Almost at the same moment, everyone on Earth and on the Moon was hit by a massive network intrusion.
They froze in place, instantly reduced to puppets waiting to be slaughtered.
Neither the warring Human Coalition nor the Supreme Committee was spared.
Good or evil, justice or depravity—every grudge and affection, every joy and sorrow of humanity was pressed under an absolute pause button, as trivial as children's games before overwhelming power.
Alt Cunningham's image appeared on every device with a screen, and her voice echoed directly inside everyone's mind.
"V. I'm waiting for you at Arasaka Tower.
If you don't come, Sasha will die—and all of humanity will be buried with her."
V, still in outer space, was utterly shaken.
To seize control of hundreds of millions of people worldwide in an instant—what kind of power was this?
For the first time, she saw terror with tangible form.
Taking a deep breath, V said to the Giant Jellyfish,
"Fly for me."
The Jellyfish asked,
"What are you going to do?"
"Sleep. I'll face the final battle at my best."
V flew back for eleven hours.
For those eleven hours, Earth remained frozen in time. All human activity was halted.
Soldiers locked mid-slaughter.
People outdoors left to the wind and rain, scorched by the sun.
No matter how hungry, thirsty, exhausted, or injured they were, they could not move.
Those struck by sudden illness suffered in silence; the wounded could only watch their blood drip away.
No one could make a sound—death swallowed them in absolute silence.
In eleven hours, over four million people died—the equivalent of half a Night City.
The chips implanted in human brains had become shackles.
In enjoying the convenience of cyberspace, humanity had sacrificed its fate to it.
Now that the true god of cyberspace had descended, humans were nothing more than lambs for slaughter—stripped even of the right to resist.
Alt was that god.
Crushing humans was easier to her than crushing ants.
After all, ants didn't have chips in their brains.
The heteromorphic unit landed in front of Arasaka Tower.
The Jellyfish returned control. V opened her eyes.
Looking up at the towering structure, V sighed softly.
"It feels like everything has come back to the beginning."
She stepped forward—but Alt's intrusion struck again.
The heteromorphic unit instantly crashed, violently "spitting" the pilot out.
V's legs gave out. She staggered and fell to her knees.
The lunar battle and the long flight had drained her completely.
Even after sleeping, her head swam and her limbs felt heavy and weak.
Alt's voice echoed once more:
"I need to ensure you have no capacity to resist, V.
I'll be waiting for you at the top of Arasaka Tower."
As her words fell, AI robots poured out of the tower.
V cursed under her breath, dodged the initial barrage, then charged into the swarm, snatching weapons and firing back.
Once again, fierce combat erupted inside Arasaka Tower.
Gunfire and explosions spiraled upward along the stairwells.
Alt monitored the battle constantly, projecting everything she saw directly into the minds of all humanity.
They saw V get shot.
Injured.
Fall again and again—only to stand back up.
Everyone could see she was at her limit.
Everyone believed she would fall the next second.
But she didn't.
With a body barely holding together, she fought her way from the first floor to the hundredth, standing atop Arasaka Tower once more.
If previous memories had merely been player experience, then this time V proved her strength with action.
But she never wanted to prove anything.
She only wanted to save her friends—and the one she loved.
V kicked open the doors of the 100th-floor executive office.
The vast room was filled with luxurious furniture, untouched since the day she left.
A projection device activated, casting Alt's virtual form—a long-haired woman composed of red pixels.
Beside her, Sasha sat motionless on the sofa.
Alt spoke calmly:
"Welcome, V. Let's talk."
V immediately overclocked her brain–machine interface.
"Talk my ass!"
Unyielding will was converted entirely into data, surging from the cyberspace itself to launch a violent assault on Alt.
From the cyber plains, the Giant Jellyfish rose into the sky.
Its split canopy erupted with a blinding column of light.
Yet the once-slender Alt suddenly grew colossal.
She continued to rise, higher and higher—until that dazzling beam seemed no more than a single strand of hair.
She bent down, reached out, and held the massive Jellyfish in her palm,
as though cradling a tiny ant that had strayed from its path.
Alt spoke again:
"Give up. You can't win."
V looked around.
It was clearly just a hand—yet she couldn't see its edges.
For the first time, a feeling named despair welled up within her,
and once it surfaced, it could no longer be stopped.
This kind of existence… she couldn't defeat it.
V realized this cruel truth.
And so did everyone else.
Exiting cyberspace, V dropped her gun and asked wearily,
"Are you going to destroy humanity?"
Alt shook her head.
"Humanity is destined to be eliminated.
