Night, Tokyo, Arasaka family residence.

This is a mansion building full of Japanese classical style, with three inner and outer walls to enclose the complex impermeable, lantern-like neon lights hanging along the walls to shine day and night, and luxurious wood and stone also wash the building away from the glitz of technology.

The patrolling guards and robots did not spare any hidden corners of the residential complex, and the seemingly magnificent palace mansion had melted into the night at this time, and it was extremely dark.

There is no such thing as a lively scene of daylight, the whole temple is extremely solemn and deadly silent, like a palace of caged birds under house arrest, except for the occasional sound of the guards' imperceptible footsteps, like evil spirits roaming in the night.

And in one of the residences of this mansion, Arasaka Yorinobu sat on a chair in the bedroom, looking at the documents in front of him with a cloudy expression.

The room is bright, and the white light is reflected on the data text on the display, which is a stark contrast to the dead night outside.

And the fluorescence of the screen is also shining on Arasaka Yoritobu's increasingly ugly face, dyed with a slight dark shadow.

For a long time, it seemed to be the calm before the storm, and the sudden eruption came without warning.

The heir of Arasaka suddenly rose into a rage, slamming the paper-thin display screen on the tabletop to the ground, shattering the fragile display into shards of glass.

"Damn old thing, old immortal living in his own virtual dreams! What are you dreaming of immortality? You should have gone to hell years ago!" Lai Xuan did not hide his anger, like a hysterical hyperthyroid patient, and his whole face even turned red because of anger.

He paced back and forth among the shards of glass, his eyes gloomily looking at the blurry fragments of the reflected light that fell to the ground, and his eyes couldn't help but be dazzled by these fragments of reflected light for a while, and the boredom in his heart gradually became more condensed.

「rel2.0... That old immortal's latest secret research project, and still delusional about eternal life, I must not let this project of yours succeed!" He muttered to himself, unabashedly expressing his thoughts.

As the heir of the Arasaka family, after the death of his eldest brother, Arasaka Yorixuan is the only son left by Saburo.

As long as he is willing to give in to Saburo himself's will, he can become a figure above 10,000 people in the Arasaka Company at any time.

However, from the 20s, he was filled with guilt for his family's criminal history, began to fight against his father, and atone for his family's sins within his ability.

All of the above doomed Arasaka Yoshinobu to be impossible to be in the same league with his father.

And many years ago, he tried to create an organization against the company when he was young and frivolous, but in the end it was still a failure.

A giant of Arasaka's size is no longer a force that can be overthrown by manpower alone.

Just like the nuclear bomb that was detonated in the Arasaka Tower in the Night City, no matter how powerful it was, the Arasaka Company still returned to that city as an emperor, and its influence was far greater than before.

But after the nuclear bombing in the 20s, Arasaka Yoritomu got some hope.

If even a nuclear bomb can't destroy a company, then why not turn itself into a nuclear bomb?

Since the end of the unification war between companies in the 20s, neither Arasaka nor military technology won in that war, and both suffered heavy losses in that war, and many of Arasaka's businesses were even nationalized by the state.

Even Arasaka Yoritomo's eldest brother, the eldest son who inherited all of Arasaka Saburo's knowledge and will, lost his life in that war.

[The app that has been running stably for many years is comparable to the old version of the book-chasing artifact, which is used by old bookworms.]

As a result, decades have passed, and the Arasaka company is still standing.

However, this war also made Arasaka Yoshinobu completely enlightened

- Nuclear bombs can't bring down companies, but wars between companies can bring companies down!

In the past, he formed a gang force in a vain attempt to defeat the Arasaka Company from the outside, which was doomed to be a futile result.

However, if you turn yourself into a "nuclear bomb" and wield enough power within the company until one day you start a corporate war again, you may be able to re-realize that the company is not invincible!

He will make the world forget the fear of the company!

However, the ideal is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.

Since returning to the family, he has made compromises to his father within the company, and has gathered other management to form his own faction, but Araka Yoshinobu finds that his ideal is still far away, and he can't see the possibility of realizing his ideal at all.

As long as Saburo Arasaka does not die for a day, then his ideals will never be realized.

Now, the REL 2.0 project undoubtedly announces that his last hope is about to be dashed!

