2077: V really knows how awesome he is

"Don't be so pessimistic, we have reinforcements too."

"what?"

"Remember my phone call just now? Look, they're here."

As the words fell, another unit drove up from the 9 o'clock direction. Their vehicles were marked with leaf symbols, which was Biotechnica!

Compared to Comtau, the biotechnology forces are far more disorganized, but their soldiers are all tall, strong, and incredibly powerful. As a company primarily focused on gene technology, biotechnology not only developed alcohol-2 fuel, signaling the end of fossil fuels, but also controls global food production lines for various synthetic foods. Most importantly, they possess the world's most powerful genetically modified soldiers. It's no exaggeration to say that biotechnology has never lost a battle of equal numbers, which explains the previous joint attack by major corporations.

“Sorry I’m late,” Joanne Koch’s voice came through the communicator. “Researchers are all slowpokes. It took a full forty minutes for them to approve my application. V, you’re not mad at me, are you?”

“Of course not.” V chuckled. “I’m just glad you came, Joanne. I owe you one.”

"Hey, do we need to talk about our relationship? V, I'll leave Kangtao to you guys. Keep going."

"Then please!"

The military science convoy continued forward, with Kangtao and biotechnology standing in stark contrast, one in the north and the other in the south.

Seeing that Kangtao seemed to be really preparing to attack, Joanne Koch scoffed and shouted directly into the public channel:

"She's just a lover, something to play around with. Are you really prepared to live and die with her? This is a civil war within Arasaka right now. We're just tools, here to repay a favor. Mutual restraint without any losses is the best option. I'm sure your boss sent you here to fan the flames, since everyone in Night City hates Arasaka. But if you fan the flames and end up getting burned, that would be pure idiocy. You'd better think about how to explain this to your boss."

Kang Tao didn't reply, but after half a minute, he obediently changed to a defensive formation.

“That’s right.” Joanne Koch also had the biotechnology team set up a defensive formation, and then she happily watched the show.

Afterwards, Abernathy called Zeta Technology, since besides her lover, she also had a husband from Zeta Technology.

Although Zeta Tech was quite strong, it was far inferior to Comtoco. Meredith Stock didn't hesitate and immediately led his team into battle.

“Leave this to me, you can keep going.” Meredith Stock jumped into another car, glanced at V, and said solemnly, “Don’t die.”

"Don't worry, I will definitely win."

V began driving the vehicle, while David, clad in a prosthetic suit, stood ready in the cargo box at the rear.

As we passed the last intersection, the view suddenly opened up before us.

A giant holographic goldfish swirled in the air; we had arrived at the company plaza.

It begins here, and it ends here.

How romantic!

As sirens blared, numerous NCPD police cars were already on high alert. Then, with a deafening explosion in the air, a police hovercraft sped over.

Ordinary police officers are not authorized to use air vehicles. In Night City, there is only one law enforcement agency that can use air vehicles, and that is the Terrorist SWAT team!

“Masked lady… no, Vice Minister V, do you need me to fight?” David asked.

"It's not time for you to make a move yet. You should rest and conserve your energy."

V said, opening the car door and getting out.

The NCPD officers were on high alert. One of the leading officers, hiding behind a car and holding a gun, shouted nervously, "Surrender immediately! You are under arrest for seriously endangering public safety!"

“I told you, this is a personal feud between me and Abernathy.” V knew that these were reinforcements that Abernathy had brought in through the Night Corporation, and she had no intention of making things difficult for these police officers who were paid a fixed salary: “Leave. You only make a few hundred dollars a month. There’s no need to get involved in the battles of big companies.”

The leading officer was clearly tempted. He glanced at the group, reached a consensus, and was about to pack up and retreat when the Terrorist Mobile Squad's hovercraft landed. Five fully armed squad members jumped out: an assault operator, a heavy artillery operator, a sniper operator, a mantis operator, and a hacker operator.

"You're the one causing trouble here?" The burlyest heavy artillery operator arrogantly walked up to V: "Who the hell do you think you are?"

V smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

With a soft "whoosh," sparks flew from the heavy artillery operator's head.

"Watch out, she's hacking our system!"

The hacker shouted a warning to his teammates and began executing anti-intrusion procedures, but he was surprised to find that his base was as fragile as paper and was instantly torn to shreds by V's exaggerated computing power.

The assault operative raised his weapon to fire, but the high-tech military-grade VST-37 Scorching Earth exploded with a bang, tearing his entire hand apart. [Weapon malfunction]

The sniper operator immediately raised Tsunami's cat-like sniper rifle, but suddenly everything went black, and a shot went skyward with a bang. [Reactivate Prosthetic Eye]

Seeing that all ranged attacks had failed, the Mantis operator spread her arms, her Mantis Blade popping out. But before she could even attack, her limbs exploded in a shower of sparks. Not only did the Mantis Blade retract, but her prosthetic legs were also completely destroyed, and she fell flat on her face with a thud. [Prosthetic Malfunction] + [Movement Impeded]

V's eyes glowed blue as he looked at the hacker operator. The hacker resisted for only a second before his eyes rolled back, his body convulsing, and he fainted. [System Paralysis]

"You son of a bitch!" The heavy artillery operator covered his head and tried to stay awake, but before he could finish speaking, V glared at him coldly.

The heavy artillery operator's eyes widened as he suddenly realized he could no longer control his body.

He watched as he stood up straight, pulled a grenade from his waist, pulled off the safety, and shoved it into his mouth.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

"boom!"

