Chapter 229

Page 229

Vincent swallowed hard: "Down with the company! We must down with the company! I was born to down with the company!"

“That’s more like it.” Vera nodded in satisfaction. “Why were you being so stubborn with me just now?”

I had no idea you could flatten a mountain!

Vincent sighed. He knew he had boarded a pirate ship, but he hadn't expected it to be so big.

Now that things have come to this, he has resigned himself to his fate. After all, his cleverness is meaningless in the face of absolute power.

“Tell me, what do you want me to do?” Vincent asked.

"Just like I said before, build an army, overthrow the company, and establish a new order."

"Huh?" Vincent was dumbfounded: "Isn't that just a cover-up to attract public attention?"

"That's not a cover-up, it's the whole plan."

"I understand, I'm a puppet, right? Then who is the real leader?"

“There is no ‘real leader,’ and you are not a puppet. In our plan, you will build an army, overthrow the company, and then establish a new regime, a new world.”

Vincent was amused: "Are you kidding me? How could I, a wanderer who couldn't survive in the Badlands, a lowly street mercenary in Night City, possibly build an army and overthrow a company?"

"You are a street mercenary, that's true," Vera laughed, "but don't forget, you're also the one who killed Saburo Arasaka, the one who killed a god!"

Vincent was speechless.

Thor suddenly realized, "That's right, although the video of your televised speech was fake, it's true that you killed Saburo Arasaka. Adcardo is willing to work for you, as long as you can build a new world without oppression and exploitation as you say, we'll give you our lives, even if we die, as long as our descendants can live in the new world!"

Vincent gave a wry smile: "We've only just met, and you trust me that much?"

“You are a wanderer, and so am I.” Saul shrugged. “Wanderers trust wanderers.”

What if we fail?

Thor thought for a moment and said, "Then let's use our lives to set an example for those who come after us, so that they can walk more steadily and more smoothly!"

Shall I transform my broken body into raging flames?

He's very handsome and passionate, but also too naive.

Vincent's exceptionally high intelligence made him incredibly rational; he would never place his hopes on empty slogans.

The former Demon King carefully calculated the strength comparison between the two sides and decisively rejected this absurd task.

“I will never start a revolution. I just want to live a peaceful life.” Vincent said, looking at Vera, “If you insist on making me do that, you might as well kill me.”

Thor and Panan tensed up, after all, the sight of Vera leveling the mountain was still fresh in their minds. But surprisingly, Vera seemed quite satisfied with the answer. Instead, he patted Vincent on the shoulder and smiled, saying, "Not bad, you are indeed different from before."

Vincent was taken aback: "What past?"

Vera didn't answer, but continued, "Do whatever you want. V has never failed in her schemes. I can't escape, and neither can you."

"What do you mean by 'right track'? What are you talking about? V is your twin sister, right? What is she plotting?"

"You'll find out the answer eventually, but not now. Right now, you should be thinking about how to deal with the new America's attack. Adcardo saved you; you can't just stand by and watch them be wiped out by the Americans like the Native Americans. Once you get through this, we'll meet again!"

After Vera finished speaking, she suddenly disappeared in a flash of white light.

Panan and Thor were astonished: "What kind of technology is this? How can it disappear into thin air? Are they aliens?"

Vincent frowned: "No, it seems to be some kind of space technology, but as far as I know, space technology has always existed only in the laboratories of major companies, and has never reached the level of practical application. The twins of the next life, who exactly are they?"

“At least they don’t look like bad people,” Panan suddenly said.

"Because they gave you 1000 euros?"

“Of course not!” Panan glared at Vincent: “Given Vera’s ability to easily flatten a mountain, if they were bad guys, we would probably have been wiped out long ago.”

Vincent and Thor exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.

"So what we should be worried about now is not the twins to come, but the real enemy, the new America."

Vincent thought for a moment and said, "If you're willing to trust me, I have a plan."

Meanwhile, Vera returned to the afterlife.

V paused what she was doing and asked, "You've seen him now, how do you feel?"

“He truly lost all his memories and became a completely new person. Also…” Vera scratched her head: “Being a riddle person is really fun!”

V: "..."

What followed can only be described as a rollercoaster ride.

Vincent's "public statement" made him a target of public criticism, and the new United States officially ordered the arrest of this "terrorist" and deployed troops. Military Technology thought it could reconcile with Arasaka, but Arasaka Yoriyuki produced various irrefutable pieces of evidence that the "public statement" was produced by AI, expressing his firm disbelief and continuing the fierce battle with Military Technology in the Atlantic.

