The Creators: From Night City

Page 306

To collect behavioral characteristics of a target, it's not simply a matter of scanning them. It requires long-term, multi-dimensional, and extensive communication with the target, not just verbally, but ideally by scanning for intense emotional fluctuations. Only in this way can the collected behavioral data be more comprehensive, accurate, and realistic.

“You’re a professional, Alex, try to think of something.” Just to be on the safe side, Li De found a place not far from the two of them with a good view and pretended to be busy, while observing the situation in the banquet hall.

“I am Lisa Chen, you can also call me ‘Mei Xi’ (in Chinese). How should I address you, busy man?” It must be said that the professional skills of an agent from the FIA ​​are absolutely top-notch, and the Chinese name ‘Mei Xi’ was pronounced by her in perfect accord.

Chapter 615 The Rhythm of a Gathering of Talented Individuals

"Sabur" Jiang Bing reached out and shook hands with the other person's slender fingers. To be fair, the other person had even disguised the skin on their fingers, showing great consideration. At least there were no obvious flaws such as calluses from years of gun use on their palms.

This is normal, though. With the current high level of expertise in skin microsculpting and simulated skin cultivation, not to mention military applications, even the civilian medical aesthetics industry can easily perform a comprehensive cosmetic transformation from head to toe.

Alex took the opportunity of shaking hands to lightly hook Jiang Bing's palm with her fingertips, but the feedback she received greatly discouraged her.

The target's emotions remained as calm as a block of ice, without the slightest fluctuation.

"Li De, the intelligence can't be wrong, right? Even after I've done this, he hasn't shown any emotional fluctuation. Could the target like men?"

Alex's concerns were not unfounded. In 2076, sexual attitudes had been fully liberated, and the once-glorious proctology department was no longer confined to Chengdu but had expanded beyond Sichuan to the rest of the world.

Even the corresponding "Heart Steel" prosthetic body, although not as popular as the "Big Steel Cannon," still allowed the company that launched this flagship product to successfully list its product concept stock and closely follow the industry leader.

The business world is like a battlefield, and the competition in the sex toy industry is just as fierce. One day you might have someone hack their website and change the slogan on the homepage to "Continue to CX until you explode," and the next day they'll launch a new product, claiming it's the essential companion for achieving ultimate pleasure.

That's normal, after all, the entertainment industry has always been quite chaotic.

"No, Alex. It's normal for intelligence and historical evidence to show the target's sexual orientation. If you don't like it, you can sacrifice your looks a little more."

"I was just short of fighting him right there, Li De!" Alex's temper was the opposite of her professionalism; she was incredibly hot-tempered.

Despite his complaints, Alex obediently did as he was told.

She naturally tilted her head to look at Jiang Bing, taking the opportunity to lean half of her body on the bar, revealing her two snow-white breasts at a subtle angle.

Jiang Bing glanced at it twice and immediately determined that it was obviously fake. It was new, full of technology, and a consumer fraud.

"Still no use. Is the target equipped with an emotion suppression device?" Alex reported angrily over the communication channel.

"We cannot rule out this possibility."

Seeing that Jiang Bing was clearly unmoved by beauty, and that Alex's continued pursuit would seem too deliberate, Li De decisively chose to abandon the plan.

“Abandon Plan A, activate Plan B, Alex. If you can’t get the behavioral pattern of the target, put it aside for now. Find an opportunity to get away from the target.”

As a "King of Spies," Li De was absolutely decisive in handling matters. Once he made a decision, he immediately abandoned the possibility of a "peaceful" solution and began preparing to resort to force.

"I understand," Alex breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling relieved.

"Assemble the freight elevators. The two of us will ensure the safety of the 'goods' we'll be using next." Li De instructed Alex as he walked towards the employee entrance, while also sending a message to the military technology team on the next floor to begin the operation.

But he never expected that Jiang Bingye, who had been spying on him, would see this information.

However, he's been so caught up in all the excitement lately that he can't keep up with it all.

Mr. Blue Eyes: [Sabur, my people report that you made a high-profile appearance at Hansen's Christmas dinner in Dogtown today. Looks like you have important business to attend to.]

Jiang Bing: [You're still as well-informed as ever.]

Mr. Blue Eyes: [Out of consideration for our old friendship, I'll give you a piece of information. A lot of new faces have flooded into Pacific State in the last few days, probably over a hundred. They seem to be from New America.]

Jiang Bing's fingers, which were tapping on the table, suddenly stopped. He remembered Plan B that Li De had mentioned, and he seemed to be deep in thought.

His fingers flicked in the air, and a message was quickly sent back to Mr. Blue Eyes.

Jiang Bing: [Actually, Hansen acted as an intermediary today, arranging for me to meet with people from the military technology sector to chat and discuss cooperation regarding Arasaka.]

Mr. Blue Eyes: [Looks like there's going to be some fun tonight.]

Jiang Bing: [It seems that Song Zhaomei's importance to the new America and to Miles needs to be reassessed.]

