2077: V really knows how awesome he is

"Just kidding! I've always been a traditional fighting game player, I absolutely won't modify anything, I'll make sure you lose convincingly!"

It's just a game. I was just playing it for the first time and wasn't familiar with it yet. Once I get a little more practice, I'll definitely be able to get first place.

V thought so, but the pony in the game was even harder to drive than Redfield's extended Lake Lady's Sword. Its poor handling was hopeless. In less than a minute, V was killed by an oncoming crow.

"Hold!!!"

V roared, "Why would a horse be killed by a crow? Was that horse a drug addict, or was that crow using a berserk plugin?! This garbage game is completely illogical!"

Ciri leaned against the wall and mocked mercilessly: "If you're bad at the game, just admit it honestly. What kind of skill is it to blame the game? If you ask me, this game is the best game ever!"

"Of course you'd say this game is good if you got first place; you're just indirectly praising yourself!"

"I'm so sorry you figured it out. But I have to remind you, you only have two practice chances left."

"Thanks, I can count, I don't need you to remind me!" V snorted, calming himself down, and then started a new game.

This time it was a little better, but only a little better. Two minutes later, V tripped and fell on the fence.

"Depend on!!!"

V slammed his hand on the control panel and asked Sasha, who was watching the game from the sidelines, "Which idiot company made this game?"

Sasha looked it up online and found the answer: "A small company in Poland."

"Buy it, then fire its owner!"

Sasha was both amused and exasperated, but she did as she was told.

The game company owner, who was on the verge of bankruptcy due to the war, suddenly received a huge sum of money. He never expected that someone in the world would buy his crumbling company, which was now just a shell of its former self. He was so grateful that he even helped clean the office when he heard that he was being fired. He kept saying thank you as he packed his bags and left.

Of course, that's all in hindsight. Right now, Ciri is riding high and says to V with a gleeful tone, "You have one last chance to practice."

V's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. She never expected that after experiencing so many ups and downs, she would stumble over such a trivial matter.

She took a deep breath, placed her hand on the joystick for the third time, paused for a few seconds, and then let go.

"I'm not playing anymore," V said.

Ciri was taken aback: "Why didn't you fight?"

"Because the game console is broken?"

Ciri's eyes widened: "When did the game console break?"

V punched through the arcade screen, and amidst a cloud of black smoke and sparks, said, "The machine is broken now."

Ciri's mouth dropped open, then she suddenly realized what she was doing and snapped, "You're deliberately stalling for time!"

“Our bet didn’t specify a time limit, so there’s no question of delaying the process.”

"You are mean!"

“That’s called wisdom,” V said arrogantly. “You dare to sign a contract with a business elite like me? You’ve really spoiled me. Learn from this, little girl. This is a valuable lesson I’m personally teaching you, and it’s free!”

Ciri was furious. Since V wasn't keeping his promise, she wouldn't either. Just as she was about to use Blink to escape, she heard V say, "If you dare to run, I'll kill the hotel owner and all the guests!"

"You, you tyrant!" Ciri immediately stopped her Blink, the feeling of being forced to stop halfway through made her feel like she was going to vomit blood.

“I’m not a tyrant, I’m the famous V!” V said to River Ward. “Send our Miss Swallow back to her cage.”

The director stepped forward with a wry smile, about to take Ciri back to the lab, when he suddenly received an urgent communication.

His expression turned serious, and he said to V, "There's been an emergency at the dock in the North City Industrial Zone."

V frowned: "Is it serious that you, the NCPD director, have to go in person?"

"It is said that he may have been a cyberpsychotic and used cryogenic fluids such as liquid nitrogen to cause large-scale damage."

"Night City has cyberpsychotics too? Okay, go ahead, but be careful."

"Yes."

After River Ward left, V generously compensated the hotel owner ten times the price for the arcade machine, and then summoned the Sword in the Stone to personally bring Ciri back to the laboratory.

The Sword in the Stone only has two seats. V sits in the driver's seat with Sasha in his arms, while Ciri sits alone in the passenger seat. Since it's an autopilot, there's no danger.

V and Ciri argued incessantly throughout the journey, with Sasha constantly trying to mediate between them. However, perhaps due to their similar personalities, V and Ciri simply couldn't get along and couldn't stand each other.

However, Ciri's accusations were child's play in 2078, and V was unmoved. Instead, V used a series of fresh internet slang terms to drive Ciri, this medieval girl, crazy.

Unable to win through direct attacks, Ciri began to employ a roundabout strategy.

She said to Sasha indignantly, "Miss Sasha, why would someone as gentle as you choose someone like her as your lover?"

The pink cat felt a little embarrassed and explained, "V is actually very gentle too."

