Roland dusted off his clothes, then walked straight out of the building. As for the aftermath, the people under his control would come clean it up.
He regrouped with the Imperial Guard robots shortly after. Their armor was stained with fresh blood and carried the lingering scent of smoke—it was obvious they had just been through a serious fight.
Their plating showed some wear, but nothing major. A brief maintenance session back at base would restore them completely.
That said, the Nekomata sniper rifle really was something. As expected of a restricted military-class Electromagnetic Sniper Rifle.
It seemed Pico still had ties to Militech… or maybe not. Perhaps he simply managed to get his hands on a Nekomata.
Roland mulled over the thought as he adjusted his clothes, then climbed into the new vehicle prepared for him.
This time, his destination was his company headquarters. He had no intention of visiting Pico anymore. Originally, he planned to give him a dignified end—just like he had with Luvena Tech. But Pico had been too stupid to appreciate it.
Fine. Better to just eliminate him outright. That would also make taking over Hammos Industries easier. It would take more time, sure—but that just meant more time to grow his treasury.
By the time he returned, he might have accumulated enough Essence to buy the Judgment Template.
...
Kiwi adjusted the tie around her neck, then walked across an empty lot in an abandoned factory district, carrying a briefcase.
Before long, the sharp roar of engines echoed through the space. A Thorton Colby and four heavily modified motorcycles skidded to a stop near Kiwi's Chevillon Emperor.
A man with spiky green hair, wearing a demon mask and swinging a pink Katana, jumped out first. The others followed behind him.
Colorful hairstyles, drawn Katana, glowing tattoos—clearly Tyger Claws members.
"Miss Kiwi, we've secured the intel Mr. Roland asked for. As for the payment…"
"It's here."
Kiwi didn't bother humoring him. She tossed the briefcase toward them. One member hurried forward, caught it, opened it, checked the contents, and nodded to the leader.
The leader grinned and walked up to Kiwi.
"Would Miss Kiwi honor us by joining us brothers for a meal?"
Kiwi's expression instantly chilled. She stared at them like they were absolute idiots.
SWISH—
With a sharp rush of air, the Tyger Claws leader suddenly found himself lifted off the ground, Kiwi's hand clasped tightly around his throat. He let out choking gasps.
"You should know—if not for my boss's request, you wouldn't even have the right to stand in front of me."
With a flick of her arm, Kiwi threw him like a ragdoll. He crashed into a motorcycle, flipping it over.
The surrounding Tyger Claws members immediately stepped back in fear—they clearly understood this wasn't someone they could mess with.
Kiwi snorted coldly, then left with the intel.
A faint weariness flickered in her eyes. It had already been over a month since Roland left for Agas City.
During this time, Roland had been working almost exclusively in Agas, issuing most orders through Jhin's body. As a result, countless responsibilities had fallen onto Kiwi and Tina.
It had become intense training for both of them. Kiwi could handle the workload thanks to her PROJECT cyberware enhancements. Tina, on the other hand, was having a much harder time.
But the silver lining was that, in Night City, many upper-level figures were now familiar with their faces.
Honestly, though, that gave Kiwi a headache—because she was still the acting captain of the PROJECT Squad, and most PROJECT missions were highly covert.
She had to wear a helmet during all operations.
And over the past month, the PROJECT Squad's reputation in Night City had skyrocketed. Their terrifying efficiency and combat strength meant every operation so far had been a flawless success.
strong armed security forces, deranged gang members, berserk cyberpsychos—none were a match for PROJECT.
Roland's capture of cyberpsychos was another matter entirely: he wanted to research whether Cyberpsychosis could be cured, and whether their consciousness could be extracted—perfect volunteers for his AI consciousness experiments.
Meanwhile, with Night Corp's backing, PROJECT Corporation had firmly entrenched itself in Night City. Combined with Roland absorbing large portions of Hammos Industries, the once-powerful company was reduced to little more than scraps.
Only Pico was left, barely clinging on. Roland hadn't killed him; he preferred to watch him crumble piece by piece. After all, Pico had struck first.
PROJECT Corporation's market value had now surpassed Hammos Industries, reaching the multi-billion level. Along the way, they had secured investments from Kang Tao, Arasaka's, and Night Corp.
This reassured Kang Tao and Arasaka's enough to avoid restricting PROJECT's growth. In fact, they'd effectively acknowledged PROJECT Corporation's authority over Agas City.
In this world, a corporation controlling a city wasn't rare.
Now, many Night City patrol squads had PROJECT intelligent security robots among them—including Fanged Hounds.
The Hounds were not sold publicly—only available through rental.
Over the past month, Roland also obtained a large number of blueprints. Notably, he had finally assembled the full PROJECT template—and even had extra copies. Once he returned to Night City, he could install it for Vilet.
Mm… though he had been swamped this entire month and hadn't had time to look into Lucy's situation. With things here almost finalized, he planned to investigate properly once he returned.
The intel Kiwi retrieved from the Tyger Claws detailed Pico's final desperate counterattack. Reportedly, he had spent his entire fortune hiring an internationally renowned knife-wielding assassin to kill Roland.
That caught Roland's interest. He hadn't fought seriously in a long while, and his hands were itching.
A master swordsman—very likely a Sandevistan user.
A Time-Stop Swordmaster build.
That excited Roland even more.
Aside from that previous encounter with Finkes, he hadn't enjoyed a truly satisfying fight.
Now, he finally had someone worth… not killing, but sparring with. He'd have to be careful—not to let himself kill the guy by accident.
In other words—
Roland wanted to show off.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser