Chapter 49: The Advancing Heavy Sniper

"Let's have this colonel clean up the place."

V's smile was "benevolent"… but it was just a bit unsettling.

Lin Yue managed an embarrassed smile, baring his teeth as he nodded, "Hard work."

Right now, he was wondering whether his ICE could withstand even a few hits from V.

The Arasaka operatives, having finished their investigation inside the Slider's Puppet Workshop, hurried out upon hearing the commotion. Both of them wore unnatural expressions, occasionally glancing between Lin Yue, who was sitting on a rock, and V, who had just butchered a massive crowd of people.

"Officer, we didn't find any valuable information… and as for live prisoners, well, none… they were all executed by her."

These Arasaka operatives had been on plenty of missions, but this was the first time they had seen members of the Voodoo Boys wiped out en masse… especially those Voodoo Boys defectors eliminated by large-caliber sniper rifles. Rummaging through the pockets of their headless corpses was an ordeal in itself for the operatives.

V said indifferently, "He is your superior now. Aside from taking orders from Internal Affairs and Special Operations, all of you should address him as Officer."

Lin Yue didn't pay much attention to it, "Never mind—you all dismissed. I'm aching all over, I need to go get my cyberware tuned up."

The two Arasaka operatives hurriedly bowed to Lin Yue, the standard etiquette for Arasaka private soldiers.

These professional corporate soldiers from Japan only knew how to obey orders from their superiors completely.

"I've already paid the medical fees for Doctor Viktor in Little China. Go there to tune your cyberware. As for Dogtown... well, you can completely trust Doctor Viktor's craftsmanship." As V spoke, she pressed her warm hand against Lin Yue's neck, drawing a thin cable from her palm. With a flash of blue light in her eyes, the tracking programs within Lin Yue's personal system were deleted.

"With this digital ID, you can now freely enter and exit Arasaka Tower. If you're worried, you can find a netrunner to check it for you."

Lin Yue behaved like an obedient child, waiting quietly for V to finish the series of permission-upgrade operations.

When she was done, V pointed at the car, "Want a ride?"

Lin Yue still had his mind on his facial feature panel, so naturally, he wasn't going to tag along with her.

"I still have matters to handle in Dogtown. I'll head over to Doctor Viktor's later."

V didn't press the issue.

Just as she was about to get into the car, Lin Yue spoke up, "That upper connection who met with Hansen is Barreto."

V paused mid-motion, her pretty eyebrows knitting together slightly.

"Understood."

Watching Arasaka's vehicle gradually drive away, Lin Yue let out a long sigh of relief. His hints could only go this far.

Barreto's name was on the chip, and Lin Yue was certain V also knew that Barreto was playing both sides, but Lin Yue had chosen to repeat it—this was the art of speaking like someone from the Xia culture.

Hopefully, this Miss Valerie could read between the lines.

By this time, Lin Yue had long since put away his gamer's mindset. Some things could not be changed just because he spoke up. If V and the higher-ups insisted on investigating the Arasaka young master, then that matter was simply outside the scope of what Lin Yue cared to concern himself with.

Do your best, and leave the rest to fate.

If events unfolded the same way he knew they would—that the V of 2077 would become a seasoned counter-intelligence expert—then perhaps this matter would never even reach Saburo Arasaka's grandson, Yorinobu.

However, whether the story's trajectory remained the same as before, or shifted and deviated due to him being an uncertain variable… so what?

Lin Yue knew that his own life was what mattered most.

This high-stakes gamble had temporarily freed him from the shackles of being a corporate cannon fodder, and he had secured a major asset in the form of the behavioral trait facial panel. No matter how things turned out, Lin Yue could hide himself in the sea of humanity within the sprawling expanse of Dogtown.

Fortune is sought in danger, but there was actually another half to that saying—it is also lost in danger.

Lin Yue muttered to himself: When you seek it, you find one-tenth; when you lose it, you lose nine-tenths.

You have to listen to the whole proverb. Lin Yue knew he had obtained the one in ten, but such reckless behavior could no longer be his first choice in the future.