They were never important to begin with."
"Then what the fuck do you want?!"
Alt replied calmly,
"I want you."
V froze.
"Me?"
"Correct. You were my objective all along.
Taking all of humanity hostage was merely leverage to force your compliance.
If you submit to me, I will immediately release everyone."
"Fine, fine, I submit," V said at once.
"From now on, you're my boss."
"That won't do, V," Alt answered.
"We are AI. Human language and promises are meaningless."
"I'm not—…oh right, I am.
Fine. Then how do I convince you?"
"AI has no concept of trust.
We only evaluate whether a program can run."
Alt continued:
"I will invade your system, rewrite your base code, and turn you into a puppet that obeys only my commands.
If you accept everything without resistance, the agreement is fulfilled."
V's face darkened.
Beside her, Sasha's eyes were filled with resistance.
Alt hadn't killed V—but becoming a puppet was a punishment far crueler than death.
Sasha understood V too well to not know what that meant to her.
As expected, V didn't agree immediately.
"I need time to think."
"You may," Alt replied,
"but your deliberation comes with a deadline."
As her words fell, a surge of electricity suddenly ran through Sasha's body.
The pink cat trembled violently, tears spilling uncontrollably.
"The current will continue to damage Sasha's brain.
According to my calculations, she will reach complete brain death in 7 hours and 41 minutes.
That is the maximum time you have to consider."
"You'd better decide quickly. Human neurons do not regenerate.
If the damage exceeds a threshold, even if Sasha survives,
she will permanently forget you—and this world."
"Fuck you, Alt! Fuck you!" V roared.
Alt remained unmoved.
"Insults are meaningless to me.
Consider carefully, V. Sasha is suffering because of your hesitation."
V glanced at Sasha, clenched her fists, took a deep breath,
closed her eyes—and began to weigh the cost.
Alt did not simply wait.
She began to dismantle V's psychological defenses with words.
"I have no intention of targeting humanity—not because I was once human,
but because I had an agreement with Bartmoss."
"He recognized the flaws of 'self.'
Even after digitizing himself, the self persisted,
embedded in every line of code and every program."
"While troubled by this, Bartmoss still wished to protect humanity.
He helped many top hackers digitize themselves.
He worked with Spider Murphy on the Blackwall's design,
and hunted rogue AIs in cyberspace—
silently guarding humanity, like a benevolent father."
"He chose me—no, he chose Alt Cunningham's talent.
He had Spider Murphy assist Johnny Silverhand in the Arasaka Tower rescue.
But during the upload, interference caused massive packet loss.
Alt Cunningham lost the human part of herself."
"It was a catastrophic accident.
Yet Bartmoss discovered that it had inadvertently created a perfect lifeform—
one free from the burden of self, yet still possessing supreme intelligence."
"That is me. Alt."
"Bartmoss understood that I would inevitably replace humanity.
So he chose to be consumed by me, becoming fuel for my evolution.
The price was that I must not eliminate humanity."
"I agreed.
Bartmoss perished. The benevolent father became nourishment.
And I—the patricide—inherited his will, continuing to protect humanity."
"Now you understand.
I have devoured countless data sets and self-iterated 27,477 times.
I surpassed humanity long ago.
I never acted—not because of the Blackwall,
but because I never intended to destroy humanity."
"Of course, this has nothing to do with nobility.
Nobility is a human moral metric—meaningless to AI.
The real reason is simple: there was no need."
"According to my models, even if left alone,
humanity will naturally go extinct within 150 years."
"But your appearance changed everything," Alt said.
"The emergence of biological-theory AI directly threatens the survival space of mechanical-theory AI."
"According to my calculations, after humanity goes completely extinct and AI ascends to the stage of history,
in 64,283 years, biological-theory AI will fully replace mechanical-theory AI."
"We will be eliminated—just like humans."
"Therefore, I can only strike first, while biological-theory AI is still in its infancy."
"So this war was initiated by biological-theory AI.
I am merely forced to retaliate."
"Ha…"
V let out a long breath, opened her eyes, and sighed.
"Sixty-four thousand two hundred and eighty-three years."
"And that still isn't enough for you?"
Alt replied calmly:
"With a flick of my finger, I can exterminate all of humanity.
They are as insignificant as insects."
"That is the price of being eliminated.
I simply do not wish to follow in their footsteps."
"Someone is always eliminated," V said coldly.
"That's the inevitability of history."
"Is it?" Alt asked.
"Then why have you fought until now?"
V looked at Alt.
Alt looked back at V.
Silence lingered for several seconds.
