broaden your horizons

"Why am I the only one operating with you, and why on earth do I have to wear this outfit?"

Valerie sat in the driver's seat, shifting her hips restlessly.

The Arasaka work uniform was a bit tight for her, especially around the buttocks, which felt somewhat uncomfortably constricted.

This wasn't entirely the clothes' fault; corporate uniforms were certainly designed according to standard body measurements, and Valerie's figure clearly exceeded the normal standard by a significant margin.

The originally dull and monotonous work uniform somehow took on a sense of wild seduction when she wore it.

"I brought you out to gain some experience. Is there a problem with that?"

Chen Nuo, wearing the same Arasaka uniform, looked up and glanced sideways at Valerie, who immediately settled down.

"You're the boss, so of course you have the final say."

The squad split into two groups for the operation.

Chen Nuo and Valerie were in one group responsible for protecting V, while Jackie led Lucy and the others to cause trouble for Susan, returning the favor as it were.

There was no need to worry about the latter's safety, as Dove and Da Bai could provide support at any time, and even the Vajra-class Titan was on standby.

"How much longer until that Crown Prince arrives?"

Chen Nuo looked at V beside him and asked.

To force V out of the corporate building, Susan had pulled a ruthless move, assigning him the task of welcoming Arasaka..

This was a mission issued by headquarters, and V had no way to refuse if he wanted to continue working.

"About an hour. We have plenty of time."

V shrugged and replied.

The problem was never whether they could reach the airport on time, but whether they could reach the airport alive.

The ninjas Susan arranged would surely seize this opportunity to kill V on the way, and she could then use it as an excuse to hold Jenkins accountable, killing two birds with one stone.

That old woman was still trying hard to find a chance for a comeback.

Chen Nuo nodded, continuing to admire the katana in his hand.

This was Arasaka Corporation's latest generation Nanowire Thermal Katana. Besides being as sharp as ever, it was also coated with a Nano-virus that could temporarily paralyze unmanned equipment.

Most importantly, it was exquisitely beautiful; the patterns on the blade gave it an artistic aesthetic.

For the sake of his own life, V had also invested heavily, using various connections and channels to procure many new types of weapons.

However, the only thing that caught Chen Nuo's eye was this blade.

"I say, big brother, can you stop looking at that blade and take a good look at me now..."

Before V could finish speaking, Chen Nuo suddenly raised his hand and pressed him against the window.

Almost at the same time, a sharp "shing" sound rang out.

A black mantis blade pierced down through the car roof, grazing V's clothes and pinning itself into the leather seat.

The assassination attempt failed, and the owner of the mantis blade instinctively prepared to pull it back, but it was too late. The thermal blade in Chen Nuo's hand had already swept upward, followed by the sound of something falling behind the car.

"Damn! I almost bit it!"

V cursed with lingering fear.

"It wasn't 'almost'; it was far from it,"

Chen Nuo corrected. He had long since detected the arrival of the Arasaka ninjas and was just waiting for them to attack.

It had to be said that this group of ninjas was indeed professional, landing on the roof like falling leaves without making a sound before the attack.

"Whoa, boss!"

Valerie shouted. Right in front of her, a truck suddenly sped past, blocking the original lane. Giving Valerie no room to maneuver, the truck flipped onto its side, completely blocking the road ahead.

Under the night sky, three blurred figures crossed and flashed by, like ripples on a calm lake, vanishing in an instant.

That was the appearance of Optical Camouflage while moving at high speeds.

This invisibility ability created through light refraction wasn't perfect; under acceleration or changing light conditions, it would produce certain flaws, and even the naked eye could capture slight traces.

But for ordinary people, these flaws were truly difficult to detect.

These Arasaka ninjas generally didn't carry firearms to avoid making too much noise.

After all, they were combat personnel specifically serving stealth assassination missions; their cyberware and skills were all custom-made for this. Carrying firearms would actually be a limitation on their strength.

Valerie braked in time and steered hard, avoiding a direct collision.

Her driving skills were quite good; she was from the Badlands, after all.

"Damn, that's so freaking intense."

Valerie let out a string of curses, and she could clearly hear her heart pounding in her chest.

It wasn't fear, but rather excitement.

Valerie was born with a big heart; she was someone suited for big things.

