Infinite Progress, Starting with Arasaka

Class is over.

Rustle.

Vera, putting on her school uniform after a long time, the Tokyo University uniform for the year 2075 in the Cyberpunk world, calmly unplugged her personal connector from the information cable interface panel and removed the detached chip recording real-time data from the desktop chip slot.

After her law tutor, who had a receding hairline, left the classroom, she packed her handbag and exited the ancient, elegant classroom that was filled with the aesthetic style of the last century yet equipped with the most advanced and cutting-edge facilities.

Through the adjustable polarized glass in the corridor, the gradually darkening and brightening Tokyo cityscape could be seen.

The Arasaka family's complex, twisted relationships are truly troublesome.

Gazing at Arasaka Tower in Tokyo, Vera muttered in a voice locked deep in her heart, "Forget it, don't force it, don't push it. If I don't see him, so be it. When the results come out, I'll see them eventually."

Let nature take its course.

It had been two and a half months since Vera came to Tokyo for the official spring enrollment in mid-February, and during this time, she had not waited for Sano Arasaka to visit Tokyo University.

Instead, she had met Shintaro Takayama, the nominal head of the Arasaka Corporation's global security department, the Director of Arasaka Group Tokyo Headquarters Security Department, and the head of security and personal martial arts instructor for the Arasaka family compound.

And also Hanako Arasaka, who was said to be the most mysterious, reclusive, good at uniting the family, and only left the family compound a few times a month.

Vera had met Shintaro Takayama a few times.

When she was still an outstanding reserve student for Arasaka executives undergoing advanced studies at the Arasaka Tower Academy in Tokyo, this old geezer had constantly tried to manipulate her every time he appeared.

He would instill in her concepts such as 'loyalty to Saburo Arasaka,' 'Arasaka is trustworthy and the home you should dedicate your life to,' and 'Arasaka will eventually return to its former glory.'

This time, Vera received an internal recommendation from Arasaka and was admitted to Tokyo University.

He summoned Vera again, with an expression that conveyed you should feel honored and grateful, saying things like 'gratitude,' 'loyalty,' 'passed the assessment,' 'you have earned trust,' 'everything you have is a gift from Arasaka,' 'don't disappoint Arasaka or Lord Saburo,' and 'work hard,' while also painting a rosy future. He spoke stiffly and harshly, and at the end of the conversation, he gave a final warning with a threatening tone.

He played the bad cop after someone else played the good cop.

Then, Hanako Arasaka appeared.

She was accompanied by Sandayu Oda, with his stylish, undercut hairstyle.

In an indoor lecture hall within Arasaka Tower, Hanako Arasaka gathered many Arasaka employees who were undergoing training, intensive courses, and advanced studies at the Arasaka Tokyo Headquarters, including Vera.

As one of the highest-ranking individuals from external departments at the Tokyo Headquarters this spring, Vera naturally sat in the front row.

After the 'blah blah blah' speech, Hanako Arasaka personally spoke with her, engaging in a long conversation filled with pleasantries and encouragement.

Perhaps it was because they were both women, and Hanako Arasaka held such a high position at such a young age, she even invited Vera to join her at the same table for dinner that evening.

During the banquet, she spoke of nothing else, only showing her gentleness and concern for her family to Vera.

The topics she brought up indicated that this grandmother had done her homework and was very familiar with Vera's background, her experience of losing her mother and father in childhood, and even her image as a well-behaved girl in her youth.

Vera scoffed inwardly but still managed to play along with her, just enough to be appropriate.

Both parties were pleased.

As for whether the other party wanted to pull her into her 'dove faction' camp, Vera couldn't be sure.

After all, her own image within Arasaka was quite complex.

Belonging to the Night City, North America branch, a typical local power player.

A versatile talent, she had economic cooperation with Dangerous Girl, the personal enterprise of Michiko Arasaka, the 'dove faction' leader of Arasaka, in terms of hobbies and interests.

