Splitting the Money

[TN: Two chapters for missing yesterday]

Tokyo.

A huge black twin-tower skyscraper stood on the ground, with hovercars constantly arriving and departing from the helipads at the top.

Its exaggerated height of over 600 meters allowed it to overlook every man-made building in Tokyo, and even in all of Japan.

Everyone could only look up at it, but if they got too close, they wouldn't be able to see the label at the top—

Arasaka.

Inside a special suite at the top, a screen was broadcasting scene after scene:

A massive blackout at the company plaza, lizardmen flying over Night City, blurry images of duels against Militech forces in the Badlands, chaotic fights in North Watson—

Countless blurry images and timelines were listed on the screen, showing confirmed, unconfirmed, and pending intelligence all laid out.

In a world where information quality was extremely poor, this place was a paradise for intelligence officers.

Arasaka Saburo's private room.

The over-150-year-old man was deep in thought at his desk—

Even for him, the images and intel he got were all blurry and fragmented.

If others saw this fearsome businessman taking time to personally study these events, they would be shocked.

Because to outsiders, these were just incidents happening in Night City.

They weren't as secretive as Arasaka secretly bypassing ESA to build a mass driver on the moon, not as brutal as Militech's Unification War, and not as deadly as Kang Tao's refinery explosion in Hangzhou.

But these incidents happened to interfere with his plans.

The clearest footage was a first-person view, obviously recorded with a cybernetic eye.

"Ah! You lunatics, you freaks!"

The recorder screamed.

A woman in the footage quickly shot him again: "You're calling us freaks?"

"What else would you be?! Do we have a grudge? Business conflict? No!" Jotaro panted heavily. "Or are you actually waving around some 'justice' nonsense—"

Bang!

Another gunshot. The person in the footage was decisive.

"I—! Fuck, can you let me finish?!

Goddamn it, you can't kill me... you can't kill me! I keep Cloudtop running, keep the Tyger Claws' business alive! I keep this city stable and give those damn dolls a place to work!

Kill me, and they'll starve! Kill me, and who's gonna pay their wages?"

Bang!

"Ahhhhh—you—you! Kill me, topple Cloudtop, destroy the Tyger Claws, and only brutal bastards will be left!

You think those dolls will thank you?"

Bang!

The shooter in the footage shook their head indifferently: "Yeah, I can give them jobs."

The footage paused, zooming in on the shooter's face—

A somewhat young face, but with a mature expression.

[Codename: Burger King]

This was probably the clearest photo available of this person.

This guy's actions accidentally exposed Arasaka's data to Night City's netrunners, and during this operation, caused the leakage of Soulkiller data.

Both losses were far greater than expected. Even though numerically the damage was less than what Militech suffered, strategically... it was unacceptable to Saburo.

He actually got bested by those western savages.

Especially now, this guy had even wiped out the Maelstrom gang. Who knows what else he might uncover?

In the footage, a hovercar carrying Peralez left North Watson, bathed in sunlight—

The composition of the shot disgusted Saburo.

Everything this guy said had come true, and his demeanor showed no suspicion towards himself. From nobody to now, he had land, people, and probably tech—

A possible rising figure, repeatedly interfering with his plans.

Even though the world's class barriers were so rigid, even Saburo wouldn't guarantee that no new players would emerge, especially not in Night City.

If left unchecked, he could become another giant, like the Kangtao Group or Militech Corporation, and possibly climb up by stepping over Arasaka.

Saburo finally made his decision.

"I'm going to Night City. Arrange the trip."

[Takemura Goro: Should I notify your son?]

Saburo nodded slightly: "I want to see what my useless son thinks about this. Tell him to prepare for an intelligence meeting.

Also, keep my trip confidential. As for a reason... say that Dogtown recently had another gathering. Although we missed the peak of the festivities, it's not too late."

[Gorō Takemura: Yes.]

Across the ocean, in Night City, Yorinobu Arasaka jumped up from the sofa upon receiving the news.

[Yorinobu Arasaka: Stop everything immediately!]

[Netwatch: What? Why?]

[Yorinobu Arasaka: Terminate!]

Szzzt—

A Colby machine gun pickup truck drifted across the road in a beautiful arc before screeching to a halt in front of the door.

