"The Perares couple both came from the lower ranks, but because the Ye Group had been implementing both conscious and subconscious reformation on them since they were young, their behavior was the textbook example of the Mei Country elites..."
"Hold on a sec!" V put her hand in front of Lille, "What did you just call me?"
"Darling, have you gone mad?"
Lille repeated it again, even reaching up to touch Vâs forehead...
Vâs brain felt as if it had experienced the big bang of the universe, her not-so-bright mind making a light-speed turn, but she quickly realized the problem:
Lille, this kid, looked pretty... pretty unfamiliar.
That is to say, his expression was very realistic, but not natural, because V had never seen such a serious expression beforeâin an instant, her smart brain took the high ground, goddammit, the kid was getting into character.
So V immediately switched to her professional, icy poker face, "I havenât lost my mind, so should I also call you âdarlingâ?"
"Actually, you should be calling me that more often." Lille said as he swiped through the information interface, "Most of the time Jefferson would call Elizabeth by her name, but Elizabeth would often refer to Jefferson as âdarlingâ...
Because Jefferson is the classic image of a tough Mei Country elite, he only calls his wife âdarlingâ in private, and Elizabeth is the tough Mei Country eliteâs wife, who also calls her husband âdarlingâ in public."
"Tch, thereâs a whole system to it? Whatâs a âclassic Mei Country tough eliteâ..."
"Regardless of what theyâre like in private, politicians must present a harmonious family image, even if both elites like bringing home little stars to play games.
Domestic harmony is one aspect, but another is that the division of household roles between the male and female must match the publicâs perception, at least canât deviate too much..."
"Oh." V showed a lack of interest, and thinking of Lilleâs composed demeanor made her want to grind her molars, "Darling, what else?"
"Thatâs too forceful..."
"Youâre actually enjoying this?!"
V immediately clapped a hand on his shoulder, and Lille screamed in pain, "What the hell are you doing! Iâm trying to talk to you!"
"Oh." V let go, "Alright then, whatâs next?"
"Normally, donât talk too much, just smile beside me."
As he spoke, Lille pulled a cable from his wheelchair and connected it to the capsule chair beside himâ
"There are two days until the banquet, Iâll find a training chip for you to try."
V curled her lip in displeasure, but due to concern for her image, she couldnât make a scene and had to show her professionalism by sitting down obediently in the chair.
Consciousness sinking, data constructing, sensory switching...
A similarly bustling super metropolis appeared before V.
"Unstable Energy outbreak."
...
"Little Octopus: Hehe, big brother, we finally get to bring Mama... I mean V over to this side!"
Little Octopusâs data form floated through the air, helping Lille to synchronize the data transmission to Vâs Cyber Modulator, enabling her to control a bionic robot in this world.
The bionic Prosthetic was based on the advanced prosthetics technology of the International Genetics Cooperation Company, referencing the designs of the remote Prosthetics from Luxor Manor and personally crafted by Lille, it almost 1:1 replicated Vâs physique and neural status, allowing her to experience this city in another world as if she were truly there.
And this city, in a sense, also existed because of her: after all, without her, Lille would have been chopped into pieces in Atlanta long ago.
V opened her eyes, and the first thing that struck her was the scent.
Dog Town, located in Night City belonging to the war zone, had a dismal rate of green space, Netherworld Dogs were still under construction, and the air was tinged with traces of Radiation dust, air quality was a joke.
New York was different, New Future City in New York had no sources of pollution, all constructions aimed for an eco-friendly approach, and because of the presence of ctOS, the planning was several levels above that of the disorderly growing cities like Night City.
Moreover, this was Lilleâs office, the New York division of Atlas Group.
"What... where have you brought me?" V sat up, gazing at New Future City through the massive floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
The cityâs layout was intricate, with towering Skyscrapers that didnât block out all the sunlight for the lower buildings, Central Park seemed to soften the sunlight a bit, people walked stress-free on the streets, orderly going to work, engaging in relaxation and entertainment freely.
This atmosphere was different from Atlantaâs superficially peaceful but actually oppressive one, and also from Night Cityâs extreme freedom; people were orderly but lively, and although not everything went their way, they had not lost their zest for life.
But after only watching for a while, V felt...
How nice.
"Upper-class society, thereâs a charity dinner in a while, and youâll be my... Elizabeth. You donât need to act too much like her, remember to speak less, smile more, and when addressing something, begin with âdearâ."
"Oh, speak less, smile more, and when addressing something, say âdearâ a lot... why do I feel like youâre taking advantage of me?"
"You think too much, the famous Vâwait a second, Iâll change your appearance."
[Unstable Energy is about to erupt again.]
Lilleâs eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly...
He had just switched over, and now he had to go back?
...
Houston, the Singularity Particles refinement array, this place no longer had living staff members, the majority had been laid off after falling ill.
"The successful industrial upgrade, the reduction in efficiency and cost was higher than the expected value, seems to be due to the local governmentâs great cooperation."
"Not bad... Tony truly is an industrial genius, how has he been recently? Itâs been a long time since Iâve seen him."
Rocksen Company CEO Dalio was accompanied by a robot controlled by Jarvis at his side.
The robot was not designed for combat, but was covered in computing and communication equipment.
"Mr. Stark is conducting the final calculations on all projects, we expect to complete the technical deployment before the Presidentâs inauguration dayâ"
Boom!
A massive explosion covered the sky, and no one remembered what had just happened.
If there was a third observer, they could have seen that in a flash, the entire Singularity Particles refinement area seemed as if it had been torn apart.
Dalio had been studying Singularity Particles for a long time, but beyond super-high-energy fuel, there were no further results:
If Singularity Particles explosions could rip open fissures and open gates to another world...
Then why couldnât he observe anything at all?
Even the explosionâs instantaneous data couldnât be recorded by instruments, one could only know that in that instant, there was a true void of informationâ
They should have already opened the gateway to other worlds, yet nothing could be observed.
Jarvis had also provided several improvement measures, but still no results:
This was no longer something that could be explained by insufficient purity of Singularity Particlesâthey couldnât even observe the scale of the explosionâs data.
It was the same this time.
"There is no data." Jarvis immediately reported the situation, "We must consider a second possibility now."
Dalio looked at the colorful contamination in the sky dissipating like oil, his expression stern.
The second possibility: it wasnât that the information wasnât leaking out, but that it was being intercepted.
This theory hadnât been confirmed a long time ago, but recent feedback from Jarvis indicated they had to consider this possibility:
Someone had intercepted the data from every explosion, like a powerful interception array that caught all information passing through the point of explosion, resulting in Rocksen obtaining nothing from the Singularity Particles explosions.
Thinking of this, Dalio felt furious: According to Jarvisâ speculation, the one intercepting the information was most likely Lille of the Atlas Group!
Only this could explain how a boy, disabled for many years, suddenly became a super genius, suddenly opposed him, and became a stumbling block on his road to success!
How could this be? It was him who diligently operated his company, broke through technological challenges, led at the worldâs forefront, yet the most critical information was inexplicably intercepted by a kid?
"Damn thief... If someone stole your things, what would you do?"
"Mr. Stark often says, if someone steals your things, you should beat them up hard, and then take your things back.
I guess we only have one choice left, and I believe Mr. Stark would support this choice too."
"Goodâletâs make some adjustments to our plan."
"Calculating now."