Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 129 The Cuban Visitor
The sapphire blue banquet hall still looked incredibly luxurious, with no changes made to its decor despite the special theme of today's banquet.

They simply decorated the center of the banquet hall stage with some religious elements, such as crosses, and adjusted the lighting to be slightly brighter.

Hansen's body lay quietly in a half-open coffin, revealing his well-preserved torso, which looked as if he were asleep, and was placed in the center of the stage.

Some white flowers were placed around the coffin, and the priest prayed softly in front of it. The hall, which was usually filled with music, was now only filled with the mournful violin and piano concerto.

Men and women dressed in black suits, regardless of their status or purpose, took turns stepping forward with sorrowful expressions to offer a small white flower as a tribute.

Mercer stood beside the coffin, receiving 'comfort' from the guests.

It was nothing more than empty words like "Don't be too sad" and "I believe you can definitely take over Colonel Hansen's responsibilities."

Mercer's face was full of grief as he repeatedly said "thank you" and "thank you for coming" until the ceremony was over.

Many people came to 'mourn' him.

Night City Mayor Lucius Lane, his deputy, Deputy Mayor Wilton Holt, several city councilors and socialites including Jefferson, television presenters, some European tycoons, and executives from various companies.
Of course, reporters from major television stations were also present.

Mercer didn't need to invite him at all; after he released the news of Hansen's death, it was all done.

Reporters from almost all TV stations, and even radio stations, proactively sent emails to his work email address, hoping to record some content for broadcast on the news.

Of course, Mercer wouldn't be foolish enough to actually let a bunch of reporters over. If he did, many celebrities, like Mayor Lucius who was currently feigning concern about his fate, probably wouldn't be there.

Hansen is somewhat of a figure in Night City, but everyone knows that some relationships cannot be openly revealed.

Just like the NCPD director who also came to pretend to mourn at this moment—he had absolutely no good feelings towards Hansen. Mourning? He wished Hansen would die sooner.

But he still came under this pretext, for a very simple reason: the NCPD is not a civil service organization, but a publicly traded company.

Yes, the NCPD, the official organization responsible for the security of Night City, is actually a security company whose name can be seen on the stock exchange.

Simply put, Night City employs the NCPD, and the NCPD, while maintaining law and order, is also required to be self-sufficient.

Hansen's attitude towards the NCPD was far from good. He secretly supported and incited forces in Taiping State to expel the NCPD and drive them out of Taiping State. He also openly harbored NCPD's wanted criminals and even explicitly refused to allow the NCPD into Dogtown.

All of this has had a significant impact on NCPD's business, specifically on both revenue and stock price.

The purpose of the new director's arrival was self-evident—he wanted to sound out Mercer's intentions, and if possible, he certainly wanted the NCPD to return to Pacific State.

Mercer greeted each guest with their own thoughts and purposes until the basic formalities were completed, at which point he gave a slight nod to the priest who had been invited.

The priest stopped praying, put away his Bible, and walked to the side.

The music in the banquet hall also stopped.

Mercer walked to the center of the stage, stood beside Hansen's coffin, and spoke in a somber tone: "In the love and mercy of God, we gather here today to offer our final blessings to a warrior who refused to succumb to fate."

Everyone remained solemnly silent, while Mercer read aloud a standard eulogy from the prepared script by Morning Star.

After the speech, the priest himself closed the coffin for Hansen, and then a group of hound soldiers in black suits carried Hansen's coffin out along the predetermined route.

Everyone remained silent and made way until Hansen's coffin disappeared through the doorway, then they all turned to look at Mercer, who had turned back onto the stage.

"First of all, I would like to thank all the guests for their support of Ghosthound and Dogtown."

Mercer's expression returned to calm, and the stage lights were restored to their clean illumination. Wearing a black suit, his slightly immature face now looked more mature.

Now, he no longer looks like a child at first glance, but more like a young man in his early twenties.

Looking at the various expressions on the faces of the people below the stage, Mercer knew very well that they didn't want to hear any polite nonsense.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Mercer got straight to the point: "Colonel Hansen entrusted Dogtown to me before he passed away. For me, this is both an opportunity and a challenge."

I am well aware that Dogtown's development to where it is today is not only due to the efforts of everyone in the Ghosthound, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to the support of you all.

First, I want to make a promise to everyone.

Mercer revealed a gentle and confident smile: "Although Colonel Hansen has unfortunately passed away, the pace of Dogtown's development will not stop because of this, and those friends who have always supported the Hound of the Underworld are still our friends."

I know that some people may worry that a young and inexperienced person like me is not trustworthy enough—but I will prove with facts that the current Ghost Hound is more trustworthy than the Ghost Hound of the past.

The future Netherhound will be even better than the current Netherhound.

