Players Invade Cyberpunk-Chapter 740 - 238: Sanlang’s Hot Spring Beheads the Black Hand (Part 3)

"Of course we do. If you don't believe me, officer, just scan and see."

The big guy stylishly took off his sunglasses with one hand, though even without the glasses, it was hard to spot his squinty eyes on his face.

"...."

The captain also squinted, scrutinizing the person in front of him with his prosthetic eye.

An unfamiliar face.

Then he proactively applied to connect to the database and scanned the two people in the car.

[Name: Big Head]

[Name: Savage]

The profile frame turned from red to green, indicating that they indeed had Dogtown passes.

Weird.

It was truly weird.

The captain really didn't want to admit that these guys had passes. He even suspected that either the system malfunctioned or someone had hacked it, but after several reports, the audit hackers all replied that there were no anomalies.

".....You sure?"

"Sure."

Fuck!

No matter how many doubts he had, he had to follow through painstakingly at this moment.

Reporting it was for later; any mistakes would fall on the computer system and hackers. But not letting them through now would be against the rules, and he'd be the one facing trouble.

He reluctantly said,

"Go ahead, make sure to register your weapons."

The big guy smugly put back on his sunglasses, covering his already non-existent eyes.

"Thank you, SIR."

Previously, they tried all sorts of methods to get into Dogtown — hiding in the backs of other people's cars, holding car owners hostage, climbing over walls at night, and sneaking through sewers...

They tried virtually every possible way, but were always blocked by the well-guarded Netherworld Dog Team and scanning equipment. Now they could drive in openly, and it was unbelievably satisfying.

"...."

The captain took a deep breath, reassuring himself that at least they weren't lunatics coming to mess up Dogtown. If there were issues, the internal X-ray scan would detect them.

Then he looked at the next player-driver with a wide smile.

"...."

Another deep breath.

Calm... calm.

"What! 800 people entered Dogtown this morning?"

Murphy, Hansen's subordinate, was dumbfounded upon hearing this. In the past, even in two or three days combined, nowhere near as many people entered Dogtown. What madness was it today?

What are the Voodoo Gangsters doing — just eating?

Is this how the system is maintained?

————

"This Dogtown doesn't seem all that special, does it."

They found a random spot, parked the car, and were greeted by the genuinely desolate scene of Dogtown.

The buildings hadn't been painted or renovated at all, exuding a rough sense of cement walls everywhere. The pedestrians on the roadsides were even more chaotic than those in the outside Taiping Continent.

They were thin, in ragged clothes, wandering aimlessly as if everyone was doing nothing. Every time a garbage truck pulled out from buildings like Gemstone Cyan or Heavy Heart Bar, a group of homeless people would swarm the door, rummaging through the trash piles. They would even brawl over half a bottle of beer.

Ominous laughter would occasionally drift from the street corners, and the big guy wanted to see what was going on but realized it was just a junkie huddled in a corner. Getting too close might result in an attack from someone high and out of their mind.

"Don't they work? Such idleness."

Even in the most chaotic places in Taiping Continent, people would find some job to scrape by. But Potato noticed that the people here seemed to not work at all.

"Where would they find a job."

Brother Ni had already inquired about Dogtown's internal situation before coming.

"There's only one bar and one hotel here. The rest are all operations run by gangs, with expenses much higher than outside. Any refugee who comes in won't last long before getting into drugs or being extorted by gangs, draining every penny on them. They'll end up as one of the street's homeless, eventually dying in a trash heap one afternoon."

Dogtown's only business is smuggling. The entire economy relies on this illegal trade, so even food and drink are smuggled in. They value their own people highly, and it's basically impossible for outsiders to find employment here.

Ordinary people have no way to survive here.

"Sounds really miserable."

The big guy shook his head.

Brother Ni reminded, "Don't pity these guys. They've all committed crimes and have no way out, which is why they're in Dogtown. It's just one evil restraining another."

More and more players were entering Dogtown, but luckily it's quite spacious inside. Even with an increase of 800 people, it was just a drop in the bucket.

Some wanted to go to the so-called black market to see if there were any high-grade prosthetics, while others wanted to take a few photos at the Dogtown sights. Soon everyone dispersed. Just as Wildman and his group were considering following others to the black market to see the legendary contraband, a strange noise from the sky caught their attention.

They had heard this sound before outside Dogtown, but it was faint and irregular, so they hadn't really paid much attention.

Looking up now, they realized it was a large drone crash-landing. It was diving towards a spot on the ground, and as the lower cabin door opened, a box emitting orange smoke was dumped straight out.

The arrival of the drone seemed to stir the crowd. Many vehicles turned around and sped towards the site where the air-drop box was falling, like they were competing for some prize.

The group exchanged glances, feeling perplexed by the situation.

Wildman casually grabbed a tall, skinny guy trying to run over, pointing at the still-descending air-drop and asked,

"What's that?"

Where's this dumb country bumpkin from?

The tall, skinny guy initially wanted to say that, but the gun barrel was already shoved into his mouth.

Having spent so much time in Night City, the players had fully mastered the art of conducting friendly conversation-negotiations with the locals.

"Uh... don't shoot."

The tall, skinny guy raised his hands, smiling awkwardly, and said,

"That's Hansen's smuggled air-drop; inside are all sorts of good stuff he bought, like prosthetics, guns, or chips. Basically, it's first-come, first-served."

"What?"

The big guy was dumbfounded.

"Stuff he bought, just dumped in Dogtown for you guys to snatch?"