2077: V really knows how awesome he is

In order to gain the trust of the moderates and to save their own lives, the ruthless faction sacrificed their leader. This former internet monitor resigned, and the moderates reciprocated by releasing some of the ruthless faction's hostages. The rest would be released after the moderates took over as their new leader.

Everything that followed fell into place. J, the person who had been chosen long ago, became the new head of the internet police, while the former head, who had resigned to take responsibility, chose to commit suicide by shooting himself at home.

His removal from office was merely to gain the trust of the moderates, but the hardliners suffered such a huge defeat that this debt still needs to be settled.

Thus, under the combined influence of external and internal pressures, internet surveillance underwent a major reshuffle. In fact, external pressure contributed only 30% of the success; the remaining 70% came from the infighting within the internet surveillance system itself.

Human infighting never ends and is everywhere.

Forget it, this whole thing was V's doing, she's no better, no need to be so sentimental.

In the afternoon, female internet inspector J arrived, accompanied by male internet inspector K, who also brought a fruit basket.

In 2077, this box of fruit was incredibly valuable, showing how much the two people valued this meeting.

In the ward, V sat in a wheelchair wearing a loose hospital gown. Her face was pale and she didn't seem to be in good spirits, but neither of the two internet monitors dared to underestimate her.

He destroyed the Night Corporation, discovered the "Life is Short" program, eliminated CN-07, united with major companies to force a major overhaul of network surveillance, and finally shattered the heavens with a single blow.

Each of these achievements would be a lifetime's work for an ordinary person, yet V accomplished them in just a few days. With such a brilliant record, who in the world dares to underestimate V?

But V is very approachable.

She first thanked the two for their visit, then congratulated J on his promotion, and finally promised that Arasaka2077 would fully cooperate with the internet surveillance work and contribute her share to protecting all mankind.

The female internet monitor was a little surprised. She had thought V would be arrogant and bossy towards her, but seeing how amiable V was, she relaxed a lot.

V smiled and said, "Please have a seat."

The female internet inspector plopped down on the floor, but seeing that the male internet inspector wasn't sitting, she quickly stood up with an embarrassed look on her face.

Male internet monitors are a bit hard to keep in check. You're told to sit, and you actually sit. But once you're sitting, don't stand up again. This apprentice still needs more training.

"President V, we've come with sincerity." The male internet inspector was very earnest, getting straight to the point: "We just want to know, what are your plans for internet monitoring?"

“It’s very simple.” V crossed his arms over his lower abdomen: “Maintain the Black Wall, protect humanity.”

"and then?"

"That's all."

The male internet monitor was somewhat surprised: "Didn't you intend to gain anything from internet monitoring?"

"Like the technology on the other side of the black wall?" V asked with a smile.

Now that V has spoken frankly, the male internet monitor no longer tries to hide anything.

"Yes, that's how the company has always been. No offense intended, but you should be well aware that Arasaka has been secretly crossing the Black Wall all along."

“I won’t deny it, but Arasaka is Arasaka, and Arasaka 2077 is Arasaka 2077,” V replied. “I have no interest in the technology beyond the Black Wall.”

"Why?" The male internet monitor didn't believe it.

V shrugged and explained, “Because the Black Wall was already built when I was born, and humans can live just fine with the existing technology. I’m used to this world and I firmly believe that humans can regain their former glory even without salvaging old technologies. In comparison, crossing the Black Wall is too dangerous. I recently killed two roaming AIs, and I’m too tired to fight a third or fourth one.”

"But if you don't salvage the old technology, and other companies do, they will gain even greater power. Can you accept that?"

“Why not? Everyone wants to be the boss, but there can only be one boss in this world. If not becoming the boss meant death, humanity would have been wiped out long ago. Whether you like it or not, most of the time we are just insignificant pawns, beasts of burden under tyrants, embellishments on the glorious achievements of heroes. All we have to do is live our own lives well.” V said with a touch of emotion and sincerity, “I won’t stop others from wanting to be the boss; I won’t stand idly by if others want to bully Night City. In the end, who wins and who loses is determined by fists. In the end, I just promised a friend that I would build a better Night City. You can probably tell that I don’t really have any ambition.”

Male internet monitor: ...

Female internet monitor: ...

You have no ambition?

what!what!

V was telling the truth.

In the past, she did it to survive; later, she did it to heal herself; now, Relic is no longer taking her life, and her atrophied nerves are slowly recovering. Her only remaining wish is to help Xu Zhong fulfill his wish.

If it weren't for this concern, she would have been living a life of revelry every night long ago, and whoever wanted to be the boss of Night City could have it!

But others don't believe it... and there's nothing V can do.

"Fine, just pretend I have some earth-shattering conspiracy." V ​​rubbed his temples. "My current request to you is 'maintain the Black Wall and protect humanity!'"

The male and female internet monitors exchanged a glance, agreeing that this was the right approach.

This is the famous V, how could he not have a backup plan? Planning ten steps ahead for every one step he takes is just basic operation for him.

