Chapter 119
"But I am not them."
Jackie smiled warmly.
"To become a legend, you have to have your own style. You have to be sincere before doing business. This is a rule I learned at Heywood from childhood. Sincerity is essential for all long-term win-win partnerships. That's the style of Jackie Wells."
Jackie knew this was V's good intention.
Let him take more.
The 200,000 euro deposit was both a show of sincerity and a preemptive strike. V personally attended the event and paid it directly to Maine's crew. She had also applied for the remaining balance, at least 600,000 euros in extra-budgetary funds for "Misdirection Operation".
Following V's suggestion, Jackie, as a newly emerging middleman in the Bradbury Street and Bran Street area, would take half of the €600,000. Of the remaining €300,000, Jackie would take another €100,000, and the final €200,000 would be paid to Maine's crew in two installments, like a carrot tied to the front of a donkey cart.
Now that Maine's crew's performance at the Arasaka Waterfront is so spectacular and realistic, V asked Jackie to transfer 100,000 euros as a reward, with the final 100,000 euros being the final payment after the job is done.
It depends on Faraday Future's Militech efforts and Washington's subsequent actions.
However, this "depending on what happens next" is very subjective and leaves a lot of room for maneuver.
If Jackie were ruthless enough, he could easily deduct another 50,000 euros from Maine's crew on the grounds that the results did not meet expectations, or even worse, just give them 5,000 euros.
[V: Open your heart. So you're just going to be a clueless idiot and split the profits 50/50 with them? Jackie, you'll never get ahead as a middleman like that.]
During the encrypted video call, V's tone was one of disappointment and frustration.
"Please, don't use my mom's tone." Jackie raised his hands in surrender. "But, girl... people should have some humanity and a sense of honor, right?"
Jackie leaned back on the old sofa with his arms wrapped around the armrests, looking up at the sky.
The murky sky, strewn with confetti, was cut into a line of neon light by the tall buildings on either side. Colorful halos spilled out from between the holographic billboards that pierced the sky in the distance, like Night City, hazy, indistinct, and dreamlike.
The prosperity has reached its peak, yet not a trace of human warmth can be detected.
V is a wonderful girl who is incredibly kind to her old friends and brothers.
But Jackie saw the arrogance and disdain he showed towards others, the way he looked at them as if they were consumables, and he was anxious about it.
The higher the young woman climbs up the snake pit in the Arasaka, the lower her trust in people becomes.
During their regular conversations, he was deeply moved by the fact that the girl gradually kept all her thoughts hidden inside, and her expression was always like a frozen block of ice, with a scrutinizing look in her eyes.
"In this beautiful but cold, shitty city, at least this will be left when everything else is taken from me." Jackie tapped his heart.
V:... Yeah, whatever. That 600,000, supposedly a special transfer, was actually specifically applied for to you. If it weren't for your good luck, I wouldn't have noticed Faraday's slip-up. Without this operation, my promotion wouldn't have been so easy to get approved. Consider it training your henchmen. I have to maintain the image and reputation of a friend who wants to be a big shot, but Jackie, know your limits, don't let people treat you like a stupid ATM.
"Hey sis, thanks a lot..."
[V: Don't thank me yet. In this final stage, you need to know that the army stationed at Arasaka Waterfront is only responsible for protecting one person. My boss, and even his superiors, have no right to interfere, only to offer suggestions. The subsequent pursuit is their responsibility. Tell Maine and the others not to mess things up; finish the act and hide well. Although I wouldn't mind making the charade real.]
"Of course. I know how powerful your overseeing director is. All these recent disturbances were caused by her. That's what you call a big shot. And this was only after the assassination failed. If the assassination had succeeded, I can't even imagine what kind of turmoil it would have caused."
Jackie nodded solemnly.
Then he changed the subject.
"Faraday, that stupid idiot who's obsessed with Militech... uh, you know, not including the two of us. I've met him. He's a mercenary who looks down on people, never reveals much about the mission when hiring them, and rarely messes up missions. He's incredibly ruthless and unethical. When he's out talking to people, he expects everyone to treat him like royalty."
[V: Pick the dry stuff.]
"... Anyway, given his personality, Maine will definitely report any gains to his master."
Jackie shrugged. "I knew the moment I saw him that I would never work with him in my life. Once this deal is over, if things go smoothly for you guys, Militech will definitely come after him. Just thinking about how he'll never be able to put on that sullen, bespectacled face again makes me secretly happy."