In terms of personal operational philosophy, she was a staunch 'hawk faction,' aligning with the strong and radical style of Sano Arasaka after his return to the family. She was a combat specialist, proficient in field operations, security crowd control, public order maintenance, and defense military contracting. Furthermore, her personal combat prowess was outstanding, and Militech had suffered losses at her hands multiple times.

Damn it, your Arasaka family is truly troublesome. The immortal old man dreaming of eternal life controls things from behind the scenes, and among the three surviving direct Arasaka members, Sano is 'hawk,' Michiko is 'dove,' and Hanako is 'pheasant'…

It's like they're raising fighting cocks.

"Good day, beautiful Miss Vera Adelheid."

It was only when she heard the greeting that Vera snapped out of her post-class thoughts.

Tsk…

Here we go again.

A Tokyo University student, with his hair slicked back, a somewhat handsome face, and an average build, adjusted his uniform with what he thought was great style, like a peacock displaying its tail feathers, and flashed a toothy grin.

Vera could easily discern the aura emanating from this guy, inside and out.

Ah, spring has arrived.

Sigh, coming to Japan, one can't avoid experiencing… the campus romance of Japanese high school students, no, university students…

This wasn't the first time.

Were these guys, who were used to the 'Japanese cuisine' of demure girls, looking for a change of pace?

Vera really wanted to shoot him, but she couldn't. In the Cyberpunk worldview, anyone who can attend a top university, regardless of their strength or whether they are playboys or not, is either very rich or has influential parents.

"Stop, don't say anything else. I know, but I refuse. You're a good person, goodbye."

Not interested in this kind of back-and-forth, Vera gave him the "friend zone" card and walked past him.

Perhaps maximizing her interests would involve endless entanglement with these people, but the influence of her past life made her sick of such things!

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Using her fair-weather friends, whom she had made in the past two and a half months, as a shield, Vera quickly walked out of the Faculty of Law building.

As classes ended in the evening, it was the time when well-dressed predators were let out of their cages.

"Good evening."

"Good evening."

Young masters and ladies greeted each other with flirtatious, non-conformist, or proper demeanor. If the "Rock Kid" Johnny, who blew up Arasaka Tower in Night City, saw this affected mannerism, he would probably unleash hundreds of vulgar words without repeating a single one.

A completely different atmosphere from Night City.

People in Night City, even at Arasaka School or other top corporate and public schools, were inevitably assimilated by the garbage heap that was Night City. They'd greet each other with "Fuck" and talk about hunting down people's parents and ancestors.

"Vera, your course progress... your efficiency is incredible."

"I wasn't admitted through normal exams like you. I entered Arasaka through an internal fast-track program. Efficiency is the top priority. I have subordinates and departments I'm responsible for in Night City. At the latest, within a year, after completing my advanced studies, I'll return to Night City to resume my duties."

"No wonder you don't want to play house with them. Is this what a true genius is like?"

"Hey, hey, Vera, is Night City really as dangerous and weird as the rumors say? Can you run into gang shootouts just walking down the street, and do TV stations treat the daily death toll like a lottery?"

"Pretty much. Gang violence day and night. That place is full of military-grade contraband. As for the death lottery, I've won it once."

"What?!"

Walking on the cobblestone path, passing through the neat campus steeped in history, Vera chatted idly with her plastic girlfriends. Whether they were acting or being genuine, or if they had ulterior motives for approaching her, fine, she'd play along.

As they reached the school gate and parted ways.

"Vera, your elective is in biotechnology... uh, virology? For your summer study trip, you're applying to go to Africa? What's there to see or do in that place?"

"I'm not going for fun. I've had a few ideas."

Parting.

Vera waved goodbye to her classmates and then boarded the standard "Sacred Sword" hovercar parked on the helipad. It was assigned to her by the Tokyo headquarters.

Vroom... Vroom...

The hovercar headed towards Arasaka City Plaza, where Arasaka Tower was located.

On the ground, in a corner of the campus, one of the girlfriends who had just finished talking with Vera withdrew her gaze. In the shadows, her cybernetic eye glowed orange.

"Target has returned. No anomalies today. Major: Law, Minor: Biology."

