Even Lille was surprised by Sevensâ situation!
During the long journey, he had already discovered Sevensâ peculiarity: those emotions hidden beneath the surface, discovered by Elliot, were actually noticed by Lille!
In Foxstone, Sevens initially acted like an official trying to make some money, but when Elliot indicated it wasnât enough, he immediately came up with new plans to take down the European Tunnel Company.
After taking down the European Tunnel Company, in order to continue pushing the movement to its peak and seek more benefits, he was even willing to accept the plan of riding the whaleâ
Up to this point, no matter how excellent he was, it could still be explained as his innate pursuit of fame and fortune, even though he had explained to Elliot that he had a dream of serving the citizens and wanted to make the country better.
But when it came to Bremen, everything became somewhat strange: he didnât have any resistance to cooperating with wandering AIs, as long as he could continue advancing his goals, he didnât care what he partnered with.
He never questioned how Elliot managed to do all this, even when facing Interpol and Network Surveillance Agents, he showed no delight, as long as Elliot was on this path, he never backed down.
Like an onion, peeling off one layer always revealed another.
He disguised himself too well, performed too professionally, so professional that it just concealed the protagonist of this movement, Elliot, who miraculously rose all the way to the Central Governance Committeeâs glory...
There were six members in the Central Governance Committee, with the Medici Familyâs representative absent, and Graham conducting the investiture for himâ
It was at this moment that Elliot and Sevens realized that Instructor Graham was not some junior member of the Graham family...
He was Graham from the Central Executive Committee, also the Clan Leader of the Graham family, who participated in British family turmoil in the early 21st century, the Duke of Scotland, shareholder of the Royal Agricultural Company, and United Kingdom Joint Forces.
When Elliot knelt down obediently for the investiture, Sevens felt a nameless fire:
He didnât want to stop here.
This was the only goal in his twenty-eight years of life, the closest he had come to achieving his goalâ
Even if ultimately, he might not be able to make his voice heard.
"Thank the Central Committee, thank you criminals for giving me the opportunity to call you criminals in front of the entire alliance people."
Below the Ecological Theatre, the applause from all the participating deputies and officials immediately stopped, everyoneâs mouths fell open:
Did he know what he was saying!
This crazy guy was denouncing the highest Governors of the European Union as criminals, live, in front of all European Union citizens!
Elliot was dumbfounded, he turned his head back in disbelief and asked: "Why?"
Of the five Central Executive Committee members, only Graham was present, the rest were holographic projections, and upon hearing those words, they immediately left the scene.
Leaving Graham alone thereâ
His expression was angry and cold, feeling mocked by an ant, he couldnât wait to crush this traitor on the spot!
Sevens didnât stop, he continued: "On behalf of all citizens of the EU pursuing justice and fairness, I hereby announce my findings:
Harlin Eck and Terence Fleming, along with multiple workers at the IEC factory, were murdered by IEC! Murdered by the incompetent Berlin police and Interpol!
Their children are left waiting for charity from you criminals, only to be sold and brutally killed in brothels, Visconti was just the organizer, the real protectors are within the Central Executive Committee!
Just as youâve been doing for decades!"
"Enough!"
Drones surged like a swarm, and Sevens laughed, a wild laugh, even tears of laughter appeared in the corners of his eyes!
"Hahaha... Are you angry? You damn instructor, directing your f***ing ass, looking at your arrogant face, I knew you were a pretentious bastard, clinging to your stupid ideology every day. I learn from your mother..."
Bam!
Somewhere out of nowhere, a bodyguard landed a heavy punch on Sevensâ face!
The world spun, his head slammed against the stone pillar, a large pool of blood flowed down the pillar...
Those who attacked him were legitimate military, the formal European Union troops, the proud citizen army resisting the refugees.
The punch was considered a holding back; normally, these seemingly inconspicuous soldiers could easily smash regular concrete with a punch.
The officials and politicians who came to attend the meeting all stood up to leave.
In his blurry vision, Sevens saw Graham walking towards him:
"Why? You donât want a bright future, insisting on courting death... This spire has never welcomed traitors, you made us all a laughingstock.
Honestly, I intended to let you take the position, didnât expect youâd be waiting here with bad intentions.
