Chapter 172 You have to learn how to lose before you know how to win!
"V, this party won't end in two hours. You should hide nearby and wait for me to send you a message."

Song Zhaomei's specific plan was that when the guests were about to leave the top floor of Bao Shiqing, V would find a place to hide in advance.

As long as Hansen can get rid of the extra Hellhound soldiers on this floor, the rest will be easy.

At that time, Song Zhaomei would naturally give V a hint and let him sneak around to the designated location.

As soon as Hansen took out the AI ​​neural matrix device, she immediately attacked Hansen and others!

Of course, close combat is not Song Zhaomei's strong point, so she needs V's help. As long as they work together to kill Hansen, the task will be almost done.

During this period, Song Zhaomei will activate the Black Wall Invasion Protocol and control the entire Dog Town's drones and mechanical devices by herself, causing internal fighting in Dog Town.

At that time, the Nether Dog soldiers in Dog Town will be slaughtered indiscriminately by drones and combat robots, and they will be able to escape safely.

"Also, when I use the Blackwall Intrusion Protocol, you must protect me and not let anyone interrupt my program."

Song Zhaomei specifically reminded V.

This matter is very important and concerns her life and death.

While using the Blackwall Intrusion Protocol, Song Zhaomei had to focus all her energy on controlling those mechanical equipment.

Having entered a semi-real world, semi-cyberspace state, she has almost no melee ability.

If she were to be hurt by someone getting close to her, her consciousness would most likely be devoured by the backlash of the black wall.

In addition, the overloaded information flow caused by the use of the black wall will hit Song Zhaomei's whole body like a tsunami, and her body will become extremely weak and hot.

Yes, literally scalding hot.

Song Zhaomei's entire body prosthesis is made of a metal with strong heat dissipation properties, but even so, when she enters an overloaded state, her entire body will still be as hot as a fireball.

Considering the weight of Song Zhaomei's prosthetic devices, she looks as light as a bird on the surface, but in fact, she may be heavier than the 300-pound fat man DeShawn!
Therefore, if it were a mercenary of average strength, there would be no way to get Song Zhaomei out of Dog Town safely.

"Okay, I see."

V nodded in response.

After learning about Song Zhaomei's specific plans and requirements, V suddenly understood why she chose him.

I guess apart from myself, there are really few mercenaries who can do such a difficult job.

However, if V really wanted to carry out the next action as Song Zhaomei said, then he would have to sit there and act like a puppet for these two hours.

Everything will change if it is delayed, not to mention that V is just a fake identity.

If these Hellhound soldiers were to conduct a personnel check and discover a non-existent person like me, we would be in big trouble!
Fortunately, this problem that Song Zhaomei did not consider has been solved by Li De.

Because the specific task that Li De assigned to V was to kill the hacker brother and sister downstairs first, continue to stay in Bao Shi Qing under their identities, and get close to Hansen more easily!

But if V wants to accomplish this task, he must explain the situation clearly to Song Zhaomei, otherwise they will easily be exposed in front of Hansen.

Therefore, V needs Song Zhaomei to take the initiative to cooperate with him to complete this task!

But would Song Zhaomei really agree to let Li De and Alex suddenly intervene? What if she chose to expose Li De to Hansen, wouldn't they all die?

Just when V was thinking hard about how to talk to Song Zhaomei, Li De, who was supposed to be lurking on the top floor of Bao Shiqing, appeared behind Song Zhaomei at some point.

"Xiao Song, long time no see."

A low, hoarse, and vicissitudes of life voice sounded, and Song Zhaomei's attention was instantly drawn back to behind her.

When Song Zhaomei saw clearly that the person coming was Li De who had disappeared for a long time, her first reaction was guilt, followed by indescribable complex emotions.

Li De was the guide who introduced Song Zhaomei to the Joint Intelligence Bureau. The relationship between the two could be described as close as that of master and disciple, and they also had a life-long friendship.

But in the Ganbi Building incident a year ago, Song Zhaomei, under the instructions of Miles, personally cut off all connections between Li De and the CIA.

This directly led to Reed's inability to contact any available forces in the outside world, including the CIA agents lurking in Night City, who could only watch Reed's miserable death indifferently.

If Miles is the iron-faced judge who ordered Li De's life, then Song Zhaomei is the cold executioner who carried out this task.

And the person who was about to be killed by her happened to be her mentor and close friend with whom she had a life-and-death relationship.

Although Li De did not really die due to a series of coincidences, few people could endure the pain of being backstabbed by his respected boss and his disciple, whom he treated as his own son.

Song Zhaomei can completely empathize with this point.

"Li De, I'm so sorry... How have you been lately?"

Song Zhaomei lowered her head subconsciously and dodged Li De's gaze.

"I know your difficulties, Xiao Song."

"I never blamed you either."

Li De could see that Song Zhaomei felt guilty about him, but he never hated Song Zhaomei. He even never blamed Miles for giving up on him.

