Players Invade Cyberpunk-Chapter 730 - 235: Merchants Are Always After Profit—If He Doesn’t Want Money, What Does He Want? Surely He Won’t Blow Up Night City

"Besides, maybe they've had their nose and mouth reconstructed and can't smell anything, you know?"

"Even if they gave me this place to live for free, I wouldn't stay."

Red Barrel, knowing all too well about coastal villas, knows exactly what they're like. When a typhoon hits, the coastal residents' bureau looks like the end of the world, with windows shaking like crazy. The sunny days by the sea are far from enjoyable; many buyers were simply fooled by developers.

He pointed to a thirty-plus story office building by the sea

"How much explosives would it take to blow that up?"

Dading looked at the office building twice, quickly shaking his head.

"How would I know? I'd need to conduct an on-site inspection, better to get the design drawings, otherwise it's a no-go."

He was a bit confused

"Why do you want to blow up the building? Aren't we handling construction? When did we start doing demolitions?"

"What kind of demolition?"

Red Barrel whispered to Dading

"It's to blast the foundation; there's something inside, you know?"

Dading immediately showed a knowing expression

Lin Miao got control of Taiping Continent, and he's obviously not here to be a local tyrant, turning Taiping Continent into a playground for players.

The core issue is using Taiping Continent to make money. Without making money, there's no way to expand more production lines and tap into more industrial chains.

But Taiping Continent's history means that anyone who tries to restart development projects will have to face the messy economic disputes. Unless this issue is resolved, even if Taiping Continent's facilities are all repaired, it would just be making wedding clothes for others, a losing business for oneself.

Even if you solve all that, a bigger problem awaits you.

What about the local residents of Taiping Continent?

They've lived here for over a decade. Any other company would forcibly evict them to other districts to become vagrants. If they refuse, they'd send armored vehicles to patrol the streets with tires freshly coated in red oil, but Lin Miao can't do that. The players wouldn't stand for it.

So, the best way is to tear up all the contracts and destroy everything to start over.

But Lin Miao can't do it himself, and neither can the players. He needs a scapegoat.

This scapegoat must be threatening enough to make everyone forget about him tearing up the contracts.

And the only one who can do this is a wandering AI.

————————

"Hm, it seems this guy is serious about Taiping Continent, not just talk, but actual action."

The perimeter of the lower levels of the Gem Cyan building had already been chosen by Hansen as a military base, with layers of defenses tightly secured, machine gun turrets, armored vehicles, and air defense missile vehicles were piled everywhere. You can even see Minotaur Bipedal Robots following patrol teams on sentry duty.

Compared to the Netherworld Dog Team, other gangs are as gentle as kittens.

And compared to the luxurious Gem Cyan Hotel, Colonel Hanssen, with his military background, prefers staying in the barracks. The hotel's underground parking lot has already been turned into a safe bunker by him.

In the bunker, Hansen held a newspaper, the content of which was about the Taiping Continent police arresting Soviet Union smugglers. Lin Miao's move had surprised quite a few people.

Offending Soviet Petrochemical right after taking office, it's not just brave, it's extremely bold. Those paparazzi have an absurd sense of smell; the arrests happened in the morning, and it made the news by the afternoon.

But... Hansen is also quite troubled.

Due to Lin Miao's crackdown on the drug trade in Night City, Cuba had already expressed dissatisfaction with Hansen because of the recent financial setbacks.

The Cuba Drug Trafficking Group is Hansen's biggest partner; his success is inseparable from their support. If he doesn't handle it well, there's no guarantee they won't replace him.

Sitting beside him, Gago lit a cigar for Hansen

"A brainless brute like that won't live long, Soviet Petrochemical will surely deal with him before it escalates, eliminating a headache for us. No need for you to handle it personally, Colonel Hanssen."

Honestly, Gago is also a bit baffled by what Lin Miao intends to do. Even if he's cutting down people for military tech, his approach is overly aggressive. How much money did military tech give him, is it worth going all out?

"A brainless brute wouldn't have lasted this long; this newly appointed district chief must have his plan."

Hansen took the cigar, twisting it between his fingers repeatedly 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"But the business of Soviet Petrochemical and Dog Town doesn't concern us; they never intended to share profits with me. The Cleaner isn't on good terms with us either, but the drug sales issue can't just be left at that."

He doesn't want to wake up one morning and find an Aguirre in a black suit sitting by his bed, ready to load bullets into his brain.

"So what should we do?"

As Hansen's right-hand man, Gago knows that Hansen doesn't want an armed conflict with the other party right now, but Cuba certainly won't just wait. He is deeply troubled by this.

"I've already had someone check; his subordinates don't touch any drugs, threats and bribes don't work either, not even seduction has yielded any results. Abstinence to this extent isn't human, it's mechanical."

"His people can abstain, but can the other people in Night City?"

Hansen is very disdainful of Lin Miao's anti-drug efforts; he's never seen anyone in Night City manage to kick drug addiction.

Never, not a single one.

Those addicts become unrecognizable when their craving hits, even willing to sell their own daughters to clubs for a fix.

What good is regret afterwards?