Chpater 18

When he said this, he looked at Jack.

"Huh... What a coincidence." Jack touched his head, "So, what happened to him in the end?"

"Nine years later, he passed the imperial examination, had his name inscribed on the golden list, witnessed the fall of an empire, and lived to be seventy or eighty."

"Chingón (awesome), that's great!"

Jack slapped his thigh and laughed heartily, his eyes wide open with delight.

Infected by his optimism, Luoqi also smiled for a while with his eyes closed.

"Let's go, brothers."

Passing through numerous rooms, the crew made their way to the ventilation shaft and crawled in.

After some twists and turns, they sneaked into the room where the network manager was located.

This network manager was not responsible for the reception of an internet cafe, but the network hacker of Arasaka's Indigo Tower, lying on top of data equipment with a throughput of 128 trillion times.

T-Bug said that a good hacker was worth a dozen mediocre ones, and this was indeed true in the cyberspace.

Unfortunately, with their infiltration, the brain of some elite was about to burn out.

The crew stayed behind, monitoring the network at all times.

"How do you feel?" Jack asked V, who was looking at the logout control.

"Not bad. A little dizzy, but nothing else." V shook his head and lay down on the sofa.

"The Maelstrom gang might be crazy, but this 'Crow Micro Control' is really well made." Luoqi praised, "No wonder they say that there's only a thin line between genius and madness."

"It could also be a mad genius, who knows?" V seemed quite relaxed about it.

"Bug, do we still have time?" Jack asked.

No response.

"Bug, are you there?" V asked curiously.

"Mmm, yeah, I'm here." T-Bug took a while to regain her focus, "Listen up, the ICE is thicker than I thought. It'll take a few hours to get through."

"A few hours? Can't it be faster?" Jack's eyes widened.

Messing around in the Indigo Tower was dangerous. The longer they stayed, the higher the risk of being discovered.

"Do you want my brain to catch fire?" T-Bug had no patience for amateurs, "Just sit down and enjoy your fancy suits."

"Don't rush. Impatience only leads to poor judgment and nothing else." Luoqi pushed the pacing Jack onto the sofa, "T-Bug, once you've broken the ICE, set up a backdoor for the glass door leading outside from Yorinobu's suite. I'm afraid if something happens and the security level increases, the netrunners will be on high alert, and you don't want to take the risk of confronting them."

"Alright, I got it." T-Bug's tone was still pleasant; she liked this kind of flexible and clever approach.

...

"What do you think? Why did he give up on everything?" Jack, with his arms crossed, stood by the window looking at the harbor at night.

"Huh? Who gave up on what?" V, who had been daydreaming, asked in confusion.

"Yorinobu Arasaka, he gave up on wealth and power." Jack turned around with his hands on his hips, "I know it's old news, but I just can't figure it out."

"Just like, think about it... You have everything, right? Money, education. Your dad snaps his fingers, and a nuclear bomb could flatten half the Earth... But you say in your heart, 'F*ck it, I don't care,' and then what do you do? You start a goddamn gang! Haha, Iron Dragon or something! Cut off contact with your family, put on some fake skin, and play the role of a gang leader for years, what's the point!?" Jack's anger grew as he spoke.

Luoqi understood his feelings. It was as if some people were born already at the finish line, while others were born as the organizers of the race. Then they suddenly decided that it was no fun and started to pretend to be ordinary people to experience life.

"One doesn't know how blessed they are when living in comfort, and every family has its own difficulties," Luoqi said, "Yorinobu Arasaka, he wanted to fight against his father's empire. Either he couldn't see through it all, or he saw everything."

"Yeah, maybe he just wanted to break free from the family system," V said.

"Then why did he come back?" Jack felt like he couldn't understand Yorinobu's thoughts at all.

"If the system is your family, it's hard to break free, I guess." V thought of his own Nomad family and sighed.

"A black sheep is still a sheep," Jack walked to the window.

"You could say that."

Jack walked back, although he was looking out the window, his mind was elsewhere: "Crawling back with his tail between his legs, what a coward, what kind of rebellion is this..."

T-Bug's voice finally spoke after a long time: "Let's get back to work. I've dealt with the security on the top floor, and I've left a backdoor for our escape route."

"Perfecto (very good), it's our turn to shine." Jack cheered up, eager to get started, "Hey, Bug... uh... was your channel open the whole time?"

"For three and a half hours." T-Bug's voice was full of helplessness.

Now it was Jack's turn to be embarrassed: "Uh... what I said about the bitter melon face..."

"Were you talking about my face?" T-Bug asked bluntly.

"Uh, I misspoke, you know what I mean..." Jack laughed awkwardly.

"I understand." T-Bug's focus was on the mission, "Now it's your turn to make it up to me."

Entering the elevator, Jack's figure looked a bit tense.

