The Creators: From Night City

Page 302

Thomas Bradley, sitting in the car, quickly inquired about the situation of the lead car via the radio.

"What?! You mean the road ahead is blocked?"

Thomas Bradley, the deputy chief of the NCPD's River Valley district, found it all unbelievable and absurd.

He gripped the radio and asked, word by word, "James, are you sure someone would dare to block the roads in the Valley right in front of us?"

He couldn't help but be surprised. You see, traffic control and area blockades are the usual methods and tasks used by these police officers. He never expected that there would be a day when they would be turned against them.

“Yes, I’m sure, boss.” James’s answer was firm.

"Which law enforcement agency are they from? Didn't you inform them that we are currently responding to a major terrorist attack?"

“I told the boss, but the problem is they’re not from a brother department, they’re from a ‘mutual aid society’.”

“Mutual Aid Society? That peasant organization from Coronado Farm, who the hell gave them the guts? James, fire a warning shot, just drive over them. I'll take responsibility if anything happens.” Thomas Bradley was already quite irritable, and this made him even more impatient.

“Boss, uh~ I think you’d better come and take a look.” James’s answer was quite unexpected. He not only refused his boss’s order, but also turned around and ordered the other party around.

"Are you tired of living?" Thomas Bradley said irritably.

"Are you tired of living?" A strange voice suddenly came from the radio, threateningly retorting.

The rain intensified, making it impossible to distinguish between people and animals even ten meters away.

Thomas Bradley couldn't see the lead car at all, but he eventually gave in, got out of his car, and led his group of brothers carefully to the front of the line, braving the acid rain.

The location of the checkpoint was carefully chosen.

The road is flanked by endless walls with few alleys and a wide-open terrain. The streetlights cast dappled light in the rain, creating a hazy, dreamlike effect on pedestrians.

Of course, there are hardly any pedestrians at this time of day.

Thomas Bradley wanted to say something tough, but whether it was the rain or the intimidating presence of the other side, he couldn't open his mouth for a moment.

The NCPD mobilized a total of 60 police officers for this operation, which is a significant force in Night City.

But the scale of the 'mutual aid society' was even more frightening.

Black clothes, black boots, black guns against the black night—the entire street was almost filled with the enemy's men.

To maintain a unified style, all the members of the 'Mutual Aid Association' were dressed in black.

Not all of these people are security personnel from [Anti-Entropy]; a significant number are locals from Santo Domingo and core members of the newly developed 'Workers' Mutual Aid Association'.

In other words, indigenous workers.

These workers have a very close connection with the 'Mutual Aid Society' and [Anti-Entropy], and have benefited from the deeply ingrained gang culture of Night City. They are surprisingly accepting of the 'Mutual Aid Society's' management style, which is half worker and half gang.

The credibility built up during this period of careful management, coupled with the strong support from [Anti-Entropy]—providing them with money, manpower, and weapons as needed—has enabled the 'Mutual Aid Association,' a nominally civilian organization but in reality a gang, to unleash its powerful mobilization capabilities.

Old Logan easily gathered more than two hundred people and sealed off the outer perimeter of the entire battlefield.

They may not have received much formal training, but the men of Night City all have a few marksmanship skills. With the guns provided by [Anti-Entropy] at a discounted price, they are more than qualified to deal with other gangs (mainly the Sixth Street Gang) who are trying to take advantage of the chaos.

Thomas Brad's expensive prosthetic eyes clearly saw many dark figures wearing raincoats peeking out from the high points on both sides of the street.

This discovery caused him a slight toothache.

Having risen through the ranks from the Special Operations Department to become the Deputy Director of the NCPD's River Valley District based on his combat record, he possessed five years of military service experience. He was not one of those bloated, incompetent fools, but precisely because of this, he understood even more the consequences of losing commanding heights.

“You should think carefully before you act like this with the NCPD.”

As the saying goes, one should not lose face even if one loses the battle. Thomas knew the value of his suit, so although his words were strong in words but weak in reality, he managed to stand up straight.

“We figured it out back in 2061.” Old Logan, wearing a gambler’s hat and letting the rain stream down from the brim, walked up to the other person.

“If Arasaka doesn’t give us a way out, we have to take it ourselves. If you want to be accomplices to evil, you will also have to enjoy the same treatment.”

"Get out of the way now, and I promise this will be as if nothing ever happened. Otherwise..." Thomas gritted his teeth and pulled out his gun from his waist, desperate to give his superiors a death knell. Whether it was rain or sweat, the gun felt greasy and he could barely hold it.

“You can’t get through here.” Old Logan, relying on the brim of his hat, lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth, his much younger face full of toughness.

This middle-aged farmer from Santo Domingo, who had lost both his son and wife, had a heart that had hardened like a stone many years ago.

His response was the sound of a group of police officers drawing their guns.

But the response to the police was the sound of more than two hundred members of the "mutual aid society" drawing their guns.

The two sides then reached a standoff.

"Get out of the way if you don't want to die." Knowing the situation, Thomas knew he couldn't back down, so even though his legs were about to cramp from nervousness, he still stubbornly glared at old Logan.

