Kai remained calm and unhurried, quietly waiting for Maine and the others to finish reading the chip.
Once Maine understood the full situation, he finally grasped just how dangerous this cooperation really was.
This operation did not just involve a struggle between high-level figures inside Arasaka. It also touched the conflict between Arasaka and Militech. Maine had no idea what exactly Kai had run into inside the company, but it was obviously the kind of game where one side lived and the other died.
The short temper Maine had shown earlier was gone at last.
He had finally calmed down enough to seriously talk things through with Kai.
Even if he wanted out now, it was already too late.
Knowing the intel meant being pulled into the game, and this was a high-stakes death match.
Maine had been an edgerunner for a long time.
He was used to the usual setup: a fixer paid, he did the job, and he did not ask what was going on behind the scenes. He was just a hired hand, plain and simple.
Sometimes he complained that fixers did not tell him enough about the background of a job, which led to all kinds of surprises once the operation started.
But now that he was suddenly dealing with something this big, the pressure on his shoulders felt crushing.
One wrong move, and the two largest corporations in Night City could come down on his whole crew.
Kai could see the pressure starting to sink into Maine.
After all, Maine was not the only one who would be charging in. The rest of the team would be risking their lives too.
Once they accepted the job, all of their lives would be tied together.
Every decision made by the person at the center of the team would affect everyone else's survival.
Maine asked in a low voice,
"We've read everything. So tell us what the plan is."
Kai straightened his mindset too, and his expression gradually turned serious.
He had always looked down on corpo rats, but that did not mean he underestimated how dangerous they could be when they started biting for real.
"The goal of this cooperation is to create a win-win outcome."
"I'll help you clean the military-grade Sandevistan out from under the noses of both Arasaka and Militech. In their files, this implant will end up marked as destroyed. Once you install it, you won't become some lab rat the corps keep their eyes on."
"Second, you're going to use this implant to draw out Arasaka's people and Militech's people for me. I don't care whether you plan to sell it to Maelstrom or to scavvers. As long as you make enough noise in public, the corps will come circling in like sharks that smell blood."
"After that, all you have to do is show up with the goods and proceed with the transaction. Once that starts, the rest isn't your problem."
Maine still looked uncertain.
"What if it turns into a firefight?"
Kai looked at him darkly.
"Then pull out the nastiest hardware you've got and show those corpo rats what your crew can do."
"Operations like this are usually handled in secret. The corps don't go around broadcasting them."
"Even if a few agents die, it'll just get filed as a failed mission. It won't escalate far enough for NCPD to get involved."
"But there's one thing you all need to remember. After tonight, there is no contact between us until this operation is over."
"I'm done."
"Now decide whether you're in or out."
After hearing Kai's arrangement, neither Maine nor Dorio raised any objection.
Their silence was agreement.
As for Lucy, she had not said a word the entire time, but she knew she had no choice except to step into this three-way struggle too.
The discussion came to an end with no further objections.
Maine clenched his iron-heavy fists, then stood up.
"Fine. We'll do it your way."
"If I take a job, I finish it."
"Just make sure you keep your word."
Kai stood as well and fastened the top button of his suit jacket.
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Pleasure doing business."
"Once this is over, I'll introduce you to a reliable ripperdoc for the installation. I don't think you'll turn him down once you hear his name."
"And don't forget to return that money to Gloria. The implant deal was between her and you."
Maine gave a low grunt in acknowledgment.
This job had basically turned into unpaid labor.
His whole crew would now be risking their lives, and their compensation would have to come out of his own pocket.
Naturally, that left him in a foul mood.
But he wanted that implant too badly to let it go.
Once everything had been settled, Maine left the apartment with Dorio.
Just as Kai also got up and reached the apartment door to leave, he heard Lucy ask in her cool voice,
"So how exactly do you want to settle that score?"
Kai stopped in front of the already open security door and replied,
"You stole my chip, but then you tipped me off ahead of time and helped make this deal happen."
"As far as Arasaka's side of the ledger goes, we're even now."
Lucy kept looking out the window.
"As far as I know, people from the corps aren't usually that easy to shake off."
She was certain he had already realized she had been specifically targeting Arasaka employees for those chips.
That kind of behavior showed obvious hostility toward Arasaka, and as a high-ranking Arasaka employee, he should not have been letting it go so easily.
Kai answered with mild helplessness,
"I'm not the same as the rest of them. At the very least, I still think for myself instead of living as some mindless corpo rat."
"The company account is settled, but stealing from me was still pretty rude."
Lucy suddenly let out a quiet laugh.
"Heh. If you hadn't been staring at me the whole time in the train car, I wouldn't have gotten caught."
"So stealing one chip from you really doesn't seem that unreasonable."
Kai suddenly remembered that, technically, she was right.
He had been the one watching her first.
He had not expected her to latch onto that detail so sharply.
The silver-haired girl still looked completely unconcerned, her expression cool as she continued,
"You really are different from the other corp people. The reason I stole your chip was because I noticed your conversation involved that implant, and Maine had been looking for gear like that for a while."
"But I didn't expect your identity..."
Kai turned to look at the silver-haired girl sitting by the panoramic window and picked up the thread with a hint of amusement.
"You didn't expect a corporate executive to be riding public transit."
"Judging from how you reacted back then, that wasn't exactly a situation you'd dealt with before."
Lucy turned her head toward him, caution and coldness flickering in her eyes.
"Do you know why I think you're different from the other corpo rats?"
Kai gave her an expression that invited her to continue.
Lucy fixed her neon-colored eyes straight on him and said slowly,
"Because you're more dangerous than they are."
"More deadly."
Silence.
A brief silence settled between them.
Kai had no idea how he had left that kind of impression on her.
If anything, after being reborn, he felt more and more like some corporate villain.
"You're too at home inside the company. You're good at manipulating people and controlling the whole situation. In your eyes, everyone is just another chess piece."
"Someone like you, born into a powerful family, starting life at the summit, reaching high management inside Arasaka while you're still this young..."
"You've never experienced what it feels like to fall into hell."
"You might hate the company. You might even fight the company. But you can't leave it."
"The company gave you everything you have now. Your power. Your status. That position above everyone else."
"Isn't that right, Mr. Kai?"
After hearing Lucy's opinion of him, Kai could only laugh at himself and answer lightly,
"Then I'll just take that as a compliment."
"At least it means I'm doing something right."
He had no desire to keep dragging the conversation out.
For now, he still could not burn off the skin of the corpo rat he was wearing.
And he certainly was not in the mood to explain himself to someone he had only just met, especially an edgerunner who carried such intense hatred toward Arasaka.
At the very least, there had been a time in his life when he had loved and hated clearly, lived fiercely, and followed his grudges to the end.
(End of Chapter)
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