From Terra to Terra, the Star Emperor's Holiday

"maybe…"

When it comes to some past events that she doesn't want to forget, Qiwei is vague.

"Is this scavenger hunt real? Are those cut kidneys so valuable?"

The city taken over by the synths generated a mission hall similar to that in RPG games. At this time, there was only one mission, which was to eradicate the scavenger organization in the city.

Although the Marines can cut through mountains and cross rivers, they can't just flatten Night City for a few scavengers.

Therefore, those rats hiding in the dark corners still have to be dealt with by the marginal people who are familiar with the streets and alleys of Night City. It is also a good opportunity to gain trust and make these ordinary people who have been driven to nervous breakdown by the company feel more sense of belonging to the Star Empire.

"Of course it's true. Do you want to register? Just bring back the Scavenger's head or brain core. We'll inspect it. Be careful. If you're caught killing innocent people and claiming credit for something, you'll face extremely horrific punishment."

In order to prevent some lunatics from picking off a few heads and claiming they were scavengers, some preventive measures must be taken.

"Let's go, hurry up, we're already a step too late. If we're any later, all the scavengers in the city might be killed. Qiwei, hurry up and see if those scavenger strongholds in Taiping Prefecture are still there!"

After estimating the number of supplies equivalent to the points allocated for one scavenger's head, Mann suddenly and decisively began to gather the team members.

Although the reason was unclear, marginalized people would often move when there was a mission, and Mann's team assembled quite quickly.

"Wait for me! Mann!"

Rebecca, who was drinking a glass of Snyder juice at the bar, hurriedly followed, leaving Lucy speechless.

"This big guy is a smart guy."

Nian was eating the nut gift bag that Si Ye had taken out from somewhere, and commenting on Mann's wise choice.

"People on the margins are generally very smart. After all, those who aren't smart usually fail on their first day. They're just limited by their vision and can sometimes be short-sighted. That's normal, normal."

Si Ye picked and chose, and stuffed a bunch of unopened happy nuts into Nian's mouth, which earned him a punch in the heart. Looking at Lucy who was hesitant to speak, he suggested to her:

"Don't look like that. I've already taken over the moon. If you want to go there, I can take you there right now."

“…What will become of Arasaka?”

The moment Arasaka Tower was occupied by the Star Empire, the nightmare in Lucy's heart that prompted her to escape was shattered. Now she was not so anxious to go to the moon to escape everything.

"Destroy, reassemble, and finally disappear from the world. What, want to change your wish?"

"Then please allow me to stay by your side until we see the end... As for the reward we agreed on earlier, we can discuss it after the end."

As if relieved and liberated, Lucy faced the sunlight shining into the room and smiled from the heart.

...

Chapter 244 Wandering AI

"nailed it?"

"It's done. Johnny has agreed to lure Otto out."

There was an unconcealable fatigue on Roger's face. It was obvious that communicating with a stubborn guy like Johnny Silverhand was a very tiring task.

"Old... I don't know why you insist on finding Otto, but is the body you promised real?"

Johnny Silverhand's data panel was hung on the wall by Rogge. This hippie seemed to be very concerned about the reward promised by Si Ye.

"It's a synthetic human body, with a blank positron brain. Its parameters can be adjusted according to the user's needs. You can lure your girlfriend out. Then you can each have a body, and you can be considered to have returned to the human world."

Si Ye showed the other party the various functions of the spy synth.

Ever since he met Friston, Si Ye has stockpiled a lot of similar bodies in his inventory. In the universe, there are many people who are left with only consciousness bodies or consciousness models, which can be a good bargaining chip.

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in Ultra. What I want is the secrets behind the black wall after she became a wandering AI."

I don’t know how Rogge did it. The stubborn Johnny didn’t ask any questions. He just nodded and fell silent after confirming that Si Ye’s promise was true.

"As for you, you work very hard. What kind of reward do you want? Do you want to return to your youth?"

Si Ye looked at Rogge again. He had forcefully broken into the afterlife yesterday and was now forcibly requisitioning it. Rogge had always been very cooperative, so it was only right that he should be compensated.

"When Johnny and Otto get their bodies, they'll both be young and handsome, and it won't be good for you to be old and ugly alone, right..."