Jiang Bing: [Are you going to join in the fun today?]

Mr. Blue Eyes: [Actually, I'm already here, on the balcony outside the banquet hall.]

Jiang Bing frowned, tapped his fingers on the table a couple of times, and then pulled up the surveillance footage from the balcony through Baoshi Qing's monitoring system. Sure enough, amidst the bustling crowd of women, an inconspicuous figure in a black suit and white shirt was leaning over the railing, gazing at Taipingzhou.

Good heavens, Mr. Blue Eyes truly lives up to his title as the uncrowned king of Night City's underground; he's everywhere indeed.

Mr. Blue Eyes: [Hansen has been pushing forward with the 'Little Big Dipper' project recently, and is extensively excavating the 'Little Big Dipper' military facilities underground in Dogtown, which is also the testing ground that Ultraman and I carefully selected.]

Mr. Blue Eyes: [I just didn't expect things to happen so coincidentally. It seems your affairs are trying to catch up with mine.]

Jiang Bing: [Have you and Ultraman finally completed the 'Black Wall Shield' that you've been dreaming of?]

After Jiang Bing handed over the data on the Black Wall extracted from the Lark to Mr. Blue Eyes, the latter couldn't wait to use this data as a reference to create a 'weapon of mass destruction' that could resist the Black Wall. However, Jiang Bing did not expect that the other party could be so fast. In just over ten days, he not only completed the programming, but also almost found a test site.

Mr. Blue Eyes: [With the fundamental digital imprint left by the Black Wall, countering and eliminating the opponent is difficult, but blocking their monitoring mechanism is quite simple. However, the program still needs to be verified in actual combat.]

Mr. Blue Eyes: [However, this matter isn't that important. I contacted you today for something else.]

Mr. Blue Eyes suddenly turned around, glanced at the webcam that Jiang Bing had hacked with a playful expression, and sent a bunch of files to Jiang Bing, who had suddenly appeared online.

That was the emptied Arasaka Industrial Park.

Mr. Blue Eyes: 【【Reverse Entropy】has been making some rather large moves lately, and seems to have some unique ideas.】

Jiang Bing: [Anyway, it's all for the sake of making Night City better.]

Another photo was sent to me.

The photo shows an ordinary handbag, but what's extraordinary is the cylindrical object inside—Jiang Bing's carefully prepared gift: Pandora's Box.

Mr. Blue Eyes: [Was sending the deputy mayor a miniature nuclear bomb as a threat also for the sake of making Night City better?]

Jiang Bing: [Don't you think so?]

Chapter 616 Plan B

Mr. Blue Eyes had both a headache and an admiration for his business partner.

What I admire about them is their competence; their overall strength is undeniable. However, what's a headache is that their ability to create trouble and their work ethic are also undeniably impressive.

Mr. Blue Eyes: [I know you have powerful backers, but our initial plan to peacefully retake Night City seems rather impatient.]

Jiang Bing: [Did you know that today is the evening of December 25th, 2076? 2077 is just around the corner.]

Mr. Blue Eyes: [?]

Mr. Blue Eyes: [Is there any special significance to the year 2077?]

"Of course," Jiang Bing thought.

And quite a lot.

Saburo Arasaka's 158-year-old body was finally about to give out. Before launching his extremely risky 'digital immortality' project, he definitely wanted to completely resolve the troubles with military technology, so that military technology wouldn't take advantage of him when he passed away and Arasaka was at a loss.

At that time, it would be foreseeable that war would break out between the two.

If you want to start a war, Night City is a very suitable entry point.

In fact, in Jiang Bing's memory, Saburo Arasaka had considered nuking Night City again and triggering the Fifth Corporate War when he visited Night City in 2077.

Jiang Bing: [In 2077, Saburo Arasaka will already be 158 years old. Mr. Blue Eyes, how long can an old man who relies on drugs and surgery to prolong his life actually live?]

Mr. Blue Eyes fell into an unusual silence.

He began to think about lifespan, a word that was both familiar and unfamiliar to him, and about death, which he hadn't thought about for a long time.

Mr. Blue Eyes: [Do you know any inside information about the Arasaka family?]

Jiang Bing did not answer, but chose to leave the question in Mr. Blue Eyes' mind.

Not long after Alex left, a member of the Ghost Hounds politely invited Jiang Bing to the conference room.

Although it's called a conference room, it's actually a very luxurious reception room.

A safe business meeting room can naturally be any room.

However, a separate, isolated safe room that can shield all spying devices needs to be set up separately.

"This way, please."

Guided by the waiter, Jiang Bing went up to the 97th floor and soon met the military technology personnel he had arranged to meet.

The other party was small, consisting of only a male leader and a female secretary, forming a small but highly capable team.

Although there weren't many people, each of them exuded an air of competence.

These two are definitely elite military technology agents, each capable of taking on ten opponents at once.

Of course, they were all dressed in suits and ties, and what they were holding in their arms or hands were not deadly weapons, but portable computers and personal data tablets, exuding a strong business vibe and appearing quite harmless on a physical level.

