Westbrook, Sakura Street.

In an old apartment, the internal elevator slowly rises to the twelfth floor and stops, and the elevator door slides open automatically.

Tang Yu walked out of the elevator and took a moment to look at the situation on the entire floor.

The floor layout is very simple. A corridor leads directly from the elevator entrance to the opposite end. There are steel doors on both sides of the corridor, and only a few scattered room doors are tightly closed.

The entire corridor is dimly lit, the walls are covered with various patterns and text, and vending machines are piled in the corner and are no longer functioning properly.

Black plastic garbage bags were piled haphazardly in the aisles. There was a sour smell in the air, and it looked like it had been abandoned for a long time.

There are many similar old high-rise apartments in Night City, which are basically in a semi-abandoned state.

These old apartments, with aging infrastructure and unmanaged buildings, have gradually become a hiding place for homeless people.

Some mercenary groups or gang members will also choose these places and occupy a floor or several large rooms as a base for secret activities.

Tang Yu had some impressions of this place. Not long after his debut, he received a commission to rescue Sandra Dorsett, an employee of Ye's Company.

Sandra Dorsett was kidnapped by scavengers and was brought to this abandoned apartment.

If Tang Yu remembers correctly, it should be on the fifteenth floor, relatively close to a bathroom inside.

But just now.

From the moment Tang Yu entered the old apartment door to taking the elevator upstairs, he found no trace of the activities of the scavenger group.

After all, where there are scavengers, crime and filth are bound to breed, and some fresh blood stains or body bags will inevitably be left behind.

Tang Yu put away his thoughts and walked into the dim corridor.

He stopped in front of a door and looked at the door number.

"1236"

After confirming that this is the specific room number given by Mann, he reached out and pressed the electronic access control screen.

The surveillance camera on top of the door was pointed at him, seemingly confirming his identity through video.

soon.

The access control is unlocked, the green light turns on, and the steel gate slides open automatically.

Mann had been waiting at the door for a long time. When he saw Tang Yu arriving as promised, his expression seemed a little complicated. This meeting had been long awaited.

"Mr. Tang, you are here."

Tang Yu nodded slightly, stood up and walked in, observing the situation in the room.

In the middle of the living room, there is a table with a few boxes of residual instant noodles still steaming.

Three shabby sofas surround the table, and some empty medicine cans are scattered on the floor.

Tang Yu withdrew his gaze and then said: "Let's take a look at Joanne Koch's situation first."

The top priority is to confirm the safety of the target person, and nothing can go wrong with Joanne Coach now.

Mann responded solemnly, then walked into the house and came to the door of a bathroom.

Tang Yu also walked to the door. There was no door, and the situation in the bathroom was clear at a glance.

The target person, Joanne Couch, had fainted and was tied to a stool, with the biological neural data slot connected to the computer.

Next to the target person is a large bathtub filled with cold water and crushed ice.

A slender body was soaking in the ice water, as if it had fallen asleep.

Tang Yu had an impression of her. Although they had not communicated with the hackers in Mann's team, they had met several times.

Qiwei was lying in the bathtub, her graceful curves covered by a layer of floating ice, vaguely revealing her proud figure and two blueberries.

She still wore the pink mask, tilted her head up and leaned on the edge of the bathtub, closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

A black biological nerve data cable extended from the port on the back of her head, connected to the terminal computer, and was undergoing a deep hacking dive.

Tang Yu is no stranger to hacker diving.

Qi Wei has already sneaked into Joanne Koch's brain consciousness data stream, trying to break into her ICE to mine more data.

Dolio and Falco were monitoring the situation to prevent sudden changes in Joanne Kochi and to prevent any unexpected events.

Hackers are extremely vulnerable and dangerous when they are in the process of deep diving. Unless they are very trustworthy companions, they will not easily conduct deep dives in person.

Tang Yu did not disturb Qiwei's deep diving process, but stood at the door and continued waiting to ensure that no accidents occurred during the entire process.

Qi Wei can't go wrong as a hacker, and Joanne Koch can't go wrong as a target person.

Qiwei's deep dive process was not easy, mainly because the target's ICE protection level was very high, and there were many obstacles to overcome.

Every time she gets closer to the core database, Qi Wei spends a lot of effort to avoid ICE. If there is no other way, she can only solve it through hacking.

