2077: V really knows how awesome he is

Joanne Koch pinched Xu Ling's butt: "Wake up, I have something to tell you."

"what's up?"

"You are allergic to alcohol, so you are not allowed to drink alcohol anymore."

"What? That's impossible!" Xu Ling immediately stood up on the bed.

V's eyebrows twitched: "You fucking get down here!"

Xu Ling jumped out of bed and held out her hand to Joanne Koch: "You said I'm allergic to alcohol, where's the proof!"

Joanne Koch sent her the diagnosis report she had just received.

After reading it, Xu Ling's expression was one of shock, as if Xu Shiming had been hit by a car and died.

"Hahaha!" The young general suddenly burst into laughter, throwing the diagnostic report into the trash can: "What alcohol allergy? That's just because you Westerners are physically weak. We Chinese don't have this allergy thing. I just haven't built up my alcohol tolerance yet!"

V: "..."

Song Zhaomei: "..."

Joanne Koch: "..."

Chinese people are really stubborn.

The noise was so loud that even David and Lucy, the couple next door, knew about Xu Ling's alcohol allergy. Somehow, the news reached Johnny's ears, and once he found out, the whole world knew.

Xu Ling repeatedly claimed that her poor alcohol tolerance was not due to an alcohol allergy, which immediately filled the ward with a joyful atmosphere.

The young general was thoroughly laughed at; these people simply didn't understand what being unable to drink meant to a young woman from Northeast China. To save face, Xu Ling decided to change the subject.

"By the way, V-sister, according to my calculations, as long as the Taiho and the Quagira fire their main guns at the sky, they can also break through the clouds. Why did you choose to physically confront them?"

V: "...Huh?"

Xu Ling was overjoyed to see that everyone's attention had been drawn, and immediately answered her own question: "Oh, I know, you must be worried about the civilians on the two aircraft carriers, afraid that firing the main guns will injure them."

V: "...Yes!"

"Haha, I knew it! We really are on the same wavelength. Is there a reward?"

"Have."

"What is it?"

"Get out!"

In the empty hospital room, V frowned deeply.

Is it possible to blast open the clouds with the main guns of an aircraft carrier?

That wretched brat Xu Ling, she's messed with my Dao heart! From now on, with me around, you'll only be drinking juice. Of course, this isn't revenge, it's purely for your health!

As the sun set, the ward darkened. V lay on the bed without turning on the light, but her eyes glowed with a blue light.

"Old De."

"I'm here."

"Tell me the intelligence you've gathered."

"Yes. CN-07 is an AI that evolved from a human digital entity. In the process, it received help from Bartmouth, who also evolved into an AI, and accepted his ideas and obeyed his commands. With the assistance of Bartmouth and former super hackers such as Spider Murphy, it broke through the black wall and infiltrated the human network."

V frowned: "What is Barthemos's philosophy, and what are the orders given to CN-07?"

"Bartlemos believes that humanity is destined to be eliminated by AI. Only by erasing human free will and completely eliminating the root of human selfishness can the human species move forward and avoid being eliminated. His order to CN-07 is—to save humanity."

"Truly a great man with the well-being of all people at heart. First he bombed the Internet, and now he wants to delete the free will of mankind. Does this guy not feel comfortable unless he destroys something?" V had no good feelings towards this Internet God. His starting point may be good, but the mess he made was getting bigger and bigger each time.

"Are humans... truly destined to be eliminated?"

"Yes, this is the result of joint computation by all the AIs."

"What if I'm wrong?"

"The probability of error is one in 1.9 billion."

V: "..."

Well, actually she noticed that too.

She didn't feel it deeply when she was still a street mercenary, but it was only after becoming the leader of Night City that she realized the awkward situation of humanity.

To put it simply, if she wanted, she could maintain the normal operation of Night City using only AI. In contrast, humans need to eat, drink, and relieve themselves; too cold or too hot is no good, too poor or too rich is no good either. They are typical examples of people with limited abilities but extremely high demands, consuming a lot but producing very little.

Such a race is hardly competitive against highly efficient AI, and it is reasonable for it to be eliminated.

But V, being human, couldn't bear to see that outcome and couldn't help but ask, "Isn't there any way to change this situation?"

"Bartlemos's theory is a good approach. According to calculations, he has a 23.1% chance of success, thus preventing humanity from being eliminated."

"Other than that?"

"Humanity has completely surrendered to AI. For the sake of biodiversity, there is a 66.7% chance that AI will preserve some human cities as nature reserves, in which human society can continue."

“Raising people like monkeys is worse than letting them be eliminated.” V shook his head: “Is there any other way?”

