From Gotham to Night City, my infamy is known to all.

thump—

The dull thud made Leo grimace. Fortunately, he could see clearly that Valerie had blocked the attack with her arms at the last moment, avoiding a direct hit to the head.

But it is an undeniable fact that she was pinned down by V with her back to the ground.

"A perfect human? How ridiculous!"

V gripped Valerie's arms tightly with both hands, pressing her back with even greater force whenever she tried to resist, keeping her in a humiliating position with her front wide open.

Valerie was so angry her face turned red, but she couldn't break free.

Leo craned his neck to watch, pondering whether he should savor Valerie's defeat cutscene a little longer, or step in to play peacemaker and persuade them to stop.

Or he could simply go up and beat the loser, and give Valerie a good beating... Oh no, V won't cooperate with him.

Fortunately, he won't have to worry about it for long.

The real peacemaker has arrived—

"Uh...you guys, don't fight!"

Vera, who rushed over, looked at the absurd scene in the office with a look of astonishment in her eyes.

V suppressing... another V?

Her gaze darted back and forth between the two faces, discerning the real V from their expressions.

V won. The new guy is an infiltrated agent, Arasaka... No, oh right, that Valerie we met last time was indeed an agent, Arasaka.

After a moment of confusion, she quickly stepped forward and considerately helped Valerie adjust her clothes, lest her cleavage be exposed and attract someone's covetous gaze...

Leo felt deeply regretful and leaned back in his chair.

"Don't fight, what's going on?"

Faced with Vera's maternal aura, V curled her lip, her berserk state dispelled: "I've discovered a spy who broke into Blue Dream Company, and I'm in the process of arresting and expelling him!"

Valerie caught her breath and retorted irritably, "No, I think you just want to eliminate dissidents. I already said, I'm here to surrender, and I'm already a member of Blue Dream Company!"

"You're not!"

"I am!"

"Alright, alright, stop arguing." Vera stopped the two children from fighting and gently patted V's arm. "V, let her go first, and talk things out."

"Humph!"

V glared at Valerie resentfully, expressing his regret at not being able to execute her on the spot.

The deadly combo she had originally conceived was reduced to just one move—to rip her head off with a guillotine.

Unfortunately, there's no chance today...

"You lost. You're not allowed to dress up as me anymore, and you're not allowed to impersonate my code name, or else you'll see!"

A fist the size of a clay pot was waved in front of Valerie's eyes. V stood up gracefully, walked quickly behind Leo, and wrapped her arms around his neck, asserting her dominance.

Valerie sat up, straightened her clothes, and stood up, looking dejected. She couldn't understand—had her health deteriorated from hiding her true abilities all these years? Otherwise, how could she have lost?

Vera glanced at the two Vs present, hesitated, and walked between them to act as a human buffer.

The three Vs reunited, but the atmosphere was still not very pleasant…

Chapter 417 Sharpening the sword, ready to march towards Aragaka!

Miss Valerie's feelings can be imagined, as she had hoped to impress her new boss but instead revealed her incompetence.

But she is by no means the kind of person who gives up easily. Her self-control is at its peak. When she straightens her clothes and stands up straight again, she is once again that elegant and confident strong woman.

She glanced indifferently at V, who was eyeing her covetously, but this time she didn't dare to sit at the table. Instead, she sat obediently in a chair, her long legs crossed, her posture calm and composed.

Testing your boss's "tolerance" is something that should only be done once in the short term. Doing it more often is testing human nature, which is not good.

As for the smug victor on the other side, she really didn't care.

Born into poverty, a lone wolf, and having spent her early teens on the streets, such a person, no matter how strong, is only a fierce general charging into battle. Managing a department would be difficult for her, let alone an entire company army.

The Chief Security Officer is her ceiling, even with the assistance of an advisory team.

Hmph, no matter how good he is at fighting, he's just a sharp knife in my hand, nothing to worry about!

V keenly sensed that the imposter opposite him was slandering him, and his arms involuntarily tightened. He was already thinking about finding an opportunity to give her a good beating.

Vera hesitated for a moment, then stood to the side of the table so that she could mediate if the two sides started fighting.