She must try to destroy the overall structure of ICE as carefully as possible to avoid destabilizing the flow of consciousness data in Joanne Koch's brain.

Tang Yu noticed that Qiwei's deep dive time seemed a bit too long, so he walked to the control terminal and glanced at the electronic screen.

He casually called up the consciousness data code of Joanne Kochi's brain and found that her ICE had been upgraded for protection, especially for deep diving, with anti-tampering programs specially strengthened. These programs would actively attack the intruder.

During the deep dive, Qiwei must avoid or defeat ICE while also dealing with the counterattack of the anti-tampering program.

Only by breaking through these levels can we finally reach the core of the consciousness data flow and get what we want.

After Tang Yu understood the situation clearly, he began to write the implant code on site, modified the Joanne Kochi anti-tampering automatic attack program through the terminal, and set Qiwei's deep subconscious into the anti-tampering program whitelist.

Relying on his previous experience as a hacker, this reinforced anti-tampering program lost its effect on Qiwei once it was executed.

Joanne Kochi in Consciousness Data Space.

Qiwei was struggling with the attacks of anti-tampering programs. Suddenly, all the programs attacking her stopped automatically.

She frowned slightly, feeling a little confused and not knowing what was happening.

Could it be that someone modified the program through an external terminal?

Qiwei quickly guessed the reason. Now that she had been whitelisted by the anti-tampering program, she could even gain permission to control the program to decode ICE, greatly speeding up the progress of the deep dive invasion.

Qiwei walked through the maze-like consciousness data matrix, carefully breaking through layers of code walls.

finally.

Without destroying the ICE system, Qiwei successfully sneaked into the Joanne Kochi core data center library.

She quickly accessed the database with her hand and began to retrieve relevant information. She turned her prosthetic eyes around and searched continuously.

Qi Wei also knew that if she infiltrated for too long, the high temperature load on her brain would increase, causing damage to her brain nerves.

In addition, if the body is soaked in ice water for a long time, there will be a risk of frostbite, so the diving process should be fast rather than slow.

In fact, the commission to kidnap Joanne Couch did not originally involve hackers going deep.

The main reason why Qiwei did this was because Mann asked her to search Joanne Koch's consciousness data to see if there was any information about Sasha.

at this time.

Qiwei frowned and quickly searched for keywords such as Sasha Yakovleva, biotechnology building explosion, antibiotics and superbugs, and biochemical weapons.

The light spots in Qiwei's eyes kept flashing, and strings of codes, pictures and texts, and data all scrolled past, and were recorded and stored at the same time.

Sudden.

Joanne Kochi's consciousness data space began to become unstable. The deep dive connection took too long, and the other party's brain gradually recovered and slowly woke up and became active.

Qiwei immediately accelerated the speed of data retrieval and storage. Suddenly, a top-secret plan caught her attention.

Project Nightingale?

A search of related content shows that it fully matches keywords such as antibiotics, super viruses, and military technology.

Obviously.

This project, which Joanne Couch was responsible for, was most likely the source of the Red Ocher Tribe infection.

Qiwei suddenly remembered something. Before the deep dive, Mann had interrogated Joanne Koch after he captured her.

But the cunning Joanne Kochi only revealed some information, emphasizing that the research and development of new antibiotics is related to the interests of major companies.

She also threatened Mann and others that interfering with this plan would not only be against biotechnology, but also against major companies, including military technology.

Joanne Koch even threatened and coerced her into saying that as long as Mann let her go, she could even arrange for them to join the company and solve all the prosthetic problems for him.

She claimed that if she died here, everyone would be buried with her.

Mann didn't follow her lead at all. He beat her unconscious and injected her with a sleeping pill to put her into a deep sleep. Qiwei then hacked her in and infiltrated her.

Now.

Qiwei tried to read the specific content of the 'Nightingale Project', but access to the specific content of the plan was prohibited, and only Joanne Koch herself had access rights.

Qiwei no longer has time to break through this program and can only continue to collect other relevant information.

In the bathroom.

Tang Yu noticed that Joanne Kochi seemed to be moving a little strangely, and her drooped eyelids began to tremble.

He realized that the potion had expired, so he picked up a brand new bottle of orange potion on the table and stuck a needle in her neck, causing her to fall into a deep sleep again.
To be continued...