Night City's Corporate Plaza and Downtown are perpetually the city's centers of power. Even in the dead of night, this area never truly sleeps.
The skyscrapers stand like cold metal giants, their silhouettes sharply outlined against the artificial sky.
Taiwan Novel Website is super smooth, read anytime.
Arasaka Tower is the most striking presence among them, standing majestically like a silent monarch, overseeing everything below it.
The building's exterior walls are covered with massive holographic billboards and real-time data streams, their shifting lights illuminating the streets as if it were daytime.
These lights, though brilliant, exude an inhuman coldness.
The ground of Corporate Plaza is paved with sleek synthetic materials, reflecting the intense lights from above; one can hardly see any dirt or damage.
Pedestrians are scarce on the streets; most walk with hurried steps, dressed in well-tailored business attire, their faces bearing standard, detached expressions.
Occasionally, an aerocar glides silently past, landing on designated platforms.
Patrolling security personnel are well-equipped, their optical implants glowing with vigilant red light, systematically scanning every corner.
Despite being brightly lit, the area is enveloped in an unusual silence.
The shadows of the colossal buildings are cast upon meticulously manicured green belts, forming geometric patterns of light and dark.
Even the air feels filtered, carrying an unnatural sense of cleanliness.
The entire area functions like a precise instrument, efficient, indifferent, allowing no disorder.
Morris, once a Lieutenant in Militech, had now completely transformed into a weapon loyal to only one person.
Her will and actions served entirely her master and that unfathomable technological might.
At this moment, she was traversing these somewhat unfamiliar streets, searching for the target designated by her master.
The first target was Biotechnica's Security Director, Elliot Kwan.
He was hiding on the top floor of a heavily guarded private apartment building near the corporate headquarters, relying on layers of protection for a sense of security.
Morris chose an unconventional entry method.
She used a magnetic climbing device, moving up the smooth glass curtain wall like a shadow clinging to the surface.
Her movements were fluid and steady, precisely avoiding the periodically sweeping surveillance cameras.
After reaching a certain distance below the target floor, she paused, looking for the next point of leverage.
The target apartment's balcony was enclosed by sturdy glass curtain walls, with the living room area inside.
The balcony door lock was an advanced magnetic lock, connected to the main security system.
Morris took out a miniature device, attached it to the glass near the door lock, and activated it.
After an almost imperceptible energy pulse, the lock's indicator light went out, simultaneously causing a nearby hidden camera to temporarily malfunction.
Utilizing this brief interval, she used a monomolecular wire to cut a neat opening in the glass.
She reached inside and manually disengaged the backup mechanical lock that had activated due to the system failure.
After successfully infiltrating the living room, she immediately began to penetrate the apartment's internal network.
Although this system was physically isolated from the outside, it could not withstand the advanced cracking protocols Osiris had bestowed upon her.
She sent forged system self-check commands, silently taking over control.
Motion sensors were set to 'maintenance mode,' and cameras looped static footage of an empty room.
According to the intelligence Morris had gathered, four bodyguards were on duty in the apartment: two in the living room and entrance, one in the kitchen area, and another outside the master bedroom door, while the target Elliot Kwan's life signs were located inside the master bedroom.
After assessing the path, Morris chose the ventilation duct in the ceiling.
She silently removed the grille, entered the narrow duct, and, relying on the structural map in her memory, nimbly climbed towards the master bedroom above.
Upon finding the corresponding exit, she again used tools to disengage the security lock, silently entering the walk-in closet below.
The walk-in closet was separated from the sleeping area by a sliding door; she passed through it and entered the sleeping area.
Only faint light from the floor lamps illuminated the room. Elliot Kwan lay on the bed, deep in a drug and alcohol-induced slumber, with empty glasses and pill bottles scattered by the bedside.
Morris did not act immediately.
She first scanned the room to confirm there were no hidden independent alarm devices.
Then, she merged into the shadows by the bed, reducing her physiological activity to a minimum, almost becoming one with the environment.
