotechnology doesn't want that, because this is the common appeal of all companies: there should no longer be a superpower with big government tendencies in the world.

Even Petrochemical, a company with close ties to military technology, does not want Washington to become strong.

As the only petrochemical company in North America with a license to produce CHOHO2, an energy essential, they did not want their monopoly to be investigated by Washington under normal government authority.

After all, they are not military technology.

It is a well-known secret that the new America is now military technology, and military technology is the new America.

...

After the Metal War, Washington almost unified the old United States, and the attitude of military technology towards other North American companies became more and more arrogant and domineering, with an attitude of being the master.

A dead Taoist friend is not a poor Taoist.

It has become a consensus among more and more forces in the world to teach military technology a lesson and interrupt the rise of the new United States. Especially since it was Arasaka who took the lead, and they did not personally take action.

Vera never expected them to be reliable. Although these people shouted happily, most of them could only provide any help other than practical help.

As long as they don't hold back, it will be considered a success.

Vera was secretly calculating in her mind, and glanced sideways at the Sushihua Slavic representative who looked like he was watching a show.

Compared to Vera's speech, the rebuttal speech by the military technology executive dressed like a flamingo was undoubtedly a dull one.

That is to say, those present were all respectable corporate people, which is why there was no middle finger or booing.

Vera shook her head.

There was no need to listen any further, as the righteous rebuttal of Military Technology would be addressed by the head of the diplomatic and public relations department of Night City's Arasaka Tower, who had accompanied Vera.

Halfway through, when the military technology representative was talking about Arasaka's reinforcements before Night City, Vera hadn't even opened her mouth yet, and the burly Slavic representative who was very happy to hear it even went shirtless to take sides.

They talked a lot about the military technology that framed you after the nuclear explosion of Arasaka Tower in 2023, and said that you (the US) are terrorists with a criminal record. Saburo lost his eldest son because of you, so he naturally has to be on guard against you.

After all the scolding, the negotiators at the military technology seat turned pale.

The people from Su Petrochemical had an expression that said, "If you have the guts, come and hit me. Look how arrogant you are. If you have the guts, come to Eastern Europe or Moscow and I will definitely hit you on the head."

After only half a day of meeting, this open expanded multilateral dialogue ended successfully, or in other words, no effective agenda was reached.

The multilateral dialogue reached a resolution No. XX, urging the military to use technology and Washington to abide by the Alvin Peace Agreement, allowing international friendly businesses to send observers to investigate the implementation of human rights in the western independent states, and if necessary, the US side needs to make corrections and withdraw...