So disappointing, a guy with no big-picture view.
You think your words will get out?"
"Cough cough... Just one sentence is enough, damn it, Iâve held it in for twenty years, just for today... just to speak the truth..."
"Why on earth is this happening?"
"Haha... Why indeed..."
Sevens struggled to turn over, and pulled out a small piece of... metal from his clothes.
But it wasnât actually metal, it was carbon fiberâElliot immediately realized that Sevens had shown him this thing!
It was carbon fiber that looked like an alloy!
This thing was sturdy and sharp, and amidst the shocked gaze of Elliot and Graham, Sevens fiercely stabbed it into the seam of the artificial skin!
Thatâs his nape!
The carbon fiber slowly cut open the seam of the artificial skin, prying it open in a near-slaughter manner, penetrating the region where muscle tissue and blood vessels intertwined, directly extracting his Cyber Modulator...
Neither Graham nor Elliot could imagine what it was like when they heard Harlin Ike and Terence privately cut open their own flesh with knives and tools to replace prosthetics...
Now they knew.
"Ah... finally... finally..." Sevens clutched the Cyber Modulator, showing a mad smile to both of them, "I am not Sevens Strange either.
The real Sevens Strange died long ago, when he was only eight, killed by a cyber psychosis incident.
Twenty years ago, my parents were technicians at a plain manufacturing plant. Because it was during a period of technical repair, all companies were working overtime, exhausting workersâ health to obtain experimental data...
My parents, after a whole month of continuous neural control operations, had a production accident, ultimately leading to a plant explosion.
When the accident occurred, I was on the factory perimeter along with the Strange familyâ"
Sevens leaned against the stone pillar, looking at the injured carbon fiber piece.
"Ha... this is what my parents created through their overtime, and eventually, the patent was acquired by a Berlin investment firm. This accident was deemed a cyber psychosis incident, and my parents, Jonathan Bennett and Lucile Bennett, were officially labeled as having cyber psychosis...
To convince investors the production techniques were mature and that the explosion was not their fault, they chose to slander my parents as having cyber psychosis!"
"Haâafter all these years, victims became suicides, cyber psychosis became criminals, yet the true criminals are you damned bastards!"
Graham frowned, "Madman, this is why you people are at the bottom; you simply canât see the big picture.
And you, abandoning your country, abandoning your surname, abandon..."
"Abandon?! Thatâs not what I chose! Strange, my adoptive father saw me barely alive and also saw his sonâs corpse...
I thank him; he keenly realized that a child of parents with cyber psychosis would struggle to find a normal job due to archival issues, let alone pass to become a European Community civil servantâ
So, he decided to swap my identity with his sonâs... itâs the only way I could have a future!"
Sevensâ intact prosthetic eye soaked in his own blood, stared fiercely at Graham, "I donât give a damn about the European Union survival, 20 years of endurance and learning, all I want is a chance, a chance to avenge my parents!
I want to crush your throat, bastardâ"
Bang!
Another foot kicked Sevens in the abdomen.
Graham cringed as if he had seen something repulsive, waving his hand, "The anger of inept lower-class people is repulsive like cockroaches. Luckily, Berlin has no space for cockroaches to survive.
Apparently, that research was right: cyber psychosis parents might give birth to children with cyber psychosis. I even taught my son because of this.
Dispose of him."
Severe pain attacked Sevensâ nerves, he didnât even have the strength to utter another roar... he hadnât even spoken his real name.
In a pool of blood, he saw nothing, only vision turning redder and redder, stained by blood...
Is it still impossible?
This world... truly isnât a fairy tale; decades of hatred are easily shattered with two kicks in front of the enemy.
In the puddle of blood, he saw another pair of feet beside Graham, but he chose not to seek help.
No fairy tale... maybe you were right.
The raised hand slowly lowered, these hands couldnât touch even a corner of the enemyâs clothing, as if blocked by some barrierâ
The European Barrier was always constructed for the few.
He suddenly thought about the story from Night City: many nights he dreamed of becoming such a person...
"...Damn, if sacrificing burgers could truly summon Burger King, thatâd be great..."
Agent Sevens slowly approached, ready to give Sevens the final blowâ
Just at that moment, a hail of bullets rained down!