They both nodded in unison: "Please rest assured, internet monitoring has always been doing this."

“But they haven’t put enough effort into it.” V shook his head and said, “As far as I know, there has always been a shortage of manpower for internet monitoring.”

The female internet monitor nodded: "That's true. There are just too few hackers who are both technically skilled and responsible."

"In that case, you should use your best resources where they matter most, dedicating your limited manpower to the boundless task of protecting humanity, instead of getting people broadband and reinstalling operating systems!"

The female internet monitor blushed and explained, "Strictly speaking, it should be called 'cybersecurity service'."

V waved: "It means the same thing!"

The male internet monitor was also a bit embarrassed: "President V, the maintenance cost of the Great Firewall is very high, and the various tools used by hackers also require money. Internet monitoring is only necessary to maintain its own operation, so we have to... do some side jobs."

“I’m not trying to blame you, and I understand the situation of the internet censors. What I want to say is…” V leaned forward: “The internet censors don’t have money, so why don’t you ask the major companies for it?”

Female internet monitor: "Huh?"

Male internet monitor: "Huh?"

"Why...why is the company giving us money?"

Two super hackers with an IQ of 14 asked questions in unison.

“Because you’re protecting all of humanity.” V countered, “Isn’t the company made up of humans?”

That's for sure. There are no Terminators in this era, and androids are prohibited for ethical reasons. Even the Night Corporation, controlled by CN-07, still needs to hire human employees and use Mr. Blue Eyes as a puppet to indirectly control the company.

"That settles it then." V shrugged. "You protect humanity and the company, so isn't it reasonable for the company to pay some protection money?"

The two internet monitors immediately broke out in a cold sweat. They were asking the company to pay protection money to them. How dare they be so arrogant?

The male internet monitor stammered, "President V, your idea is excellent, but the company has always held many prejudices against us internet monitors, and I'm afraid we won't pay for... security."

V rolled his eyes: "Why is the company biased against online surveillance?"

The female internet monitor cautiously asked, "Because we prevented the company from bypassing the black wall to salvage the lost technology?"

"Because you stole and sold company information!" V slapped the armrest of his wheelchair.

The two internet monitors shrank back in fear, and forced themselves to explain, "This is a last resort. As I said before, maintaining the Great Firewall and various hacking equipment requires a lot of money. If the internet monitoring bureau wants to continue operating, it has to tighten its belt. This results in the salaries of internet monitoring staff not being very high. In order to support their families, everyone has no choice but to resort to this measure."

“Isn’t your analysis very clear?” V hit the nail on the head: “In the end, it all comes down to money. The internet censorship bureau doesn’t have the money to operate, so it’s resorting to all sorts of shady practices, ruining its reputation and delaying the important task of maintaining the Great Firewall. So as long as we can convince the major companies to give us money, all the problems will be solved.”

"But the problem is that we can't get the major companies to spend money." The female internet monitor felt that this matter was completely blocked from both sides and could not be solved at all.

But she can't, while V can.

"If I can get funding from the company, the kind that comes every year, can the internet monitoring department guarantee to stop the intelligence theft and focus on the management and maintenance of the Great Firewall?"

"Of course, no problem. That's exactly what internet surveillance does!"

"That's fine then, leave the rest to me."

The female internet monitor asked curiously, "What are you going to do?"

V smiled without saying a word. What could she do? Of course, she was going to use her face-saving ability.

She made phone calls, first to Meredith Stock, Joanne Koch, Xu Ling, and others. Through them, she persuaded Military Technology, Biotechnology, and Kangtao. Then, she used the influence of these three companies to contact other companies. With such eloquence, the back-and-forth lasted for more than half an hour, and a rough verbal agreement was reached among the bigwigs of the various companies.

The agreement states that major companies will pay a substantial annual cybersecurity service fee to the network monitoring agency, which will then be responsible for maintaining the Great Firewall and ensuring the freedom and security of the internet for all humanity. To guarantee service quality, companies are obligated to unconditionally pay additional cybersecurity fees when there are sufficient justifications. Correspondingly, the network monitoring agency will also be responsible for reducing cybercrime rates and resolutely preventing egregious acts such as stealing intelligence and selling personal and corporate information.

Finally, all companies must pay their annual fees on time, and the network monitoring department is responsible for keeping accurate records and ensuring that all payments are transparent and accountable.

When the electronic version of this verbal agreement was sent to the two internet monitors, both K and J were dumbfounded.

The company actually paid out money, and it seemed like it wasn't a small amount.

The female internet monitor's gaze towards V changed. In the past, she couldn't stand V no matter what she did, but after receiving 1 million, he became President V. Now, seeing this verbal agreement, V had completely evolved into her second parent in her eyes... no, even her own parents had never treated her this well.

"President V, you...I...this...I don't know what to say. Is this true? Will this agreement really be effective?"

“The law can’t govern everyone, but companies can. This has the electronic stamps of major companies on it; there’s no more formal agreement in the world.” V finished speaking and added, “However, this is just a rough agreement. The major companies will definitely have further discussions on the details, and there may be some changes, but they will only be minor details such as the specific amount of service fees. The overall framework will not change.”

