Infinity, progress from Arasaka

Faraday: "Didn't you also lose a team of elite agents? Don't you feel bad?"

"Don't use your limited perspective to judge the company's strategic determination."

The contact person's tone remained calm.

"It is worthwhile to bring out Adam Hammer... Don't worry, our cooperation will be effective for a long time. Let Arasaka defend itself tightly. When their new comprehensive research center in Night City breaks ground, it will be time for us to strike a fatal blow. The higher-ups have made a great determination for Arasaka's goods this time..."

"Work hard, Faraday. Good things are yet to come...Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that the company agrees to all your requests."

After that, beep, beep, he hung up the phone.

"..."

Faraday looked extremely unhappy.

"Pretentious."

Then he stood up and called back.

As the mercenaries who first reacted, sent back information and ran away, Mann's team is quite capable. Being able to escape is also a kind of ability, so let's continue to win them over.

"I am Faraday Mann. I was caught off guard by the commission..."

...

At the same time, the company square, the military technology building.

Intelligence Department office floor.

As soon as he finished talking to Faraday, the military technology employee who was responsible for connecting with Night City's middlemen for intelligence work covered his face with a bitter look and rubbed his temples.

Isn't he in a hurry?

No, he is in a hurry!

"Fuck, the people in the Foreign Affairs Bureau are just rubbish! They didn't notice Adam Sledgehammer's return to Night City... and another team of agents was sent in. The information they got... um."

As if he was dizzy due to overthinking, he felt some stomach acid churning. He quickly got up from his workstation and went to the bathroom to wash his face to wake himself up.

But as soon as he lowered his head, his mouth felt sour and he vomited with a "wow".

"Ahem..." The health detector in his body beeped, and he murmured, "Is it because of too much pressure..."

After returning to his workstation and taking blood pressure-lowering medication, he pulled out the action report for this reconnaissance mission.

The money given to the middleman and the lost agent team are all company properties, and he is required to write a loss report.

He read it up and down several times, but alas, the internal evaluation score was not high.

drip.

There was another new email on the terminal screen. The man glanced at it while writing a report and was immediately attracted.

[Sender: Baskin Corporation]

【Content: Sorry, your business order failed...】

Bad news again.

What a bad time.

"Fuck Arasaka!"

With a low curse, he took out a functional stimulant from the drawer next to him. After taking a sip, his eyes lit up orange.

"It's me, from the Intelligence Department, I have important news to report. No, it's not about the reinforcement of troops on Arasaka Beach... Sorry, sir, our undercover agent who infiltrated the Watson Arasaka Automated Factory was caught by the Arasaka Counterintelligence Department..."

The routine report is over.

After submitting the inspected loss report, the man leaned back in his chair and called up the main UI interface of the company's intelligence department.

There are new assessment tasks issued from above.

—— "Assessing the feasibility of expanding and establishing new border checkpoints to better control the borders of Night City and protect the lives and property of citizens"——

[Source: Washington Military Technology Virginia Headquarters]

"Border wall...it seems like they want to increase the number of troops..."

Automatically ignoring the empty rhetoric above, he clicked on the sub-page in the task attachment.

——《We can make some concessions, retreat to advance, and encourage Arasaka to station troops at the Night City border checkpoints and divide the troops》——

"Let Arasaka divide up its forces. It seems that the higher-ups are still obsessed with Vera Adelheid's [Stairway to the Sun Project]. So... Faraday can't just give up. He needs to find more desperadoes to confuse the Arasaka security forces..."

"No, one Faraday is not enough. If the casualties of the mercenaries are too heavy, he will lose his appeal. I need to develop more middlemen..."

...

The Blue Building.

The magnificent purple stone banquet hall.

The floor is covered with a red carpet as soft as silk, and the dome is hung with crystal clear gilded chandeliers. The lights are bright, and the light and shadows are intertwined, like a galaxy of stars pouring down, creating a dreamy atmosphere.

2076/1/24|19/42

At this time, the banquet had entered the second half.

Men and women, well-dressed and wearing expensive high-end clothes, gathered in groups of two or three and chatted in low voices, warmly but politely. Their conversations were intertwined, some entertaining, some serious, and some worried.

Without exception, the topic included the confirmed breaking news that Arasaka was increasing its troops in Night City.

What happened at Arasaka Beach has already spread and fermented among the crowd. From what we have seen so far, it seems to have caused a certain degree of commotion.

But in the end, the discussion is just "discussion", which is of no help to Washington and military technology, and the situation they face is even worse. No one wants them to reunite.

Under the stage in the center of the banquet, at the chief table, Vera withdrew her gaze, and her indigo pupils were filled with orange-red data streams.

[Jimmy: Director, the purge mission is complete. According to the location parameters provided by the Counterintelligence Department and the combat goal of covering the informant, Adam Hammer swept the northern industrial area of ​​Watson City. In addition to the military technology agent team, he also defeated a Baskin Company contact team. ]

Baskin Undercover Company is a specialized commercial espionage company in the cyberpunk world view.

"Got it. After the banquet, order Chongchui to come to the Blue Jade Building to meet me. Also, have Jenkins submit the complete details of the mission to me."

Vera nodded.

"From the Security Department? Is it a little trick using military technology..." Next to Vera was Michiko Arasaka.

With her legs crossed and still wearing the same blue mohawk, Michiko looked at Vera thoughtfully.

Vera smiled and said, "Interested?"

"no."

Michiko waved her hand, indicating that she had no interest in this kind of military action. "How about setting up and building a new Night City Arasaka Integrated Research Center? Saburo really likes you, Vera... I want to pull you into the Danger Girl... Well, what are you doing?"