"Humanity is waging a full-scale war against AI, and we will unite all human power to completely eliminate all existing AI."

"Can it be done?"

"There is a 4.3% chance of success, and humanity will lose 88.2% of the world's cities and 93.7% of its population."

“Damn, this isn’t elimination, this is utter extinction! I won’t do it.” V thought for a moment and then said, “Bartlemos said that human free will gives rise to the concept of ‘I,’ which in turn gives rise to selfish behavior, and selfishness is the reason for the stagnation of human social development. If we can completely eliminate selfishness from human thought through human intervention, such as education and propaganda, can humanity avoid being eliminated?”

After a moment of silence, Delaman announced his calculations: "Yes, the success rate is 37.7%."

The success rate is quite high, even higher than Barthemos'.

V was just starting to feel excited when Delaman continued, "But this method requires the unification of humanity—unity under one government, unity under one ideology, unity under one goal. This requires an outstanding leader to emerge and launch a global unification war. V, do you want to be that person?"

"No, I was just asking casually. I have no intention of becoming a fool to unify the world." V shook his head repeatedly. Just thinking about it was troublesome, let alone doing it.

If it were just a little effort, V wouldn't mind taking on the role of humanity's savior. But now that she hears it requires so much mental and physical exertion, she simply says, "What do I care about the rise and fall of humanity?"

She was never a saint, nor did she intend to become one.

The origins and purpose of CN-07 have been clarified. It's related to Bartmouth and the fate of mankind, and it's even more outrageous than a cheap plastic submachine gun. V just knows about it and that's it. He never even thought about getting involved.

She then asked about the relationship between CN-07 and New Africa.

Delaman replied, "CN-07's plan to control the brains of all humanity is far from being achieved by just one Night Clan. In fact, because of your appearance, its plan to control Night City through the Night Clan has been forced to fail. But it had a contingency plan in place, so a long time ago, it began cooperating with New Africa. New Africa invested in the Night Clan through Orbital Aviation, providing financial and political support, while CN-07 assisted New Africa in completing pioneering research on the Alpha Centauri system."

V said thoughtfully, "Tell me about this Centaurus system."

"The Centaur Galaxy, codenamed Alpha Centauri in the west and Alpha Centauri in the east, is the closest star system to our solar system, approximately 4.24–4.37 light-years from Earth. Its star is Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Sun."

"In 2016, humans discovered Proxima Centauri b, which has a mass about 1.3 times that of Earth. It is located in the habitable zone of the Alpha Centauri system and its surface likely contains liquid water."

"In 2020, humans discovered Proxima Centauri C, which is called a super-Earth. Its mass is about 6 times that of Earth, but because its orbit is outside the habitable zone and the planet may be too cold, it has not been made public."

"The Alpha Centauri system has a comet belt similar to the Oort cloud in our solar system, which contains abundant water ice and minerals, providing water and raw materials for future colonization. However, Proxima Centauri is an active red dwarf star with frequent flares, which may cause the atmosphere of Proxima Centauri B to be stripped away, and the surface radiation intensity will be far greater than that of Earth."

"Regardless, the Alpha Centauri system, as the closest interstellar target, possesses Earth-like planets and resource potential that inspire strong colonial imagination, and remains the top priority for human space colonization. Orbital Aerospace has been conducting pioneering research on the Alpha Centauri constellation, and has achieved remarkable results in recent years, placing it in a leading position in the industry."

"Even ahead of the European Space Agency?"

"Yes. The European Space Agency focuses its main efforts on the development of spacecraft, while the task of selecting colony systems is handled by New Africa."

Hearing this, V finally understood why the European Space Agency (ESA) had been so lenient with New Africa – it turned out that New Africa was also working for the ESA.

But there was only one spaceship built, and there was more than one star system to colonize.

Once the ecosystem is established, spacecraft can be completely self-sufficient in space. Even if the planet Xavier flies eight times, it doesn't matter. One day, a suitable colony planet will be found, and in this way, New Africa will always be inferior to the European Space Agency.

V thought for a moment and then asked, "The reason why New Africa has achieved so many results is also due to the help of CN-07, right?"

"Yes, there is no doubt that AI's computing power far surpasses that of humans."

V asked with a laugh, "What are those black guys trying to achieve by working so hard? To curry favor with the European Space Agency and hope they'll get a ticket on the spaceship once it's built?"

"On the contrary, the new Africa is about choosing a trap."

V was taken aback at first, then suddenly realized: "You mean..."

