Chapter 881 - 160 Deep Space Electromagnetic Pulse Array (Short break today, one update, good night godfather)

The morning in Bremen is just like in other big cities, day and night are indistinguishable.

This city has never been so "free" as it is now: Within the European Union, there is an urban legend that if you publicly discuss certain taboo topics, you might be taken away by Network Supervision and local police, possibly even imprisoned depending on the severity...

Although few have witnessed it firsthand, all company-operated online forums have strict speech restrictions. In such an environment, who would gamble whether they can say certain things?

On the surface, the European Union appears to be a city of order, but even the smallest grievances, if not vented, will ferment.

Hiss——

Spray paint marks the cold steel wall, this wall corroded by sea wind now breathes new life as a giant hammer pattern appears on it.

The streets are filled with various fonts, worker apartments are lit with colorful LED lights, and the areas belonging to this movement are circled with holographic billboards sponsored by Jilafa.

[Munemasa: There are over forty thousand workers on the production line, and the output has already exceeded delivery demands... What means did you use to enhance these humans’ neural endurance?]

[Lille: You’ll know soon enough...]

Boom!

A heavy crash reverberates through the factory area—

This loud noise is caused by power outages switching internal factory circuits, with electromagnetic relays and circuit breakers making a racket!

The city’s lights begin to go out, darkness descends.

The lights in the room flicker off momentarily, only to come back on quickly.

[Lille: Transfer the data.]

The voices in his head disappear, Johnny makes a gun gesture with his hand and mimics shooting at Elliot before leaving.

This makes him even more nervous. He looks at Sevens, who seems unchanged, though his expression is leaner and meaner:

"Aren’t you nervous?"

"Of course, I’m nervous. The EBM could easily be seen as a crazy dictatorial government. If they think a war is necessary to protect their interests, they would readily wage war."

After saying this, Sevens pauses, and it’s then that Elliot notices this good pal’s hand is slightly trembling as well.

"...Of course, theoretically, Bremen’s interests aren’t worth a full-scale war."

Elliot breathes a sigh of relief internally: "But we could still die... Why are you willing to do this with me?

You’re not like us big-headed workers who face a life of debt if we don’t stir things up; you’re a civil servant under the European Union’s employ?"

Sevens doesn’t answer but stands by the monitoring wall — which loses its signal the next second.

Now this safe house has become a truly secure place, unable to do anything besides protect them from grenades and shrapnel, and the situation outside, where EBM is, and whether this grand movement can continue, all remain unknown.

This uncertainty is suffocating, yet Sevens could have been leisurely spending yet another afternoon in Foxstone’s office, enjoying the smiles of corporate executives during inspections.

Sevens stares at the wall blankly for a moment, sighs: "...Though the European Union has many faults, it is undoubtedly the safest and most advanced place in the world. In Night City, an average person has over a hundred times the chance of getting shot in a gang fight before forty compared to in the European Union.

But no theory says that as the European Union declines, there would still need to be an interim period for reflection.

The scale of the European Union is several times that of Night City, New America, Mexico, Africa, and once connected chain collapses occur, perhaps this union would disintegrate internally instantly."

Elliot scratches his head: "Then shouldn’t you not join us even more?"

"I just think that instead of violent repression, workers indeed need some voice. The greater the power of worker friends, the more likely I stand firm in politics - who doesn’t like power?"

Sevens takes a drink from the table, lying on the couch...

Elliot feels this partner suddenly calm down, becoming the elite he imagined him to be.

"I see... By the way, your family..."

"Died in a production accident."

Elliot is stunned: Sevens’ parents are both alive, but he had a brother who died accidentally in childhood, and his parents passed away shortly after he came of age.

Died in a production accident?

...

Large-scale EMPs are often created with massive explosions as the basis, but today’s Bremen shows no reaction at all, seemingly devoid of any explosions happening.

At least none within hearing distance.

Standing on the street in Bremen, the city fell into darkness, only a few emergency devices functioning—

This makes the things in the sky exceedingly bright!

Looking up, some kind of flying objects emitting bluish-purple light float in the sky, these objects are arranged in a circle distributed in the night, the scattering degree of light is very unnatural, as if a dying star is flickering—

Bremen is under the jurisdiction of the European Barrier System, which is a massive control system.

Simply put, the functions and permissions of this system are like a high-tech version of the feudal hierarchy; as long as the city’s connection with the European Union is not cut, EBM can’t escape the supervision of the European Union...

In this era, any violent action ought to first aim at the enemy’s electronic systems, but a simple EMP bomb can’t paralyze all of Bremen, let alone cut off the city’s network connection with the European Union!

Suspended in the sky is precisely EBM’s advanced war technology—

Yes, disobedient workers made a small miracle, appearing excellent in capacity, but if I show off a flashy new combat weapon, wouldn’t investors obediently invest?

The red lights slowly diffused into clusters and quickly rippled like water, breaking into different colors displayed in the sky...

"Aurora?"

In the dim street, people curiously look up, the unusual power outage, bizarre red dots make them uneasy, but this aurora... auroras mostly leave a beautiful and wonderful impression on people.

The rare aurora mixed with the city’s unusualness confuses people, but what else can they do besides admire it?

This admiration continues until another anomaly appears:

Rumble...

The low-frequency vibrations beat like drums directly on their hearts, with chest tightness, unease instantly fills their hearts!

Soon, several fast-moving black dots suddenly appear in the sky towards Hamburg, and sharp-eyed workers instantly confirm their unease:

Those are EBM’s floating cars!

This celestial anomaly is created by EBM!

"It’s EBM!" The terrified voices shatter the street silence—

It’s the company!

This brilliant sky curtain, uneasy vibrations, and floating cars dominating the sky, are all EBM’s doing!

EBM is coming to reclaim their property!

[EBM Combat Command: Deep Space Electromagnetic Pulse Array has been activated]

[EBM Combat Command: Plasma Layer EMP Device has been deployed, you have 30 minutes to burn this ridiculous "worker movement" to ashes.]

[EBM Combat Command: Operation "Sky Strike" is now initiated.]