"Her goal is very clear: to complete her studies and return to Night City to take on a higher position. She's an ambitious individual. She's extremely dismissive of campus romance. Although she appears gentle, elegant in her speech, and very polite, beneath that faint smile lies a deep, hidden indifference. It's easy to greet her, but difficult to have a deep conversation."

"My evaluation of her... me? She's a genius. I don't know if she noticed me. Even with the aid of data cable interfaces, I've never seen anyone with such high learning efficiency... She might break the fastest graduation record for Arasaka internal enrollment students."

Enrolling through a major corporation's internal quota is different from enrolling through normal exams.

The former are often geniuses who have fought their way through countless internal competitions within the corporation, possessing strong learning abilities and execution power, as well as experience. Their study time is shorter than those admitted through normal channels, yet the workload is not reduced. According to company requirements, the difficulty is higher and stricter, and failure means elimination.

The latter can proceed step by step, with more room for maneuver. They can pass through regular exams, extensions, make-up exams, parental funding, or connections.

The former is often more valuable and more difficult than the latter.

"Today, she revealed a piece of information: she has decided to go to Africa for a study trip. It seems she has some ideas for her personal biology project, which might be related to the cooperative business of Lady Michiko's 'Dangerous Girl' company."

"Continue to monitor? Yes, I understand."

Arasaka Company Community, Tokyo.

Vera's temporary residence.

The automatic sensor lights turned on, and Vera entered the outer genkan of a standard Japanese detached house, carrying her handbag. On the long outer table, a long, cubic package wrapped in industrial-grade synthetic plastic was placed.

Putting down her handbag, she checked her mail.

Sender: Arasaka Procurement Department

Recipient: Vera Adelheid Russell

Upon seeing the product receipt, Vera suddenly smiled. In the dim ambient light of the long table at night, her face was hidden in the darkness.

"Oh, the leeches have arrived."

Chapter 047: The Hoe Wielder and the Lone Brave

She moved the plastic box containing the leech containers indoors, took off her coat, and after putting away the handbag containing her law school assignments, Vera stepped forward and unlatched it. Lifting the plastic lid, she was greeted by a metal box with the circular Arasaka Clover logo.

"So well-sealed."

Just a dozen leeches with normal characteristics. In a normal worldview, no one would consider them precious.

She tapped on the touch screen. The bio-information reader on the surface of the touch screen compared Vera's DI information with the recipient information in the chip. Beep.

The comparison passed, and with a "hiss," the metal box opened, and cold air slowly drifted out.

Revealing the interior with simulated sand and stone walls and dark brown leeches that were narrow at the top and bottom and thick in the middle.

They were quite large, about a decimeter long. Vera counted about 15 of them. She wondered what kind of T-Virus could be cultivated by combining these leeches, remnants of the Cyberpunk corporate wars, with the Progenitor Virus.

They were just really expensive.

Although this batch of leeches had strong vitality, able to survive in various complex environments such as freshwater, saltwater, and amphibious conditions, unlike birds and beasts that required fixed environments and overlapped with human living environments, they were also easy to raise, with a much lower risk of extinction. However, the pollution in the Cyberpunk world was too severe.

The South China Sea and Southeast Asian islands, which became a desperate battleground during the Second Corporate War, are now severely polluted. The area is like a bio-extinction event; even tardigrades probably couldn't survive there.

The naturally surviving flora and fauna are extremely scarce. Thanks to the numerous seed banks, animal banks, and gene map archives built during the Cold War last century, the breeding and cultivation of various animals have become mainstream.

With this as their main business, many corporations have profited, even going public.

Personally viewing natural animals has become exclusive to the wealthy.

Leeches are now one of the cheapest visible and marketable animals on the market.

But even a single one is an exorbitant price that ordinary people can hardly bear.

Ask any native of Night City, and many probably haven't even seen proper greenery or animals more than a few times.

If it weren't for the need to leave records for the higher-ups to review and ensure logical consistency, Vera would be insane to buy leeches from the Cyberpunk world for experimentation. Wouldn't it be easier to just swipe some from Umbrella?

This time, through an order placed with Arasaka's procurement department, Vera's stated reason was for experimental consumption.