One day, I will make Dogtown the most prosperous core area of ​​Taiping Prefecture, and Taiping Prefecture will once again become the bustling new district that Night City has always dreamed of.

Mercer's words contained a lot of information, and as soon as he said them, the expressions of many stakeholders changed slightly.

"Mr. Mercer means to align Dogtown's main business with a more mainstream commercial direction?"

A wealthy European man asked the question without batting an eye.

Mercer immediately retorted, "Of course not. Dogtown owes its current status to the support from our European friends and our Cuban friends from all over the world."

What I'm trying to say is that Dogtown today is essentially just a transit point for goods on the North American continent.

But my goal is to develop Dogtown into the most important logistics hub on the North American continent in the future—I want to open up more routes, build larger warehouses, carry more goods, and deliver our goods to the world with greater efficiency.

Upon hearing this, many people finally relaxed, but some people's expressions turned rather unpleasant.

This included the director of the NCPD, as well as many councilors from the Night City Hall.

Mercer remained calm and continued, "But considering future prospects, I believe that in addition to continuing to promote and expand existing businesses, other business activities should also be given more attention."

As he spoke, Mercer turned and pointed behind the stage—behind the banquet hall stage was a huge open-air platform. Looking out, one could clearly see the somewhat dilapidated buildings of Dogtown, as well as the buildings belonging to Taiping State beyond the high walls in the distance.

“Taiping Prefecture was once a land of hope for the future, attracting countless companies to develop tourism and resort projects. Even the Gemstone Green Hotel where we are now is one such example.”

But due to the war, as well as problems with the Haitians and gangs, this land ultimately lost hope.

Ultimately, in my view, the reason for all of this is that everyone believes this land is no longer safe and could be destroyed again by war at any time.
But in my opinion, there is still much to be done here.

Mercer looked at the investors and said with a smile, "I believe everyone has seen the changes in Dogtown—we have better and more comprehensive security conditions, and the public security environment has also been greatly improved thanks to the efforts of the Ghost Hounds."

Looking ahead, my goal is to further optimize Dogtown's business environment, ultimately making it the first commercial center in Taiping to recover.

Mercer only touched on the topic briefly, without delving deeper. He merely threw out a trigger, after which both opponents and supporters would come knocking on his door.

But his goal was very clear.

Mercer has no intention of moving locations—right here, in Dogtown, he wants to make this the new core business district of Night City, surpassing Corporate Square.

It may seem like a pipe dream right now, but in Mercer's view, there is great potential in all of this.

Completely separating Night City from the rest of the city might be difficult, but developing Dogtown, or even Taiping State, into a special economic zone within Night City is not far-fetched.

Today, Taiping Prefecture has a large number of unfinished buildings. Some of the original owners of these buildings have gone bankrupt and left the market due to development failures, but a large portion of them are still actually owned by wealthy individuals and companies.

They simply don't see the possibility and benefits of continued development for the time being, and believe that the risks of building in Taiping at this time are too great. Therefore, they have chosen to leave these buildings and business plans here for now, intending to wait until the situation stabilizes before carrying out reconstruction and business activities.

Taipingzhou was originally seen by many investors as a 'crystal palace on earth' for development and construction.

According to the original plan, Taiping would have a large number of resort facilities, amusement parks, luxury hotels, luxury casinos, luxury nightclubs, spas, resorts, and stadiums.
If everything is built according to plan, this place will undoubtedly become the best resort in North America and the most prosperous new business center in Night City!
Unfortunately, all of this had to be halted due to the impact of the unification war in the new United States, and because everyone generally believed that the new United States would eventually reignite the war, with Pacific State and Dogtown being the front lines.

Therefore, no one is willing to spend money now and be ripped off—what if there's another war? Wouldn't everything that's been built be wasted? Even if it's not destroyed, if the new America occupies the area, it will be another mess.

As everyone knows, the new America has always been quite domineering in its actions, and in business, it will do anything to be a rogue, behaving like a complete scoundrel.

If Night City loses its independence, then its current advantageous business environment will naturally become meaningless.

But Mercer had a different idea.

What merchant would stop doing business just because he's afraid of war?

It's simply that they feel the development costs are too high, the payback period is too long, and there's the risk of the entire operation being destroyed by war at any time, making it not worthwhile.

Then the problem Mercer needs to solve becomes quite clear, doesn't it?
He doesn't yet have the ability to guarantee that war won't break out, but he already has some ideas about the former.

"Therefore, I plan to launch a long-term project called the 'Dogtown Three-Year Plan' within the next three years."

As Mercer spoke, the AR device behind him projected a 3D virtual image.

Everyone present couldn't help but take a closer look—the 3D projection was clearly modeled after Dogtown.