"Mr. Sabur, please come in. Mr. O'Sullivan, the regional director of military technology, has been waiting for you for a long time." Colonel Hansen greeted Jiang Bing with a beaming smile as he stood at the door.

O'Sullivan is certainly the regional director of military technology, but whether the person who came to see Jiang Bing this time was the other party is another matter. After all, if the behavioral characteristics panel can forcibly disguise itself when the other party does not cooperate, how difficult would it be to disguise oneself as one's own people when one's own personnel cooperate unconditionally?

In reality, there's nothing there. If you want it to look realistic, you don't even need a behavior feature synchronization panel; you can directly perform facial micro-sculpting surgery. It's guaranteed to be genuine and can withstand all kinds of scrutiny.

No matter what the military technology team wants to discuss with [Anti-Entropy], they will definitely have to deal with Hansen in this negotiation, and Hansen will not allow the two to have a private conversation without him involved.

Thus, the three parties, each with their own agendas, entered the meeting room together.

At the same time.

After leaving the banquet hall, Li De turned around and went into the staff passage at the back.

Compared to the luxury and cleanliness of the party hall, this place is not so dignified.

From the very beginning of its construction, the Gemstone Blue Tower was defined by investors as the tallest, largest, most luxurious, and safest skyscraper in the entire Night City. This also led to most of the space inside the super building, which was abandoned after its initial completion and then occupied by the Ghost Hounds, remaining undecorated. Naturally, Hansen could not utilize all of the more than one hundred floors of space, nor could he renovate them all.

Therefore, the corridor in front of Li De is the original, untouched skin.

Although the numerous wires illegally strung by the ghost dogs were simply routed, they still clung to the ceiling and walls like ugly pythons.

Large quantities of supply boxes and equipment were scattered in the gaps of the corridor or in empty rooms.

Many rooms were simply fitted with a door and then used as storage rooms for various purposes.

As a giant building with more than 100 floors, Gemstone Green naturally has more than just a few elevators in the lobby. In the back, it also has a considerable number of freight elevators for transferring supplies.

Li De's destination was the L3 freight elevator on the 95th floor.

Hansen's Ghost Hounds take the safety of the guests attending the banquet very seriously. Those who enter the Gemstone Blue through legitimate channels need to go through several deep scans and special security gates, which can basically prevent guests from bringing weapons into the Gemstone Blue building.

However, New America's hijacking operation against the upper echelons of [Anti-Entropy] could not have been done without the support of weapons. After all, the lower floors of Gemstone Blue were the residence of the Netherhounds, and they could not simply jump down from the more than 100-story building. In the face of the Netherhounds' military anti-aircraft firepower, ordinary flying vehicles would be nothing more than sitting ducks.

Therefore, they can only fight their way out from the bottom, which makes the unarmed operatives like lambs to the slaughter in the event of a conflict.

Since weapons couldn't be brought in through official channels, they had to rely on FIA agents, led by Li De, to find ways to transport them.

Fortunately, the Ghost Hound is not like [Anti-Entropy], which has an unreasonable 'loyalty test'. There were already agents from the Joint Intelligence Agency who had infiltrated it. Although they did not hold high positions, sometimes, an inconspicuous position can still play a decisive role.

Take, for example, a sanitation worker responsible for garbage transfer.

When Alex arrived at the designated location after changing clothes, Li De had already arranged for the nearby security forces to pack the bodies of the two Ghost Hound soldiers on guard duty into boxes.

"Is everything settled?" Alex asked Reed.

"Um"

"It seems that Sabur Lerek has really angered the officials in Atlanta this time. After all, even the FIA's infiltration team has been sent. The last time I heard about their deployment was during the anti-riot operation in Ridomit."

"Hmm," Li De still didn't seem to want to talk any further.

Chapter 617 Operation B Begins

"Thinking about Xiao Song," Alex guessed, turning his head to look at the other person's dark face.

"Yes, you've seen that report too. The intelligence suggests that Xiao Song might not have been coerced, but rather he might have been actively cooperating with the other side in a betrayal."

“This is treason. What was Song Zhaomei thinking?” Alex wasn’t incredulous at the betrayal, but rather puzzled by her reasoning.

As a secret agent, she naturally knew how difficult the life of a secret agent was. In fact, she had seen far too many cases of betrayal, defection, and faking death to escape.

"Who knows? You know Song's personality." Although Li De was Song Zhaomei's recruiter and her former captain, he didn't dare to say that he fully understood her.

However, he had a vague suspicion in his heart. After all, he might not know Song Zhaomei thoroughly, but he knew very well the superior to whom Song Zhaomei was loyal, his former superior, the new US President Miles.

He closed the trash can lid, took the weapon Alex had left with him, and returned it to him.

The weapons used by special agents are naturally pistols, and they must also meet the requirements of soundproofing and anti-detection materials for covert operations.

Therefore, Alex and Reed's preferred weapons are all specially made by the FIA.