2077: V really knows how awesome he is

That was a holographic call; Michiko Arasaka's real body is in Tokyo.

The investigation into the Saburo Arasaka murder case came to nothing.

V was not surprised by this result.

When she "killed" Saburo Arasaka, she wasn't pursued by the Arasaka Company either. After all, keeping the "murderer" at large was what kept the public's attention focused on, allowing them to continue using this excuse to stir up trouble. Once the real culprit is caught and the truth is revealed, it becomes a situation where "the guilty party is identified and the guilty party is held accountable," significantly reducing the room for maneuver.

The saying "If the water is too clear, there will be no fish" illustrates this point.

However, the power struggles within the Arasaka family have nothing to do with V, and she can't get involved. Her current position as the highest leader of the Arasaka Company in Night City is enough.

Michiko Arasaka granted her extremely high authority; aside from some family secrets, Arasaka had complete control over V, giving her whatever she wanted.

Even the sacred palanquin.

What was once a forbidden zone that could only be reached by fighting to the death is now nothing more than V's backyard, which he can come and go as he pleases.

"Power, it's a fucking wonderful thing."

V sighed sincerely and began her workday.

Although the higher-ups no longer intend to investigate Saburo Arasaka's death, the Voodoo Gang still needs to be eradicated. This group of blacks not only occupies a corner of Taiping State, but also possesses their own self-developed Poseidon Network. The top leaders certainly don't care about these two things, but they are still very attractive to ordinary working-class people like V, Meredith Stock, and Joanne Koch.

Most importantly, V had spent a lot of money on her previous plans, including large-scale construction at the Azure Building and buying the Stone Sword sports car; she needed to recoup her investment.

Thus, a joint law enforcement force composed of companies such as Arasaka, Military Technology, Biotechnology, Comto, Zeta Technology, and others marched into Taiping State and surrounded the Voodoo Gang's stronghold, the Bati Hotel.

These Haitian blacks had some backbone; they had stockpiled supplies and built fortifications early on, intending to fight a protracted war against the coalition forces. But with V's order, 27 air-to-ground missiles rained down from the sky, instantly obliterating the Baty Hotel and the Voodoo Gang.

Do you still think I'm the lone wolf I used to fight all by myself? I'm the fucking boss of Night City now!

The so-called joint law enforcement force is not there to attack, but to take over territory and facilities.

Directly opposite the Bati Hotel is a Haitian chapel, beneath which was originally a tunnel for an old-fashioned intercontinental maglev train, but it was transformed by the Voodoo Gang into a secret network center, where the servers for the Poseidon Network are also located.

The joint enforcement forces stormed in and scraped the ground clean, leaving nothing behind, before notifying the NCPD to clean up the mess. The very next day, the NCPD's heavily pregnant chief repeatedly thanked the joint enforcement forces, the corporate alliance, and the social responsibility of numerous companies, especially the renowned Deputy Minister V. It was thanks to these efforts that they were able to eliminate the Voodoo Gang, a scourge of a criminal organization, and improve Night City's security level by several percentage points.

Following the principle of using flattery to elevate someone, V had Jenkins also praise the NCPD a couple of times. Her absence wasn't due to arrogance, but rather because she was too busy.

Not to mention the anti-banditry funds allocated by major companies, 30% are thrown out and 70% are divided among everyone.

Poseidon is an intelligent ICE system independently developed by the Voodoo Gang to survive behind the Great Firewall; it's quite technologically advanced. Considering that roaming AI is a common enemy of all humanity, V simply made the data public, providing a copy to every member of the company alliance. Small companies can directly upgrade Poseidon to build their own network security barriers, while even large companies that don't find it useful can still learn something from it to improve their network security levels.

Although some companies are not satisfied with this egalitarian distribution method, V, with the moral high ground of protecting all mankind, has done this openly and honestly. Even if they are dissatisfied, they have to obediently say "good" to it.

In fact, V's actions have been highly praised by all sectors of society, and even Arasaka's reputation for being a scoundrel has become somewhat tarnished.

The most troublesome issue is the land problem in Taiping Prefecture.

