Time was short.
Kai did not sit down.
"Now's not the time for jokes."
"Director Michiko Arasaka is still waiting upstairs. I came here first to give you a heads-up."
Arthur looked perfectly natural and did not think there was anything wrong with what he had said. He continued his analysis seriously.
"Everyone knows you were promoted by me personally. Winning you over is basically the same as winning me over."
"But the key issue is this: it's still not clear which way the wind is blowing."
"If we board the ship too early, there's a real chance it could capsize."
Kai understood that Arthur did not dare say it too directly. What he really meant was that it was still too early to side with Michiko Arasaka.
And compared to the other two descendants of the Arasaka family, Michiko's ship was clearly the smaller one.
Even though Little Michiko currently controlled Arasaka Tower in Night City and held enormous power, once Yorinobu personally arrived in Night City, the scepter in her hand would inevitably be passed on.
Once the oar was gone, all that would be left was drifting with the current and leaving everything to fate.
The internal conflict of the Arasaka family would almost decide the future of Arasaka Corporation itself. Before the struggle for power had truly settled, taking sides rashly was an extremely foolish move.
Kai understood Arthur's little scheme.
Counterintel might not compare to Special Ops, but the advantage was that the department did not yet belong too clearly to any one faction.
As long as it maintained neutrality, it could follow the wind and sit comfortably on the side of the eventual winner.
But Kai knew very well that if he did not choose a side early enough, then once the hurricane really began, there would be no powerful back left to cling to.
Barring anything unexpected, Yorinobu would personally come to Night City next year, and the war between father and son for control of Arasaka would officially begin.
When the great purge started, every faction would seize the chance to eliminate its enemies.
Susan would never let that opportunity pass. She would absolutely move to kill Arthur, her mortal rival in Counterintel.
Kai had not come here to genuinely discuss the situation with Arthur in detail. He only needed to go through the motions.
"You're right. It's still too early to buy a ticket and get on board. I know what to say now. If there's nothing else, I'll go meet with her first."
Arthur could tell Kai had understood the hint, and he nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. Go meet the director first. If anything new comes up, let me know right away."
"Oh, right."
"The surprise I prepared for you probably won't arrive until tomorrow."
"There was a problem on the Night Corp side, but I already confirmed it. It'll just be a little late."
Night Corp?
The more Kai heard, the less trustworthy it sounded. But there were more important matters right now, so he left directly and headed for the public elevator.
Very soon, the elevator arrived.
After stepping out, Kai underwent a full-body security scan under the watch of the two Arasaka personal guards.
Once it was confirmed that he was carrying no dangerous items, a uniformed female secretary stepped forward to guide him.
"Hello, Mr. Kai. This way, please."
Kai gave a slight nod and continued forward, with the two personal guards following behind him.
The entire office floor was covered in silver-gray carpeting, soft enough to silence every footstep.
The style and layout matched the dark severity of Arasaka Tower, without the slightest trace of cherry-blossom Japanese aesthetics.
Led by the secretary, Kai arrived before a massive mechanical security gate.
After another round of blue-wave scanning and identity verification, the gate slowly pulled open to both sides.
But once it opened, a rippling curtain of light blocked the view beyond it, like a veil of watery mist, making the inside impossible to see clearly.
The female secretary made a gesture of invitation.
"Mr. Kai, please go in. Director Michiko is already waiting for you inside."
Kai found it slightly surprising that both the secretary and the guards remained outside the gate, with no intention of entering.
But after a moment's thought, it made sense. Some conversations were not meant to have witnesses.
Kai continued forward alone and approached the curtain of light.
The moment he stepped through, the mechanical gate behind him automatically shut.
The light screen in front of him gradually faded and disappeared.
Only then did Kai finally see the interior of the office.
His first impression was space.
It was nearly half the size of a football field.
A one-hundred-eighty-degree wraparound wall of floor-to-ceiling display windows offered an almost unobstructed view of all Night City.
The sunlight filtered through those display windows and spilled into the office, bright but gentle.
And in such an enormous workspace, there was only a single desk and a single office chair.
Their owner, Michiko Arasaka, stood alone in front of the window, her blue hair tied high behind her head, striking and unrestrained.
Her dress uniform, with its beast-patterned feathered sleeves, wrapped her body in fabric that glimmered with a golden sheen.
She stood with her back to Kai, facing the windows, as if admiring the view or perhaps lost in thought.
From her silhouette alone, Kai could clearly make out the carefully maintained metallic lines of the implants at the back of her neck.
She keeps those in damn good shape.
After a brief silence, Kai deliberately coughed twice to announce his arrival.
Only then did Michiko speak, her voice carrying a faint echo through the vast office.
"I often stand here and look at Militech Tower across from us, and I think about something."
Kai said nothing and simply waited for her to continue.
"These two towers stand here like giants, so close to one another."
"Doesn't that mean there is no room left for a buffer?"
"Like two fierce tigers trapped within the same territory, roaring, tearing, and fighting until one of them dies and the other walks away."
"Is that the only way this ends?"
Kai could hear the hidden meaning behind her words and felt a little helpless at the way she kept circling around the point.
Even though Little Michiko had received a New American education, every pore of her body still seemed to radiate that uniquely Arasaka pride.
There really was no room for two tigers on the same mountain unless one was male and the other female.
Kai understood her probing perfectly well. She wanted to measure his attitude toward Militech.
"That depends on who owns the two tigers."
"If they're just wild tigers, then the final outcome is bound to be both sides tearing each other apart."
Kai gave her a Tai Chi answer, never taking a direct position.
But at the same time, he made one thing clear from the side: what mattered most was who held power.
If Arasaka and Militech continued escalating without restraint, both sides would end up bleeding. Anyone with sense understood that much.
Michiko seemed to be touched by that answer. She slowly turned to face Kai, her tone calm and impossible to read.
"Today marks the renewal of that struggle between two tigers."
"Six years ago, Arasaka protected Night City from being destroyed in the Metal Wars."
"Even after rebuilding Arasaka Tower on the ruins of the old site, Arasaka still has not fully emerged from the shadow of that defeat, nor has it been able to restore its former glory."
"And our opponent has continued evolving. It has already grown into an enormous beast."
Kai's mind drifted back to the past.
The Fourth Corporate War.
August, 2023.
Johnny Silverhand formed the Atlantis team and detonated a nuclear device in Arasaka Tower in Night City.
In that small-scale nuclear blast, Arasaka CEO Kei Arasaka, Little Michiko's own father, vanished along with the ashes of Arasaka Tower.
Under the combined impact of multiple factors, Arasaka was defeated and forced to surrender, suffering a devastating blow from which it never fully recovered.
More than fifty years had passed since the Fourth Corporate War, but even now, Arasaka Corporation still remained shrouded beneath that shadow.
(End of Chapter)
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