After walking out of Roland's residence, Lucy felt a bit lost. Her home was quite a distance away. Did he really expect her to… walk?
That honestly seemed like the only option. A wealthy district like this didn't have Night City's cheap cabs. The cheapest ride around here would probably be a Delamain…
But a Del limousine? No way. That kind of cost was unnecessary for her right now—way too expensive.
Buzz—
An engine hummed as an AV descended, stopping right in front of her.
A white, humanoid robot stepped out with a gentle, polite smile.
"Please board, Miss Lucy. Our employer instructed us to take you home."
Lucy blinked, dazed, and then quietly climbed into the AV.
Roland watched her figure disappear into the distance before retracting his gaze. He turned toward Vilet, who had just stepped out of a room.
She wore a black, skin-tight combat suit layered with thin armor and a nano-coating. A simple tactical visor covered her face, and the only thing that didn't look simple at all were the high-tech armored gauntlets on her arms.
"Yo, boss."
"You look like you're doing well."
Roland smiled as he spoke.
Vilet nodded. "Yeah. Never felt better. Feels like I've got endless strength running through me."
She bounced lightly twice, stretching out her muscles.
"Good. Head to Base Two later for testing. I want to see your current combat output."
"Got it."
Vilet agreed with bright enthusiasm in her eyes.
After briefing Vilet and Kiwi on a few matters regarding the PROJECT team, Roland dismissed them.
Once they were gone, a white robot glowing faintly with green light stepped forward.
"Mr. Roland, this body feels adequate, though it still needs further calibration."
"Good. By the way, Lissandra—what do you think of the idea I mentioned?"
"If it is only the creation of a security AI, I have no objections. But regarding the super body… I do not enjoy interacting with him. Still, your will takes precedence."
Roland nodded. He understood why Lissandra disliked the super body. They did have a bit of history.
Even though the super body had originally been turned by her, she clearly hadn't anticipated how terrifying its mechanisms were—leading to everything spiraling out of control…
Still, a super body summoned through the system shouldn't have that issue.
If he could create it, he could endure things for a while, wait for the super body to evolve, and then flip the table when the time came.
But realistically, the super body wasn't going to be easy to bring into existence. It was the pinnacle of PROJECT technology.
And the other template, Oblivion, was also a nightmare.
"For now, just focus on creating the security AI."
"Understood."
"Oh, and if you can, guide the employees who loyally follow me toward researching PROJECT technology—especially energy weapons."
After making his arrangements, Roland decided to take a break. The only thing requiring some attention during this period was probably Lucy.
Hmm… maybe Maine too? He'd nearly forgotten about him…
Suddenly remembering, Roland realized he hadn't asked the system to check Maine's template compatibility.
"System, tell me which templates Maine matches."
"Host, Maine is compatible with two templates. Which one you assign him is entirely your decision."
"Two templates?!"
Roland was stunned. He'd never seen this before. Was Maine exceptionally gifted? Impossible. If he were that talented, he wouldn't have become a cyberpsycho so easily, nor vanished without ever earning a legendary name.
So… it was probably due to his life experience.
"Maine is compatible with the Oblivion and Apocalypse templates."
Roland's mouth twitched. Neither of those were anything close to gentle.
But the first template he ruled out was Oblivion. The reason was simple: Oblivion was too strong. Even with the system backing him, he didn't want to redeem the Oblivion key. He preferred to let Oblivion take the slot instead.
Which left Apocalypse. And honestly, that was the optimal choice—Apocalypse takes the slot, and Lissandra handles the underlying logic.
Originally, Apocalypse had all emotion erased in its transformation. But… an Apocalypse with emotions might actually be interesting.
Thus, Roland settled on Apocalypse for Maine.
At this point, Roland already had compatible candidates for Light, Purification, Ascension, Judgment, Liberty, Ambition, Heavenly Eye, Madness, Apocalypse, and Destruction.
The only one still missing was Essence. Which meant waiting… or causing trouble… and dealing with Lucy.
The female lead undoubtedly carried a large share of Essence.
As that thought crossed Roland's mind, two faces appeared:
Jackie, the big brother of the Valentinos, and V.
"Given the current timeline… Jackie should be easy to track down. I'll send the order—shouldn't take long to hear back. The real question is… which version of the Living Lord of Hell this world started with?"
...
At that moment, in a luxury apartment at Charter Hill, a short-haired girl in an unfamiliar academy uniform stretched lazily, revealing her graceful figure.
"Ugh… ah…"
She tossed her jacket onto the sofa and flopped down. She had barely buried herself into the cushions when an email pinged.
"Valerie, we're working late again today. You'll need to take care of dinner yourself."
"Sigh…"
V let out a long, weary exhale, dragging herself off the couch before turning on the TV to watch the news.
"PROJECT Corporation? They've been pretty active lately…"
She grabbed a slice of bread from the fridge, chewing as she watched.
"They're working with Arasaka and Kang Tao too?"
Curious, V started digging into PROJECT Corporation's info.
"Holy— They reached this level of influence this fast?"
She stared at their official page in disbelief. The rapid rise reminded her of Kang Tao's early days.
"So PROJECT Corporation has serious backing too? Might be a good place to aim for… Could work as a stepping stone. Worth considering later…"
Meanwhile, Roland—slumped like a corpse in his chair—suddenly received a financial transfer and froze.
Who the hell…?
Which big shot just tipped him?