Taiping is divided into two parts: one is Dog Town, and the other is the area around the Bati Hotel, which is controlled by the Voodoo Gang and is also known as the seaside area.

Let's leave Dogtown aside; it's under the control of former New America Colonel Kurt Hansen. With the Voodoo Gang gone in the Seaside area, not only is land vacant, but a power vacuum has also been created.

Major companies, including Arasaka, are all eyeing the seaside resort.

Military technology and Kangtao are the most affected.

First, let's talk about Military Technology. Their reason for coveting the Seaview area is simple: it's all about Dogtown. Kurt Hansen was originally a colonel in New America, and New America and Military Technology are two halves of the same vine. Kurt Hansen's establishment of himself as king in Dogtown was not only a slap in the face to New America, but also to Military Technology. Now that they have such a good opportunity, Military Technology naturally wants to seize this bridgehead to bring the traitor from back then to justice.

As for Kang Tao, their situation is even simpler. During the raid, the bodies of Bridget, the Voodoo Gang's leader, and Placid, his second-in-command, were not found, while Jiang Ping had repeatedly hinted that the two were in Kang Tao's hands. She probably sensed an investigation into her by Kang Tao's headquarters and desperately needed a credible achievement to reverse her declining fortunes, hence her determination to seize the Taiping State's coastal area.

Expanding territory and conquering enemy strongholds – this is something the Chinese love to do.

Jiang Ping contacted V privately, promising that as long as the seaside area was allocated to Kangtao, she would hand over Bridget and Placid.

V didn't know what price Bridget and Placid had paid to gain Contau's protection, but she knew that the two idiots had once again been used as stepping stones.

But things are different now. The Arasaka executives are busy fighting for power and no longer care who the real culprit is. So V doesn't care too much about Bridget and Placid, only promising not to deliberately obstruct them. If Contau really wants the seaside resort, then he can fight for it at the meeting.

Perhaps because Chinese people are very good at holding meetings, Jiang Ping was very satisfied with the result and handed over Placid that very night as a token of her gratitude.

V couldn't be bothered to show his face for such a trivial matter; he simply sent Carter a text message and had the person dealt with. One killer was enough; any more... were superfluous.

The following days were spent exchanging insults between Meredith Stock and Jiang Ping. They started with minor arguments, then escalated into major ones, and finally even came to blows in the conference room. Meredith Stock, relying on his youth, was no match for the older Jiang Ping, who was quite skilled in martial arts. The two fought to a standstill, and just as they were about to draw their guns, V quickly intervened to stop them.

In the end, nothing major happened, but the other companies realized that Military Technology and Kangtao were determined to take over the Haijing area, so they simply gave up.

The first to withdraw was in the biotechnology sector.

Joanne Koch obtained a lot of Arasaka's cutting-edge technology from V, and when she combined it with the technology from the biotechnology side, it was as if she had opened the door to a new world. She spent almost 25 hours a day in the laboratory, and when she really had no time to spare, she would just go back and forth to a lousy beach.

Ultimately, she is a medical researcher, not a politician, and biotechnology is a technology company that relies on technological success.

"I heard your boss is researching how to resurrect the dead?" V asked Joanne Koch curiously in the lab.

“Yes, it’s said that he’s going to resurrect his relatives, apparently using a virus.” Joanne Koch sighed softly. “Although I don’t think this direction is promising, I really envy him. He can be 100% dedicated to his project, while I have to work a miserable job every day. V, you’re already the boss of Arasaka in Night City. Why don’t you try harder to take over the biotechnology branch in Night City? I’ll work for you, you just need to let me do research every day.”

V chuckled and said, "You think too highly of me. I don't have that ability."

Joanne Koch rolled her eyes: "I might have believed you before, but after what happened at the Azure Tower, do you think I'd still believe you? I don't know how you're so smart, you're smarter than a supercomputer. I think it's not that you can't do it, you're just too lazy to do it!"

V did not refute this; she was involved with Arasaka for Arasaka's cutting-edge technology, and had little motivation to work on biotechnology.

"How's the Relic chip doing?"

"It's already been inserted into Saburo Arasaka's brain, but it will take some time before it works."

"Why wait? Shouldn't we revive immediately?"

