Seeing that Li You didn't answer, Arasaka Yorinobu spoke again.

"Mercenary, don't kill him. I can satisfy you whatever you want."

Li You still didn't speak.

Lai Xuan couldn't help but frown as he looked at Li You who was motionless on the screen.

"...Mercenary, what do you want to do?"

He didn't know that Li You was actually just thinking.

Before picking up the phone, Li You roughly guessed that the caller should be Arasaka Yorinobu.

Although Yori Xuan in the game is really ill-informed, everyone in Night City has V's mobile phone number, but he doesn't have one, otherwise all problems can be solved with just one phone call.

But now, seeing that his number one subordinate and bodyguard was about to rush to the street, he definitely had to do something.

After all, the combat effectiveness of the heavy hammer is really impressive.

As for Li You, he hasn't figured out yet how to deal with this person.

Few people in this world know that the crown prince of the Arasaka Empire and the heir disliked by Saburo because of his rebellion is actually a true rebel.

Although he is the second son of Saburo Arasaka and the only son now, he is different from his elder brother Kei Arasaka who chose to commit suicide due to the fall of Arasaka Tower and the failure of the company war in 2023. Yorinobu does not agree with Saburo at all. Concept, and a deep understanding that this kind of society where companies rule everything will eventually lead to an irreversible outcome.

So he left the Arasaka family when he was young, and together with four other like-minded heirs of large companies, he ran to form the Iron Dragon, a tribe of wanderers, and tried to resist the rule of Arasaka and other large companies.

The reason why Arasaka lost the fourth corporate war with Military Technology was because Yoribu cooperated with the Japanese government and stabbed Arasaka in the back.

Unfortunately, even though Yorinobu asked the Japanese government to nationalize Arasaka's industry to stop them, Arasaka eventually rose again after decades.

This also made Yori Xuan realize that behemoths like giant companies cannot be destroyed from the outside.

So he decided to become a bomb buried deep inside Arasaka and completely destroy the giant beast.

This is his true goal. The Arasaka Yorinobu that players see in the game is moody, abusive, incompetent and furious, killing his father and killing his sister. In fact, they are all means and cover-ups to achieve this ultimate goal.

If Johnny Silverhand, as a rock kid, is a symbol of calling people to resist the company, Arasaka Yorinobu is a brave man who carries the burden in secret and constantly strives for a better future.

By the way, in the board game setting, Arasaka Yorinobu is a handsome guy whose charm is no worse than Ginte, but the model in the game is quite ugly. I don’t know if CDPR is afraid that the player’s appearance will follow the facial features...

From Li You's perspective as a time traveler, if he wants to change the world, there is no doubt that cooperation with Yori Xuan is actually the most realistic way.

It's just...it won't be that easy.

Not to mention that even if you cooperate with Yorinobu, it is very difficult to achieve anything. It is not easy to gain his trust.

A person who disguised himself as the second generation ancestor and lurked in the family for decades in order to achieve his goal was obviously not likely to be easily trusted by others with just a few words.

Li You was originally considering whether to try to contact Yori Xuan in 1977. After all, the main story of the 2077 game was actually quite annoying to him. Now that he has come to this world, he has no intention of letting those things happen. .

Apart from anything else, the V in this world is exactly the same as the ideal game character he created in the past, so how could he let V suffer those crimes?

So the question now is, how is the best way to negotiate with Yori Xuan?

After thinking about it, Li You still felt that Lai Xuan was different from V. He must have enough bargaining chips to negotiate with him on an equal footing, instead of having a heart-to-heart relationship with him.

At present, the bargaining chip in Li You's hand is, needless to say, Adam Hammer's life.

Although he wants to establish a good relationship with Lai Xuan, Li You also has the bottom line, that is, the heavy hammer must die.

No matter what Lai Xuan said, Li You never let him go.

But... we can talk about when we will die.

It was not in Li You's plan to have a head-on confrontation with Heavy Hammer at this time, and he was also worried that if he really killed Heavy Hammer right now in front of the major TV stations in Night City, then maybe The system immediately gave him a "main mission completed" prompt, and then kicked him out of the world.

That would be so much fun, and all his previous plans would be in vain.

So after thinking about it, Li You finally spoke, but his words were very rude: "...If you want to buy the hammer's life, then there is no need to say more, Mr. Arasaka Yorinobu."

Hearing Li You's direct words, Lai Xuan narrowed his eyes: "You know me, and you still say such things?"

"Of course I know you, the crown prince of the Arasaka Empire, and you may not believe it, but I know you quite well." Li You smiled, "But no matter what you say, Adam Hammer must die today."

