[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-cyberpunk-cross-dimensional-science-and-engineer":3,"chapter-cyberpunk-cross-dimensional-science-and-engineer-cyberpunk-cross-dimensional-science-and-engineer-chapter-541":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Cyberpunk: Cross-dimensional Science and Engineering",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},1152382,1495,"Chapter 541 - 512: Two Mayors","cyberpunk-cross-dimensional-science-and-engineer-chapter-541",541,"\u003Cp>\"Mayor Ryan has launched a battle to eradicate homelessness.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lille walked into the passage and descended underground to the invitation-only Super Dream Club that Ryan favored, which featured many twisted Super Dream contents, not as brutal as the Black Superdream videos made by Jotaro but bizarre all the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is the Red Queen’s racecourse, a Super Dream Club set up to satisfy the strange fantasies of the influential and famous, with a wide network and strong privacy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, the floor was littered with corpses with fried brains, and severed cables twitched as if alive, sending sparks flying, becoming one of the few sources of light in the darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liquid crystal screens began to play the news.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The distorted colors displayed old news, the news from Night City that nobody cared about.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The results were impressive. In the past month alone, freelance journalists have counted a total of 654 homeless people forcibly cleared by the NCPD, including some who were killed on the spot.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Perares: Is this what you wanted? This is the art of statistics spoken of by Ryan.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lille said nothing, slinging a steel pipe from his Octopus Arm and smashing the TV set.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there were still many TV sets around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Last month, the mayor signed the ’Night City Technological Advancement Plan,’ aiming to improve the standard of living for the inhabitants of Night City so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of high technology.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Over the past month, the escalation in firepower on the streets of Night City has shown an uncontrollable trend, with gangs gaining easier access to heavy weapons, including rocket launchers and large explosives, and a significant amount of illegally modified prosthetics flooding the black market, exacerbating conflicts and leaving residents living in fear.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There are rumors that a gang known as the Bozos have established a reign of terror in the civilian market, forcing residents to meet some company salespeople’s quotas.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Perares: Ryan promised to bring in high-tech, but we all saw the outcome, high-tech bullets and explosives destroying the city, disrupting lives, and leaving people living in fear.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lille shook his head, blew up another television, and continued forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We know that Mayor Ryan, to improve the environment of Night City and stop sandstorms, has built artificial windbreaks around the outskirts of Night City, and Peizhuo Petrochemical Company constructed a water storage dam outside the city. This project became one of Night City’s most prominent super-projects and existed for several years.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"However, we have recently discovered that due to the cost-saving policies of Peizhuo Petrochemical and unregulated scrapping operations, the dam’s reservoir water was found to contain lead levels in excess of 100ppb, and mercury levels over 5ppb...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Apart from heavy metals exceeding standard levels, toxic chemical substances such as benzene and polychlorinated biphenyls were also found to be over five times the normal levels.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Despite Peizhuo Petrochemical’s repeated statements that the dam would not leak, the rate of severe birth defects in the Saint Domingo area has reached an unprecedented 33.9%, and the rate of chronic diseases is as high as 87.8%.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Moreover, the pH value of precipitation in Night City is consistently below 5, and on foggy days, the concentration of toxic haze particles can reach up to 300µg\u002Fm³.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Perares: This is the freedom that Ryan preaches, Peizhuo Petrochemical is free, but Night City has to live under their shadow.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Perares: His freedom has spiraled out of control.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lille walked forward incessantly, finding the door to a luxurious private room at the end open, with Perares standing inside, upright.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wore sunglasses, looking somewhat odd as if he had been waiting for a long time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That surprised Lille a bit...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not expecting him to be here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The final news segment played on the liquid crystal screen behind Perares:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In 2076, Night City was rated as the worst area in the United States, far ahead in terms of violent crime rates and the number of people below the poverty line.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is the place built by Ryan, where Night City’s founder Knight hoped would become a haven but ended up as hell.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perares’s voice had an almost imperceptible tremble, indiscernible to humans but obvious to AI.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind him, Ryan’s body trembled violently, as if he had just woken from a nightmare, unable to feel anything except the muscles and organs on his own face!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fuck—ah...