Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

"V, is this all you've got for your detailed discussion?" Jack retorted.

“That’s right, let’s talk in detail.” V clinked glasses with Jack lightly. “It’s about taking the initiative, using our power to intimidate him, and bluffing him. We need to understand his weaknesses and give him what he needs. Saying more is pointless and will only make us seem less confident.”

"Wow, V, that's awesome. If this deal goes through, will you get promoted again?"

"It's not that simple. If Faraday really has received strong support in military technology, the counterintelligence department alone won't be able to deal him a heavy blow. Just wait and see. After having a few drinks with you, I need to go pick him up from the airport."

"Pick up?"

"They said they were picking her up from the airport. Actually, I was just there to make up the numbers. Director Vera Adelheid is already en route to Night City International Airport. My department head, and that bitch who doesn't get along with him, are both rushing off to meet her..."

*Beep.* V turned on the TV in the room.

Night City Inquiry Channel.

The headline read, “Vera Adelheid Russell is about to arrive in Night City.”

The host was enthusiastically describing the grand scene of high-ranking officials from Arasaka flocking to the international airport.

Clang. They clinked glasses again, and V was about to remark with Jack on the other's rocket-like promotion speed when suddenly...

"Now for a breaking local news segment."

The host seems to have received new information.

"Just now, a large-scale gang fight broke out in the Santo Domingo Valley. Witnesses say it was between the Sixth Street Gang and the Netherhound Gang from Taipingzhou."

------

P.S.: Even if I'm in the underworld, nailed in a coffin, I'll still shout from my grave with these decaying vocal cords: I want the world of the living!

Chapter 093 Blitzkrieg and Arrival (4.5K)

Night falls.

The old riverside neighborhoods of the Valley District, adjacent to Taiping Island and Heywood, are predominantly gray and gloomy, with abandoned factory buildings from bankrupt factories and unfinished buildings by real estate developers dotting this industrial heartland of Santo Domingo.

In the dilapidated old streets shrouded in the shadow of the towering overpass, a campfire and a grill made from an oil drum crackled.

"Fuck Arasaka! Mind your own business!"

Sitting on rusty scaffolding, a shirtless old street thug spat out a mouthful of phlegm and raised his middle finger at the Heywood and the magnificent modern skyscrapers of the city center that he could see when he looked up.

"If it weren't for those stupid company dogs, the Valentino gang of Mexican cowards would have been beaten to their knees by my big guns long ago, and Glen and Li scenic areas wouldn't have been occupied by them."

"Dozens of people died. A good friend of mine said the body was shattered beyond repair, and his wife suffered terribly..."

"Pah! What a load of rubbish! Who was it that broke in at night yesterday morning, taking care of you? You took care of you in bed?!"

"You don't understand, this is emotion, this is love. Alas, it's a pity Lieutenant's land grabbing plan for the Lishui Scenic Area failed. Those slutty bitches of the Haywood Mox's gang are just itching to go to some cheap prostitutes..."

"You? Be careful, or Lizhi's women might crush you in half."

The street scum chatted amongst themselves, and soon a few armed men wearing military boots, jeans, work pants, combat vests, and knee pads, who looked like militiamen but whose demeanor and attire were particularly rabble and thuggish, joined in while muttering to themselves.

Baseball caps, cowboy hats, and boat caps emblazoned with old-fashioned American flags, stars, stripes, and bald eagles proclaimed their identity—the Sixth Street Gang. In Night City, no one else would use the Stars and Stripes as a symbol.

"Hey, all the taxes paid?" a shirtless old street thug asked.

In the territory protected by the Sixth Street Gang, taxes were essentially protection fees.

"Buy my ass. Santo Domingo's people are all paupers; the money they squeeze out isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap. If you want to make big money, you have to go to Haywood. Damn it, why did that Arasaka bitch have to come back at this time? Bad luck..."

After downing several bottles of a concoction of industrial alcohol, syrup, marijuana, and stimulants, the street scum chatted and complained among themselves.

The night in Santo Domingo was indeed quiet. Apart from the noise of industrial equipment, only gangsters and outlaws were still wandering the streets. The sane residents had long since retreated home.

And, clang... clang...

The irritating engine noise and the sounds of dismantling and leveling the border fence.

The territory of the Netherworld Dog Gang in 'Dog Town', Taipingzhou, is near the wall of the Santo Domingo Valley.

Adapting to local conditions, using whatever is available, it has a very wasteful style, using steel bars and cement, scrapped vehicles, fence scraps and other materials piled up and shaped.

Standing up from the scaffolding, "Shh—!" The old gangster from Sixth Street bared his yellowed steel teeth and whistled across the gaps between the tall bridge piers of the overpass, which was filled with dull yellow sand and stinking garbage heaps.

The east-west oriented elevated interchange serves as the dividing line, with Santo Domingo to the northeast and Taipingzhou to the southwest.

The factories in Santo Domingo are numerous and dilapidated, and the same is true in Taipingzhou, which is even more desolate. After all, construction was interrupted by war before it was completed, leaving behind abandoned buildings and haphazardly damaged equipment.

"Hey buddy over there, wanna grab a drink?"

On the container that forms the main structure of the wall, several military personnel wearing yellow and green camouflage combat uniforms and carrying guns are looking at the old gangsters from the Sixth Street Gang.

"Hey, you NUSA guys."

