2077: V really knows how awesome he is

The concierge stopped the security guard from losing his temper and said with a smile, "Yes, welcome to the Azure Mansion."

Placid then raised his head and began to walk inside.

The lobby manager watched the two figures walk away and brought his collar to his mouth: "The danger has passed, Sparrow is back to standby mode."

Carter replied in the communications: "Swan, head to the front."

"The swans are in position."

“We need to check in.” Bridget lowered her voice, thinking it would be discreet, but little did she know that her stealth only made it obvious that something was wrong.

But the receptionist seemed oblivious and said gently, "Okay, no problem. What is the name you provided?"

"Conri Havel".

The receptionist's smile almost cracked, but thanks to her excellent professionalism, she managed to keep the conversation going.

"Is it Harry Cornwell?"

"Oh right, right, it's Harry Cornwell. I misspoke earlier."

Qi Qi, sweating profusely, couldn't even pronounce her own name correctly. "Are you fucking stupid?"

"We've found your name. It's a double room, two adults, one night, right?"

Originally, it would have been fine if they had just said yes, but Placid pulled another stunt: "Our custom does not allow men and women who are not husband and wife to sleep in the same bed. Change us to a room with two beds."

"Damn it!" A chorus of curses filled the communication channel.

"Damn it, this stupid black guy is on vacation here!" Meredith Stock was so angry that he crushed the metal cigarette case.

"Booking a room is just a smokescreen; we're not really going to stay overnight. There's no need to make things complicated," Xu Zhong said, both amused and exasperated.

“I have always viewed all races equally, since they are all just living, breathing human beings. But now it seems that Black people have significantly lower intelligence than other races. I will take this difference into account in future experiments to avoid contaminating the samples,” Joanne Koch’s sharp commentary was even more incisive.

The receptionist was about to lose her temper and, without caring about the legality of the rules, directly used her access privileges to book rooms for the two of them.

"Your room has been prepared; it's the Black Fish Suite on the forty-second floor,"

The personal SID chip authentication was supposed to be done, but the receptionist skipped it with her privileges, just to get rid of these two idiots as quickly as possible.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Bridget and Placid entered the elevator.

The receptionist was completely exhausted. She was a veteran of the counterintelligence department and had done many more dangerous missions, but she had never been this tired before.

"The danger has passed, and the swans are now ready to resume operation."

The swan was practically turned into a duck from all the tossing and turning; V even said in the call, "Thank you for your hard work."

"Dealing with these two idiots is harder than getting Saburo Arasaka hooked!" Meredith Stock cursed incessantly.

Who can argue with that? If it weren't for V's prior arrangements, Bridget and Placid would probably have been shot dead in front of the Azure Building, let alone stealing the Relic chip.

These two are still so proud.

In the elevator, Placid said smugly, "Arasaka is nothing special. The Azure Mansion is like a den of dragons and tigers, but we still managed to sneak in easily."

Bridget was somewhat shrewd, but not much: "Don't be careless, Placid. Although we are excellent, we cannot underestimate the enemy."

"Don't worry, boss, I'm always careful. By the way, after this is all done, what about that four-eyed middleman..."

"He knows too much; he's just a hindrance. We'll give him a quick death as a thank you for providing us with information."

“I’ll do it myself. I hate the way he talks.”

"Row."

Their conversation was clearly transmitted back through the elevator's microphone, revealing the cruelty of the Voodoo Gang.

Xu Zhong hadn't been in Night City for long, and asked curiously, "How did such a bastard gang survive?"

“First, they just live their own little world behind closed doors in Taiping State, and their numbers aren’t large; second, their cybersecurity skills are indeed quite good.” Sasha, a veteran Night City player and also a hacker, explained, “They extort money from the wealthy and powerful. If you don’t pay, they’ll hack your artificial organs. If they offend the wrong people, they’ll retreat back to Taiping State. The NCPD has very little control there, and in the end, nothing gets done.”

Xu Zhong understood: "This isn't some gang, this is just a bunch of scoundrels!"

“They also want to drill holes in the black wall, abandon their human identity, and mingle with the roving AI,” V added.

"Holy crap, if the black wall breaks through, then humanity is completely doomed!"

"Therefore, the Voodoo Gang is not only a bunch of scoundrels, but also a group of traitors."

Now everyone's guilt about using the Voodoo Cult as a scapegoat has completely disappeared.

Meredith Stock lit a cigarette and said in a private channel, "The old city redevelopment project is nearing completion, there's not much profit left, the corporate alliance needs to find something new to do, how about this Voodoo Gang?"

Joanne Koch laughed and agreed: "Great! The Voodoo Gang is a thorn in the side of the rich. The higher-ups will definitely allocate a lot of budget. As usual, 30% will be used for the work, and 70% will be absorbed internally by the company alliance. Everyone will make a profit. This will solve the cancer in Night City and protect all mankind. It's a win-win-win situation."