Behind the pickup was a centaur mech.

And on the mech was Dum Dum from the Maelstrom gang. Last night, he and the remaining members holed up in a warehouse, guarding the mech and what little gang assets they had left.

Bang!

The mech jumped off the truck.

"Boss, I'm here to save you!"

The mech's cannon unfolded, and through the gaping hole in the broken wall stepped a Maelstrom gang member—

—or rather, three of them.

They had slender limbs and oversized heads.

Brick, who came out the door, locked eyes with Dum Dum immediately, lights flashing in his optics.

"What are you doing?"

"Boss?"

The scene was awkward for a moment.

Brick scratched his head. "Don't make such a big deal out of it. Get down here."

"I..." Dum Dum's face turned red. "I can't get down!"

"You can't? Whatever, come inside. Even though everyone's dead, all the money's gone, and the stuff disappeared, we've got new tech!"

Brick patted his fully metallic body, making loud clanging sounds.

The so-called "new tech" was the completely new full-body cybernetic frame he was now sporting.

In this world, a full-body conversion is a separate class of cyberware, a form of quantity turning into quality.

Just like it sounds, it replaces everything from the neck down—or even everything except the brain—with a full set of metal parts.

Different types of hardware are integrated under a unified system to minimize biological components as much as possible.

It was Maelstrom's ultimate dream.

However, compared to gradually replacing parts one by one, achieving human-like functionality with a full set at once was extremely difficult and complicated. But now, Brick had managed to get his hands on such technology.

"Full-body conversion?" Dum Dum froze for a moment, then suddenly got excited. "That's f***ing awesome! Where'd you get it? Hook me up with one too!"

"It's just a framework for now, still needs research."

"Haha! No problem, we can hit the streets—"

"We can't hit the streets! Goddamn it, you're the one who's been snatching people off the streets?"

"I never snatched anyone! But even if I did, so what?"

"It's immoral! Understand? Immoral!"

Not just Brick—even Carter and Joestar next to him suddenly got agitated, nearly jumping in to punch Dum Dum.

The reason? Their moral compass had been forcibly corrected under Leo's "guidance."

"Then... then how are we supposed to run experiments?" Dum Dum spread his tiny hands helplessly.

"You still want to, huh?" Brick jumped onto the mech and slapped Dum Dum several times. "Keep it up and I'll mount your head on a public toilet."

Yep, that was one of Leo's "educational" methods.

While Dum Dum just got slapped dizzy, Brick, Carter, and Joestar had actually experienced being mounted on a toilet!

Leo personally tracked down the sickos who had been kidnapping people for cyberware experiments, and... attached one of them to a toilet—using a highly sensitive sensory implant—and turned him into a Black Braindance for the others to "experience."

The scene was beyond disturbing. Who would have thought of jamming a precision sensor prosthetic into a public toilet?

The poor guy was still there, a constant traumatic memory for Brick, Carter, and Joestar.

The security camera recorded the whole thing, and Leo nodded with satisfaction.

In the future, if any more lunatics wanted fancy cyberware upgrades, they could go find the newly "rehabilitated" Maelstrom gang to test new tech and cyberware.

In a city this messed up, there would be an endless supply of cyberpsychos and lunatics.

Under Leo's leadership, Aldecaldo would soon occupy North Watson. If people needed cyberware and software out of necessity, they now had an alternative.

Moreover, just like how companies used to pay Maelstrom for "protection," now they would have to pay Aldecaldo instead.

The money would be used to strengthen and arm the Aldecaldo group, purchase cutting-edge tech, and fund more research.

With this positive cycle, it was only a matter of time before Aldecaldo would rival—or even surpass—the mega-corporations.

And when that day came, Leo hoped the changes he brought would ripple outward, giving the world another option.

That was Leo's dream.

But before that—

"Time to split the money!" V shook Leo's shoulders. "Split the money!"

"Hold on!"

[European Bank Info: Dear Customer, we invite you to participate in the following survey.]

[Survey results will help us provide better social services and commercial support.]

[All private information will be used internally by the bank only; no need to worry about privacy leaks.]

[What is your occupation, and how do you intend to use this account?]

Leo, shaken until he saw afterimages, replied:

[Split the money!]

"Split the money!"