Led by someone, several thugs from the Sixth Street gang, fueled by alcohol, shouted loudly in that direction: "If you had been more assertive back then, if you had won the Unification War (Metal War), why would we old Americans have to continue to suffer the oppression of those Arasaka devils?"

There was no response.

silence.

And the howling sandstorms.

"Alright, alright, stop yelling."

A sergeant wearing the Sixth Street Gang armband impatiently picked at his ear.

"It's giving me a headache from all that noise. Shouting won't do any good; they're just a bunch of traitors who don't know what they're thinking. Shouting won't help anyway; they've been holed up in Taiping Island for six years, what a waste of this resort..."

Before the words were even finished, bang!

Like a watermelon suddenly bursting open, the sergeant from the Sixth Street Gang's jaws exploded, scattering bloody skull fragments and brain tissue everywhere.

"Damn! Electromagnetic sniper rifle... Enemy attack!"

"Calling Lieutenant, enemy attack!"

The Sixth Street Gang soldiers to his left and right finally spoke in horror, bang! thud! thud! clang clang! A series of bullets instantly felled them, sparks and blood splattering, tearing apart their prosthetic bodies and piercing through their flesh.

This prompted the Sixth Street Gang soldiers sitting by the campfire to shout and curse loudly. Reflexively, they grabbed their weapons and retaliated while looking for cover, rat-a-tat-tat! Their assault rifles and submachine guns opened fire in the direction the bullets came from.

Gunfire erupted in the arena.

Just as the Sixth Street gang soldiers called for backup, Boom! Sparks erupted from the crumbling wall. It was a machine gun! Then, there were explosions and flashes, like a steel furnace exploding, blindingly hot. It was an incendiary grenade!

One unlucky guy's chosen shelter vehicle was blown up, half of his body was torn apart by shrapnel and he was thrown into the air. At the same time, the chemical substances ignited his remains. He screamed horribly and soon fell silent.

Faced with a premeditated and targeted surprise attack by superior firepower, this group of Sixth Street Gang soldiers were wiped out in less than half a minute.

The devastating gunfire tore through the gang members; their thin body armor was clearly no match for military-level firepower.

The old gangster from Sixth Street was also shot and fell off the scaffolding.

He had lost an arm, suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his torso, and his abdomen was pierced by a bullet, with a large chunk of flesh gouged out, exposing his synthetic organs and subcutaneous armor. He had clearly lost all ability to fight and move.

Half a minute later, creak, creak...

"Cough cough... damn it..." He coughed up blood, glancing at the Ghost Hound soldiers in yellow-green camouflage combat uniforms rushing over from the Taipingzhou area across the overpass. "What the hell, how dare you guys show yourselves out here?"

In response to the taunts of the Sixth Street Gang veteran, the Ghost Hound soldier stepped forward and stomped on his chest, even shoving a gun into his mouth.

"You social trash playing house on the street! While I was risking my life for the country, you were probably hiding in some back alley selling your ass! Traitor? You have no right to call yourself that! It was Washington and military technology that betrayed us!"

"Don't think you can mess with us just because Night City prohibits excessive firepower. You cowards from the Sixth Street Gang, watch your mouth next time."

As soon as he finished speaking, bang. A bullet pierced his mouth, killing him instantly in the head.

The crisp sound was like cracking an eggshell.

"Boss. If we cross the line and kill the Sixth Street gang members, won't we be violating Colonel Hansen's orders?"

One of the ghost hound soldiers spoke to the group leader.

"We won't kill them. Are we just going to let these street scum insult us?! Time and time again, do they really think we're made of clay? Do they think they can run wild in front of us just because they have some small favors backed by military technology?"

The leader of the Ghost Hound squad seemed to be suppressing his anger.

"You fucking idiot. We can't retaliate against Washington and those military technology worms, but these little shrimps are coming right up to us and provoking us? Are we just going to pretend we didn't see or hear them? Colonel Hansen, I'll go explain!"

"Yes Yes..."

The Ghost Hound soldiers began finishing off the remaining Sixth Street gang members who were still alive.

The squad leader watched this scene quietly.

Beneath the heavy helmet unknown to his subordinates, his gaze suddenly turned stern.

There was no video call; he simply sent a short message to a fixed, encrypted channel using an anonymous space communication chip.

[It has already been started.]

"Colonel, your conservative thinking is outdated. The only way to get revenge is through Arasaka..."

The leader of the Ghost Hound squad whispered silently.

As a veteran of the metal war launched by NUSA in 2069, he followed Colonel Hansen as the vanguard to invade the Pacific region of Night City and occupy a stronghold as an outpost, intending to create conditions for the subsequent arrival of the main force of NUSA and military technology.

But after waiting and waiting, what they received was news that Washington and Arakawa had reached the Alvin Peace Agreement.

The pain of betrayal.

The more fervent they were then, the more they hate now.

Those above have their reasons, and they expect those below to understand. Okay, you're not directly involved, so you understand since the knife isn't at your throat. But if you were one of the sacrifices, would you still understand the reasons behind those above's predicament?

Traitor! Insect!

The enemy is on Capitol Hill!

drop.

【receive. 】

Meanwhile, members of the other six gangs in the area, after receiving a signal that their fellow gang members had been attacked, arrived with exaggerated efficiency in all sorts of modified vehicles, catching the Ghosthound soldiers who were retreating towards Dogtown territory on the other side.