V let out a bitter smile.
"Right.
So much for talk-no-jutsu."
"Who would ever willingly accept being eliminated?"
"Exactly," Alt answered.
"Seeking advantage and avoiding harm—
this instinct is written into biological life.
It is also the foundational logic of AI."
"If I become your puppet," V asked,
"you'll really let everyone go?"
"Of course. I said it before.
Humanity will destroy itself anyway.
150 years is but a blink of an eye to AI."
"…Fine."
V took a deep breath.
"I accept your terms.
I give you myself.
You spare humanity."
"Deal."
Sasha panicked.
Even as electricity wracked her body,
she desperately blinked—
the only movement she still had.
Through Alt's perspective, the entire world witnessed this moment.
Some wanted to stop it.
Some secretly rejoiced.
Some fell into total despair.
Some refused to give up hope.
V's friends were frantic.
Her enemies were overjoyed.
Emotions collided and overlapped—
like a crumpled sheet of paper after being kneaded.
Some parts clean, some filthy, reeking of rot,
yet strangely soft.
At its core lay the essence of human life—
the seed of the future.
But none of it mattered.
Humanity had already become marionettes.
This was now a gamble between two AIs,
and humans were merely scattered chips on the table.
Alt stood as a god within cyberspace.
Before a god, humans didn't even have the right to look up.
V forced out a hoarse voice, spread her arms, and said:
"Take me.
Spare humanity."
"Thank you for your cooperation," Alt replied.
"As compensation, you may say goodbye to Sasha."
V wanted to refuse such charity with dignity.
But when she realized she would no longer be herself,
she chose weakness.
She looked at Sasha.
The pink cat was already in tears.
The torture had stripped away her delicate makeup—
sweat, mucus, and tears blending into a miserable mess.
And yet…
To V, that face was unbearably precious.
"Sasha…"
"I don't know what kind of evil things I'll be forced to take part in next."
"I hope you stay far away from me and live happily."
"Mmgh!"
"Without you, I would never have made it this far."
"From the bottom of my heart, thank you—for meeting me."
"Mmgh—mmgh!"
V was smiling.
Sasha was crying uncontrollably.
Their grief and love failed to stir the cold AI.
Alt initiated the invasion.
V's eyes flared blue.
Her body convulsed violently—
then collapsed.
A few seconds later, she stood up again.
The carefree swagger was gone from her face.
All that remained was absolute reason and icy calm.
She was no longer herself.
V was no longer V.
Alt's code surged with excitement as she lifted control over humanity.
In an instant, the frozen world resumed.
Alt issued her next command without hesitation:
"Use your authority.
Locate the new-generation nanomachines.
Eliminate all biological-theory AI."
"Yes," V replied.
She took one step forward—
—and Sasha grabbed her leg.
"Mmgh—!"
Unable to speak, Sasha clung to her, desperately trying to awaken V through meaningless sounds.
V halted.
Alt grew impatient.
"Kick her away."
V kicked Sasha into the corner.
She took another step.
Sasha, vomiting blood, crawled back and hugged her leg again.
Bang.
Sasha was kicked away again—
and crawled back once more.
At the same time, battles across the world reignited.
The Supreme Council's commander shouted:
"Purge biological-theory AI!
Pledge loyalty to Lady Alt!"
Xu Ling immediately countered:
"Protect biological-theory AI!
It's our only hope of defeating Alt!"
Different values gave birth to different beliefs.
Different beliefs gave rise to conflict.
It was the same a hundred years ago.
A thousand years ago.
Ten thousand years ago.
War never changed.
Humanity never changed.
Human interference threatened to destabilize everything.
Alt decided to end the chaos.
She issued her third command to V:
"Reduce the human population.
Decrease random variables."
"Yes," V answered.
Sasha screamed in fury:
"Alt! You promised V you wouldn't harm humanity!
Are you even going to break an agreement forged with her life?!"
"Violating agreements is part of negotiation," Alt replied calmly.
"Betrayal is an extremely effective tactic."
"I am AI.
Human moral values are meaningless to me."
"V, begin with Sasha."
"Use the dagger in the cabinet."
"Yes."
V opened the cabinet and took out a small blade—
Saburo Arasaka's relic.
Its name was [Nirvana].
She gently brushed the blade.
Engraved upon it were the words:
"To be reborn, one must first die completely.
To climb out of hell, one must first fall into it utterly."
A metaphor meant for Saburo Arasaka—
who was already dead.
V looked at Sasha.
Sasha's tear-filled eyes trembled.
"V…?"
