[Blais: The Network Supervision captured a set of special signals just as you passed through the Evil Land segment. These signals bear evidence that they originate from an unknown agent.]
[Blais: Itâs not Arasaka, not Military Technology, not even Peizhuo Petrochemical or Su Petrochemical...none of the usual suspects with a roster of high-quality agents. Clearly, itâs also not related to you.]
[Blais: This agent seems to be involved in investigating Hot as well, but for now, itâs unclear what connection they have with that hacker named Dante.]
Fortunately, Blais wasnât like a crazed fan clamoring to see Lille, but Lille was indeed very interested in what Blais had to say.
Before entering Dog Town, he needed some time to gather more intelligence and clarify some doubts.
The biggest doubt was that guy named Dante; the Network Supervision was clearly targeting Arasaka, and Dante was a point of investigation in this chain.
However, Lille was unclear about the specifics; his main focus at that time had shifted to Munemasa and eventually, he inexplicably ended up facing off against Ye Group.
If looking at the situation from a conspiratorial, overarching perspective, Lille would generate a very troubling guess:
The initial investigation focused on Arasaka Groupâs Soul Killer and the Network Supervision had achieved partial success.
But the subsequent investigation suddenly switched to Munemasa and directly tied to those with blue eyes, the confrontation came quickly and abruptly, so fast it felt like being halfway through a roller coaster ride only to discover itâs actually bungee jumping.
Moreover... no matter how much the blue eyes wanted to control humanity, that company was actually one of the pillars of Night Cityâs municipal confidence:
Land is a cityâs most basic production resource, and anyone who wants to control Night City must confront Ye Group, Arasaka included.
So, from a conspiratorial viewpoint, Arasaka successfully disconnected from a chain of investigations, got a breather when it was gaining an advantage through Network Supervisionâ
and struck a major blow to what would definitely be an obstacle on their path to ascendancy in Night City.
Who benefits the most, carries the most suspicion...
Arasaka, coincidentally, is also that most adept at conspiratorial maneuvers company. Arasaka Saburo, if you step out of the indigenous viewpoint of this world, is also the top player in the whole "Cyberpunk" series, officially appointed as the instigator turning the world into its current shattered state.
Lille had a premonition that the information carried by this agent would be crucial in unraveling the mysteries.
But...
[Lille: Youâre not suggesting I turn back now, are you? Then I might need to pack a few more nuclear bombs.]
[Blais: You still have some?!]
[Lille: Haha, just kidding.]
[Blais: ?]
Dissatisfaction was evident in his tone, and even through the internet connection, it felt like Blaisâs blood pressure might be spiking.
[Blais: Our agent went missing after being sent to Evil Land, and I was thinking, donât you have a few underlings there?]
[Blais: The Network Supervision Committee would issue a direct official mandate, but I think...]
[Blais: The company dislikes me handling tasks related to other companies, but I want to know the truth.]
[Lille: Nice, youâve become rebellious.]
Blais didnât reply: Is that a compliment?!
[Lille: Alright, Iâll get my guys to screw up the Network Supervisionâs mission right away.]
[Blais: What?]
[Clickâ]
Real-time communication ended, and Lille stepped out of his vehicle.
Great Empire Mall, the most common large unfinished building type in Taiping State, had vast and desolate interiors, with moonlight streaming in through a skylight in the middle of the building, illuminating the muscles of the Animal Gangâs muscle-bound men.
Greasy sweat reflected the moonlight, making these bald heads shine.
One particular muscle-bound figure under the moonlight was using all her might to shift the arm before her.
This muscle-bound individual was not ordinary: firstly, she was a woman, with dark hair.
Secondly, the woman appeared to be over two meters tall, with muscles as hard as steel, blood vessels and tendons visible on the skin surface like electrical wires on Vortex Gang members.
As she exerted herself, these muscles and blood vessels wildly expanded...looking at any particular part, one might think itâs not human muscle, but some sort of alien creatureâs.
Her muscles were as tough as steel cables, pulling on her overly iron-laden heavy bones, making her whole being resemble a high-speed operating crane, and she could even hear a faint creaking noise when exerting force...
This was an arm wrestling match, and across the table was Jack.
Indeed, she was engaging in an enthralling arm wrestling match with Jack across the table.
"Drink! Drink! Drink!"
Other members of the Animal Gang were chanting rhythmically, some smashing nearby concrete blocks to serve as drum beats, others who had better conditions picked up steel bars from the ground to strike against discarded equipment, blending these sounds into a surge of adrenaline.
[Sender: Blais]
[Blais: By the way, how did you guys manage the Animal Gang?]
[Lille: Money, plus a high muscle content.]
[Blais: What?]
Bang!
The womanâs arm slammed down, creating cracks in the concrete block used as a table, dust billowing!