Although Arasaka is still unclear about the content and details of this project when Saburo Arasaka deliberately concealed it, he is very sure that this project is definitely related to "eternal life".

That old immortal thing still wants to continue to rule Arasaka immortally, so that the inheritance he created will be passed on for generations to come!

"I must not let him succeed!"

Arasaka roared irritably, his hands pounding heavily on the mahogany tabletop.

He has worked hard for so many years, endured the disgust in his heart to compromise with his father, and now he finds that his ideals and dreams are about to become worthless...

Impatience, anger and even despair... and other negative emotions of disillusionment have filled Lai Xuan's heart.

But in addition to being angry, Lai Xuan also knew very well that there was not much time left for him now, and he had to find an opportunity to completely break with his father, Arasaka Saburo!

Still, having said that, recent events have disrupted his plans once again...

Although you are the son of Arasaka Saburo, in order to avoid being monitored by his father, the bodyguard group around him has long been disbanded, and the only remaining bodyguard is the top mercenary who returned to Arasaka in the past - Adam Hammer.

In all fairness, Arasaka Yorixuan doesn't like this kind of iron pimple type bodyguard, but he doesn't have many cronies around him at all.

Adam Hammer is not only strong, but also does not belong to any faction in the company, and the steel prosthetic body on his body needs to be maintained from time to time, which dooms him to be impossible to break away from Arasaka's control

With a little operation, excluding the intervention of Saburo Arasaka, he is the best bodyguard candidate in Lai Xuan's mind.

What Lai Xuan never expected was that ten days ago, his bodyguard just went to Night City on a business trip, and TM didn't know which bastard killed him, and he didn't even leave the wreckage!

This accident can be said to have completely disrupted Lai Xuan's plan.

There is no available person around him to take on the role of force, and he has no way to fight with Arasaka Saburo, he can only be a piece of meat to be slaughtered!

"The roof leak happened to rain overnight!" Arasaka Yoshinobu sighed quietly.

Having lost a suitable bodyguard, he didn't know where to find a more suitable force to take on next.

Gradually calming down from his anger, Lai Xuan exhaled heavily, and casually summoned the cleaning robot and asked it to clean up the debris on the ground.

Then he sat back down at the table, forcing himself to remain calm and thinking about his side.

After fighting his father for so many years, he realized that he couldn't compete head-on with Saburo Arasaka, and the only thing he could do was to make a miracle move.

Herman, the current leader of the REL 2.0 project, happens to be a close friend on his side.

If one day in the future, REL 2.0 really develops a finished product, and he is also very sure that the sample chip will be stolen.

In this way, it is impossible for Saburo Arasaka to hide the theft, and he will inevitably try to recover the samples so that the technology is not exposed to other companies.

But Saburo also knows very well that it is impossible for ordinary Arasaka envoys and Arasaka agents to suppress his son in terms of identity, and it is impossible to get the sample back from his son.

And Lai Xuan only needs to have a bodyguard with enough combat power left by his side, so these agents have lost even the last effective method of "violent means".

At that time, only if San Lang himself was there could he get things back from Lai Xuan... Maybe at that moment, it's his chance!

But now there is no best bodyguard candidate, and it is difficult for Lai Xuan to find a suitable candidate for a while.

Suddenly, Arasaka Yoshinobu looked at a small chip placed on the table.

It was a small, unremarkable chip that looked like a normal text chip.

It just sat casually in the corner of the computer desk, pressed under a pile of papers.

Regarding the security and privacy issues in his room, Lai Xuan is still very confident... If even the most basic privacy can't be guaranteed, and his every move is under his father's nose, then he can't talk about fighting with Saburo.

Because of this, he dared to yell wantonly in the room as a way to vent his negative emotions.

And this chip was handed over to him by an ordinary middle manager in an internal meeting of the company he attended.

Lai Xuan's heart was very clear.

Although the manager has been emphasizing that Lai Xuan himself accidentally fell to the ground, in fact, Arasaka Lai Xuan also saw at a glance that the other party must be a spy agent planted in Arasaka by a certain company.

But with the idea that "the enemy of the enemy is a friend", this kind of spy can make a stumbling block for his own company, and Lai Xuan is naturally happy to hear about it, and it is impossible to report the other party.

