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

Fashion news anchor Gillian's expression was serious, devoid of any smile, her face filled with solemnity.

Please do not change the channel. It would be best to watch this with your family and friends, as this news concerns everyone in Night City. Our peaceful and stable lives, which have just begun, could very well be shattered again by Arasaka's atrocities!

Without further ado, we'll connect with our reporter on the scene to take you deep into the dark secrets of the Arasaka Corporation!

The large screen behind her switched signals.

The image shows a handsome middle-aged man with black hair and blue eyes, dressed in a sharp suit that looks like a high-end, custom-made garment.

Just as the audience thought he was a reporter from News 54, his self-introduction and subtitles appeared simultaneously.

[Hello everyone, my name is Arthur Jenkins, Director of Counterintelligence at Arasaka Americas Headquarters, and concurrently serving as Interim Senior Director. Most of you may not recognize me, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that I bring some very real and extremely important intelligence, exposing the ugly truth beneath Arasaka's radiant image!]

Before the opening remarks were even finished, the ratings for News Channel 54 suddenly soared.

When the protest from Arasaka Corporation's Chief Information Officer reached the contact person at News Channel 54, it was ruthlessly rejected on the grounds that "news media have independence."

Seeing that the program could still be broadcast and had not been cut off, many small news channels tried to seek rebroadcasting rights from News 54.

News Channel 54 responded very quickly—all requests that made this request were approved instantly, regardless of whether they were from mainstream media or not.

For a time, dozens of television channels were simultaneously broadcasting Jenkins' live stream.

Even some car radios interrupted their original programs to join in.

Jenkins, in a secluded room, watched as the Comtôme executive gave him a thumbs-up and continued reading his prepared statement:

My current mission is to investigate the truth behind the incident in the eastern suburbs, involving the explosion at the Contau power plant and the disappearance of a convoy of military and biotechnology vehicles. During the investigation, I've uncovered a truth that deeply troubles my conscience—

These things were indeed done by a high-ranking official at Arasaka Corporation, but she has powerful backers who are preventing me from investigating her. Left with no other choice, I've resorted to this tactic: acting as a witness for the prosecution at Contour Corporation, identifying my former colleague—Special Operations Director Susan Abernathy!

Jenkins felt incredibly happy after saying that name.

For so many years... Ever since they worked together in Osaka, that bitch has been at odds with him. Later, she even clung to Hanako Arasaka's coattails and stole the position of Special Operations Director that should have belonged to him.

Now, we can finally get our revenge!

Li Qixuan, sitting opposite him, gave him another thumbs up.

Well done, that's it!

Everything was developing in the direction Kangtao hoped for—they didn't want to push Arasaka too far and actually trigger a full-scale war, but they also didn't want Arasaka to have it too easy; at the very least, they wanted them to "cede territory and pay reparations," giving up Taipingzhou.

After careful consideration, they decided to play along and chose the path that Arasaka had once taken. However, this time, the scapegoat was Abernathy.

Now that they know Abernathy's "backer" is Hanako Arasaka, they might as well pin this blame on her and disgust the Arasaka family.

The troublemakers here are sharing their joy.

The Arasaka executive conference room was deathly silent. Apart from a few executives who had rushed away to put out the fire, everyone stared quietly at Abernathy, whose face was ashen, their expressions complex and unreadable.

“Jenkins—”

Abernathy's teeth were almost shattered.

Damn traitor! Bastard!!

Arasaka will not let him go. He will be torn to pieces, his bones and marrow will be removed, and he will wail in agony all night in the torture chamber until Arasaka is satisfied and can breathe his last!

But now, her top priority is to save herself…

Where are the other mid- to high-ranking officers in the Counterintelligence Department?

After an emergency self-check, the main control AI, which has entered safe mode, responded quickly:

"Most of the officers at the level of Operations Manager and above accompanied the traitor Jenkins to meet with Kang Tao, starting at 10:00 a.m., when you and the other leaders were still in Taipingzhou."

A few officials were on field duty, one of whom died in the line of duty at the end of March, taking his life along with a regional intermediary under the military technology umbrella. The biosignals of the others have been lost; it is unclear whether this was due to interference or death.

Abernathy's expression twisted into a grimace: "So, the attack from inside Arasaka Tower also originated from the counterintelligence department?"

"The Counterintelligence Department's equipment was the main target of the attack, but other departments' terminals were also infected with hacker puppets. After investigation, it was found that the Counterintelligence Department had been conducting frequent internal surprise inspections recently, and it is very likely that the tampering occurred during those inspections."

