This Is a Trial

Chapter 44 22. This is a Trial

There were twenty-seven mercenaries in total, and compared to the security personnel dressed in Arasaka uniforms, they were actually outnumbered.

"Thirty-seven Arasaka security plus twenty-seven mercenaries, that's sixty-four people in total. Are we going to war or just providing an escort?"

"If we were going to war, this is still a bit short-handed."

Oliver answered Jack as he walked out of the warehouse, looking at the vehicles nearly two hundred meters away, heavily guarded by Arasaka security personnel. "Is that where the client is? I feel like that car looks strangely familiar."

"Good heavens."

Jack also saw the car, and he exclaimed subconsciously, "Rayfield Aerondight 'Guinevere'! I know that car. I even watched the launch event when it came out. I remember I was drooling with envy back then."

"And now?"

"Still drooling."

"Heh."

Karl chuckled, staring at the car as information flashed through his mind.

[Rayfield Aerondight 'Guinevere']: For those who know cars, just hearing Rayfield is enough to understand that it is synonymous with wealth. That's right, this is a vehicle exclusively for the rich, especially the 'Guinevere', whose price has already exceeded the GDP of many island nations;

As a symbol of wealth, the Guinevere's engine can rival any professional racing car, and the interior is as luxurious as a five-star hotel suite. With the support of crystal ball technology, you can see all the scenery outside the vehicle from inside without any windows. Of course, this also maximizes the safety of the passengers inside. If you encounter this little beauty on the street, don't even think about challenging her armor with your Lexington. It's military-grade.

"How much do you guys think this car is worth?"

Karl stared at the Guinevere, asking Oliver, Jack, and Maine beside him.

"Ten million euros?"

Oliver guessed. Jack, who was clearly more knowledgeable about cars, immediately blurted out the price: "Twenty-two million and fifty thousand euros." (Reference: Koenigsegg CCXR 2010 model, 26 million)

"That number is like a dream."

Karl stared at the car. Selling that car could get him so many of the latest cybernetics.

"Don't think about all that nonsense."

Maine seemed the most indifferent. He had been a mercenary longer than the others and had seen his fair share of luxury cars. Although seeing a Guinevere was a first for him, he was used to it and wasn't surprised.

Maine said, "Do you know what I'm thinking right now?"

"What are you thinking?"

"We're doomed."

"Why do you say that?"

Karl retracted his gaze, a little puzzled.

"Someone who can ride in a Guinevere and has so many Arasaka security personnel guarding them still needs suicidal idiots to act as expendable pawns. What kind of danger do you think we're going to encounter?"

"I have a guess about that."

Karl uttered a word that made Maine, Jack, and Oliver's faces change drastically: "ACPA."

"ACPA?!"

Oliver's face twisted as he heard the word from Karl's mouth. "Why would you guess that?"

"Got a few leads, I guess?"

"How sure are you?"

"Fifty-fifty, I guess. Fifty percent right, fifty percent wrong."

"That's the same as saying nothing!"

Although Oliver said that, he knew very well that if Karl didn't really have some leads, he wouldn't say something so ambiguous at this time. In other words, if they didn't encounter anything, that would be great, but if they did, the opponent was ninety-nine percent likely to be an ACPA.

Don't be fooled by Oliver's previous statements to Karl and Jack, where he described ACPA as a consumable item that would cause the company to lose money. When it came to actually facing ACPA, he knew the danger of ACPA better than anyone else. After all, the Sixth Street Gang had a privately hidden light ACPA, and the veterans in the Sixth Street Gang had encountered them on the battlefield.

They, this group of mercenaries, had good equipment, but that couldn't compare to ACPA. What was ACPA? A humanoid, self-propelled tank.

"Don't think so much. We've already taken the job. Let's fulfill our duties. Our cars are here."

Jack watched as many empty 'Villefort Alvarado V4F 570 Emissary' vehicles drove over from a distance and stopped in front of them, guessing that these were probably the cars for them, the mercenaries, and the Arasaka security personnel.

[Villefort Alvarado V4F 570 Emissary]: An expensive and huge vehicle. Riding in it on the streets isn't called cruising, it's called patrolling. For many people in Night City, the Alvarado is their ideal experience for flaunting luxury.

"When I was a kid, I always wanted to ride in this kind of car. What street hustler wouldn't like this car? Riding in it feels like you've made it. I didn't expect that after becoming a mercenary, I'd just casually ride in one for a mission."

Maine said, watching the other mercenaries get into the vehicles as well. "Are we going to form a convoy and drive through Watson District? Isn't that a bit conspicuous? If you ask me, with the Guinevere, we should just step on the gas and rush through. I guarantee we'd be there in ten minutes."

"And then have the traffic lights or vehicle routes on the road changed by a possible hacker, guiding a collision, and getting ambushed in a place prepared by an attacker?"

Oliver said as he opened the door. "I think if the client is so rich, why not get a flying car? Fly over from the sky, and I guarantee there won't be any obstacles. Don't current flying cars have programs to prevent hackers?"

"That's just to prevent some ordinary hackers. Which flying car doesn't need equipment to guide and control it now? Do you think that someone who can deploy so many people and spend so much money to hire people to protect their target wouldn't be able to find a skilled hacker? If we really did that, we'd probably crash as soon as we took off. You wouldn't even be able to run in the sky."

Jack said, looking at Karl, who had already sat in the passenger seat of the car, and asked, "Karl, what do you think?"

"I'm watching with my eyes open. To be honest, I suspect that there's probably a mole among the security personnel. They can know the target's movements as soon as they happen. Otherwise, I really can't think of any other way to transport personnel other than using a convoy to cross the street."

"You mean, there might be people from the attacker in the security team around the target?"

Karl sat in the driver's seat. This luxury car was self-driving, so he was just going through the motions.

"If they didn't even trust the people around them, would they bother arranging for mercenaries like us, who would only muddy the waters further, to join in? Mercenaries only care about money, right?"

Karl was now certain of his guess: there must be moles like Blanca and Juanito within Arasaka. However, he still couldn't understand why a company like Arasaka couldn't even detect moles among its security personnel.

Or perhaps... within Arasaka, moles like Blanca and Juanito were arranged by people higher up because of the target's identity, so they couldn't be found, and couldn't be investigated?

If the target really was Sakura, then naturally there would be many people who wanted her to live while also wanting her to die. However, arranging personnel for protection while also arranging personnel for possible attacks made Karl think of a term more likely than office infighting.

That term is called...

Testing.

Or called...

Trial.

A trial for Sakura, conducted with countless lives.

There are always those who are obsessed with cherry blossoms after the rain.