"Alright, that concludes Old Jackie's report. Miss V, Madam, what's the situation on your end?"
[V: As you know, company operations are divided into regions, phases, and departments, each responsible for their own confidentiality. I've finished my part; as for the rest, don't ask questions you shouldn't ask—that's for the higher-ups to worry about. Anyway, things are quite lively at the Security Department.]
"Oh, the rigid office politics."
Early morning at the Russell family duplex in Westbrook.
"It went more smoothly than I expected."
Wearing a loose white bathrobe, Vera reclined on the sofa, one hand supporting her cheek, the other casually browsing the holographic screen projected by multiple high-precision imaging devices in front of her.
Last night's Arasaka Waterfront, Kurt Hansen giving recruitment speeches in major cities across New Mexico, and Jimmy's progress in connecting local communities in Washington and Oregon.
"It seems we need to add fuel to the fire."
With all the text and images in her view, Vera lowered her hand from her cheek and looked at the enlarged map of the southern end of the west West Coast of North America on the holographic screen, from west to east, showing California, Arizona, New Mexico.
"A surprise attack can also be a legitimate strategy."
Sorry, I overslept. I'll finish this later...
Chapter 121 Shifting Between Orthodox and Unorthodox Methods: A Powerful Assault on Phoenix City (4.6K)
The split-screen holographic display is projecting high-resolution images onto a blue screen.
After scanning California, the heart of the Iron Curtain as described by New America's propaganda machine, and the chaotic New Mexico, Vera finally focused her attention on Arizona, where the scale of the riots was relatively moderate.
Her gaze lingered around Phoenix City Phoenix, the state capital.
Reports uploaded by the Arasaka Intelligence Department and the Secret Agents Association—
The confirmed Militech outposts, NUSA Military bases, unconfirmed Badlands transport lines, and progress reports on military troop movements are all meticulously marked on it, along with the Arasaka Information Department's AI analysis and various predictions.
Data shows that the situation in the southwestern states remains deadlocked.
Despite the fact that Washington was in a passive and embarrassed position because of Kurt Hansen, and that he was universally condemned in the public sphere, he had a solid mass base of support among veterans, Badlands, and Westerners in the Free State.
However, Washington's strategic resolve is also commendable, as it held onto Lazarus's mobile field corps without moving.
Just as Vera is unsure whether she can completely destroy Militech, Rosalind Miles doesn't want to start a full-scale war with Arasaka so soon, thus igniting the Fifth Corporate War. She's unsure either.
Both sides engaged in a fierce struggle while maintaining restraint.
Before the full-scale war officially broke out between the armies of Arasaka and Militech's respective parent companies, the Lazarus Mercenary Group's mobile field army served as a safety net.
It is Washington and Militech that personally and bare their hands to deal with the last layer of pre-hot war decorum, the proxy 'general reserve'.
As a 'political animal' carefully cultivated by Washington, Miles naturally understood the importance of not wasting the general reserve force.
"Those who can stand out from the Gu vessel are truly shrewd people. There are only abstract ideas but no real fools. Oh well, it was expected."
Vera examined the battle map of Arizona, finally turning her gaze to another screen displaying graphic and textual information about the mobilization of Arasaka's military personnel.
"Then we should take the initiative and increase our efforts, creating a commotion throughout the country and splitting our forces into two groups. One group should remain hidden in Oregon and Washington, making our move slowly, while the other group should make a big show of it and advance eastward along Southern California."
In fact, this is still a tactic of "using orthodox methods to engage and unorthodox methods to win," a combination of orthodox and unorthodox tactics.
From Vera's perspective.
She concealed her true forces as a surprise attack force, hiding them in Oregon and Washington.
Instead of instigating any major unrest, they continue to rally local forces, much like in most of the socially turbulent western Free State today, to incite ongoing unrest, including but not limited to demonstrations, attacks on NUSA federal law enforcement agencies, and haphazard acts of vandalism, looting, and arson.
To confuse the attention of local law enforcement and garrison personnel in Nusa, tire them out, get them used to it, and lower their guard.
The "regular soldier" most frequently reported by the media is actually Kurt Hansen, the surprise recruit deployed by Vera, who continues to travel throughout New Mexico under the spotlight of global media, giving recruitment speeches and constantly provoking the Federal Intelligence Agency.
The main force of the Ghosthound mercenaries also continued to be deployed here, while the Free State local party used its strengths, leveraging its intricate local networks of relationships and interests to push the city police, special police, National Guard stationed here to the extreme.