If it weren't for Johnny Silverhand, Rogge would never want to have anything to do with a big man like Si Ye with a mysterious origin. She wanted to refuse the reward Si Ye mentioned, but what Si Ye said hit her heart.

As for women, unless they are "gods" like years whose lifespan is almost endless, they always have various anxieties about age and appearance.

"…Then thank you in advance."

Unable to refuse, Rogge could only thank Si Ye.

"It's a small matter, a small matter. I have temporarily requisitioned 'Next Life'. I will settle the ration points for you when the time comes."

Seeing a synth coming over, Roger tactfully picked up Johnny Silverhand, who was still in deep thought, and returned to the previous box.

"Your Majesty, Johnny Silverhand's signal has been posted on the city area network."

"Well, monitor the network. Oh, and our synthetic army has entered Night City. Are there any movements from those roving AIs?"

The black wall is only used to prevent those AIs that have no intelligence and no personality model running around in the old network.

Half-human, half-AI creatures like Ultra and AIs like Mr. Blue Eyes, who already have complete personality models and even physical bodies, can enter the black wall with ease.

I can only say that the black wall is protected, if it is protected.

"There was tentative contact, but with their computing power, they couldn't even break through the synths' built-in firewalls, let alone the combined protective network formed by the computing power hosts and your psychic barriers.

The online world ultimately relies on computing power. Although some of the former computing centers and supercomputing cores have been occupied by AI due to the collapse of the old network, even a computing city built entirely by various computer architectures may not be able to match the joint network built by the positronic brains of several synthetic humans.

"Command Center estimates that the strongest resistance the fleet will face after its arrival will not come from corporations or governments, but from AI-controlled unmanned vessels and weapons."

"These roaming AIs, some are smarter than humans, some are dumber than animals. Keep an eye on them. If you can't make it, just abandon the treasures and destroy them directly."

Come to think of it, it's true. The out-of-control military AI in the old Internet era forced many countries in the cyberpunk world to give up their originally extremely convenient water transportation. The AI ​​submarines and ships in the out-of-control military bases, under the control of the wandering AI, are like great white sharks swimming in their territory, indiscriminately attacking everything that enters its attack range.

Military-industrial enterprises that are able to fight against these out-of-control military AIs will not do good things. As long as those out-of-control AI ships do not affect the company's routes, they will not care whether the countries that rely on shipping will collapse.

Those military AIs naturally know how to assess the situation and weigh the pros and cons. They will not proactively provoke large corporate fleets that can destroy them, but will secretly collect resources and rely on the automated factories that are still in operation to continuously expand themselves and accumulate strength.

Abstract, the cyberpunk world becomes more and more abstract the more you look at it.

...

"What are you thinking about?"

Si Ye returned to the bar of the next life. He gave up struggling with those unopened defective nuts and sat there, not knowing what he was thinking.

"I was wondering if I could also get a lot of temporary quotas according to the rules of the Xinghai Empire."

"…According to the rules, there's a lot, but why do you need it? The temporary quota isn't worth much when converted into the official currency of the Star Empire. If you don't have enough, I can give you some."

He participated in the first half of the Night City occupation, effectively consuming the morale of the defense forces of various companies and even crushing the morale of the NCPD.

According to the Imperial Wartime Regulations, she was indeed able to obtain a large temporary quota.

But the supplies that Si Ye dispatched to this world were just scraps of scraps. For the people of Night City who had rarely eaten a good meal in their lives, those were good things.

But for a girl who officially enjoys the treatment of an imperial concubine, what use is that thing? Even if she exchanges the temporary quota for regular currency, the exchange rate is barely enough to buy a new smart floating camera.

"I can use those temporary quotas to hire actors in this world. My creative drive is about to explode. It just so happens that while some of the marginalized people in this world look a bit odd, some are still passable. I can make a film called 'Cyber ​​Blade of the Ancient Metal City'. I have a feeling it'll be a huge hit!"

It can be seen that Nian’s creative desire is indeed off the charts.

