Players Invade Cyberpunk-Chapter 693 - 223: The Future Player Login Method
Injustice!
Within True Water Corporation, the R&D department, berated by the PR department at the conference, was on the verge of tears.
Escherichia coli exceeding limits, bacterial contamination, does it even matter?
Not at all, okay!
For people in the year 2076, especially most of the middle and upper management, internal organ modification is a high priority. Every organ like liver, kidney, stomach, and lungs can greatly enhance human abilities, especially the stomach, which is crucial. More efficient absorption is needed to provide enough energy to power prosthetics, so few keep an original stomach. The same goes for mouth and throat.
Thus, for these mildly modified humans, Escherichia coli or Streptococcus pose little threat, and the likelihood of falling ill is very slim. So what if it's a bit dirty?
Come on, it's 2076. Can't you afford to treat such minor ailments if you can afford to drink True Water?
Then the R&D department pointed fingers at the production department, accusing them of cost-cutting that eliminated the bacterial purification process in water sources, and now it's been exposed, right?
Then the production department pointed fingers at the operations department, blaming them for focusing on increasing profit margins to make annual reports look better and boost stock prices, and now things have gone wrong, and they're making us take the fall?
Then the operations department pointed fingers at the quality control department, questioning why this batch was allowed to ship. The quality control department turned around and blamed the PR department, asking, if we did everything, what are you even for? Aren't you paid to do damage control?
Ultimately, this formed a closed loop.
In a company, the most important thing is not how capable or outstanding you are, but how well you can shift blame and keep your hands clean. Everyone present understood this, so they scrambled to pass the responsibility onto others, turning the scene into utter chaos. Some even went so far as to take off their shoes and hurl them at the others; if it weren't for the screens separating them, they might have gotten into a physical brawl.
As for how to resolve the issue?
Don't worry, someone will find a solution, or else we'll all go down together.
So, someone quickly came up with a strategy.
It's not just True Water Corporation that's been hit by public opinion; Continental Foods Corporation, Full Foods Corporation, and numerous smaller domestic food industries across North America have been affected too.
Therefore, to weather this storm, they must unite everyone, waging a war of public opinion and lawsuits, trying to turn black into white legally and at least preserve their domestic market.
You ask why they don't resort to force?
Because they know even if they rally everyone together, they might not be able to defeat military tech. The rapid collapse of the states back then was partly because these companies didn't want armed conflict affecting business stock prices, and also simply because they couldn't win.
Not to mention the presence of Kangtao and Ye Corporation next door; no one considers Horizon Corporation, with an asset value of merely a few billion, as a threat. They all agree that Horizon Corporation is just a pawn thrown out by military tech, and defeating military tech would render Horizon Corporation inconsequential.
Furthermore, if they were to rectify this, the joint expenditure of their companies would reach hundreds of billions of Orokin, and they couldn't afford such losses.
Thus, a grand commercial war engulfing half of North America was set in motion.
The legal teams from both sides battled fiercely in court, with piles of cash bribing judges, congressmen, and jurors. On the media front, military tech showed no mercy, using drone and spy-captured photos to unrelentingly publish in newspapers, expanding the target from just True Water and meat to nearly all domestic food industries.
Meanwhile, the food conglomerates were also full of tricks. On one hand, they propagated the threat of military tech, claiming New America was again stirring a war threatening all humanity. On the other hand, they planted dead cockroaches in Horizon's purified water, showing their own gathered evidence that the opponent wasn't clean either, and even lobbied state governments to enact new food safety laws.
When you're targeted by a beast, you'd better pray you don't bleed. Once a beast bites and tastes blood, it won't let go until it devours you completely.
Military tech is in such a predicament now. Although Horizon's purified water isn't extremely profitable, with the water plant producing only limited commercial purified water, with a daily production of 2.4 million bottles priced very low, after deducting logistics, labor, and other costs, each bottle earns just about 0.3 to 0.4 Orokin.
This means daily profits are less than a million Orokin, and it's split among four parties, but they see a tangible opportunity to carve a chunk, or even swallow the entire water market.
By then, it wouldn't just be a million Orokin; at least two or three additional zeros would follow.
Doesn't military tech want to gobble up Horizon Corporation and monopolize the technology?
Oh, they want to, definitely.
But the problem is Kangtao and Ye Corporation are sitting beside them, and Lin Miao has straightforwardly shown military tech that Horizon Corporation is no pushover.
Maybe outside the city he can't beat military tech's forces, but in Night City, if you can bomb Huangban Tower, do you think Lin Miao's people wouldn't dare to bomb military tech's Twin Towers?
Thus, a delicate balance was struck among the four parties at the negotiating table over water resources; no one would act against Lin Miao at this critical juncture.
However, Lin Miao also knows that the current water plant production is far from satisfying everyone's appetite. But constructing one water plant at a time would take forever, and even just running around would be a hassle.