"grass--"

Everyone witnessed Jenkins' internal investigation and assumed he was desperate and starting to act recklessly. To avoid suspicion, they deliberately avoided him, but this inadvertently gave him an opportunity.

Needless to say, those officials who went out on field missions were probably eliminated by him because they were unwilling to betray Arasaka!

Abernathy glanced quickly at the list of missing persons, and just as she was about to close the interface, her eyes froze—Veronica Valerie, Jenkins' subordinate brought back from the European branch, and also the lowest-ranking official in the counterintelligence department. Her face…

Quickly open Leo's folder and view the information on the Immortal Squad.

Vivian... Vera...

Two faces that look exactly like Valerie's...

Triplets or genetic modification?

It is known that Leo and Kang Tao have an ambiguous relationship, and he is suspected to be the illegitimate son of a high-ranking official there. His subordinates were recruited after arriving in Night City, but it cannot be ruled out that they are "spies" planted in advance.

If the triplets were his people from the beginning, then... Jenkins didn't just betray him now; he had already made contact with Comtau six months ago when he went to the European branch on official business.

That's why he brought Valerie back!

So... the disappearance of the floating car fleet wasn't a false accusation against him; it really was orchestrated by him, working with Kang Tao and even the Anti-Araizaka Alliance!?

"Jenkins, that traitor! He's been plotting this for a long time! It's all a conspiracy by Kanto! What peace declaration? It's clearly a delaying tactic. What kind of peace declaration lasts only 48 hours?! This is all aimed at Arasaka!"

Abernathy shared his findings with his colleagues, eager to absolve himself of responsibility.

The audience remained silent, unsure whether they believed her or... cared about her words.

During the live television broadcast, Jenkins continued to speak eloquently.

He recounted the various clues he found during his mission, all of which pointed to Abernathy and the person behind her... whom he dared not name.

They kept claiming they were carrying out a "highly classified mission," something even I, with temporary senior director authority, wasn't qualified to inquire about. The disappearance of the air convoy is shrouded in mystery; unless the convoy vanished into thin air, the clues must lie with these people and things I don't have the authority to investigate.

I knew that mere words weren't enough, so I secretly investigated Abernathy's records over the years, and the brutality and bloodshed they revealed were appalling. I could no longer work with someone like that, and even at the risk of being silenced by Arasaka, I had to stand up and identify this woman who deserved to die!

After saying that, Jenkins started to reveal some shocking information!

He gives away Arasaka's classified information for free, and he makes public all kinds of information that are not meant to be seen and are buried deep in the secret database.

Information that rival companies' spies and hackers struggle to obtain, he can capture in a single sentence, down to the date, the department responsible, and the method of processing.

The reason it's so accurate is that he did a lot of it himself, only he changed the name of the person handling it to Abernathy!

Arasaka Corporation certainly knew that this information was problematic, but would they dare to stand up and argue against it?

Jenkins could simply admit it and say that he did those things, but back then he was still a loyal Arasaka employee, and these were all tasks assigned by the company!

In addition to these personal experiences, he also took out a small portion of the intelligence he had dug out from the classified database to enrich the evidence against Arasaka.

As for the remaining majority, it depends on when Kangtao decides to use it.

The Arasaka Corporation's secret operations in recent years have been exposed one by one, including those in Night City and the atrocities they have committed in other regions.

The audience in Night City nearly choked on their gossip. From initial elation to growing apprehension upon witnessing the increasingly cruel truth, their emotions fluctuated like a rollercoaster ride.

A little more composed than the Night City audience was the stock of Arasaka Corporation—which had been steadily plummeting ever since Jenkins started making his revelations!

There are no ups and downs, no waves, just keep your head down and charge forward!

In just over ten minutes, Arasaka's stock plummeted from -0.5% to -4.1%, and a Level 1 circuit breaker was imminent!

"Large funds are frantically dumping shares; this is a premeditated short-selling attack on Arakasaka stock!"

The chief financial officer screamed hoarsely, his eyes filled with undisguised terror.

But no one paid him any attention; they were after Arasaka, and anyone with a brain could tell that.

The issue is…

What exactly does Kang Tao want to do?

To what extent should we proceed?

What role did Arasaka's arch-rival, military technology, play here?

News Channel 54 is practically the mouthpiece for military technology…

A sense of impending doom hung over the hearts of every employee in Arasaka.

