Chapter 516 - 487: Conspiracies Within Conspiracies

Corporations don’t fear the flies buzzing energetically in a cage; even if they fill the cage, they are just flies.

In this world, they only consider another corporation as their competitor.

Street gangs are like headless flies, full of zeal but acting impulsively and without organization. Although they are hard to eliminate, their patterns are easy to discern:

They subsist on the excrement corporations produce.

Corporations are different.

Even though people detest how corporations take away their freedom, oppress their lives, and create a chaotic world, they must admit that these organizations, with their unified codes of conduct, modern organizational structures, and firm execution of plans, are indeed the most advanced.

They have algorithms, data, contracts, technology, industry... generations of inheritance and effort, developing weapons capable of destroying cities, reaching the Moon, and exploring outer space, all driven by profit to push everyone to contribute to their goals.

Ordinary individuals, even if they do not agree with them, find no other place that shines bright; otherwise, they end up as decaying corpses in the streets.

Couples dreaming of the Moon actually possess no technology to get there; children wanting to heal their relatives lack the necessary medical knowledge; youths wanting to resist the system...

All they can do is hum some crude rock music and nothing more; even faced with thick books, they give up within seconds, indulging instead in videos capturing beautiful images.

Therefore, no corporation truly regards Night City’s gangs as a threat, but now, things are indeed quietly changing.

They possess technologies never seen by corporations, production systems that corporations cannot locate, and most importantly, organization.

This is the first time the Executioner has seen such a large-scale gang abiding by the same rule.

The traffic on the roads crushed those "European Pioneers" trying to overrun the local gangs, heading in all directions out of Company Square, and the Valentinos quickly dispersed, chasing after the fleeing mercenaries and gang members.

This city already has too much order; they might not yet be able to supersede the corporations and Night City government, but they won’t allow a new order to take root.

But in unseen areas, more power changes began occurring—

Ye Group was the first to notice these anomalies.

This company is, strictly speaking, the founder of Night City. Its former CEO, Knight, purchased this land for development, resulting in what is now known as Night City, named as a homophone of his name.

The residential buildings, public service buildings, city hall, and infrastructure in the city are primarily assets of the Ye Group.

In an upscale residence on Charter Mountain, Jefferson Perares was talking with the public relations manager of this company—

A virtual avatar, face-to-face conversation.

The TV broadcasted the major chaos occurring in Night City, and as the two talked, their eyes also flickered with information from TV stations, media, and security consultant teams.

This manager looked somewhat similar to Jefferson, both epitomizing the classic American elite image with neatly groomed hair, impeccable suits, and proper conversational manners, which Jefferson preferred most in a conversational partner.

No punk-style aesthetics, no blunt talk of interests; everything was textbook-like political conversation.

The senior Ye Group executive said with a slightly troubled expression,

"Hmm... the destruction caused this time is substantial, military technology weapons have been promoted, Arasaka’s services are being considered by many, many are inquiring about the active defense systems of Kantao, and even Peizhuo Petrochemical has more orders for rocket fuel..."

"Rest assured," Perares said with a smile, "Burger King is a man with ideals and ambition. If you carefully look at the things he has done along this path..."

"He is a destroyer, wherever he goes, people die there, facilities explode, power grids collapse, roads... even the overpasses are blown up, including the border wall."

"That’s true, but if you carefully examine, he only strikes at those who actively join the battle."

"But shrapnel and explosions don’t see."

"Those days will soon be over, once this wave of fighting passes, they will become the true underground kings of Night City. With his support, the cost of your company’s infrastructure and maintenance will be unimaginably low."

Finally, he said something that impressed the other party; Perares could feel it.

The senior executive of Ye Group nodded slightly: "It best be so."

"And they have also done you a favor, haven’t they?" Perares spread his arms, "The illegal equipment they buried in the city covers too large an area; isn’t it more helpful for stability to erupt at a predictable node?"

"A predictable risk is indeed more acceptable, but all these things you mentioned are based on the assumption that the mercenaries will choose us—if you lose the election... "

"I won’t lose. I trust Burger King, and I can tell he doesn’t want the world to sink further, just like me," Perares said earnestly, "He, like us, wants people to live in a free, prosperous, and safe city."

The executive sighed, "I just hope... all these things you mentioned arrive soon. We are counting on you."

"I hope so too."

As the two spoke and smiled at each other, they were about to clink their glasses—

But just at that moment, Perares clearly saw the man across from him, his prosthetic eye suddenly emitted an exaggerated blue light!

The density of the data flow was clearly visible, and the Ye Group executive’s expression suddenly changed!

The lights throughout Night City flickered at that second, and large areas went dark, never to light up again!

The next second, Perares felt a splitting headache and curled up on the ground, trembling violently!

Pop!

An arc spark burst from the neck of the Ye Group executive, his communications being disrupted by some electromagnetic pulse device!

Data linkages rapidly adjusted as he straightened up, struggling to complete data exchanges over the severely disrupted communication frequency—

The signal was poor, and he seemed to stutter like a machine!

Those hidden pulse devices had all been activated!

Munemasa, that rogue AI, had gone mad!

Watching the lingering image of Perares convulsing on the ground, the executive immediately issued a series of commands:

[Mr. Blue Eyes: Operation Short Life enters critical phase, take Perares away.]

After issuing the orders, he suddenly thought of something: if this power fluctuation affected Perares’s residence...

Wouldn’t it also affect Mayor Ryan’s residence? After all, they both lived in Charter Hill, the affluent area!

Besides causing power fluctuations, Munemasa’s devices could drive high-power electromagnetic pulse guns and had other functionalities—

The chaos had already exceeded imagination!

He was set to suffer a big loss, but amidst the chaos lay opportunities; if he could seize them, it might not be too bad.

[Mr. Blue Eyes: Monitor Ryan’s residence and report in real time.]

[Message Multilevel Forwarding: ]

[Dante: Alright, but that’s gonna cost extra.]

...

Off the coast of Night City, the massive Kujira aircraft carrier hit the water, transitioning from hover mode to full naval mode.

Arasaka Saburo didn’t have advanced combat prosthetics, and his prosthetic eye had no substantial functionalities compared to his ninjas.

But he had the entire Arasaka Company as his eyes and ears.

The flickers of Night City were marked out in front of him on the screen; even if it was hard to detect with the naked eye, the changes in sensor readings were clearly visible.

"Those who are blind to the truth fear the ugly reality, deceive themselves, inspire themselves, and immerse in delusions, pursuing a beautiful illusion."

"Ryan has lived long enough."

A massive conspiracy had been unfolding even before his arrival in Night City, and now was the time to carry out a key task of the conspiracy.

There was just one loophole left unresolved—

A rogue Moon agent.

"...Check the target’s status as soon as you land."

"Hi."