The Giant Corporations that Started in Night City

Chapter 54: Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds!

"Mr. Li Ang, you might as well speak plainly."

A wave of unease surged through Myers ' heart, though she couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

As she stared into Li Ang's unfathomable gaze, for the first time, she felt a sense of helplessness and powerlessness.

Li Ang didn't respond directly. Instead, he gestured for Pira to project Johnny Silverhand's perspective onto the electronic screen using the glasses device.

"Ms. Myers , take a look at the chaos over at Arasaka Tower. You at Militech came all the way here to carry out a terrorist attack at any cost. Calling you desperate lunatics wouldn't be an exaggeration."

"Was detonating a nuke at Arasaka Tower last time not enough for you?"

Li Ang's sarcastic remarks hit Myers as hard as the cutting-edge visualization device itself, leaving her feeling as if she'd been slapped in the face. For the first time, she truly felt the immense disparity between their companies.

LA Corporation had achieved real-time monitoring and voice commands through biochip implants, while Militech was still stuck using traditional radio communication!

"Johnny, what's the situation over there?" Li Ang asked through the glasses device, connecting to the front line with Johnny Silverhand.

[Uh! Just one more door to go, but the Arasaka guards are swarming us! Morgan Blackhand is on his way—it'll take about ten minutes to wrap this up!]

As soon as Johnny's voice trailed off, Lucy, who had been silently observing, suddenly spoke up. "No, you must speed up. Arasaka's elite squad has arrived, and Adam Smasher is here too!"

[Damn it! This is bad.]

Johnny couldn't help but curse. He knew full well who Adam Smasher was—a top-tier mercenary and Arasaka's most loyal attack dog.

"We don't have time." Li Ang instructed Lucy, "Tell Morgan Blackhand to work with Johnny to storm Arasaka's central server room. Get the person out first, no matter what."

"Make sure Morgan knows to insert the chip into Arasaka's Mikoshi server port, pull it out cleanly, and make it quick!"

"Understood!" Lucy responded immediately.

Li Ang felt his nerves tightening. Lucy's earlier premonition seemed to be coming true—tonight's rescue mission would inevitably require sacrifices.

"Chip? What chip? Are you planning to implant a virus into Arasaka's Mikoshi server?" Rosalind Myers couldn't hold back her curiosity any longer.

"Yes, but not exactly."

Li Ang's ambiguous response didn't reveal the secret of the AI Red Queen. He had no intention of sharing that with this cunning woman.

In truth, Li Ang's plan was to have Morgan Blackhand insert a chip containing the AI Red Queen into the Mikoshi server. The Red Queen would then enter cyberspace to locate Alt Cunningham.

Rescuing Alt's entire consciousness intact was nearly impossible, but smuggling out fragmented data—a "corpse," so to speak—offered a glimmer of hope.

According to Li Ang's vision, the Red Queen would find Alt and segment her soul into data packets containing personality, memory, and knowledge. After marking these packets, the Red Queen would disperse them across the vast cyberspace.

The AI Red Queen would then remain dormant in Arasaka's Mikoshi server, continuously siphoning and eavesdropping on Arasaka's data.

**[AI Red Queen Status Panel:

Level 2—Capable of maintaining two AI clones simultaneously with real-time data sharing, unrestricted by device limitations or spatial distance!

Enhanced stealth functions allow long-term dormancy within ICE firewall systems.]**

Thanks to days of data absorption, the AI Red Queen had rapidly evolved within the Delamain Corporation, even surpassing the AI White Queen to reach Level 2 and unlocking the cloning function.

Whether this plan succeeds depends on Morgan Blackhand's speed and the Red Queen's capabilities, Li Ang thought to himself.

---

Arasaka Tower, Central Server Room

"Hurry up and finish the 2.5 version of the Soulkiller, Alt Cunningham!"

In the server room, Harada Toshiro gritted his teeth, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the electronic screen before him.

He could see that Alt was only a step away from completing the 2.5 version of the AI Soulkiller.

Last week, Alt had been forced to create the 2.0 version of the AI Soulkiller. Now, Harada was pressuring her to finish the 2.5 version.

If the 2.0 version was merely an optimization of memory usage, making it more user-friendly, the 2.5 version was a qualitative leap in performance.

This new version would have rudimentary self-awareness, akin to a highly adaptive cybernetic infant. It would devour data within cyberspace and evolve through self-iteration.

Essentially, the 2.5 version of the Soulkiller would rival a Level 1 AI Red Queen, possessing a degree of aggressiveness and unparalleled data consumption capabilities.

"Don't worry, Lord Harada. We are monitoring Alt's code-writing process. She's 99% done. Please ensure her physical safety at all costs!"

Arasaka Hacker #1 reported truthfully.

For the past week, he had been overseeing Alt in cyberspace. His physical body was sustained by nutrients and liquids, leaving no room for negligence.

After all, Alt Cunningham was hailed as the closest human to the legendary hacker god Bartmoss.

Any slip-up, and she might use Mikoshi's server data to craft a string of fatal code capable of frying their brains!

"All systems are normal."

"Situation is stable!"

Arasaka Hackers #2 and #3 chimed in.

Hearing this, Harada Toshiro could only pace back and forth, anxiously checking the time and praying for Arasaka's elite forces to arrive soon.

Damn it! Why now? Why couldn't this have happened earlier or later? Lord Saburo Arasaka should've used the Soulkiller to incinerate Militech's executives!

Harada cursed silently.

In Mikoshi's cyberspace, Alt Cunningham was carefully completing the final lines of code for the deadly AI. Faced with a program that could shred human consciousness, she dared not make a single mistake.

Ding!

The moment the code was completed, the ocean of data forming the Soulkiller took on a double-helix structure, spinning incessantly.

In the crimson and black hues of cyberspace, the giant spiraling helix resembled a pillar of white flames, illuminating everything around it.

As the helix grew, Alt faintly heard chants akin to ancient Eastern Buddhist hymns. At its apex, a structure resembling a Buddha began to take shape.

The scene was profoundly eerie, evoking an indescribable primal fear buried deep within the human genome.

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

Alt Cunningham murmured to herself as the sound of crystal scraping echoed. It was as if she had glimpsed a dying star.