Rain didn’t show much emotion regarding this situation; or rather, because he had seen it so often, he had become somewhat indifferent.
In any case, what he needed to do now was review the work left behind by his predecessor and see if any remaining hidden informants could be useful for his upcoming tasks.
He sincerely hoped the previous director wasn’t some useless freeloader; otherwise, his life in the coming days might not be very pleasant…
After casually activating the office’s security mode, Rain opened the mission files left by his predecessor.
The so-called security mode referred to a total lockdown state of the office—a double isolation in both the network and physical sense.
During security mode, those with insufficient clearance were completely unable to disturb the personnel inside, and no information could leak out.
Of course…
this mode generally carried a certain risk: if someone took the opportunity to carry out an assassination…
it was likely no one would know for a long time.
Provided, of course, that the opponent could intercept the user’s biometric monitoring signals.
[Beep!
Authentication passed.
Office owner: Rain Vermilles.
Security mode is now active…
Network security protection enabled, netrunners deployed…
Access permissions locked!]
“Hmm, let’s see…”
As files were retrieved one by one, the arrangements regarding the Special Operations Department began to surface.
Among them, Rain saw the original plans concerning him.
Included were evaluations of him, where his predecessor had labeled him as ‘dangerous.’ It was clear the man had been wary of him.
Looking at it now, however, that wary superior hadn’t met a particularly pleasant end…
After expressionlessly skipping over that piece of information, Rain focused his attention on other matters.
Aside from some common purge and decapitation missions, the most prominent primary tasks in Night City were directed at Militech, Biotechnica, and Dogtown.
“Hmm…
It seems that little pawn I was told to set up against Militech earlier was based on these instructions…”
After flipping through the files for a bit, Rain discovered that the operations against Militech were essentially a very long-term project.
This included the moves against Biotechnica and Dogtown, which were actually intended to target Militech.
Thus, after making a brief note of the Militech-related tasks, Rain focused his main attention on the other two.
As for Dogtown…
it was the same principle.
He didn’t plan to intervene too much until a suitable opportunity arose.
The higher-ups’ requirement was to squeeze Militech’s market share in Dogtown while strengthening Arasaka’s control over it.
This was also long-term work, which meant…
“Biotechnica, huh…
Hmm, they’ve done quite a bit of work for Militech lately, and even stabbed Arasaka in the back in return…
Heh, it really is all about profit.”
With a light chuckle, Rain roughly determined the strategy for Biotechnica.
It was the same old trio: assassinations, digging up dirt, and a media bombardment.
The only thing to watch for was the scale of the plan; at the very least…
he couldn’t move against Biotechnica’s key figures.
The relationship between the two sides hadn’t reached that point yet; after all, they weren’t trying to start a war.
If his operations caused a major rift in their relations…
he would have to resign in disgrace and “sacrifice” himself for Arasaka, just like Jenkins’ end.
Clearly a victim of internal corporate infighting, yet displayed by Arasaka as a model employee…
“Hmm…
besides these…
there’s an access request from Adam Smasher?
And it’s already been approved?”
Rain was momentarily stunned when he saw this, but then became interested.
He was quite curious about this fellow who had modified his entire body until there wasn’t a scrap of decent flesh left.
However, Smasher himself was actually something of a hedonist.
Well…
his brain wasn’t exactly stupid either; it was just that most of the time, people only cared about his physique and ignored the existence of his mind.
Calling him a hedonist…
was mainly because, besides his combat chassis, he had a ‘pretty boy’ model specifically for entertainment…
which included the one used when being intimate with Michiko.
It was said to bear a striking resemblance to Elvis Presley…
“A new cyberware developed by the R&D Department?
Because the usage requirements are too high, they want to collect Smasher’s physical data as a reference…
and Smasher also requested to visit me?
Hmm…
that’s quite something…”
Rain was slightly surprised to see this, though it didn’t last long.
He could roughly guess why he had caught Smasher’s attention; in a sense, his track record over the years had been extremely impressive.
“It wouldn’t hurt to exchange some insights.
If there’s a chance, I might even try to spar with him.
I wonder if Smasher would be willing…”
At the thought, Rain felt his hands itch for a fight, but he felt the likelihood of Smasher agreeing wasn’t very high.
If they were to spar…
their compatibility wasn’t particularly high.
His primary combat style relied on the Sandevistan and masterful swordsmanship, while Smasher…
relied on heavy firepower suppression and his own use of the Sandevistan.
In other words, if they sparred, it could easily result in one side being maimed; they wouldn’t be able to hold back…
“We’ll see how it goes when the time comes…
But cyberware development, with a connection to Smasher…
does that mean the Cyber-Titan?”
Leaning back slightly in his chair, Rain rubbed his chin.
As someone who also held a position in the R&D Department, he had some insights into cyberware.
Its performance in the anime was quite exaggerated, but the prerequisite was…
that thing actually being usable as a piece of universal equipment.
Otherwise…
given its performance and conditions in the anime, its utility for Arasaka was actually quite limited.
This was true even for Smasher, because the target was simply too large, making it easy to be singled out on certain battlefields.
This was even more true in a city.
A massive body often couldn’t perform effective assassinations and would cause a huge commotion.
It wasn’t suitable for individuals like Smasher, who already possessed powerful solo combat capabilities.
“Still, the Cyber-Titan project was initiated quite early…”
Rain nodded and closed all the data he was reviewing, sealing it away.
Only after finishing all this did he give the command to deactivate the security mode.
“Deactivate security mode.”
[Beep!
Authentication passed.
Security mode deactivated!]