The helicopter roared into the sky, tearing through the clouds, and the top of Arasaka Tower was revealed before Johnny.
There, amidst the complex exposed piping, the area was already covered with vigilant Agents and Drone Turrets. The moment the helicopter appeared, countless streams of bullets flew toward Johnny and his companions, accompanied by the sound of gunfire like popping beans.
Then Johnny and his crew began their counterattack. Under the furious firepower of the Mounted Machine Gun, the Agents and Turret Guns on the rooftop were all blasted to pieces by Johnny.
The rooftop was secured, the helicopter landed, and Johnny, Rogue, and the Hacker "Spider" Murphy headed into the building to plant the bomb.
"Johnny, you haven't forgotten the plan, have you?" The young Rogue spoke during a lull while rushing into the stairwell.
"Get the bomb onto the elevator, activate it, and let gravity do the rest." Johnny's tone was dismissive, as if blowing up Arasaka Tower was no different from holding a concert.
"Then the explosion, the earth shaking, the tower collapsing, total chaos, screaming everywhere, and finally, the curtain call."
Afterward, under Spider Murphy's hacking attack, the three successfully broke into the building's interior and, after fighting their way through a path of Agents, reached the elevator.
After Johnny activated the "Bushido No. 2" Micro-Nuke, he exited the elevator shaft.
But afterward, Johnny and Rogue got into an argument. Rogue demanded extraction, but Johnny wanted to implant Virus Software into Arasaka's Subnet.
Johnny's purpose in doing this was to destroy Arasaka's Network Security System and release his ex-girlfriend, Alt Cunningham, who was trapped in the Arasaka Network.
Of course, Rogue was stubborn, but in the end, she decided to wait for Johnny.
After that, Johnny fought his way down, found the Terminal, and input the virus. All his objectives were achieved, but trouble followed immediately.
The door suddenly exploded, and Johnny fell off the platform, followed by a Big Guy clad in heavy armor jumping down.
"Adam Smasher." Berry took one look and assessed him as a piece of equipment with only two ounces of meat left.
Although Hammersmith hadn't been fully cybernetically modified yet, Berry instantly recognized him by that pale Skull.
And Johnny was finished, knocked down by Hammersmith in just a few moves.
What happened next was no different: Johnny escaped to the rooftop at the last moment, successfully grabbing Rogue's hand from the cockpit as the helicopter ascended.
But a few blasts from Hammersmith's Hand Cannon shot Johnny down.
Finally, after completing his Historical Mission, Johnny was knocked out by Hammersmith in a few punches and captured by Arasaka.
Johnny was finally taken aboard Arasaka's Aero-Carrier, where, in the final moments, he met the head of the Arasaka Corporation he had always fought against, Saburo Arasaka.
The two finally met, but clearly, Johnny was in the posture of a defeated person.
"Why did you do this?" "To end the madness you brought."
"I find that those who lie often deceive themselves first. But the dead are not like that..." Saburo Arasaka, who had been facing away, turned around to look at Johnny. "The dead are too loud; they are incapable of lying." "Words of the dead... listeners must bow."
The two people, whose Worldviews were fundamentally opposed, had no constructive conversation. In short, they expressed mutual contempt, and then Johnny was burnt to a crisp by the Soulkiller device on his head, his soul packaged and compressed into the Mikoshi.
After viewing Silverhand's memory, the three were left in shock. Finally, Rogue recovered first.
"...That was the last thing Johnny experienced." Rogue took off the head ring and sat up, but the sadness on her face still hadn't faded.
Clearly, even though she cursed Johnny as worthless, deep down, she undoubtedly still had a Forest dedicated to him. Otherwise, she wouldn't have risked life and death with him time and again.
And now, reliving Johnny's death experience again, especially so realistically, she clearly felt uneasy.
However, the current Rogue was no longer the Volatile Punk who constantly threw tantrums. She quickly suppressed her grief and looked at the two others who had also exited the simulation.
"Well, is there any..." "Wait, there's a Reflexes!"
Berry's shout made everyone around tense up, and their eyes instinctively looked toward the Black Box she was holding.
The Aperture on the Set-top Box-like device flashed intermittently, the bright light reflecting off Berry's excited face.
"Judy, quickly record the data! Write down this Frequency and Band. Johnny is about to wake up!" "Yes!" Judy hurriedly operated the Terminal again.
Seeing their actions, Rogue also focused her mind, stood up, and gathered around the Black Box.
"Shit, this? Where the hell is this?" As the blue light flashed, a male Electronic Voice sounded, and it was eighty to ninety percent similar to Johnny's voice that the three had heard earlier.
As he spoke, the Aperture on the Black Box also flashed with the image of a long-haired man wearing sunglasses, but it kept flickering on and off; maintaining the signal was extremely difficult.
"What the fuck?!" Following a tearing sound from the Electronic Voice, the blue light went out, and the man's voice and the Holographic Image disappeared simultaneously, as if they had never existed.