V also thought it was a good idea: "Okay, you guys submit a report, I'll mention it at the meeting, and that'll be the end of it."

Xu Zhong was a little uneasy: "Is this something I can hear?"

Meredith Stock said, "Didn't you join the gang a long time ago? Once Jiang Ping is taken down, you'll be Kang Tao's spokesperson. By the way, you've already got the evidence, why haven't you made a move yet?"

Xu Zhongdao said, "I have sent the evidence back to the Shenyang headquarters and am waiting for further instructions from my superiors."

"Hmph, Kangtao is good in every way, except that he is too bureaucratic."

"Otherwise, why not just follow the same chaotic approach as military technology, issuing orders on a whim and constantly changing them?" Joanne Koch actually admired Kangtao's style of doing things. After all, biotechnology is also a company that pays attention to regulations, requiring seven reports to apply for a roll of toilet paper.

"What's the point of discussing this? Although we are second only to the emperor, we can never enter that circle. To put it bluntly, we are just high-level employees. The fact that the higher-ups value us is only because we fit their interests."

"Who says otherwise? I also want to go further, but this game is too hard, harder than living!"

Meredith Stock and Joanne Koch chatted casually, and Xu Zhong also asked V a question: "Sister V, is the old urban area renovation plan also like this?"

"What kind?"

"Only 30% of the money is used for work."

"Do you have any opinion?"

"People are having a hard time. How about we add more, split it in half, and take out 50%?"

"Then, because the interests of all parties are harmed, there will never be a second old urban area renovation plan. Section Chief, do you think the corporate alliance is really doing good deeds? The corporate alliance is just changing the way it makes money. The company's past methods were too crude, and the big bosses above didn't like them, so the corporate alliance was formed, and a more subtle approach was adopted. You think that taking 70% is too much, but it is precisely because of the 70% that was embezzled that 30% can be used for the benefit of the people."

"This..." Xu Zhong seemed to understand, but also seemed not to understand. He wanted to ask a few more questions, but V interrupted him.

“Bridget has already connected to the Azure Building subnet and is preparing to gain control of network security. I will deploy a temporary ICE team to delay her. Keep a close eye on the movements of the Cugilla and notify me immediately if anything happens.”

"Yes."

Everyone stopped chatting and returned to their work.

The Voodoo Gang has established itself in Night City with its superb hacking skills, and Bridget, as the leader of the Voodoo Gang, is a top-tier hacker among top hackers. Last time, T-BUG needed the crew cutter's help to break into the ICE in the Azure Tower, but Bridget had no such need at all. She simply plugged her personal data cable into the access point in the Blackfish guest room and launched an attack on ICE while completely naked.

To be honest, Bridget was really impressive. She breached the data fortress of the Azure Tower in just over an hour, almost twice as fast as T-BUG. If he had been the hacker supporting V, the theft plan would have been smoother than sandpaper.

It’s a pity that there are no ifs in the world.

Rather than pinning her hopes on luck, V prefers to believe in herself.

If the last tragedy was caused by a series of coincidences, then this time she will use precise calculations and planning to artificially create a miracle!

V begins its deep dive, entering cyberspace.

Bridget's digital entity was gloating. So what if it was the Azure Tower? It had easily breached the data fortress. In the network, apart from the roaming AI on the other side of the black wall, it was invincible!

She stepped forward, intending to gain complete control of the cybersecurity, only to discover to her surprise that another ICE was hidden beneath the one she had breached.

“Two-layer data nesting? Ha, it seems Arasaka’s hackers aren’t all pushovers.” Bridget said with disdain, “You think you can stop me with that? W'ap rèv klè (daydreaming)!”

The leader of the Voodoo Gang launched another attack, and after 58 minutes, she finally breached the new data fortress.

"Haha, I knew it..."

Her words were cut short as Bridget was astonished to discover a third layer of ICE beneath the second. She gritted her teeth, unleashing a string of vulgar curses from her thick lips, and launched another attack.

Forty-six minutes later, she finally won. This time she learned her lesson and carefully checked, and sure enough, she found a fourth layer of ICE.

"Fuck it, an ICE in a civilian hotel has four layers of nesting? Are all the hackers in Arasaka this free?" Bridget cursed. Suddenly, she felt someone watching her. She turned around abruptly, but there was nothing there.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Bridget yelled, but of course received no response.

Damn it, I've been stuck here for too long. I need to stay calm.

Bridget wiped away sweat that wasn't actually in the digital format and began to seriously analyze the current situation.