Lai Xuan looked at Li You across the screen for a moment and asked, "No need to discuss?"

"No need to discuss."

"...Then if I say, if you kill him, I will kill you, your mercenary partners, your friend who works in the Counterintelligence Department, and your apprentice at Arasaka Academy, what will you do? "

Hearing this, Li You's eyes flashed: "... People say that Arasaka Yoriyuki is a second-generation rich man and a useless person with no ability. You have been hiding for so long, but now in order to save the hammer, you would rather expose some of your true ability?"

Yariyuki's expression remained unchanged: "You misunderstood. With the ability of Arasaka's intelligence department, it is easy to achieve this level."

Li You just smiled: "Anyone with a discerning eye knows what's going on. But it doesn't matter. You don't need to hide from them, right? As for your threat..."

He smiled and shook his head: "It is indeed a powerful weight, but unfortunately, I don't accept threats. If you really do that, I can guarantee that the final outcome will be very different from what you think."

Yariyuki looked at him: "Being able to fight one-on-one "You may be qualified to say such a thing."

"That's a pity. It seems that our negotiations can only end here."

Rai Xuan was about to hang up the call, but Li You suddenly said: "Wait."

"...Hmm?"

"Why do you want to save the life of the heavy hammer? His fighting power?" Li You tried to test, "If you just need a strong warrior, I can also provide someone who is not weaker than him... What do you think?"

Rai Xuan was also stunned for a moment before saying: "Are you talking about yourself? ...No, even if you or someone is willing to take his place, you can't replace his role."

Li You thought: "So, the most important thing about the heavy hammer to you is not just his fighting power."

Rai Xuan's answer made Li You immediately think of something.

In fact, when playing the game, Li You didn't quite understand one thing. In the devil's ending, V chose to cooperate with Lai Xuan's sister, Arasaka Hanako, and worked with Takemura and others as Hanako's warriors to fight against Lai Xuan's men.

In this world line, Saburo, who was originally strangled to death by Yori Nobuyuki, reappeared in the form of a data body or "imprint" and regained control of the board of directors. Then Yori Nobuyuki ordered his men to attack the board of directors.

In this ending, the final boss that V and Takemura have to deal with is still the heavy hammer.

From Li You's perspective, this is a bit strange. Heavy hammer and Yori Nobuyuki should have no personal relationship in the past. He only started to serve as Yori Nobuyuki's bodyguard after Yori Nobuyuki started to get involved in the affairs of Arasaka after the 2050s.

But in the demon ending, Saburo reappeared in the form of an imprint body, triggering a fight between forces within Arasaka. And heavy hammer still stood firmly on Yori Nobuyuki's side at this time... At least Li You couldn't understand the motive.

Why is heavy hammer so loyal to Yori Nobuyuki? Is he close to Yori Nobuyuki, or does he think it's better to do so after weighing the pros and cons? It doesn't seem reasonable.

Apart from anything else, Adam Heavy Hammer is different from Takemura, Oda and others. He is not a very moral person.

What's more, he is essentially just a company property, as his prosthetics are provided and maintained by Arasaka Corporation. For him, it is obviously the best choice to follow the company's "orthodoxy".

So why didn't he defect? ​​Is he standing on the side of Rai Xuan just because he is confident in his fighting ability and thinks he "will win"? Isn't the risk too great?

Although it is not unreasonable, after all, in the tower ending after the DLC came out, Takemura tried to overthrow Rai Xuan with Huazi without V's help, but was suppressed. This shows that in that world line, Rai Xuan really relied on the strength of the heavy hammer to turn the tables...

It seems that the heavy hammer is still a very competent goalkeeper.

In short, no matter what, from this perspective, for Rai Xuan, the value of the heavy hammer lies in his fighting ability, and more importantly, his "loyalty" - although Li You still doesn't understand where this loyalty comes from.

But the legendary fighting ability that can still stand on his side when Saburo himself comes forward can certainly be valued by Rai Xuan.

Compared with the heavy hammer, Lai Xuan cannot trust Li You or old legends like Morgan Blackhand, even if their fighting power is higher than that of the heavy hammer.

After all, the door guarded by the heavy hammer is equivalent to Lai Xuan's lifeline. This is the greatest value of the heavy hammer to him... At least Li You understands it this way.

So at this moment, he said to Lai Xuan in the communication: "It seems that combat effectiveness is not the most important thing for you. I guess, even if other people are stronger than Chongchui, I am afraid you can't trust them."

"Then let's do this. I will temporarily keep Chongchui alive, but I will take him away." Li You smiled and gave a reason that Lai Xuan could accept, "After all, you were threatening me just now, and I have to keep a bargaining chip in my hand."

