2077: V really knows how awesome he is

It's cruel, but that's still reality.

V thought she had done a good job, but now she realizes that there is still a lot more to do.

Xu Zhong's worldview is truly something else; he can make unreasonable demands of people.

V shook his head with a wry smile and said to Sasha, "Recruit those workers to Arasaka 2077. After all, those water pipelines still need their maintenance."

"Yes!" The pink cat smiled as if she had eaten a dried fish. Such a kind V was the person she loved.

"Alright, that's a wrap. Time for a break!" V looked at the crowd in front of him, raised his fist, and shouted, "Moon, here we come!"

"Oh!!!"

The couples were overjoyed and shouted in unison.

Chapter 74 High Knight

"Welcome to NCX - Night City International Lunar Airport."

"What are you waiting for? Cast aside worldly unpleasantness and troubles, board our flight and head to the vast universe."

"Reach your dream destination, savor true freedom, become who you want to be, and pursue the dreams in your heart."

"Because the stars are just the beginning."

"Orbital Aviation, have a pleasant journey."

With the announcer's sweet voice, V and his group headed to launch pad NC423 and boarded the rocket. With a powerful push, they soared into the sky, heading towards the stars.

"Wow!"

After escaping Earth's gravity and entering near-Earth orbit, the rocket separated and initiated the return procedure, while the shuttle entered cruise mode and traveled towards the moon along a predetermined route.

Everyone, including V, pressed their faces against the portholes, peering out. A vast, dark gray planet stretched out before them—that was Earth. In the distance, a flickering flame rose—that was the sun. And between the two lay a shimmering white reflection—that was the moon.

“It’s so quiet.” Misty took Jack’s hand.

Lucy was also embraced by David: "So beautiful."

"Seeing such a vast universe makes one truly realize how insignificant humanity is." River Ward and Alex exchanged a smile.

Johnny rarely showed a bit of seriousness: "Even if we die tens of thousands of years later, they will still look the same as they do now."

Sasha snuggled into V's arms. The scene was spectacular, but if you looked at it for too long, you would fall into a nameless fear and start to doubt yourself.

The universe is too vast, and human beings are too insignificant.

Does humanity truly have meaning?

Are the things we pursue really worth it?

In other words, is the concept of "I" and the consciousness of "I" really necessary to exist?

Look at the universe, look at the stars. They have no consciousness of their own, yet they flourish and thrive without end.

Everyone went from initial excitement to silence. They had never thought about such a question before, nor had any humankind ever considered it.

Perhaps you've thought about it, but haven't found the answer.

Perhaps they found the answer, but chose to deceive themselves.

V is not wise, nor are the people on this space shuttle. Such profound questions are not for them to ponder; they have more important things to do now.

Having finally arrived in space and entered the universe, the most urgent task right now is, of course, to have a thrilling space battle!

After a brief view, the couples returned to their respective cabins and began to demonstrate humanity's resilience and profundity to the universe.

The ship's AI even thoughtfully adjusted the light transmittance of the portholes to reduce brightness and create a better atmosphere. If you ask why it is so considerate, the answer is "the same human being, the same dream." Everyone's choices are similar, after all, we're already here.

Thus, war broke out inside the space shuttle, leaving Michiko Arakasaka all alone in a corner.

V felt like she had forgotten something, but Sasha's fiery enthusiasm prevented her from thinking too much about it.

Two hours later, the boss named Pink Cat was completely defeated. V was very satisfied with his combat power and prepared to go to the restaurant outside to get a bottle of water.

When she passed by Michiko's cabin and heard soft sobbing coming from inside, she realized that she had forgotten something.

Normally, V, with her heart of stone, would never have cared. But now, V was like a saint; her heart softened, and she gently knocked on the hatch.

"Ms. Michiko, are you alright?"

The hatch opened, and V was pulled inside.

"Damn it! Don't pull down my pants, Sasha's next door! You...you can't...you can't yell too loudly!"

Two hours later, V sneaked back to his cabin like a thief.

Sasha, still half asleep and curled up in bed, asked groggily, "Where did you go?"

“I went to a restaurant.” V handed a bag of real water to Sasha’s mouth: “I bet you were really thirsty. Here, have some water.”

The pink cat was overjoyed, took a big gulp, and then clung to V like an octopus.

"V, you're so kind. I'm fully recovered, now let's prepare for my second phase!"

Sasha is also a fan of anime, which is why she became good friends with Michiko, who is also a fan of anime. She is currently using game slang, but the meaning is very clear.

V's lips twitched slightly, sweat appeared on his forehead, and his lower back felt a slight ache.

