2077: V really knows how awesome he is

"Cyberpsychosis is just a normal reaction to people having too many implants."

“It’s a well-worn topic that cybernetic psychosis is caused by implants,” Old Wei shook his head. “In fact, the medical community has generally rejected this view, because it’s not conducive to capitalists dumping prosthetics on the uninformed public, and it would affect the economy. But you saying it’s a normal reaction is really unexpected. Do you think it’s normal for someone to kill someone indiscriminately on the street?”

Instead of answering, V picked up a ballpoint pen from the table and asked, "If pressing this pen could kill everyone in the world, would you press it?"

Old Wei shook his head: "Of course not, I'm not crazy."

V continued, "If you were going through a rough patch, plagued by illness, with no patients at your clinic, and the little money you managed to earn was mostly robbed by local gangs, and you were struggling to make ends meet every day, would you press the button?"

Old Wei shook his head again: "No, I told you, I'm not crazy."

V nodded: "Then the company chopped Misty into hundreds of pieces right in front of you, and you can't get revenge for Misty through legal means. Now, if you just press the button on the pen, those scum who killed Misty will immediately be punished. Would you press it?"

Old Wei opened his mouth, unable to speak as decisively as before. He thought about it carefully and finally chose to tell the truth: "I think I will probably press it."

“That’s cyberpsychosis.” V shrugged. “Humans have never been that civilized; it’s just society that’s civilized. To avoid being ostracized by society, people start to become civilized. But when people have enough power to fight against society, they will most likely shed their civilized facade and revert to violent beasts. So I say cyberpsychosis is a normal phenomenon. Strictly speaking, it’s abnormal to accept injustice passively and to seek help from the exploiters when you are exploited.”

Old Wei frowned deeply: "I don't agree with your statement. Having power means breaking the rules. Are you saying that human nature is inherently evil?"

V shook his head: "I don't agree that human nature is inherently evil, but I don't believe that human nature is inherently good either."

"why?"

"It's very simple, is kindness an excellent quality?"

"of course."

"Do you really think such excellent qualities can appear in humans without costing a penny?" V said. "Kindness is actually very expensive. It requires a comfortable living environment, good educational resources, fair and just laws and regulations, and an impartial social system. Simply put, kindness can only arise when people have enough to eat, can afford to go to school, are not bullied by others, and do not suffer injustices in life. Children who grow up in slums will never be kind, not because they are born bad, but because they cannot survive without stealing or robbing."

"Cyber ​​psychosis is the same. Why is the incidence rate always highest among the lower class and the poor? Because they are not kind. Why are they not kind? Because they have suffered too much injustice. But they are different from the situation I just described. You know that Misty was killed by the company and you know who to seek revenge against, but they don't know where their suffering comes from. So they can only attack everyone indiscriminately to vent their dissatisfaction and anger. They are just making the normal reaction that a person should have after encountering misfortune, instead of being a tamed social animal."

Old Wei's face was full of complicated emotions: "Your theory is too advanced; I may need some time to accept it."

It is indeed advanced, and has been advanced for over 80 years.

V smiled, not forcing Old V to agree with him, and continued, "Actually, cyberpsychosis also has its advantages. For example, returning to a primal state and placing the mind above the body can greatly enhance combat power, if it could be manually switched on and off..."

Old Wei was stunned: "You actually want to exploit cyberpsychosis?!"

"Haha, it's just a hypothetical scenario." V chuckled, having already gained access to Mann's control chip and dislocated his limbs during the conversation. "So the method for treating cyberpsychosis is quite simple: just take back their power."

"In the end, it's still just a matter of downgrading the prosthetic body."

“That’s not wrong, but where we’re from, we call it making them face reality.” V said, flicking a mantis knife from her arm and ripping open Mann’s guts. She said to the dumbfounded old V, “Don’t just stand there, doctor, help me take out Mann’s internal organs.”

Old Wei: "...Huh?"

Chapter 171 A World Without V

Victor hated street sweepers the most, but he never expected that one day he would be doing the work of a street sweeper.

He completely stripped Mann bare, removing his artificial lungs, enhanced kidneys, mechanical liver, and accessory heart—all powerful and expensive artificial organs—and replacing them with a bunch of cheap parts that couldn't be overclocked or jumpered.

