Chapter 552 - 523: Night City’s New Choice (Supplement)

Two hours after the nuclear explosion at midnight.

"A nuclear blast..."

Ryan and Perares looked at each other, seated inside an armored vehicle, watching the outside world through the thick glass.

The NCPD was organizing a rescue, many officers were injured in the explosion, and prosthetics were failing massively.

These failures weren’t like the typical burnt-out circuits; high-energy rays and radioactive particles caused direct damage to any materials they contacted.

Radiation burns were far worse than mere high-temperature erosion.

The scene was somewhat... strange.

The workers here were incredibly talkative as they went about their business.

It was well-known that corporate employees had very high professional standards, and this professionalism was reflected in their actions—thinking before speaking and acting accordingly.

In tasks like accepting city contracts for radiation debris cleanup or rescuing the injured, they would be astonishingly quiet:

They aimed for efficiency, following strict security protocols to prevent any possible leakage of information.

Usually, working these jobs meant extremely long overtime hours, and no one wanted to be chatty.

But the workers now were different, they talked a lot, and it wasn’t just them—the robots working alongside them...

were also fucking talkative!

"Nuclear radiation is no joke, don’t fucking touch it with your hands! Are you brain-dead?!"

"I just think it looks shiny and pretty..."

As soon as the words were spoken, the stern foreman gave the worker a hard slap.

Honestly, this didn’t look like... a proper cleanup company at all.

Because indeed, it was not a proper cleanup company; it was the Vortex Gang.

True, all materials could be affected by nuclear radiation, but it was much safer for replaceable prosthetic components—just like protective clothing on a human body, if they got burnt by radiation, you’d just replace them and be done with it.

As for why it was the Vortex Gang...

Ryan, too, was a smart man; the companies wanted him dead, but now that he was alive, he could indeed pretend that nothing ever happened and continue collaborating with them, just as before.

But honestly... that would be very low, especially after experiencing Burger King’s "vigorous vitality," he felt he could make a change.

Different from Perares’s moral scrupulosity, Ryan genuinely looked down on these criminals, but if the conditions were right, he could use them, strike a deal with them, and offer them contracts.

The corporations wanted to kill him, he could spit out some contracts to a few gangs operating in Night City; of course, he wouldn’t have dared to do this in the past since the gangs could likely take company kickbacks to take him down.

But now the corporations had already made their move, almost sending him to Hell, and these gangs—for various reasons—had formed a murky relationship with Burger King...

This was demonstrated during the extreme metal race event.

So unquestionably, as long as the gangs could complete the task, they actually became a good option for Ryan.

Even for Perares, it was the same: he couldn’t trust anyone now except for Burger King.

It’s just... these guys were well-equipped, and even their procedures seemed formal. It’s just that when they seriously got to work, it felt like they were messing around, right?

Who has ever seen a foreman hit a worker with a mechanical hand covered in radioactive dust?!

Ryan shook his head, continuing to enjoy watching them work.

The Vortex Gang was responsible for cleaning up and packaging the most contaminated core radioactive dust; they first used water to wash away the dust, used prosthetic limbs to dig up contaminated soil, then blasted and transported it to Adkaduo’s Team to carry the cargo into Evil Land for processing.

Adkaduo was strong in numbers, and aside from their illegal activities, these Wanderers were essentially mobile workers, fully capable of handling logistics and building basic containment zones.

The Valentino Gang provided the necessary non-technical materials like sand, concrete, steel reinforcement, and basic construction tools. Like all cities, the downstream resources of the construction industry were usually occupied by local construction firms, which often involved some... grey areas.

The Tiger Claw Gang held dominance over Westbrook, and although the Japanese medical company had been driven out of business by Arasaka a few years ago, those unemployed professionals didn’t vanish along with the company. They were available to provide medical services to the NCPD—

They even had a substantial stock of basic medical supplies like artificial blood, which surprised Ryan.

The Six Street Gang members, in combat gear, guarded the outskirts of the construction area in Mackinaw vehicles. The sergeant from New America’s army had the security service down to a tee—it was just that the guards generally looked a bit uglier, but considering their performance tonight, Ryan thought they were also fully capable for the job.

Of course, the whole operation could run smoothly, thanks in large part to those robots guiding the work.

The robots were actually controlled by engineers from Marvel World, where this was a test, a live simulation test.

It so happened that a nuclear explosion occurred in Africa just a month ago, so they had plenty of experience.

Moreover, in Marvel World, the construction of Zhu Ya City had been underway for some time, and the engineers could handle these processes with ease.

So... there was now a spiritual leader uniting these gangs, and the necessary foundational knowledge was in place.

Ryan and Perares were surprised by this and, to some extent, it was as shocking to them as the nuclear explosion had been:

Several gangs in Night City could actually get down to work on a project and properly complete a formal contract.

Though it looked rustic and somewhat comical...

Ryan found it quite endearing, reminding him of fifty years ago, when, after Arasaka Tower was destroyed by a nuclear explosion, the people of Night City rebuilt the city from the rubble, brick by brick.

Gangs, Wanderers...

Only for companies to end up riding on the city’s head again.

Perares felt the same way; he... he thought the sight of these people working was pretty good, even... endearing.

Even though he had originally despised these criminals.

[Zzzt...]

The impact of the nuclear electromagnetic pulse on the earth’s magnetic field was ongoing, but some special communication devices could still function.

[Jostar: Mayors, there are people skulking around outside, and someone’s trying to hack into City Hall; we can... heh, solve the problem for you, but it’ll cost more.]

Ryan shifted in his seat.

[Ryan: I wonder which company it is... you guys have this kind of tech?]

[Jostar: How do you say that term? Trade secret. Just tell me if you’re in or out, if you’re in, I’ll get my boys to pull their network plug.]

[Ryan: Don’t! Just keep a close eye on them, no need for conflict.]

[Jostar: Roger that.]

Vortex Gang’s Death Dance Club, Jostar sat in front of his own mother, the source of his hacking skills.

The hacking skills of the major gangs in Night City were rather mediocre, but Jostar’s mother happened to be a human transformed by AI technology.

Although her body hadn’t fully recovered, her consciousness was, and making money through hacking had to be better than... the alternative, right?

"Fate really is fascinating..." Jostar got up to change his mother’s maintenance fluid.

Ryan thought the same.

Tonight, everyone’s brains were touched by the same feeling.

Fate... truly fascinating.

And it wasn’t as trite as before: disobedient officials always taken out by corporations; gangs always smashed at the flick of a corporation’s wrist; criminals always despised...

It made one think that things might not be as clichédly predictable as everyone had always thought.

Ryan, feeling contemplative, patted Perares on the shoulder, "Fate is really fascinating, who would have thought that yesterday you were still my formidable competitor?"

"Still am," Perares shook his head and smiled, "You’ll retire one day."

"But better than yesterday," Ryan shrugged, "At least you’re not thinking of tricking me out and slaughtering me."

Thump thump.

The car window was knocked on, by the commander of the Terrorist Mobile Team—Hammer Man—

Ryan rolled down the window, Hammer Man leaned in close, and dryly delivered the news Ryan least wanted to hear:

"The Kujila has docked, San Lang has no intention of probing, and he is on the aircraft carrier himself."