"That's good, that's good!" The female internet monitor beamed with joy. The service fee was a minor matter to V, but not to her. Why could she say "it's so good" in the face of a hundred million euros? Wasn't it because she was poor? She joined the internet monitoring department with great enthusiasm, thinking she was going to protect all of humanity, but she didn't expect to see many roving AIs and spend all her time running around for daily necessities.

Internet surveillance isn't exactly poor, but maintaining the Great Firewall is incredibly expensive. Plus, internet surveillance is like a company, with all the usual bad habits, and it exploits its employees whenever possible. So, apart from a few at the top, most hackers are really struggling financially.

Some people couldn't stand it and left the internet monitoring department to become mercenaries, corporate security guards, or even open network equipment stores in Watson District. Everyone just wanted to make a living and survive.

These are just the law-abiding ones; those who are not will steal and sell intelligence, and some will even go so far as to follow the example of the Voodoo Gang, hacking into other people's mechanical hearts and kidneys and then extorting money from them.

The internet surveillance authorities turn a blind eye to this; they're not unaware of it, but they're simply unwilling to improve employee benefits.

Why? Because they are companies.

Those high-ranking officials would rather damage the reputation of internet censorship and become like rats in the street, hated by everyone, than give up their own interests.

The female internet monitor came from the grassroots level, so she understood even better how thoroughly corrupt the internet monitoring system could be.

Let such an organization protect all of humanity? Not to mention V, even she herself doesn't believe it.

The female internet monitor had no doubt that if the Great Firewall were ever breached, it would be because there was a mole within the internet monitoring department.

Now that we have this agreement, people may not suddenly become saints, but at least they won't sell their conscience for some petty gains.

This is why V is going to pull this stunt.

She knew, of course, that this wasn't a real solution and would have significant risks, but for now, it was the best way to get online surveillance back on track.

The identity of internet surveillance is special; it should not be a company, because any company aims to make a profit, and such an organization is destined to become corrupt.

Now, cyber surveillance has received ample funding, companies have prevented intelligence leaks, and have gained a degree of internet freedom. Humanity also has an organization dedicated to maintaining the Great Firewall, making it a win-win-win situation.

"V is truly remarkable." The female internet monitor exclaimed sincerely as she waited for the elevator in the corridor after leaving the ward.

The male internet monitor retorted sarcastically, "Haven't you figured it out yet? V is letting the internet monitors do the accounting so we can take the blame. Who knows how much they'll embezzle from the annual service fees!"

The female internet monitor still smiled and said, "I can tell, but it doesn't matter. All I know is that the internet monitors are rich now, and we people no longer have to suffer, toil, and go hungry."

"Are you really that clueless, or are you just pretending?" the male internet monitor said with exasperation. "With V's actions, internet monitoring has become a non-profit organization funded by major companies. We've been kicked out of the corporate circle, and we'll probably never be able to regain our former glory!"

"Was the once-glorious network surveillance a company?" the female network surveillance officer retorted.

The male internet monitor opened his mouth, but couldn't answer.

"Cyber ​​surveillance has never been a company; its success is solely due to its selfless protection of all humanity. K, we're simply getting back on track from the wrong path."

The male internet monitor was utterly shocked. He had always thought his apprentice was a bit slow and clumsy, but he never expected that she saw things more clearly than anyone else.

Perhaps it was precisely because V saw these qualities in J that he chose her to be the new head of the internet monitoring team?

That must be it, otherwise, how could someone as thoughtful as V just grab someone and use them? That would be too casual.

The male internet monitor nodded repeatedly, feeling that he had discovered the truth.

At the same time, the female internet monitor suddenly slapped her forehead and ran back to the ward.

"What are you doing?" the male internet monitor asked.

"I have another question for President V. Please wait a moment."

The female internet monitor dashed to V's hospital room, peeked out from under the door, and asked, "President V, you punched a hole in the sky, that was really cool. But I want to ask, doesn't the Heterogeneous System have a remote control mode? Why did you still risk your life?"

V: "...Huh?"

"Oh, I see." The female internet monitor answered herself, "It must be because the altitude is too high, and the signal can't reach it, right?"

V: "...Yes."

The female internet monitor was overjoyed after guessing correctly, said "President V, get some rest and recover soon" and then ran off.

Little did she know that V's face darkened after she left.

Yeah, why don't I use the remote control mode?

After much deliberation, V decided to deduct the female internet monitor's salary.

Hmph, serves you right for talking so much!

The next day, Xu Ling and Song Zhaomei arrived together.

The lark said, "V, the AI ​​riot at the Moon Cloud Sea Base has been dealt with, and the other instance of CN-07 has been swallowed by the Black Wall."

Xu Ling continued, "Kantau has a good relationship with New Africa. I had the old man check, and CN-07 was indeed sent up by that group of black guys. The purpose was to support the pioneering research conducted by orbital aviation in the Alpha Centauri system."