Chapter 170 - 154: I Have an Idea

Dakota was driving her pickup across the Evil Land, heading toward the Adkaduo Camp with a few skilled hands.

Just as she was about to leave, the signal from Adkaduo Camp suddenly cut off, accompanied by strong interference. The last message she received was:

Drone attack!

So, she took some more medicines and weapons, which delayed her departure.

However, when she reached where she remembered Adkaduo Camp should be...

It seemed like there was nothing there at all?

She looked several times—

The Adkaduo Camp had a tall abandoned transmission tower. The Bright Family had hung solar panels on it and used them to generate electricity.

She looked repeatedly, confirming that the iron tower standing in the wilderness was the one she remembered.

Then things got even more chaotic!

There was nothing in this place!

Then she saw in the Evil Land, a burly man standing under the sun, in the open desert, expressionless, his figure tall and straight.

This was the Evil Land where temperatures could exceed 60 degrees Celsius!

"Brake!"

Dakota’s mind rang alarm bells, and she immediately had her men brake.

Hisss—

The signal tower restored its signal, the radio in the car made a hissing sound, and soon Lille’s voice appeared.

"Go-between, you’re not at the wrong place. Sol and his people have already left. I’ll explain on the way."

"Okay."

The crew in the go-between’s convoy all sighed in relief—

What kind of a madman would stand in the Evil Land waiting for someone?

How long had that big guy been waiting there?

Was he even human?

A few Wanderers began concocting stories in their minds.

...

As a go-between, Dakota’s car was quite nice, though not as ferocious as West Tuan’s, but it was very comfortable for riding.

Driving it was also pleasant, the handling similar to a Mackinaw—Lille was driving at the moment.

Jack, the big guy, took up two back seats and didn’t say a word.

Dakota thought: He looks like a dumb lug, but... to be able to stand like that under the big sun in the Evil Land, he must be tough.

It wasn’t until Dakota spoke that Jack’s gaze started to shift— What, no beverage?

Dakota said, "So Sol took the people to the red ochre area."

"Right— that place is also not bad, of course, the red ochre area isn’t in its previous location anymore, I won’t miss that."

While saying this, Lille also looked around: "Got anything to drink?"

"Under the steering wheel."

Two bottles of water popped out from under the car—crudely filtered ones.

In this world, no water is contaminant-free; even contaminated water is better than beverages—at least for Lille.

Still, Lille grimaced as he took a swig and then threw the water to Jack in the backseat.

Dakota continued, "I’ve got a lot of issues to discuss with you, one by one.

First off, you’ve made a big mess, and the Wanderers around Night City’s Evil Land are suffering."

"Heh, that doesn’t work on me, talk about something else, get to the point."

"... You don’t look like the type of mercenary who just finishes his job and leaves. What’s your plan?"

"Simple, Military Technology thinks they own the Evil Land. Let’s give them a wakeup call. How many Wanderers are around Night City?"

Dakota closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a bit dizzy.

"Going against corporations never ends well; you’re dragging them into death."

"Don’t you find that a bit contradictory? If they didn’t go against corporations, why would they become Wanderers? Have you become muddle-headed from being a go-between too long?"

"Watch your words, Burger King." Dakota said sternly, "Wanderers won’t follow you blindly."

"You’re just a go-between; your word doesn’t count in this. There’s no lack of people ready to make money—

Speaking of money, did you arrange the stuff I had you sell in Dog Town? Has no one come to me? Don’t think you’re all that just because you’re a go-between."

"No one dares talk to me like that."

Lille laughed.

"In Night City, no one dares to talk to me like that—do you want me to tell you about people who have talked to me this way, and what happened to them?"

He looked very arrogant.

Perhaps in perception, Dakota had a respectable image in the game, and most people thought there was no need to behave this way.

But Lille had to be arrogant.

Dakota had been away from the Wanderer life for too long.

Sol might still be hesitating about whether to side with a corporation, and even got criticized for this multiple times.

But Dakota had been working as a middleman with them for a very long time.

Dakota was a middleman who originated from the Wanderers—she had been a Wanderer, but now, she didn’t belong to any tribe, at best, she was a middleman living like a Wanderer.

And if she really cared for the tribe, truly believed she was a Wanderer at heart, she wouldn’t hold grudges against Lille for this minor issue.

Just like in the tribe, Sol argued with people every day, but no family member would disobey commands because of it.

On the other hand, deep interactions with the corporations and Night City would subtly change one’s worldview; a middleman dealing with mercenaries and corporations every day still wanted to talk in the old ways of the clan elders?

This straightforward and bold way of talking was exactly what characterized the Wanderers, and was also the essence of the top mercenaries in Night City, helping Dakota clarify her identity in both aspects.

As a Wanderer, Lille had sold drugs at a low price and saved a group of people, helped the hematite retrieve justice, and now was helping the Bright Family repel an attack.

As long as the Wanderers didn’t think about pleasing the corporations, solving hardships largely depended on Lille’s efforts.

As a middleman, it’s about business—don’t always bring up playing not playing, deserving or not deserving.

If you disagree, pull out your gun—partnership over—but are you sure about that?

The last middleman who was this arrogant, even his ashes were scattered.

So, would Dakota see herself as a Wanderer or a middleman?

It was clearly the former, Lille was just reminding her of that.

Dakota paused for a moment, then looked deeply at Lille, "You... never mind, let’s talk business.

Your stuff has been sent to Dog Town by my people, you guessed right, that thing indeed sells well, and the buyer is also very interested in you."

A line of text appeared in Lille’s vision.

Transfer: 120,000 Euros.

Account balance: 135,648 Euros.

The middleman’s cut from fencing the goods is really not low, Lille secretly clicked his tongue.

"Not bad, a pleasure to cooperate."

Lille didn’t suspect Dakota would embezzle; Dakota’s expression softened a bit, "Back to the main topic, I’ve used some methods—Military Technology is planning to completely cut off the Wanderers’ access in the near future, other companies have no objections, it seems they agree."

"How soon is ’near future’?"

"One month."

"That means we still have one last month—what about the Night Wandering Ghost?"

"Hard to check, they suddenly got a lot of new equipment."

"Good—that’s exactly what we lack; my people and those on Sol’s side are helping him find someone, and now, we just caught a living body.

Let’s see if we can find something in their heads."

"You plan to... directly attack Night Wandering Ghost?"

Lille nodded, "The personnel of Military Technology here isn’t enough, otherwise they wouldn’t need to sponsor Night Wandering Ghost."

After hearing this, Dakota slowly said, "But have you considered this, Military Technology might also predict this move, they could use the Night Wandering Ghost Camp as bait."

The strength of the Wanderers isn’t strong, there are actually not many who can fight, and they have families to look after.

Plus, with the recent supply problems, Military Technology would certainly anticipate these crazy outlaws making a desperate attack on the Night Wandering Ghost Camp to get a breather.

Since the strength isn’t strong, we need to first increase our strength.

"So we need to boost our strength first—I have a plan.

Whether they use Night Wandering Ghost as bait or not, we need to strengthen our forces, so we have to rob a very rich guy.

Give me the number of the fence in Dog Town, I’ll talk to him directly, you go contact the rest of the Wanderers.

Tell them—the time to strike back is coming soon."

"But... whom to rob?"

Yes, whom to rob?

Evil Land wasn’t exactly overflowing with gold, was it?

But Lille had been thinking about the tens of thousands of Euros he paid for tuition in the Valley Region.

Martin did more than teach him how to master gene control devices; he also gave him a "treasure map."

"Anyway, I have an idea, you’ll know when the time comes, just finish up the work at hand first."