Saint Domingo is bigger than before.
It used to be divided into two parts, one part being the lower-level factories and power plants belonging to various companies, essentially heavy pollution industries, but also the employment hub for the whole area. The Six Street Gangâs old stronghold was right in the Aloyo Industrial Zone.
The other side was a residential area near the Peizhuo Petrochemical Dam, mainly consisting of cheap and old wooden houses, mixed with some container homes and motels, serving as a living area.
The highway is very high, looking down from the side, the once low-lying residential area has expanded:
A large number of steel-concrete houses have been erected, primarily medium-rise buildings no higher than 11 floors. Meanwhile, the abandoned buildings near the Adkaduo Factory have been rebuilt, now under Adkaduoâs control, becoming their proper office.
In the past, the streets were filled with homeless people burning garbage for warmth. Theyâd pick up a metal barrel, throw some trash inside, and set it on fire to get a heater, without caring about the waste produced by burning, since nothing was dirtier than the sewage exposed by the Peizhuo Petrochemical Dam.
Previously, their cheap wooden houses would be washed away if the Peizhuo Petrochemical Dam crazily released water, but now there are apartments available, smaller yet more dignified, offering much better insulation and improved infrastructure.
Of course, theyâre easier to manage now.
Additionally, the apartments are directly under Night City, and the money flows back to Night City, then used municipal budgets to build other constructible things. In this cycle, it remains positive until thereâs nothing left to build.
"... Because a large influx of Adkaduo people started settling, but Night City is only so big, any further and theyâd have to live on Evil Land, so Perares initiated some sort of affordable housing development here.
Itâs mainly for low-income groups, belonging to Night City, the houses arenât large, but the rent isnât high either, including utilities, itâs much cheaper than our old place."
Perares belongs to the welfare faction. Previously, Yeâs Company brainwashed him into taxing top corporations to limit foreign giants, but now it has become his own belief: he truly wants to provide basic security for the workers.
If Ryan were doing it alone, he would definitely take to the streets directly to "eliminate the homeless," he used to do that.
Ryan himself is a fierce guy who independently attended school, repaid loans, and handled elections; he simply doesnât care about those who canât escape their predicament without relying on others.
But then again, giving things away freely indeed presents problems, unearned benefits are a bad habit. The allocation of apartment slots, how to construct them and such details should be jointly negotiated by both of them.
Lille pondered and turned his head towards V:
"... Weâve entered the city. Can I wipe off the thing on my face?"
Lille had a ghostly smile painted on his face: after discovering Lille couldnât smile, little Octopus cleverly asked Matt to transform with a spray paint can, V naturally didnât hold back.
"Why wipe it off? Youâre not going out to see anyone." V chuckled, "I say, youâre truly a poker face now, although you used to be stiff like wood, at least you showed expression, should I go learn some skills for you..."
"No thanks." Lille firmly refused.
Kidding around, Intelligence 3 and still learning skills?
Donât end up screwing his brain sideways.
Lille glared at little Octopus, who swiftly swoosh behind Vâs head, peeking with half a head out, its two virtual eyes forming crescent moons.
[Little Octopus: (àčËÌ”áŽËÌ”)Ù]
Ah, this is AI, resembling whoever it associates with.
"What do you mean, is my painting not good?"
"Itâs not good!" Lille coldly declined and started wiping his face.
"Next time Iâll paint a big one... Is there any paint that canât be wiped off..."
Whooshâ
Another large truck brushed past, packed with various Mackinaws, Lille even saw a vehicle transporting Floating Cars.
Besides, Lille could see some armored transport vehicles, considering hacking in, theyâre likely carrying military products like firearms and drones.
The business is exceptionally good; Lille suddenly thought of another matter:
"Wait, Mackinaws are selling out now, should be enough to offset debts!"
"How can that count! That only proves my good foresight and smart investment! Youâre just a lousy investor, no shareholder shares profits with a lousy investor!"
"So how much money do you have now?"
V thought for a moment, adjusted his account balance, "Two years of dividends, I leave only two hundred thousand a year, the rest reinvested... Am I smart?"
Lille glanced at V silently, clearly Sherman or the old captain begged V to reinvest a little more money, after all, those employees donât have low human rights benefits, the welfare there is better than other companies.
Itâs not that he looks down on V, itâs just that he feels V isnât the kind chasing after more money and reinvesting strategy.
"But I can grant you a bit, go enjoy!"
