Osiris' surveillance network switched between cameras, intermittently tracking her movements.
She used her familiarity with the airport's structure to evade the search, eventually infiltrating the underground vehicle dispatch area, hijacking a truck, ramming through the barrier, and bursting out of the airport control zone to merge into the intercity traffic.
Shortly after she drove into the city traffic, Osiris monitored a brief outgoing call from her personal encrypted communicator; the target number went through multiple layers of redirection but ultimately traced back to a registration belonging to Jackie Welles.
"Seeking external assistance, a logical choice," Osiris murmured.
He immediately intensified his monitoring of Jackie Welles' frequently used communication channels and surveillance around his residence.
Soon, the footage showed Jack driving his vehicle at high speed to the secluded location he had agreed upon with Valerie, picking up a blood-soaked, pale Valerie.
Inside the car, Jack was clearly shocked and anxious about Valerie's injuries and her current situation of being hunted by the corporation.
Osiris, by hacking into their personal terminals and using a lip-reading analysis system, deciphered parts of their conversation.
Jack: "My God! Valerie! What… what exactly happened? Why is the corporation trying to kill you?"
Valerie's voice was weak but clear: "Political purge… Jenkins fell… I also became an informant… who needed to be eliminated…"
Jack: "Damn it! What do we do now? Should I take you to see the Father? Or…"
Valerie: "No… the Father might not be able to stop Arasaka's pursuit… We need… stronger protection."
Jack: "Maine! Right! Let's find Maine and his squad! They just clashed with Arasaka and won! Their mysterious 'boss' behind them…"
In Osiris' processor, the variable weight representing "Maine's crew" slightly increased.
Their performance indeed attracted wider attention, even becoming a potential source of help for the desperate.
Just as Valerie was struggling to operate a disposable encrypted communicator with her uninjured hand, attempting to contact Maine, Osiris' surveillance showed that Arasaka's internal security system alarm level had risen again.
A special action team was activated, their member codenames vague, equipment signal characteristics distinct from regular security forces, and their predicted trajectory pointed directly at the last area Valerie appeared.
"Cyber Ninjas, compared to the assassins of the Officio Assassinorum, are so crude and primitive," Osiris identified the type of this squad.
These were Arasaka's formidable killers used for various covert missions, though in Osiris' eyes, they were like a child's clumsy work.
At the same time, at The Dump HQ, Maine and the others' communication channel received Valerie's faint distress signal.
In the communication channel, Maine's voice was filled with surprise: "Valerie? How are you… What did you say? Arasaka is hunting you? This…"
Dorio and Rebecca, along with others, gathered around, their faces filled with disbelief and hesitation.
Helping a former corporate executive, especially one being actively hunted by Arasaka, carried risks far beyond their usual street conflicts.
Just as Maine was pondering and weighing the pros and cons, a cold, steady, and unannounced synthetic voice forcibly cut into their communication channel.
This voice directly overrode the original frequency, carrying an undeniable sense of authority.
"Allow her into the Wasteland Town area." It was Osiris' voice.
The channel instantly fell silent.
Maine and the others were clearly stunned by this sudden direct intervention.
Osiris ignored their astonishment and continued in his factual tone: "Coordinates have been sent to your navigation system, Jackie Welles.
Follow the indicated route to temporarily evade conventional tracking.
The pursuers are three Cyber Ninjas, estimated arrival time at the Wasteland Town outskirts, twenty-seven minutes."
His words were devoid of any emotional fluctuation, as if he were reading a weather report.
But to Maine and the others, this brief message contained an immense amount of information and a suffocating sense of pressure—the boss not only knew Valerie was seeking help, knew Jack was present, but had even grasped the specific type, number, and precise arrival time of the pursuers!
On the other end of the communication, Valerie and Jack also heard this voice.
A flicker of shock crossed Valerie's pale face, followed by complex emotions of finding hope in a desperate situation.
Jack, almost instinctively, sharply turned the steering wheel, following the new route that suddenly appeared on his navigation screen.
Osiris cut off direct communication with Maine's crew; his attention returned to the main console.
A mechanical tentacle gently tapped an interface, and the defensive surveillance system and several dormant automatic weapon platforms on the outskirts of Wasteland Town were quietly activated.
At the same time, he intensified his monitoring of the Cyber Ninjas squad's route; their signals, like fireflies in the night against the city's background noise, were clearly discernible.
He did not intend to personally deal with these crude toys in his eyes.
Maine's crew needed actual combat to test and improve, and Valerie's survival or demise made no fundamental difference to him.
What truly tilted the weight of "efficiency" and "cleanliness" in his logical core was Arasaka Corporation itself.
Once, twice… like an incurable virus, it continuously created unplanned interferences.
Jenkins' compromise failed to bring stability, instead inviting more aggressive purges and hunts from headquarters.
This cycle of internal chaos and external provocation, in his eyes, was proof of fatal redundancy and inefficiency within the system itself.
Continuously investing resources in passive response or limited deterrence no longer constituted the optimal solution.
His crimson optical lens seemingly refocused on Bartmoss' neural map, but a high-priority independent process had already been activated.
Previous data from Arasaka network infiltration and surveillance was rapidly retrieved, integrated, and analyzed.
The goal was no longer merely observation or intelligence gathering, but systematic weakness assessment: the physical locations and defense levels of core data nodes, the biometric signals and behavioral patterns of key personnel, the encrypted communication links between headquarters and the Night City branch, and even the main hubs of its energy supply… Inside the workshop, the hum of energy conduits seemed to take on a slightly different frequency, a low thrum containing a hint of sharp anticipation.
He was no longer content with merely pruning the extending tentacles.
He was preparing to locate the core source of constant trouble, and then execute a thorough, physical-level formatting.
In the night outside Wasteland Town, Arasaka's killing machines were rapidly approaching.
They thought this was a hunt to eliminate a traitor.
They did not know that they were rushing into the focal point of an observer's gaze, and this observer, having lost his last patience due to continuous noise interference, was preparing to completely erase the observed target itself from the plane of reality.
Everything, still under the gaze of those crimson lenses hidden deep within the workshop, unfolded in an orderly fashion.
Only, that gaze no longer contained any investigative interest, only the cold countdown to the final purge of a vast system about to be classified as "scrap material."