"Immediate resurrection? What a joke. If resurrection were that easy, the head of biotechnology wouldn't be 169 years old and still spending all his time in the lab."

"But back then..."

"Back then?"

“I read the research records of the Relic chip back then.” V almost let slip, then quickly corrected himself: “There was a case where a mercenary was shot in the head and her body was thrown into a garbage dump outside the city. But because she had the Relic chip implanted, she quickly came back to life and crawled out of the garbage dump.”

Joanne Koch stared at V for a long time, so long that V thought she had figured something out, only to have her say, "You should watch less of those sci-fi Mewtwo stories written by idiot writers."

V: ...

“Herman,” Joanne Koch called to her new underling, “I’m busy, can you give her some pointers?”

“Okay.” Anders Herman was as meek as a lamb. He had been quite arrogant at first, but ever since V pulled Saburo Arasaka’s body out of a pile of frozen beef and presented it to him, he had wisely become obedient.

“Vice Minister V, it is my great honor to see you again.” Anders Herman said with a hint of obsequiousness.

"Let's get down to business." V waved his hand.

“Yes.” Anders Herman was obviously quite capable to beg for food in the arid hills, and he tried his best to explain how Relic worked in simple terms.

"The Relic chips advertised on the market can only allow users to communicate with the consciousness within the chip, which is called reading; but the Relic chip you brought back is a prototype chip that is still under development. It can be installed in a new body and activate the internal consciousness, which is called writing."

V nodded: "Yeah, that's exactly what I meant by mercenaries. Suddenly, another person pops into their head, and they're so noisy."

“No, what you’re describing is absolutely impossible,” Anders Hermann said with certainty.

"why?"

“Because the new body I’m referring to is a corpse,” Anders Herman said in a startling statement. “The Relic chip can only be activated and installed on a corpse because the immune system of a living person will attack the newly formed neurons, producing a strong rejection reaction, which will eventually damage the chip and cause the writing to fail. Only a dead person, and one who has been dead for a short time, can ensure that the brain is not completely deactivated and the immune system will not be activated.”

"The Relic chip will gradually modify the host's nervous system, eventually completely covering the new body with the consciousness stored in the chip. This process will take about three to six months. Once it is fully written, the corpse will be 'brought back to life,' but at this time he will be a completely new person, the consciousness that was pre-stored in the chip."

V shook his head: "But the mercenary I was talking about really did come back to life."

Anders Herman thought for a moment and asked, "You just said that the mercenary was shot in the head, right?"

“That’s right, but the gun’s caliber was too small, and the bullet got stuck in her skull,” V added. “But she did die.”

"If that's the case, I have a guess."

"Tell me."

"The Relic chip repairs the brain while modifying the nervous system, since the brain is the organ with the most neurons. The mercenary you mentioned died from a gunshot wound to the head, which means her brain was damaged. But because the bullet didn't penetrate the brain directly and the damage wasn't too severe, the Relic chip repaired the damaged parts of her brain while modifying the neurons, which is why she 'came back to life'."

"You said that another person appeared in her brain. Because her newly formed brain was originally shared by two people, but as the Relic chip continues to work, more and more new neurons will appear, the degree of neural rewriting will become higher and higher, and her own consciousness will gradually fade. During this process, she will feel nauseous, dizzy, vomit, and even vomit blood. It will become more and more serious and painful. I just said that Relic needs three to six months to complete its work, so she only has three to six months to live. Her consciousness will eventually be killed by her body as a foreign object, and at that time, the consciousness in the chip will have taken over the body."

V frowned: "Can't we just remove the relic chip?"

“It is possible, but she will still die,” Anders Herman replied. “Remember how she was resurrected? The chip repaired her brain tissue. Strictly speaking, that newly formed tissue did not belong to her, so once the relic is removed, without continuous neural rewriting, that piece of someone else's brain tissue will be attacked by her immune system, leading to severe brain inflammation and related complications. In other words, her consciousness will kill her body.”

One is the body killing consciousness, and the other is consciousness killing the body.

Looking back, V has no idea how she got to where she is today.

All she knew was that she had to heal herself and survive.