She reached beside the seat and pulled out a Masamune Assault Rifle, ready to get out and blow them away, but as soon as she grabbed the door handle, Chen Nuo pressed her back into the seat.

"Sit down and watch closely."

Chen Nuo said as he pushed the door open and stepped out alone. His gaze calmly scanned the surroundings; his cybernetic eyes flickered, but they couldn't scan any targets, not even capturing a signal from cyberware.

The cyberware of Arasaka ninjas weren't necessarily much more advanced than military-grade ones, but their completely customized design did indeed create a considerable gap compared to military-grade implants in certain aspects.

Especially this "silence" effect, which was enough for them to evade most technical scans.

The combination of the ninjas' skills and cyberware compensated for each other's flaws, creating the silent killing machines known as Cyber Ninjas.

It was just a pity they had encountered Chen Nuo.

With the Eight Nuo Power within him, his senses had been elevated to an extraordinary level, even allowing him to perceive changes in air currents. Within ten meters, even the sound of blood flowing was clear to his ears.

This superposition of extraordinary senses, integrated by his brain, could outline a new sensory world in Chen Nuo's mind, completely revealing the figures of the three Cyber Ninjas.

"Swish, swish."

An extremely faint sound of breaking air rang out.

The three Cyber Ninjas cautiously chose to throw Shuriken.

These high-speed rotating weapons had much stronger penetration than ordinary firearms and were better suited for assassination.

However, facing the Shuriken coming from different directions, Chen Nuo dodged the one from behind while simultaneously drawing his thermal blade, directly slicing through the two from the front.

This result made the three Cyber Ninjas vaguely realize the level of difficulty the person before them posed.

Although they weren't sure how he did it, Chen Nuo could indeed "see" them.

The most dangerous and lethal aspect of Cyber Ninjas was their stealth assassination capability.

In terms of direct frontal combat, they might not necessarily be able to beat a member of MAX-TAC. This was natural, as current technology couldn't satisfy a Cyber Ninja's need to have everything.

After all, to ensure absolute "invisibility," the combat cyberware on their bodies were strictly limited.

"Knock, knock."

V tapped on the car window and then showed Chen Nuo his watch.

"Now you're rushing me."

Chen Nuo clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

That was true; these Cyber Ninjas had blocked the road ahead, so they would have to take a long detour.

Chen Nuo walked forward a few steps with his blade, giving the Cyber Ninjas space to attack; otherwise, by blocking the car door, they would find it hard to find an opportunity to complete their mission.

Sure enough, seeing Chen Nuo move, the three Cyber Ninjas immediately lunged.

Their Sandevistans activated simultaneously, and the surging speed made their Optical Camouflage nearly fail. But even so, in Valerie's eyes, she could still only capture three blurred afterimages.

This was actually quite exaggerated.

One must realize that Valerie was still using her original eyes, which showed how strong her dynamic vision was.

The two Cyber Ninjas in front were responsible for pinning down Chen Nuo, while the remaining one charged directly at V.

Chen Nuo was not their mission target, so they naturally didn't need to have the determination to kill him.

There was nothing wrong with this decision.

From the perspective of completing the mission, it could be said to be very correct, but in an instant, the two Cyber Ninjas responsible for pinning him down felt a surge of regret.

If they had known, they should have just fought for their lives; that way, they wouldn't have died with regrets.

"Whoosh—"

Valerie seemed to hear the sound of rising flames.

Chen Nuo before her seemed to be enveloped in a ball of fire, but if your vision was strong enough, you could see that the fire was actually a scene woven from the afterimages of the glowing red blade.

The bodies of the two Cyber Ninjas crossed past Chen Nuo and subsequently scattered into a pile of mechanical parts on the ground.

The cuts were neat and smooth, and there were even signs of melting at the edges.

This showed how fast and how hot the blade was.

Chen Nuo didn't seem to be using this thermal blade so much as testing its structural limits.

At this moment, a wail could be heard from the blade, and faint, clear cracks could already be seen appearing on it.

Yet all of this happened in the blink of an eye.

The last remaining Cyber Ninja hadn't even realized the death of his companions. Just as a hint of relief at nearly completing the mission rose in his heart, he saw half of Chen Nuo's face reflected in the car window, along with that fire-lit blade.

