The Creators: From Night City

Page 395

As the middlemen gradually left, 'Tom's Restaurant' quickly became empty again.

After everyone else had left, only Roger and Hanz remained in the shop.

"What's wrong with him?" Roger asked Jiang Bing, looking at Hanz who had remained silent.

"He's one of us. Hanz is now in charge of the 'Special Stability Maintenance Department' of [Anti-Entropy]. All the shares that the middlemen will give up will be concentrated in his hands."

Rogge looked at the other man in surprise, only to be met with Mr. Hans's elegant gesture of raising his glass in response.

Jiang Bingneng's ability to say these things to Rogge clearly indicates that he considers Rogge a close partner. He turned and walked towards the kitchen, casually asking, "Rogge, are you hungry? Do you still have an appetite?"

He took several large pieces of pork chops out of the kitchen freezer and placed them on the stove, ready to process them further.

With a steak cut into so many pieces, everyone can only eat for the sake of symbolism; there's no way they'll get full.

"Give me a big piece, with lots of black pepper, I'm starving." Roger craned his neck to look into the kitchen, answering with unusual decisiveness.

After ordering, she took out a key card, casually slapped it on the counter, and swiped it to Gloria on the other end.

"I'm giving you the key to the next life."

Jiang Bing, who was busy in the kitchen, raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

What's going on here?

"That's right, just as you think."

Roger, in a very frank and straightforward manner, said, "I'm giving it to you in the next life. I'm giving it to [Anti-Entropy]. Take it and use it. All the relevant authorization documents are in the safe. I will hand over all my business to Gloria. Ask Knicks about business matters. I've already handed it over to him."

"What, are you going to become a monk?"

Roger, ever the social butterfly, climbed over the bar, picked up a bottle of Happy Skull from the shelf, and sighed as he opened it.

"Why become a monk? I'm preparing to retire."

"Retire? Why did this idea suddenly come to you?" Jiang Bing's slightly puzzled voice came from the kitchen, accompanied by the sizzling sound of frying meat.

"What else could it be? Arakawa is gone."

Gloria and Roger are very close friends. Their friendship started with their organic meat business, and Gloria received a lot of help from Roger during the time she acted as the middleman. Their relationship is so close that they are almost like best friends.

She reached out and took the 'industrial drudgery' from Roger's hand, turned and went into the kitchen, brought out a case of her own liquor, pulled out a bottle and handed it to him, and piled the rest on the counter, indicating that the two of them could take whatever they wanted.

"Vigema Emperor Champion!"

Roger twirled the bottle of wine in his hand, letting out a happy sigh.

Having worked with [Anti-Entropy] in the beverage business for so long, she naturally has a deep understanding of the beverages produced by [Anti-Entropy].

The 'Vigema Champion' series is a series of original craft beer brewed by Jiang Bing, who sourced ingredients from the Wizarding World and then replicated and optimized them by the company's R&D department.

This wine is made with carefully selected premium wheat, and is treated as a luxury product.

The "Vizima Imperial Champion" is a top-tier product brewed using "extraordinary" wheat from the experimental fields of "Heimul" in the "Anti-Entropy" series. The raw materials not only inherit the incredible crop quality of the Monster Hunter world, but also contain trace amounts of magic.

Even in Toussaint, the land of fine wines in the wizarding world, the wine produced would be among the best of the best.

Of course, the price is also top-tier, with a single bottle costing 29 euros.

Keep in mind that this is beer, which is completely different from red wine or white wine.

Even Roger, as a distributor, couldn't afford to indulge in it all the time.

Roger downed half a bottle in one gulp, then let out a satisfied burp filled with the aroma of malt, and asked, "I guess Arasaka Tower will be renamed soon, right? Damn it, I've spent most of my life in this man-eating city, and it's all because of Arasaka."

"We'll have to wait a while longer; Arasaka hasn't cleaned up the mess he left behind in the city."

"What name are you planning to change it to, 'Anti-Entropy' Tower?"

