My cyberpsychosis is a task prompt

Chapter 175: Wanderers and Farmers

"Damn, where did you get this treasure? See the Carlomont and the modified pickup truck over there? They are all of the same level. You drove a U70 to buy the goods. That's awesome!"

Talia drove the Desert Walker into the shadow of the building.

The cool air released by the cold storage echoes in the towering mezzanines of the building, and the ears are filled with the honking of equipment, the noise of workers and customers, and the endless sound of industrial engines.

Gary and Maya are responsible for coordinating the purchases.

Each piece of raw material is packed in a gray sealed box, sent to the transfer area via freight elevators and lifting equipment, and then loaded into the carriers on the circular inner road in sequence by robotic arms and forklifts.

Dealers, mercenaries, wanderers, farm workers...

Every guy passing by would notice John's Poznin-U70, and some would even stop to watch, folding their arms and discussing it in groups, drooling over the cargo capacity and armor of the advanced vehicle.

Now the protein food company is biting people like a mad dog, and the road to and from the Radiation Farm has become dangerous.

Everyone knows how safe bulletproof money transporters are, but not everyone has the ability to get a Poznin-U70.

Thalia got some cold beer.

The two people sat in the car, listening to waste rock and chatting.

Radiationdust Farms has purchased the surrounding land.

It will gradually be transformed into a large park, centered around a super skyscraper factory.

Steel structure temporary housing is everywhere.

Damascus members shuttled back and forth, their clothes covered in sweat and dust, either operating equipment and vehicles or dragging materials and smart tools.

There's a nomadic vibe here.

Cable drums were stretched everywhere, and RVs, oil drum bonfires, makeshift sheds and ice machines were everywhere. The wine and equipment shared a cooling device...

Talia said that the Damascus camp has been working closely with the Radiation Farm and will build it into a base camp. In the future, the fresh food stores throughout the city of Eden will be the anchor point for them to influence the city.

“In the future, those who sneak across from the west or pass through the border normally, in addition to joining the Black Gold Gang, can also give priority to joining the Wanderers, becoming family members, making contributions, seeking recognition, and receiving shelter!”

"Fuck, aren't you trying to snatch people from the gang? Will Guzha let you develop?"

John frowned and questioned.

Talia smiled and waved her hand.

"Why do you think the Radiation Dust Farm is based in the West District? The rebuilt buildings in front of us are actually all owned by Jingke. They are not only the behind-the-scenes capital of the Black Gold Gang, but also shareholders of the farm. The West District is their sphere of influence..."

There are companies and capital everywhere.

"My God, Nanduo is so awesome. When he was not around, you were bullied everywhere like you lost your souls. You just came back and you want to call the shots in the city?"

Damascus crossed the threshold from [family] to [tribe].

Eden City is a "dream city" where many companies gather. If Nando can lead his family to further influence it, it can become a parallel existence with the Seven States of Wanderers.

"How do you deal with the camp outside the city?"

“I’m not moving for now.”

Talia seemed to be in a good mood, holding John's shoulders and shaking him as if his beer was laced with an overdose of stimulants.

Nando gave the members of the Damascus camp two choices.

Members who seek stability will get involved in the city's business, as will veterans who are unwilling or unable to live in the open air. Everyone no longer has to migrate, and instead will engage in the business of Radiant Farms and fresh food.

"To create an economic foundation for the children and future of the family."

The camp outside the city was retained as a hub for inter-city trade.

The Damascus camp has almost wiped out all the exiles outside the city of Eden, and controls the area between the border checkpoint and the wasteland. It already has a large number of smuggling channels, and now with the help of farmers, the number of transportation routes and the scale of business have increased several times.

Members like Talia, who yearn for freedom, are responsible for transportation and smuggling between cities.

She clinked her beer with John's.

The cold liquid sloshed between the brown glasses.

Talia raised her head and drank, watching the heavy elevator and various indicator lights rushing up the wall into the sky.

"I'll tell you in secret. Nando believes that the out-of-city trade is our last resort. If one day the Wanderers are ambushed by the company dogs and kicked out of the city farm business... we at least have a way out, a business that can support the family."

"Are you leaving?"

"Ha, yes."

Talia wanted to engage in cross-city trade, so she followed the caravan out of Eden City and opened up other wanderer camps.

"Bless you, brother, but to be honest, I don't understand. Sleeping in the car to endure the temperature difference between day and night and the attacks, cleaning the wind and sand that fills the smart rifle every day, circling around the goods, um, the bulletproof armored vehicles and sealed boxes that exude an industrial smell... Life, only radars, communication bands, wilderness chases accompanied by boiling blood..."

John leaned against the car window, his eyes wandering and unfocused. He pursed his lips and turned to meet Talia's gaze.

