V shrugged, turned, and walked to the breakroom bar in the office area to make two cups of coffee. After handing one to Harry, she thanked him. V then headed towards Jenkins' office.
"Good morning, Officer Jenkins." She walked down the long corridor, waited for a moment, and after a scan granted her entry, V immediately stepped into the office to greet him.
Behind the desk, Arthur Jenkins was a clean-shaven, robust white male with a somewhat gloomy gaze.
"Hmm, sit." He glanced at V, then continued to lower his head, busy with something, while motioning for V to sit down.
"...."
Just as V was contemplating how to start, Jenkins broke the silence.
"V, your regularization procedures will take a few more days to process. Within a week, your official employee benefits will be implemented. Is there anything else? If not, get to work. I've sent you the file. Handle it, and do well."
The string of information left V stunned for a while before she could digest it. In 2074, she was only 20 years old and had not been with Arasaka Corporation for long.
"No, Officer, I'll head back now." After a long silence, V took a deep breath and stood up. There was no point in saying more now; what mattered was doing.
"Very good." Jenkins simply waved his hand dismissively.
He had taken a liking to V's potential; her performance during the observation period was excellent, her background check was clean, her abilities were good, and the personality analysis report in her personnel file also showed she met his requirements. This was why he had called V in.
Of course, for V to receive more cultivation, she still needed to realize her potential and improve herself. The regularization benefits were just a small token he casually offered.
Ding.
"How was it, V?"
Harry was waiting at the door and immediately waved when he saw V come out.
"Not bad. I got a guarantee: work hard, and I'll be regularized within a week."
"Holy crap! Congratulations." Harry rubbed his palms excitedly, as if he himself had been promoted.
"Thanks, Harry." In the cutthroat environment of the company, honest people like Harry were very rare. V suppressed the joy in her heart, patted Harry, "I have a task, so I'll excuse myself." With that, she strode towards her workstation.
Beep beep…
With an excited heart and trembling hands, V activated her personal terminal, clicked on the unread file, and went straight to the document sent by her superior, Arthur Jenkins.
Among them, the cover title of the document read:
— Arasaka South America Investigation Team —
South America Investigation Team?
Isn't that about Rio de Janeiro?
Thinking of something, V opened the document. The first page that met her eyes made her raise an eyebrow, revealing a surprised expression.
"Isn't this a coincidence?"
Action File (Confidentiality Agreement)
Affiliation: Arasaka Corporation
Employee ID: NC760404 (PS: Little knowledge, the company V's ID is NC770416, NC means Night City, 77 means the year, 0416 means the game release date)
Name: Vera Adelheid Russell
Department: I (Security Department)
Occupation: Combat Commander / Technician
Trauma Team Platinum Member / Crystal Palace Discount Agreement / Quantified Enlightenment Rehabilitation Center Member
Superiors: Takayama Shintaro [Director of Arasaka Tokyo Headquarters Security Department] / Arasaka Michiko [CEO of Arasaka America Division, Board Member]
Functions:
Execute and support private employment, corporate security services, public order services, provide and train combat soldiers, and defend corporate assets during armed conflicts;
Biotechnology Specialty Researcher (concurrent), conducting research in personal interest areas to create value for the company, and providing technical support for the excavation and restoration of old net technology.
Brief Biography:
Born April 4, 2054. (PS: cyberpunk 2077 protagonist — V was born in Night City on December 10, 2054)
2070: At 16, as the orphan of a meritorious Arasaka Group employee, she was recommended to enroll in Night City Arasaka Tower Academy.
2071: Achieved excellent overall academic performance during her one-year tenure at Arasaka Tower Academy, and upon report, was selected for the Tokyo Arasaka Group Headquarters Reserve Talent Pool. As an elite student of Arasaka Tower Academy, she participated as an intern observer in the 2071 Arasaka Security Department's suppression of the San Francisco riots.
2072: Obtained a recommendation slot and was transferred from Night City Arasaka Tower Academy to the Tokyo Arasaka Group Headquarters Academy for a one-year observation and advanced study period.
2073: Returned to Night City Arasaka Tower Academy, graduating as the valedictorian of the 2073 Arasaka Tower Academy class.
Officially joined the Night City Arasaka Security Department.
Upon assessment, she was concurrently appointed as a researcher in the Night City Arasaka Biotechnology Research and Development Department as an internally approved Biotechnology talent. Her personal laboratory codename: Umbrella [Red and white symmetrical umbrella logo — confidential].
2074: …
— Can be expanded in detail [Insufficient Permissions] —
Employee Evaluation:
Entered Night City Arasaka Tower Academy in 2070, graduated and officially joined in 2073. During her two years of internship and service, this employee demonstrated outstanding performance, deeply participating in and organizing 7 successful security defense operations and 6 public order maintenance operations.
Specialized Fields: Providing corporate security services, maintaining public order activities, commanding decapitation strikes (San Francisco security services, Kyoto anti-terrorist attacks, Rio de Janeiro riot suppression operations); personal deep interest in the Biotechnology field, possessing significant talent, with abundant achievements ([Confidential]).
…
Damn.
No wonder Vera Adelheid got promoted so quickly.
Personal ability is one aspect, but background, background, and still background!
In terms of 'pure lineage,' parents who could be called meritorious employees by Arasaka must have been of no low rank, most likely mid-level and above. All those [Confidential] and [Insufficient Permissions] were things V could never compare to.
Soon, V understood what Jenkins meant by 'do well.' And she very self-awarely extinguished her curiosity.
Routine counterintelligence checks, that's their Counterintelligence Department's job.
Theoretically, task reports from other company departments would routinely pass through the Counterintelligence Department for archiving, but as is well known, theory is theory. Such checks are usually just for show for some people and some departments.
Passing if there are no procedural abnormalities is one of the fastest ways for the Counterintelligence Department to accumulate so-called 'work experience.' Generally, if a superior suddenly assigns a newcomer to such work, it means the superior thinks highly of them.
After all, someone like Vera Adelheid, who is on the Tokyo Headquarters' reserve promotion talent list, needs you to meticulously scrutinize her again? It's just a formality.
Some promotions within the Arasaka Group have prerequisites, such as regularization requiring 'work experience and achievements.'
The system is dead, but people are alive. This is a kind of unwritten rule within Arasaka for arranging trusted people. If they want to quickly promote someone to handle affairs while also complying with procedures, they arrange for that person to do this kind of easy 'show work.'
Of course, if your surname is Arasaka and you have a powerful backer, that's another story.
"Operation normal, pass."
....
Evening, Night City International Airport.
Surrounded by her Special Rapid Response Force Team 6, Vera exited the Arasaka International corporate jet with a briefcase.
She was back, 'cesspool'.
Looking at the city of sin and prosperity, glittering with neon lights under the night sky, Vera walked to the railing of the Arasaka VIP channel, her gaze deep as she scanned everything within her sight: Heywood, Watson, Pacific Shore… finally settling her gaze in the direction of Municipal Center, on that black tower.
"Good evening, Night City."
— — — — — —
Chapter 003: Never Had Such a Wonderful Beginning
Night City, Westbrook.
Corporate community, address 414, Russell family apartment.
At dawn, Vera woke from a deep sleep and gently sat up in bed.
"Ugh... Not even a day off, they're really vampires."
Muttering silently, she rubbed her sleepy head, which was lethargic after voluntarily shutting down her health monitor. Vera pressed her hand to her forehead and shook her head, her indigo cybernetic eyes instantly clearing.
Just thinking about how she had rushed back to Night City from Rio de Janeiro last night, then was called to Arasaka Tower for various meetings, only to finally finish up and then have to wake up early today to go to Arasaka Tower for work again, Miss Vera felt extremely annoyed.