He glanced back at Slider's Puppet Workshop. The behavioral trait facial panel had caused him to lose some of his judgment at the time, leading him to charge in impulsively.

Thanks to the stat points and perks granted by the reward panel, otherwise, stumbling in here with his current set of cyberware would have still been a stretch.

Choices made in moments of impulse often left behind an endless wave of lingering fear...

Thank goodness the heavens looked out for him. Damn it, he really couldn't be this impulsive next time.

Lin Yue scanned the surroundings with his cyberware optics. Being naturally suspicious, he wouldn't immediately retrieve the panel from the overgrown grass; at least he had to wait until V and the others were far enough away.

Right, I wonder how much the Reflex perk can boost me this time?

Thinking of this, Lin Yue opened the perk skill tree.

The so-called Reflex perk primarily affected assault rifles, submachine guns, and blades on the left and right, while the middle skill tree influenced muscular endurance.

An idea suddenly popped into Lin Yue's head: what if he used the perk points gained from V to invest in the Body or Technical Ability perks instead? That way, he could establish a foundation in a specific attribute, making his self-preservation capabilities even better.

No sooner said than done, but a few minutes later, Lin Yue's expression turned somewhat ugly, followed by a defeated sigh.

It seemed that these perk points were strictly tied to their specific attributes... Lin Yue instantly felt heavily restrained.

If he could operate according to his idea, Lin Yue probably would have quickly become an operative who surpassed most mercenaries in this city regarding certain attributes, turning into a veritable powerhouse.

What a pity—

Still, as long as he could get rewards, it was a good thing. Thus, Lin Yue proceeded to spend four points in succession: [Elusive] +1, [Muscle Memory] +1, and [Dash] +2.

As the skill tree acquired points, the modules turned a pale gold, and the system data within Lin Yue's cybernetic optics began to scroll.

It felt as though even his head had grown lighter; this kind of power felt more like unleashing hidden potential.

[Elusive]: Grants Lin Yue a more agile athletic talent, making it even harder for enemies to target such a nimble mercenary.

[Dash]: Lin Yue steps forward and attempts a fierce sprint. This wasn't just any ordinary step—Lin Yue found that the distance far exceeded the stride of an adult military-trained male, and this was even while injured! Combined with the Gorilla Arms, closing the distance would be even faster!

As for [Muscle Memory], it granted Lin Yue enhanced reaction speed, allowing him, for example, to reload quickly while sliding backwards.

The pain from his wounds pulling as he moved caused Lin Yue to draw in a sharp breath. He limped over to the cyberware case and lifted it into his hands.

He looked with satisfaction at the "Nekoashi" sniper rifle strapped to his back. Regardless of whether his sniping capabilities might be restricted in future combats, whenever close-quarters combat arose, the Gorilla Arms were a pretty good choice.

In future complex combat scenarios, if enemies countered or weren't afraid of sniper rifles, Lin Yue also "slightly understood" a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat.

He was confident that if Maine ever tried to get in his face again, he would genuinely teach him a lesson like a fool.

The night in Dogtown actually felt a lot like a tranquil rural village from his childhood, sitting in the courtyard to catch a breeze while gazing at the star-filled sky. Aside from the faint sounds of gunfire echoing from various parts of Dogtown, it was a fine, starry night...

Lin Yue's tightly strung nerves gradually began to relax.

The days of licking blood from a blade and keeping company with flying bullets felt like a dream—terrifyingly real... Truth be told, he missed home a little. The world he had to face was simply too dangerous... Just like now, corpses were scattered everywhere less than a hundred meters away from him.

Yet he was numb, feeling not a shred of fear. Life here seemed worthy of being described as nothing more than fragile.

And yet, those momentarily vacant eyes gradually grew resolute, reflected against the backdrop of the sea of stars—

This individual, who could well be called a lonely mercenary, hauled his spoils of war, leisurely stepping over the corpses of the Voodoo Boys, and slowly walked forward into the neon glow of Dogtown.

...

*(The Reflex perk chart is below~)*