Chapter 93
Maine and Dorio raised their high-powered military binoculars.
It was a rare sunny day after the rain; the temperature inversion smog and acid rain fog had dissipated, and visibility was excellent.
At the Arasaka Waterfront port, six transport ships, bearing Arasaka's iconic metallic black paint, slowly approached the pier under the escort of the Arasaka Escort Fleet.
As if a switch had been flipped, in an instant, half of the Arasaka Waterfront became noisy.
The Octant Heavy Combat Drone, rarely seen in the past and of the MaxTac level, were replaced by a fleet of armored aerial vehicles painted in Arasaka style, which took off from the flight deck of the transport ship and flew towards the temporary berthing point for military personnel in the warehouse.
Densely packed, rising and falling, the sky was filled with ferocious war machines flying back and forth.
Below is the extended stern connecting ramp, which connects to the dock after rotating 40 degrees and securing it.
Buzz... Buzz...
The engine roared.
What could be roughly seen were wheeled Behemoth armored vehicles fully loaded with attack drones and armed robots, hover armored motorcycles, light armored aerial combat vehicles, bipedal heavy- Drone Mechs, heavy manned multi-legged tanks, integrated firepower mobile delivery platforms, large box trailers carrying unknown items, supplies, and large formations of Arasaka heavy infantry...
A series of violent weapons that dazzled the country bumpkin mercenary Maine.
"Damn, is Arasaka preparing to start the Fifth Corporate War...?"
Even a tomboy like Dorio couldn't help but shrink back, staring in astonishment at the massive reinforcements and the military personnel and tactical equipment that filled almost the entire port Arasaka's storage units.
Click click click—
Maine used his prosthetic eye's camera attachment to quickly take photos and transmit them back to the team channel.
[Falco: Fuck! Is Faraday trying to kill us?! Steal? Steal at his parents' lives?!]
Inside the safe house, even a seasoned driver, usually so composed, couldn't help but swear.
Kiwi was smoking, her eyes squinting, seemingly lost in thought.
Lucy, who had hacked into the Watson Industrial Park's surveillance system and pieced together the real-time situation at Arasaka Waterfront from different angles, has fallen silent.
She was particularly stunned when those large main battle armored airborne vehicles appeared. These things were even more impressive than the Manticore, the symbol of the Night City MaxTac's highest military force, and there were also unnamed aerial behemoths similar to Zeta's 'Surveyor'. Their size was probably enough to transport a full platoon of troops behind enemy lines in one go.
Considering that Arasaka was also planning to conduct community outreach patrols in the Rei area, Lucy decided to completely stop her petty theft 'revenge' against Arasaka's employees on the subway and trains.
[Maine: That thing is a Demon Lizard? Why would Arasaka use a Demon Lizard with Militech?]
Maine, a former soldier, suddenly let out a soft sound of doubt. He was indeed a fourth-class soldier, but he had seen the Demon Lizard before and wouldn't mistake it.
[Kiwi: Sigh, Maine, watch more news and less Black Dream. International news, the spokesperson for the Tokyo Arasaka headquarters, in short, Arasaka is increasing troops in Night City, Militech is vehemently opposed, and then Arasaka retorted with the Militech's 'showroom strategy'...]
Exhibition hall strategy.
This refers to a comprehensive strategy for Militech that integrates sales, recruitment, and troop deployment.
Because Militech sign contracts with local governments similar to the Castle Law when opening showrooms in major cities around the world, the company's employees have the right to 'fully display the weapon's performance' in the showroom.
Although prohibiting 'excessive firepower' in urban areas is a universally accepted principle, Militech deliberately ignore these rules in their exhibition halls.
This has led to a situation where, in the city center, Militech weapon showrooms not only sell rifles and muskets, but also tanks, airborne armored vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and other heavy firepower, all of which are in a state of combat readiness.
Arasaka seized on this point and kept bringing up things like the principle of reciprocity, saying that your exhibition hall is so small while my seaside area is so big, so there has to be a balance in defense forces, and also the trouble in Dogtown, and that your NUSA rebels need to re-evaluate the danger, and so on.
European Bank, biotechnology companies, and Soshikah have all expressed their understanding and support for Arasaka's actions.