"The Gemstone Green Hotel will remain as it is, but beyond that, we will further repair the nuclear-powered engines of the cargo airships at the EBM Pedro Petrochemical Stadium, optimize the energy supply, and utilize the nuclear-powered engines to build a real nuclear power plant. This will ensure the power supply for the entire Dogtown and even allow us to export electricity to Taiping State."

Secondly, we will further optimize our existing services. I plan to use Dogtown's servers to build a professional online sales platform that will help buyers worldwide conduct transactions more freely and conveniently on a secure network.

Mercer spoke at length about his ideas while looking at the projected map. Some people thought he was just young and ignorant, spouting unrealistic daydreams, but others sensed a business opportunity in his words.

But at this moment, no one was foolish enough to voice their thoughts in public. Instead, after Mercer finished speaking, they applauded and exclaimed in admiration—who says Night City is devoid of human relationships?
Mercer stood on the stage and with just a glance, he accurately distinguished the people in the crowd.

Those who heard his vision for Dogtown's future and development plans could be roughly divided into four categories.

One group represents the interests of Night City, such as the mayor. For them, the development of Dogtown is not important, but it is very important for them if Dogtown can return to the Night City system.

The second type is a group of typical entertainment enthusiasts, represented by European tycoons and some social celebrities from Night City.

The reason they like to come to Gemstone Green and Dogtown to have fun is because in Dogtown they don't have to worry about the laws and regulations of Night City at all, and they can have a blast without any restraint. They just want to know if they can have fun and stay safe in Dogtown in the future.

As it stands, Mercer not only intends to maintain Dogtown's independence but also to significantly enhance security, and even provide them with a more secure dedicated network and continue to repair the supporting entertainment facilities.

What else is there to say? Let's applaud!
The third group consists of company personnel—including Ms. Stott, a senior military executive who was invited to meet Mercer after a long absence and is now the official operations team leader.

Military Science is very interested in getting involved in the reconstruction of Dog Town. You see, in the original Taiping State construction plan, Military Science intended to build a company headquarters in Taiping State!
The company headquarters is modeled after the Arasaka Building.

If Mercer intends to loosen business regulations and allow companies to enter, other companies may still hesitate, but Military Science will definitely step up without hesitation, even if it means losing money.

With the unique environment of Dogtown, they will have more confidence when they fight Arasaka.

The fourth group consists of those who benefit from smuggling trade routes, represented by Cubans.

Mercer could see that the dark-skinned Cuban assassin Aguilar was standing expressionlessly behind a booth, and in front of him, a middle-aged Cuban man in a suit and top hat was sitting in the center of the booth.

At this moment, the middle-aged man was looking at Mercer with a scrutinizing gaze. When Mercer looked at him, Mercer looked at him without flinching, his eyes showing a hint of amusement.

This middle-aged Cuban man was a high-ranking official sent by Cuba. He was quite famous in New America and was the second-in-command of a Cuban criminal gang in New America. He was a powerful figure among powerful people.

Besides Aguilar behind him, there was a group of Cubans dressed in black suits, with cold and hard faces, who looked like they were quite capable fighters, scattered around his seat.

The group's positions appeared scattered, but in reality, they formed a tight circle around the moon, blocking all assassination routes, demonstrating highly professional security.

Mr. Hans was also present at the banquet and sat next to the Cuban gentleman, smiling at Mercer—for him, Mercer's appearance on stage was a great thing.

This fourth type of person, for Mercer, is the type of person he pays the most attention to and values ​​at this banquet.

It is this group of people, mainly Cubans, who support all the current business activities of Ghosthound and Dogtown. It can be said that without them, Dogtown would not have any possibility of existence.

When he finished speaking, Mercer smiled and walked off the stage. He first chatted briefly with some acquaintances, explaining that he had distinguished guests waiting for him. After talking with them in detail, he went straight to the booth where the Cubans were.

Standing at the edge of the stage, V, fully armed, followed closely beside him, displaying his strength while also protecting his safety.

As the two drew closer, Aguilar, who had fought V before, unconsciously fixed his gaze on V, narrowed his eyes, and reached for the revolver at his waist.

V then flashed the red light on his helmet visor without any politeness, and defiantly raised his chin at him.

But then, he stood properly behind Mercer, keeping a certain distance from Aguilar, standing straight and surveying the surroundings, much like a henchman standing by during gang negotiations—in fact, both sides were in roughly the same posture.

Hans smiled and spoke first: "Long time no see, Mercer. Oh, I should call you Mr. Mercer now."

"Given the relationship between Mr. Hans and me, it's fine if you continue to call me A. Mr. El Vantesma, it's a great honor to meet you in person. I am Mercer, Alex Mercer. You can call me by my name or my code name, A."

