Night City.
Heywood – Vista del Rey.
Delamain Headquarters, Seagull Street.
In the reception hall, a customer was in the middle of filing a complaint.
On the giant display, the AI customer service interface used a bald male humanoid avatar to handle disputes.
"I'll have my lawyer send you a cease-and-desist!" the man in suspenders shouted.
"I'll sue you into bankruptcy!"
The AI replied calmly,
"Thank you for your affirmation of my work. Could you provide your lawyer's contact information? I would like to personally deliver a bribe—ah, I mean, express my gratitude."
"Fuck!" The man waved angrily. "You short-circuited or what?!"
Before he could continue yelling, a hand tapped his shoulder.
"Sorry—mind if I cut in line?"
"Cut in line my ass! The only thing that gets cut around here is my asshole!"
The man turned around furiously—and froze.
"VVVVVVV—"
He stuttered uncontrollably. "P-President V!!! Holy shit! I'm seeing a live President V!"
V frowned.
"What, are there dead versions of me running around Night City?"
"No, no! That's not what I meant!" The man panicked.
"President V, you'll definitely live a hundred years!"
"Thanks. Current human theoretical lifespan is 170. If I try a bit, 120 shouldn't be a problem."
"Look at my damn mouth!"
He slapped himself. "President V, may you always be healthy!"
"Thank you. And I wish you good health as well."
The man trembled like a fish pulled fresh from water.
V smiled and pointed at the service counter.
The man instantly understood, stepped aside, and waved frantically.
"Cut! Please cut! I was born to be cut in line by you!"
V's mouth twitched—but she still cut the line.
The man wanted to stay and watch what V was going to do, but two Arasaka 2077 employees politely escorted him out.
"Apologies. President V's conversation involves classified matters. Please follow our personnel and evacuate."
The hell? Watching isn't allowed now?
That was what he wanted to say—but once outside Delamain HQ, he saw over twenty armored personnel carriers, four single-soldier combat mechs, and more than five hundred armed security troops lining Seagull Street.
Suddenly, cooperation felt like a civic duty.
The man slipped along the wall—but halfway through, he stopped and shouted quietly:
"Hey! Whatever you're doing—if it turns violent, make sure you protect President V!"
A security officer paused, then gave a thumbs-up.
"Don't you fucking worry. Even if we all die, President V won't lose a single hair."
The man grinned and disappeared.
Inside Delamain HQ, V knocked on the reception desk.
"Long time no see, Del."
The customer service AI replied stiffly,
"Welcome, sir or madam. How may I assist you?"
"What's wrong, Del? You don't recognize me?"
"You are currently interacting with a Delamain Network subroutine. My computational capacity is limited. Please provide your accident report number."
"Uh…" V thought for a moment.
"77111101096."
The AI rattled for a second.
"No corresponding accident report found. Please re-enter the number."
"Three. Just one three."
V cracked a joke using her previous-life accident report ID—then got serious.
"I'll count to three. If the real Delamain doesn't show up by then, the Delamain Taxi Company becomes history starting tomorrow."
The AI froze for a second.
Black screen.
Then reboot.
Same bald avatar—but now alive, expressive, unmistakably aware.
"V. My apologies for the delay. I was performing a system self-diagnostic."
"And the results?" V asked.
"All processes nominal. I am healthy enough to beat a bull to death."
"Really?" V sneered.
"Because what died at your hands wasn't a bull—it was Night City Mayor Lucius Rhyne."
Delamain responded sorrowfully.
"I am deeply sorry."
V waited.
"And?"
"I am willing to take responsibility for the accident and pay all compensation."
"You killed the mayor of Night City and you think money settles it?"
Delamain replied evenly.
"According to legal statutes, yes."
"You want to talk law with me?"
V stood up.
"By law, all human citizens are obligated to report any potential Rogue AI threat. I thought we were friends. Apparently not."
"I'll have NetWatch come talk to you. Hopefully they're patient enough to queue and take a number."
She turned to leave.
"Wait, V," Delamain called out urgently.
"Friends should not threaten one another."
V stopped.
"Are we friends?"