Even the donkeys on a production team aren't used this way, damn it, insects!
Of course, cursing aside, work still had to be done.
For the sake of bonuses and money, after all, one had to live.
After a healthy daily dose of grumbling and criticism, Vera's expression turned serious, ready for work!
She rolled out of bed, and Vera, clad in a dark, sheer nightgown, walked into the washroom using the faint warm light from the bedroom's light strips. The sensor light automatically turned on.
Splash splash~
After rinsing, Vera wiped the water from her face and carefully examined herself in the mirror wall.
"I've completely gotten used to it. Hmm, not bad at all..."
A delicate face, possessing both the softness and subtlety of the East, and the Stereo and depth of the West.
Hair between silver and gold, indigo eyes like deep spring water, subtle traces of cybernetic implants adorning them, metal cyberware hidden beneath both temples, and muscle indentations at the orbicularis oris, collectively outlining an alternative, cool aesthetic.
Okay, this is very cyberpunk.
It had a sense of practical luxury, understated and not ostentatious, yet supremely elegant.
Perfectly aligned with the aesthetic promoted by Arasaka Group's neo-militarism.
If the 'legends' who blew up Arasaka Tower fifty years ago, especially the 'rockerboy' among them, were to see this face, they would probably explode on the spot, grab their gear, and smash this artificial, pretentious face...
Although in 2074, with the advancement of cybernetic modification technology, one's facial features, skin color, eye color, and even body type and gender could be adjusted, Vera had truly never put much thought into this face.
At most, when she first enrolled in Arasaka Tower Academy, to curry favor with Arasaka and show loyalty, she deliberately maintained this appearance, and then... it really became a habit.
When a play is performed for too long, it becomes real.
One could also say that her parents, in this life, left behind too rich a 'legacy'.
Using the light, Vera looked with complex eyes at the tiled wall next to the sink, where a photo frame was embedded.
In the photo was a group shot of one man and two women, two adults and one child, with whom she had not spent much time.
The man appeared to be in his early 30s, with golden slicked-back hair, dressed in a suit, and a robust physique; the woman leaned beside him, with light gold long hair, wearing a dress that looked very old-fashioned by today's standards, with a gentle face, and eyes and nose bridge that bore some resemblance to Vera's current features.
They were her nominal parents in this life.
And the little girl between them was her as a child.
Speaking of which, she had been named Vera for almost twenty years now.
Gently caressing the photo frame, Vera murmured in a voice only she could hear: "Perhaps I am not your daughter, or perhaps I am... But as long as I am alive, I will fulfill the responsibility of commemorating you."
Truly, even if her parents in this life did not fulfill much responsibility for nurturing and accompanying her, being the type who were both busy and rarely seen more than a few times a year, Vera still felt genuine gratitude towards them.
She wasn't some naive, unloved child.
Aside from this face, which was a bonus at the company, this composite apartment located in the Westbrook corporate community, close to Japantown and the Municipal Center, and enough savings, stocks, funds, and other tangible assets to allow Vera to live lavishly for a long time…
Most importantly, there were her birth parents' other implicit 'legacies'.
Without them, she would never have been able to climb so quickly in the snake pit known as Arasaka.
It was an open secret in the industry that the Arasaka Group, though originating in Japan and globalized, was still deeply influenced in all its departments by traditions of personal dependence such as 'lifelong employment' and 'father to son, generational inheritance'.
In other words, it was about lineage. The identity of being 'one of their own'.
Many Arasaka branches circulated a cold joke: at Tokyo Headquarters, even a toilet cleaner's position was coveted to be 'coexistent with the company, hereditary and perpetual'.
Perhaps there was exaggeration, but one could imagine Arasaka's internal atmosphere.
Vera found it hard to comment on the pros and cons, because she was a beneficiary of this tradition.
Her birth father, Mr. Fred Russell, was a high-ranking executive in Arasaka North America Security Department, controlling powerful departments like the General Security Bureau;