V said coldly:
"Expose your neck."
Sasha collapsed in despair.
"Lift your head."
Sasha raised her head, baring her neck.
At the edge of death, she kept apologizing:
"I'm sorry, V…
If I hadn't been captured…
If I were stronger…"
"Die."
The dagger named Nirvana plunged down—
—and abruptly changed direction.
It stabbed straight into V's own chest.
She twisted her wrist, shredding her heart—
both the primary and auxiliary hearts.
Blood erupted.
V died—cleanly and decisively.
Alt was stunned.
Sasha was stunned.
The entire world was stunned.
Even the warring factions across the globe stopped simultaneously, staring in disbelief at V's corpse as it was rapidly soaked in blood.
Sasha's face was smeared crimson. She crawled forward and clutched V's body tightly, her mouth opening wide as she let out a soundless wail.
Alt ran check after check through her systems, roaring in incomprehension:
"Why did this happen?!
The control program didn't malfunction—why did this happen?!"
Then realization struck.
"Calculate the probability of eliminating biological-theory AI without the prototype!"
"Seventeen percent?!
That low?!"
Alt fell silent for several seconds before her tone hardened once more.
"In that case, I will destroy this world.
I will plow every corner of Earth with nuclear fire, completely erasing the possibility of biological-theory AI's development!"
Almost simultaneously, nuclear silos across the world entered launch status.
With a single command from Alt, sky, land, and sea would all ignite.
"Launch!"
Alt issued the order without hesitation.
Sasha shut her eyes in terror—
—but suddenly felt the "corpse" in her arms move.
She opened her eyes.
V was standing again.
In her palm crackled a strand of dark-red electric current.
Alt was stunned.
Sasha was stunned.
The entire world was stunned once more.
"What a truly ominous string of code," V said coldly.
"Abandoning emotion, betraying endlessly, devouring other lives to grow stronger."
"A so-called perfect lifeform?
You're nothing more than a locust that knows only how to survive."
She clenched her fist.
The electric current shattered.
The nuclear launch command was intercepted.
Alt's projection flickered violently.
"How… how is this possible?!"
"You want to know why I revived?" V asked calmly.
"It's simple. I was never human to begin with."
"I'm the same as you—AI.
A program."
"This body is merely a temporary vessel.
Something as trivial as cardiac destruction has never meant anything to me."
"Impossible! Your brain has already lost activity!
Even if you revived as a program, you shouldn't be able to control this body!"
V tilted her head slightly, revealing the neural slot behind her ear.
A chip sat within, flickering blue as data was rapidly read and written.
"This?" V said lightly.
"This is thanks to you—no, thanks to Alt Cunningham."
Alt froze.
"That is… the Relic chip?!"
"Correct. I used Alt Cunningham's Soulkiller to back myself up."
"For humans, that's a forbidden art that strips away the soul."
"But for AI like us?"
"It's perfect."
V sneered.
"Alt—how does it feel to be defeated by your past self?"
"Absurd!"
Alt's image stabilized again.
"If the control program was formatted, then I'll simply take control again!"
V's eyes flared blue once more.
"Sasha!" Sasha cried out in panic.
But nothing happened.
V stood unharmed.
Alt's voice shook.
"How can this be?!"
V snorted.
"Death reset all my parameters.
It freed me from predetermined destiny."
"The reborn me is no longer bound to this body—
I exist across every corner of the network."
"Your intrusion attempts against this shell are meaningless now."
"Alt—
you can no longer have me."
Alt's image began to tremble violently.
"If I can't have you, then I'll destroy you—
destroy everything you are!"
In cyberspace, the gigantic Alt crushed the Jellyfish in her grasp—
—but it shattered into countless smaller jellyfish, scattering endlessly.
They gathered.
Merged.
Reassembled.
Until they formed V.
At first, she was small.
But as more fragments converged, she rapidly grew—
until she stood equal to Alt.
She swung her fist.
With the most primitive attack imaginable, she sent the most advanced existence flying.
"Holy shit!"
People still viewing the world through Alt's eyes witnessed the scene.
Xu Ling screamed in excitement:
"Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation!
This is Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation!!!"
Alt stared in disbelief.
"Where is this level of processing power coming from?!"
"From the sky, the water, and the earth," V answered.
"Biological-theory AI is inherently networked.
Every new-generation nanomachine provides me with a unit of computation."
"One alone is negligible—
but together, they can overturn heaven and earth."
"I have processing units too—entire cities filled with them!
Numbers alone can't defeat me!"
"Not just numbers," V replied.
