Kai returned to his office.
Sitting in his chair, he held the chip between the fingers of his left hand and spun it in circles.
"Decent enough sincerity."
Even for a used car, a limited-edition Rayfield was not something money alone could easily buy.
Arthur had probably put some effort into getting his hands on it.
For the head of an Arasaka intelligence department, a luxury car like that could only be called an expensive toy.
One supercar was not enough to make Kai lose his head and blindly believe Arthur Jenkins truly valued his ability.
Inside Arasaka, what did personal favor amount to?
Not even a strand of hair.
Today someone might smile, congratulate you, and toast your success.
Tomorrow the same person might turn around and go for your throat.
Things like that were everywhere.
More importantly, Arthur giving such an expensive gift carried two meanings.
On the surface, it looked like goodwill and an attempt to win him over.
At a deeper level, it showed that Arthur still had doubts.
Arthur Jenkins had already sensed that Kai, the man he had personally promoted, was beginning to slip out of his control.
When your achievements overshadow your superior, trouble follows.
Kai understood that simple truth perfectly well.
Right now, the two of them were still sitting in the same boat, their interests tied together. Even if there were cracks between them, both would choose to keep one eye open and the other shut.
Kai activated Dragon Fist and scanned the Rayfield vehicle authentication data.
[Rayfield "Aerondight S9"]
[8.0L W16 engine, 1000 horsepower, 0-100 km/h in just 2 seconds, top speed 407 km/h]
[Built inside and out using high-tech lightweight materials including aluminum, titanium, fiberglass, and carbon fiber]
From the exterior scan, the car had a deep pearl-blue base coat, while the hood shimmered with flowing blue light.
Now that the authentication chip had been scanned and registered, the next time he went to pick up the car, he could simply log in through his smart glasses and use it.
Kai opened a desk drawer and tossed the authentication chip inside.
As for picking the car up, that could wait until he had time.
He pulled himself back into focus and started planning the next step of his work.
The matter Michiko had assigned him needed preparation in advance. Now that he had access to a higher board-level intelligence clearance, he could naturally learn much more about Militech.
He turned on his office computer, logged into the Arasaka intelligence system, and entered the high-level intelligence archive center.
He selected board-level intelligence files.
Then he clicked confirm.
The system began verifying his identity.
"Login successful."
It was Kai's first time entering the Arasaka board-level intelligence system, though the scope of his browsing rights had been restricted to matters related to Militech.
Michiko had clearly configured the permission settings herself, limiting them strictly to work use.
Any of the classified Militech intelligence stored here, if taken outside, could have a massive impact, maybe even trigger another hot war between the two megacorps.
"Soulkiller?"
While casually browsing, Kai found a file on Johnny's ex-girlfriend.
It was on record.
He clicked it open.
Brilliant netrunner Alt Cunningham had developed a completely new form of digitized consciousness technology.
This technology could convert human consciousness into data, extract it from the body, and transfer it into cyberspace.
Originally, the technology had been intended to create a virtual electronic identity for humans on the verge of death.
But it quickly attracted the attention of multiple megacorps, including Arasaka, Militech, and Night Corp.
Arasaka had "recruited" Alt Cunningham through its own special methods and, using her work as a base, developed the Soulkiller program.
Once Soulkiller was activated, every piece of information in a human brain would be copied and extracted by the program, forming a cloned data-consciousness entity known as an engram.
At the same time, the program would upload that engram into a subnet or cyberspace and kill the person's original consciousness.
During the Fourth Corporate War, Arasaka and Militech had fought a prolonged net war of hacking and counter-hacking.
Arasaka had finally ended that electronic war by using Soulkiller technology to fry more than ten thousand Militech-employed netrunners.
Since then, Militech had remained dedicated to stealing that technology, but with very limited success.
Some intelligence reports indicated that Militech had once supported Johnny Silverhand's terrorist attack, with the goal of completely destroying the foundation of this technology: the Arasaka Tower subnet.
After reading through the file, Kai found that it basically matched what he already knew.
The intelligence was highly credible.
In August 2023, that nuclear blast had nearly burned away half of Night City.
That small tactical nuke had been funded by Militech for Johnny.
And after all these years, Arasaka was still using the Soulkiller program to fry people's brains.
Even if someone was far away on a low-orbit space station, the moment Arasaka's powerful hacking system breached them, Soulkiller could burn their brain and extract an engram at any time.
Kai could not help thinking of the very building beneath his feet.
In the underground levels of this Arasaka Tower, Mikoshi still held a massive number of digitized souls.
They were like wronged spirits trapped in hell, unable to pass into death or rebirth, forced to wander day after day through the Arasaka subnet without rest.
That huge number of human engrams provided Arasaka with a vast pool of experimental samples for Relic development.
Kai speculated that the reason Saburo Arasaka kept his rebellious son Yorinobu alive was very likely connected to engram overwrite experiments.
If the test subject shared closer similarities in genes, personality, and emotional patterns with the engram, the success rate might well be higher.
The intelligence in front of him only covered the Soulkiller program itself.
It said nothing about Mikoshi or the deeper overwrite experiments.
For now, that kind of information was probably known only to members of the Arasaka family and Saburo's most trusted researchers.
Johnny Silverhand's digitized soul was not inside the Night City Arasaka Tower Mikoshi.
It was far away in Kyoto, at Arasaka headquarters.
Even if Kai wanted to save his old friend, there was nothing he could do right now.
He would have to wait until Yorinobu finally broke with his father and brought the Relic chip to Night City.
Only then might there be a proper way to get it.
Kai continued browsing other intelligence, trying to find a lead that matched the task requirements.
It had to expose some weakness on Militech's side and create enough trouble for them to be worth bringing to the board.
At the same time, it had to wash Arasaka's hands clean and avoid a direct clash between the two corps, so it would not damage Little Michiko's "harmonious" relationship with the NUSA.
"Being a corpo really is a miserable job."
Kai sighed.
Then suddenly, he thought of the limping middle-aged man he had met the previous night while trying to buy water during his run.
The man had fought in the Metal Wars, lost a leg to fire, then retired. He had also mentioned not wanting to become a cyberpsycho.
The limping man's experience had some similarities with cyberpsycho James Norris.
Both were war veterans.
Both had Militech backgrounds.
Clearly, if the limping man had accepted the more advanced cyberware Militech offered, his eventual fate might have been the same as James's.
A cyberpsycho.
But the result of refusing was just as grim.
With only a meager veteran's payout, all he could do in Night City was struggle to stay alive.
Kai's brow furrowed slightly as he followed the thread of the idea.
"If I use that as an entry point, find solid evidence, and expose part of Militech's scandal in how it treats retired soldiers, it might stir up a wave of backlash against them."
"But just stirring up outrage and shouting a few slogans isn't enough. Everybody in Night City already knows the corps are filthy."
"I have to hit Militech where it actually hurts. Cut real flesh off them."
"Otherwise it won't be enough to put before the board, and it won't satisfy Little Michiko either."
After browsing a while longer, Kai did at least learn more about Militech's recent movements.
Some were shipping weapons into Night City.
Some were escorting important people out of the city.
None of that really fit the requirements of his task.
After a bit more searching, there still was not much immediately useful.
Kai exited the intelligence system, shut off the computer, and leaned back with his eyes closed.
"Some things can't be rushed. If I wait a little, maybe a new opening will appear."
(End of Chapter)
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