The Creators: From Night City

Page 300

Faced with this bizarre scene, the old captain frowned, but quickly reached out and picked up the glass of whiskey. After all, this was a toast from the leader of [Anti-Entropy], and from any perspective, it would be unreasonable for him not to drink it.

"Actually, there is a connection, Mr. Sabur." Looking at this old acquaintance who had expanded his power to a point he couldn't understand in just over half a year, the old captain, a former company dog, spoke very politely.

He took a sip of the drink, its refreshing, water-like texture gliding through his mouth. The rich, oily texture and silky smoothness were a delight to behold. Then, the complex flavors and aromas, mixed with malt, floral notes, and spices, made him smack his lips in delight.

The old captain was a connoisseur of wine, and naturally understood the preciousness of the wine in his glass.

However, the strong liquor still caused his ailing body to cough uncontrollably.

“I’m a native of Santo Domingo, but I’m a little special because I’ve been lucky enough to do well. But if you ask me, now that we’ve escaped poverty and become rich, we should always try to help our poorer neighbors.”

"I'm curious, why didn't you work for your old company?"

"Because one morning I was scolded by that idiot in the boss's office, I suddenly realized something: in this world, if you don't want to be bullied by these idiots, you have to find a way to screw them over."

"Very insightful," Jiang Bing unusually agreed with a viewpoint.

“Mr. Sabur, you should know,” the old captain suppressed a cough and turned to look at the north window. From the fifth floor, he could clearly see the well-arranged industrial park in the distance.

“That’s the Arasaka Industrial Park. Since 61, Arasaka’s factories have been secretly discharging toxic wastewater into the ground, making everyone living in Santo Domingo live in constant fear.”

As the old captain spoke, he began to unbutton his eggplant-colored leather jacket.

Chapter 600 Arasaka Industrial Park

“Sometimes, the old filters will suddenly malfunction, and then children will die from drinking a cup of unfiltered groundwater.”

"Cancer, rheumatism, arthritis, stomach ulcers, heavy metal poisoning—all because of a glass of water, a person's life can be ruined."

The old captain lifted his leather jacket, revealing a horizontal, old surgical wound on his abdomen, crooked and twisted, resembling a flattened centipede.

“When I was a child, I almost didn’t survive. A cup of water made my internal organs feel like they were being roasted by hot coals. I screamed for hours. In the end, my family spent all their money to barely save my life.”

"But others are not so lucky. People die in Santo Domingo every day. This is how every family here lives, day after day, year after year, until now."

"Have you ever thought about hacking into the Arasaka factory's database, finding the person in charge, and settling scores with this culprit? With your current power, I believe it wouldn't be difficult to do that?"

“I looked, of course I looked. The person in charge of this area in Arasaka is called Maria Sparks. A long time ago, I had someone tie the data and her to a rooftop, but I stared into her eyes for a long time and didn’t know what to do. Mr. Sabur, do you know that the lower and middle-level Arasaka employees also drink this kind of water? Those damn idiot Arasaka executives at the top didn’t tell them about this at all.”

“Not surprising, it’s something Arasaka could do.” Jiang Bing surprisingly showed no surprise.

“I’m sure you’ve also reported this to the Night City government, but it hasn’t done anything,” Jiang Bing continued.

The old captain scoffed: "Who doesn't know that Wilton Holt, that fat pig, is in cahoots with Arasaka? We've tried everything—reporting, appealing, marching, protesting—but Arasaka's stupid factories are still standing there, and they're even opening more and more in Santo Domingo."

The old captain slowly wrapped himself in his clothes. "The world ruled by the company is a plague. People in this environment only have two choices: to die on the spot or to slowly rot and die."

"So that's why you want to team up with us to cause trouble for Arasaka?"

“This is what I think, Mr. Sabur,” the old captain chuckled, seemingly embarrassed, “Everyone in the business knows that the Coronado Farm in the southern half of Santo Domingo is now [Anti-Entropy] territory. To put it bluntly, we’ve all seen what the Workers’ Mutual Aid Association has done. Who dares to deny that [Anti-Entropy] genuinely wants to establish itself here and is truly concerned for the people here? The sewage discharged by Aragaka is harming the entire Saint Denis and Night City, so we all have a common enemy.” The old captain was truly an honest man; when he said he was going to flatter, he did it thoroughly.