The person in the best mood was Leo. He had completed another small stage in his life goal and was striding towards the ideal of ruling the world while intoxicated by beautiful women.

He glanced around at the three V-types present, choosing to remain silent, wanting to see what kind of sparks they could create.

The silent standoff was finally broken by Valerie.

"You're quite good, the most capable opponent I've ever faced. With your skill level, and with hackers providing network protection, you should be able to take on several terrorist mobile units or the Arasaka ninja squad single-handedly."

At first glance, it sounded like a compliment, but the tone of a superior commenting on a subordinate made V somewhat uncomfortable.

"But that's about it. Even with the most advanced cybernetic bodies, a single soldier can only take on a hundred elite armored troops at most. In open areas where war vehicles can operate freely, they will most likely lose."

V frowned, but had to admit that what she said was true. Even the strongest individual soldier has a limit; even the infamous Adam Hammer had never single-handedly defeated an elite armored unit.

but--

That's ancient history!

She glanced down at Leo and tightened her arms around him.

With the blessing of a divine artifact from another world, being able to fight against ten thousand, or even one person against an entire nation, is no longer a fantasy!

"That's because you're short-sighted. I'll soon surpass what you're describing!"

V's confident words surprised Valerie, because she realized that he was telling the truth and genuinely felt that way.

But... how can we do that?

Prosthetic body Vajra?

In her understanding, only this unfinished equipment could theoretically allow a single person to fight against an elite army.

I can’t figure it out…

Let's put it aside for now. Since she said it would be soon, let's wait and see.

Valerie quickly adjusted her mindset and continued to use words as weapons: "I hope what you mean by 'soon' isn't about India. Let's talk about the present first. Before you came in and interrupted our conversation, we were talking about making a lot of money for the company."

She took out her smartphone, opened an app, and shared the live feed with several people.

It was a stock trading software program, and we had already entered a subpage displaying the candlestick chart of a stock.

Leo doesn't know much about stock trading, but he could still tell that the stock was slightly down.

Stock Name: Arakasaka Co., Ltd.

Today's change: -0.7%

"Arasaka's stock?"

"That's right, now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a fortune by shorting Arasaka stock!"

Valerie became excited.

"Ever since we agreed to have the entire counterintelligence department act as witnesses for the prosecution in Kangtao, I've been closely monitoring Arasaka stock. On the day Xu Shiming arrived in Night City, major funds finally started to position themselves in the market, at least in the tens of billions. I think it's very likely Kangtao!"

They know about our intelligence leak plan and are probably trying to profit from it. If our company has any spare funds, we could easily jump in and get a piece of the action. At most, making 10-20% shouldn't be difficult!

Leo's heart stirred. Ever since the day Xu Shiming arrived?

That is, on April 1st, the other party had just learned of the Arasaka Counterintelligence Department's rebellion plan and began to lay out a plan to short Arasaka stock. That's incredibly efficient.

He's not short of money right now, but it wouldn't hurt to cause some trouble for Arasaka and make a little clean money along the way.

Seeing that he was interested, Valerie immediately used her silver tongue to offer to manage the operation and guarantee that she would make the company a fortune.

Leo knew she was eager to prove herself and make a name for herself so she could climb to a higher position during the power vacuum in the company.

V, however, had a different opinion: "Although I used to be just a mercenary, I understand the principle that not gambling is the key to winning. Many people have become addicted to gambling, losing everything and ending up worse than human. What's the difference between your so-called short-term trading and betting on big or small? I personally think it's not good."

Valerie shook her head: "Stock trading does involve gambling, but this time is different. Arasaka lost a piece of land in Night City to Comto and is surrounded by the Anti-Arasaka Alliance. There will also be a major intelligence leak at noon today. These are all major negative factors."

I'm not sure if Kangtao will leak the information to the military science and biotechnology departments, but their think tanks aren't stupid; they should be able to see Arasaka's decline. Look, in just this short time, it's dropped another 0.1, which shows that the establishment of Lanmeng Company in Taipingzhou has indeed had a negative impact on Arasaka.

Everyone looked at the phone screen.

Sure enough, it's now -0.8%.