Humans in the cyberpunk world cannot compare to Terrans in terms of physical fitness, and some stunts may require wirework, but those heavily modified marginalized mercenaries can make up for these shortcomings very well. With the addition of various prosthetics, not to mention jumping up and down, they also have all kinds of light and shadow effects.

"...Okay, I'll have someone prepare a batch of temporary ration cards for you. Would you like me to also help you arrange some projection equipment? Once you return to Terra, you can get some investment from Ji and instantly become a top-tier director with your own theater chain. You can have your films shown as often as you like."

Si Ye is a person who likes to watch the fun and is not afraid of trouble, but he feels that with the high-tech blessing of projection equipment, no matter how bad or abstract the movies are, there will always be people who are willing to experience new things and watch them for novelty.

"Wow! What a great idea! You're the one! I'll go write the script right away!"

Nian gave Si Ye a kiss filled with nutty flavor, then turned around and started thinking about the script.

...

Chapter 245 Arasaka 'Fatherly Love and Filial Piety'

The turmoil in Night City is not a good thing for the Arasaka Group, but it is not a bad thing either.

Although Arasaka invested a lot of effort in Night City, it was taken away and destroyed by an unknown force. Even with Arasaka's size, it would hurt for a long time.

But since its competitor, Militech, also suffered such a blow, this matter can only be considered neither good nor bad. After all, as long as Militech does not win, the Arasaka Group will remain calm.

But there are also some not-so-good aspects.

For example, Arasaka Yorinobu, the son of Arasaka Corporation's CEO and chief executive officer Saburo Arasaka, was captured by a mysterious force in Night City.

Although Saburo Arasaka has many children and a bunch of grandchildren, he really only has this one son left.

To this end, the tycoon who was in charge of the Arasaka Group mobilized the Arasaka Group's super aircraft carrier fleet, and resolutely went on board the ship to go to Night City to redeem his son.

What do you think? Doesn’t this portray the image of a great father who loves his son so much that he is willing to do anything for him and even take risks for himself?

But once he knew about the Relic chip and the Soul Killer Plan, Saburo Arasaka's image as a good father turned into another face.

You should know that Saburo Arasaka is a Showa veteran who participated in World War II and survived to this day. He is now over 150 years old.

Although being in charge of Arasaka allowed Saburo Arasaka to obtain the best medical services and prosthetic life extension, his body had ultimately reached a limit. He desperately needed the success of the Relic Project, and he desperately needed the body of his only surviving son.

His life is no longer enough to support him to choose a suitable grandchild or have another son. For the sake of his own dream of eternal life, Saburo Arasaka is willing to bring Arasaka Yorinobu back under his control even if it means sacrificing half of the Arasaka Group's assets or even his own life.

From a seemingly loving father to an ambitious man who covets his son's body, to borrow Arasaka Yorinobu's evaluation of Arasaka Saburo: a terrifying, militarist ghost stubbornly rooted in the earth, a chronic disease of the world.

"Want to show your sincerity? Want to have a meeting on the top floor of Arashi Tower?"

Arasaka Group's supercarrier fleet was stagnant about 300 nautical miles away from Night City.

As the supplier of Night City's city defense weapons, Arasaka is naturally aware of the parameters of Night City's various city defense weapons. This distance allows the aircraft carrier fleet to exert its maximum power without being affected by Night City's coastal defense firepower.

However, Saburo Arasaka did not choose to negotiate at this distance using the aircraft carrier fleet as a deterrent. Instead, he contacted the synths who managed the network through the intercity network, wanting to have a face-to-face talk with Si Ye.

Perhaps he wanted to figure out Si Ye, the sudden competitor who seemed to have sprung out of nowhere, or perhaps he wanted to confirm whether his eldest son had any missing limbs or had been subjected to any means that would affect his immortality.

In short, this legendary figure who has lived for more than 150 years wants to meet with Si Ye in the Huangban Tower to discuss the redemption agreement.

"It just so happens that I believe Arasaka Yoriaki would be willing to put on a grand show of 'fatherly love and filial piety' for us..."

The order was passed down, and the Arasaka Group's transport plane took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier and headed towards Night City. Arasaka Yorinobu, who had undergone some prosthetic optimization, arrived at the top of the Arasaka Tower early, waiting for his legendary father.