With T-Bug's authorization, the option to go from the 42nd floor to Yorinobu's suite on the 100th floor was activated.

"Hey, man, don't panic." Luoqi patted his sturdy shoulder, the usually tough and reliable body now seemed a bit shaky, "I'm here."

Jack showed an unnatural smile: "Uh, let me tell you guys a joke."

He glanced at the floor and moved his leather shoes, seemingly still not used to them.

"Now? Are you serious?" T-Bug asked.

But Jack ignored her: "Listen up, why did the rock'n'roll guy get kicked out by his girlfriend?"

He paused for a while and continued: "Because he didn't perform 'intubation', hahaha..."

"You're laughing like a bell." Luoqi slapped his face and laughed along with the tasteless joke.

Intubation could refer to Johnny Silverhand's cult rock single, or a certain unspeakable piston movement.

This is Arasaka Yorimitsu's suite, the same place as in V's Evelyn-recorded Braindance!

All-wooden flooring, with a gentle reflection. Spacious space, familiar structure, and top-notch facilities.

"Oh wow, not bad, good lighting," Loki strolled out with his hands on his hips.

"Hmph... The heir of the Arasaka Empire has a nice place to live..." Jack observed, "Much better than Laoer Wells' son."

"It's nighttime now, what light are you talking about? Stop joking around, you two," T-Bug became nervous, "The safe! Hurry up!"

V and Jack quickly ran to the location of the safe, while Loki stood in front of a huge tree root ornament, looking around.

"Oh my, is that a monitor lizard?" Loki exclaimed.

"Damn, another monitor lizard," Jack was surprised.

They both remembered when they first came to Night City, the Arasaka company's shipment they had—contained a monitor lizard.

"Little... Little Ann's Lesser Antilles species, right?" Loki asked, looking back.

"Damn!" Jack's eyes nearly popped out, "No, not the same one, the one we had had more folds on its neck."

"Mmm~ Ingenious arrangement, lush bamboo, and this lighting, a bamboo forest in the dark night, it has that vibe," Loki continued sightseeing, walked to the wall-mounted touch computer on the side, opened the information, took out his PDA and took a few pictures, then skillfully took the pistol from Yorimitsu Arasaka's bedside and turned on the safe switch.

"Damn, how come you're so familiar with this place like it's your own home?" V and Jack were nervous but still amazed by Loki.

Loki rolled his eyes.

It's all because of you. Back then, I read the records here a million times just to find a way to keep you alive.

"Damn, Yorimitsu Arasaka is entering the building! Hurry up!" T-Bug screamed in the call, "V, connect to your personal link, give me some time."

"Ha-ha-ha, no rush, no rush, ha-ha-ha..." Loki laughed, his smile as bright as an idiot.

"Finally, after all the hustle and bustle, I'm still one step ahead," Loki opened a bottle of wine and poured himself a glass, "The sages of ancient times were all lonely, only the drinkers left their names. Jack, your wine probably can't make it onto the living menu."

"Damn... What kind of wine is this? It tastes terrible," Loki took a big gulp, almost spat it out, "The fragrance is quite strong, high-quality stuff, just too damn pungent, spicy and intense. Yorimitsu Arasaka has a heavy taste."

"Don't you never drink?" Jack asked, holding up the safe.

"I just wanted to taste what the dog emperor's son drinks," Loki shook his head and put it down, "I can't appreciate it."

Rain began to fall outside the window, Loki sat on the sofa, the room filled with a buried tranquility, while outside the wind and rain poured down, covering the mountains and plains.

Rain, it falls for the poor and the rich, for the righteous and the unrighteous. In fact, rain is not fair because it falls in an unjust world.

"Wait, what's that!?" Loki suddenly stood up from the sofa.

Several uniquely designed aircraft approached and began to hover in the sky.

"No, no, no way." He panicked, hurried to the floor-to-ceiling glass, slammed into it, but didn't feel any pain at all.

"What's that? Arasaka's aircraft?" Jack stared with wide eyes, looking around in horror.

"It's Zeta Corporation's octant drones, with Arasaka's logo sprayed on them!" V reacted immediately, "Trauma Team and AV squads also use their aircraft."

"Is this a routine check? Arasaka's patrol is so extravagant?" Jack tried not to think about that possibility.

"Someone is coming, and they're important." Loki tapped on the glass.

"The staff area is chaotic, more than 200 people walking around, all busy," T-Bug said, watching the surveillance.

The relic safe-cracking progress was halfway through, still crawling at a snail's pace.

"T-Bug, hurry up!" Jack urged, "It feels like something's going to happen. Who's coming? It can't be Saburo Arasaka, can it?"

"It's him," Loki said coldly.

"Really!?" Both V and Jack looked up at him in surprise.

But Loki didn't say more, instead, he made a phone call.

"This is Lucky, be ready."