Chapter 967 - 21: Arasaka Yorinobu’s Ambition

Arasaka Yorinobu, heir to the Arasaka Company, and formerly the most rebellious son of Arasaka Saburo, has now become the murderer who killed Arasaka Saburo.

This rich kid can be considered a typical representation of people’s minds teetering on the brink of a mental split in this world, viewed from the outside as a living example of a psychopath:

Although he was Saburo’s second son, he had been at odds with his father from a young age, even running off to mix with gangs, genuinely mixing with them; eating, sleeping, and laughing alongside the small-time gangsters, primarily engaged in smashing the Arasaka Group’s properties.

Later, he angered Saburo, and with the Arasaka Group’s power, stamped out the biker gang known as the "Steel Dragon."

Young Yorinobu found freedom and the true meaning of life within the gang, but his father waved a hand as if with a curse he carried since birth, and took those things away.

Later, Yorinobu continued to show unabashed hostility and hatred towards Arasaka, during the Fourth Corporate War, he assisted the Japanese authorities in backstabbing the Arasaka Company, leading to a massive nationalization of Arasaka assets.

And in the storyline, he secretly stole the relic chip, aiming to shatter his father’s immortality dream, to stop the old man from poisoning the world.

But...

Saburo’s power made everything he did seem like a joke:

Young as he was, he learned to view the world from a civilian’s perspective from a teacher, but the teacher was later dealt with;

A bit older, he wanted to avenge the teacher by joining the Steel Dragon, enjoying the life of a rogue...

But Saburo easily crushed the entire gang with a little effort.

Further on, he helped the Japanese authorities nationalize Arasaka assets, and when Saburo decided to pull out of Night City, concentrating his main force back in Japan, government officials fell like wheat.

A life under control suffocated him, constant defeat drove him into the abyss, but what he couldn’t stand most...

Was every time, his father nonchalantly took him back, as if he was nothing, as if he never caused any damage from start to finish.

To be blunt, there was a sense of powerlessness, no matter what he did, he’d be dragged back to the position of Arasaka Crown Prince by Saburo; no matter what he did, it was worthless in Saburo’s eyes.

And as Saburo’s son, he knew few things in the world could make his father feel out of control, even the company’s defeat in the war was the same...

So he quite, very much, even super idolized Lille:

After the Arasaka Aircraft Carrier was blown up, Saburo escaped to shore on a lifeboat, it was a rare moment he saw Saburo embarrassed.

"...You..."

[Johnny: Arasaka Yorinobu? That rich kid with a screw loose?]

"Burger King-san!"

Yorinobu walked over excitedly, taking fast strides, with his hands, seemed wanting to hug or shake hands, but stopped awkwardly fluttering in the air, looking like a fanatic!

Lille raised a hand, stopping Yorinobu from advancing, turning to look at V.

The latter shrugged: "How would I know what’s going on, this rich kid killed his dad two years ago while the carrier sank, when Saburo climbed ashore like a drowned rat, then stayed here.

He put quite the effort in taking down company and Military Technology assets in the city—if you ask me, the master of the company dog is who can truly beat the company dog.

Yorinobu, your idol Burger King-san is here—Burger King-san, he’s your admirer, back when you caused that Black Dog Incident in Europe, he’d talk about how it had to be you..."

[Johnny: Burger King-san... Haha, Burger King-san, this little Japanese is amusing.]

Lille turned around, looking at Yorinobu, with a pained expression: "Wait a minute... you killed Saburo?"

"Yes!" Yorinobu punched the air vehemently, lifting his head proudly, "This is a war; I couldn’t defeat my father, but you can!

You took just two years for Night City to get a true freedom like never before; another two years to break down the wall of capitalism and bureaucracy in all of Europe!

Burger King-san, I must join you; the future world shouldn’t be as Saburo and the companies imagined, only you..."

"Stop!"

Lille interrupted Yorinobu’s sycophancy, wondering how he could flow ideology like rainbows better than himself?

Yorinobu nodded: "I was too hasty, but Burger King-san, I fully support you, we..."

"Wait a second, buddy, wait a second—"

Lille felt a headache.

Arasaka Yorinobu is a rather special individual, his teacher shaped his worldview, infusing him with content of another dream, but Yorinobu was too young then.

