Chapter 114 Brandon

Night City, Taiping Island, West Wind Manor.

V has just completed a commission from the middleman Mr. Hands and is now preparing to return to Little Chinatown, but before leaving, he decides to chat with a vending machine.

"Brandon, are you used to moving here from the Company Plaza? The street guys in Taiping Island are not easy to deal with."

V stood in front of a slightly funny vending machine and greeted the other party in a familiar tone.

On the surface, Brandon is a vending machine that sells drinks, snacks, etc., but it is actually an autonomous responsive robot that has the function of chatting with people to relieve boredom.

It was precisely because of this that the management of Ye's Company disliked it for being too talkative, causing employees to lose focus on their work, so they moved it from the company square to the Taiping Island area, which was full of slums.

Although he no longer had old customers coming to take care of the business, Brandon still managed to accumulate quite a number of customers in the West Wind Manor area with his eloquence.

"Haha! It's okay. I can get along with anyone. It's just that the customers here are too jealous and always draw on my handsome face."

"There's nothing I can do about it. Being too handsome will only attract jealousy." Brandon said helplessly, still as arrogant and narcissistic as usual.

"V, I'm sure you have this kind of trouble too!"

V chuckled and shook his head. He had a good impression of this humorous vending machine. After all, this guy's ability to chat was better than many real people.

At least V felt comfortable with this flattery.

"Brandon, I heard that I can get a lot of information from you. Since we are old acquaintances, I hope you can tell me some other news."

"News about the company."

V said with a smile.

He knew that Brandon often eavesdropped on the phone calls and chats of passers-by in Night City.

On the surface, this guy is selling things, but in fact he is quite good at eavesdropping and gossiping.

Many experienced mercenaries would try to pry some valuable intelligence out of Brandon when doing commissioned missions.

"No no no, V! As you can see, I'm just an ordinary vending machine. You pay me money and I give you a bottle of drink, that's all."

"Of course, if you're not busy, you can stand here and chat with me. I'll try to chat with you until your boss can't see where you are, and then he'll fine you."

"Just don't blame me for forgetting the time while chatting with you."

Brandon's core actually has AI implanted in it, so it can chat and talk with people like a real person, and the more it communicates with people, the faster it will respond.

As to whether this AI came from Ye’s company’s internal laboratory or was a roving AI from across the black wall, it is unknown.

"You are getting smarter! It seems that those experienced mercenaries have been prying information out of you and now they know how to guard against me."

After saying that, V transferred some money to Brandon through his payment separation chip, and then a bottle of orange soda fell out of the vending machine.

"Tell me, Brandon, did you know that AI can change human memory?" V directly asked the question he wanted to know.

Since he told the truth to Congressman Jefferson, V thought Jefferson would be afraid and at least consider resigning. But what V didn't expect was that Jefferson went to work as usual the next day. He seemed to have completely forgotten the truth that V told him!
The AI ​​behind Ye's company has become so powerful that it can manipulate a person's memory data for a certain period of time.

V now meets with Jefferson every day and tells him the truth about the brainwashing.

But every next day, Congressman Jefferson would lose his memory of this content without exception, and would repeatedly send investigation commissions to V.

Since Jefferson became the deputy mayor, he found that his abnormal condition seemed to be getting worse and worse. Many habits that did not exist before actually happened to him!

For example, he, who never smokes, actually saw a lighter and cigarettes next to his bed!

But both Jefferson himself and his wife, Lady Elizabeth, were absolute non-smokers.

Faced with such a strange situation, Jefferson felt that his days were becoming more and more anxious, but he still had to bite the bullet and continue to complete his work tasks day after day.

"Wow! V, the question you asked may be beyond my understanding, but I can tell you for sure that hackers who pass through the Black Wall may suffer from memory loss."

"As for AI... Honestly, I don't know."

Brandon certainly knows some inside information about Ye's Company, but he will not reveal those things to anyone. After all, he is an AI from the Black Wall.

During the time it lived in the human world, it felt very happy even if it just chatted with people to relieve its boredom every day. It was living a much better life now than when it was on the other side of the black wall.

Brandon doesn't want to lose what he has now.

Seeing that V wanted to continue asking questions, Brandon couldn't help but speak up and reminded him:
"V, I understand what information you want to know, but you really can't interfere in this matter."

"All your efforts are nothing but small fights in front of them. If you continue like this, you will most likely get hurt."

"For the sake of our acquaintance, just give up. This will be a good thing for both you and me."

From the content of Brandon's words, V immediately realized that it knew what the management of Ye's Company was doing, and even Brandon was one of the roving AIs from outside!

V speculated that these roaming AIs were likely to be divided into two roles, one of which was to brainwash company employees and modify their memory data.

The other one is specifically stuffed into these vending machines or other elevator advertising screens to eavesdrop and collect information and intelligence from passers-by!

"Brandon, you don't really belong here, do you?"

V asked this question while standing in front of the vending machine, causing passers-by who didn't know the truth to look at V with strange eyes.

After a moment of silence, Brandon responded, "But I belong here now, V."

After hearing this answer, V smiled with relief. He had gotten the information he wanted: "Thank you, Brandon."

Since Brandon said that he is now a member of Night City, it is very likely that he has been a roaming AI living outside the black wall for a long time.

The cooperation between Ye's Company and AI is likely to use part of the AI ​​for public smart buildings, while the other part is used to brainwash employees and modify their memories in order to manipulate the company's employees!

(End of this chapter)