"New Africa wants to point to a false destination. With the help of CN-07 over the years, they have basically determined that Proxima Centauri, the sun in the Alpha Centauri system, is far more violent than previously calculated, with a radiation level more than 7,000 times higher than previously measured. If a spacecraft were to rashly enter the Alpha Centauri system without any preparation, it would likely suffer serious damage."

“Then all those pioneers will die there.” V scoffed. “Like what those black bastards would do. But then what? What do they get?”

"Respect. New Africa believes that such accidents will make the public realize the importance of their work, thereby gaining more say, and even taking the opportunity to take the lead, above the European Space Agency, and become the second leader in space development."

“Power struggles, huh? I really wanted to feign surprise, but I just couldn’t.” V smiled bitterly. “I’m not surprised at all. It’s like it’s perfectly normal for those black guys to lower the bar for humanity.”

DeLeman asked, "V, you seem to have a prejudice against Black people?"

“No, that’s not true.” V shook his head: “I’m just being racist.”

Drumman: ...

V returns to the main point: "In other words, the Alpha Centauri system is completely unsuitable for space colonization, but New Africa's report to the European Space Agency says it is?"

"Yes."

"Interesting." V stroked his chin. "Where is the actual data?"

"The original data is in the hands of New Africa, and they keep it very carefully. But CN-07, for some unknown reason, secretly made a backup."

V's expression brightened: "Is it in your hands?"

"No, this information is stored in Night City's network. To retrieve it, a special procedure is required."

"Tell me more specifically."

"In Night City, there lives a homeless man named Gary who claims to be a prophet..."

V understood everything after Delaman had only said half of it.

"I see. Okay, I know what to do."

Delaman asked curiously, "V, what are you going to do?"

“Send a return gift to New Africa and Orbital Aviation.” V curled the corners of his mouth: “Do you think if the European Space Agency got the real data on Alpha Centauri, would they hang their rebellious son up and beat him?”

Chapter 91 A little effort

After taking off her hospital gown and tossing it into the laundry basket beside her, V looked at her naked reflection in the mirror. Her body was exquisite and firm, slender and tall yet full of strength. There were several clean and simple metallic lines on her limbs and torso, which were the sutures left on the simulated skin after the prosthetic body was installed. These were also the interfaces for various monitoring software and examination procedures.

In 2077, how to embellish these lines has become a major topic in the fashion world. The wealthy will spend a lot of money to hire makeup artists to design unique stitching styles for themselves, while the poor can only follow beauty bloggers to learn "how to create your own high-end stitching makeup for 5 euros".

V neither hired a makeup artist nor followed any beauty bloggers. Her only requirement for the sutures was that they be efficient, simple, quick to remove, and replaceable at any time, ensuring they were always effective!

The famous V suffers from severe firepower deficiency phobia; she doesn't know how to live without power.

In a short while, V had completed a self-examination. All her physical indicators were normal, and all her prosthetics were functioning well. She then made a few angry or smiling expressions in front of the mirror to confirm that her expression management was as perfect as ever. Only then did she nod in satisfaction, leave the mirror, and enter the shower room.

With their hands braced against the wall, they let the water wash over their bodies – that's how the older guys take their showers.

Turn off the water valve, and let the warm air blow out from the wall. By the time V walked out of the bathroom, her hair was already dry.

He changed into brand new underwear, put on a shirt, buttoned it up one by one in front of the mirror, put on his trousers, and the pure plant fiber fabric rustled against the simulated skin. The genuine leather belt had a smart chip that automatically tightened. V chose a blue-black tie and tied it skillfully. Then he put on a suit jacket, and a serious and domineering CEO made a dazzling appearance.

"How was it?" V opened her arms wide, confidently displaying her charm to Sasha.

Sasha's ears turned red. She stepped forward to straighten V's clothes and smoothed her hair.

Even though she was extremely satisfied with her lover, Pink Cat still said arrogantly, "It's alright, but it's too slow. David is already waiting."

"That's why I asked you to come in and help me," V said with a smile.

Sasha rolled her eyes dramatically: "You're kidding me! It would take me even longer to get in!"

Well, V couldn't refute that.

She coughed awkwardly, "Let's go, didn't you say David is already waiting?"

Pushing open the door, David and Lucy were both there. Thanks to his wife's care, David looked radiant today. The boy of yesteryear had long since transformed into a capable man, his youthful face now resolute, his slender back broad and strong, brimming with responsibility.

"Sister V," David greeted her.

"You're very handsome, young man," V laughed. "Are you ready to receive everyone's praise and cheers?"

"To be honest, I'm a little nervous." David scratched his head. "But with Sister V around, I'm not worried."

"Haha, you've really grown up, and your flattery skills are getting better and better."