Chapter 960 - 13: Night City Now (Part 5)

Once, Lille and the others sprinted down this street, storming into Aloroy. Now they merely pass through Aloroy.

From a distance, Lille seemed to still see Jack controlling the heavy machine gun behind the crate, followed by a large group of Valentino Gang.

Nowadays, Valentino no longer fights with the Six Street Gang for territory; it’s clear that their respective territories are affluent enough and need their focused development.

This is good news, at least he doesn’t return to find Night City still the same old way—

But Haywood is the last stop; Lille is now in Westbrook, the Tiger Claw Gang’s turf.

Once, this was Night City’s most bustling service industry hub, home to the largest open-air black market...

Now the black market isn’t so shady; the Geisha District openly sells goods, though it was similar before. Now, even tax collection is blatant.

The market size hasn’t expanded but now includes a lot of legitimate goods with traceable origins.

"Night City Hall invested in a large mall project, hoping to legitimize Westbrook, turning it into a global prosthetics market.

Since you... went on vacation to Europe, the serum, immunosuppressants, and human lizard cyborg production lines we previously used cannot be used anymore. Fortunately, the production line had learned to manufacture second-generation prosthetics before that.

Fiona gathered a lot of inspiration from the Animal Gang, which allows certain production of entry-level third-generation prosthetics, though they don’t sell very well—

Jack and I have seen those prosthetics; honestly, I feel that they’re indeed lacking, typically priced a tier higher than prosthetics of the same level, yet lacking any standout features."

V continued to briefly introduce Westbrook’s current situation to Lille, which basically boils down to: it was a shopping mall where you could buy prosthetics, Super Dreams, food, drinks, drugs, and other services, and now it’s the same, just with a shift towards local goods.

However, the cost of local industrial products is actually very high because the materials need to be transported from elsewhere, and the shipping fee is added to the cost.

It’s clear Night City Hall has made significant efforts, at least subsidizing local companies to control product pricing. However, once the external market continues to raise prices, this self-damaging subsidy approach will be difficult to sustain as Night City doesn’t actually possess those items and hence can be easily manipulated.

Independence has its costs, especially when you aim to fight for some rights for locals post-independence; it inevitably requires revising prior company-priority statutes. Companies won’t coddle you; if you hinder them from making money, they’ll find other places to profit, significantly reducing Night City’s trade volume.

Trade volume decreased, yet after bombing the Arasaka Aircraft Carrier and repelling Military Technology while welcoming refugees, the old policy attracted people from around the world to come here. Considering the political situation alone, this is quite troubling; people dislike refugees for a reason.

[Illuminati: Until social productivity continues to rise, you need to reject refugees; if necessary, I suggest you adopt measures akin to the European Union.]

[Illuminati: Night City has no potential to develop resource industries; food, minerals... without these, industry is just empty talk. When the European Union and New America come to their senses, solving your issues won’t require high-tech weaponry.]

The refugee problem... is very, very difficult to handle.

From a realistic perspective, a resource-scarce nation with soaring unemployment won’t discuss internationalism with you; they only know that incoming refugees are people who will compete for jobs. If they can’t find any, conflict will ensue, spiraling societal security downward.

When constructing society, refugees weren’t involved, so why provide them conditions?

Yet from an idealistic perspective, this world has already destroyed so-called national borders. New America and the European Union’s economic systems and societal situations differ, yet ordinary people struggle to survive in hardship. Refugees are largely displaced due to monopoly wars by giants.

And as companies occupy Congress and giants replace committees, intertwined interests merge through means like marriages, occupying state resources, overdrafting national credit, waging war, and destroying the ecosystem, these urban citizens did not oppose. That’s also why they didn’t become refugees.

Refugees indeed did not participate in building the urban citizens’ nation, but the urban citizens’ interest groups destroyed the refugees’ homes, leaving everyone rolling in different quagmires, resisting each other.