Mercer first answered Hans's greeting, and then respectfully greeted the Cuban man sitting on the sofa named Diego El Fantesma Mendoza.

This Cuban man with the incredibly long name actually only has the first and last parts of his name as his official name; the middle part is a nickname specific to his gang.

El Fantasia, meaning 'ghost' in Spanish, is generally referred to as Mr. Ghost by people in the underworld as a sign of respect.

Just like Aguilar behind him—this name Aguilar does not actually refer to a single person.

According to rumors, Aguilar is a man and a woman who are identical in appearance, cold-blooded, ruthless, and use the same specially made pistol. The name Aguilar represents their identity as legendary Cuban assassins.

Some say that Aguilar is actually a clone, which explains why he has survived for decades as an assassin, a force to be reckoned with in North America.

But even a legendary assassin like Aguilar is nothing compared to this Ghost.

Because El Fantesma was so famous, many people in the new America didn't even know the vice president's name, but they all knew that the Cubans had a powerful and influential "Ghost."

Today, nearly 60% of Dogtown's smuggling business is provided by this Ghost Man.

Within the Cuban criminal organization, almost all smuggling and arms dealing were handled by this Mr. Ghost. It could be said that before Dogtown was founded, he monopolized more than half of the smuggling routes from North America to Cuba.

The establishment of Dogtown and the flourishing of smuggling operations were absolutely inseparable from the support of this Ghostly Mr.

At this moment, El Fantesma simply looked Mercer up and down expressionlessly, and then said bluntly, "Sit down. My time is precious. I only have one hour left."

Mercer smiled and sat down on one side of the booth.

Then, Mr. Ghost looked at Mercer and said calmly and directly, "In your three-year plan, how do you plan to achieve rapid growth in Dogtown's trade volume?"

This question was somewhat unexpected for Mercer, but he answered fluently: "The business in Dogtown was too rudimentary before. Otherwise, we would pay first, have others dump the goods in, pay the balance, and then sell the goods."

Alternatively, we can collect a deposit first, take in the goods from others as intermediaries, and then deliver the goods to the recipient before collecting the final payment.

If goods are stuck in our hands and can't be sold, it will lead to low cash flow efficiency. Even if we find a seller, we still have to ship the goods over or wait for them to pick them up, which is too inefficient.

But afterwards, I will transform the stadium and trading methods so that sellers and buyers can negotiate transactions through online programs, using European banks' online banking services as intermediaries, and we will sign third-party commission agreements directly with the banks.

This can save a lot of trouble in bookkeeping and reconciling accounts.

At the same time, we will regulate the entire smuggling market in Dogtown, using our own software to upload and sell goods, and our own people to conduct express delivery within Night City.”

Mercer briefly explained the business process he would be handling: "At the same time, we will also hold some high-end auctions regularly, sending some rare items to Gemstone Blue for auction."

This would allow some good items to be sold at higher prices and also attract more high-end smuggled goods to flow out of Dogtown.

Meanwhile, in the past, sellers were often the ones looking for buyers, while buyers didn't know where to find sellers. But I think Dogtown can solve this problem.

Using the same software, buyers can select and purchase goods through online orders. After placing an order, we handle the entire process, including door-to-door delivery and cash on delivery—I bet those wealthy people would absolutely love that feeling.

As you know, many wealthy people buy smuggled or contraband goods purely on a whim, and online shopping is the easiest way to make people act impulsively.

It's quite possible that while browsing websites, he suddenly saw something valuable and rare, and wanted to buy it to play with.

Of course, we also need to open up more trade routes. Relying solely on airdrops for imports and exports is too slow. We need a dedicated port for both imports and exports, and Taiping Prefecture happens to have the conditions to develop such a port.

"The offer is tempting, but Dogtown is the limit. The pie is too big; you can't handle it."

Mr. Ghost was not optimistic about this, but he agreed with some of Mercer's ideas: "But it seems that you are not a fool."

To get to the point—our requirement is that the existing cooperation and revenue sharing remain unchanged, but you must guarantee that you will prioritize working for us when we have needs.

Mercer nodded readily: "Of course, no problem."

“Besides that,” Mr. Ghost narrowed his eyes, “we want your armor.”

Before Mercer could reply, Mr. Ghost emphasized, "What we need is armor that ordinary soldiers can use for extended periods, not armor that drives them mad after use, understand?"

Oh, Mercer understands.

So this was the real reason why this ghost had condescended to come.

Mercer was silent for a moment, then suddenly made a bold suggestion.

Are Cubans interested in making an investment?

“Investment? We’ve already invested enough in Dogtown.”

"It's not Dogtown."

"Ok?"

"The investment target I'm referring to is—me."

(End of this chapter)