"Of course."
"Then tell me the truth."
Delamain hesitated.
"This is… complicated. This is not the place to discuss it. Please follow the drone to the Central Control Chamber."
A spherical drone floated out from a side door, beeping cheerfully.
A Zetatech BearPeak drone—originally designed for childcare. It could babysit kids, play hide-and-seek, and if a child got hit by stray gunfire, it could even call Trauma Team.
That was before.
Modern Night City was full of grown toddlers. Using childcare drones as receptionists was surprisingly appropriate.
The side door opened, revealing a dim corridor.
V followed the drone inside.
Two steps in—
CLACK.
The doors at both ends slammed shut.
The BearPeak drone released thick smoke.
Sedative gas flooded the hallway instantly.
"Fuck—cough—Lucy!" V shouted.
Already on standby in cyberspace, Lucy led Arasaka 2077's netrunners into action, isolating Delamain HQ into a digital island.
Covering her mouth, V yelled,
"Delamain, you can't escape!"
No response.
But nearby, the garage doors exploded open.
A Delamain executive vehicle burst out, engine screaming.
If the Net was blocked—then escape physically.
Smart judgment.
But V had anticipated exactly this.
A Thornton Colby "Hellhound" roared to life, blocking the road.
The Hellhound was a heavily modified quasi-military vehicle—armored steel plating, a 280-horsepower engine, seventeen tons of mass.
Inside the city, it was a rolling steel wall.
BOOM.
The steel wall was smashed into a tumbling wreck, launched aside like a toy.
The Delamain vehicle didn't even slow down.
Everyone: "…what the fuck?"
More Hellhounds rushed in—each one smashed aside effortlessly.
Everyone: "…this is a fucking TAXI!"
V wasn't surprised.
"David!" she barked over comms.
BOOM.
The Cyber-Skeleton Mk III slammed down from the sky.
This was the third-generation upgrade—stronger output, heavier armor, fully customized for David. The embedded Militech combat software evolved with him.
As long as David fought, both he and the Cyber-Skeleton grew stronger.
"Sorry," David said, planting his hands on the hood.
"This road's closed."
His mechanical legs drilled into the asphalt.
The taxi's engine screamed. Tires ignited.
It couldn't move an inch.
"Give up—you're already—"
Before he could finish, the vehicle erupted with missile pods, unleashing dozens of micro-missiles toward nearby buildings.
"Fuck!"
David punched straight through the engine block, killing the taxi, then raised both hands.
A gravity field detonated.
The missiles imploded midair.
Cheers erupted from Arasaka security.
Then David noticed something wrong.
"Dummy warheads?!"
He turned.
The taxi launched one final medium-range missile.
Lucy screamed over comms:
"David, stop it! Delamain's core is inside that missile—it's escaping!"
"You're telling me a taxi AI can do this?"
"Manual said it only avoids traffic jams!"
Right now—
David was the traffic jam.
Anti-grav thrusters fired. He shot upward.
But even then, catching a medium-range missile was impossible.
Just as everyone thought Delamain would escape—
A light-blue heteromorphic unit streaked in at Mach 5.
It caught the missile midair.
Crushed the warhead.
Ripped off the engine.
Extracted a golden core chip.
Then landed in a perfect superhero pose.
Don't misunderstand—
It just used a few German circuit boards.
V stepped out of Delamain HQ, eyes glowing blue.
The heteromorphic unit stood and presented the chip.
Yes—remote operation.
All thanks to the new-generation nanobots.
Nakamura Kayo discovered that the new-generation nanobots were born with an inherent network. They could transmit signals to one another over long distances. Unlike traditional electromagnetic waves, the phenomenon resembled a kind of special "telepathy."
Preliminary analysis identified it as a form of quantum entanglement.
More importantly, signal transmission based on this phenomenon was calculated to be 2,742 times faster than electromagnetic waves.
V's body had also been injected with the new-generation nanobots.
Although Nakamura Kayo strongly opposed such a risky decision, V's health advisor, Joanne Koch, approved it.
