Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 949, Section 159: The King

“Karl—”

Hearing the call, Carl, who was sitting on a high floor of the Gemstone Blue Building, turned around and saw V walking quickly towards him from the other end of the corridor.

"We just reached an agreement with the Adcado family that they can share one of the land trade routes in Dogtown. I've confirmed with Gago that both sides can make money from this route."

V stopped in front of Carl and handed him the data panel: "He asked me to come and ask for your opinion again. What were you thinking about so intently just now?"

“It’s nothing, just something that happened with Jefferson the other day.” Carl rubbed his temples. “The election for mayor is this week, so we need to think things through. As for the route, Gago said to sign it if there are no problems; he’s more knowledgeable about this than we are.”

“Okay, I’ll go reply right away.” V’s tone became lighter. “I finally had a few days of peace and quiet, but then Thor came to talk business and I was so busy I didn’t have a moment to myself. It’s finally over.”

"The capable should do more work. There aren't many true wanderers among us, and you're one of them."

Carl smiled and nodded, indicating that he could go about his business: "Jack and the others should be back soon. The trade route that we negotiated with Hansen on behalf of Arasaka back then has now been taken over by us. We have to go and review it in person. They were gone for four days and said they would be back today."

"That would be perfect. I'll go and finish this up first, and then I'll talk to you about the mayor's matter later. We can discuss it properly once everyone is gathered."

V came in a hurry and left in a hurry; before he finished speaking, he had already turned and left.

Watching his retreating figure, Karl couldn't help but smile.

V's speed of adapting to these kinds of matters is astonishing. His efficiency is now approaching that of Akechi, who came from the Arasaka Counterintelligence Department. Even some former Arasaka employees who are now in management positions have privately remarked to Karl that with V's comprehension and skills, if he hadn't become a mercenary and instead tried to get into the company, he would probably be in a high position by now.

Carl agreed with this, since apart from him, no one in the team was more skilled at handling things than V. Carl only had absolute decision-making power, and in terms of efficiency, he was not as good as V.

I don't know how V, a guy who came from a nomadic background, could be better at management and handling affairs than Jack and Oliver, who grew up in gangs.

Some people always have some strange and unusual talents.

Carl stretched and then continued working.

After more than a month, Dogtown has now gotten back on track and has a new framework. If there are any particularly obvious changes between the new Dogtown and the old Dogtown, there are probably three points.

The first point is that it has achieved substantial integration with Night City, although it is still nominally divided, the checkpoints leading to Pacific State have been removed.

Today, NCPD police cars can drive on the streets of Dogtown, trauma squad hovercraft can legally roam the area, new shops are springing up like mushrooms after rain, and the number of residents moving in is increasing daily—after all, life here is indeed more affordable than in the city.

Then, with the influx of people, Dogtown completed its second transformation.

Karl and his team deliberately retained a portion of the narcotics trade and almost all of the arms trade, and based on Gago's advice, they enacted new regulations: nowadays there are discounts on the purchase of ordinary weapons, but the purchase of certain weapons requires registration and the payment of a considerable tax.

Now that Gago could fully utilize this tax revenue, he cleverly used it to improve people's livelihoods. Although he also profited quite a bit from it, he did so with Karl's tacit approval, keeping it within reasonable limits. After giving some to his subordinates and ensuring his own profits, he exceeded the construction goals he had initially promised Karl.

If we take into account the overall cost of living in Dogtown today, compared to Hansen's time, it's clear that every household has improved by several levels, at least from barely surviving to living above the average level in Night City.

Dogtown has a limited area, and its core advantage has always been these special trades. In the past, most of the income of the Ghost Dogs came from these trades, with taxes accounting for only a small part.

But things are different now, because Karl's control has expanded from Hansen's core territory to the entire Dogtown and is now connected to Night City. Tax revenue alone has increased several times over, enough to support the complete transformation of the town, not to mention that Karl has also allocated special funds from the profits of the arms trade for people's livelihood.

If we only consider the level of infrastructure construction, then the newly built facilities in Dogtown are now better than the facilities in the city center that have not been maintained for a long time.

Regarding the new weapons regulations, thanks to the foundation laid during Hansen's era, the implementation of these regulations has been quite smooth.

Even with high taxes, the final price of these weapons is still lower than the market price in Night City, or even the entire North American region. After all, these are considered "specialty" products of Dogtown, and there is never a shortage of buyers. Moreover, only a small group of people need to pay more for special weapons. For the general public, discounts on ordinary weapons are the real bargains, and the same applies to various factions.

Selling a good gun to one person is not as profitable as selling ten bad guns to ten people, unless the former is done to gain fame by using that person. In all aspects, the latter can create more future trade opportunities.

Word spreads like wildfire. In the arms business, a large customer base is the inexhaustible source of wealth.

This is especially true for companies that only care about profits and ordinary gangs that only care about recruiting soldiers and relying on numbers to get things done.

After all, it's a waste to give high-end security to companies that just coast along, and you can't expect street thugs to know what they're doing.

Throughout history, excellence has always served only a select few; while universality and sufficiency are the realistic pursuits of the majority.

Moreover, Carl did not only make changes to weapon prices.

Besides the two major changes of aligning with Night City and the new regulations, Carl has brought a third change to Dogtown.

While selling the weapons, he provided supporting services for them through various channels:
For civilians seeking self-protection, the purchase entitles them to additional security services in designated areas.

For those aspiring to become mercenaries, channels are provided to connect them with intermediaries and help them access suitable missions.

Carl has almost become a 'middleman's middleman' these days.

After all, it's not just mercenaries who need to find opportunities; the middlemen at the bottom also need mercenaries who plunge headlong into missions to make a name for themselves.

In Dogtown today, if you want to live a peaceful life, there are NCPD and KK personnel guarding the streets, the surrounding facilities are constantly being improved, and countless new Mewtwo stores have opened.

If you are an ambitious outsider, you can get recommended routes and get to know low-level middlemen who are looking for manpower by purchasing weapons here.

KK is willing to provide basic transaction guarantees for this—of course, they dare not make any guarantees when it comes to specific details or the betrayal behind it.

That's ultimately an internal matter for the industry; they have no way of interfering, nor can they determine who is telling the truth.

Although many aspects of Dogtown are still under improvement, it has transformed into one of the most worthwhile places for outsiders to visit in Night City thanks to three major changes.

This is a far cry from the fearsome, chaotic, and uninhabitable Dogtown of Hansen's era; people have begun to call Dogtown a land of dreams.

Of course, in the process, that phrase has reappeared on the streets of Dogtown to some extent.

"They're from out of town, begging for food in Dogtown."

Aside from these minor conflicts between locals and outsiders, nowadays, when people mention KK, they often add this comment:
"He changed Dogtown."

no doubt.

In this stable world, where living standards are constantly improving and everything is continuously being perfected, for everyone—

KK.

He is the king of Dogtown.

Well deserved.
king.

(End of this chapter)