"So, you're in?"
Rama looked at Silver Wolf, his expression brightening.
"Since I've got nothing better to do, might as well join in the fun. Besides, like you said, the enemy's already got their eyes on me. Recruiting teammates is just part of clearing the game."
A faint smile played on Silver Wolf's lips as she spoke.
"Great, great! With you on board, I'm even more confident. Let's do something big here in Night City, Silver Wolf!"
As he spoke, an enthusiastic Rama thrust his fist out, holding it in front of Silver Wolf.
"Knew you'd join us, pal."
Nearby, Cole stubbed out his cigar, tilted his head back, and chimed in.
"Welcome aboard, my friend."
Genji nodded, his gaze sweeping over Cole and Rama before he too extended his hands.
"Even I'm getting fired up now."
Watching the three fists come together, Silver Wolf raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, partners. We'll succeed."
With that, she pressed her own small fist against theirs.
To be honest, if they were just four ordinary folks, or even exceptionally skilled ordinary folks, no matter how capable they became, the end result would likely be the same: the arm simply can't twist the thigh.
But Silver Wolf was different. Right now, she was still holding back, playing by the game's normal rules.
But when push came to shove, Silver Wolf wouldn't hesitate to take action.
After all, losing wasn't fun. So, Silver Wolf chose to cheat.
Don't be fooled by her harmless appearance into thinking she's easy to push around.
Never forget, Silver Wolf is an extremely dangerous existence, someone who can waltz right through corporate headquarters and leave the corp utterly helpless.
Every member of the Stellaron Hunters possesses the ability to single-handedly destroy a planet. Silver Wolf is no exception.
If Silver Wolf were to crank her Ether Editing to maximum output, she could digitize an entire planet in an instant.
Of course, given Silver Wolf's personality, she'd almost never do something like that. The Stellaron Hunters might have a slightly bad reputation, but they're actually decent people.
We Stellaron Hunters are all about doing good!
It's all just slander and rumors spread by those corporate dogs.
With the media and narrative control firmly in the corps' hands, we Stellaron Hunters get bullied.
All we can do, when pushed too far, is let out a frustrated sigh and maybe take a little stroll through corporate headquarters.
"Alright, time to get down to business. Silver Wolf, the corp has its eyes on you. How should we handle this? Given their response time, it won't take them long to track you down."
After the brief fist bump, Rama got back on topic, his expression turning serious as he looked at Silver Wolf.
Even though Rama was the doctor, he understood that with Silver Wolf joining, the team's decision-making would inevitably shift towards her. After all, she was the strongest.
Fortunately, neither Rama, Cole, nor Genji cared much about that kind of superficial power dynamic. They'd come together for a shared goal: to make the corporate dogs pay!
"What should we do? Wing it, I guess. Just wait for the corp to make their move. Like you said, they won't be slow. In that case, we might as well rest up, build our strength, and just wait."
Silver Wolf pursed her lips. Strategies and such were too much trouble. She hated playing those complex, brain-burning games with complicated mechanics.
So, faced with corporate pressure, her choice was simple: just go with the flow!
Even though she said she'd follow the process step-by-step, you know how it is—a cheater's word is worth less than nothing.
Plus, Silver Wolf was a girl now, a double buff stacked. So, these little things weren't really a big problem anymore.
If the corp behaved themselves, Silver Wolf wouldn't mind playing along. It'd even prove that she isn't a noob at gaming!
But if they couldn't wait and made their move immediately, then Silver Wolf had nothing more to say. No more pretending. Cards on the table.
Since when do Stellaron Hunters take insults? Even the Interastral Peace Corporation wouldn't dare treat Silver Wolf like this. What's some small-time corp on a single planet?
That's like an old man seeking longevity by eating arsenic—suicidal.
The most terrifying thing isn't greed, but ignorance. The corp only saw Silver Wolf's miraculous abilities, but never stopped to consider just how high her ceiling really was.
But then again, it's understandable when you think about it. This world was one that developed technology, not one famous for individual combat prowess. It didn't have anything like the metaphysical Paths.
