Ryu didn't think he could make Akihiko Kayaba obey through threats or inducements. In fact, even if he were thrown into prison or trapped in cyberspace forever, this man would never bow his head.
Most people have weaknesses and soft spots, but someone like Kayaba, who would do anything for his dream, was practically invincible in a bilateral negotiation. Even if Ryu had countless times more resources, there was no way to "subdue" a mad scientist.
So, he had to prescribe the right medicine for the illness!
First, one point had to be established: Akihiko Kayaba had no intention of actively seeking death.
A person with no attachment to life could never create such a beautiful and brilliant game world. On the contrary, others could sense from SAO the extremely intense passion and conviction he had invested, to the point where he wouldn't hesitate to involve the fates of tens of thousands of people to realize his dream.
When the Aincrad arc of the original story concluded, Akihiko Kayaba scanning his own brain with microwaves wasn't an act of suicide out of desperation.
In reality, with his talents, he wouldn't have received the death penalty even if he were caught. At the very least, the U.S. government would have been delighted to take in such a high-quality criminal.
The biggest reason he did it was for "fair play"!
Only when the creator himself joined the death game and accepted a fair judgment of death could the authenticity and completeness of SAO be finally perfected.
(Perhaps there was a little guilt for the deceased players, but not much.)
Second was his final experiment:
To perform a high-efficiency scan on himself that would fry his brain, attempting to digitize his memories and personality and preserve them on the internet.
To put it simply, it was to become a "digital lifeform"!
However, there had been no successful cases before, and he himself was not confident about it; it was essentially a gamble.
Now that his desire was known, it could be turned into a weakness with proper maneuvering.
So, what was Ryu's strategy against this weakness? The answer was in the USB drive (data packet) he had handed over:
The System Card would occasionally refresh with the option of "otherworld travel." Previously, Ryu had steeled himself and spent more than half his fortune to "purchase" a certain world, thereby gaining the authority to open the gate repeatedly.
Each cycle (month), Ryu could open the gate once and stay in the otherworld for about twenty days. If he wanted to stay longer after the time was up, he had to pay a renewal fee (Destiny Coins). And no matter how long he spent in the otherworld, upon returning to the main world, only twenty-four hours would have passed.
The data stored on the USB drive came from that otherworld, and that world's theme was—
"Cyberpunk"!
For a scientist, is there anything more attractive than "future technology"?
Just imagine, if he could apply new technology to his own world (game), how magnificent and real would the evolved, new SAO be?
Mad scientists are mostly perfectionists. Ryu dared to assert that Akihiko Kayaba would not have suicidal thoughts before completing the new SAO!
He would definitely want to witness with his own eyes the heights his creation could reach before he could leave the real world without regrets!
And the USB drive only contained some generalized theories and equations. If he wanted something more detailed, he could only rely on Ryu!
Ryu wasn't worried that Akihiko Kayaba wouldn't understand... The prototype this guy made allowed people to experience a 99% realistic virtual world without a brain-computer interface. Its quality was truly impeccable.
In terms of technical prowess in a single field, Akihiko Kayaba's performance was in no way inferior to the legendary scientists in "Cyberpunk." It was just that the overall technological level of the real world was too weak; from basic science to theoretical heights, it was far inferior to "Cyberpunk." Therefore, no matter how brilliant Akihiko Kayaba was, he couldn't transcend the limitations of his era.
(The biggest advantage of Cyberpunk is that moral constraints are almost zero. Grand experiments like death games are nothing.)
Ryu was looking forward to seeing if Kayaba would, like Prometheus who stole fire, bring a new dawn to humanity.
—In that case, the destinies of the entire world's eight billion people would be changed!
What's one game?
What Ryu wanted was a virtual world that covered the entire globe, a second space, Earth Online!
When the time comes, he'll tear down Tokyo Tower, build a new one on the spot, and name it "Kuse Tower"!
Of course, this couldn't be achieved with just one Kayaba. As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This mad scientist was just one small step in Ryu's accumulation of power.
