Chapter 245
"Very good."
The dinner table was a good place to discuss business. With everyone chiming in, Vera finalized the future patrol missions of the Seventh Fleet's main force. A home-based aircraft carrier was no match for a land-based airfield; patrolling in international waters 200 nautical miles away, ready to provide support at any time, was the right approach. With the capabilities of the Adelheid, striking the entire West Coast wouldn't be difficult.
Alright, with the aircraft carrier settling in right in front of them, it's estimated that Washington will launch a major confrontation. Now that world opinion has reversed, the friendly support from other counterparts will inevitably weaken further. Before Arasaka suffers a defeat, apart from Soshikah, external forces will probably only be able to hold them back...
Vera for a moment, then raised her right hand and swiped the personal UI interface of the PDA terminal.
Following the official document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Night City Arasaka Tower, there is a request for expansion of the Security Department.
[SAT (Special Rapid Response Unit) - 2077/3 Expansion Request]
—Death Company.
Applicant: Hessman Ram.
Vera was speechless.
It seems that Old Man Ram has tasted the sweetness of recovery and wants to recruit all the half-mad and nearly mad Cyberpsychosis into his team to build a death squad.
The SAT currently has twelve teams and over 1,800 students.
SAT-6 alone, due to her rise to power, has expanded from a standard hundred Arasaka elite heavy armored soldiers to more than three hundred. Its equipment is top-notch, and new equipment is deployed immediately. Except for the lack of full-body power armor and those truly nerve-wracking lethal weapons, it is almost indistinguishable from an army.
Moreover, many of them are descendants of employees in the company's lower-level positions.
What is this, a respectable young man from Arasaka?
She opened the list of applications that had passed the qualification review.
A simple index of the SAT-6 sub-application list unsurprisingly reveals the names of Katsuo Tanaka, Kawakami Xiao Fu, and David Martinez.
Do they all want to improve?
After a brief moment's thought, Vera granted Old Man Ram's request to pilot the Death Company. She also ordered a quota expansion of 800 personnel from the Mobile Garrison Unit. After a pause, she transferred Kushinada Lucina to the SAT as a hacking expert.
Since she's already being treated as a subordinate of the faction, and her Catch up on studies results are quite good, as a bridge connecting the Paris-Warsaw region of Europe, she's fully qualified to take the SAT... perhaps she could be entrusted with an important task.
Feeling lighthearted, Vera put down her PDA.
Just in time, a Japanese-Western fusion meal with a distinct Kansai style arrived.
With toasts and laughter, Vera's inspection of the navy came to an end.
However, on the North American continent, after the official establishment of the Arasaka Fleet stationed in the United States, the fighting stopped and started, and after two months of stability amidst minor skirmishes, a new and more irreversible war crisis was quietly ignited in some inconspicuous corner.
Chapter 240 The Caged Bird's Yearning.
The only constant is change.
As the saying goes, plans can never keep up with changes, and things rarely go as planned.
As the conflict between Arasaka and Washington continued and accumulated over a long period, a confrontation between the east and west coasts of North America reappeared. Both sides kept a close eye on each other's every move, avoiding responsibility and waiting for the other to make the first mistake. They maintained a strange balance through open and covert struggles.
History has shown that in such situations, what often breaks the deadlock is a seemingly unrelated, very minor, accident—
Washington, D. C.
Langley on the Potomac River is home to the headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Agency (FIA).
Deep inside a complex building that resembles a large fortress.
In a dimly lit room, but equipped with state-of-the-art deep-sea network equipment.
Beep beep... Beep beep...
"Deep-sea operation completed."
Upon detecting changes in relevant biological indices within the deep-sea submersible's internal network, the terminal's weakly intelligent AI-generated electronic synthesized voice sounded.
Click-whoosh.
The hatch opened, and the liquid-cooled deionized water filling the deep-sea chamber automatically receded, while the built-in backrest pushed up the Asian woman, who was naked and radiating heat.
Holding a tablet computer, the FIA civilian agent who had been waiting nearby immediately went to greet him.
