Chapter 113: Goodbye, Takemura Goro

"Oh, I'm stupid. This SB thing can't be saved. The whole f***ing thing—let him say it himself."

At that moment, Johnny appeared, sitting on a stool with a foolish expression as he stared at Hermann.

He had never seen someone this dumb before. Hermann confessed everything before even being interrogated.

Peter didn't waste words. Instead, he pulled out a connecting cable and linked directly to Hermann's personal neural network. Within moments, he browsed through all the information stored in the man's mind, memorizing everything for later analysis.

It only took a few minutes, and Hermann was still clueless about what Peter had done. But he didn't dare resist. The slap from earlier had left a burning imprint on his face, and he had never encountered a mercenary like this before.

After all that talking, it was clear that Peter didn't care about a single word Hermann had said.

Whether it was Militech or Kang Tao, getting in with either corporation could have been a ticket to an easy life. But Peter wasn't interested in that.

"You know, what you just said was really good," Peter said.

Hermann's confidence grew, thinking he had successfully persuaded Peter. But Peter's next words sent him straight into despair.

"It's a pity that the only thing I wanted was the information in your head. And since I already contacted Arasaka, they told me they sent someone to pick you up. I think it's about time, so… you can go die now."

Without another word, Peter delivered a brutal punch to Hermann's spine. Since Hermann didn't have a reinforced cybernetic spine, the blow instantly killed him.

Peter had no intention of handing over a living prisoner to Arasaka. Even though killing him would mean losing out on five million eddies, Peter wasn't particularly short on cash. His gaming company was already raking in absurd amounts of money.

Meanwhile, the technology that Aldecaldos had given to Saul was already in motion. Their farming project was making steady progress.

He had kept Hermann alive just long enough to extract his memories, using direct neural stimulation while he was conscious.

"Nice work, Peter," Johnny scoffed, spitting in Hermann's direction—despite not actually existing. "F***ing corpo dogs. This is what they deserve."

Peter merely shrugged, uninterested in Johnny's validation.

After about ten minutes, Takemura Goro entered the room, accompanied by several heavily augmented Arasaka ninjas.

"Why is he dead?" Takemura frowned upon seeing Hermann's lifeless body sprawled on the bed.

"Come on, there were so many Militech people outside. I had to get at least one corpse out of there," Peter said casually. "Besides, isn't Arasaka supposed to be cutting-edge? Can't you guys bring people back from the dead yet?"

Peter shrugged again, completely unfazed. He never held much regard for Takemura. The guy was blindly loyal to Saburo Arasaka. Helping V in the past was just a means to investigate his master's death. Maybe after spending enough time with V, Takemura had softened, but at his core, he was still a corpo loyalist.

Takemura sighed but didn't argue. Instead, he placed a hefty case of cash on the table and motioned for the Arasaka ninjas to take Hermann's body away.

As they carried the corpse out, Takemura narrowed his eyes at Peter.

"Have we met before?"

Back when Peter went on a rampage in the Arasaka tower, he made sure to scramble all security footage that might have captured him. Still, Takemura seemed to recognize something about him.

"Maybe," Peter replied vaguely, offering no further explanation. He picked up the suitcase and walked out of the room.

Takemura was strong, no doubt about that. At his current level, he was probably just as powerful as Adam Smasher once was. But to Peter, that didn't matter.

Right now, his priority was returning home, organizing the data he extracted from Hermann's mind, and compiling it into a secure chip.

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North Oak - Noon

"Hey, Peter," V called out. "Jack's fighting in a title match tonight. Wanna go watch?"

Peter smirked. "Yeah, he told me about it yesterday. Let's go together."

At that moment, the TV in the living room switched to the news.

"In the early hours of this morning, a Militech convoy was attacked. Officials believe this was a premeditated strike, and their primary suspect is the Arasaka Group."

V scoffed in disgust. "These f***ing corpo scumbags never stop, do they?"

Lucy had a similar look of annoyance.

Johnny chuckled as he appeared in front of Peter. "Hey, Peter, imagine the looks on their faces if they found out you were behind this."

Peter shrugged. "They don't need to know."

Just then—

Ding!

A call notification popped up. [Caller ID: Rebecca]

Peter answered.

"Hey! Peter!" Rebecca's energetic voice came through. "Mann said he's going to watch the boxing championship tonight. Wanna come too?"

Peter smirked. "Yeah, I was planning to go anyway."

"Awesome! See you there. Bye!"

She hung up quickly, almost as if she was afraid he'd change his mind.

V, still lounging on the couch, turned his head toward Peter. "Who was that?"

"Rebecca. You know, the little psycho from Mann's team."

Peter casually sat down between Lucy and V, wrapping an arm around both of them.

"What are you doing?"

"V is still here!"

Both of them reacted at the same time, though their protest lacked conviction. They already knew what Peter was like.

Today it was V. Tomorrow it would be Lucy. And then Peter would take a day to visit Sasha.

They had long since come to terms with it, even if they liked to act otherwise.

"You haven't been talking much lately," Lucy commented. "Things weren't this tense between us before."

V looked at Peter with mock resentment. "Yeah, and whose fault do you think that is?"

Lucy smirked. "V, some people really like to play innocent, huh?"

Before Peter could react, both women reached for his waist—

And pinched him.

"Ow! I surrender!"

Of course, he didn't actually feel any pain, but he played along to lighten the mood. The last thing he wanted was for Lucy and V to be at odds because of him.

Seeing his reaction, the two women exchanged glances—

And then, they both burst into laughter.

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