His teacher, those civilians gave birth to rebellious thoughts out of sheer survival necessity, how could someone with everything feel the same as one from the masses?

To Lille, Yorinobu’s idea of destroying companies and capitalism is just a façade, truly nourishing this thought’s growth is hatred, he hates Saburo for controlling him, killing his benevolent teacher, hates Arasaka for destroying Steel Dragon, killing his true brothers, hates his perpetual lack of freedom...

Such simple yet strong emotions usually root and nourish great ideals in one’s heart, for humans, after all, are not AI.

Yorinobu was momentarily stunned, Lille easily noticed his emotional hurt... hurt felt inside.

Thus Lille’s headache worsened: "...I just want to say, this isn’t a fan meeting, Night City welcomes all who share the same goals, including you.

But can you not just come in and... uh, say a bunch of nonsense?

Thanks for your help, but I’m here to deploy strategy right now, we can talk later."

Yorinobu’s emotions quickly returned to a high state, he nodded and stopped talking, but Lille could feel from the negative energy that he really wanted to speak...

V’s eyeballs turned.

[V: Do you also think this guy has a problem with his head?]

[Lille: Not really, even though everyone has different reasons for a common goal, in the end, there is still one goal, right?]

[Lille: And Arasaka Yorinobu is not simple, you can feel that too, right?]

[V: Tch, I thought you also thought he was not normal.]

[Lille: I’m just not good at dealing with people like that.]

Lille wasn’t born with a silver spoon, no one in this camp of his had such a background.

After some thought, Lille decided to make things clear: "Let me be clear, rationally, I can understand and accept that you share the same goal as us and consider you a comrade.

But emotionally... Excuse me for being blunt, none of us were born with a silver spoon, it’s hard to empathize with your... entire mindset.

In reality... We now have a common topic, we’re comrades in arms, so I’ll be straightforward:

I think you simply hate Arasaka and Saburo, you don’t have to talk about all the righteous nonsense, understand what I mean?"

Yorinobu was momentarily stunned, then silent for a while, before raising his head and smiling:

"You’re right, Mr. Burger King, I just want Arasaka to be completely destroyed, if possible, I want to inherit the will of my friends and teachers, destroy all companies, I want revenge."

That was direct.

Hansen crossed his arms and finally joined the conversation: "So now, can we finally get to the main point? We’re in the middle of a war."

The former leader of Dog Town, now the Commander of the City Defense Army, Hansen was as professional as ever, one could say he was even more professional without the businessman part.

"Of course, but I need to connect an assistant first."

Lille looked at the panel on the wall—

Sizzle...

Amidst everyone’s puzzled looks, crimson currents flickered through the lines and cables of their Prosthetic Eye, images distorted, data aggregated, and finally turned into crimson stripes and codes!

Confusion quickly turned into shock and unease, and among them, Lark, who deeply understood the changes happening in the network at this moment, showed a dramatic change in expression—

"A rogue AI!"

The red All-Seeing Eye appeared on the screen.

[Illuminati: You need living space...]

"Shut up, I didn’t tell you to speak yet."

[Illuminati: Okay.]

All riots stopped, and the data on the screen began to calmly restore to the normal interface, but everyone knew something had entered the network:

A rogue AI, and a very dangerous critical entity...

A dangerous critical entity that obeys Lille’s command.

Arasaka Yorinobu was unimaginably shaken, followed by an exhilaration that soared to the sky:

Decades of struggling, from gang to corporate executive, his knowledge and thoughts had long evolved, that passionate little fan demeanor from earlier was to some extent, a façade he instinctively created, thinking Lille might like to hear it.

He truly admired Lille, but unfortunately, his emotions under Saburo’s prolonged control had become nothing but venomous, even bordering on madness.

Now, he was truly excited.

His thoughts suddenly returned to the first time he ran away from home, the first time discussing robbing Arasaka property with his brothers at Steel Dragon, back then, he thought he already had the power to destroy Arasaka, unrivaled.

That feeling had gradually dissipated under the long, hopeless control, but now he found it again:

He was certain that this was the place to end corporate domination.

...

[V: By the way, he said he wants to call himself Roaring Udon, Night City is really crazy.]

[Lille: ...]