Lille shot a glance at V, and sure enough, the latter got her head smacked by Little Octopus:
[Little Octopus: Mom! Are you dumb! The boss doesnât have an account now! And how are you going to transfer money now?]
Transfers canât be done right now, the European Bank is still scrambling to repair the financial system.
"Oh right... Wait, did you really blow up the Europeans? What were you thinking? I remember you saying we needed to maintain good relations with the Europeans, and now in just two years, youâve blown them up?!"
Too late to realize now, really too late.
On the way, Lille explained to V how he fell from the sky, and why he brought Matt back as well, but she just closed her eyes and started sleeping, saying she was too tired.
Itâs not just the financial system thatâs broken; going to open an account with the European Bank now would be suicidal, let alone putting money in there:
It feels like blowing up a vaultâs load-bearing column, stealing their money, and then sending it back to them for safekeeping.
So Lille added, "Your account probably wonât work either, say goodbye to the money in it."
"What?"
V was stunned, Jack was also taken aback, and Matt... Mattâs expression was somewhat subtle.
"You mean... you mean... my money... is gone?"
Seeing Vâs face full of incredulous stupor, Lille again added, "Definitely gone. According to my judgement, the European Bank will definitely sacrifice small for big in this round. The accounts we used before were shady, opened through special means, unofficial shady accounts.
The European Bank knew which accounts were high risk, they just ignored it. Now that something has happened, they can totally claim data loss and ignore this money."
"They canât do this!" Vâs brain spun rapidly, furiously grabbing Lille by the collar, "If they canât even protect deposited money, who would still deposit money with them?!"
"Theyâve already failed to protect it, the question is who to stabilize first, and theyâll definitely prioritize stabilizing those big clients, the companies and such; as for individual accounts, especially shady ones, they wonât reimburse a damn thing!"
The European Bank is an important part of the European Unionâs power, importantly because even if youâre anti-European Union, if youâre a criminal, in some ways you still have to use the Euro, deposit it in the European Bank.
To maintain this power, the Illuminati once suggested that they specifically design a system convenient for foreign criminals to launder money, and clearly they followed this advice!
In Night City, nobody dislikes the Euro, every street kid naturally receives some money from middlemen, so naturally that they have no concept of "dirty money!"
Normally, the government would monitor untraceable dirty money to reduce crime rates, but with the European Bankâs system, or perhaps tacit approval, even encouragement, crime control in any city becomes extremely difficult!
New America, with its technically skilled super military government, might pay dearly to crack down severely, but Night City cannot.
The downside of placing money in someone elseâs hands is exactly this, especially when thereâs been some subtle shift in the relationship between you two.
V wouldnât think this much, there was only one thought in her head:
"My three million... I havenât even bought a big house yet, havenât bought... a big house..."
As she spoke, V suddenly realized something was wrong: she used to want to buy many things, but now, powerful prosthetics, powerful cars, delicious food, and good drinks... she could enjoy all these, even big houses were actually there to live in.
She didnât even need to pay for them.
Her mind short-circuited for a moment, but V still fiercely grabbed Lilleâs collar: "This is your fault, isnât it, shouldnât this count as your debt to me?"
Lilleâs eyes widened: or rather, the prosthetic eyes widened.
"Thatâs just your poor investment foresight, why didnât you buy other currencies to save earlier?!"
Amid the noise, Mackinaw slowly passed through Saint Domingo, this vibrant territory.
Through some stimulating means, local industry has prospered, and local industry means a large portion of taxes are local too, coupled with a change in tax utilization approach, the controllers of industry have changed, significantly improving the local economic situation.
Comfortable communities, complete infrastructure lowered the disease rate, local cheap blood products reduced medical costs, plus someone protecting them, preventing biotechnology companies from having opportunities to release viruses to sell vaccines, life is getting better day by day.
Saint Domingo is still the industrial center of Night City, only now itâs sustained by the automotive and military industries, and itâs also the starting point for trade with Mexico, serving as a hub for foreign trade.
When Lille restarts the cross-dimensional production line, products like blood products and immunosuppressants can be exported again.
Of course, Lille also spotted some potential problems: the population has increased, and the cost of some things Night City cannot produce remain high, such as essential supplies like water and food.
These basic materials rely on imports, relying on imports will definitely be subject to othersâ control: outsiders seeing Night Cityâs rising income will definitely raise the price of scarce goods, even using tanks to buy food is not impossible.
This should be a problem for the entire city.
Amid the noise, the vehicle continued towards Westbrook.