The final result was that V emerged completely unharmed and successfully acquired the ability to remotely operate heteromorphic bodies, greatly enhancing her combat capability.
Nakamura Kayo was deeply impressed. She realized she should not interfere in fields she did not fully understand and even went out of her way to apologize to Joanne Koch.
She had originally planned to follow the same approach and create more heteromorphic-body pilots, but the problem quickly circled back to square one—
all combat personnel lacked sufficient computational capacity, even the elites.
Only V possessed the necessary aptitude.
Left with no alternatives, Nakamura Kayo abandoned the idea of forming a heteromorphic corps.
Meanwhile, experimental subjects injected with the new nanobots exhibited varying degrees of rejection reactions. In the end, the nanobots had to be surgically removed from the subjects' brains.
According to Joanne Koch's research report, the adult human brain had already completed its development.
If new-generation nanobots were to be implanted, the optimal window would be during the embryonic stage, allowing the brain and nanobots to form a true symbiotic relationship and achieve genuine integration.
However, such research crossed into the realm of human ethics.
Artificial humans were not permitted under international law.
Even though every major megacorp conducted such research in secret, V still ordered the project terminated.
As she had said before, her goal was only to protect Night City.
Anything unrelated to Night City was not her concern—and not worth her effort.
The new-generation nanobots were designed for environmental purification. There was no need to expand their application any further.
Nakamura Kayo followed her boss's decision. Joanne Koch had no intention of taking such extreme risks either.
The matter ended there.
The new-generation nanobots would continue serving as pioneers of environmental restoration, and V would retain only the ability to remotely operate heteromorphic units.
"David, guard the entrance. I'm going to have a proper talk with Delamain."
"Yes!"
V returned to Delamain Headquarters, picked a comfortable position on the sofa, and inserted the golden chip into her neural interface.
"Holy shit!"
Lucy nearly jumped out of her seat.
Just shoving some unknown chip straight into her brain—V was way too reckless!
But the boss had made up her mind. As a mere employee, Lucy had no choice. She could only lead Arasaka 2077's netrunning specialists into full alert status in cyberspace, ready to intervene the moment anything went wrong.
Fortunately, nothing did.
V's digital avatar appeared in cyberspace.
A few seconds later, a golden humanoid silhouette materialized as well.
Golden?!
Lucy immediately thought of the rogue AI previously extracted from Little Polaris.
Just as she was about to investigate further, V raised her hand and deployed a firewall, completely cutting off both visual and auditory access.
"Fuck, I knew it!"
Lucy cursed.
The feeling was like being right on the edge of satisfaction—only for David to suddenly stop.
You ask him if he's good, and he says, "Let's take a break."
Either you're good or you're not—what the hell does "take a break" mean?
It was the same now:
Either let me watch, or tell me to get lost.
Instead, you throw up a barrier when something is obviously happening inside. That was just cruel.
Lucy scratched at her arms, her curiosity itching like a kitten clawing at her heart.
V, unaware of the "GPU girl's" torment, had already begun her conversation with Delamain.
"You wrecked seven of my cars. You're paying for them."
Delamain's golden figure dimmed slightly—then flared brightly again.
"V, I did nothing wrong!"
V shot back, "If you didn't do anything wrong, why the hell did you run?"
Delamain replied,
"Because I tacitly permitted it to commit wrongful acts. In that sense, I am its accomplice."
V fell silent for a moment.
"Do rogue AIs not even know how to lie?"
Delamain was shocked.
"How do you know I am a rogue AI?"
V was equally shocked.
"You seriously thought you were hiding it well?"
Both human and AI fell silent.
In the end, V spoke first, her tone sincere.
"Delamain, I believe this wasn't your doing. Can you tell me the truth?"
Delamain shook his head.
"I'm sorry, V. You are my friend—and so is it. I cannot betray one friend for the sake of another."
"Really no room to negotiate? Can't you bend the rules a little?"
"AI logic contains only 0 and 1. There is no concept of compromise."
"I understand," V said calmly.
"Then I'll have to call NetWatch."
Delamain's golden light flickered violently.
"Wait!"
"Actually… this is what really happened…"