Chapter 209: The Pot Boils Over
Higashiyama Ryoichi stared at the report from his subordinate, the corners of his mouth twitching. He wanted to laugh—badly—but knew this wasn’t the time or place.
Still… he didn’t quite manage to hold it in.
“Pfft—cough, cough… Have you figured out who did this?”
After forcing his expression back under control, Higashiyama Ryoichi turned to his aide.
“Based on what we have so far, PROJECT Corporation is the most likely suspect. They recently obtained two miniature nuclear warheads from Militech…”
“Which also makes them the least likely,” Higashiyama Ryoichi cut in.
The aide nodded. “Yes. Given PROJECT Corporation’s past conduct, the higher-ups don’t believe they’d make such a reckless move.”
“Hm… That does make things troublesome. And there’s not a shred of evidence. Not a single survivor in the Militech building that night. Even the network was severed—nothing got out at all…”
Higashiyama Ryoichi frowned, thinking, but his expression quickly stiffened.
“Wait. If PROJECT is ruled out, that means there’s a third party involved. In that case… who would Militech suspect the most?”
“…Arasaka. Us.”
“Fuck.”
...
Bang!
Jamde’s eyes were bloodshot as he glared at the intelligence in front of him. This time, he did the most damage yet—his fist went straight through the desk.
“It was definitely those bastards from PROJECT! Get ready to deploy immediately!!”
“Commander Jamde, please calm down. The President has ordered you not to escalate matters.”
A bespectacled man in a suit spoke evenly, unfazed by Jamde’s fury.
“They’re shitting on my head, and you’re telling me to calm down?!”
Jamde lunged forward, reaching for the man’s collar—then the world spun. The next moment, he was slammed back into his seat.
Raylor loosened his tie and frowned down at Jamde.
“Now. Are you calm?”
Meeting Raylor’s icy gaze felt like having a bucket of cold water dumped over his head. Jamde took a deep breath, barely managing to rein in his rage, and stared back coldly.
This man had been sent by Myers and the upper echelon to make sure he didn’t act on impulse—in other words, to watch him.
“Give me one reason not to act. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll tear you apart right now and then go deal with those PROJECT bastards myself.”
Jamde locked eyes with Raylor as he spoke.
“We can’t prove that PROJECT was behind this,” Raylor said calmly. “Even if they’re the biggest beneficiaries, the intelligence we have indicates the attacker possesses extremely high combat power, terrifying netrunning capabilities, and an overwhelming level of influence in Night City.”
He laid out the collected intel one point at a time.
“Especially their cyber capabilities. They forged our Night City network signals, ensured data transmission, delayed our response, and completely sealed off the entire building. Do you know what that implies?”
Jamde’s eyes widened. He shot to his feet.
“You’re saying… Rogue AI?!”
“Yes. We suspect the third party is Rogue AI,” Raylor replied, nodding. “They’ve likely been operating in Night City for a long time, cultivating an extremely dangerous power base—one we were completely unaware of.”
“Judging from this incident, we believe they deliberately instigated conflict between us and PROJECT to profit from it. Their most likely goal is to obtain PROJECT’s technology and drive PROJECT Corporation out, expanding their control over Night City.”
Raylor continued his analysis. After all… he didn’t believe PROJECT Corporation could win in a direct confrontation with Militech.
“Hmph. That all sounds very neat,” Jamde sneered. “But how do you know PROJECT isn’t exploiting that exact line of thinking?”
Raylor didn’t rise to the provocation, continuing calmly. “That’s why headquarters has decided to shelve this matter for now. We have plenty of time to settle accounts. Our top priority remains the Free State Alliance’s territory—these terrorists come later.”
“What, so we’re just not responding? That’s going to tank our reputation.”
Jamde understood now. Since the decision had already been made up top, all he had to do was follow it.
“A response is inevitable,” Raylor said. “At least on the surface, Arasaka is the most suitable target.”
He glanced at Jamde, finalizing who Militech would publicly respond to.
Arasaka: ?
...
At the same time, news of the Militech building’s destruction caused a different group immense pain—the officials of Night City’s municipal government…
After all, Militech had poured vast sums of money into the city. And now, every Militech executive who had been in that building that night—every single one—was gone.
Only a handful remained. The sole survivor of any real rank was Weis.
Even now, Weis felt a chill whenever he thought back on that day. If he’d lingered just a few minutes longer—no, even a single minute—he would’ve joined the others.
As things stood now… the city government had to reopen the site for investment. But the micro-nuke hadn’t just left behind a massive scar—it had also left other “little gifts.”
That made the entire project an uphill battle.
And at that very moment, a corporation stepped forward.
That’s right—PROJECT Corporation.
To be honest, Roland had been eyeing this location for a long time.
As for the residual effects… anything that could be solved with technology was a non-issue for PROJECT’s tech.
Especially now that Samuel had officially brought source energy under control. Though it had only just reached stability, the final stabilization phase was underway—and it wouldn’t be long before his other plans could begin.
All that remained was to resolve this last energy problem.
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