In the future, once he's strong enough not to fear rockets or poison, he'll get in touch with Professor Agasa. Using the black-box tech from Conan to digest cybernetic modification technology, opening a "medical device company" or something shouldn't be a problem~
...
"Intellectuals are always stubborn. Let's just ignore him for a few days and see what happens."
Back at home, Kuse was talking with Ruri in the study: "We need to be lenient enough with Rect. The SAO incident wasn't their fault. Although we could maneuver to place the blame on Rect, there's no need for us to do so."
Sugou Nobuyuki, an elite executive at Rect who was specifically in charge of game operations and maintenance, had disappeared without a trace!
The Inukin Group did a very clean job. No one knew where he went. Even if he were to appear as an idol on TV or the internet in the future, his acquaintances probably wouldn't recognize him...
Before his disappearance, Sugou had broken into Kayaba's research institute. After the staff discovered this act, they reported it to the company's senior management and the police. As a result, a large amount of evidence of transactions with American companies was found on Sugou's personal computer, and the financial flows of his secret accounts were successively exposed.
Things like a diary and work logs were found at his residence. It seemed this guy had been jealous of Kayaba since his university days and had been secretly copying his inspirations and theories. There was even a dark history of him plagiarizing technology and selling it to Western capitalists.
With all the evidence put together, a conclusion was naturally reached:
Out of jealousy for Kayaba, and to satisfy his own greed and ambition, this traitor collaborated with American capital to transfer technological data, deliberately sabotaged Rect's progress, and then bolted after the incident erupted, fearing he would be exposed.
—It was rumored that upon hearing this news, the head of the Yuuki family nearly had a stroke on the spot.
He had thought very highly of that man!
He had even considered marrying his precious daughter to him and taking him in as a son-in-law, even though their age gap spanned two generations.
To think that the talent he had carefully nurtured was actually a traitor, who had also directly ruined the joint project with the Kuse Group and nearly plunged Rect into an abyss of eternal damnation... That the old man from the Yuuki family survived can only be attributed to his robust constitution.
"The news that Rect had a mole has already been released. This way, the public will naturally attribute responsibility for the incident to them... At this time, for the Kuse Group to step in and clean up the mess, shouldering most of the losses, the Yuuki family will be indebted to us as well."
Ruri looked at Ryu with reverence. "Your mercy has been rewarded, my lord."
"You'd call this mercy?" Ryu laughed self-deprecatingly.
Although the main responsibility lay with the two ticking time bombs, Kayaba and Sugou, Ryu could hardly be considered innocent in all this. Rect was purely a victim.
"Of course, it's mercy," Ruri said, closing one eye playfully. "After all, you saved their company without making them offer their daughter as a maid."
"...Are you being sarcastic with me?" Ryu looked up, astonished.
"I wouldn't dare."
Ruri closed her eyes and tilted her head back slightly. "After all, I am merely a lowly maid sold off by her family. How could I be disrespectful to my master?"
That confirmed it. She was definitely being sarcastic.
Have I been spoiling her too much lately? Ryu couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
"Right, that reminds me."
Ryu said thoughtfully, "The Yuuki family's daughter is quite a beauty, isn't she~"
"!"
Ruri's eyes flew open, her small hands in their silky white gloves quietly tightening their grip on the hem of her skirt.
"Now this is a headache. Should I mention it, do you think?"
Ryu put down the documents, leisurely propped his head on his hand, and looked at Ruri with profound meaning.
"Perhaps this new maid would be more obedient."
"Mmph~"
Ruri's gaze shifted to a corner as she whispered, "I-I'm also very..."
"Hmm?"
"I'm also very obedient, master." The maid's voice was barely audible, her fingers nervously rubbing the fabric.
"Is that so?" Ryu smiled mischievously. "Then let's put it to the test."
—From that day on, Ruri became responsible for waiting outside while Ryu bathed, to collect and replace his clothes.
When performing this duty, she would always wear a special maid dress with a lower neckline and a shorter skirt, one that would offer fleeting glimpses of her absolute territory and garter stockings as she moved, and a peek into the deep valley when she knelt.
Incidentally, the maid dress wasn't Ryu's request, but something she prepared herself~
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