Before he could make any reaction, the Cyber Ninja's vision was uncontrollably tossed upward, then fell far onto the roadside, rolling three hundred and sixty degrees.

Chen Nuo kicked the headless body aside, pulled open the car door, and sat back down beside V.

"What are you staring for? Drive."

"Oh, oh, right."

Valerie responded instinctively. With a stomp on the accelerator, the car made a stylish turn and headed down another road.

It took a good while for her brain to recover its thinking capacity from the recent tension and excitement. Using the rearview mirror, her eyes carefully swept across Chen Nuo's face.

It turned out he really brought her along to gain some experience.

Valerie couldn't clearly identify what the emotions surging in her chest were at the moment; they were far too complex.

But she instinctively didn't dare to let her gaze linger on Chen Nuo's face for long, as if she would be burned... Arasaka. arrived at the Night City airport on a private jet. He was accompanied by only one security personnel; this somewhat "shabby" display didn't quite match his status.

However, if you really knew this security guard, you wouldn't have such thoughts.

Rather than coming for an inspection, Arasaka.'s sudden move seemed more like he was hiding from something.

At 82 years old, he was a standard 90s kid, but he looked like a well-maintained middle-aged man.

In this era where the lifespans of the upper class were significantly extended, 82 was indeed considered the prime of one's life.

As Arasaka Saburo's last and most rebellious son, Arasaka. had basically had no presence for a long time in the past.

Only in recent years, whether because he had learned to behave or had seen the light, Arasaka. became obedient and sensible, and Arasaka Saburo began to gradually delegate corporate power to him.

After all, Arasaka Saburo was truly too old; everyone believed he wouldn't last much longer.

And the Arasaka business empire needed an heir, preferably a male heir, to stabilize the old fossils on the Arasaka Corporation's board of directors.

So, regardless of any family affection, Arasaka Saburo's actions were merely decisions made based on reality that best served the company's interests.

Of course, it was also possible that Arasaka Saburo was indeed deceived by Arasaka.'s performance; after all, who would have thought an 82-year-old could still maintain the rebellion and ideals of his youth.

Following behind Arasaka. was his personal bodyguard.

Night City's legendary Quality Assurance Officer, the true Widowmaker—

Adam Smasher.

About twenty years ago, Adam Smasher had already been appointed as Arasaka.'s personal bodyguard, while also handling some of the dirtiest and most unspeakable jobs for the company.

As for the opportunity for him to join Arasaka Corporation, it was because during a gang fight, he unfortunately took an RPG hit and was blown to pieces.

As the client of the mission, Arasaka Corporation stated that as long as Adam Smasher was willing to serve them for free for 15 years, they would provide advanced full-body cybernetic conversion.

Obviously, Adam Smasher had no reason to refuse.

After that, Adam Smasher became a solo primarily serving Arasaka on the East Coast of the United States, doing dirty work that couldn't see the light of day. It was also during this time that he established the legend of Morgan Blackhand.

There's no need to say more about the later story, because it has been talked to death in Night City since that nuclear explosion rang out.

There were also rumors circulating in Night City.

That there were unknown stories between Adam Smasher and Michiko Arasaka, but these rumors were soon nipped in the bud at the source.

Just as Arasaka. stepped out of the airport, the car responsible for picking him up stopped right on time.

However, looking at the broken car roof and the various marks on the body, this Crown Prince's expression was somewhat strange.

V got out of the car with a respectful expression, stepped forward, and bowed to greet Arasaka..

"I am very sorry, Lord Yorinobu, on the way we encounter..."

"No need to say more, take me to Konpeki Plaza."

Arasaka. didn't care what V had encountered; he just wanted to find a place to relax and rest.

Adam Smasher sat in the passenger seat, and Valerie couldn't help but look at him twice.

She couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

Tonight really was an eye-opener.

"Drive."

Adam Smasher's cybernetic eyes swept over Valerie and found no dangerous cyberware, so he spoke.

As for Chen Nuo, he had already gotten out of the car ahead of time and was picked up by Jackie and the others... "Who would have thought, that kid is actually so capable. Now it's Jenkins' turn to have a headache, hahaha."

Susan lay in the car, covered in blood. Knowing the end she was about to face, she instead laughed wantonly, with a hint of gloating.