“Muammar Reyes, I know you have a good relationship with Falco, and I have also received his evaluation of you from him.”

The old captain pursed his lips, but before he could even offer a defense, Jiang Bing preemptively said, "He said you're an idealist, an anti-corporate element, and even seem like a supporter of socialism."

"Of course, these are just his personal opinions, and I don't know if they are true or not, but there is one thing he said that I am now certain of."

The old captain felt his mouth was dry and couldn't help but pick up the wine on the table and take a big gulp.

"He said you are a person of conscience." Jiang Bingtong raised his glass in a toast to the other man. "That seems beyond doubt."

"Therefore, I believe your explanation."

The old captain was overjoyed.

"But I don't agree with your idea."

In an instant, his eyebrows, which had not yet taken off, froze, and he felt extremely disappointed.

"Your thinking is too conservative." The next moment, the situation took an unexpected turn.

“Destroying the wastewater discharge equipment and pipelines in Arasaka is only a temporary solution, not a permanent one. If you’re going to do something, do it thoroughly. Why don’t we just send the entire Arasaka Industrial Park into the sky?” Jiang Bing’s tone was calm and casual, as if he were discussing what to have for dinner.

The old captain, however, slowly poked his head forward like an old turtle, uttering a long, questioning sound.

"Huh?!!"

When conservatives think radicals are too conservative, things often take a wild and interesting turn.

What could the old captain say? After all, he was the one who started this whole thing, and now that it was time to back down, he couldn't very well back down.

He could only stubbornly agree.

………………

The Arasaka Industrial Park is located in the valley region of Santo Domingo, adjacent to the northern part of the Coronado Farm.

It is the third largest industry in Night City, after Arasaka Beach and Arasaka Tower. It integrates production, warehousing, research and development and transportation. The daily cargo throughput is huge. Small trucks and semi-trailers come and go in an endless stream, with trucks entering every few minutes.

The warehouses in the Arasaka Industrial Park are filled with a large amount of goods every day. These goods are highly sought after. Given the generally honest and law-abiding nature of Night City, the industrial park is naturally equipped with a strong and comprehensive security force.

First, there's the Arasaka Army, officially designated as 'security personnel' by Night City.

After all, these eight-person groups, dressed in heavy black and red blast suits and carrying shotguns, assault rifles, and sniper rifles, with each group also equipped with a 'Tiger' armor developed and produced by Arasaka, all seem to exceed the provisions of the Night City Heavy Weapons Restriction Act.

Not to mention the ubiquitous surveillance cameras covering the entire industrial park, leaving virtually no blind spots, and at least two hackers on standby 24/7 in the cybersecurity room to prevent any incidents from occurring.

In addition, there are a large number of intelligent robots purchased from Comtau, drones produced by Arasaka guarding various entrances, numerous machine gun turrets, and sensor mines that amplify the firepower to an appalling degree.

This place is less of an industrial park and more of a military base that Arasaka has used to establish a foothold in Night City.

Therefore, unless you are a top-tier lone wolf expert, you shouldn't even think about infiltrating.

Fortunately, Jiang Bing had never considered taking this path.

night.

Whether it was due to further environmental deterioration or because Typhoon Hadabo arrived earlier than usual, the wind in Night City was noisier during the day than usual, and at night it turned into a storm.

Maria Sparks gazed at the raindrops splashing on the windowpane, slowly spreading into wavy patterns. Her face showed an undeniable weariness, but her heart was filled with an unyielding tension.

She stood up from her cubicle, pushed open the door to the lobby, and a few office workers who weren't entitled to have their own offices glanced at her a few times before quickly burying their heads back down, pretending to be busy.

She wasn't in the mood to pay attention to them, after all, being an inside man was a very nerve-wracking thing.

Chapter 601 A Rainy Night with a Gun but No Umbrella

Sitting in the corner, Yakta's nominal deputy continued to subtly stare at her, observing both her stockinged legs and her as a person, his gaze both enigmatic and intensely provocative.

Maria knew that this deputy had always coveted her, wanting both her backside and the position beneath it. Of course, the latter was the main purpose; the person who wanted her was probably just looking to vent the resentment that he had been suppressing.

Therefore, while the other party thinks they are secretly spying on her, they will try every means to seize on her weaknesses and mistakes at work so that they can take her place.

