The same events were unfolding in other locations. Bartmoss's rhetoric was extremely persuasive to smart people—though, of course, this was predicated on absolute martial suppression.
Only by establishing substantial control over everything first, and then extending goodwill, would they be truly convinced. After all, they had no choice but to believe; stripped of their ability to resist, they could only choose to trust that this was real, that the other party had truly come for peace.
The sole exception was Night City. Perhaps because it was the main stage of the plot, all sorts of monsters and freaks had gathered there.
Several ninja organizations were huddled together, combined with the presence of megacorporations, making the situation intricate and complex—though in reality, Schwarzer just wanted to watch the show and couldn't bear to interrupt.
It was the "protagonist's" set, after all. Although she no longer lacked energy, she still needed to collect the Core Data. Do not be deceived by her apparent playfulness; in truth, she had influenced every plot character who had shown their face.
From Maine's squad to David's family, and then to V; she hadn't even spared the entire Afterlife Bar or the black braindance dealer, Jimmy Kurosaki.
Piecemeal, she had already obtained over twenty Core Data cards. Now, after her soul reinforcement, the rate of Core Data loss had slowed to one card every half month, rather than the previous rate of one every three days.
In other words, it was almost impossible to run out, which relieved her of the urgency she felt before. She had indeed relaxed.
"So, are you just going to completely slack off? Host?"
The System looked at Schwarzer, who was in a state of pure spectating. Previously, she had cared somewhat about David and V, but now she was completely ignoring them.
"[Negative] I have already done what I needed to do. The rest depends on their own choices; excessive interference would be boring."
In Night City, Ninja Slayer and V had already taken the stage. The Lord and Laomoto Khan were no longer lurking, having chosen to formally confront Arasaka—one in the light, one in the dark.
The Virtual-to-Real Conversion Jutsu was currently still a T0-level existence; almost no one realized anything was wrong.
The only ones who realized the problem were V and Saburo Arasaka. V possessed superimposed memories from parallel worlds, coupled with her power to freely switch worldlines, allowing her to break through the influence of the Virtual-to-Real conversion.
As for Saburo Arasaka, he only escaped the influence after leaving Night City. The Lord had targeted "Saburo Arasaka," not "True Ninja · Saburo Arasaka." The tags didn't match, resulting in a disclosure.
Although they say those who achieve great things do not bother with trifles, it was obvious that The Lord simply hadn't noticed. He was too careless!
"Then what about Miss Alice? Are you going to be a hands-off boss with her too?"
The System attempted to rouse the Host's motivation, looking rather like a mother seeing her child playing video games all day and doing nothing.
"Please, you're really annoying."
Schwarzer was completely unmoved. How could working be as meaningful as watching a show? It was agreed that this was a relaxing world; what was wrong with her relaxing a bit?
Small matters like ruling the world could be left to Alice, Bartmoss, and the subordinate AIs. With so much black technology, what could possibly go wrong?
"So you're ignoring David's side? Laomoto Khan is about to strike."
Compared to the boring rule over the entire Americas, Night City was where the climaxes were rising one after another. David had mastered the Tea Ceremony without a teacher and was collaborating with Takemura to crusade against Laomoto Khan. Meanwhile, Laomoto Khan was gathering his subordinates, preparing to attack Arasaka Tower.
How could she not watch such an interesting development? It was just that the gap in combat power seemed quite significant.
When it came down to it, Laomoto Khan alone was worth more than half the combat power of the Soukaiya. Even if his subordinates were mostly dealt with by Ninja Slayer and the others, it wouldn't matter.
Although David had good compatibility with Naraku, he was still inferior to Fujikido. The hatred and killing intent toward ninjas were not on the same level between the two.
Though David decided to resonate with Naraku to save others after witnessing the ninjas' behavior, his killing intent obviously could not compare to Fujikido, whose wife and child were killed and who felt it viscerally.
Even though Takemura had inherited the Dark Ninja configuration, his strength was clearly inferior to the original. As for V, she was just a throw-in...
Calculating carefully, it seemed that the combined combat power on David's side still couldn't beat Laomoto Khan.
If it really came down to it, she would just let Alice help. With military power capable of crushing the entire Americas, leveling Night City would not be a problem.
Indeed, sufficient power was the reliance for peace of mind. Now, the entire Cyberpunk world posed no threat to her—
"You will regret this."
The only threat appeared: the nagging of the mother-hen System was the greatest threat to her!
"I am the Host!" Schwarzer exercised her veto power.
Perhaps this noise was also a form of relaxation? The two 'people' bickered frantically, engaging in meaningless communication purely for the sake of arguing.
'What a pair of nagging fellows. This is just great.'
Unlike the noise on that side, Alice had a pile of work on her hands. Most of it concerned personnel arrangements for the Americas. Although the wastelands outside the cities could be inhabited after some modification, it clearly couldn't be done immediately.
She was arranging the transfer of various supplies, especially food. A good meal could effectively improve the satisfaction of the masses, directly relating to her 'rule.'
However, because various technologies had vastly improved productivity, the operation interface that should have been Hearts of Iron or Victoria had now turned into Happy Match.
There was almost no need to worry about wasting infinite resources; wherever there was a shortage, she just filled it.
'New Mission: David and Laomoto Khan are about to encounter each other in Night City. According to combat analysis, their win rate is too low. Lord Schwarzer requires you to provide assistance.'
'Control over all cities in the Americas excluding Night City is complete. Preliminary persuasion to surrender has been accomplished with almost no casualties.'
'According to the plan, Lady Alice, you need to show your face personally to pacify them. This is also the best opportunity for everyone to accept you. The specific speech draft has been sent to your mailbox.'
Human joys and sorrows are not alike. Alice, who had been happily playing Happy Match, suddenly couldn't feel happy anymore. Why was everything being dumped on her?
"Night City... well, they haven't started fighting yet. I'll ignore it for now."
"Speech draft... Speech draft..."
Alice looked at the speech draft written by the AIs. It was a slavery report: all humans must work for themselves, working two hours a day, provided with only three meals a day plus snacks.
Bonuses only three times a year, only two months of annual leave, and a salary raise only every four months...
"What on earth is this?"
—Obviously, AIs still didn't understand humans.
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