But in order not to reveal any flaws, V had no choice but to bite the bullet and press on: "Come on, come on, super strong warrior, fearless of challenges!"

Two more hours passed.

Sasha walked out of the cabin looking refreshed and greeted her friends in the lobby, while V followed behind, swaying unsteadily.

Johnny scoffed, "Young people like you are no good."

V snapped: "Fuck you!"

David and Rivers quickly chimed in, "President V must be too tired."

Jack whispered, "President V, here, take this. It's an old remedy from our Haywood people, it works!"

V: ...

After some lighthearted chatting, everyone returned to normal. We're all adults; what happened before was perfectly normal, nothing to be embarrassed about.

V, determined to get revenge on Johnny, seized on Johnny's weakness and stabbed him in the back: "With that face of yours, how did Roger let you sleep with him?"

Johnny sneered without saying a word, but a diamond-shaped spot of light appeared on his face, and he transformed from Saburo Arasaka's face back into Johnny Silverhand.

“I bought this from Alex.”

"Holy crap, a behavior sync panel!" V exclaimed. "You're using such a high-tech gadget for cosplay?"

“What’s the problem?” Johnny said smugly. “Humans live to fuck and be fucked, and that’s why humanity has been able to reproduce. The only purpose of technology is to make this process smoother and more fluid. Any technology or behavior that doesn’t serve this ultimate goal is fucking a waste of time!”

V wanted to refute him, but she felt that Johnny's words, though rough, were reasonable, leaving her speechless.

All living beings are driven by the desire for food and comfort; this is written in their genes, and scientists have long confirmed it. Some extreme scholars have even made startling claims, asserting that human self-awareness is hindering these two ultimate goals because there are so many things that can please "me," such as art, wealth, and status. These things consume a great deal of brainpower, preventing humans from focusing on food and comfort, which is the root cause of the severe decline in global birth rates; humanity has entered a dead end.

V doesn't know if humanity has reached a dead end; right now, she just wants to push Johnny into a dead end.

"And what about you?" V asked. "Is your music, your rock music, also about fucking and being fucked?"

"Of course! I've slept with more girls than you've drunk tequila back in the day. Sometimes it was two at a time, and the most I ever did was five. It was fucking amazing!"

Johnny expected V to show his ugly jealousy, but instead V gently curled the corners of his mouth.

The rock kid was stunned for a moment, then suddenly came to his senses and saw Roger standing behind him with an unfriendly expression.

Seeing Johnny turn around, Roger snorted and went straight back to his cabin, slamming the door shut.

"V, you fucking tricked me!"

V was delighted to see Johnny shamelessly begging for forgiveness at the cabin door, acting like a dog.

Everyone was very happy; the oppressive feeling they had when they first saw the universe yesterday had disappeared.

As Johnny said, reproduction is humanity's highest mission. Having just completed several main quests, the group felt confident and naturally stopped worrying. Although none of them actually intended to have children, their sense of self was successfully deceived and satisfied.

Perhaps the extremists are right: "I" has indeed become an obstacle to human progress. Self-awareness is a source of pride for humanity, but it is a flawed evolutionary path.

V didn't think about it, couldn't figure it out, and it wasn't her place to think about it.

She's just an ordinary human being. Protecting Night City, building Night City, making a fortune from Night City, and enjoying life are all things she should do.

The group spent two relaxed and enjoyable days on the space shuttle, amidst the chaos of war, before successfully landing at the lunar cloud sea base.

Yunhai Base is the first human colony established in space, several decades ago, and its facilities are now quite advanced. Orbital Aviation has built a massive air station and terminal here, complete with artificial gravity. The interior is luxuriously decorated, and it has everything from restaurants and entertainment venues to shopping. If you don't look out the window, you might not even realize that you are on the moon.

Normally, tourists need to go through complicated and tedious checks before they can "enter the country," but V is the boss of Arasaka 2077 and one of the "masters" of the Cloud Sea Base. She directly led everyone through the VIP channel. A very tall and beautiful woman, who is 192 centimeters tall, was the local receptionist sent by the Cloud Sea Base. She smiled and introduced various sights to everyone and helped them with the check-in procedures.

Sasha and Lucy, two cute anime girls, were very envious of each other's height. Seeing that the other person did not have any height-increasing prosthetics, they curiously inquired about the secret to "growing taller".

The beautiful local guide smiled slightly: "There's no secret. I'm a High-Rider, born on the moon. Because I've always been in a low-gravity environment, I'm only slightly taller than Earthlings. Actually, among us High-Riders, I'm only of average height."