The Illuminati’s mindset typically prioritizes social order and survival, as it did in the European Union.

Not far away, Lille saw a few Wanderers looking at the dazzling array of clothes, prosthetics, guns, and automobiles in a cabinet. Four adults had brought along two children around seven or eight.

Their lips were chapped, clothes ragged with a foul odor, prosthetic cables exposed, with scars all over their exposed body parts.

It’s hard to determine whether they’re the children’s parents, but they were quite gentle when their rough hands stroked the children’s heads.

The children’s eyes seemed to hold stars: "Wow... I’ve never seen so many nice things... Big cities are amazing; I want to buy a Mackinaw someday too!"

"Haha, you’ll need to climb up to get in the car; better eat more to grow taller!"

"But I can never eat enough at meals! I want to work with you all, but you won’t let me..."

These words plunged the adults into silence.

Lille withdrew his gaze: "This is inevitable; Night City was always a city easily grasped by outsiders."

"...Those Wanderers are quite docile; now it’s much cheaper to hire people. Before, 50 Euros could buy a head, now 5 Euros is enough."

"However, things aren’t as chaotic here; perhaps it’s the famous V’s handiwork?"

Just as Lille finished speaking, V proudly nodded, making Lille feel that were she to grow a tail, it’d surely be wagging sky-high by now.

Jack promptly waved a hand between Lille and V, indicating that he was working hard too!

"But the Wanderer issue is still quite serious; there have been several arguments at City Hall between Sergeant and Sol, and now it seems the Tiger Claw Gang and Mox Gang are also going to argue."

V looked at the Wanderers on the road, and before she met Lille, she too thought of Wanderers as dangerous locusts.

However, after more interactions, she found these individuals not much different from her former self—dream gazers, the difference being she always believed in her success, while Wanderers focus solely on survival.

Stretching lazily: "But the Tiger Claw Gang and Mox Gang are perpetually squabbling, just over the Sex Doll issue. Sometimes they even want subsidies for Sex Doll chips..."

Lille felt a bit odd: "And what’s the outcome?"

"Ryan and Perares are quite evasive on this topic, but nothing came of it; you know, after we cleared the Tiger Claw Gang’s nest, that industry went downhill.

There’s also traditional entertainment like Super Dream stimulation and drugging; I feel Perares despises these things, while Ryan thinks they’re acceptable, yet both believe you would definitely not support them—

However, they also think that without these industries, the unemployment rate will surge... In short, without jobs, what are these people supposed to do?"

Lille increasingly found it strange, but this time it was directed at V: "How come you suddenly started thinking about so much stuff?"

V rolled her eyes: "Do you really take me for an idiot? I heard Europeans will indiscriminately slaughter unreviewed refugees; we can’t be like them, right?"

"That’s actually true, and the reality is worse than you think. We’re certainly different from them."

European refugees are not merely prevented entry into the European Barrier but are also depicted as terrifying beasts. Those allowed in are not reaching Heaven, but are scapegoated.

The Illuminati’s strategy is entirely based on meeting Central Executive Committee demands while preserving society as its premise, where humans are not the primary goal, let alone refugees, who can naturally be sacrificed en masse.

However, in retrospective thought, even if humans were the main goal, it does not imply the impossibility for any of them to perish...

"Does Watson District appear to be a prosthetics chemical factory?"

"Yes." V nodded, "Advanced prosthetics experimental production park; Fiona holds significant sway there... Of course, only in technical matters."

If not for V and Jack backing her, that woman certainly couldn’t thrive in front of the Vortex Gang.

"Oh, by the way," V added, "The Vortex Gang is now led by Jostar and his mother."

Lille felt it was natural: it’s conceivable that most prosthetic drives in Night City are handled by Jostar’s mom, a human eroded by AI without a physical form, with remarkable destructive power...

But he hadn’t anticipated that Jostar’s mother could support until today.

"Really... I don’t even know what to say; let’s just head directly to Heaven."