It must be said that this person, carefully arranged by his superior to act as a check and balance, has indeed caused him a lot of trouble.

His arrival prevented the EHS (Environment, Health, Safety) department of the Arasaka Industrial Complex from becoming his personal fiefdom, and perfectly achieved the separation of powers and checks and balances that the leadership desired.

This disgusting method of controlling people is like a straightforward, open conspiracy—simple yet effective.

The rain was getting heavier.

Maria pushed open the office door, a high-end cigarette from Dogtown dangling from her lips, and walked to the eaves, staring blankly at the rain.

The rainwater, mixed with a large amount of industrial dust and toxic gases, had a faint sour smell. After these micro-acid rains fell to the ground, the odor spread widely, making her think of the groundwater she used to drink every day.

it's time.

The Night City Heavy Weapons Restriction Treaty actually outlines the firepower restrictions that major corporations within the city can possess in great detail and scientifically. It explicitly stipulates that illegal weapons such as power armor, heavy artillery, and military air vehicles are prohibited within Night City. It also specifies the yield of all explosives and the kinetic energy power of large kinetic weapons. However, this treaty is like Louis XVI's brain—everyone knows it exists, but it's mostly useless.

There is a group of people who are fully armed, carrying guns but no umbrellas, and walking recklessly on the streets in the rain.

Behind them, rainwater with a slightly pungent smell fell on the MT28 Coach driverless buses, shattering them into eight pieces.

【Anti-Entropy】is not without its own troop transport vehicles, but since this is Night City after all, considering the impact on the public, the vehicles used for transportation have been replaced with buses, which are more concealed.

Maintaining a balance, fighting without breaking apart, is the best situation for [Anti-Entropy], for Arasaka, and for all companies in Night City. Jiang Bing is naturally willing to abide by this for the time being.

Even so, the long line of buses, resembling a train, still attracted the attention of the few pedestrians on the street.

It wasn't until a few super-heavy trucks resembling 'Behemoths' appeared at the end of the bus convoy that some pedestrians with a keen sense of smell noticed something unusual.

They had no intention of following along to join the fun. After all, in Night City, if you dared to watch, gangsters, outlaws, or bloodthirsty terrorist squads would kill you along with them.

The security at Arasaka Industrial Park is indeed strong, but its nature is what it is; as a well-known industrial park within the city, it is ultimately not a regular military base.

However, this time, [Anti-Entropy] has deployed its regular forces.

One hundred and twenty 'security personnel' dressed in [Celestial Soldier] combat uniforms and wielding various individual weapons are enough to take down all the gang strongholds in Night City. Their primary role in this battle is support; they are considered a 'mortal support army.'

Twenty-four 'Black King Apostles' clad in 'Heat Death-2' armor emerged from the truck bed, their backs bent. The rain pattered against their black armor, but it couldn't extinguish the crimson glow of their tactical goggles on their faceplates.

These extraordinary warriors, whose physiques had been amplified to varying degrees due to the 'fire-linking' ritual, stood in the darkness clad in towering armor, exuding a suppressive force that was incomparable to their pre-'fire-linking' selves.

They were chilling, composed, and quiet, like steel behemoths lurking in the darkness, waiting to devour lives.

The "Slaughterer" and the "Arbiter," which subsequently crawled out of the heavy-duty truck, were thorough weapons of war.

Those unfamiliar with the game might instinctively focus on the two heavy machine guns on the arms of the Slayer, but only the knowledgeable 'Black King Apostles' would understand the sheer dominance of the Arbiter's medium-sized round shield and its equally unassuming plasma one-handed sword on the battlefield.

The Arbiter is very similar to the Celestial General. When the Arbiter activates its shield, which is driven by kinetic field technology, the shield, which weighs more than ten tons, becomes as light as a feather. All attacks that hit the shield will face the solid defensive force brought by the kinetic field and the material and thickness of the shield, and all the force will be absorbed by the kinetic field emitter.

Of course, that's not the most interesting part, because its backpack-style power supply device is more powerful than that of the [Sky General], allowing the kinetic energy device to play a more powerful role.

Simply put, this shield can be launched when necessary, and its outermost retractable hidden serrations allow it to transform into an indestructible chainsaw shield when flying at high speeds.

The built-in fixed kinetic energy receiver can also remotely pull the device back after the user restarts it.

