Players Invade Cyberpunk-Chapter 656 - 211: Their Respective Endings (Part 2)

"Intellectual property law?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

This Jackal knows his stuff.

"Intellectual property is only protected for fifty years after the applicant's death, you know. You've been dead 56 years, it's long expired."

"....."

What she said seems true.

Or what?

Is there someone who could claim copyright for an author's work that's been dead for over four hundred years?

That would be shameless.

"I can't give you the data, just take my life. You might as well kill me."

No one expected Brunan to close his eyes, as if daring these bandits to kill him.

"Those are the results of years of research by me and others. No way we're letting you corporate dogs profit from it. I'd rather let it rot in cyberspace."

When he mentioned this, his expression was scornful, as if he looked down on those massive companies outside, which hadn't progressed technologically over the decades, and had even regressed.

For someone who lived through the tech boom at the end of the 20th century, this mentality is understandable.

But, what he didn't expect was that the people surrounding him were not disappointed, instead, they glared at him, cracking their knuckles.

"AI is war loot too, give him a beating first, keep him alive, then tie him up and bring him back for the reward!"

"Exactly!"

"What are you gonna do? I'm a rogue AI!"

The players didn't care and charged at him with a shout.

"Specium Ray!"

"Eight Divisions Light Wheel!"

"Shove it in his mouth!"

"Low IQ, huh? Idiot, huh? Acting tough, huh? Still pretending?"

"Rogue AI? I'm a cyber cop! You'll behave once British police get to Belgium!"

——————

In sparsely populated areas, news always travels slower. If the journalists aren't aware, it can take days or even half a month for people to find out.

The fact that the Chaotic Blade Association was operating in the Golden City area wasn't a secret. After all, Huang Ban had already been hit there once. Some guessed that the Chaotic Blade Association was preparing a large-scale retaliation against Horizon Corporation, especially given the prior night raid example at Stone Ridge Mountain.

If Horizon Corporation were public, this would have been reflected in their stock prices.

Many secretly speculated about when this conflict would start, how long it would last, and how it would conclude.

But nearly everyone guessed the same outcome for the conflict: Horizon Corporation's project in Big Sur getting crushed by Chaotic Blade Association, military tech and Huang Ban seizing the chance to clash, with Horizon Corporation split into pieces, its profits divided.

However, the first news to reach Night City was not that Chaotic Blade Association moved against Horizon Corporation.

"Huh? What do you mean, it's over?"

"What do you mean, a few thousand were beaten by Horizon Corporation's thousand in three days?"

"Didn't military tech step in?"

"Was Channel 54 news just sitting around? Why did they report it so late?"

Everyone watching Channel 54's news report was utterly shocked.

In fact, when the footage of the conflict site was sent back by Colonel Anderson, the military tech itself took days just to digest the news.

Several thousand troops hadn't even made it out of the gorge before being obliterated.

No one would believe such a thing if you told them.

Not even a dog would.

Seriously.

Yet, the truth was right there: Over two thousand Chaotic Blade Association prisoners were now laboring hard to build a guardhouse for themselves under supervision.

Horizon Corporation was growing at an extraordinarily rapid pace, a speed that surprised even Night City's ordinary citizens, not to mention military tech.

Military tech even learned one more thing.

The special operations director of Huang Ban, Albertson, was about to die.

Late at night, a rickety van stopped by the river in Haywood.

Two Huang Ban agents dragged a severely beaten woman out of the vehicle.

Albertson was no longer dressed in high-class suits. She wore only a thin undergarment. Her exposed skin was riddled with deep, bone-revealing wounds. Many areas had already begun to turn white and fester.

The bone-chilling sea breeze in late December brought a hint of lucidity to the nearly unconscious Albertson.

But she was unable to move, all her body implants disabled, with no way to escape the agents' grip.

Even more despairing than her current situation was what Huang Ban Meizhi said to her.

"Us? Who's 'us' with you?"

Albertson had always considered herself part of Huang Ban's core, overlooking the masses with the major board members, dividing profits.

In the end, she realized, as death approached, that in the eyes of the Huang Ban family, she was no different from those people casually killed by street punks.

Broken parts can be replaced.

Pain, sorrow.

None of these emotions registered in Albertson's mind. She was now numb, quietly awaiting death.

The agents hoisted her body, placing her into a barrel filled with cement.

From her toes to her calves, then to her waist.

Albertson's body slowly sank into the viscous cement.

If not for Huang Ban Meizhi wanting to convene a board meeting to witness Albertson's execution, she might've been swapped for someone else and sent to the Cleaner's dissecting table.

As her chest sunk into the still-warm cement, Albertson began to feel her breathing becoming labored. Even her artificial lungs couldn't force open the cement for oxygen. This torturous pain made her slightly open her eyes.