Ciri was taken aback: "She's gentle? Forgive me, I didn't see that at all!"

Whether Ciri believed it or not, V believed it nonetheless. She was overjoyed to hear Sasha's words, gave Ciri a defiant look, and planted a kiss on the pink cat's cheek.

Ciri was both ashamed and angry, and she turned her head sharply to the other side.

V's eyes lit up. This Ciri is still a virgin. In that case, the plan to kick the cripple's bad leg will be restarted!

She kept kissing Sasha's cheeks, and Ciri couldn't take it anymore. She yelled, "Despicable, foolish, lecherous, and arrogant! It's a joke that someone like you can be a hero!"

Let it be a joke, V never intended to be a hero. Anyway, the more anxious Ciri was, the happier she was; she instantly got her revenge for all the frustration she'd felt earlier.

"If you're good at games, you'll stay single forever. Poor guy, he doesn't even have a girlfriend. Sasha, can you hear that? It sounds like a dog barking."

Sasha was taken aback: "Why is there a dog in the car?"

V glanced at Ciri and burst into laughter: "Of course there are, single dogs, hahaha!"

Ciri was so angry she almost ground her teeth to powder. Just as she was about to open her mouth and berate V for his frivolous behavior, an alarm suddenly sounded above her head.

The three people in the car looked up at the same time and saw an armed hovercraft flashing red lights, speeding towards the industrial zone in the north of the city.

"What's that? It looks different from the one I sat in before," Ciri asked.

“It’s the Terrorist SWAT team, the strongest law enforcement agency in Night City,” Sasha explained, then looked at V.

V frowned slightly. It was just a cyberpsychotic. With the NCPD's current equipment and training, it shouldn't be necessary to deploy the Terrorist Mobile Unit.

Just as she was about to call River Ward to ask about the situation, Song Zhaomei's call came in.

"V, another spatial fluctuation has been detected, and it's even larger than the last one!"

V became serious and immediately asked, "Where is the location?"

"Chengbei Industrial Zone Wharf!"

"Hold!"

V cursed under his breath, immediately switched the Stone Sword to manual mode, and sped off northward with a throttle!

The dock was now a complete mess.

Dozens of men clad in black skull armor and riding warhorses suddenly emerged from a white vortex. Their bodies were enveloped in terrifying white frost, freezing the sea surface. The citizens at the dock initially thought it was some kind of special performance and raised their phones to take pictures. However, the group of men walked on the frost across the frozen sea, and their leader charged into the crowd first, beheading a citizen with a single swing of his sword.

"Holy crap!" The crowd exclaimed in surprise and scattered in all directions.

The leader of the skeleton armor issued orders to his subordinates in a deep voice: "Find the Daughter of Time and Space, and kill all those who stand in her way!"

"Yes!"

As the Black Knights received their orders and were about to attack, several NCPD police cars drove into the scene and set up a defensive line. River Ward used the car loudspeaker to issue a warning, but what he received in return was a merciless attack.

Thus began Night City's first encounter with enemies from another world. At first, they held a slight advantage, but as the knight leader chanted an esoteric incantation, a sudden chill descended, and frost spread outwards from his feet, freezing everything in its path, whether people or objects.

"What the hell is this? A cryogenic weapon?" River Ward cursed and immediately shouted, "Evacuate the civilians! Notify the Terrorist SWAT team!"

There were many workers in the industrial zone north of the city, and the spread of the white frost seemed endless. River Ward's first thought was to protect the people and evacuate them.

Under the onslaught of the terrifying cold, Night City's defenses crumbled, and the Black-Armored Knights pressed their advantage. To protect the civilians, the NCPD had to sacrifice their lives to buy time; they held the rear, frozen one by one into ice sculptures, only to be shattered by the Black-Armored Knights' swords!

"Ander! Charlie!"

"Boss, run!"

River Ward was horrified to see his companions killed. He cursed and fired repeatedly, but the knights nimbly dodged his shots.

More than a dozen riders surrounded him tightly, relentlessly striking his body with swords until he was almost covered in blood. Finally, exhausted, he collapsed to his knees.

The knight leader rode forward arrogantly and said, "Brave warrior, considering you are the strongest person in this city, I will give you a chance. Tell me the whereabouts of the Time-Traveling Maiden, and I will spare your life!"

River Ward was covered in blood. He nodded and said to the knight leader, "I'm out of strength. Come closer, and I'll tell you where the Time Maiden is."

The knight leader leaned down, and River Ward grinned, saying, "The Daughter of Time is fucking your asshole, you stinking idiot!"

"wrong answer!"

The knight leader snorted and spat out a cloud of white mist toward River Ward's face, intending to freeze this crude fellow into an ice sculpture!