"You should be able to see whether Chongchui is still alive, so the negotiation can be established. As for what to do with him later, it depends on whether we can reach an agreement."

Lai Xuan on the other side was silent for a long time before saying: "Forget it, let's do it this way, after all, his life is in your hands. But there is one more thing, you can't disclose the fact that he is in your hands."

"I just had all the media drones dispersed. They didn't film the second half of your battle. I also saw the situation on your side through the camera on Adam, so you don't have to worry about the media leaking secrets.

"Finally, if I find that Adam's vital signs have disappeared, our negotiations will be considered broken. "

Li You was so happy. Lai Xuan's conditions also solved his worries, so he answered concisely: "Deal."

The two finally reached a preliminary agreement. Lai Xuan left a sentence "I will contact you again" and hung up the call.

As for Li You, he looked at the sky around him and found that the dense camera drones had indeed dispersed, leaving only a small amount of debris on the ground that was affected by their previous battle.

So Li You was relieved. He called Merrimack out, stuffed the unconscious Adam Hammer into the back seat, and drove away.     After a long time, the NCPD finally started to enter the scene and started to clean up the debris here with the staff of the municipal department and the medical center.

However, the riots around the Dark Matter Nightclub have spread to the whole city because of the previous live broadcast.

David and Lucy's dreamy leap, and Li You and Adam Hammer's amazing battle were all broadcasted by major news stations.

But, for the battle between Li You and Chongchui, all news stations only broadcast half of it before it was urgently cut off.

The audience certainly didn't buy it: We were watching the exciting moment, why did you cut off the live broadcast?

We want to see the battle of the strong!!

Unfortunately, all the major news stations in Night City are backed by companies, and they don't care about the opinions of ordinary people. Or rather, the employees of the news stations are also curious about the outcome of the battle.

Although there are very few people who have actually seen Adam Chongchui, there are many people who have heard of this legendary killer. Those who are knowledgeable have already guessed his identity from Chongchui's appearance and fighting style.

As for Li You, as a rising star mercenary, many people also know him.

One is a "legendary" killer who has been famous for decades, and the other is the most powerful new mercenary this year. Countless people are curious about the outcome of the battle between the two.

But of course, there are very few people who are optimistic about Li You.

But even so, everyone wants to know how far the two have fought.

But no one knows the result.

This made the audience anxious, and they were restless, as if there was a scavenger crawling on them.

In the mercenary circle, various versions of rumors were flying around, and the rumor makers claimed that they had seen it with their own eyes, but in fact, if you listen carefully, you will know that it is completely inconsistent with the facts.

It was not until several hours later that the real news came from Dakota, the middleman of the Bad Land, and the old captain, the middleman of Saint Domingo.

Li You is not only still alive, but also seems to have no injuries, at least his limbs are intact.

As soon as this news came out, the mercenary circle was in an uproar again!

In just a few hours, Adam Heavy Hammer's past deeds have been dug up again, including how many well-known mercenaries and even legendary heads he has in his hands, including how vicious his methods were in the company war...

Everyone thinks that Li You must be in danger this time. The only question is how much damage he has caused to Heavy Hammer?

But unexpectedly, it was certified by two old middlemen that Li You is still alive!

Then... What about Heavy Hammer?

Naturally, everyone thought of this question.

Did Li You successfully escape from Chongchui, or... did he escape unscathed after the fight?

As for whether Li You defeated or even killed Chongchui, no one dared to think so.

Not to mention the lack of intelligence before, the mercenaries were even more excited now that they had the exact news about Li You.

Countless calls came to Li You's mobile phone, wanting to find him for confirmation, but except for a few middlemen and calls from old friends, Li You rejected all the other calls.

He didn't have time to answer the calls one by one, he was busy here.

As for what he was busy with?

Um...

"Mom..."

In Li You's luxurious apartment, David, who was wrapped in bandages all over his body and looked like a mummy, was lying on the bed, talking about something else.

"That... I'm fine! Don't look at me wrapped so tightly, it's just a superficial wound! Haha... ha..."

Gloria stood in front of the window, tears in her eyes, but looked at him very seriously, without saying a word.

Being looked at like this, David's voice of defense gradually became quieter, and finally he just said: "...Mom, I'm sorry."

Besides David and Gloria, there were only Li You and Lucy in the room.

Lucy stood by the bed, lowered her head, and also didn't speak. Li You, who was standing beside Gloria, coughed and said, "That... Gloria."