\" Ryan suppressed the numbness of his body, focusing all his attention on his mouth and throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But people still flock here; this is the most scarce resource of the 21st century—you, Hot, you two idiots will never understand!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s why I’m the mayor, and you’re not!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ryan’s face turned red, each word he spoke was accompanied by an exaggerated sensation of numbness and pain in his chest muscles!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he knew he still had to speak, just as he always did in front of the public—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hot and Perares were just posturing, but he took these speeches very seriously, because he had thought that one day, it might come down to this!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Lies or illusions, whatever, but your dream is so close, it’s like... it’s like... it’s like the fucking tentacles are within reach!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Ryan shouted, he gasped for air, but he didn’t dare wait to take a full breath before continuing. He feared that if he lost his momentum, he wouldn’t be able to speak again!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you want something, you have to learn to risk it all! That’s how the rules of this city work!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With all his might, Ryan strained his neck, \"How could it be possible to sit at home, doing nothing, and have wealth fall from the sky?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could it be possible to lick someone else’s boots, act like a dog, and still expect fairness to be the norm?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could it be possible... how could it be possible to lie on the couch dreaming, and then your dreams actually come knocking?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Companies hold the most advanced technology, the largest production lines, the brightest talent, spending all day in the streets wearing Super Dream headbands, playing with planes and leaves, always thinking about nothing but big cannons or soft abalones... You tell me these riffraff should be happy and successful?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Go fuck—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Ryan shouted, his muscles seized up, and he plopped down on the sofa, staring at Lille with wide eyes—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn, he didn’t get to finish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perares shook his head, looking at Lille, \"You see, this is just the kind of guy Ryan is, no wonder Night City has become what it is today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But you and I, we’re different. I know you’re not one of those so-called ’libertarian zealots’.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>People can be educated, can change, can...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lille raised an eyebrow, \"Be domesticated?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perares saw no issue and nodded happily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"With enough data, building an accurate model, predicting human behavior isn’t difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If we can predict, we can intervene, if we can intervene, we can control, the course of society isn’t completely disordered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You see, I know you have many complaints about the company, but you can trust me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lille was noncommittal, silently scanning the current Perares.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Domestication was a special term, humans thought they could tame all inferior animals, maybe this idea was also passed on to AI.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like the AI he was talking to right now—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This blue-eyed gentleman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was clear that Perares was no longer speaking for himself; the sunglasses were to conceal the fluorescence caused by the heavy flow of data through his brain, maybe with an added effect for enhanced control, as Lille was quietly analyzing its frequencies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jack and V didn’t speak, the current conversation was a bit beyond their knowledge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to be fair, although Ryan’s words were more like those of a thug and a scoundrel, they were easier for them to accept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perares spoke of building Heaven, yet it always felt... hard to swallow; it felt like he was being sarcastic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lille pulled out Yinglong from his clothes and gestured for Perares to step aside—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If this speech had been made to his twenty-year-old self, he would have fiercely agreed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rascals did need to be strictly controlled; they were too defiant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he couldn’t help it now, having two rascals right by his side, and he himself had become one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Move aside, last warning.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ryan was elated; Perares sighed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...Alright, then I must have misjudged the person.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Jack and V looked on in mild surprise, Perares stepped aside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lille stared at Perares’s face, thinking...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since they had come this far, if they were going to do it, they might as well go big.\u003C\u002Fp>",1430,"2026-06-03T12:33:29.771Z","2026-06-03T12:33:38.261Z",1,"novelbin.me","e3a3a30d563f23557a120460f499a118b4ed54889e5c684bc8862f6df0ea09b7","cyberpunk-cross-dimensional-science-and-engineer-chapter-542","cyberpunk-cross-dimensional-science-and-engineer-chapter-540",1068,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fcyberpunk-cross-dimensional-science-and-engineer-cover.jpg"]