"Good brother."
That was all Yorinobu Arasaka sent.
Just three words in Xiao's comms inbox.
Nothing more.
Nothing needed to be said.
The meaning behind it was already perfectly clear.
By the following day, the situation had escalated even further.
Unable to sit still any longer, Yorinobu held a public press conference and launched an aggressive, highly publicized condemnation of Huanyu Group.
Before countless cameras, he announced that all Huanyu-affiliated industries would now face sanctions from Arasaka.
He also declared that any Huanyu subsidiaries or employees seeking to purchase Arasaka products would be required to pay an additional ten percent surcharge.
A full ban, however, was impossible.
Everyone in the room understood why.
Huanyu Group was one of Arasaka's largest clients.
Cutting them off completely would amount to severing one of the corporation's own arms.
The shareholders would never approve it.
At the same time, Yorinobu publicly posted a bounty of one hundred million eurodollars on Xiao in the underground market.
Arasaka agents were also dispatched to several Huanyu-owned factories.
On the surface, it looked like a full-scale retaliation.
To the public, it was a powerful show of force.
But to anyone who truly understood the situation, the entire thing was laughable.
It was theater.
Nothing more.
Yorinobu's so-called retaliation was all noise and no damage.
A barking dog that dared not bite.
The "sanctions" amounted to raising prices while continuing to sell products.
If he truly wanted sanctions, he would have cut off supply entirely.
Instead, it looked less like punishment for Huanyu and more like punishment for everyone else.
The attacks on Huanyu factories were even more absurd.
Agents entered the facilities.
Took finished products.
And left the machinery untouched.
Anyone watching closely could only stare in disbelief.
That wasn't an assault.
That was inventory pickup.
As for the hundred-million bounty, insiders quickly noticed that no credible assassination network had actually received funding.
It was another empty gesture.
An announcement without substance.
A threat without teeth.
Still, despite how hollow it all was, the effect on the public was undeniable.
To the average citizen, it looked like Arasaka had launched a comprehensive counterattack.
And on the stock market, that image alone was enough.
The panic from Saburo Arasaka's death began to stabilize.
Yorinobu had successfully halted the decline.
At least for now.
Meanwhile, at Viktor's clinic, the atmosphere was far heavier.
"V."
Viktor stepped into the room with a grim expression.
"I looked into that dream you told me about."
He paused.
"I found something."
V looked up from the medical bed.
"Bad news?"
Viktor's silence answered before his words did.
She exhaled.
"Go on."
Her voice was steady.
"With a hole in my head this size, I already figured paralysis was on the table."
Viktor shook his head.
"It's worse than that."
He met her eyes directly.
"You're dying."
The room fell silent.
Jackie, who had been leaning against the wall, straightened immediately.
V stared at him.
"…What?"
"I feel fine."
She flexed one hand.
"I feel like I could still punch a scav in the throat."
Viktor let out a slow breath.
"Remember the shot Dexter gave you?"
V's expression darkened.
He continued.
"That bullet damaged your brain."
"And it triggered the relic chip."
He moved closer and pointed toward the side of her head.
"The moment you died, your brain effectively became an empty vessel."
"The chip detected that and activated."
"It began transferring the stored consciousness into your neural pathways."
His tone became colder, more clinical.
"The reason you're alive right now is because the chip rebuilt enough of your damaged brain to restart bodily function."
V's face slowly lost color.
Viktor continued anyway.
"It's rewriting your neural structure."
"Cell by cell."
"Pathway by pathway."
"Eventually, it will overwrite everything that makes you… you."
Jackie swore under his breath.
V's voice trembled.
"Then pull it out."
"Turn it off."
Viktor's reaction was immediate.
"No."
His voice sharpened.
"Absolutely not."
He leaned forward.
"The relic chip is the only thing keeping your brain functional right now."
"If we remove it, your brain dies immediately."
V's hands clenched against the sheets.
Viktor looked exhausted.
"That's the trap."
"If the chip stays in, it replaces you."
"If it comes out, you die."
"There's no middle ground."
The room went still.
Even Jackie had no immediate response.
After a moment, he frowned.
"Wait…"
His brows furrowed.
"I've heard about this."
"On some ad."
He snapped his fingers.
"Soul transfer."
V gave a hollow laugh.
"Yeah."
"Protect your soul. Preserve your legacy."
Her voice turned bitter.
"Funny how the commercial never mentioned it murdering the original owner."
Tears had already started to gather in her eyes, though she kept speaking.
Viktor sighed.
"This chip is old."
"Very old."
He glanced at the diagnostics.
"The consciousness stored inside comes from Johnny Silverhand."
Jackie's eyes widened.
"What?"
Viktor nodded.
"From fifty years ago."
"One of the earliest relic prototypes."
"Probably one of Arasaka's first experimental samples."
He shook his head.
"God knows how it ever left their labs."
Jackie stared at V in disbelief.
"Johnny Silverhand?"
"The Johnny Silverhand?"
"The rockerboy who nuked Arasaka Tower?"
His voice rose with every word.
"They digitized him?"
"They ripped out his mind and sealed it in a chip?"
V let out a bitter, humorless laugh.
"Yeah."
She looked at him through wet eyes.
"Your hero."
Her voice dripped with exhaustion and anger.
"Once he finishes taking over my body, maybe you two can go save the world together."
Jackie immediately fell silent.
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