When Saburo, head of the Tokyo Arasaka headquarters, issued a second statement announcing the establishment of a new high-precision research center in Night City to provide the best environment for his "Arasaka Treasure" and "Night City's most dazzling gem," and reached a new land purchase agreement with the Night City government, he was pouring real money into the project.
Zeta Technologies, Kang Tao, and even Petrochem, Soshikah's arch-rival, have surprisingly aligned themselves with Soshikah.
In 2076, the two most feared sources of Corporate War for people around the world are Arasaka and Militech, and Soshikah and Petrochem.
The diplomatic and public opinion pressure faced by Militech is considerable.
After the Metal War, almost everyone in the world did not want the USA to be unified again.
Ultimately, Arasaka backed down, offering to purchase Behemoth, Lizardman, and Manticore as part of the vehicles used to reinforce the Militech forces, thus giving Militech a way out and allowing Washington to compromise.
After hearing Kiwi's explanation, the rest of Maine's crew felt somewhat disappointed.
[Rebecca: That Vera, why does the old emperor of Arasaka value her so much? She's like some kind of unpolished gem or some kind of precious stone...]
[Kiwi: I'll play it for you. Wait a minute.]
Before long, "... her weight in my heart exceeded the total weight of the escort troops and escort fleet dispatched this time."
An elderly voice, speaking in a Tokyo accent, with intonation and rhythm.
"If it weren't for President Miles's intervention, I think I would have continued to send more guards. She is an elder, and her care for the younger generation is never enough. I don't want her to be harmed by the sinister plots of those with ulterior motives. I have suffered such pain before..."
Dudu.
[Kiwi: Okay, this is a news clipping I took, Saburo Arasaka's exact words. Who knows how true it is? I guess Saburo is just making excuses for sending reinforcements. The kind of person he is... never mind, this kind of thing is none of our business.]
[Maine: It seems our decision to side with Arasaka was the right one.]
[Kiwi: That's how it seems at the moment.]
"Call..."
At the top of the abandoned water tower, Maine exhaled a breath of stale air, his eyes flashing with data characters. As he continued to inject himself with a new inhibitor from Arasaka, he shook his head with a sigh and said, "This Vera is indeed quite heavyweight."
"The guards, these are all the guards the old emperor gave her... Damn, these are guards? I'm so envious! What's this high-ranking VIP doing now? Is it on the news?"
[Kiwi: Yes, she had lunch with Michiko Arasaka at the Konpeki Plaza. Why, do you want to go?]
[Maine: I'd like to, but I'm not qualified.]
[Kiwi: Okay, stop joking around, Maine, get to the point. I've already compiled and downloaded the images and audio onto the Separate Chip. Those vans and large sealed compartments should be what Faraday Future needs. What are you going to do about them?]
Maine grinned. "That's extortion, of course! It's much more serious than he described; he'll need more money to continue. And there's no guarantee of success."
[Kiwi: What about Mr. Wells?]
"Give us the locations of those four teams..."
[Lucy: No, it's six teams.]
She remained silent, and while hacking and traversing the local area network, she projected a signal coordinate into the channel.
[Their people almost discovered me. The signal from this network access pod looked familiar, similar to the frequency of Militech training chips. I'm not sure if they're from Faraday Future. If he hadn't been in contact with another team Faraday Future sent, I wouldn't have noticed him... There's another team, but I'm not sure.]
"That's enough."
Maine, with a disposable Comms Chip inserted, sent out an encrypted email.
"Brother Jackie, here's what you wanted."
[Muy bien (Spanish for "very good"), be careful, buddy.]
After sending the email, Maine crushed the chip. He observed it for a moment, then signaled to Dorio to prepare to move. Just as they stepped down from the water tower, a buzzing sound rang out—
With a roar of engines, an armored hovercraft from Arasaka soared through the air and headed north.
"So fast?"
Running through the narrow alley, Maine looked up.
Before he could take Dorio away...
In the team chat, Lucy posted a picture.
Judging from the background, it's the northernmost part of the Old Industrial Zone, where a large, poorly defined black iron lump jumps off the hovercar dozens of meters above the ground with a bang.
Didi.
Then, Lucy captured and uploaded two more pictures.