He's practically a cybernetic Captain America.

However, the plasma hand-and-sword equipped by the [Arbiter] is not to be trifled with either. Under the careful tutelage of the three Cat School demon hunter instructors, the close combat ability of the 'Black King Apostles' has improved by leaps and bounds. They are still a bit lacking when it comes to fighting those interstellar superhumans with three lungs and two hearts, but they can basically crush ordinary people.

Moreover, the 'Apostles' selected to use the [Judge] are all the strongest melee fighters in the team. Each of these rare elite melee masters has also undergone a special S'anweistein modification 'blessed' by the [Forger] Jiang Bing.

When necessary, these behemoths, standing 2.7 meters tall and weighing 6.7 tons, can perform micro-operations with time units measured in nanoseconds.

Of course, the "consecration" ceremony here is purely a form of self-indoctrination by the "Black King's Apostles." In reality, it was just Jiang Bing giving those ordinary S'anweisteins a second makeover in order to adapt to the extraordinary physiques of the Black King's Apostles after the "fire relay."

Since the Ether Furnace exists, the 'forging' process doesn't require bleeding like when modifying David. You just need to throw these S'anwestans into the 'furnace,' add some ether, and then smelt them.

However, the 'Apostles' might not think so. After all, these S'anwestans 'blessed' by the Black King are more useful than ordinary ones. They are not only faster, higher, and stronger, but also more powerful, more domineering, and more waaaaagh. They react faster, have less burden, and don't even have any rejection reaction. They are as harmonious as the original organs in the body.

People's eyes are sharp.

Chapter 602 A Deliberate Attack Against an Unintentional One

The rain grew heavier, and the wind joined in, whipping up dark clouds that completely obscured the bright moon in the sky.

A flurry of footsteps walked along the long street in front of the Arasaka Industrial Park, rainwater splashing high as it was kicked up by steel boots.

"Who?"

The guard at the gate was very vigilant; even in the pitch-black night, his prosthetic eye could still clearly see the scenery on the street.

But his response was a high-explosive grenade with a collision fuse.

The massive explosion alerted all the guards at the Arasaka Industrial Park. Instantly, a shrill alarm, like an air raid siren, blared throughout the park. The flashing red warning lights mingled with the image of the guard who had been blown to pieces, turning the rainwater red.

The steel gate closed quickly, but this flimsy defense couldn't even stop the intruders for a second.

The Arbiter's heavy armored vehicle was like a locomotive running at full speed when it ran. The metal fence, as thick as an arm, was smashed into a twisted lump of scrap metal by its running, and was forcibly pulled off its base.

The automatic warning machine gun at the entrance opened fire quickly, but the bullets, which were powerful enough to penetrate medium-sized subcutaneous armor, ricocheted severely against the Arbiter's thick shield, and the stray bullets hit the walls and the ground with a clattering sound.

A small number of bullets bypassed the shield and struck the [Judge] armor, but they still managed to spread it out in vain.

Braving the hail of bullets, the [Arbiter] rushed to the machine gun turret in three strides. The half-sword in its hand suddenly lit up with a blinding light in the darkness, and a surging plasma flowed from the blade, evaporating large amounts of raindrops while cleaving the machine gun turret in two.

More bullets came from afar; those were reinforcements from Arasaka Security.

But the next moment, a massive amount of bullets also erupted.

The Slaughter lives up to its name; its super-heavy machine gun, when switched to high-explosive rounds, is simply a killing machine for individual soldiers.

Because they don't use tracer rounds like machine guns, the nearly ten rounds per second firepower from the two machine guns is hard to perceive directly. However, the limbs and flashes of the enemy reinforcements exploding amidst the rain indirectly tell the whole story.

More 'Black King Apostles' joined the battle, but the fighting between the two sides was one-sided.

The firepower allocation of [Anti-Entropy] has always followed the design philosophy of a certain designer who suffers from severe firepower deficiency. Basically, it uses people as cannons and power armor as tanks. Not to mention that there is also a real 'ore pulverizing cannon' hidden in a bus, waiting for an opportunity to be used.

However, his expectations were likely to be dashed.

Due to the lack of communication and network personnel for large-scale operations by the [Anti-Entropy] side, the strategy for this battle from the very beginning was to make it a race against time between the two sides.