Mann had shrunk considerably, no longer the imposing figure he once was, but now a thin, wiry stick. The good thing was that his mind had stabilized; he no longer convulsed or ground his teeth, but lay quietly in his hospital bed, sleeping normally. Gone was that violent aura; it was as if his body had been hollowed out.

Well, his body was indeed completely drained, and he'd been given muscle relaxants. Now he had a colostomy tube and a urinary catheter inserted, and Old Vie didn't want to soil his medical bed.

After a whole week of this, the treatment on Mann was finally over.

Old Wei breathed a sigh of relief: "Is that all? Don't you need to take any more tranquilizers?"

"No need. Without a strong body, a raging soul is nothing but a rootless duckweed. Now, leave everything to the brain; that thing is best at seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune."

Just then, Vera walked in from the doorway and waved to the two of them, saying, "Hey!"

Old Vie didn't want to get involved in their mess: "I'm going to check on Gloria and Pila."

"Thanks, Old Wei."

"It's okay, you paid me."

Old Vieira left, and Vera sat down in the chair where Old Vie had sat and lit a cigarette.

V said helplessly, "There are still patients lying here."

Vera grinned: "His lack of objection means he agrees."

V rolled his eyes: "You're just making excuses. Fine, we can just give Mann another lung transplant. His wound hasn't fully healed yet, we can just cut the stitches, it's that easy."

Now it was Vera's turn to be speechless: "You're even more of a beast than me."

"Stop talking about that nonsense," V asked. "How's young David doing?"

Vera had been keeping an eye on young David for the past few days; for her, this kind of work was as easy as strolling in the park.

"Just like what happened in another world, with Mann gone, David carried the whole team. He underwent a drastic transformation, turning from a little guy into a giant, finally no longer a low-end CPU with a high-performance graphics card, allowing S.A.W.S. to unleash his full potential. He's recently landed several big deals and gained fame, with some newcomers even becoming his fans. I'm not exaggerating, he's definitely talented, but unfortunately he's too hasty, which seems to be mortgaging his future."

“He’s too naive, still thinking about being a good person.” David walked out of Gloria’s hospital room.

V shrugged: "There's nothing wrong with wanting to be a good person."

"There's nothing wrong with being a good person, but his mistake was not having enough power. He was too trusting and always thought that being kind to others would bring kindness in return. That's why he was completely fooled by Faraday after Qiwei betrayed them."

"Treat others with kindness and you should receive kindness in return. David did nothing wrong; it was Night City that was wrong."

"He can't change Night City, that's the problem."

"You're too hard on yourself. He's only a 17-year-old student. You can't judge him by your current standards. Think back to when you were 17. Didn't you act like a naive young man, trying to avenge me, and end up getting chopped into a human stick?"

David paused, speechless.

Vera became interested: "Oh, is that so? Selene didn't tell me."

David, naturally unwilling to tell his daughter about his own dark past, frowned and asked Vera, "Did Selene say a lot about me?"

“It’s not just yours, it’s Lucy’s too. What you like, what you hate, what you’ve been through in the past, what taboos you have—she tells me all this whenever she has a spare moment. It’s so annoying. I don’t understand why she’s telling me all this.”

Vera didn't understand, but David did. Although he understood, he hoped Vera would never understand.

Seeing that things were getting increasingly off-topic, V spoke up just in time: "How does David react to the other him?"

First, they took off their helmets voluntarily, and then their helmets were shot off. Both Lucy and young David saw the true faces of the Terrorist Mobile Squad members.

“Well.” Vera’s expression was a little complicated. She took out a chip and placed it on the table: “I put a bug in David’s coat and recorded it. You can listen to it yourselves.”

"Why are you being so mysterious?" V took the chip and inserted it into the player next to him.

The voices of David, Lucy, Rebecca, and others came through, sounding like they hadn't been there since Mann's accident a week ago.

Rebecca: "Oh, that terrorist squad member looks exactly like David?"

Lucy: "Not exactly the same, but more mature, like David in his 3s or 40s."

Qiwei: "Are you seeing things?"

Lucy: "It's definitely not an illusion, and David saw it too, right?"

David: "I did see it, and I even took a picture."

Qiwei: "You also installed a photo-taking app?"

