Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 963, Section 174: I'll Make It Impossible for You to Refuse
Li De remained silent for a long time.

He increasingly felt how much he had actually helped this dictator in all the years he had done for Miles, what he thought was loyalty to the country and to the people. And the more he felt and realized this, the deeper his silence became.

The can was mechanically opened in his hand, but then stopped. It lay quietly in his palm, and Li De stared at it blankly, unable to put it in his mouth for a long time.

Seeing him like this, Song Zhaomei didn't know how to comfort her master and the patriot who had loved his country all his life.

The further he went from the center of the new America, the clearer the outline of the world became, and the more thoroughly his inner faith withered away.

When he finally dared to look back, the belief that had once sustained him had long since vanished like a sandcastle after the tide of truth receded.

After that, it seemed like nothing was left but silence.

Perhaps, nothing will remain.

Li De remained silent.

He didn't know what he should do.

He left the new America, no longer intending to serve the dictator Rosalind Miles, but he hadn't figured out what he should do next.

He used to be like a donkey being whipped. As long as his master cracked the whip, he would understand what to do and take a few steps. But after he broke free of the reins, he became confused and lost, even forgetting which way to go.

Perhaps this is similar to the sense of bewilderment experienced by freed slaves after the Civil War.

But compared to his compatriots who briefly celebrated freedom only to be taught the other side of 'freedom' by the iron fist of the factory owners, Li De was even more pathetic—he had not even touched that moment of freedom in form before falling into a state of unconsciousness.

Li De had no idea what he should do next or what he was capable of doing.

He now only knows that what Miles did was wrong; she put herself above the country, so Reed was unwilling to work for Rosalind Miles. But he had no idea how to be loyal to the country or how to oust Rosalind Miles, this dictator.

This is not to say that Li De is not smart. To become the FIA's top agent, Li De's intelligence in all aspects is probably far beyond that of ordinary people.

However, he was too blindly loyal to the highest authority of the country in the past, and he really had no involvement in politics, so now when he wants to do something, he can't find any ideas at all.

How can we make the country better?
Li De was unaware of this, but soon, someone came to visit them.

Dogtown is KK's Dogtown.

This is not an exaggeration. Compared to Hansen, the former king of Dogtown, KK, the current king, is clearly superior to Hansen in every aspect, whether it is strength or control over Dogtown.

During his time in control of Dogtown, KK didn't pay attention to Reed and Song So-mi's movements, but that doesn't mean it would be difficult for him to find them.

With the Scavengers eradicated and even the pharmaceutical business under control, Dogtown has a new order. To say that there's anyone in Dogtown that KK can't find would be a joke.

Not everyone is Hansen, who can make a president escape after conquering his own territory and can't even find anyone.

With the help of a group of people, including former members of the Arasaka Counterintelligence Department and former Voodoo Gang hackers from Dogtown, Dogtown is not yet under complete control, but it is still quite convenient to find people.

In particular, Song Zhaomei and Li De did not hide their whereabouts much, they only concealed their appearances.

“Bang!”

A heavy knocking sound suddenly broke the deathly silence in the room.

Their gazes shot towards the doorway as if struck by lightning.

The basement where they lived originally had a dilapidated old iron door that couldn't even block out the light. These days, they survive by scavenging. Li De somehow managed to get an iron door to use as an entrance, and at this moment, it was this iron door that was being knocked on slowly and deliberately.

There were still some explicit promotional stickers from a past sex symbol on the door, but it was generally very sturdy. It may have belonged to a bar or club, and it was thick enough to deter ordinary thugs seeking revenge, but it could not stop a real master.

The person outside clearly understood this as well, but they simply knocked politely without any intention of forcing their way in. In an instant, Song Zhaomei's gaze fell on Li De; she gestured to him with her eyes, as if asking him a question.

"Want to run? We've prepared an escape route. We've dug another opening in this basement these past few days."

'Wait a minute.'

Li De stopped Song Zhaomei with a look, and then pointed to a piece of equipment in the corner.

That device was also salvaged from scrap metal; it was connected to an old camera at the entrance, which Li De and Song Zhaomei managed to salvage and make usable.

Li De wanted to see who the person who had arrived was first.

Song Zhaomei saw Li De's gesture and nodded slightly.

Because Song Zhaomei has been essentially formatted by AI, many of her prosthetic devices are no longer usable, including the access module she uses to connect to the network. Although Song Zhaomei's hacking skills are not significantly diminished by the unusable access module, she cannot utilize them without the device.

Both of them were poor, penniless, and had absolutely no money.

Song Zhaomei tiptoed to the device, quickly completed the connection, and then the camera at the door was activated, showing a young man in the somewhat old-fashioned and unclear image.

He noticed the camera was watching him and naturally reached out to say hello.

"How did you end up like this, Li De?"

He was mouthing the words, and the two people who could read lips understood what he was saying.

But
Compared to these teasing words, what the two people cared about more was him as a person.

"I'll open the door."

Without hesitation, Li De broke the silence by taking a deep breath.

Song Zhaomei nodded, then watched as Li De took three steps in two to the iron gate and reached out to pull it open.

Accompanied by a strange creaking sound, a face appeared before them.

"Sorry, this iron gate seems a bit old. I knocked on it casually a few times and didn't expect it to be so loud."

The person walked in naturally, as if this were his own home.

However, in a sense, this place, and indeed the entire Dogtown, does belong to him.

After all, the other party is KK.

Carl nodded to Song Zhaomei as a greeting, then casually found a place to sit down. Looking at Li De, who had closed the door again and was walking back, he spoke:

“I need you to do something for me, Li De.”

"I have a lot of things I want to do, but I'm not sure if I'll want to do the things you're asking me to do."

Li De responded in this way, while Karl simply chuckled.

“That’s right, Li De.”

Carl said, "I'll make it so you can't refuse what you want to do."

(End of this chapter)