"I used to be in the transport business, so I understand, but the fucking bills left me with no choice... What about you? Why did you choose this kind of life?"

"Hey, John, what I chose... is not smuggling and gunfights or making a living in the wilderness. But freedom, brother. Maybe the neon lights and steel jungles make you feel very addicted, and you can become a respected big man with prosthetics and guns..."

Talia narrowed her eyes and bit her lower lip. The enthusiasm on her face disappeared in an instant. She sighed and smiled again.

"The more gorgeous the advertising billboards and holographic projections are, the more numb I feel. When a knife cuts open my flesh, it's full of buffer and metal. It makes me feel suffocated."

The glass bottles collided again.

The amount of wine left in the bottle made different crisp sounds, and the water droplets hanging on the wall moistened the fingers.

"I will miss Eden City, including you."

Besides the wanderers, the largest group of people in the Radiation Farm are the staff wearing uniforms. This group of people are employed by the farmer and recruited from various channels. They are responsible for the production of fresh ingredients and daily reception.

They always have behavioral chips inserted in their necks.

If John wants to collect the raw materials, he needs to find the corresponding window to verify his biometric information and then authorize the account to Maya and Gary.

The staff member was a thin brown-skinned girl.

"Each customer has a fixed quota. Ms. Angelica's quota has been transferred to your account. It will be reset quarterly. The details are in your email..."

She had a black helmet on her head, with metal edges and signal lights covering the part above her nose. She was holding a portable terminal and explaining to John when she suddenly stopped.

"Mr. John, the boss wants to see you."

The staff member picked up the terminal and stepped sideways to guide him.

She led John through the industrial-style mezzanine and the main hall of the building, where a sightseeing elevator was already waiting.

Ding, buzz——

The panel numbers keep changing.

The elevator sliding door opens to both sides during the climb and switches to transparent bulletproof glass, allowing you to clearly see:
Land planted with various fruits and vegetables, fences for raising animals, fish ponds with testing equipment...

Staff members were wearing full protective clothing and moving around.

The Radiation Farm is a three-dimensional skyscraper, a super high-rise building that can overlook the entire City of Eden. Who would have thought that there is such an ecological farm inside?

The elevator stops at the reception floor.

There are piles of golden haystacks here.

Downstairs is the waiting area, with the surrounding walls made up of holographic projections and high-definition screens, rendering in real time and showing scenes of an old-fashioned manor from the last century.

The land war had not yet broken out.

The farmer seems to miss those days very much, which can be seen from his dress, words and deeds - handmade cowboy hat, old leather flight jacket, and the stubbornness and tough style unique to the owner of the plantation.

"Please wait a moment, the customer hasn't left yet."

The staff brought John a tray with three glass bottles of different shapes, containing pure water and two concentrations of wine, and next to it was a fumigated inverted glass.

Take whatever you want to drink.

There is also a water bar next to it for free use. A moment later, the sound of conversation came from the indoor stairs. Several corporate dogs in suits and leather shoes came out of the office, and their high-end hard-soled leather shoes made a clanging sound on the steel structure stairs.

[Scan detected, no signs of hacking. 】

A group of bodyguards escorted their employer down the stairs and passed by John who was sitting on the sofa.

John held a cup of pure water and casually activated his prosthetic eye. He looked around and all he saw were advanced implants.

[Force: Jingkrypton Heavy Industry Security Department]

[Anti-scanning plug-in detected, whether to access/target detachment, please adjust the sight focus...]

The bodyguards deliberately blocked the view.

The black suits they were wearing seemed to have a special coating that could cause the focus of their optical prosthetic eyes to diffuse, making it impossible to read information, and forced scanning would trigger the opponent's alarm mechanism.

The executive in the middle of the burly men was a middle-aged white man.

He had a cold expression and graying temples. As the elevator door slowly closed, he glanced at the young man on the sofa.

John felt strangely familiar.

He recalled that he had seen them at the door of Mr. Vito's office, and that day Mr. Vito explained to him the relationship between the company and the gang.

It didn't take long.

Guzha quickly rose to power and became the Black Gold Gang's boss on the streets, while Mr. Vito gradually disappeared from public view.

"John, are you downstairs? Come up and let's chat."

The farmer's voice brought John back to reality.

The second floor is a private space.

John came to the end of the steel staircase, turned the golden round handle, and pushed open the white-painted wooden door.

The room is very spacious and simply furnished. The most eye-catching features are the oak floor and the blazing fireplace at the innermost part.

John did not feel stuffy and immediately realized that the fireplace was just a high-definition holographic projection, and the old-fashioned furniture around it was simulating the style of the last century, but the interior was a high-tech product.

The farmer is nostalgic but not out of date.

