Chapter 151: This Is the Real Trap!
Once the executives of major corporations began using this technology to control their companies' machinery, it signified that LA Corporation had completely hooked these corporate giants.
No matter how advanced the ESA's mass projectors or Arasaka's aircraft carriers were, they'd be rendered useless!
With just a single thought or command from Li Ang, these machines could turn against and eliminate the executives of the major corporations.
This is the real trap.
"Great! Mr. Li Ang, I will definitely come!"
Nikolo shook hands with Li Ang with a smile. He had no qualms about LA Corporation acquiring half the shares of the biotech company.
Li Ang could have easily crushed and taken over the biotech company, yet he chose to leave some shares for Nikolo and Francis. That consideration moved Nikolo deeply.
After arranging for Nikolo to be escorted out of the company, Li Ang casually turned on the television in the lobby and watched the live news updates.
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#WNS News: Another violent attack on Arasaka Tower has left most of Arasaka's executives dead or injured. Arasaka Hanako herself is critically wounded and currently comatose.
Arasaka Yorinobu held a press conference, angrily vowing to punish the culprits. The matter has been handed over to the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Unit for investigation.
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#N54 News: Dogtown warlord Kurt Hansen has declared his support for the unification of New America, pledging allegiance to President Myers' camp.
If New America's forces arrive in Night City, Dogtown will act as a bridgehead for the revival of the NUSA. In response, Night City Mayor Lucius Rhyne stated, "No force shall interfere with the independence and freedom of Night City! Any attempts will face necessary retaliation."
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#Intelligence Updates: A massive internet blackout has occurred across Russia, suspected to be the work of hacker groups. The situation is under active investigation by cyber surveillance teams.
Reports suggest the culprits are elite hackers working for a professional corporate force. More time is needed to uncover the truth.
---
Media outlets in Night City were focused on their own headline stories, while there was complete silence about the mutant incident in the Badlands.
Seeing that the situation was unfolding as he had anticipated, Li Ang nodded slightly before turning off the TV.
"So, Yorinobu and Hanako finally came to this. These siblings were destined to draw blood, but this time, Yorinobu came out on top."
Li Ang mused thoughtfully.
Under normal circumstances, Hanako would have hired V to eliminate Yorinobu's forces and then implanted the Relic chip into Yorinobu's neural interface, allowing Saburo's AI to take over.
But now, it was Yorinobu's era.
The recent attack on Arasaka Tower wasn't an accidental event; it was a coup meticulously planned by Yorinobu himself to purge the upper ranks. To sell the act, Yorinobu even took a non-lethal hit, while most other Arasaka executives were shot fatally.
One victim, Arasaka's trusted lieutenant, Daichiro Ashiriki, had his skull blasted apart by a shotgun, leaving the scene a bloodbath akin to hell.
Nonetheless, this incident allowed Yorinobu to replace the entire Arasaka leadership, elevating his control over the corporation to a level rivaling Saburo's.
Arasaka was now Yorinobu's domain.
Thinking of this, Li Ang opened the system interface and checked the status of AI Red Queen.
Currently, Red Queen was hiding within Arasaka's servers and had already secured AI Saburo.
"Heh, Yorinobu, you'd never guess that Saburo is still alive, would you?"
When Yorinobu initiated his bloody takeover of Arasaka, Li Ang had Red Queen devour Saburo's AI and store it in a separate data space.
Now, while Yorinobu scoured for traces of Saburo to erase his existence, Li Ang held the old man as leverage, ready to use him as a strategic weapon.
Li Ang would never allow himself to be controlled, not even by allies like Yorinobu.
There were no eternal friends, only eternal interests.
As for Kurt Hansen, the duplicitous warlord of Dogtown, Li Ang didn't believe for a second that he'd truly align with Myers. Hansen had no choice but to resist to the end.
Hansen, once an officer in the New American forces, knew all too well Myers' ruthless, backstabbing nature. One moment she'd be cordial; the next, she'd order an agent to eliminate you.
Should Hansen lead Dogtown's rebels in surrendering, his fate would inevitably be a secret execution by NUSA's agents.
Li Ang had planted his operatives, Alex and Reed, in Dogtown to monitor the situation closely. For now, his strategy for Dogtown was surveillance.
However, near the Pacifica region, Li Ang intended to cast an inescapable net—and this net was tied to the recent internet blackout in Russia.
Li Ang walked towards a mysterious room in LA Corporation's headquarters, where a secret matrix server was housed. Though modest in scale, it was more than capable of containing rogue AIs and transcendent AIs from the Cyberworld.
This was also the workplace of Bartmoss and Spider Murphy. Their daily tasks involved managing LA's matrix and subnetworks while gathering intelligence.
Before Li Ang reached the control station, Bartmoss' digital avatar appeared on the screen.
"Mr. Li Ang, it seems the Duchess has truly fallen to the matrix."
Bartmoss' mechanical voice carried a hint of glee, satisfied with the matrix's computational dominance.
With this tool, capturing transcendent AIs worldwide would be a breeze!
The internet blackout in Russia occurred because the transcendent AI, Duchess, had been integrated into the matrix.
While transcendent AIs are massive macro-systems, they aren't synonymous with the internet itself. Their sudden disappearance doesn't crash the network, though temporary outages may occur.
With the Duchess gone, Russia's internet would soon return to normal, but her absence would send shockwaves among other transcendent AIs.
Especially Europia, the transcendent AI nearest to the Duchess, would surely sense something amiss.
Li Ang's goal was to capture Europia next.
"It's no big deal to lure the Duchess into the matrix. If you can lure Europia in, then I'll be impressed."
Li Ang knew Bartmoss had used deceit to trap the Duchess, but such tactics might not work on Europia.
Transcendent AIs were arrogant entities, indifferent to human affairs.
As expected, Bartmoss was visibly troubled by Li Ang's demand. "No one can attract Europia's attention, not even me. Unless it enters the matrix voluntarily, we can't capture it."
Transcendent AIs' Achilles' heel lay in their entry points, which shifted constantly, making them nearly impossible to locate.
Li Ang smiled. "You can't, but I have a way."
If Europia sought the truth behind the Duchess' disappearance, it would inevitably come to Night City.
In Night City, only LA's matrix, Arasaka's Mikoshi, and Voodoo Boys' cyberspace Neptune could host such an entity.
Li Ang had already integrated Mikoshi into the matrix. If Europia accessed it, the matrix would immediately seize it.
Li Ang planned to have V connect the matrix to Neptune. If Europia dared to use Neptune, it would fall into LA Corporation's trap.
Bartmoss pondered briefly. It was a viable plan, though its success depended on whether Europia came at all.
"Mr. Li Ang, how can you be so sure Europia will come? What if it doesn't care about the Duchess?"
Li Ang replied confidently, "That's why I need you to monitor Europia and report its movements."
Bartmoss was uniquely capable of detecting transcendent AIs, making him invaluable for this task.
Satisfied with the plan, Li Ang was interrupted by White Queen's voice.
"Mr. Li Ang, V has arrived. Shall I let him in?"
Li Ang nodded. "Yes, it's time for V to start working for the company."
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