The visual impact was extreme: though Jack was already a robust man among ordinary people, the Wild Man King was entirely a drug-induced giant whose palm was probably the size of two of Jackâs heads combined!And whatâs more, itâs a prosthetic driven purely by muscle power!
"Damn! This dude is the desert husband NCPD was talking about!"
A bald man in the group of strongmen suddenly shouted out. Jack, with a burger in his mouth, looked at the bald man who instinctively shrank back.
V patted his shoulder and joked, "Now youâve really earned that title."
Jackâs opponent, known on the streets as the Wild Man King and also the de facto temporary leader of the Animal Gang, looked at his hand smashed into the concrete, his hand bloodied and mangled, his mind went blank:
What the hell?
This guy initially was just somewhat strong, and I mocked him with âDidnât you eat?â and he just noddedâ
If the opponent nodded, the words were already out, I couldnât very well not let him eat, right?
Then he started to eat while exerting force.
And the more he ate, the stronger he got!
The Wild Man King is a pure Animal Gang member, meaning she has no prosthetics except for a brain-computer interface and some communication devices, so she couldnât specifically remember what she had just seen.
But she felt...
Wasnât Jack a bit more muscular than before?
Did this muscle... grow in a matter of minutes?
Jack didnât care much, he grabbed another whole box of burgers, and devoured it all, packaging included!
"Burp..."
Jack patted his stomach and gave Lille a thumbs up.
Not bad, Jackâs condition had returned as well.
The communication van was theirs, the AI was theirs, Jack had returned to his basic state, the Animal Gang...
The Animal Gang was helping the Network Supervision Committee for money, but now the Network Supervision had fled, and Lille had impersonated a member of the Network Supervision, taken over the van, and even promised them a salary...
There was no reason to fight on sight, and they could even help them out.
Of course, all of this was based on the fact that the Wild Man King really was a native who didnât keep up with the news.
She didnât even know that the current complete network paralysis was caused by a nuclear explosion.
Looking at her face full of shame, as if nothing mattered except that she had lost muscle-wise, Lille suddenly thought:
She might not even know it was a nuclear explosion.
"This isnât fair! A rematch!"
"Whatâs unfair about it? My brother was arm wrestling you with a bunch of broken implants, look at his arm..."
Lille lifted Jackâs arm, whose gorilla boxer arm barely touched before entering repair mode, all the parts popped out, revealing it was a pair of prosthetics.
All the electronic devices were broken, including the prosthetics.
Well, that meant a high gold content: there were theoretically no native muscle fibers inside the gorilla arm!
Even if there were, it was just a very small part...
And that little bit was enough to beat her!
Lille pulled out an exquisitely made thing and said, "Itâs just a bit of medication and an auxiliary injector, I can leave one for you after this job is done, just get the money ready."
The Wild Man King looked at the item, made up of different colored metals, suggesting it had very high-end functions, so high-end that it required strict planning for each regionâs metal strength.
The screws and rivets looked robust and orderly, the edges were smooth, without any extra burrs, looking quite comfortable.
Several slender wires and optical fibers neatly wrapped and extended, covered under a thin film, occasionally revealing a faint blue light, flickering like breathing, and at the core, a light green liquid could be seen...
Premium, very premium.
Especially that green liquid, she vaguely remembered Jack was injected with a small tube of that stuff by Lille before he started to devour everything relentlessly.
The Wild Man Kingâs eyes shifted: "Still want to cut my leeks? I want it for free!"
Lille feigned an angry laugh and said, "This thing costs hundreds of thousands in production alone! This is company laboratory stuff! We risked our lives to steal just this little!"
The Wild Man King smirked, stood up, her towering height over two meters indeed very imposing, especially with a large group of strongmen behind her.
Jack and V also stood up, and the atmosphere seemed to get tense...
With the atmosphere drawn tight, Lille, slightly feigning anger, waved her hand and walked up to the Wild Man Kingâ
The scene was a bit awkward, Lille was even shorter than V, standing in front of the Wild Man King was really...
So he stepped back again: "Fine, but I want to employ you long-term, about ten days or so, and, I might need to go to Dog Town, so consider this your salary."
The Wild Man King was delighted: Ten days to earn high-tech worth hundreds of thousands!
Jackpot.
So fucking smart, so fucking good at bargaining.
Keeping her composure, the Wild Man King smirked victoriously: "Thatâs more like it, a boss should always drop gold coins."
Lille shook her head and returned to the communications van...
Almost laughed out loud.
[Munemasa: Is she an idiot? She doesnât want salary but a bunch of handcrafted... artefacts?]
Actually, it wanted to say junk.
That "black technology implant," except for a bit of Lizard Serum, the rest was just scrap Lille had picked up along the road and cobbled together to look like the real thing.
Lille, closing the van door, finally couldnât help laughing out loudâ
Too clever, Wild Man King.