They simply couldn't comprehend the feeling, often seen in fiction, of a single person becoming an army, of one individual fighting the whole world.
And as luck would have it, Silver Wolf had exactly that ability...
"Alright then. But, when you guys acted today, Cole and Genji probably showed their faces too. The corp might guess that we've joined forces..."
As Rama spoke, he felt a headache coming on. He'd hoped to keep Cole and Genji under wraps, maybe pull off a surprise attack. With Genji's speed, he might even have had a real chance at taking down Yorinobu...
After all, unlike Cole who specialized in ranged combat, the cyberware modifications Rama gave Genji were straightforward and brutal, all specialized for close combat.
The lethal katana in his hand was incredibly sharp. Forget human flesh; even Adam Smasher wouldn't dare take a direct hit from Genji's blade.
As a former top-tier scientist at Arasaka, Rama's skills were unquestionable.
Furthermore, while Genji didn't have a Sandevistan-type speed boost cyberware, Rama had installed similar technology on him, giving Genji a natural advantage in close-quarters combat.
However, right in the middle of their conversation, Silver Wolf's phone rang.
Seeing this, Cole and the others fell silent, looking at her.
Silver Wolf didn't bother with privacy. Seeing Lucy's name on the screen, she answered directly. "What's up?"
"Silver Wolf, you made a move right outside the Afterlife?" Lucy's voice carried a hint of urgency.
"Of course. Someone pissed me off, so I had to act." Silver Wolf nodded.
"This is troublesome. Just now, the fixer at the Afterlife told me corp agents showed up there, seemed like they were investigating something. If I had to guess, they've probably already identified you."
Lucy spoke with increasing urgency.
"Is that so? Thanks for your concern. I'm fine, don't worry. The corp can't do anything to me."
Silver Wolf nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Lucy's words, and showed no sign of tension.
Seeing how casual Silver Wolf still was, Lucy grew more anxious. Even though she'd only met Silver Wolf twice, she already considered her a friend. "That's the corp, Silver Wolf! It's hard for an individual to fight a corp, especially Aras—"
Before Lucy could finish, an unfamiliar voice echoed in both their minds.
"She's right. The corp has found you! There's no escape. Blame yourself for possessing such miraculous power—Gahhhhh!"
The woman's words turned into a scream mid-sentence.
"Aunty, you're really annoying, you know? Interrupting people while they're talking is so rude." Silver Wolf's voice, laced with disgust, cut in clearly.
"Wh-what happened? Are we being tapped?"
A cold sweat broke out on Lucy's back. How did the corp get into their call?
"Hmm... looks like this line isn't so secure anymore either."
"Maine wants to meet with you. What do you say?" Lucy paused for a moment before speaking.
"No problem. Did you set a place?"
"Is it safe here?" Lucy asked, worried.
"It wasn't safe a moment ago, but it is now."
Silver Wolf looked smilingly at Lucy on the screen. Whenever the corp was mentioned, a clear flicker of fear showed in Lucy's eyes. Clearly, there was some history there.
But Silver Wolf didn't really care about that.
Lucy's hacking skills were impressive in this world, but compared to Silver Wolf's, they weren't even on the same dimensional level.
Put simply, if Silver Wolf wanted, the corp would never find her. But hiding wasn't Silver Wolf's style. If the villains can't even find the protagonist, spending all their time getting lost, how's the game supposed to be any fun?
So, looking at it from a gaming perspective, Silver Wolf's actions could even be seen as... luring the enemies in?
Though that does seem a bit like entrapment.
"They've locked onto you!"
The moment Silver Wolf hung up, Rama said gravely.
"Yep. For a big corp like this, tracking one person is child's play. I'd be surprised if they couldn't find me." Silver Wolf waved a hand dismissively.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. No rush, just wait for the corp to make their move. For now, I'm heading over to Maine's."
"I'll have Cole take you. Maybe... we can work something out with them."
After a moment's thought, Rama said to Silver Wolf.