No sooner said than done, as the health probe emitted a piercing beep, the female hacker who had surfaced suddenly began to tremble violently.
The agents, with composed expressions, deftly removed the female hacker's breathing mask, checked her biological parameters, then gently lifted her up, disconnected the deep-sea connection cable from the back of her head, and released the locking mechanism at the torso port, allowing the female hacker to sit up with her upper body leaning outwards and her head down, with a vomit bag placed in front of her, highlighting their professionalism.
"Vomit--"
As a result of excessive deep diving, Song Zhaomei felt dizzy, nauseous, and wanted to vomit.
Once the agent saw that Song Zhaomei had vomited enough, he handed her a towel and Kinlichi Type 5 medication.
It was as if this process had been foreseen all along.
Without any further expression, Song Zhaomei simply reached out and took it without looking up, wiped her mouth, took Kinlichi, and exclaimed, "Phew!"
I felt much better immediately.
A moment later, she stood up, revealing large heat dissipation components on her back, which brought up a cloud of steam. Her wet, rose-red, shoulder-length hair, parted in the middle, clung to her face. She didn't care at all about her naked body—it was just a few ounces of flesh.
Or rather, does she still have real flesh?
It's probably even less "flesh-content" than Vera, who was subtly mocked by New America's propaganda machine as having "nothing human except for her human appearance."
Now, apart from some facial skin, the rest of her body, not to mention the implants inside, has almost all been transformed with special synthetic materials to enhance heat dissipation, including her chest and lower body.
"Agent Nightingale, has the Voodoo Boys agreed to cooperate?"
Sitting behind the monitoring console, the Federal Intelligence Agency and tie, remained calm and composed, his hands crossed on the table, his eyes sinister.
"I'll take that as an agreement."
Wiping her face with a towel, obscuring her expression, Song Zhaomei replied in a muffled voice, "But their demands are very high. In addition to providing funds, the latest deep-sea equipment and cybernetic prosthetics, we also need to hand over our safe house in the Night City ruins and detailed infiltration data on the Arasaka Tower data center..."
"Arrogant Haitian black devil."
The official sneered, "But we need these idiots' overconfidence just the right amount of it."
The so-called Voodoo Boys, the local strongmen of Night City's Pacifica, is one of the few gangs that is more skilled in hacking and intrusion.
Predominantly Haitian Black, they are fond of mysticism and believe in a cyber-modified form of Voodoo: replacing the concepts of heaven and supernatural powers with Eternal Life and omniscient AI granted by the internet.
Therefore, I am very interested in hacking operations and adventures exploring the remnants of the Old Net.
For example, going against Network Surveillance, digging a hole in the "Black Wall" to try to contact a Rogue AI outside the wall, or searching for the traces left behind by the legendary hacker Alt Cunningham, who invented the "Soul Killer" program and was killed by Arasaka in the past...
It was precisely for this reason that they had a strong desire to destroy the land of the Arasaka and redistribute it to the people.
After all, Ultraman died at the hands of Arasaka, and Ultraman's lover Johnny Silverhand died at Arasaka Tower and was turned into Relic. Relic is in Arasaka's hands, and it is said that the 'soul imprint' of that Ultraman after his physical death was also captured by Arasaka - or at least imprisoned.
As long as the Voodoo Boys to cause trouble and achieve their belief in cyber Eternal Life, they will inevitably clash with Arasaka.
Song Zhaomei made contact with the Voodoo Boys leader, a top-notch cyber hacker Maman Brigitte, who was loitering around the Black Wall, through the Black Wall's protocol.
That alone is enough for the Federal Intelligence Agency to extend an olive branch.
Casting a wide net is a last resort.
It should be noted that Solomon Reed had almost completely wiped out the Night City branch that the Federal Intelligence Agency had painstakingly rebuilt. Before rebuilding the intelligence network, he needed to find a scapegoat.
In short, I, Niimi, will stand up for anyone who can cause trouble for Arasaka!
The official pressed further, "Is there anything else?"
"[Black Wall]."
