vrcanaries Chapter 1199 - 390:
Chapter 1199 - 390:
And Lin Miao had already learned a lot from Lucy and New Dynasty Elegance, especially since the instigator was right in his hands.He was left speechless when he heard that New Dynasty Elegance had managed to talk the Lama AI to death.
All he could say was... maybe that’s just what players do; they always manage to achieve the unthinkable.
"My people have developed the deprogramming software, and it will be sent over soon."
Lin Miao told Huang Ban Lai Xuan.
"Whether you believe it or not, the reversal programs have already been uploaded to the machines in Santo Domingo, Haywood, and Japan Street."
"Do you know how this thing operates?"
Huang Ban Lai Xuan was very curious as to why Horizon Corporation was so unique; while everyone else was affected, they remained untouched.
"These roving AI’s brainwashing operations were in their final stage. If we hadn’t intervened in time, they would have run it at full power for 36 hours to complete subconscious modification of everyone, and during this time, everyone would lie dormant in their beds at home."
Although my people have developed the reversal program, they have been conducting continuous experiments for three months, and the subconscious has already been extensively modified. Even correcting it now would take at least a few weeks, and it would be difficult to return to the original personality, with side effects."
"Side effects?"
Huang Ban Lai Xuan was even more surprised that Lin Miao knew so much.
"After being influenced so much, people in Night City might find it difficult to return to the previous chaos in the short term, so they will maintain a certain period of order. What it will eventually become still depends on the overall social atmosphere."
If such people were thrown into the old Night City, they would return to their former ways in a few days, becoming pure-blooded gangsters.
This is already considered a technology of personality overwriting; it would feel right at home in a film about personality liberation.
"Sounds... not too bad."
Huang Ban Lai Xuan said softly to Lin Miao.
"Actually... I don’t reject the results caused by them. My niece Mizuki... you know, she apologized to me all day yesterday and cried until she fainted; plus, the work atmosphere inside Huangban Tower is excellent."
He shook his head.
"It’s a pity."
"It’s not a pity at all. If we want to create a happy life for humanity, we have to do it ourselves; relying on others is just a lie."
"Will she remember what happened during this period?"
"She will remember some things, but they will be fuzzy, like she had a big dream."
Lin Miao found Huang Ban Lai Xuan increasingly strange. This guy seemed completely different from the person he knew before. Could it be that he was really brainwashed?
In the distance, V arrived at the company’s plaza on a motorcycle, waving vigorously at Lin Miao.
But upon seeing Huang Ban Lai Xuan standing next to Lin Miao, she froze.
Facing her former boss and the owner of the things she stole, she thought she better slip away quietly.
But Huang Ban Lai Xuan, upon seeing V, then looked at Lin Miao and decided to call out to the thief who had stolen from his place.
"I recognize you, Valerie, the anti-intelligence operative, currently living in Haywood, who stole a chip from my bedroom a month ago. Do you still want to leave in front of me now?"
Had it been anyone else, V could have retorted defiantly.
But since she was indeed guilty of stealing, and with Huang Ban’s long-term brainwashing of employees, V still harbored fear towards the Huang Ban family.
Moreover, with Lin Miao nearby and things to hand over to him, she sheepishly moved behind Lin Miao.
Huang Ban Lai Xuan asked,
"Is she your person?"
"Friend."
"Friend... do you know what the chip she stole was?"
"Yes."
"That was a mistake of our family, and I will personally put an end to this sin."
What Huang Ban Lai Xuan said made Lin Miao realize that this person might not have been brainwashed, and the hawkish madman Lin Miao had met before was an act from the beginning.
"I’m not going to pursue the matter of you stealing the chip."
Huang Ban Lai Xuan warned V with a look,
"But... you better not let me find out you sold it to another company, or I won’t spare you."
"Hmph... who’s afraid of you?"
With Lin Miao backing her up, V stood a bit taller.
"Here, this is the deprogramming software Lucy asked me to bring you. Just plug it in."
She then complained to Lin Miao,
"You have no idea what Jack’s become these days. His mom bought a few kiddie rides outside the bar, and that fool has been sitting there all day long going ’Dad’s dad is grandpa,’ and he keeps asking me to play with him; he’s driving me nuts. Please, bring back the old Jack soon."
Lin Miao imagined the scene and couldn’t help but chuckle.
"Isn’t it kind of nice?"
Then he handed the USB to Huang Ban Lai Xuan. He wasn’t worried about any mischief from him; with everyone else dormant due to the generator, the handful of people under his control couldn’t stir up much trouble.
Plus, this was also his move to establish trust with the other party.
As Huang Ban Lai Xuan took the USB to check the machines, V couldn’t help but ask,
"With such a big commotion, how do you plan to settle it? The entire Night City nearly collapsed; do you know who was behind it?"
She was baffled that Night City, which had only fought a unifying war over the past decade, now had a city-wide event every few months since Lin Miao and his people entered, turning everything upside down.
"Who else could it be? The rogue AI—the same guys messing with you. They wanted to brainwash all of Night City, turning this place into their base. But we, with our brilliant and heroic mercenaries, smashed their plot, forcing them to escape."
Lin Miao flashed a mysterious smile. Now that Ye Corporation was practically his property, he definitely couldn’t let it take the blame.
So he was left with one option: to learn from the fine traditions of Cyber Corporation and let the AI take all the blame. After all, they couldn’t speak to defend themselves.
Moreover, when it came to rogue AI, Lin Miao could find as many as he wanted; grabbing a few to confess wouldn’t be too hard.
"Really...?"
V didn’t believe Lin Miao’s words; what came out of these guys’ mouths never matched what was in their hearts.
But she trusted Lin Miao had his reasons for doing this, so she didn’t press further and instead pointed to the modified bodies lying on the ground.
"So how do you plan to handle these machine-heads?"
Although many modified bodies had been defeated and dismantled by players, that didn’t mean they were truly dead; a human body might be whole, but these modified bodies were not.
You could destroy their lower halves, but the brain, the data core, remained intact, just paralyzed and unable to move.
Not to mention the countless bodies simply paralyzed from losing AI control.
The number of modified bodies across the city was at least over ten thousand—a stockpile Richard had accumulated over decades, easily worth hundreds of billions of Orokin solely in exoskeletal value.
What to do with so much wealth?
No need to ask; of course it’s all going into his pocket.
These modified bodies are essentially identical to 2B and 2A units, making them incredibly valuable to him.
The people certainly can’t be saved; even using a modified tank can only restore a blank brain and necessitate subsequent consciousness infusion.
"I think the scrap yard at Stone Ridge Mountain should be able to handle this scrap metal, at least to put it to good use."
"Ugh, you always take all the good stuff for yourself."
V rolled her eyes.
Lin Miao wiggled his finger.
"Correction, that’s called fair earnings for honest work."
Then he pulled a credit card from his wallet.
"Monthly limit of 200,000, tally it on my account at the end of the month."
V quickly snatched the credit card from his hand and stuffed it into her clothes.
"That’s more like it."
Then she said,
"The guy I met wasn’t alone. There were about ten people up on the building, I took down four of them, and their bodies didn’t seem any different from those modified ones."
Lin Miao linked it to what Knight had mentioned.
"That delegation was wiped out by you, but it doesn’t matter to AI."
"Sigh... it seems peaceful days won’t last long."
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