Chapter 452 - 424: Black Market Conflict

[Maekawa Takeshi: Su Xi from the Mox Gang got in touch with me. It was an initiative taken by the newbies on their own, and she is willing to make amends and apologize.]

Lille had just arrived at the outskirts of the Geisha District when Maekawa called.

Well, it turns out that even Su Xi, the boss of the Mox Gang, was not aware of the raid on Cloud Peak.

Of course, it’s also possible that she turned a blind eye to it, planning to deal with the situation after the dust had settled. She probably panicked seeing Mackinaw show up on the street.

As a Japanese, Maekawa stood out among other gang leaders from different regions: the big guy now seemed to be treating Lille as a stand-in for Arasaka, quickly getting the hang of this vassal’s obedience.

The Mox were so frightened that they hurriedly admitted their fault and couldn’t disassociate from Lille. Maekawa simply reported the incident. If it were other gang leaders, such a trivial matter wouldn’t even cross their mind to report to their superiors.

Having given it some thought, since Mako is now dead and Cloud Peak has fallen under the direct control of the Tiger Claw Gang, Lille realized his recruitment work must continue.

[Burger King: I need more people to help me with work — I don’t care about those who choose to be sex dolls, nor your affairs with the Mox. Keep me out of it.]

[Maekawa: Understood, she might still reach out to you.]

The Geisha District is situated between the Watson District and Japan Street and was once the pride of Japanese medical companies in the area.

A Japanese medical company used to have a branch there, driving a significant number of upstream and downstream industries, benefiting the entire district.

That was until Arasaka set foot once again in Night City. This Japanese company treated their fellow countrymen even harsher than their arch-rivals in Military Technology, virtually overnight, the prosperous companies that once thrived here teetered on the edge of bankruptcy—

Many collapsed due to senior managers and technical staff jumping ship, going overseas for vacations, disappearing, or even dying.

With companies closing down and the economy declining, the entire area fell into poverty. But while the natural population growth rate of Night City might be negative, it is bursting at the seams with immigrants. If you don’t want the job, there are plenty of others who do. Soon, the place became crammed with immigrants and the poor, predominantly Chinese—

This was around the time when Kantao began its gradual rise after Arasaka moved in.

The mixed crowd turned this into the city’s largest black market, marked by an extremely conspicuous circular building at the center of the market. All those shady deals took place in the vast underground passages beneath this marketplace.

In the past, both the Vortex Gang and the Tiger Claw Gang claimed control here, but in reality, they just loitered around, shooting at each other on sight, resulting in high casualty rates.

Over time, the street patrollers learned their lesson: if it’s not the gang leaders dying, why rush to their demise?

So, although the underlings from both sides would still curse and fight each other on sight, they tacitly avoided conflicts with each other to prevent escalation.

This peculiar conflict dynamic led to a power vacuum in the Geisha District, where the Mox Gang took advantage and managed to barely hold their ground.

But lately, they’ve been unable to maintain even that precarious niche.

On the street, Lille saw from a distance many people chatting as if nothing was amiss, but a closer look revealed that some of them were quite tense.

And in this world, most devices that are not connected to the internet still have ways to be hacked.

[Wireless Hacking, tuning frequency...]

"Bro, where’s that new clinic that just opened? I want to upgrade my Neural Enhancer, this thing’s running pirated software that doesn’t quite work well with the Prosthetic Eye..."

"Ha, you’ve got guts. Do you know how many people walk in there and never come out?"

"I know, but the résumé I submitted for work was fake. If there’s a problem while I’m working, I’m finished!"

"Alright, go find this guy..."

"By the way, bro, why haven’t I seen the Vortex Gang around? There’s nowhere to buy pirated software these days..."

The speaker chuckled and patted the other man, "I don’t know either, but don’t ask questions once you’re there, especially that kind of question."

Lille watched the young man leave the stall and head toward an alley beyond the market, confirming this was the person he was looking for.

Stall number 666, responsible for drumming up customers for the Brain Demon Gang.

"Uh... can’t find the Doom-doom." Jostar, who had followed along, smacked his head as if trying to awaken his communicator.

He had strapped on his back the Sadar Technology Shotgun belonging to Brick, planning originally to visit his mother at home. However, his mom didn’t answer the call, so he simply took a detour here to look for Doom-doom first and settle the gang’s affairs.

Although Jostar was one of the few educated members of the gang, when it comes to real technical expertise, the old-timers in the gang had more authority.

It just so happened that he couldn’t reach his mom or Dum Dum, so he had no choice but to come looking for someone.

This kid’s face was tucked under a hood, the hood equipped with a built-in holographic mask, and he was dressed modestly enough that no one would realize he was from Vortex Gang unless he went crazy.

Bang!

"This is really odd..." Jostar slapped himself twice more, and his metal chin skewed slightly, "Still no signal."

"You said earlier that Dum Dum came here to..."

"Regulate market order," responded Jostar, "and by the way, to promote our new system, though it’s a bit harder to push here in the black market compared to the business in Watson District."

Regulate market order...

Lille was now above on a pedestrian bridge, a place where the view downward was excellent, so good that hardly anyone would observe the market from here—

because it was rather conspicuous, anyone genuinely needing to watch would only take a glance before drawing attention.

The old houses beside the center of the market were the true prime spots for observation.

But he didn’t have time to care about that now.

Lille’s prosthetic eye swiftly scanned over the market, and indeed there were some fresh things on the ground:

[Trace: Fresh synthetic lubricant, electrolytes, blood.]

[Wiped and covered with a tattered cloth.]

Someone had just been beaten up here not long ago.

The neighboring stall owners also intentionally avoided this stall, even leaving a small empty space on such valuable territory.

They were clearly truly afraid.

Just by glancing over, the man at the stall lifted his head and yelled maliciously at Lille, "What the fuck are you looking at? If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, piss off!"

V’s temper flared up in an instant, never imagining there was someone with an even quicker reaction!

Jostar immediately drew the gun from behind his back, "How many mothers do you have to dare to talk like that—"

To fully charge a Sadara takes 1 second, but this modified one needed only 0.5 seconds, and those 0.5 seconds felt different to each person.

For Jostar, it felt too slow, so the gun’s power was worth waiting that 0.5 seconds for him, but he could optimize his movement a bit.

From the moment he began to cuss, his finger was on the trigger, the Sadara rapidly charging, the overloaded electrical energy even provoking a small arc on his metal zipper, with the charging barrel of the gun especially eye-catching.

In a daze, bystanders might even think the kid was about to pull a light saber from his back!

The stall owner below reacted differently, his expression changing rapidly the moment he saw Jostar reach for his gun:

What’s the situation? A greenhorn?!

No...

The red glow of the Eyes of Golden Flame shone through the holographic mask, and the old hand running the stall was sweating cold sweat, his complexion turning pale, forehead blackened—

It was Vortex Gang!

Showboating right on top of a local tyrant!

0.5 seconds felt too slow for him, he wished that time could extend a bit more so that he might have enough time for his life to flash before his eyes.

But in his extreme tension, he failed to realize his body was no longer under his control, the skill chip automatically kicked in, and even without his reaction, took over his body...

Jostar sneered, "Geisha, your market supervisor is back!"

Boom!