His dignity and his future career in the NCPD were the driving forces behind him, and he was determined not to back down.

Old Logan, on the other hand, had confidence purely stemming from his ability.

Suddenly, a few crimson lights appeared in the dim corner of the street, and four or five tall, metallic figures quietly walked to the edge of the streetlights, just enough for the police officers to see their general outlines.

And the black, hard object they held in their hands was very convincing.

“Power armor.” Thomas recognized what the thing huddled in the darkness was at a glance.

Chapter 606 A Mouse in the Rice Jar

He was both shocked and furious at the sudden appearance of these illegal items from Night City.

What shocked them was the audacity of the other party, who openly disregarded the Night City government's ban and seemed completely unafraid of any repercussions.

It's important to understand that the NCPD is only a part of Night City's armed forces. Apart from the Terrorist Mobile Unit, there are several thousand regular troops stationed at the border wall. If the city councilors are really angered, this National Guard will definitely be deployed into the city at lightning speed to quell the rebellion.

What's infuriating is whether the security personnel at the border wall are incompetent, allowing this stuff to be smuggled into the city so quietly.

Of course, what's even more infuriating is why I had to be the one to run into it.

"You should understand that only the living can talk about tomorrow." Old Logan rubbed his cigarette butt until it glowed red and shiny, red like blood, and shiny like a hateful gaze.

"You should also understand that everyone only has one life, and in the face of a bullet, no one's life is more precious than anyone else's."

“You can simply give the order, and then a burst of gunfire will rang out. As expected, some people will fall here forever. It could be you, it could be me, or it could be him.” Old Logan pointed at the disheveled James with his finger.

"But what you don't know is that we don't care."

Old Logan exhaled a puff of smoke, as if releasing decades of resentment and frustration.

“We, f***ing, don’t care!” Old Logan reached out and poked the other man’s chest repeatedly.

"What you and your people want to protect is your monthly salary of several thousand euros, while we are here to beg for a living."

Old Logan spat out the cigarette butt, letting it meet the rainwater on the ground with a 'sizzling' sound, and then quietly went out.

“You can’t threaten someone who lives in death every day with death. Santo Domingo’s groundwater has been polluted by Arasaka for more than a decade, letting death permeate this land, but now it’s time for them to pay their debt.”

As he finished speaking, old Logan couldn't help but raise his voice, and all the members of the 'Mutual Aid Society' behind him raised their guns and roared in unison.

"Roar!"

Under the extraordinary influence of old Logan's extraordinary abilities, an atmosphere of desperation was brewing.

The old cowboy gently touched the revolver at his waist.

“We may not win, but you will definitely lose badly, this big shot from the NCPD.”

Looking at Thomas Bradley, who was visibly panicked, old Logan narrowed his eyes and issued an ultimatum: "Because we have nothing left to lose, yet you still care about your status, your power, your life. You're doomed."

Thomas Bradley was furious, but he dared not vent his anger. Looking at the men in black standing unmoved in the storm, at their cold eyes, at their white fingers gripping their guns, he knew that what they said was true.

He is bound to lose.

So he had no choice but to retreat.

But he couldn't explain himself by going back in such a dejected manner, so he could only pull his car to the side and watch the group from a distance, comforting himself that this was a relatively peaceful form of confrontation from afar.

Meanwhile, what was Anti-Entropy, which had completely taken control of the Arasaka Industrial Park, doing during the standoff between the two?

The answer lies in utilizing a traditional skill—moving.

As Arakawa's most important manufacturing base in North America, the Arakawa Industrial Park houses many of the world's top-of-the-line facilities.

These enormous pieces of equipment are extremely heavy and almost impossible to move using conventional transport vehicles. They often need to be disassembled and transported using specialized vehicles.

Even so, assembling and disassembling the equipment would require a lot of manpower and resources, which is why the higher-ups in Arasaka were not so panicked. The attackers could at most take away the products in the warehouse and loot some high-value electronic products, but it would be difficult for anyone to handle these heavy industrial instruments.

But they were naturally unaware of the existence of 'Heiml' and 'Craftsmen' in this world.

Jiang Bing did not show up during the entire battle, mainly because he was making room for these new guys inside 'Heiml'.

The atomic probe lithography system is as large as a two-story building.

After being bathed in golden flames, Jiang Bing completed the dismantling work that would have taken a whole day for a team of twenty engineers in just two minutes, followed by a frantic moving operation.

The Black King's apostles could lift nearly ten tons of machine parts in just three to five people, while the Palicoes carried the scattered parts, and Jiang Bing was responsible for moving the main body of the equipment.

The portal to 'Heiml' opened to its maximum extent, and the metal body, weighing over a hundred tons, was surrounded by a kinetic energy field powered by Jiang Bing, and gently floated into 'Heiml'.

In fact, Jiang Bing could take over all the equipment in the factory by himself. The existence of the [Ether Furnace] could shorten the melting time of these devices to an unbelievable level. Jiang Bing could leisurely leave with all the knowledge he had copied from it and a piece of 'Ether'.

However, he ultimately abandoned the plan.

The main problem was that the price difference generated during the melting and recasting process of these devices was so large that it really hurt Jiang Bing, who was not yet wealthy.