"Is Saburo Arasaka waiting for the Relic chip to finish writing?" V asked.

"Yes."

"How long will it take?"

“Three months and twelve days,” Anders Herman said excitedly. “By then, the greatest rock singer of the early 12th century will be resurrected in the body of the company boss he hates most!”

V felt that Anders Herman had a bit of a fun-loving tendency, but she didn't mind because she was quite fun herself.

I really want to see Johnny's expression when he wakes up; that would be hilarious.

Let's wait patiently; there are still more than three months to go.

V looked at Joanne Koch and asked curiously, "What are you doing?"

"Developing new drugs."

"What new drug?"

"A new drug for treating H4 infectious diseases in super skyscrapers."

V joked, "What, you used to dump sewage in Santo Domingo, and now you've had a change of heart?"

Joanne Koch didn't refute: "Yeah, when you're well-fed and warmly dressed, your conscience suddenly comes back. How about you help me out then? Your face is much more useful than the FDA's red stamp."

V raised his eyebrows.

"Call me when the medicine is ready."

The next day, Meredith Stock argued with Jiang Ping again. Seeing that he was losing, Jiang Ping retaliated.

"Vice-Minister V, I heard that Arasaka has been searching for the murderer of Mr. Arasaka Saburo, and I happen to have some leads. Now I want to ask, does your previous promise to cede the seaside area to Kangtao still stand?"

Chapter 34 Emperor Kangtao’s grandson

V didn't mind letting Kang Tao get the Lijiang Scenic Area, and she appreciated Jiang Ping's courage in actively fighting for it, but she didn't like Jiang Ping's tone of voice.

She accepts deals and collaborations, but never threats.

I wouldn't accept it when I was a lone wolf, and I still won't accept it now that I'm in a high position.

It's not that V is young and hot-tempered and can't stand being wronged, but rather that she's used to taking the initiative.

Jiang Ping's attempt to threaten and control her undoubtedly crossed V's bottom line.

V was too lazy to clarify whether she had made a promise to Kang Tao, and instead simply followed Jiang Ping's lead, saying, "What if it doesn't count?"

Jiang Ping was taken aback, clearly not expecting V to be so uncooperative. But she was a seasoned veteran, and quickly regained her composure, saying sarcastically, "Then the murderer is likely to be spouting nonsense. When the truth comes out, Arasaka's reputation will probably suffer a little damage."

What does the damage to Arasaka's reputation have to do with me, V?

V leaned back in his chair, a half-smile on his face, and asked, "Do you think anyone would believe that? Do you think anyone would care?"

The first person refers to ordinary people. Although they make up the majority, they have fewer sources of information and are most easily swayed by others' opinions. With a little manipulation of public opinion, their views can be easily controlled.

The latter refers to people within the company. They possess higher education, broader experience, and the ability to think independently, making them less susceptible to public opinion. They likely already suspected there was more to the story at the Azure Mansion—that Saburo Arasaka was killed by two thugs from the Voodoo Gang? What a joke! Why don't you just say that Vice President V was possessed by a wandering AI? Even a fool could see that it was Yoriyuki Arasaka who did it; it's a classic case of father and son killing each other.

They don't say anything not because they don't know, but because there's no need to say it.

From the company's perspective, they would love for Arasaka to fight amongst themselves; from an individual's perspective, speaking out would bring no benefit whatsoever and could even lead to their death.

It's unpleasant to hear about fathers and sons killing each other, and it would seriously damage Arasaka's prestige, but that's all.

Only ordinary people value ethics and family ties; who in the wealthy families of a company cares about these things?

In fact, ethics and kinship are just shackles and tools thrown out by the powerful to control the lower classes. After all, with emotions come vulnerabilities, and with vulnerabilities come easier controls.

V was all alone; she even dared to charge into the Arasaka Tower.

What if she has parents, a wife, and children? Would she still dare?

The more important something is to ordinary people, the more the powerful and wealthy will discard it like trash.

Jiang Ping's willingness to openly threaten V with the murderer is unethical and shameless, but so what? If she achieves her goal, she can continue to be high and mighty. Her reputation and face are insignificant.

By the same token, Arakasaka wouldn't care either.