One photo shows an explosion occurring on the towering chimney of an old factory, spewing out thick smoke and dust.
Two images show what appear to be several torn humanoid figures falling from the top of the chimney. At the broken opening in the chimney, a tall, pitch-black "giant machine" stands out amidst the flames and smoke, holding a severed limb that is dripping with red and white liquid.
Maine recognized him.
Product Manager for the Bar at 'Afterlife' Nightclub!
"Holy crap, Adam Smasher?!"
Chapter 097 Exchange of Sons
Do you know where the legends of Night City gather?
In the grave.
Who will bury them?
"The hammer! It's Adam Smasher!!"
Boom! With a deafening explosion that tore through the air, the grotesque, jet-black metallic figure plummeted from the top of the chimney, smashing through the reinforced concrete roof of the old factory like a battering ram. The walls shattered, and dust and debris flew everywhere...
In an instant, gunfire erupted and flames soared, disrupting the image transmission from the surveillance cameras.
"Stop looking, everyone, run!"
Maine dragged Dorio out of the narrow alley, jumped into a dilapidated van, and floored the gas pedal.
After the car sped off, he roared into the team communication channel, "Kiwi, tell Pilar and Rebecca to retreat! Be careful not to interfere with Arasaka and get us counter-tracked. We don't have any friendly forces markers in Arasaka!"
Didi.
[Kiwi: No need for you to remind me, it's already sent.]
Within the team's encrypted channel.
Lucy continued uploading the video and audio footage of the battle she had collected.
The audio was extremely noisy, with loud shouts mixed with the crackling sounds of gunfire and the gurgling of blood. The sound quality and picture quality were greatly reduced due to environmental interference and long-distance transmission.
The sound abruptly stopped after a sharp whistle from an energy electromagnetic projectile weapon.
In the blurry image transmitted from the surveillance camera:
Adam Smasher, clad in heavy exoskeleton armor bearing the Arasaka Clover logo, emerged from the smoke and walked through the ruins riddled with bullet holes and limb fragments.
The anti-materiel heavy machine gun, originally designed to reinforce defensive positions and serve as a fixed suppressive firepower mounted on armored vehicles, was being carried by him with one hand, looking like he was carrying a submachine gun.
Damaged hacker chairs, portable computer cases, switches, and monitors were scattered all over the ground like trash, leaving only a cyborg who had been thrown out and smashed through the factory wall still struggling.
His face was covered in blood, one of his prosthetic eyes had exploded, his combat suit was torn to shreds, revealing the severely damaged implant structure inside, the artificial muscles in his chest along with the subcutaneous armor were dented, his gorilla arm was torn off, and his knee, which was equipped with the Mantis Blades, was also blasted to pieces. Blood and off-white prosthetic maintenance fluid were exposed, and sparks of electricity flashed.
After a single shot sent the agent's head flying off his shoulder, Adam Smasher turned to the side, his face deathly pale, like a dead man's skin plastered onto a lump of iron.
He raised his gun and fired a shot.
Sizzle sizzle—
The video feed cuts out.
Whoosh! Lucy jerked her head back from the bathtub filled with ice water, her eyes snapping open. The data connection was gone, and she was just gasping for breath.
"You didn't overestimate yourself by invading that monster, Hammer, did you?" After putting on her bra and underwear, Kiwi picked up Lucy's clothes and threw them at her.
"I'm not that stupid." Lucy caught the clothes and shook her head as she put on her underwear. "I've dealt with the errands at Arasaka, but what about Faraday's?"
"This won't stump Maine," said Falco.
Packing away his monitor, portable host, and other auxiliary network hacking devices, Falco, carrying his suitcase, gave Lucy a thumbs-up.
"Lucy, you have to trust Maine's experience as a seasoned cyber mercenary. He's probably cursing Faraday right now..."
Meanwhile, in the safe house at the Heywood site, Faraday's curtains were drawn.
Ring ring.
Caller ID: Maine
Beep, connection established.
"Faraday, you son of a bitch! What kind of crappy commission did you send?! Is this Arasaka sourcing goods? This is a war! It's a whole army-level combat unit! You dare come to Arasaka Waterfront and take a look? You think you can steal their data? Arasaka will fucking kill you..."