In order to end this inexplicable war as soon as possible, military technology also gave New America a strict order to bring Vincent to justice as soon as possible, to make his assassination of Saburo Arasaka an ironclad case, and to completely eliminate the possibility of Arasaka Yorihiro using this as an excuse to seize the North American market.

The matter was of great importance, and the new US President Miles personally led a large army to attack Camp Adcado.

Facing an enemy of this size, Adcardo originally had no chance of winning, but Vincent, with his outstanding technical skills, managed to transform the wanderers' ordinary civilian vehicles into deadly weapons with military-grade lethality.

The wanderers had the advantage of terrain and were caught off guard by the enemy's strategy, while the soldiers of the new America were overconfident, lax in discipline, and had a weak formation. In the end, the old saying "pride comes before a fall" proved true, and they were defeated by Adcardo. Even Miles was almost captured on the spot.

This victory exceeded everyone's expectations. Vincent became famous overnight, and many people began to doubt whether the fake "television manifesto" was real or not. Meanwhile, Miles became the biggest laughing stock of the century—using regular troops to attack a group of vagrants and still losing. What kind of president is he? He might as well just buy a block of tofu and kill himself.

Miles herself was naturally filled with shame and indignation, but her greatest virtue was her shamelessness. Although countless people demanded that she resign, she simply refused to leave. Not only did she refuse to leave, but she also organized an army again, preparing to launch a second punitive expedition.

This time, unlike the first skirmish, New America truly deployed a full-scale army, and their attitude was much more serious. Everyone thought Adcardo was doomed to defeat this time, but because of their previous victory, Adcardo had captured a considerable amount of real military equipment and vehicles. These items were modified and upgraded under Vincent's technical expertise, and New America was surprised to find that Adcardo's vehicles could not only fire laser cannons but also transform into robots over three meters tall to perform various tactical maneuvers. When pushed to the limit, they could even combine in groups of five to become even larger robots, gaining greater offensive and defensive capabilities!

The new American army was beaten so badly they cried for their mothers. The soldiers were dumbfounded. They had seen people cheat, but they had never seen cheat so blatantly! In the end, the war machines of the new America did not collapse, but their morale collapsed first. They all sent out surrender signals and surrendered without resistance.

Miles was furious and kept yelling "Get them!" from inside the command vehicle, but the soldiers weren't stupid. They figured whoever wanted to fight the Transformers could fight them, but they weren't going to.

Thus, Adcardo achieved another resounding victory, even directly killing the new US President Miles. This news shocked the world, and Vincent's name was taken seriously by all companies.

The common people didn't know whether Vincent had actually killed Saburo Arasaka, but they witnessed him leading Adcardo to defeat New America and kill Miles. The suffering people saw hope, and those seeking to repair the world saw a glimmer of light. Homeless people across America responded immediately, gathering in Night City and joining the war against tyranny and oppression. Vincent was their undisputed King of the Homeless!

Faced with such a new group, the company certainly wouldn't remain indifferent.

A month after Miles' death, the company used "counter-terrorism" as a pretext to form a peacekeeping force to launch a crackdown on the homeless group.

Faced with such a massive military force, Vincent's technological prowess proved ineffective. He ultimately opted for the tactics the Wanderers excelled at: mobile warfare. In the heavily polluted year of 2077, most of North America was covered in desert, and these barren lands became Vincent's strategic stage. He roamed North America, evading encirclement and rescuing various small cities and villages. After a year, his Wanderer army not only survived but grew stronger, even developing a combat capability that astonished the company due to upgraded weaponry.

When the army of wanderers reappeared outside Night City in triumph, the company panicked, while the people who had suffered were overjoyed.

The two sides engaged in a fierce battle on the bad soil. The company used all its trump cards, but it was still defeated by the wanderers' transformable armed vehicles.

These vehicles can quickly switch between ordinary vehicles and combat robots, adapt to different battlefield environments, possess extremely high mobility, and completely outclass the company's traditional armed forces.

The company's technicians once tried to replicate this technology and spent a lot of money to capture several transforming vehicles, but the technical capabilities were beyond their comprehension and they could not understand them at all. In the end, they could only produce some clumsy replicas with less than one-tenth the combat power of the original.

And so, the company’s influence in Night City was completely dismantled. When Vincent and Panan’s transforming vehicles combined to become an even taller robot and smashed through the Gunco Tower, the people were overjoyed and shouted the name of their hero.

"V-Shatter! V-Shatter!"

Thus, Night City was liberated.

At night, Vincent looked down at the street from the tower when Parnan hugged him from behind.