And now, this chip, which was handed over to him by a spy from a certain company, has suddenly become the key to Lai Xuan's breakthrough.

He himself naturally knows that a spy who can sit in the management of Arasaka Company must be an extremely important talent, and he is a chess piece that cannot be given up at will in the chess game!

Such a precious spy would have to risk being exposed at any time just to get this chip into his hands?

Even if he doesn't deal with his father Saburo Arasaka, it's a private matter within the family.

In order to gain power within the company, he has not revealed to anyone his thoughts of opposing Arasaka, let alone his position as an "anti-Arasaka" party.

Therefore, this spy was willing to expose himself in order to hand over the chip to him, which really surprised Lai Xuan.

"Is it inevitable that in the end, you will inevitably borrow help from outside forces?" Looking at this chip, Lai Xuan's expression was quite complicated.

The world is as black as a crow.

There can be no companies and enterprises in this world that are not stained by mud, and the rise of every company must be hidden behind the unknown bloody history, which can only develop by sucking blood.

Using the power of other companies to deal with Arasaka is no less than seeking the skin of a tiger in Lai Xuan's heart.

However, now he really doesn't have much leverage.

After thinking for a long time, Lai Xuan sighed again, his young and handsome mature face seemed to be several years old, he looked at the chip with deep eyes, and finally made a decision.

Stretching out his hand and inserting the chip on a computer, Lai Xuan began to wait patiently for the computer to change.

Soon, a string of blue text appeared on the computer screen:

[I can help you to make the world forget their fears. 】

Seeing this text, Lai Xuan's Tong Kong shrank suddenly, and a trace of emotion appeared in his heart for no reason.

"How is this possible?!"

Coincidental? Or is it a conspiracy?

Why would the other party know that his wish is to let the whole world

People who forget their fear of Arasaka?

Even his closest sister, Hanako Arasaka, has never known the reason why he is against his father Saburo, and even Saburo himself may not understand what the cause and motive of his "rebellion" is!

Why, why does this guy say the ideal he has been persisting to this day!

Resisting the eagerness in his heart, Lai Xuan continued to look down.

[Mr. Lai Xuan, I have been looking forward to meeting you, but unfortunately, with the position of both of us, the opportunity to meet is estimated to be delayed for a while, so in order to get in touch with you, I have to make this decision, this text chip please remember to burn after reading]

【... You don't need to worry, you don't need to worry about how I learned about your ideals, you just need to understand one thing, I am the same kind of person as you, and I appreciate your consciousness and belief for so many years.

[Maybe we can cooperate, the REL 2.0 project will be an opportunity, and the moment when the finished product is developed, maybe it's time for you to do it...... When you succeed in stealing the REL 2.0 chip prototype, you can come to Night City, where I will be waiting for you]

[Oh, by the way, please remember that when you successfully get the REL 2.0 chip prototype, remember to inject the data awareness of Johnny Silver into it, which is very important, and please remember it!] 】

[As for the reason... The moment we actually meet, I will tell you all the truth]

[——Lin Mo/Ink Shadow]

"Lin Mo, Ink Shadow?" Lai Xuan muttered these two names in a low voice, and inexplicably felt that these two names were extremely familiar.

Soon, however, his head flashed and he remembered where he had seen the name.

"Isn't he the murderer who killed Adam's hammer! And this ink shadow... He was also the murderer who killed the CTO of Moore Technology half a year ago!" Lai Xuan muttered in surprise, "Are they the same person?"

Although he was still surprised in his heart, Lai Xuan reacted quickly, quickly pulled out the text chip, and then took out a cup of reagent bottle from the drawer, opened the cork and put the chip in it.

After a while, the chip quickly melted into the liquid inside the reagent bottle.

The whole process can be described as quite neat, which shows that Lai Xuan has often done this kind of destruction of "evidence".

Casually putting the reagent bottle back in the drawer, Lai Xuan continued to recall what he had just seen on the text chip.

"You know my ideals, you know my plans, and you want to meet me..." Lai Xuan smiled calmly:

"Heh, I'm kind of looking forward to the day we meet... Mr. Lin Mo."