He'd learned a bit about Maine over the last couple of days.
In Night City, his crew was a pretty famous mercenary group. Plus, after checking Maine's record, Rama saw he didn't think much of the corps. There was a possibility they could work together.
The edgerunners in Night City were all a bunch of crazies. If they had a shot at becoming a legend, they wouldn't let it slip away.
For fifty years, Night City had no living legends. But the edgerunners still flocked to the scene, all for the thrill of it, or maybe to have a drink named after them in the Afterlife.
--+--
"Gahhhhh!"
Corola shot up in bed, a pained groan escaping her lips.
Her eyes held a trace of horror.
Even though she'd witnessed Silver Wolf's immense power in that blackened braindance before, she truly couldn't understand how, during a simple hack into a call—not even in a stealth run—she'd still been brutally countered.
This kind of hack was supposed to be like remote-controlling a computer, with zero risk...
Corola's plan had been the classic carrot and stick: first threaten her, say Arasaka was on to her, wait for her to fall in line, then dangle the carrot and get her to cooperate.
It was a simple combo, but it always worked. After all, they were Arasaka!
But the moment she spoke up, Silver Wolf violently kicked her out.
And she was sure Silver Wolf just wanted to eject her, no real malice intended. Otherwise, she wouldn't be sitting here right now.
Thinking of this, Corola quickly straightened her clothes and headed for the top floor of Konpeki Plaza.
There, Yorinobu Arasaka sat in his room, already waiting for the good news Corola was sure to bring.
"Well? Found her?"
He sat in his soft, comfortable leather chair, his voice low, yet carrying an undeniable hint of glee.
"Yes, Lord Yorinobu. I've located the individual. Yesterday, a black-market organ harvesting clinic in Night City was eliminated using that miraculous power. I had already begun investigating then."
"Then today, right outside the Afterlife bar, members of the 6th Street Gang were similarly eliminated by a person using that same power."
"I investigated the surveillance footage from the surrounding area over the past two days and finally identified the person with this miraculous power."
"She is a girl, not very old, but her power is dangerous. Several of Arasaka's professional netrunners have been taken down by her in the last two days."
"I just hacked into her call, intending to persuade her to surrender, but she used her strange power to violently force me out."
As she said this, a look of lingering fear crossed Corola's face.
"Forced out after hacking?"
Yorinobu raised an eyebrow, lifting his head to look at Corola.
When a netrunner hacks without using stealth, as long as it's not close physical contact, there's supposed to be little danger. Yet the target managed to do this.
Simply being kicked out was something many netrunners could handle. But the target had injured Corola while kicking her out!
That wasn't something just anyone could do.
"No brute force. Understood? I want her alive." Yorinobu looked at Corola and said flatly.
"Understood, Lord Yorinobu. I already have a plan." Corola gave a coquettish smile and nodded.
While she'd climbed to her current position using her body, Corola did have some ability. After all, Yorinobu was no fool.
Besides knowing how to please a man, Corola's professional skills were quite decent.
"Go on." Yorinobu motioned for her to continue.
"While investigating this person these past few days, I discovered something else. Militech is testing us. Somehow, news of the Gemini prototype has leaked. They've already got their eyes on Takemura."
"In that case, why don't we use this to our advantage, work with a fixer, and have them target Takemura? If they want to go after Takemura, they'll need to muster sufficient firepower."
"That edgerunner crew has close ties to the person you're looking for, Lord Yorinobu. When they realize the mission's difficulty, they'll definitely ask her for help."
Although Corola didn't finish, Yorinobu already understood her meaning.
"Takemura is an important figure within Arasaka."
Yorinobu narrowed his eyes, watching Corola, his thoughts unreadable.
Hearing this, though fearful inside, Corola pressed on. "Everything is for you, Lord Yorinobu. Anyone else is expendable."
"Dismissed." Yorinobu shook his head slightly, then waved his hand.
Seeing this, a look of delight actually appeared on Corola's face.
She knew the plan had Yorinobu's approval.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.