Arasaka's hacking skills are impressive, but the cost of four layers of data nesting is too high, making it impossible to apply to a civilian hotel. In a normal four-layer nesting system, each layer has the same defensive strength, but the times it took to break through the first three layers were over an hour, 58 minutes, and 46 minutes respectively. This indicates that the strength of each layer was decreasing, so this is not a true four-layer data nesting system at all, but some kind of illusion.

"They've given themselves away, those bastards from Arakasaka!" Bridget had a premonition that with just a little more help, she could break free of this cage completely, so she acted decisively and called out over the communicator: "Plasid, come in and help me!"

Without hesitation, the burly second-in-command of the Voodoo Gang pulled out his personal data cable and plugged it into another access point in the room.

He wasn't surprised by Bridget's plea for help; he knew exactly how powerful his boss was, and the fact that he hadn't come out for so long meant he must be in trouble. But Placid wasn't afraid at all, because together with his boss, they could even break through the Black Wall—they were truly invincible!

V stood in mid-air above the cyberspace, calmly looking down at the two trapped in the temporary ICE. It was worth it for her to deliberately hold back; she had indeed lured Placid in.

She casually added a few lines of code to ICE, securing the "pocket" completely. Satisfied, she nodded and turned to exit the deep dive. Back in reality, V ate something, drank some water, and then sat in a chair, closing her eyes to rest, like a top hunter patiently waiting for its prey to come knocking.

At 4:22 PM, a voice came through the communication:

"An airship takes off from the Kujira, repeat, an airship takes off from the Kujira!"

Meredith Stock shouted, "Estimate the destination immediately!"

"In the process of estimation, it's...it's...it's the Azure Sky Building! The airship's destination is the Azure Sky Building!"

V opened her eyes.

"Everyone to your positions, the second half begins!"

Chapter 31 The second half

Bridget and Placid had been trapped in cyberspace for eight hours and thought they were doomed, but the seemingly fragile yet indestructible ICE suddenly collapsed, finally freeing them from their precious freedom.

"What's going on?" Bridget asked, puzzled. "That was just a routine attack, how did this ICE suddenly..."

“It must be because we’re too good. If it weren’t for the hackers backing up the server Arasaka, they wouldn’t have been able to hold us off for so long.” Placid’s arrogance was as strong as ever. He wasn’t surprised by the result at all. “Boss, let’s get control of the network security. We’ve been delayed for too long.”

Bridget frowned and thought about it carefully... Yes, that makes sense.

She gained control of cybersecurity and, along with Placid, withdrew from cyberspace.

"Alright, we've got access to the elevator to the 100th floor, and the automatic turrets and cameras in the penthouse suite have been turned off. Arasaka Yoriyuki only has Adam Heavy Hammer as his bodyguard, and he left early this morning, so there's no one in the room now."

Placid clenched his fist: "I can't wait!"

The two left the room and entered the elevator.

It takes a few minutes to go from the 42nd floor to the 100th floor. Perhaps because they were a little nervous, Bridget and Placid didn't say anything.

But while they remained silent, their communications over the hidden lines were in full swing.

"Current wind direction is west-northwest, ground wind speed is level 2, air wind speed is level 4, temperature is 21.4 degrees Celsius, humidity is 33%, the air vehicle is heading southeast, instrument speed is 52 km/h, actual speed is 51.724 km/h. After combining the data, it is calculated that the air vehicle will arrive at the Ganbi Building in 3.12 minutes, approximately 187 seconds. This data is updated every 15 seconds."

“电梯上升速度为1.5M/s，从42层到100层直线距离为263米，上升时间为175.33秒。”

"Too slow. Increase the elevator speed to 2.5 m/s." V command.

"The speed has been increased. The data has been recalculated, and the time required for the elevator to reach the 100th floor has been changed to 105.20 seconds."

82 seconds of activity time? That's enough.

Anyway, V didn't expect the Voodoo Gang to do anything real; they were just there to take the blame.

Two people in the elevator.

Placid's expression suddenly changed, and he covered one ear, saying, "Boss, something's not right."

Bridget's expression also turned serious: "The elevator is going faster, can't Arasaka even keep it running smoothly?"

Placid beamed with pride: "Too easy! The ninjas have fallen so low. Night City should belong to our Voodoo Gang, to the great Haitians!"

"Yes, Placid. The Voodoo Cult will one day rise to the top of the world. Today is the beginning."

Their conversation was transmitted back through the communication line word for word, but no one cared about the nonsense these two idiots were spouting.

Night City may change hands, perhaps with military technology or Kamtao, or even biotechnology, but it will never be taken over by the mentally unstable Voodoo Gang!

With a ding, the elevator door opened.

"Wow!" Placid exclaimed, looking at the luxurious penthouse suite. "Saburo Arasaka's son lives in such a nice place!"