"This time, it's my fault after all, don't blame David. If you have anything to say, let's go out and talk, let him have a good rest."

Gloria was silent for a long time, and finally sighed and said to David: "... I knew you would get hurt."

David: "..."

Gloria looked at him and said, "David, I know your temper very well. You are too gentle, easy to trust others and make friends with others, so you will also fight for others. If you step into the mercenary circle, there will always be this day."

"So, I didn't let you touch the gun before, and didn't let you get in touch with these things. But maybe it was destined, you still entered this world.

"You can't blame others for this. It's not your fault, Li You, and I won't blame this girl either." Gloria acted very reasonable, which surprised Li You.

"David always mentioned to me that he followed Li You because he liked her. As for you, little girl... David is willing to do whatever it takes to save you, so he must value you very much."

After hearing her words, Lucy was speechless for a moment.

Gloria choked up and then continued: "I have actually been mentally prepared for a long time. One day you may be injured, you may fail, and you may be scarred. I also understand that this may be harmful to you. It’s a good thing, after all, your future world will be far crueler than now.”

"But... seeing you hurt like this, I still..."

She couldn't speak anymore, raised her hand to cover her mouth, and tears began to drip.

Li You, who was standing aside, called Aggie and asked her to comfort Gloria. Lucy, who was beside the bed, hesitated for a moment, then came up and joined Aggie, helping Gloria sit down by the bed.

And David looked at her and said: "Mom, you are right. I do all this voluntarily, whether it is to accept a commission or... to protect Lucy."

"...I'm sorry, Mom. I was too naive before and didn't really realize the dangers of many things. Even now, I can't guarantee that I won't get hurt in the future... But even so, I don't want to give up!"

David raised his head and looked at Gloria with extremely firm eyes: "After this period of time, I understand. In the City of Night, you must have power to control your own destiny. Otherwise, a natural or man-made disaster will Can destroy everything I value."

"So I won't give up. Mom, I want to be strong, strong enough to protect you and the people I love!"

Listening to David telling his thoughts, Gloria was also stunned. Then, tears welled up in her eyes again, but this time they were more moved and relieved.

“…David, you’ve really grown up.”

Li You also came to the bedside, patted David on the shoulder and said, "That's right! David, you finally understood the powerful secret."

"But you missed one thing. Not only do you have to protect the people around you, you also have to learn to protect yourself, which is equally important.

"Remember, don't think about burning yourself to achieve your lover. Once your life is in danger, what you have to do is to take the people around you and run away immediately. Do you understand?"

After hearing this, David was stunned. After thinking about it, he nodded with understanding: "I seem to understand what you mean, Master."

"Don't just understand, remember it for me, otherwise I won't have you as my disciple." Li Youyou said seriously.

He is serious. David's biggest character problem is that he doesn't take himself too seriously.

In the animation, he is obviously very talented, but he does not advocate his own ideas and always lives for other people's dreams.

Gloria, Mann, Lucy... In the end, David also burned himself to realize their dreams.

Li You didn't intend to let his apprentice make the same mistake again, so he wanted to nip this trend in the cradle.

Gloria wiped away her tears at the bedside and carefully hugged David into her arms. David patted her back with one hand and looked at Lucy again.

Lucy was silent at first, then gently handed over her hand, and the two held hands together.

Li You looked on with great satisfaction: These enemies finally came to their senses!

He coughed one last time and said, "Then you talk slowly, and I'll go out first."

He took Aggie and left the room, leaving space for the three of David.

After all, it is also the first time for mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to meet, so I guess they have a lot to say!

Outside the bedroom, Sasha, Mann and others were all waiting anxiously. Rebecca was especially worried, but the person responsible for guarding the door was Yuzi. He followed Li You's instructions and had no intention of letting her in.

Although it is quite unfair to Rebecca, at this time, you should not disturb others. Li You thought.

Li You and Ai Ji went out and couldn't help but shake their heads when they saw that Rebecca still insisted on fighting Yuzi in a battle of wits and courage.

Mann and Dorio on the side came up to him and asked him: "How are you? You had a head-to-head fight with Adam Hammer...are you injured?"

Li You smiled: "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Mann also breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay. As expected of you, you can use a heavy hammer as your opponent and still remain unscathed."

"You know, the rumors are going crazy in the mercenary circle right now, and everyone is talking about you and Heavy Hammer. In my opinion, as long as you go to the afterlife now, you will be surrounded by fans immediately."

Speaking, Mann laughed and said: "After all, everyone wants to see you, the new quasi-legend, with their own eyes!"

After hearing this, Li You also smiled slightly.

Quasi-legend?

Just what I wanted!

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