Chapter 1119: Chapter 364: When Sparrows Cover the Lion

He casually picked up a skewer and ate it with relish. The taste of this artificial meat seemed much more authentic than the stuff back home, and even closer to real chicken meat.

He finished a skewer in a couple of bites, then looked up at the vendor with a bandana wrapped around his head. The vendor was happily tending to the various skewers on the grill, showing no signs of the pressure of life and work.

"Night City, it’s different from before."

He asked the stall owner for a beer and ate it with the skewers.

The vendor, looking at the unfamiliar face in front of him, curiously asked,

"Have you been to Night City before, sir?"

"Hmm, I stayed for a while decades ago; back then, the Huangban Tower hadn’t even fallen yet."

"You must be joking, sir. Huangban Tower is still standing just fine, isn’t it?"

"Heh."

The man chuckled but didn’t answer the question. Instead, he asked,

"Can you tell me how Night City has changed over the years? I’ve been to many cities, and they are all dirty and messy, full of homeless people and gangs."

"You’ve come at the right time. If you had come a year earlier, I wouldn’t have dared to set up a stall on Sixth Street Gang’s turf, it was a mess."

"Last year?"

"Yeah, didn’t you watch the news?"

"I don’t trust those news reports. Those journalists will say anything for money, they can even claim poop smells like roses. The news I hear from you guys is the most reliable."

"True, I don’t trust them either."

The vendor was also quite chatty, and since it was a rare occasion to have an out-of-town visitor, he went on and on,

"This place used to be controlled by the Sixth Street Gang, and we had to pay protection fees. Initially, it was collected monthly, then weekly, then daily, and even in advance. The protection fee increased from thirty to forty to fifty percent. We also had to use their supplies, which were expensive and lousy quality. But now, Horizon Corporation has gathered all the independent merchants in Night City to form a chamber of commerce, with unified procurement, unified inspection, which is both clean and cheap..."

Horizon Corporation...

This wasn’t the first time he’d heard the name. Before coming to Night City, the United States branch had mentioned it several times in files sent to headquarters, and since arriving here, he heard it at every turn.

Is Military Technology planning to seize power from the bottom since the top-level and war routes weren’t feasible?

However, what he saw along the way made him doubt that Military Technology would do something like this.

Moreover, Military Technology was now at war with Cuba, so wouldn’t his plan be ruined?

If he stabs Military Technology in the back right now, do they still have the strength to retaliate?

"Boss, here’s your order."

A pickup truck stopped in front of the stall, and a burly black man got out, opening the trunk.

"Coming, let’s chat later."

After speaking to the man, the vendor went to unload the goods.

Out of curiosity, the man glanced back and happened to make eye contact with the black driver unloading the goods.

"....."

He was recognized.

Even though the black driver didn’t say anything, he was sure the driver had recognized him.

After years of navigating the underworld, he developed a strong sense of crisis awareness. This black man in front of him was definitely not just a simple mover.

Moreover, he hadn’t shown his face publicly for decades, and very few knew what he looked like, not to mention the face blindness unique to people from different regions. With the sunglasses in Night City, no one should have been able to recognize his identity.

He had forged an itinerary to come to Night City early to avoid that old bastard’s spies and to steal something out, so he couldn’t be discovered.

Before anything goes wrong, slip away!

He pulled some notes out of his pocket and slapped them on the table.

"Boss, keep the change."

Then he walked away without looking back.

Unbeknownst to him, the black driver was also stunned.

Damn it.

Huang Ban Lai Xuan!

Why would he come here to eat skewers?

Is Huang Ban planning to launch an attack on Horizon Corporation at this time?

————

Following Lin Miao’s directions, V ran all the way to Japan Street to find that guy named Brother Ni.

The names here were always so strange, she couldn’t understand why an Asian would call himself Black Devil?

And the place where that guy was hanging out was even weirder, squatting on the rooftop of a couple’s bar, with a tent, peeping at the distant Four-handed Divine Statue with binoculars, surrounded by piles of water bottles and fast-food boxes.

Looking like a complete homeless person, far from a stealth expert.

But V had gotten used to it; everyone knows Horizon Corporation had many weird geniuses, one more wouldn’t hurt.

V approached, planning to say hello, but Brother Ni gestured for her to be silent.

"Shh....."

Then, with a mysterious expression, he asked,

"Did you hear it?"

"Uh.. huh?"

V looked around, hearing nothing but the traffic and the wind.

"It’s the sound of electromagnetic waves!"

Brother Ni grabbed two stainless steel basins and put them over V and his own head.

"With this, you won’t get brainwashed or mind-controlled."

No way... what the hell was this crazy BYD up to?

V touched the stainless steel basin on her head, the buzzing in her head was giving her a headache.

"The BOSS has already given his orders, I know what you need to do."

Brother Ni held onto the stainless steel basin, afraid it might fall off, as if something was really trying to brainwash him.

"Ganbi Mansion, we’ve been up there before, last year we even crashed a hovercar into it, it’s no big deal."

He said so, but his eyes never left the Four-handed Divine Statue, which piqued V’s curiosity.

"Do you think... this thing is controlling your mind?"

V found her words even a bit funny, thinking how this guy sounded like those conspiracy enthusiast homeless people by the road.