"What, that's it? That's all?" Hacker Nigus and the Big Guy Bodyguard were dumbfounded.
They had just watched the three of them whispering for ages, and then that strange Black Box lit up, projected a Hologram, cursed twice, and that was it?
"You guys aren't trying to fool us with a Holographic Tape, are you?" Rogue's two subordinates looked suspiciously at Berry and the other two.
They had wasted time believing all that nonsense about Resurrection. Was this all there was to it?
"Quiet." But Rogue held up a hand to interrupt them. Her expression was grave; she didn't look like she had been fooled.
"That was Johnny. With his shitty temper, he's still like that even after becoming an Electronic Person."
After watching the chip finish cursing, Rogue looked back at Berry.
"But what does this mean? Didn't you say you were going to resurrect Johnny? Why did his signal cut out again." Rogue stated that she simply didn't want to give up halfway, and she certainly wasn't concerned about that bastard.
"It's fine!" Although Johnny's signal had disconnected less than two seconds after reviving, Berry still looked extremely excited.
"We've already recorded the Band where Johnny's data is active. Now, all we need to do is use this Band to stimulate him, and he'll be able to fully revive very soon."
Berry was very excited. Not only had her hypothesis succeeded, giving Johnny Silverhand hope of Revival, but more importantly, this valuable Data Fluctuation during Johnny's Revival would help her understand how the relic chip packages human consciousness and how it releases it.
She firmly believed that this item would absolutely aid Her Plan.
The current stage was that she needed to at least be able to replicate the functions of Soulkiller and the relic chip, and now, she felt she was close to achieving that goal.
"Alright, Rogue, thank you for your help!" Berry sincerely thanked Rogue. "I will revive Johnny, and maybe I can even get him a body later. I'll contact you when there's progress."
Rogue didn't speak, just nodded silently. Clearly, she wasn't sure what attitude she should adopt when Johnny returned—fear? Or joy?
Rogue's hesitation lasted until Berry and her team packed up and left, still without an answer.
"Boss, if that thing really contains Silverhand's consciousness, and you care about it so much, why don't we just take it?"
The Big Guy wearing Goggles suggested this to Rogue. He couldn't understand why the Boss would let those few people leave if she valued that item so much.
"A Technological Creation of that caliber—do you think just anyone can handle it?" Rogue asked rhetorically, her expression unchanged.
"What about Johnny Silverhand? He's just a Residual Soul in a chip. It would be useless for us to take it."
"Besides, we are Businesspeople. Don't immediately resort to stealing everything. Think before you speak next time. I won't remind you again." "Yes, Boss..."
The Goggled Bodyguard rubbed his Bald Head, feeling slightly embarrassed for his tactlessness.
Kikyo carried a Briefcase and walked behind Judy, while Berry ahead was in good spirits.
Having perfectly completed the mission today, she was already thinking of finding a place to eat a Substantial Meal. Unfortunately, V was lying in bed and couldn't come, but it didn't matter; she could bring a portion back for her.
"Judy, how about we go grab a bite together after we leave the Bar?" Berry extended the invitation to Little Beauty Judy.
V was resting in bed recovering from injuries, but her Little Girlfriend was outside hitting on other women behind her back. Sad~~~
"Uh... sure." Judy paused before responding. She couldn't quite adapt to Berry's jumpy thought process. Just moments ago, they were engaged in Game Theory Negotiation with the Big Boss of Afterlife, and now she suddenly jumped to talking about food.
"But, can you pay this time?"
Judy, remembering how she had just been scammed out of the cost of three drinks, narrowed her eyes and became wary of Berry.
This guy, he wouldn't try to rip her off again, would he?
"Hey, that's a bit distant of you."
Berry shrugged.
This Judy was judging a gentleman's heart with a villain's mind. She did millions in business in a minute, so she wasn't short a meal's worth of money. *Smooch*
Berry nodded, confirming that she would definitely have Kikyo deal with her later.
She said the nice words, the Chassis did the dirty work; it was a perfect division of labor.
"Let's go to Chinatown and eat the most authentic Sichuan hotpot, made by genuine Sichuanese people, definitely not some knock-off Chinese food like General Tso's Chicken."
Berry thought of the infamous General Tso's Chicken and wanted to stick out her tongue.
That stuff was sickeningly sweet; she didn't know if the chicken had drowned in syrup. This kind of fusion Chinese food, neither Chinese nor Western, pleased no one, and made her want to gag after eating it.
However, just as the three were about to cross the crowd and leave Afterlife, a voice called out to them, or rather, called out to Berry, who was leading the way.
"Hey, you're the famous Berry, aren't you!"
A middle-aged man in a suit walked up enthusiastically, reaching out to shake Berry's hand. When he saw that Berry had no intention of shaking hands, he smiled and withdrew his hand, not at all annoyed.
"Miss Berry, I have a tough job here. I wonder if you're interested?"
Seeing the other party's mysterious demeanor, Berry casually crossed her arms.
What kind of tough job? Biting a lighter?
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