David (Shy): "So I can take screenshots when I see the sunglasses dream."

Qiwei (laughs): "So you'll use it to masturbate? Don't be shy, boy, that's how it is during puberty. But you won't have to go through all that trouble in the future, just go to Lucy if you need to."

Lucy: "What's it to me!"

Qiwei: "It seems Lucy doesn't agree. Then come find me. After all, maintaining the health of your teammates is also a very important task."

Lucy (angrily): "None of your business!"

V looked at David with a half-smile: "I didn't expect you to be quite the prankster when you were young."

Vera replied with a smirk, "Selene never told me this either."

David blushed and said, "Listen to the recording, listen to the recording."

V poured himself a glass of tequila, and then the recording continued.

Rebecca ended the risqué conversation.

Rebecca: "Let's talk about those trivial things later. Right now, we should discuss who this member of the Terrorist Mobile Unit is."

Qiwei: "David's distant relative?"

Lucy: "It's just a simple resemblance, after all, David's face is quite ordinary."

Rebecca: "David's face doesn't look ordinary at all, it's quite handsome. I mean, you guys have such limited imaginations. What if this person is David from the future, who came back specifically to save his present self?"

Qiwei: "You should watch less cartoons."

Lucy: "Scientifically, time travel is simply impossible. Arasaka has already proven that."

Rebecca: "How do you know Arasaka confirmed it? They haven't issued a statement."

Lucy: "I..."

Qiwei: "Let's not dwell on that. Let's get back to the Terrorist Mobile Unit. David, what do you think?"

The recording was silent for a moment.

David: "I think that person might be my dad."

puff! ! !

V, who was drinking, couldn't hold back and sprayed Vera's face with water.

Vera: ...

"Sorry, sorry." V ​​quickly picked up a tissue to wipe Vera's face.

Vera said quietly, "Your technique is quite skilled. This isn't the first time you've sprayed a woman's face with this, is it?"

V: ...

David himself was even more shocked than V.

He couldn't understand how young David could recognize him as his father, while young David was still seriously analyzing the situation.

David: "My mom was working overtime during her pregnancy. She gave birth to me during an emergency rescue mission. The injured person was a member of the Vortex Gang, who cut my umbilical cord with a mantis knife. More than once after I grew up, I asked my mom who my dad was and where he went, and my mom's answer was always, 'Dad went to work in a very far place.'"

Lucy: "Isn't this usually just another way of saying 'Dad is dead'?"

David: "That's what I thought too, until I met him."

Qiwei: "I agree with David's point of view, which also explains why that terrorist mobile unit operator went to save David's mother."

Rebecca: "That makes sense. So he saved Pila because of David."

Qiwei: "And Mann and Dorio, after all, they've been looking after David."

Lucy: "So this is... a case of loving the house because of the dog?"

Rebecca: "Be happy, David, your dad is alive and loves you very much."

David: "I'm not happy at all. I want to ask him where he's been all these years, and why he abandoned me and my mother!"

Rebecca: "Maybe he has some difficulties. Maybe members of the Terrorist Mobile Unit are not allowed to date."

Lucy: "The Terrorist SWAT team isn't a temple. Besides, monks in temples also secretly get married and have children."

Qiwei: "There's no point in guessing. We might as well ask him directly."

Rebecca: "How do we find him? Should we go to the Terrorist SWAT team? We can't find them anywhere."

David: "I don't need to go looking for him, I'll make him come looking for me. He thinks I'm weak, then I'll show him how strong I can be! When I see him again, I'll punch him in the face, that's the price he pays for abandoning my mother!"

Recording has ended.

V: "..."

David: "..."

They had considered many possibilities and developments, but this one was something they truly hadn't anticipated.

"How do you feel about being your own father?" Vera asked curiously.

"I want to beat that brat to death!" David gritted his teeth. "I never thought I was this stupid in the past. He thought I was his father. Fine, then I'll be his father!"

V was speechless. You said young David was naive? You're over 90 years old, and you're still acting like a child.

Vera, true to her nature of enjoying a good show, kept fanning the flames, saying, "Yeah, be his dad, sleep with his mom!"

David glared at Vera, then turned and left.

V patted Vera on the shoulder and said earnestly, "If you don't want Selene to make things difficult for you, you'd better watch your mouth."