Chapter 424 The Arasaka Company Suffers...

The live television broadcast lasted another fifteen minutes, and Jenkins practically stripped Arasaka naked.

Many of their dirty deeds over the years have come to light, drawing widespread condemnation.

Many anonymous accounts on the internet spontaneously organized to send "friendly greetings" to Arasaka, and the company hackers could not keep up with the speed at which they created new accounts.

The battle in the stock market was even more brutal, with the stabilization fund of the Americas division being poured in to stabilize Arasaka's stock price.

The battles on all sides are extremely intense, and the situation is very unfavorable for Arasaka, but it is not to the point of a complete collapse.

until--

The three musketeers who besieged the Arasaka border checkpoint make a comeback.

Li Qixuan has been promoted to Chief Security Officer;

Meredes, who also rose through the ranks to become the deputy director of government and public relations;

And a senior biotech operations manager who's stuck in the same place;

Ten days ago, the three leaders who had jointly denounced Arasaka Corporation during a live television broadcast appeared together again, leaving Arasaka executives stunned.

Sure enough, they launched into a tirade, bringing up the dramatic changes in the eastern suburbs that had just cooled down.

Arasaka is awful! They blew up the Contau power plant, causing hundreds of millions in property damage, dozens of casualties, and even raising electricity prices in Night City!

Arasaka is guilty of heinous crimes. They attacked a joint convoy of military and biotechnology companies, intending to start a new war!

Arakasa...

Arasaka is being bombarded with negative news!

Online, there was an overwhelming outcry against Arasaka Corporation's atrocities, with numerous short essays emerging.

Some of these were obviously fake, more like misleading information, but others were presented in a detailed and intriguing manner.

Valerie's advance planning began to take effect, and many small and illegal media outlets that had received damaging information about Arasaka were eager to add more boiling water to the frying pan.

Apart from media outlets like WNS News, which are biased towards Arasaka and are still stubbornly trying to maintain a neutral stance, other places are calling for Arasaka's downfall.

Just as the downward trend had stopped, Arasaka's stock price began to fall again, resolutely reaching the -7% mark amidst the despair in the eyes of the chief financial officer.

Arakasaka stock triggered a Level 1 circuit breaker, forcibly halting trading for 15 minutes.

The finance department was in an uproar, with many people starting to wonder: could a human survive if forced to stop breathing for 15 minutes...?

Of all the senior executives, the most desperate was the Chief Financial Officer. In just half an hour, Arasaka's market capitalization evaporated by nearly 600 billion euros...

If this can't be salvaged, the finance department at the Americas headquarters might as well all write their wills.

At the critical moment, timely assistance from the Japanese headquarters arrived.

After a brief offline period, Hanako Arasaka returns with exciting news: "Headquarters has approved an emergency intervention fund, which will be immediately injected into the stock market after trading resumes to stabilize Arasaka's stock price!"

After an emergency discussion by his think tank, Arasaka still maintains that there is no risk of a full-scale war at present.

The alliance of the three companies led by Kangtao was very loud and aggressive, but it also maintained restraint, leaving Arasaka room to "sacrifice a pawn to save the king".

They claimed this was Abernathy's personal act, which gave Arasaka an escape route to absolve the Arasaka Corporation of responsibility by abandoning her.

If it weren't for Abernathy's backer being Hanako Arasaka, and their inability to allow Ms. Hanako's reputation to be damaged, this proposal would have been passed long ago.

Even so, it seems only a matter of time before it passes.

Hanako Arakawa felt a pang of unease as she read the distress message from her loyal subordinate.

Abernathy was a trusted confidante whom she had promoted from the bottom, and she had originally hoped to elevate her to a higher level to better control the Night City branch...

After thinking for a moment, she sent a text message to reassure her subordinates: "Don't panic. There's been no unusual movement from the armies of those companies. This is most likely just a business war. Although the information they've released so far may damage Arasaka's reputation, it's far from enough to cripple him."

That's right, those bad things were done by Arasaka. So what if he admits it?

Seeking justice for the deceased?

Should we sue Arasaka Co., Ltd. in court?

Organizing a group to attack Arasaka Company?

Even if ordinary people know the truth, what can they do? What can they do?

Arasaka Corporation—no, I should say all large corporations—has been inhumane for quite some time now. Aside from anonymously venting online, ordinary citizens still go to work and live paycheck to paycheck; they can't change anything, they're just a bunch of insignificant troublemakers!