It seems that Xu Shiming's endorsement and the agreement reached between Lanmeng Company and the municipal government, which effectively gave them control of Taipingzhou, have indeed made many people sense something unusual.

“There’s no reason to hesitate, I’ve put all my own savings into it!” Valerie continued to increase her bets.

Leo wasn't particularly interested in money anymore, but he was intrigued by Valerie's past: "Your secret stash of money? You've only been working for three years, how much could you have saved?"

"One million one hundred thousand. A small part of it was secretly saved up during missions, but most of it came from your commission to capture the cyber psychopath."

"So it really was you, the mysterious hacker who made the move in the eastern suburbs to capture the boss of the Night Wanderer." Leo had expected this and wasn't surprised. "Your 'Cyber ​​Psychopath' puppet was self-developed?"

"No, I found it from a hacker in the Vortex Gang during a mission. That gang is a bit sinister; at least a third of its members have varying degrees of cyberpsychosis, which is why they were able to develop such bizarre puppets."

"Give me a copy, I need to study it."

"it is good."

Valerie didn't ask any further questions and passed the Cyber ​​Mental Idol to Leo.

Pure White stepped forward and accepted the puppet; in fact, this was a request she made herself.

After the brief hiatus, Leo decided to add an extra layer of insurance to prevent the company's first investment from failing and damaging his illustrious image.

"Whether Kangtao plans to short Arakawa stock or not, we can find out by asking him."

That's right, instead of guessing, why not just make a phone call!

"Whoosh—whoosh—"

The call connected, and Li Qixuan's live video feed appeared.

He immediately asked curiously, "Is it urgent? I just got back to the Contour Building and am about to meet with Director Jenkins from Arakasaka."

Leo cut to the chase: "Let's get straight to the point, Brother Li, is Kang Tao planning to short Arasaka's stock?"

He changed how he addressed them, trying to get closer to each other.

Li Qixuan readily accepted this more intimate form of address: "That's true, I see you've also invested quite a bit of money, haven't you?"

"Us?" Leo was taken aback. "We're just about to enter the market, and we've only invested a few billion. Aren't we the two 'allies'?"

"..."

Li Qixuan quickly checked the information before speaking:

“Strange, it shouldn’t be them. We plan to talk to them about the tainted witness this afternoon. Another big fund entered the market on the morning of April 1st, around the time Chairman Xu announced his visit to Night City. We thought it was you guys.”

An unknown force is shorting Arakawa, and this is happening even before Xu Shiming officially arrives...

The only company with such certainty—that Arasaka would definitely run into trouble, and that his reputation and stock would plummet—was Yoru, or rather, Lilith, who held the cards.

It seems the "Frankfurt incident" is about to happen sooner than expected. The other side chose this timing to definitely try to shift the blame for the intelligence leak onto Kang Tao, since Xu Shiming is such a high-profile target.

They're thinking the same thing; everyone wants to take a bite out of Arasaka...

After clarifying his thoughts, Leo replied, "It seems there's a third party lurking in the shadows interfering. But that's alright; with more funding, Arasaka will only lose more. Since you're getting involved, we'll go with you. This won't interfere with your work."

"Okay, let's keep in touch if anything comes up."

Li Qixuan hung up the phone, and judging from his slightly furrowed brows, he would probably investigate who this "third party" who had entered the scene early was.

The light in Leo's eyes dimmed, and he looked at Valerie with a smile:

"It seems that the leak will also happen in Frankfurt. It concerns the mass accelerator on the moon. The European Space Agency won't let Arasaka get away with it. Go ahead and invest. Take 80 billion of idle funds from the company account. You and my secretary 'Pure White' will participate in shorting Arasaka's stock."

"No problem, leave it to me, boss!"

Valerie smiled brightly, but inwardly she was surprised by the depth of the relationship between Leo and Contau.

It involves a stock market short-selling project worth tens of billions of dollars, and they found out about it with just one phone call. This relationship is beyond what the word "good" can describe.

It seems there must be other collaborative projects between these two companies, projects far more important than these tens of billions, for them to have this level of trust.

Valerie received her first job offer and, eager to get started, asked two very practical questions—

Where should she work? And where should she live?