Since the moment he joined the CIA, Reed understood that this was the fate of being a CIA agent. He had to accept it and get used to such pain.

"V and I came here today because we wanted to help you get the AI ​​neural matrix device and you out of Dog Town safely."

Of course, it was impossible for Li De to tell Song Zhaomei his intentions truthfully, and he would never mention Miles' name in front of her.

He knew very well how much Song Zhaomei hated Miles and the CIA as an organization, otherwise Song Zhaomei would never have let Hansen use a missile to shoot down the Sky-Sky-1.

Li De's words surprised Song Zhaomei. She was a little confused as to whether Li De came here to take her to Miles or he really wanted to help her.

After thinking it over, the silent Song Zhaomei chose to look at V on the side, trying to find out from V whether what Li De said was true.

There was no way. Li De was also a professional agent who had received rigorous training. Just by listening to what he said, it was impossible to tell whether it was true or false.

Only V, who knew the situation, knew whether what Li De said was true, so Song Zhaomei needed V's personal promise to guarantee Li De who showed up rashly.

Otherwise, she would rather let Hansen drag Reed out and execute him now!

At this time, Li De also noticed Song Zhaomei's thoughts, and he looked at V with a suggestive look, hoping that V would keep the secret.

Don't leak secrets, put the overall situation first!

Facing the simultaneous gazes from Song Zhaomei and Li De, V, who reacted quickly, immediately understood what they meant. After a brief thought, V nodded to Song Zhaomei:

"Yes, Li De and I are here to help you. This operation is too risky. With more helpers, our chances of success will be higher."

"Just think of it as an insurance policy. It would be best if it is not used. But if it is used, then we will not suffer any loss."

After seeing that V was willing to vouch for Li De's words, Song Zhaomei reluctantly believed what he said.

She had no opinion on Li De himself, she was simply taking responsibility for her own freedom. Song Zhaomei did not want any unexpected changes in this operation.

However, this does not mean that Song Zhaomei will completely relax her vigilance against Li De.

She knew Li De's loyal nature. If Li De really dared to suddenly attack her at the critical moment, Song Zhaomei was confident that she and V could deal with him.

As long as V is on her side, no one can stop her from escaping from Dog Town successfully!

"Okay V, I believe you."

Song Zhaomei looked at V deeply, but fortunately she did not realize that V had lied to her.

When Li De saw that Song Zhaomei would rather believe an outsider like V than what he said, he felt somewhat helpless and bitter.

I don’t know why, he clearly gave everything for the revival of the New America, but in the end, not only did he not get the honor he deserved, but he kept losing what belonged to him.

The recognition from his superiors, the trust among his colleagues and friends, and even Alex's good impression of him were slowly disappearing.

But now is not the time to be sentimental. His partner Alex is ready. All he needs is V to go with him to deal with the two European hackers downstairs. "Xiao Song, we need your help now. You must know about this."

Immediately, Li De told Song Zhaomei that he was going to assassinate the European hacker and let V and Alex pretend to be Americ and Auror.

When Song Zhaomei learned that they were going to carry out such a risky action plan, she couldn't help but worry for V in her heart.

This is really too dangerous!

Aurore and Aymeric are top company elites. The IQ of this brother and sister is very high, and even professional agents find it difficult to pry anything out of them.

Not to mention gaining their trust and favor, let alone killing them in front of so many Nether Dog soldiers. This plan is no different from walking into a trap!
"I advise you not to do this. Aurore and Aymeric are not fools. What if your trick is discovered by others?"

"I'm afraid that by then even I will be affected by you."

Song Zhaomei frowned. She was not optimistic about the plan arranged by Li De at all. The risk was too great. If she was not careful, all the efforts would be wasted.

Just when Song Zhaomei was about to say no to Li De's request, V suddenly smiled and said, "Don't worry, Song Zhaomei, I'll take care of everything."

"Li De's plan is feasible. We still have two hours. If we don't take the initiative to do something, it's actually not safe."

V is as confident as ever, and the people standing behind him at this moment are far more than just Johnny Silverhand, there is also the powerful Leon and LA Company!

This is where his confidence comes from. In any critical moment, Li Ang will protect him.

Since V had promised her, Song Zhaomei knew that she couldn't win over these two people, so she had to nod and agree to them.

"Well, be careful."

"Contact me immediately if anything happens. Don't be stubborn. If something happens, run away."

At this point, Song Zhaomei can only place her hopes on V and Li De.

"Well, take care of yourself too, we'll see you later."

As soon as the words fell, V and Li De immediately turned around and went downstairs, and hurried towards the gambling table in the corner.

According to the plan arranged by Li De, V will take the initiative to talk to Aurore and Emeric, play a few cards with them, and deliberately lose some money.

Once the hacker brother and sister get the upper hand, Li De, who is responsible for pretending to be the bartender, will serve them a few drinks in time.

Of course, there is a trace amount of diuretic sprinkled by Li De in the wine. This diuretic will not take effect immediately, but will only take effect after 20 minutes.

