Chapter 844 - 123: The Resistant Elliot

As an industrial city responsible for the maintenance of the channel, Foxstone naturally has a port.

The port of Foxstone is the English Channel, which has widened considerably after the baptism of rising sea levels, and the area that can serve as a harbor has shifted, so this Foxstone is not in the same place as the Foxstone Lille knows.

Meanwhile, the port is not grand: there is indeed marine transport here, but not much.

Ever since the rabies virus broke out on the old net, a large number of self-aware AIs have turned around and taken control of war machines, with submarines being the most prevalent.

Before the collapse of the old net, there were a total of four corporate wars, with the second and fourth corporate wars involving major conflicts at sea, and nuclear submarines being the most lethal maritime military unit at the time.

Both sides created many nuclear submarines to protect their assets at sea while attacking the assets of others; with the release of the rabies virus, these combat units have become real ghosts of the sea.

The AI inherited human experience and did even better, knowing every sea route and even able to probe them; the risk of using marine transport is indeed too high.

Currently, the English Channel is escorted by nuclear submarines controlled by humans and patrol teams composed of biochemical weapons like cyber dolphins, but the scale should not be too large, as this channel’s main material transport is still oil and gas, while carrying network cables.

Real bulk goods are now transported by Floating Airships and improved Floating Cargo Ships for air transport.

Air transport points don’t need to be set up in the town of Foxstone, which is susceptible to typhoon and tsunami disturbances, so the port is not large.

But you can see things that Night City cannot: the black and blue backs of whales and barnacle-covered tail fins tumbling on the sea surface.

This sea area surely belongs to a company, but which company specifically is unknown.

Elliot walked into the port’s warehouse area, the situation here doesn’t look optimistic: compared to his work at the European Tunnel Company factory, this is purely physical labor.

Next to automated cranes and forklifts, workers wearing outdated exoskeletons, using smoking prosthetics to transport goods...

Seeing them, Elliot feels like he’s looking at himself—no, far lower than himself.

"...Working here, earning 1000 a month is super hard, unstable and harmful to health." Elliot lamented, "Do you know, Britain launched the second ’Glorious Revolution’ a hundred years ago, saying beautifully, the King of England would protect his citizens, letting oppression and violence no longer exist..."

[Lille: Shh! Stop talking! That’s sensitive words!]

Elliot hesitated for a moment, carefully closed his mouth, and said in his heart:

"What’s wrong? I post on the network every day, and I haven’t seen Network Supervision find me to talk..."

[Lille: Are you out of your mind? You’re an ordinary civilian, considered the safest type for mental evaluation, nobody will care if you talk a little on the network.]

[Lille: You’re now even discussing with European Union officials how to squeeze project funds out for other companies, saying this now, aren’t you afraid the Gendarmerie will deal with you?]

[Lille: Remember this, you are no longer 2000 euros, you are 200,000, even millions, billions, even tens of billions.]

[Lille: With tens of billions in your pocket, even if someone finds an excuse to rob you, it belongs to a highly ethical and disciplined organization, it’s common for them to take things from you without a word.]

After listening, Elliot silently chanted in his heart:

I am tens of billions now...

His heartbeat suddenly raced, almost couldn’t catch a breath.

Forget it... tens of billions are too much, better start from 200,000.

Adjusting his mood, Elliot placed his hand on the fingerprint recognition lock—

This is an abandoned warehouse listed on the European Union real estate auction site, from a small company with poor management seized by the European Bank.

[Identity recognition system version: European Barrier Ver.2077.332044]

[Fingerprint recognition successful...]

[ID card verification successful...]

[Biometric feature successful...]

[You are certified, welcome to visit.]

[Mail subject: Real estate auction No.A335128]

[Sender: Sevens]

[Sevens: Elliot, this real estate is from a previously... unimportant company that has gone bankrupt, and their boss has fled from bankruptcy liquidation.]

[Sevens: The European Bank has placed the usage rights of the property online, with eight months remaining, starting bid 90,000 euros, due to some reasons, the previous auction failed to sell, the next auction time is two hours later, feel free to bid.]

[Sevens: This warehouse is not large, but the place is small and feels safe, it should be big enough for you and your worker brothers.]

[Sevens: I’m taking care of the paperwork, go check the place.]

The place is indeed not large, covering over 2000 square meters, basically the size of four basketball courts, 10 meters high inside, single-layer roof, with a three-story structure next to it, 8 offices.

Except for looking dusty, the floor is covered with oil stains, and the smell is quite strange...

Everything else is fine.

Spacious and bright—although today is a cloudy day, even if cloudy, having a window that truly shows the sky outside is nice, even raining is nice, you can hear the sound of rain drops.

Elliot suddenly had a peculiar sense of satisfaction: "This place... really nice, after..."

[Lille: Afterward, we’ll live here until things are done.]

[Lille: Now go inside and take a look... Johnny?]

As Elliot walked past the corridor on the second floor, passed by a window, Johnny happened to appear by the window:

[Johnny: There are two people following us... but they’ve left, seems they were just scouting.]

Elliot’s heart trembled: "Then we’ll... change places?"

[Lille: Change what? Foxstone is just this big, not to mention finding a cheap and good location, a person worth 200,000 can’t even guard a small warehouse, might as well bury yourself somewhere.]

[Lille: You... sigh, can you have some courage? If the enemy wants to tear down your house, would you meekly say: how about changing location?]

[Lille: You’re really a coward!]

Maybe it’s from staying with Johnny too long, or perhaps Elliot’s cowardice has surpassed Lille’s imagination, or maybe Lille has lived in an extraordinary world for too long, facing an Elliot who hesitates between "soft" and "hard", Lille is somewhat angry—

This kid, not bright, attention lacking, full of lewd thoughts is one thing, but his courage hasn’t grown one bit!

Elliot awkwardly scratched his head, suddenly overwhelmed with shame...

Munemasa had scolded him, Johnny had scolded him too, but Lille had never truly been angry.

Now all three people... three AIs said the same, Elliot finally felt embarrassed.

But... but he really is scared, scared one day he’ll die in bed, die while eating, die while walking on the street...

And these are just his routine, the tranquil times he used to have after work, thinking these times might be broken terrifies, agitates, and makes him somewhat resistant...

Resistant to entering this new world.

Elliot also felt inadequate but couldn’t shake off this emotion.

Johnny disappeared from view, replaced by Lille.

Lille stood in front of Elliot, the little fat man raised his head, looking at Lille’s steel face, while feeling a hard steel hand on his shoulder:

"Think about the things you posted online, think about your colleagues, then think about yourself.

If you remain resistant, while airing grievances online, there’s only one thing that can be said:

Your dissatisfaction with this world is what you deserve, the wild world turning into this form has your contribution."

"I..."

Clack.

A light abnormal sound rang, all the words Elliot wanted to say were swallowed back, Lille disappeared too.

[Lille: Someone’s here.]