When Roger uttered the unfamiliar name, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

In his youth, he participated in the Arasaka Tower nuclear bombing operation with Johnny Silverhand. Later, he retired and transformed into the 'Queen of the Middlemen' who controlled the Night City mercenary network. Rogue has spent his entire life dealing with Arasaka and Arasaka Tower.

This tangible manifestation of a capital giant, standing tall in the heart of Night City, has become almost her nightmare.

Now that Arasaka has withdrawn from Night City and the era of Arasaka Tower dominating all directions is over, Rogue feels an emptiness in his heart.

She understood that her era had come to an end.

She is tired.

"How's the 'People's Government Affairs Hall'?" Jiang Bing came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of cooked pork chops and handed one to everyone.

"Huh?!" Roger didn't understand Jiang Bing's quirky sense of humor in naming his child, but he respected it.

"Are you really going to retire?" Jiang Bing handed the knife and fork to the other person, asking as a final confirmation.

"Now that Arasaka is gone, I should take a break. Night City probably won't need me anymore. Besides, I'm getting old, I should enjoy a couple of days of peace and quiet."

The title of "Queen of Middlemen" is so famous that everyone forgets that she is already an "old woman" in her seventies or eighties.

Jiang Bing chose to believe Rogge's explanation.

Whether the other party acted sincerely or chose to withdraw gracefully, her decision greatly benefited [Anti-Entropy].

If Night City absolutely needs a 'middle queen,' Gloria is indeed the best candidate.

Of course, the increased workload was not considered by Mr. Jiang.

Gloria, after a year of painful training, had already grasped the 'true meaning' of capitalism.

A boss should be good at assigning tasks, adept at "shifting resources," and know how to give his subordinates opportunities.

Gloria turned her gaze to Hanz, who was sitting in the corner.

Mr. Hanz, who was enjoying a rare delicacy, suddenly shivered for no reason, and a bad feeling of impending doom washed over him.

"So how do you plan your retirement life?"

“A while ago, the Santiago family came to Night City, and my son came too.”

Roger ate with grease dripping from his mouth, took a swig of beer, and let out a satisfied sigh.

“In the blink of an eye, he’s grown up so much. We’ve spent most of these decades apart.”

"I'm planning to go live with the Santiago family in the south for a while. After staying in the city for so long, it would be nice to go to the Badlands and eat some sand."

"Gloria will send you a list of supplies to exchange later. It wouldn't be right for you, as a mother, to go back empty-handed. [Anti-Entropy] will provide you with a batch of basic living supplies as a gift, as my way of returning the favor."

Roger did not refuse. After all, she had already given away the priceless 'afterlife,' so there was no need to argue about a little bit of supplies.

Of course, it wasn't until she saw how large the "batch" Jiang Bing mentioned was that she understood just how "generous" Boss Jiang really was.

"Be careful of the Sixth Street Gang. Artillery is no ordinary person, and Military Technology hasn't been as quiet as it has been lately," Roger suddenly blurted out while eating.

This is the kind of thing you'd do to give a "friend" a parting warning.

"Don't worry, the intelligence department is watching. They won't be able to cause any trouble," Jiang Bing replied without even looking up.

After finishing his meal and drinks, and having said everything he needed to say, Roger wiped his mouth and got up to leave without looking back.

Hanz, however, was very perceptive and left quietly as well.

Only the two managers from [Anti-Entropy] remained in the store.

Jiang Bing sat on the creaking sofa against the wall, looked out at the tall buildings through the glass, and sighed.

"It seems this urban war is far from over."

Grand Steward Gloria, acting like a waiter, cleared away the plates while replying, "We will win eventually, it's just a matter of sooner or later."

Once everything was tidied up, Gloria locked the restaurant door and strolled along the streets of Night City with Jiang Bing, a long-awaited reunion.

Do you remember when I asked you about the meaning behind our company name?

"Of course," Jiang Bing replied without turning his head.

"I never imagined that in less than a year, we would bring order back to Night City," Gloria said with a sigh of relief and a smile.