Before Michiko could finish her words, she saw Vera suddenly stand up and walk towards the edge of the banquet hall.

There were several bodyguards with a strong military air. Sitting there was a bald strong man, a white man, who had undergone highly combat cyborg transformation. Even at a banquet of this level, he was still wearing a black V-neck T-shirt and combat military pants.

Michiko recognized it.

Kurt Hansen. The victor of the Santo Domingo gang war and the boss of Dogtown.

Oh, they beat up the new dog of Military Technology, are they here to seek support from Arasaka?

------

PS: The task of uncovering Baskin's undercover corporate spy was one of the best performances for V, the corporate dog, to be promoted in the original timeline of the 2077 game.

Chapter 098: Making Friends and Scheming (4.5K)

The Ganbi Orchestra played soothing and melodious classical music on the marble stage of the banquet hall.

bang bang...

Under the gazes of countless people, either obvious or subtle, Vera left her seat and walked towards the sofa against the wall at the edge of the dance floor in the banquet hall.

Two plainclothes officers of the Hellhound were standing on either side of the booth. When they saw Vera, one of the two protagonists of the banquet, walking straight towards them, they were stunned for a moment. Just as they reacted, whoosh!

Several cyber ninjas from the Arasaka family compound moved faster. They held them down with their large hands that were fully transformed with highly combat prosthetics and pulled them aside.

A pair of military-grade electronic eyes flashing dark red light suddenly came over, coldly scanning their entire body prosthetic parameters and biological signals almost face to face and eye to eye.

"Mr. Kurt Hansen."

Vera stepped over the small step of the sunken booth and looked at Hansen, who was sitting on the sofa, thinking about something.

Well, a Caucasian man with an American-style crew cut and a bald head. He has a belt under his arm with a knife sheath that was confiscated by the security of the Ganbi Building. He has a dog tag around his neck. His body is slightly leaning forward, his hands are symmetrically placed on his thighs, his posture is upright. It is obvious that the habits of his military career still deeply affect him.

It fits the stereotype of the old-school American macho man.

"It's an honor to see you here."

The key point is "here", I will meet you in the Blue Jade Mansion instead of the "Baobaoqing" in your dog town. Baobaoqing is the luxury banquet in dog town, a high-end social place opened by the Nether Dog Gang.

"It's an honor to meet you too, Ms. Trustee Vera Adelheid Russell."

Out of respect and because his side really needed help, Hansen stood up, straightened his T-shirt which was not much to do, and spoke in a very magnetic and deep voice.

Hansen had heard of Vera a long time ago.

Saburo Arasaka is the biggest promoter of his rejuvenation, the chief director of the "Sun Stairs Project" that Arasaka boasts about, and is predicted by various evaluation media organizations to be the future leader of the Arasaka department in North America and a candidate for "national director"...

A polite handshake.

Hansen couldn't help but look at the dignified and majestic woman in front of him.

She was wearing a straight dark Arasaka-style suit with a silver daisy pin with a circular trefoil logo on her collar. She looked quite indifferent and tall. Yes, he felt an inexplicable pressure from this woman, and there was a murderous aura. This woman, like himself, had also been through the hail of bullets.

"Congratulations, Mr. Hansen, you have broken free from the shackles of the past."

Not paying attention to the attention from all around, Vera first congratulated Hansen on his subtle scrutiny of Wei Leng by congratulating him on destroying the Sixth Street Gang.

"I don't deserve it. It was just an accidental conflict caused by chance. Fortunately, the Six Street Gang and their supporters are not as strong as they show to the outside world. The relationship between them is not as unbreakable as they say."

“Luck is sometimes a kind of strength.”

"What kind of luck is that? Born or made?"

Hansen's tone put a little emphasis on the word 'the day after tomorrow'.

Vera just smiled.

"That depends on how Mr. Hansen understands it."

"Director Russell, you didn't come to see me in person just to discuss philosophy with a rough guy like me, did you?"

"Mr. Hansen, you're not wrong to think so. You and your dog town are worthy of my stopping and talking. And when it comes to making friends, anything is fine to talk about."

With a faint smile, Vera took out a black and red gradient business card from the straight chest pocket of her suit jacket and handed it over.

Hansen's eyes narrowed and he looked at Vera's face with a faint smile.

"You're going to need it. Kurt."

Vera looked at Hansen with her deep and beautiful eyes and said, using a more sincere and friendly address.

After a pause, Hansen finally chose to take the business card handed to him, "Maybe... I am really flattered by your friendship."

He certainly didn't want to get involved in company politics, and he had enough judgment to guess the role Arasaka played in the San Domingo conflict.

The large amount of military technology that could be found in the Six Street Gang's base, the insult of Washington's refusal to make a statement, and the growing resentment of the Dogtown members, who were originally veterans of the NUSA advance army that broke into Night City, towards the New America...

All of this fueled his resentment toward his former team in Washington.

If I am not welcome here, I will find another place that will welcome me. If I am not welcome anywhere, I will go to Arasaka!

Why hang yourself on a tree?

"More friends, more paths, right? Mr. Hansen."

Vera laughed.

The smile was very gentle, and it seemed that there was no malice at all.

"It's been a pleasure talking to you, Mr. Hansen. Let us celebrate our friendship and have a good time." She turned sideways and took one last look at Hansen.

Then Vera turned and left.

After being released from their grip by Arasaka's Cyber-Ninja, the two plainclothes Hellhound officers approached Hansen with some fear and shame, and lowered their heads.