Chapter 195: Long Time No See, Night City
News about Apocalypse naturally reached all major factions, but none of them made any significant moves.
That included Myers. When she watched the battle footage of Apocalypse, her eyes were half-lidded the entire time.
She could clearly see the terrifying power and technological sophistication packed into that monster—energy shields, energy weapons, an unknown energy core, bizarre tech that resembled EMP effects, and more.
She was tempted, of course, but ultimately didn’t act. When that thing appeared on the battlefield, it was even more frightening than the electromagnetic cannon she’d seen before.
Anyone with eyes could tell that the electromagnetic cannon lacked follow-up power—it could only fire once before draining all its energy. But this new thing… just drop it over an enemy battlefield and—
“Send people to negotiate terms with PROJECT. Tell them not to interfere in this war anymore.”
In the end, Myers chose to compromise. If PROJECT wasn’t dealt with now, she had a strong premonition that its presence would be unavoidable in the later fighting against the Free State Alliance.
Since PROJECT had already grown into something too large to suppress, it was better to put it out of sight for now—take whatever benefits could be swallowed first, and worry about the future later.
If she could absorb these Free States, that alone would be enough to make her one of the greatest presidents in New United States history. Even if there hadn’t been many presidents so far… her accomplishments would still be more than enough to leave her name behind.
After Myers made her decision, Roland soon received a communication request from the upper ranks on Militech’s side.
After some back-and-forth, Roland roughly understood their intent. Faced with New United States backing down, he naturally didn’t refuse, directly accepting the benefits they offered.
As for the specific details of the conditions New United States proposed… that wasn’t something Roland needed to personally worry about. His people would handle the negotiations.
“Hmm… come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since I last paid attention to what’s going on in Night City…”
Roland rubbed his chin, then began looking into how certain people had changed during this time.
The first ones were Gloria and David.
“Oh? She actually became head of Logistics?”
Roland looked over Gloria’s profile with some surprise. As he skimmed through it, one particular achievement stood out—exposing a Militech spy.
Gloria had seized that opportunity back then. As for what happened to that person after she reported them… that wasn’t something she cared to think about.
All she wanted was for David to live a better life—and that required more resources, especially after she learned that PROJECT had established a top-tier academy.
As for how a top-tier academy was built… in Night City, money alone was enough. Combined with some knowledge Roland had obtained from the system—knowledge originating from the PROJECT world—it was more than sufficient to attract top scholars from around the globe.
David naturally entered PROJECT’s school, along with Sasha and V.
Sasha followed Kiwi’s arrangements, while V went along with her parents’ plans.
It was ultimately a decision made by V’s family. They had placed bets across multiple corps, and V was the chip they’d put down on PROJECT.
After all, PROJECT was currently the most prominent corp around. Not just anyone could bite off a piece of profit between two colossal powers and walk away unscathed.
All of these people were now under Roland’s watch. He could intervene in many of their life trajectories and change how events unfolded.
All of a sudden, Roland grew curious about V’s current physical level. It was definitely nowhere near the earth-shaking level she would reach later, though.
Scratching his head, he realized he’d paid surprisingly little attention to V. He hadn’t even tested whether her talent leaned more toward netrunning, physical ability, or something else entirely.
“Hmm… Lissandra, pull up V’s academic records. The school should have courses related to network technology, right?”
“Understood. Retrieving them now.”
Very soon, Roland was looking at V’s results in network studies. With just a single glance, his expression turned strangely complicated, and he slowly put the data aside.
Meanwhile, inside PROJECT’s academy, V—currently immersed in a braindance—was staring at the massive block of data in front of her with a miserable expression.
“Fuck… Sasha, how the hell do you even understand this stuff?”
“Uh… isn’t this pretty basic?”
“……Never mind. Forget I asked.”
“Valerie, please refrain from speaking during class. Otherwise, I will notify your parents.”
Hearing the warning from the oversized face above her, V’s expression turned even more miserable.
“Looks like she’s not cut out for netrunning…”
Roland shook his head. V wasn’t particularly slow when it came to learning network technology, but she didn’t display any outstanding talent either.
Compared to Sasha and the others who already had a foundation, she clearly lagged behind. That said, if she followed the curriculum step by step, she could still become a solid netrunner—just nowhere near the absurd level she had in the game.
“But then again… who knows. Things might change later. I’ll observe for now…”
Roland rubbed his chin. If V continued like this, then Justice might actually be a good fit for her.
V’s template compatibility had exceeded Roland’s expectations. She was practically compatible with every template. All Roland needed to think about was how to train her—and which template to choose.
As for Oblivion… Roland didn’t want to turn V into that. Besides, he already had a better option.
He had no intention of giving Oblivion to anyone. Instead, he planned to turn Oblivion into a machine entirely.
Bartmoss’s body was the perfect foundation. Using it as the base for a remotely operated mech was the most suitable approach.
As for who would control it… Roland naturally considered himself the obvious choice.
Oblivion was genuinely impressive. Sure, it wasn’t as sleek as the Superbody—but Superbody followed a model like Lissandra’s. It wasn’t a template.
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