They're allowed to shirk their duties, hinder federal agencies, and wait for an opportunity to side with one side while remaining neutral.
Of course, the key to strategy and tactics lies in flexibility and mobility.
Vera wasn't the kind of person who followed plans rigidly and insisted on executing them word for word.
As the battle situation changes, the orthodox and unorthodox tactics can be interchanged. Orthodox troops can become unorthodox troops, and unorthodox troops can become orthodox troops. This is called the combination of orthodox and unorthodox tactics.
This is completely different from changing orders frequently, issuing commands out of thin air, or making arbitrary decisions without considering objective reality.
She learned this from the Kang Tao classic "The Art of War: The Art of War - Military Strategy," which she found and copied in the ancient library of the Arasaka Family Estate during her spare time while studying law in Tokyo.
Although it might seem like she was trying to please Saburo, Vera was genuinely quite interested in it.
There was also a special feeling that she would never reveal to outsiders.
In the Cyberpunk world, Vera only occasionally discussed these things—which were so Anteiku in 2076 that nobody read or paid attention to them, and they weren't even circulating on the local area network in Kang Tao. They were things that were rarely heard of in the market. Vera studied them all on her own, the kind of thing where "cyber" didn't light up but "the outer world" did, and she asked the other "hers" to find books and share what they had.
For this reason, Vera has a very old-fashioned paper library in her home in Westbrook.
Michiko Arasaka said that Vera's thoughts and behavior were old-fashioned in some ways, and that her attraction to Saburo, that old codger, was not without reason.
Getting back to the main point, Vera has now decided to transform her originally planned surprise attack, the fake main force, the "main force" in the eyes of the outside world, into a real main force. Half a main force.
Beep beep, Vera flicked her finger, circling and dotting on the 3D map model projected by the imager.
Her finger pressed heavily on a flashing red dot on the border between Mexico and New Mexico.
—The March 30th Attack on the Arasaka Delegation at the US-Mexico Border—
The location where Vera was attacked.
In the past, every major international criminal case like this has required two to three months of investigation.
From the end of March 7th to the beginning of May, the investigation into this case had only lasted a month, and Arasaka's heavy military investigation team there had not yet withdrawn.
To the south lies the Mexican border city of Juarez.
Vera didn't know the situation of the local Federal Intelligence Agency agents who had caused the chaos, but the company's armed forces from the Arasaka branch in Mexico had already moved in to quell the situation.
The agents originally Juarez either withdrew to avoid retaliation from Arasaka, or they went into hiding after receiving strict orders from their superiors not to escalate the conflict.
There have been no reports of conflict involving Shinmi.
Vera's response was simple: when the enemy retreats, I advance.
She waited, lured, and endured; Rosalind Miles seemed to be engaging in a relentless challenge, like biting and chasing.
They were willing to take action, but each time they fell just short of the goal.
The Counter-Intelligence Department's "Misdirection Operation" was useful but not the decisive factor; in other words, it propelled quantitative changes to qualitative ones.
Continuing to wait idly is not a solution; that would be falling into Washington's rhythm and wasting valuable opportunities.
Therefore, "Arizona".
With a focused gaze, Vera tapped the state's three-dimensional geographic model.
Like the Hound of the Underworld, Lazarus also deployed a large number of troops to New Mexico.
Furthermore, the state is located at the easternmost edge of the political geographical concept of the 'Western Free State'.
Geographically, it is a central buffer state that was influenced and controlled by Washington State before the Metal War. After the Metal War, it was the most deeply integrated by Washington, and its troops can be deployed to New Mexico at any time.
Arizona is located east of California and west of New Mexico.
After Kurt Hansen led the main force of the Barghest Mercenary Group to settle in Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, and launched a provocative recruitment campaign against NUSA and Lazarus mercenaries, the situation in Arizona, which was subtly blocked and more susceptible to the influence of Arasaka's forces, became very delicate.
"Hansen".
Vera's pupils flashed with a data stream, indicating a phone call.
It's connected.
"It's time to see if the Ghost Hound can become the next Lazarus. Talk is cheap; let's see what it's made of. Don't disappoint me." Vera straightened up, tapping her fingers on the sofa armrest.
Ding-dong.
[Hansen: I can win.]
A brief, instant reply.
"I'm eagerly awaiting it."
This is the truth.
Under the protection of Adam Hammer and the Cyber Tyrant's forces, as long as Hansen survives, it's a victory; his mere presence is enough to boost morale.
Vera hung up the phone.
"Then, it's time to get moving."