Night City never slept.
Neon lights flickered across Japantown's narrow streets, and the steady clatter of pachinko machines echoed through the parlor like metallic rain.
In an instant—
Arthur Vale had only meant to casually probe the woman's ICE, nothing more than a routine check. Just a light touch. A quick skim for data.
But the moment his neural interface brushed against her network—
He froze.
Her ICE protection was unbelievably thick.
Not just good. Not corporate standard. Not mid-tier executive level.
It was the thickest defensive layer Arthur had ever encountered in Night City.
Even stronger than the security he had once cracked around Mayor Lucius Rhyne.
Arthur's lips curled slightly.
"Heh… now this is interesting."
This wasn't some random corpo tourist slumming it in Japantown.
This was someone important.
He increased his RAM allocation, boosting processing threads, sliding deeper into the layered encryption like a knife through synthetic silk. Silent. Precise.
And what he uncovered made his pulse jump.
---
[Outer Identity: Kang Tao Weapons R&D Department Employee — Evelyn Shaw. Trauma Team Gold Member Client.]
[Internal Corporate Record: Kang Tao Board of Directors — Victoria Kross.]
---
Arthur blinked.
Then slowly leaned back in his chair.
"Big fish," he murmured internally. "Definitely a big fish."
Not just Kang Tao.
A board member.
And she was sitting right next to him in a public pachinko parlor like some bored corpo tourist.
His mind immediately shifted into overdrive.
Kang Tao wasn't just another arms manufacturer. They were one of the major megacorps rivaling Arasaka and Militech. Weapons, drones, AI combat systems. Ruthless expansionists.
And now one of their board directors was here.
Alone.
And unaware.
Better yet—
He had just broken through her dual-layer ICE without triggering a single alarm.
That meant her intrusion detection didn't even know he existed.
If there was ever a moment to leave a mark—
It was now.
Arthur didn't hesitate.
Without any visible motion, he injected a subtle payload into her personal neuro-system.
Not destructive.
Not malicious.
A carefully crafted "affection-maxed" Trojan—an influence algorithm that would subtly adjust emotional weighting parameters in her neural responses.
A puppet string.
Light. Invisible.
Undetectable.
By the time he finished, he was already multitasking—sitting casually beside her, feeding marbles into a pachinko machine as if nothing had happened.
He didn't let his surveillance lapse for a second.
The entire parlor remained under his passive scan.
Across the building—
Inside a private tatami-style room—
A low wooden tea table sat beneath soft lantern lighting. Thin smoke curled from a brown ceramic teapot.
Seated gracefully behind it was Wakako Okada, fixer queen of Japantown.
She wore a pristine white kimono and thin-framed glasses, adjusting her pipe with calm precision. Age had not diminished her presence. If anything, it sharpened it.
The sliding door burst open.
A furious man stepped inside.
But the moment he met Wakako's gaze—
His anger dissolved.
He dropped to his knees.
"Wakako-san," he said softly, bowing his head. "I was insulted by a Kang Tao woman outside. I want information on her."
Wakako did not look impressed.
"Since this is business," she said gently, "please stand. Have tea."
She tapped her interface lightly.
Within seconds, data flowed across her retinal display.
"Information on this woman… 2,000 eurodollars."
The man's optics glowed blue as he transferred the funds instantly.
Wakako poured him tea.
He drank it in one burning gulp.
"She is registered as Evelyn Shaw," Wakako continued calmly. "Kang Tao Weapons R&D Department. Recently transferred to Night City. Visits Japantown frequently. Enjoys gambling. No interest in dolls or braindances."
She paused.
"Officially, she has no combat cyberware. Unofficially, her corporate status means she does not require visible guards."
The man's eyes gleamed.
Wakako's tone hardened slightly.
"Kang Tao provides 50-year Trauma Team contracts for employees at her level. She carries Gold-tier coverage."
She leaned forward.
"If you attempt something, bring a signal jammer. And do it cleanly. The Tyger Claws will not be implicated."
The man bowed deeply.
"I understand."
Then he left.
Outside, he regrouped with several Tyger Claws members.
"We've got a mark," he said coldly. "Tonight."
---
Back inside the pachinko hall—
Arthur was winning.
Within regulation limits.
Just enough to draw attention.
The woman beside him had initially ignored him.
But now—
She was staring.
Black hair.
Black eyes.
Sharp features.
He didn't look like he belonged here.
His aura was wrong for this place.
Too composed. Too self-assured.
Too dangerous.
Her heart fluttered.
Victoria Kross—publicly known here as Evelyn Shaw—felt something she hadn't felt in years.
Interest.
Real interest.
She quickly steadied herself.
Through an encrypted internal channel, she contacted her assistant.
---
[Victoria Kross: Notify Strategic Planning. Emergency session.]
[Assistant: Confirmed. Thirty seconds to full team attendance. Instructions?]
[Victoria Kross: I've found a man who makes my heart race. I want something to happen. It must feel natural. Not forced. Not arrogant. Help me craft the approach.]
---
On the street outside—
Tyger Claws were mobilizing.
Inside—
Victoria leaned slightly closer to Arthur.
"You…" she said softly.
"You're very handsome."
Arthur blinked.
Then pointed at himself.
"Me?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Mhm."
He studied her.
"Then why is your face red?"
She froze.
Her lips parted slightly.
She had been staring too long.
Adjusting her composure again, she turned slightly away before looking back.
"Are you from Kang Tao?" she asked.
Arthur smiled faintly.
"No. Just a Ripperdoc. Sometimes I moonlight as a merc."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Want me to check if you've been infected by a hacker virus later?"
She swallowed.
Flirting.
This was not something the Kang Tao boardroom prepared you for.
She could analyze weapons markets, calculate expansion vectors, evaluate geopolitical risk—
But this?
This was chaos.
Her assistant's real-time suggestions streamed through her optics.
She tried her best.
"My name is Evelyn Shaw," she said softly.
"What's yours?"
Arthur paused half a second.
Just enough to be natural.
"Arthur Vale."
Their eyes met.
And in that moment—
Neither of them noticed the Tyger Claws watching from outside.
Nor the fact that Kang Tao's internal systems had just begun running anomaly diagnostics.
Nor the subtle Trojan now quietly reshaping neural response patterns inside Victoria's mind.
In Night City—
Deals were made in boardrooms.
Wars were fought in shadows.
And sometimes—
The most dangerous move of all
Was simply saying hello.