Song Zhaomei took the clothes handed to her by the agent. "The Voodoo Boys us to instruct the Night City Militech Division to help them evade Network Surveillance. Finally, they want us to provide them with our research data on the [Black Wall]."
The atmosphere in the room instantly froze.
"These black pigs really have guts."
The official, enraged, laughed coldly, "A Black Wall? Do they even have the brains to play with that? They've been rubbing it too much and now they want to crawl through holes?"
He then asked, "How many conditions did you agree to?"
"Everything except the [Black Wall]."
Song Zhaomei said.
"Let's leave it at that for now."
The official pondered for a moment.
"Write down the process clearly, make two copies, one to the White House and one to headquarters."
As he spoke, he stood up and flattered, "You've worked hard, Agent Nightingale. As expected of His Majesty the President's favorite, there's no one else who can use the protocols of the [Black Wall] so skillfully for communication."
After a brief handshake, he left.
"There's something wrong with your biometric readings."
As Song Zhaomei silently finished dressing and prepared to leave, the doctor approached her. "Heart rate is rising, cortisol levels are rising..."
"My suggestion is to increase the dosage of the neurostimulator by 15ml, and tonight you can increase your food intake a bit more, eat more, and eat better. Don't forget the neurostimulator relaxation exercises before bed. If possible, please go to a medical center for a thorough examination and rest for a while."
"Thank you, I will submit the application."
In the instant she inhaled the Kinlichi, a fleeting bitterness crossed Song Zhaomei's face.
Go to the medical center? To get another cybernetic prosthetic implanted?
As for rest, haha, just take that with a grain of salt. The situation is getting more and more serious. Tomorrow morning, she will definitely go back here to dive deep, either digging up Old Net data or using the special nature of the [Black Wall] protocol to make her do her job as a secret agent, or go to the White House to listen to Miles's motivational speeches?
Forced to push her limits time and time again, I really don't know how much longer she can keep going...
I left work after finishing the report.
Shortly after, she drove home to a mid-range apartment in a safe neighborhood near Washington, D. C.
Entering the bedroom, Song Zhaomei lay down wearily, staring blankly at the ceiling. After a while, she turned her head away.
I looked at the PDA, the pile of Separate Chip, and the reader on the bedside table.
To be precise, he was looking at a brand-new, Separate Chip box, with the label reading: [Hessman Ram].
Hessman Ram, the former SAT director of Arasaka Night City and now the First Deputy Director of the General Security Bureau the Security Department Bureau, was forced to retire for many years due to Cyberpsychosis and nerve erosion symptoms, but miraculously recovered and returned to work.
A glint appeared in Song Zhaomei's eyes.
It is called the thirst for knowledge and the desire for knowledge.
How did he do that?
Chapter 241 states that the lark surrendered.
Time: 2077/4/■■■■/■■ [Encrypted]
Location: Cyberspace.
This is a virtual data world made up of countless 0s and 1s.
Fragmented and chaotic.
Even though more than half a century has passed since the 'Great Crash Era', cyberspace remains so dilapidated, or even more distorted, divided by that man-made void of data—the 'Black Wall' —isolating it from the outside world.
The inside of the wall is narrow while the outside is wide.
At this moment, inside the [Black Wall], in the Cyberspace divided by subnets and local area networks that are independent, unconnected, and isolated from each other, a common data ripple begins to spread in the network domain belonging exclusively to the Night City Arasaka Tower.
As usual, the Old Net repair section of the Arasaka Networks Operations Equipment Department is conducting deep-sea operations.
Beep beep.
[Section Chief: Outside Wall Deep Dive commence.]
Glug~
The moment of connection was like the sound of bubbles rising during diving. In the dead silence and uneasy deep sea of data, the tiny human consciousness was drifting with the current, gradually sinking into an even deeper abyss.
Following the route that Arasaka had used for years to conduct deep dives into the "Black Wall," the elite network hackers of the Old Net Repair Department successfully bypassed the wall and entered the Old Net space.
Soon, the visual data mimicry of the Netwalkers stabilized and was projected onto the outpost outside the walls of Arasaka.
"I was assigned to section A20-3."
Someone spoke up.