“Don’t be arrogant, there are still many more places waiting for us to ‘liberate’,” Jiang Bing replied.

"Hmm~"

The two continued their stroll through the streets of Night City, which were now several times cleaner.

The sun in the distance began to set behind the mountains, while the streetlights were already on.

(City Warfare Volume Ends)

Chapter 811 Blood, Disease, Ravens, and Yharnam

We must revere the blood of the ancient gods.

—William Master, Bailkingworth Institute

Yharnam is a very strange city. It is strange not only because the local residents are very hostile to outsiders, but also because of its architectural style.

The streets of Yharnam are rarely straight; instead, they are mostly narrow, winding paths and alleyways hidden in corners, creeping into the darkness like the appendix of a rotting corpse.

The ground was covered with slippery pebbles, perpetually permeated with a sticky, cold grime that was hard to tell whether it was rainwater, night dew, or years of bloodstains.

The dim gas lamp flickered in the cold wind, illuminating only a small part of the darkness.

However, it's hard to say whether this is a good thing or not, since in endless darkness, light sources can actually bring disaster.

The black feathers blended almost seamlessly with the night sky, while the scarlet eyes reflected a phantom reality.

A flock of crows glided and danced in the night.

They flew over countless spires pointing to the sky—the rooftops of buildings—over narrow, winding, uneven cobblestone streets, over dense, suffocating clusters of buildings, and over cast-iron railings, gaslights, and tombstones that were everywhere.

Following the scent of death, the flock of deathbirds landed deep in a dark alley.

"Uh~~"

Painful and dazed female moans rose from the darkness.

In the narrow alleyway filled with tombstones, coffins tightly bound by iron chains, firewood, and fuel canisters, a dark figure gradually began to wriggle.

"Ah~~"

A hazy, soft female moan followed, as if its owner had just woken from a nightmare.

The crow opened its eyes, surveying this strange yet familiar world, and observing the familiar flock of crows.

The crows also sized up their 'huge' fellow crow.

She wore a black cloak woven from raven feathers, with a coat lining made of linen and leather blended with metallic threads.

A leather belt was around his waist, with several delicate leather pouches attached to either side.

A black triangular hat and a long, narrow bird-beak mask were integrated into the hunter's face, completely covering all her skin without leaving any gaps.

This unusual outfit made her look like a human-shaped raven, which is how she got her nickname—the Raven Hunter.

The last rays of the setting sun had not yet completely faded, and a ray of the setting sun shone on the alley entrance, which excited the hunter who was just awakening from a dream.

"Very good, it seems I woke up before the night of the hunt. I have plenty of time to act this time."

The crow stood up from the corner, seemingly accustomed to the slippery, muddy ground.

But as soon as she took a step, she suddenly heard a panicked wail.

Then came the sound of footsteps, hurried footsteps, running towards the alley entrance.

The crow did not rush into action, but listened carefully to the rhythmic footsteps making sounds on the stone path, and to the chaotic footsteps rolling forward, disordered, rude, unwise and savage.

Her extensive hunting experience allowed her to make a quick judgment.

Ahead, fleeing for their lives, is a human, a woman, alone, while behind, chasing after the 'patients,' in the middle stage, at least three people.

She rarely sees normal people, so she unconsciously started walking towards the alley entrance.

"Help! Is there anyone who can save me? Help me~~"

Hearing the cries for help, a mixture of fear and sobs, the crow felt even more delighted.

There were no muffled sobs, no screams, no roars; it was definitely a 'human'!

The result was as she had guessed.

As she turned the corner of the alley, she saw a woman fleeing in panic. The long run had left her breathless, and if it weren't for the 'beasts' behind her wielding knives, axes, spears, and lances, she probably would have collapsed to the ground long ago.

The crow wanted to observe the situation more closely, but the light of the setting sun was still dazzling, and somehow it shone through her mask, causing her eyes, which were used to the darkness, to involuntarily squint.

How long has it been since she last saw the light?