She waited patiently until Kwan's sleep cycle naturally transitioned to a shallower stage.
His body began to twist restlessly, and his breathing became heavy.
Just as he was about to awaken, Morris took a half-step forward, entering his hazy field of vision.
Simultaneously, her right arm lifted, and the Sonic Blade silently slid out.
When the weapon was not activated, it was merely a uniquely shaped piece of dark metal; but when she activated its core, an invisible, ultra-high-frequency vibration field instantly formed, causing subtle and unsettling tremors in the surrounding air.
Kwan opened his eyes, and when he saw the figure by the bed and the deadly weapon, his pupils dilated with fear.
His throat tightened; he tried to scream.
Morris's left hand shot out with a speed far beyond normal human reaction, precisely pressing against his temporomandibular joint, instantly depriving him of the ability to vocalize.
At the same time, the tip of the Sonic Blade hovered at his Adam's apple, and the faint tingling sensation and strong suggestion of suffocation from the vibration field completely froze his actions.
"Quiet." Morris's voice was processed, flat and uninflected, just loud enough for him to hear: "Listen carefully; this will determine whether you see tomorrow's sun."
She maintained her control, the tip of the Sonic Blade still hovering at his Adam's apple, and began to convey information.
"First, all hostile actions against Maine's crew and the entity behind them must cease immediately and completely.
This includes but is not limited to surveillance, tracking, bounties, armed attacks, and any form of intelligence gathering.
Your tentacles must be completely withdrawn from around us."
The moment she finished speaking, she injected a detailed list of items, including specific minerals, rare elements, and high-precision equipment, via short-range data injection, to Kwan's personal communicator, which was in standby mode on his bedside table.
The screen lit up, the dense list of items glaring in the dark.
"Secondly, you will pay compensation for the losses you have already caused and the time my master has wasted. The list has been sent; every item on it is the price you must pay. This is not a request; it is a notification."
She slightly adjusted the angle of the Sonic Blade, and the invisible vibration field made the hairs on Kwan's neck stand on end.
"Two of your colleagues, Militech's Karl Strange and Biotechnica's Julia Winters, will be eliminated.
This is a direct response to your previous actions and the delusions you still harbor. Their fate was sealed when you made your foolish decisions."
"As for you, Elliot Kwan, you are permitted to live. Your only value is as a messenger, to deliver what you have seen and heard tonight, every word I have conveyed, and that list, intact, to your superiors.
Let them understand that the consequences of continued entanglement are far more severe than merely losing two executives.
The power we possess is sufficient to turn any hand that dares to reach out, along with its owner, into ashes."
"Of course," her voice remained cold, yet it carried a hint of room for negotiation, "if you are wise enough, and willing to show more 'sincerity' in addition to paying compensation, my master might consider limited, reciprocal technological exchanges in the future.
The choice between continuous bloodshed and losses, or a path of potential coexistence, is in your hands.
Remember, your life is merely temporarily held. Whether you can continue to possess it depends on your ability to perfectly fulfill this duty as a messenger."
The message was delivered.
She released her grip, and the Sonic Blade silently retracted.
She did not look again at the nearly collapsed Kwan, turning and retreating through the walk-in closet to the ventilation duct with the same precise, silent steps, restoring everything to its original state.
Returning to above the living room via the duct, and after confirming she had not been detected by the bodyguards, she exited through the balcony cut and retrieved the miniature device.
Rapidly descending along the outer wall, her figure quickly merged into the darkness of the city's lower levels.
The entire operation, from infiltration to extraction, took approximately thirty minutes.
The target, Elliot Kwan, was physically unharmed, but his mind was on the verge of collapse.
He lay limp on the bed, and after a long while, he struggled to grab his communicator, attempting to contact his superiors in a trembling and incoherent voice.
Osiris' warning, delivered by this terrified messenger, finally reached the highest echelons of Biotechnica.