Chapter 649 - 620 Change of Ownership

Dog Town Gate.

The Netherworld Dogs were nervous recently.

First, Hansen’s internal memo strictly controlled personnel traffic, meticulously observing the three cyber lunatics who had just detonated a nuclear bomb, ensuring they didn’t enter.

Soon after, the stadium was attacked; an entire squad of Netherworld Dogs was wiped out, and an arms wholesaler died on the spot, causing widespread panic.

Immediately following that, the network became unstable. Airdrops were hijacked, and the stolen supplies exploded at Luxor Manor, bringing ground-penetrating bombs, heavy machine guns, large-caliber cannons, armored vehicles, drones, and combat robots...

In short, the arsenal was fully equipped.

Then came the abrupt network environment changes and infrastructure collapse, worsening Dog Town’s already poor facilities.

This sudden upheaval made Hansen certain of one thing: the Voodoo Gang was utterly ruined and powerless against the invaders...

They couldn’t even give any warning about this network attack!

"The Voodoo Gang hasn’t responded yet?"

Hansen stood grim-faced at the command post, knowing those three were big trouble.

But he never expected this much trouble!

Hans had contacted Burger King early on, knowing he’d profited from an arms and supplies deal. He had one thought:

Those three could stir up chaos in Night City, diverting the company’s focus away from Dog Town, buying him more time to develop secretly underground.

He never expected the trouble to come to Dog Town!

The Voodoo Gang, although a mysterious bunch, acted as a solid firewall for Dog Town’s network and filtered company dogs effectively. Sometimes, the Netherworld Dogs even hired them for reverse engineering, cracking, or building information equipment.

The contact was a guy named Milko Alexis, essentially the Voodoo Gang’s boss in Dog Town. Then went MIA.

The Netherworld Dogs were heavily armed, generally unaffected by such incidents, but this time, the scope was too broad. Cheaply equipped recruits and wirelessly controlled scout drones almost entirely went offline. Hansen was desperate to know what was going on—

"Report!"

A Netherworld Dog recruit shouted as he approached the gate.

"Come in. What’s the situation?"

"Sir, Night City people have surrounded the gate."

"Hm?! How did they get in?"

"No..." The soldier fumbled for words, seemingly incredulous himself. "It’s... it’s our Dog Town gate that’s surrounded."

"Dog Town gate? You mean the twenty-three-meter-high, several-hundred-meter-long concrete armor gate is surrounded?"

"Uh... yes. They’re holding NCPD flags, claiming to be from the Taiping State NCPD Division, enforcing martial law..."

The recruit paused again, "Beyond our gate... roughly 1000 meters outside Dog Town."

Dog Town was an independent area within Taiping State, relying on the gate and EBM stadium to rule.

So now, a group claiming to be NCPD had encircled the perimeter with a larger boundary... just like a kingdom.

Hansen laughed in annoyance, "Interesting, I’d like to see..."

"Report!"

Another Netherworld Dog soldier quickly approached the gate, and Hansen stopped immediately, expressionless, "Speak."

"Long Beach Depot is under attack. The Scavengers were hit!"

Hansen felt things had completely spiraled out of control:

The Netherworld Dogs controlled Dog Town, turning it into a black market haven, the Voodoo Gang filtered company dogs as network hackers, and the Scavengers...

The Scavengers were Dog Town’s largest merchant organization and a vital communication channel with Night City.

Now... that channel was cut off!

Who did it?

No need to guess; a name popped into his head:

Burger King, the damn big-shot deal-maker!

"Damn it, dealing at my expense..."

[Contact: Mr. Hans]

[Mr. Hans: Colonel Hansen, glad to hear you’re well.]

Hansen understood from Hans’ tone who he was representing—

Each time the intermediary contacted, it represented someone.

[Hansen: Speak up, you know something, want something, what do they want?]

[Mr. Hans: Let’s be open here, Burger King... I don’t know if you’ve heard, but he’s seriously ill, needing advanced technology for a possible cure.]

[Mr. Hans: I know you’re planning an exchange at Jewel Green Hotel, gathering major figures to negotiate otherwise impossible external deals, sometimes trading advanced gear like the latest biotechnology... ]

[Hansen: Let them attend?! Do I look stupid? At that point, all attendees will transform from business negotiators into agents. I say begin, they shed suits, draw handguns and combat prosthetics, and they fight bloody battles?]

[Mr. Hans: Exactly... I’ve got more intel, actually two pieces: first, they just hit Long Beach Depot.]

[Mr. Hans: Second, those at Dog Town gate... they say they want to do business with you—]

[Mr. Hans: Holding NCPD flags, though many are your old acquaintances, like the Six Street Gang, Tiger Claw Gang, and some Night City gangs you rarely deal with...]

[Mr. Hans: They’ve appointed a representative.]

[Mr. Hans: So, I was wondering if you want to adjust the party timing and send a few invitations?]

Hansen’s heart skipped a beat; it all seemed too surreal:

Burger King, responsible for multiple major crimes and large-scale riots causing huge economic losses in Night City, linked to company square attacks, kidnaped the deputy mayor’s wife, assaulted the mayor, and detonated a nuclear bomb killing half the Terrorist Mobile Team, relegating them to unknown fates...

Now, outside, a group of gangsters claiming to be NCPD wanted to do business with Burger King?

Was the world crazy or was he?

But regardless, important intel finally reached him...

Hansen realized one thing: the Voodoo Gang’s demise made company employee infiltration prevention difficult, destabilizing the network environment. Long Beach Depot’s fall and the Scavengers being dealt with impaired Dog Town’s bulk airdrop deals and underground trade with Night City.

Forget about exploring Dog Town’s underground military technology AI projects; Dog Town and the Netherworld Dogs’ very existence were in question.

How had he, the Dog Town boss...

become a worthless boss?

After a moment of silent fury, Hansen bit back his anger and replied:

[Hansen: Welcome, them.]