"What is High-Rider?" Johnny, this washed-up rock star, only knows about fried noodles; his common sense is pitifully lacking.

The beautiful local guide proudly said, "You can call us High Knights. We are a group of people who fight tirelessly for freedom and ideals. We were once slaves, but we have taken back our dignity with our own hands!"

"That's amazing." Johnny leaned closer. "I also love fighting for freedom and ideals. How about we have a good talk about this tonight?"

"That's wonderful. It's the greatest honor of my life to be taught by the famous Saburo Arasaka."

"Haha, don't worry, I will definitely teach you well!"

Johnny put his arm around the beautiful local tour guide's shoulder.

Lucy dislikes people from Arasaka, including Saburo Arasaka. She knows that the core inside is Johnny Silverhand, but she still dislikes Johnny's lewd personality.

She asked Roger, "Are you just going to watch him flirt with women?"

"Don't worry, he can't seduce you." Roger lit a cigarette nonchalantly. "I'll squeeze him dry beforehand."

Jack, David, and River all wore wry smiles, but V trembled slightly.

Sasha asked with concern, "Why are you reacting so strongly? Are you alright?"

"N-nothing." V glanced at Michiko and saw that the woman was looking out the window nonchalantly, which made him grit his teeth in hatred.

But Michiko was very understanding, after all, she was raised in the manner of a Yamato Nadeshiko (ideal Japanese woman).

Since they were on vacation, they naturally set up a chat group beforehand. Seeing that V was a bit embarrassed, Michiko initiated a voice message in the group.

[Using his looks to please others, he has no shame; it seems the High Knight has not regained his dignity.]

This statement diverted everyone's attention and also sparked their gossip.

Sasha: [Yeah, I heard the High Knights are really hostile to Earthlings, but it seems their service is pretty good.]

Lucy: [That's because President V is there. I've been collecting information about the moon, and there are quite a few cases of ordinary tourists being bullied by High Knights.]

River Ward: [What? I heard they were a group of poor people rebelling against corporate oppression.]

Jack, a street urchin, is best positioned to speak on this matter: "The poor with money are the most terrifying; they treat their former comrades more cruelly than the rich."

Alex: [I get it, I get it, that's the convert effect. To prove they've broken free from their original class, these newly emerging classes ruthlessly oppress the original class in order to gain their approval.]

Cyber-sage Misty aptly summarized it: "The dragon slayer becomes the dragon himself."

That's absolutely right.

V also spoke up: "In the early days of humanity's spacefaring expeditions, the High Knights were originally laborers employed by the European Space Agency (ESA). However, after an armed uprising, they seized ESA's work and testing stations and declared independence. For a long time, tensions between the two sides were high. The High Knights had 10-20 combat knights with over 54% cybernetic enhancements stationed at the ESA's central testing station year-round, their purpose being to deter the ESA from taking any further action. On the ESA's side, at least three space weapon launch sites had their cannons pointed at the High Knights' residential stations, ensuring that if these knights went berserk, they could be wiped out in one fell swoop."

The High Knight and the European Space Agency remained locked in this antagonistic relationship for many years, until they realized that neither could truly defeat the other, and that neither could do without the other. At that point, they both chose to forget their past grievances and reached a reconciliation.

The European Space Agency (ESA) will recognize the High Knights' independence and regularly supply them with living provisions. At the same time, the High Knights must also safeguard the ESA's interests on the Moon and in space, given that many of them were born in space, are highly skilled in space warfare, and constitute an extremely powerful fighting force.

After V explained it this way, everyone suddenly understood.

What they heard was the public version; what V said was the unedited version that circulated only among the upper echelons.

River Ward succinctly observed: "The High Knight has been recruited by the European Space Agency, just like I was looking for an informant."

Johnny scoffed: "They're not even as good as informants. At least informants know they're just a pile of stinking dog shit. But judging from this tall girl's attitude, the commoners of the High Knights still think they're heroes rebelling against tyranny, unaware that their leader has long since colluded with their enemies. These High Knights idiots are being sold out and are even helping them count the money!"

No one was surprised, because this is all too common.

Just like the Arasaka and military technology companies back then, the lower-level employees hated each other and fought each other to the point of brain damage, but Saburo Arasaka and Lucas Haver were inseparable and would even send each other greeting text messages on holidays.

So-called hatred is nothing more than a deliberate creation, just like artificial morality such as laws and regulations.

The reason why Arasaka's employees can't live a good life is because of military technology, because if they don't hate outsiders, they will hate Saburo Arasaka.