Blood splattered, and the corpse fell to the ground.

[Suicide] + [Detonate a grenade]

"You...you dared to kill a member of the Terrorist Mobile Unit..."

“I told you, anyone who stands in my way of revenge, I’ll kill them. Go back and tell the bigwigs at the Night Corporation that if they dare to meddle in our Arasaka business again, I’ll dig up Richard Knight’s ashes and scatter them!” V wiped the blood from his face. “Now you know who I am!”

The survivors of the Terrorist SWAT team shuddered. An NCPD officer whispered, "Sir, we've received orders from the city government to retreat."

"Retreat, retreat!"

The NCPD and the Terrorist Mobile Unit left, leaving behind only a headless corpse.

"David."

V called to his teammates, "Let's go, let's get down to business."

"Yes."

The two entered the Arasaka Tower together.

Chapter 22 Climbing to the top

Arakasaka Tower, 66 floors.

"Sir, V and the cybernetic Kong have entered Arasaka Tower and are taking the elevator to our floor. The situation... the situation is completely out of control!"

"Don't panic!" Abernathy shouted, feigning composure. "I was prepared. As long as he's here, V is doomed!"

A tall figure stood in the shadows of the room, with only a pair of electronic prosthetic eyes revealing an ominous red light.

Abernathy nodded to the man: "Don't let me down, Adam Hammer!"

V received an unexpectedly warm reception.

Some departments have sided with V, and the one who brought it all together was Carter, who didn't even have an office.

"That's great! That's great! I knew you weren't dead, Vice Minister V! It's so good that you're back!"

V was also a little impressed; she never expected Carter to be so eloquent, which saved her a lot of trouble.

"You've worked hard." V patted Carter on the shoulder. "Leave the rest to me."

"Yes, sir!" Carter shouted. "Vice Minister, we must win!"

"That bitch Abernathy has bullied us a lot, Vice Minister V, we're counting on you!"

"Departments beyond the 30th floor remain neutral; please be very careful."

"Vice Minister V, please help us get justice!"

V accepted everyone's kindness and carried their will, entering the elevator to the 66th floor.

"Ding!"

As soon as the elevator doors opened, a barrage of gunfire erupted.

The Special Operations Department was already on high alert, and launched a fierce attack as soon as V appeared.

“Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!”

David dodged in front of V, using the massive metal body of the cybernetic robot to block the bullet.

V tilted his head slightly, peeking out his eyes through the gap. With a flash of blue light, the brain of the enemy in front of him was completely roasted into brains.

"Walk."

In short, V and David continued on their way.

The 66th floor is huge, and Abernathy has transformed it into a fortress. Special Operations personnel poured out from all directions, using the terrain to stage a final counterattack.

"Kill them, don't hold back."

David took a deep breath and answered firmly, "Yes!"

The cybernetic body went left, while V went alone to the right. Since their enemies were all Abernathy's loyalists and there was no possibility of reconciliation, the two of them stopped holding back.

"Watch out, there's a hacker!"

"The cybernetic body is breaking through our defenses!"

"They are equipped with military-grade cybernetic bodies!"

"They're too strong! They're too strong!"

"ICE has been breached! She's infiltrating our system!"

"No, no, no, I don't want to die, I don't want to..."

The scene fell silent.

V and David created a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood with their own hands.

David let out heavy breathing.

He was just a student who was still in school.

"Mann and the others should be locked up on this floor. Let's go check."

"Ah, yes."

V had actually found Mann and his team online long ago. The reason he gave David the instructions was simply to keep him occupied and prevent him from overthinking.

David quickly sent a message.

"Vice Minister V, I've found them!"

"Okay, coming right away."

The two met outside a transparent laboratory. Through the glass doors, they could see Mann, Dorio, Rebecca, and Sasha inside.

The good news is that they are all still alive; the bad news is that their limb prosthetics have been removed, and they are unconscious like human pigs, with cables still attached to their neural slots.

"Mann!"

David yelled and was about to pull the cable, but V quickly stopped him.

"Don't do anything reckless. These wires are connected to their brains. We need to exit the program first."

V said, pulling out his personal connection cable from his wrist and plugging it into the computer next to him.

"Well."

V suddenly let out a muffled groan.

David quickly asked, "Vice Minister V, are you alright?"

"It's nothing, it's just..."

"Trap!" a voice suddenly rang out. V and David turned around at the same time and saw Abernathy appear with an arrogant look on his face: "V, V, you really make me both love and hate you. I never knew you had such superb hacking skills. If you were willing to work for me, I could even make you second only to me, but you chose to be my enemy! Now look what you've done, you've fallen into my trap and become meat on the chopping block. I can do whatever I want with you."

V's eyes lit up with blue light.

Abernathy scoffed, "Don't waste your energy. Since I knew how powerful you were, I was prepared. The line you've entered connects to Arasaka Tower's mainframe. You're facing an enterprise-level ICE. No one can escape such a counterattack. Just wait to have your brains roasted, hahaha... uh?!"

The smug laughter abruptly stopped as V turned the computer screen and showed Abernathy an ordinary progress bar for the hacking process.

1%...2%...3%...

Although it's slow, the progress bar is steadily moving forward.

"This is impossible!" Abernathy broke down on the spot, shouting like a shrew: "How could one person possess enterprise-level computing power? Who are you?!"

"Are you fucking senile?" V scoffed. "I am the famous V!"