He lay on his back in the wooden rocking chair, sticking his head out and waving at John.

"Come here, young man."

Familiar bomber jackets and cowboy hats hang on racks nearby.

John walked around the sofa assembly and the room divider, and when his vision widened, he suddenly saw:
The farmer's trouser legs were rolled up above the knees, and his wheat-colored, hairy skin was cut along the tattoos, exposing the alloy skeleton and complex meniscus structure.

Two huge robotic arms extended from the floor to repair his advanced prosthetic limbs. There were also two infusion tubes inserted into the thighs and near the heart respectively.

The robotic arms peeled back the farmer's muscle bundles and layers of real meat.

The air was filled with a faint smell of blood and a smell similar to that of straw pressed into a warehouse.

The farmer picked up the half-empty bottle of whiskey at hand and began to pour.

John looked over and immediately noticed a gift box with a golden logo next to the tray. Inside was definitely an invitation card to the Borago Club party.

"I have one too."

"Wow, not bad, kid."

The farmer picked up the cork and screwed it on with a click, then lowered his hand and gestured for John to sit down.

"It was sent to me by Jingke Heavy Industry. The person just left. To be honest, I haven't decided whether to attend the banquet or not."

"Do you know Mr. Vito?"

"Of course, Fuck, he's a good old stubborn guy. When I was building the Radiation Farm, I had a lot of dealings with Vito, so I don't want to attend the banquet..."

After he finished speaking, he picked up the wine glass, raised his eyes to look at John, and took the opportunity to observe John's expression.

"You're not surprised, John. That means you know the inside story. The question is, who invited you?"

"Bone slag."

John didn't hide it.

Mr. Vito's retirement party was complicated.

Different inviting parties have different preset positions.

"Then I hope you have fun."

The farmer did not elaborate, which showed that the ideas of Jingke management and Guzha were in conflict and their positions were different, so it was not convenient to continue to delve into the topic.

He frowned and pursed his lips, exhaling the smell of alcohol, then put down the glass with satisfaction.

"I guess I'll be absent. Haha, you see, my business is booming, but some bastards want to eat the meat from the bones. Fuck, it's quite enjoyable. I feel like I've found the passion I had when I was young and just started a business."

Radiation Farms reclaims the distributor's share.

The local tyrants and food dealers could not make money from the farmer, so they turned from partners into competitors and began to hope for his death. The day before yesterday, someone passed the preliminary inspection under the identity of a distributor and tried to detonate a viral bomb inside the farm.

The problem and the troublemaker have been resolved.

The farmer's voice was still strong and his spirits were high. He felt no pressure at all from starting a war.

He waved his arms.

The wilderness shown on the surrounding walls disappeared, replaced by a satellite bird's-eye view of the City of Eden. Densely packed red dots represented shops, evenly distributed in every area.

This is the business landscape of Radiation Farms.

"Can you spend all the money you earn?"

"Oh, no no no no, John, what you said is really disappointing... Resources, you must remember this word. Let me ask you, has productivity in the cyber age increased or decreased?"

"Lowered?"

"why?"

"There's always robbery on the streets. If you want to survive, want to live a better life, want to become a big shot in Eden City, it's only when there aren't enough things that people are forced to do this, right?"

"Hahaha, that's a good idea, kid, but you're wrong!"

The farmer waved his hands majestically.

A circle of blue hidden lights lit up at the corner of the table, and then a black cigar butt popped out. The packaging and texture were very similar to the high-end cigars launched by Golden Apple Company.

The farmer held the tail end and pushed forward.

The cigar is cut and lit on the table, and when it is pulled out it already has light gray smoke.

He put the cigar in his mouth and chatted with John.

Perhaps because John also received an invitation, the farmer looked at him with admiration and was willing to talk more. His tone was relaxed and he seemed friendly.

John had wondered before - why would someone like Mr. Vito be willing to share, have in-depth conversations, and express his own values ​​with young people of much higher status than him?

At this moment, he was listening quietly to the farmer's talk, occasionally spinning the whiskey glass and watching the ice cubes collide, and he seemed to have grasped an answer in his heart.

Because there is a gap.

Wealth, power, emotions...

Only when falling from a height will the water be turbulent, and only when the splashes and echoes are surging enough can it fill the ambition that has been inflated by time.

Farmers believe:
The bottom layer of the City of Eden is completely disposable, and the wealth that leaks down is enough for ordinary people to live in a muddle-headed, ordinary, or even carefree life until they die.

"Back to my question, John. The productivity in the cyber age is actually higher than you can imagine. It is so high that there is no need for so much labor. That is why we need to work hard. Working hard will bring us money. The harder we work, the richer we will be!"

(End of this chapter)