But before he could even open his mouth, a loud bang rang out from above. A sniper bullet struck his mount squarely in the head, blasting the horse's head apart with a thud and sending him sprawling to the ground.

The knights quickly surrounded their commander. They saw a red box on the ground, and when they looked up at the sky, they saw an armed hovercar emitting a loud alarm above them.

"Damn it, you bastards finally arrived!" River Ward had just breathed a sigh of relief when a tall knight stomped on his chest, causing him to cough up a mouthful of blood.

Police Inspector Melissa Rory, the captain of the Terrorist SWAT team, did not dare to delay and was the first to jump off the hovercar.

While still in mid-air, she had already activated Sianwistan. The knights only saw a blur before River Ward was rescued and brought back to the hovercar, where hacker agents provided first aid.

"Time magic?" The knight leader asked in surprise, then waved his hand and said, "Take her away too."

The knights obeyed the order and pulled on the reins to prepare for the attack, but the assault operatives also jumped off the hovercars and unleashed a barrage of fire from two high-tech military-grade VST-37 Scorching Earth rifles, knocking several knights in front of them off their horses and disrupting the charging formation.

The knight leader snorted coldly and ordered the tall knight who had injured River Ward, "Illeris, cover him!"

As Illerith removed the large shield from his back and was about to step forward, the heavy artillery operator descended from the sky: "Your opponent is me." Illerith stopped, looked at the knight leader, who nodded, and then put the shield back on his back and beckoned to the heavy artillery operator.

The heavy artillery operator roared and charged forward like a bull. Although Illeris assumed a defensive stance, he was violently knocked away and slid a long distance on the ground before he staggered to his feet and took the large shield back off his back.

"Tch! What trash! With that little strength, you're wasting your big size!"

The heavy artillery operator rushed forward and started beating Illeris indiscriminately, while Melissa Rory returned to the ground, popping two mantis blades out of her arms. Working together with the assault operator, they charged into the knights, slashing at their legs and beheading them, unleashing the former cyber madman's indiscriminate slaughter mode.

The knight leader was clearly unprepared for this situation. Seeing that his subordinates were no match for him, he began chanting incantations again. But with another loud bang, the sniper operator who was in control of the situation on the floating vehicle opened fire immediately. A fully charged tungsten nail bullet from the Tsunami Cat Sniper Rifle pierced through the knight leader's chest, interrupting his chanting.

"High-altitude attack, low-altitude attack, attack the idiots." The sniper operator muttered as he began his second charge. This knight leader was probably wearing military-grade subcutaneous armor; one shot hadn't taken him down. But no matter, if one shot didn't take him down, then another one would do. As long as it's a carbon-based creature of flesh and blood, there's no cat that can't kill it!

The knight leader clutched his chest and looked up. The knight beside him, holding a staff, understood immediately and waved his hand, creating a wave-like barrier of light in front of the two.

With a loud bang, the cat fired a second shot.

But the seemingly indestructible tungsten nail bullets suddenly disappeared after hitting the light screen, much to the sniper's surprise.

"Your Majesty, the enemy's attack has been redirected," the knight holding the staff reported, bowing.

The knight leader nodded slightly and began chanting the spell again. With the light screen in front of him, he could no longer be interrupted. The spell was completed quickly, and white frost spread from his feet again. The terrifying cold instantly froze several terrorist team members and the NCPD who were covering the evacuation of citizens into ice sculptures.

This is what V saw when he arrived.

Ciri cried out in surprise, "It's the Wild Hunt King and his Red Knights! Run! Your men are no match for them! I'll hold them off!"

But as soon as she finished speaking, V vanished in a flash.

It doesn't matter who they are or what they're doing here. V only knows that someone dared to attack Night City, and she'll kill as many of them as there are!

[Military technology "exopoint" Sinweistein] launched!

[Military Technology Frenzy] Initiated!

What does stopping time plus a limit value equal?

The answer is—invincible!

One second the black-armored knights were celebrating their victory, and the next second their heads exploded all at once, turning them into headless corpses that fell straight to the ground.

This applies to ordinary knights, knights wielding staffs, Illeris, and even the knight leader.

Power is the only thing that matters!

Ciri stared wide-eyed at the scene before her, finding it utterly unbelievable!

V first contacted Joanne Koch to send someone to provide emergency care, then walked back to Ciri and asked:

"By the way, who were these people you just mentioned?"

Chapter 121: A Smile to Forget All Grudges

Ciri stood frozen in place, unable to believe that the terrifying Wild Hunt army had been defeated so easily. To be honest, she had no idea what had happened; she only saw V suddenly vanish, and then the Wild Hunt King and his Red Knights all turned into headless corpses.