In comparison, the ant-like method of moving house is not an option that cannot be considered. After all, although it is somewhat undignified, it is the same route Jiang Bing came by.

The self-assembly nanotemplate machine was moved; the single-atom-layer plasma etching machine was moved; and other equipment used in the manufacture of precision electronic instruments, such as ultra-low temperature wafer cleaning stations, molecular-level epitaxial deposition chambers, 3D heterogeneous integration robots, silicon photonic interconnect manufacturing platforms, and trapped-ion chip processing systems, were all moved away.

After a busy period of moving the most valuable equipment, and with a signal from Old Logan that everything was normal, the evil hand of [Anti-Entropy] set its sights on the equipment in the Arasaka arms manufacturing area.

Arasaka is a global conglomerate whose main businesses include security, manufacturing, and banking.

In the manufacturing industry, Arasaka founder Sansai Arasaka made full use of the benefits brought by the war in the 1830s and 1840s, getting involved in a lot of heavy industry-related industries and making a good business of manufacturing ships and aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

However, after Japan's defeat in 1945, the entire manufacturing division of Arasaka Corporation suddenly became sluggish. It wasn't until the 60s, when Saburo Arasaka took over the company, that the focus of the manufacturing division shifted from heavy industry to producing equipment for his own troops, such as light weapons, computers, armor, and small vehicles. This stimulated domestic demand and improved the financial statements through internal circulation.

After the global economic collapse in 1994, Arasaka Corporation turned its attention to general manufacturing, expanding its product range from aircraft and medical equipment to various small consumer goods such as children's toys, thereby increasing its resilience against risks.

However, at the North American branch of Night City, Arasaka's main manufacturing focus is still on light weaponry and small, precision electronic products.

This resulted in the instruments in the Arasaka Industrial Park being all heavy industrial equipment, all high-quality products.

Chapter 607 City Councilor Jack

Multi-metal laser deposition printers, intelligent composite armor printing platforms, and functional graded material synthesizers used in additive manufacturing are all things that Compo needs to schedule in advance for when delivering goods. Needless to say, they're all getting a lot of money.

The adaptive five-axis composite machining center and ceramic matrix composite laser lathe, which are responsible for intelligent processing, are Arasaka's unique and signature products. Needless to say, they are the top priority.

Electron beam weapon welding robots, flexible assembly lines, fully enclosed explosive synthesis reactors, and directional blasting charge 3D printers—these assembly line equipment can all be found on the market, but buying them on the spot is nowhere near as fast as grabbing them immediately. They're all gone, all gone.

This research and development branch, which is not valued by Arasaka, also has a lot of good stuff. As soon as Jiang Bing came in, he found an atomic tomography analyzer that is not available on the market, as well as an extreme environment material simulation chamber that is extremely niche but can be very useful in certain situations. Without saying a word, he took it away.

Like a tornado siphoning the parking lot, it's like a food scammer ordering food and opening bottles of wine, stuffing the money into their pockets with a mix of eating and drinking, plus prying up the floor and dismantling the steel beams.

remain?

With little left, fueled by hatred for the Japanese, even the paper shredder in the industrial park's office area was taken away by the cat. If it weren't for Boss Jiang being somewhat of a benevolent figure in the chaotic camp who didn't take the souls of the innocent, those office workers huddled in their offices, trembling with fear, would have had their souls and bodies sent to the furnace for refining.

Unlike now, except for a few heinous criminals or those in important positions who are tied up and taken away, everyone else is "forced to shut down," thrown into a small room, and that's it.

However, even when someone is kidnapped, there are differences in the treatment they receive.

Maria, who had been restored to order, enjoyed VIP treatment. Apart from needing to be genuinely unconscious to avoid revealing the existence of 'Heimul', she didn't suffer much pain.

Her deputy fared much worse; not only was he subjected to a powerful form of sedation, but he will likely never appear in the world again.

As they moved on, even Jiang Bing couldn't bear to watch any longer and quickly stopped the Palicoes who wanted to dismantle the factory's steel frame beams. No wonder, these were the supporting pillars, and dismantling the massive factory would cause it to collapse.

As for the sewage equipment and pipes that the old captain had been longing for and gritting his teeth over, they weren't blown up; they were all simply taken away, ending the matter once and for all.

Once everything was dismantled, everyone calmly withdrew, leaving only the Arasaka Industrial Park, which was intact on the outside but empty inside.

As for the police officers that were let in by old Logan to whitewash the situation?

Sorry, the water pipes have been removed from the main valve of the city's pipeline branch.

........................

Dressed in a smart suit and with his hair styled like an adult, Jack narcissistically compared himself to the mirror again and again, until Misty impatiently rubbed his buttocks hard with her fishnet stockings several times before he finally stopped.

"Hurry up, this is your first official job, be careful not to be late." Misty straightened her boyfriend's tie and patted him on the shoulder.

Jack, of course, grinned and agreed.

He walked to the door, then seemed to remember something and turned back, picking up his two golden guns from the bedside table and stuffing them into the gun holster under his suit jacket.

Even after becoming a city councilor, old Jack never forgot his roots.