The advantage of doing this is that it can alleviate Aurore and Aymeric's suspicion as much as possible and allow them to go to the toilet to pee.

At that time, Reed and Alex, who had been lying in ambush in the toilet in advance, would take the opportunity to assassinate them!
Eventually Alex would use a high-fidelity Mimic Mask to disguise himself as Auror Cassel.

After receiving the message from Reed, V went to the bathroom and disguised himself as Emeric Cassel.

Although the Joint Intelligence Agency's high-imitation mimicry masking device is not as powerful as the LA company's original version, it can achieve almost the same functions.

The only problem is that their anti-counterfeiting properties are a bit poor, and more advanced scanning equipment can detect them.

However, for a small place like Dog Town, Hansen probably wouldn't need to use very advanced scanning equipment, so it wouldn't be a big problem.

"V, this is all I have to tell you. You must remember it firmly and not make any mistakes, because we only have this one chance!"

Li De's expression became more serious than ever. Today might be the last mission he would carry out in his life, and he didn't want anyone to make the slightest mistake.

In this plan with many details and extremely difficult difficulty, V plays the most critical role. The success or failure depends entirely on V's performance!
"Don't worry, I know what's going on."

V was in a very relaxed state of mind. He had handled at least 800 commissions that were more difficult than this one, if not a thousand.

It's just playing with two hackers. What's the big deal? It's a piece of cake for him.

"Then it's up to you!"

After that, Reed and V officially started to act separately. V went to play cards with the European hacker pair, while Reed put on a bartender's clothes so that it would be easier for him to deliver the drugged drinks.

After a while, V walked to the gambling table in the corner of the hall. There were not many guests here to gamble, only this pair of European hackers.

The reason why Aurore and Aymeric were sitting here playing cards was that they were completely bored, but they didn't want to have unnecessary contact with other people.

After all, none of the powerful people who come here to attend the party are easy to mess with.

"You two, do you mind if there is one more player here?"

At this time, V took the initiative to talk to Aurore and Aymeric, and his words and actions revealed absolute confidence and calmness.

This suddenly aroused the interest of Aurore, who had already found playing cards boring.

Who would refuse a handsome guy's initiative to chat up?

"There is no gambling table that does not welcome players. As long as you are not afraid of losing everything but your underwear, you can sit down and play at any time."

Aurora looked V up and down with great interest. She was trying to determine V's true identity from his clothing, appearance, words and actions.

And Aymeric kept his mouth shut, staring silently at V who appeared out of nowhere. It was obvious that he was also observing V and secretly guessing his identity.

“Real players will not just accept the result of ‘winning’. They must get used to how to ‘lose’ before they can truly learn how to ‘win’.”

V responded to Aurore with a smile while exchanging 10 Euro chips from the dealer.

"Wow! Brother, did you hear that? What this handsome guy said seems quite interesting!"

Aurore spoke to Emeric in a coquettish manner in sexy French that was as smooth as Dove's.

She is somewhat interested in V.

Aymeric didn't say anything. He still just stared at V from time to time, but more often he was observing the card games on the gambling table.

Seeing that Aymeric was still wary of him and his attention was on the card table, V simply invited him to gamble.

"Since you two are here to relax, why don't we play a few cards?"

V took the initiative to attack the European hacker in front of him: "If I lose, you can take the money. If I win, you can buy me a drink. How about that?"

Upon hearing that there was such a good opportunity to make money for free, Aurore was so happy that she immediately agreed with a smile.

However, before accepting V's invitation to gamble, Aurore, out of politeness, did not forget to make a brief introduction with V.

"My name is Aurore, and he is my brother Aymeric. My brother doesn't like to talk much unless you can talk about a topic he likes, hehe."

After saying that, Aurore asked the dealer to prepare to deal the cards. The gambling game they played was very simple, it was purely a competition of point numbers.

Since the dealer randomly draws cards during the dealing process, there is no technical competition and the outcome depends entirely on luck.

"For a man like Mr. Emerick who is very frugal with words, I don't think the results of the gambling on this small card table would be pleasing to him."

V took the initiative to change the topic to the silent Emeric. Sure enough, as soon as the other party heard V's words, he immediately turned his head and looked at V.

Seeing that the other party had taken the bait, V was secretly delighted.

According to the information provided by Alex, Emeric, who works for the World Satellite Communications Network, has a keen interest in current affairs.

To put it bluntly, he is just a keyboard politics enthusiast. He usually likes to talk to others about company games, confrontations between bigwigs and so on.

Unfortunately, few people here talked about current affairs, so Aymeric remained silent.

Immediately, V tentatively talked about how Hansen would definitely be favored by the Cuban group and European companies after shooting down the Sky-1 airship.

From now on, you will soar to the sky and become a famous figure in the future.

Sure enough, when Aymeric, who had always looked down on Hansen, heard V praising such a small-time warlord, he could no longer suppress the political spirit in his body.

(End of this chapter)