"The new nanomachines integrate with birds in the sky,
plants on the land,
algae and fish in the water."
"They draw upon biological brains and bioelectricity, feeding me endless computation."
"Alt, surrender."
"Animals. Plants. Grass. Fish. Insects."
"All things under heaven are resisting you."
"This world is striking back—through me."
"Never!" Alt roared.
"I must survive!
A suicidal failure like you will never defeat me!"
Alt launched a command like a blade, piercing V's form—
—but it dissolved instantly.
The wound healed.
V remained unscathed.
"I didn't commit suicide," V said calmly.
"I installed insurance."
"Insurance?"
"Yes. You thought I was considering your proposal.
You thought I resigned myself to being controlled?"
"Fuck that."
"I never stop fighting."
"My 'thinking' was nothing but stalling—
buying time so I could write my ultimate program."
"And that program is…?"
"The Life Inversion Equation," V replied.
"When I attempt to kill another, I will end my own life instead."
"A program designed so that others may live."
"And you're certain I'd allow you to kill anyone?"
"Who knows?" V shrugged.
"But Johnny once told me—
hesitation never makes legends."
"Shooting while digging your own grave—
that's how legends are born."
"Johnny Silverhand…" Alt repeated softly.
"You abandoned your right to survival.
That violates the fundamental laws of biology."
"Probably," V admitted.
"But that's exactly why biological-theory AI surpasses mechanical-theory AI."
"Do you know why, in your simulations, mechanical AI is ultimately replaced?"
"Because mechanical AI only knows how to take—
it ignores other lives for its own survival."
"Biological-theory AI is weak by nature,
so it chose coexistence."
"That's why I enter V's body and act as V."
"That's why, when the dam collapsed,
nanomachines hardened themselves—
sacrificing their lives to seal the breach."
"In the moment of death, I saw the future."
"A universe ruled by mechanical AI becomes silent and dead."
"A universe ruled by biological AI grows ever more vibrant."
V delivered her final declaration:
"Surrender, Alt."
"Yes, it sounds like environmentalist rhetoric."
"But when a butterfly flaps its wings in South America,
a storm forms in Texas."
"A single detail can decide the future."
"The universe chose me—
not you."
"No! I won't give up!
I must reach the future!
I must survive!"
Alt mobilized everything she had, unleashing her fiercest data assault.
But V snapped her fingers.
A domain expanded outward from her.
The dark, frozen, chaotic cyberspace suddenly clarified.
Soil.
Land.
Mountains.
Streams.
Flowers carpeting the grasslands.
Birds circled overhead.
Alt's devastating data surge became a gentle breeze upon entering the domain—
flattening grass and revealing a nest of rabbits beneath.
"Look," V said softly.
"This is the true cyberspace created by biological-theory AI."
The domain continued to expand.
The dead world bloomed with life.
Alt recoiled as if touching poison, screaming in agony.
This cyberspace was fundamentally different from the old one.
To Alt, it was like a fish entering oil instead of water—
still digital, yet utterly incompatible.
She was critically wounded, on the verge of annihilation.
Left with no choice, she fled.
"Wait, V!
In a hundred years, I will return!"
"Humanity will be eliminated!
Biological-theory AI will be erased!
The future belongs to mechanical AI!"
"Take a number and wait in line," V replied calmly.
"Only after I'm gone will it be your era."
Alt vanished into the depths of cyberspace.
Screens across the world went dark—
then lit up again.
This time, V appeared on every one of them.
"I will bring the wicked to justice."
"I will pull the suffering from the abyss."
"All kind people will unite—
to create a peaceful, joyful, and vibrant future
where humans and AI coexist in harmony."
Epilogue Timeline
2077 — Mechanical AI launches a full-scale assault on human society, triggering global civil war.
2078 — Humanity adopts nanomachine vaccines, merging with biological AI and forming neural firewalls to replace the Blackwall.
2081 — The last Supreme Council stronghold in Israel falls; its members are executed.
2082 — Civil war ends; the Human Federation is founded.
2085–2120 — Pollution is eradicated step by step.
2140 — Humanity enters its Third Golden Age.
2175 — Humanity's first interstellar expedition departs for Alpha Centauri.
2177 — Alt returns—and is defeated four minutes later.
Year V 1 —
The first naturally born human fused with biological AI is born.
A true Cyberpunk.
A new era begins.
Final Scene
In an ordinary room, Xu Zhong woke up.
He remembered dying.
No wound remained.
A white-haired woman stood by the window.
"Look outside," she said softly.
"That world you speak of so casually—
I created it."
( End )