"What are you looking at?"

“Look at this city.” Vincent took his lover’s hand. “It’s unbelievable. Just a year ago, we were just unknown street mercenaries.”

Panan smiled: "And now?"

"Now?" Vincent thought for a moment and answered seriously, "I am still the same person I was before. If there is any difference, it is that I have a group of comrades who can entrust their lives to me, a group of comrades who fight for the same goal, a group of partners who support me without complaint, and a group of people who will never abandon me. They place their hopes and future on me, so I cannot stop. I also have a promise that I must fulfill!"

“I remember the ‘television address’ was fake.”

"The televised address was fake, but the people and hearts that are united and yearn for a better life are real." Vincent turned around and uttered the most romantic vow in the world: "Panan, when that day comes, when our careers are successful, we will get married!"

Panan blushed and changed the subject, saying, "Aren't you gay?"

Vincent chuckled: "Didn't you cure me?"

"Are you sure? I don't want to marry you and live like a widow."

"Now that you mention it, it seems I'm not completely healed." Vincent revealed a lewd expression. "Why don't you help me consolidate it?"

"asshole!"

Panan cursed, but his hand grabbed Vincent's belt. As soon as it slid in, a white light flashed, and V and Vera appeared in front of them.

Vincent & Parnan: "..."

V&Vella: "..."

"Click." V took a picture: "Sorry to bother you, we'll be back in 5 minutes."

"Five minutes isn't enough, who do you think you are... No, don't go, delete the photos!"

Chapter 206 Another New Era

At a table, Vincent and Parnan sat on the left, and V and Vera sat on the right.

"Who exactly are you people?" Vincent asked bluntly.

"I am V, and she is Vera."

"I'm not asking for your name!"

"Heh, don't rush. We're here to tell you everything." V smiled and pondered, "It's just that there's a lot to say, and we don't know where to begin."

“Tell me about your origins first,” Vincent said. “I initially thought you were from Arasaka, but this year I’ve also found an inside man in Arasaka, and I’ve discovered that there’s no one like you there at all.”

V chuckled: "The inside man is Arasaka Michiko, isn't he?"

Vincent and Parnan were shocked, because this was top secret even within the rebels, and no more than five people knew about it.

How did you know...?

"Because I was the one who asked Michiko to contact you."

Vincent and Parnan stared in astonishment, their mouths agape.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"As I said, there are many and complicated things, so let's follow your line of thought and first explain our background."

V pointed to himself first: "My name is V, and I come from Night City in 2176."

Then she pointed to Vera: "Her name is Vera, she comes from Night City in 2076, but she currently lives in Night City in 2176."

Vincent: "???"

Panan: "???"

"Time travelers? Do you think we're idiots? Why don't you just say you're aliens?"

“It’s normal not to believe it. Take a look at this and you’ll understand.” V said, handing over a chip.

Panan scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous. Who would stick a chip of dubious origin into their brain?"

As a result, Vincent picked up the chip and inserted it into his neural slot.

Panan was so angry he almost died, and slapped Vincent on the forehead: "Are you fucking a tiger?!"

V and Vera nodded repeatedly, picked up the chip of unknown origin and inserted it into their brains. Vincent was indeed V.

Despite being slapped by Panan, Vincent showed no reaction whatsoever, as he was completely absorbed in the chip's contents, deeply awestruck by its dazzling advanced technology.

The chip has limited capacity and contains only some basic theories without actual manufacturing plans. But even so, any one of these technologies is enough to change the world order, which made Vincent shocked.

"You really are from the future."

Panan retorted, "Hey, how come you suddenly believed that?"

"Because of these technologies. I can see that they are completely based on entirely new theories. They cannot be imagined, let alone thought about, within the existing scientific framework."

Panan asked, puzzled, "For example?"

"For example, the leap technology is based on a fundamental particle called C matter, but humans have never discovered this particle, and with human imagination, it is impossible to build a theory based on something that does not exist."

Panan understood a little, and looked at V and Vera with a mixture of surprise and awe.

Vincent, on the other hand, was completely fanatical. As a tech geek and an engineering enthusiast, he saw new technologies like he saw Panan's shapely buttocks, completely unable to resist them, wanting only to fully engage with them and delve deeply into them.

"Does C-matter really exist? With it, warping space can be as simple as eating and drinking?" Vincent asked.

V's answer was to disappear instantly in a flash of white light, and when he reappeared, he was holding a penguin from Antarctica.

Penguin: "Coo-coo-quack-quack?"

Vincent and Parnan poked each other in surprise.