Chapter 876 - 155: Attack on the Behemoth

"A chain accident occurred on the highway outside Bremen City."

"Today, there was a communication anomaly on the highway, reportedly due to equipment malfunction caused by an overload."

"EBM Corporation stated that due to the impending typhoon, the highway section, being a major logistics transportation channel for Hamburg City, has been operating at high capacity for months, inevitably leading to anomalies."

"The anomaly resulted in an EBM general signal station drone crash and an unmanned transport truck going off the rails, causing a chain accident."

"As the first victim on site was a member of the Special Political Committee for Cyber Psychosis rushing to Bremen, Interpol has intervened to ensure that there is no involvement from EBM Hamburg."

"The special rectification committee has recently reported worker protests and strikes in major industrial cities across North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, and other regions..."

EBM Hamburg, where EBM Corporation’s headquarters are located.

Such a devastating crash didn’t take down the people in the vehicle; this incident completely exceeded the CEO’s expectations!

Bam!

"They didn’t die!"

A 300-kilogram drone with a relative collision speed possibly over 160 kilometers per hour—such a devastating crash, and it didn’t take them down in one go?!

Though the news didn’t report it, the performance of the Mackinaw Mammoth during the accident has spread throughout Europe!

Even the EBM CEO found this scene unfathomable: it’s just a beat-up pickup, not a tank!

[Board: Interpol is beginning to investigate if you’ve tampered with anything, and due to political considerations, Hamburg won’t allocate more resources to you.]

[Board: Have you dealt with all the relevant personnel?]

The CEO composed himself: "All dealt with."

[Board: Good, now you have just one task: the committee will stay in Bremen for five days. Most of the workers have started trying to resign. Eliminate the committee members before the situation completely deteriorates.]

[Board: Don’t make another mistake this time; you only have one opportunity to act in the city.]

"...I want to know to what extent I can go?"

[Board: The European Union seems intent on disciplining our industries outside of Hamburg, so you can use any means necessary—]

[Board: But there is only one chance.]

"Understood."

Cyber psychosis incident?

EBM is unlike ADL and the European Tunnel Company, those medium-sized companies. Killing a few people poses no psychological burden for them, and the European Union is unlikely to arrest anyone for this.

So when the committee enters Bremen, the game is no longer about "finding witnesses and then testifying."

The game is: EBM must not interfere with workers leaving the company freely, but they can attempt to assassinate committee members...

Of course, the European Union will demand that EBM not disturb the order, but if they finish the job in one swift action, with significant disturbances, how can they continue advancing if the people are dead?

...

[Blais: You actually survived?!]

[Lille: Fortunately, the European Union’s car arrived just in time; a few more seconds, and we’d have been crushed by the drone.]

[Lille: Credit to you for the quick response.]

[Blais: But you might not find the witness you need; they dared to attack you on the highway...]

[Lille: So this time, the mission isn’t about finding a witness; it’s to deal with EBM.]

The committee party passed through several other medium-sized cities before reaching Bremen, but Blais had no such need; he had arrived in Bremen early.

He was always on the workers’ forum, and when Elliot’s group lost contact, he realized the problem immediately and triggered the alarm, otherwise, a few more seconds might have resulted in a different outcome.

Lille’s response left Blais stunned: Deal with EBM?

EBM is a super corporation that existed a century ago, even before the European Barrier was just beginning to be established. It had acquired Hamburg City and the surrounding land and almost simultaneously with the start of the European Barrier, began constructing Hamburg.

Moreover, EBM declared Hamburg as an independent state aligned with the European Union.

Due to EBM’s massive economic scale, and having launched the first corporate war, battling Orbital Aviation company in the skies, the EU had to treat this company with caution and, under the European Council’s direction, strictly distinguish EBM Corporation and EBM Hamburg within the European police force.

As several corporate wars ensued, particularly the fourth war with Military Technology and Arasaka, the European Union seized the opportunity to nationalize Arasaka’s assets in Europe, upgraded their military preparedness, and with the collapse of the United States, the EU’s power grew increasingly formidable...

So formidable that they sometimes felt inconvenienced by the sight of a corporation attempting to stand equal with the EU.

Handling the European Tunnel Company and ADL only requires a few witnesses to feign testimony; that’s because the EU is entirely capable of crushing small enterprises, a fact they are well aware of.

An excuse, this excuse is a method for the corporation to display subservience: replacement by a new company. A new enterprise will inevitably comply with the rules, because the committee adheres to order.

But if an old company is willing to change according to command without disregarding costs, leaving them be isn’t unfeasible and counts as an explanation to the committee—

To blow it up, it’s impossible to keep targeting small companies for gains; only by placing the battlefield in Bremen will the EU continue supporting this action.

Nationalizing Arasaka provided them with a hefty gain, so wouldn’t nationalizing EBM corporations yield the same result?

This internal systemic game is highly awkward, with both sides teetering on the edge of restraint and anger.

Overall, Lille doesn’t care—he’s here to stir things up.

"EBM actually dared to directly attack government officials within the EU!"

Sevens slammed the back of the front seat hard, and fear filled the eyes of the others.

The process of taking down the European Tunnel Company and ADL was somewhat thrilling, but not... this thrilling.

Ultimately, the ideas that businesses kill, wage wars, and disregard the law are the reasons they loathe corporations, a mindset the EU was willing to shape, but, as EU citizens, they find it hard to face the brutal side of the corporation truly.

Unbeknownst to them, since this isn’t Night City, and they’re not Night City residents, there’s no need for the companies to resort to those cruel methods.

Yet, this is a real super corporation. For profits and monopoly, they are even prepared to wage a world-encompassing war.

Using violent means to directly eliminate the so-called "imperial envoy" of the Special Political Committee for Cyber Psychosis might sound crazy to law-abiding individuals like Sevens and Elliot, and to the bottom-tier mercenary Alina, but it’s entirely within old mercenary expectations.

Clack, clack, clack, clack—

The Mackinaw kept making clattering noises, the engine billowing black smoke, the vehicle body constantly shaking, with numerous dents and deformations in its exterior structure, looking extremely dilapidated.

But it’s precisely this effect that motivates the workers.

Workers holding signs crowded both sides of the street, some even jumping for joy, but they obediently stood behind the local Bremen police.

Looking at the workers below, Elliot instantly grasped the crux of the issue:

"If they can intercept us directly, can’t they just eliminate witnesses and destroy the evidence?"

[Lille: So this time, we are here to directly disrupt EBM’s normal production, heading to the small and medium enterprise area.]