The Creators: From Night City

"The Eight-Sided Han Sword (Chinese), a very ancient weapon with a history of over 1800 years. Considering Colonel Hansen's military status, this is a gift I carefully selected. I hope you like it."

"Of course." The burly soldier skillfully made a few moves with the dagger. The excellent feel of the dagger made him unable to let it go instantly.

“This is a great gift.”

As a colonel from the United States Marine Corps, he has the habit of wearing his dagger upside down on his chest, which helps him to quickly draw the weapon in dangerous situations.

At the same time, Hansen, who is so smart and resourceful that he doesn't look like a soldier, naturally has another meaning behind his actions. That is, the deadly weapon on his chest will subtly remind all guests that the other party is a knife-wielding person, so they'd better be careful with their words.

Hansen pulled out his own short knife from the scabbard on his left shoulder, replaced it with the sheathed Han sword on the spot, and tried it out for a few times to see how it felt.

It's ridiculously good.

The scabbard should also be made by a top master. The intuitive feeling when putting it in and out of the sheath makes even someone like Hansen, who has seen it all, fascinated.

It's so easy.

Of course, his behavior was partly due to his excitement at the sight of prey, and partly to express his love for the gift in this way, thereby indirectly complimenting the "Wang Xiang" opposite him.

"Can I see Colonel Hansen's knife?" Jiang Bing tried to find a topic.

"Of course." Hansen was about to pull out his beloved knife from the leather sheath and hand it over, but he looked at Jiang Bing's white flesh palm with his artificial eye. To be on the safe side, he simply pushed the knife over with the sheath.

"This is a traditional Yakut hunting knife. Although it's not as good as Mr. Wang Xiang's gift, it has been with me for many years and has helped me through many battles."

But his worries were obviously unnecessary. Jiang Bing drew the sword from its sheath, pointed the blade towards himself, squinted one eye and examined it carefully, then pinched the head and tail of the sword with both hands, placed it in front of him and examined the entire blade.

"Mr. Wang also knows about knives."

"There's an old saying in the East that a weapon changes with its owner. Just looking at a knife reveals its owner."

"Oh?" Hansen's interest was piqued.

"What did Mr. Wang see?"

"The blade is straight, the handle is short and has no tip." Jiang Bing sheathed the knife. "This shows that Mr. Hansen is a person who is 'round on the outside but square on the inside, and who seeks straightness within the curve (Chinese)'."

Eight words, and he controlled Hansen for several seconds.

With the frantic work of the translation software, Hansen finally understood that Jiang Bing was praising him, and it was a high-level compliment, using objects to describe people. He couldn't help but smile heartily.

"Mr. Wang is truly knowledgeable and has a sharp eye. You know, people outside now think I'm a profit-driven arms dealer."

"Business is business. Only when there's a market can there be suppliers. Whether there are sufficient weapons or not doesn't prevent war from happening."

"Very insightful." Hansen was very pleased with these words.

"Mr. Wang, is there anything else you want? I can't say anything else, but I still have a say anywhere in the world."

"I don't lack anything." Jiang Bing said in a pretentious tone.

"What do you want, Colonel Hansen?"

"Me?" He was slightly stunned when he saw the ball being kicked back by the opponent. Fortunately, he finally reacted and said, "Of course it's money. Who doesn't like money, right?"

It was just a little joke, and with Jiang Bing's intentional cooperation, both the host and the guests enjoyed themselves.

"I'll go for a walk around and not disturb Colonel Hansen's business talks." Taking advantage of the fact that a guest had come to his house, Jiang Bing exchanged a few polite words with the other party, then simply stood up, but deliberately stopped. Sure enough, Hansen immediately stood up politely to see him off.

Under Jiang Bing's deliberate guidance, the local tyrant of Night City personally escorted Jiang Bing to the banquet hall before returning.

Looking at the curious yet restrained eyes of the celebrities and nobles around him, Jiang Bing knew that the debut ceremony had been completed.

The banquet hall occupies the entire 92nd floor of Bao Shi Qing. It has a spacious space and naturally has a complete range of supporting facilities.

For example, there are bars, booths, hot and cold food tables, and the most popular gambling table.

There aren't many types of casinos in Baoshiqing, but they all offer the most popular types of gambling.

There are games where robot dealers automatically deal the cards for big or small betting, there are also Texas Hold'em and Blackjack where you compete with humans throughout the game, and there is even a fruit machine and roulette.

As the saying goes, nine out of ten gamblers lose, and another widely circulated saying is that nine out of ten gamblers cheat.

Jiang Bing quickly found many targets for this operation on the card table. After choosing among them, he finally selected a black woman who was dressed in pink and flashy clothes.

She is a member of the 'Pink House', and one of Hansen's purposes in hosting this party is to provide a good environment for them to attract customers.

Compared to the Japanese retro style of the "Red Rope" casino in the Ganbi Building, the Baoshiqing Casino emphasizes simplicity and directness, keeping up with the times. The chips here are all virtual holographic images, and customers only need to collect an identification card to redeem chips.

So Jiang Bing sat down at the gambling table empty-handed, while Margarita sat beside him, took out a physical bank card which was very rare nowadays, and put it in the hand of the waiter beside him, signaling him to help exchange chips.

Jiang Bing keenly noticed that the members of the 'Pink House' across the table were like gold diggers who had encountered an open-pit gold mine in the wild. Their eyes were fixed on the card that was flashing with dynamic galaxy ripples and reflecting the nebula spectrum in the colorful ambient light. Their breathing became a little heavy.

It's not her fault that she lost her composure.

After all, this kind of physical bank account issued by the ECB (European Central Bank) basically serves the top wealthy groups with a net worth of at least nine figures.

Chapter 397 Cyber ​​Happy Valley

Not to mention the wealth behind this card, the entire card is luxuriously made of expensive titanium liquid metal, and the surface is inlaid with 0.01 carat nano-scale artificial diamond particles, forming a programmable photonic crystal layer covering the entire card to prevent counterfeiting.

In Jiang Bing's opinion, this thankless task of using a single-nanometer photolithography machine to carve a picture of a chicken pecking at rice on stainless steel is itself an excellent anti-counterfeiting measure.

Not to mention that the ECB has also specially formulated a series of entry thresholds and supporting services for it to highlight its nobility.

How precious is this thing? It can be said that this card is used by Mr. Blue Eyes to support the mission, but he actually emphasized that it must be returned.

Although the black man in the 'Pink House' pretended to look at the cards in his hand, his eyes were already out of focus. Needless to say, he was exchanging information with his companions.

Soon, the service staff respectfully brought back the card on a tray, along with a portable authentication data pad.

Such an awesome card naturally has top-notch security measures. The fingertip vein patterns and alpha brain wave frequencies are verified simultaneously, and the error rate can be reduced to one in ten billion.

Of course, when faced with a chip exchange expenditure of one million euros, these methods are not necessary. Margarita only needs to sign and it will be done.

Do you know what rich people's pocket money is? JPG

Although the people at the gambling table were all media executives, celebrities and nobles, the 100 million euro chips still filled up the virtual projection in front of Jiang Bing.

The gambling table he chose was Texas Hold'em. People came and went, some came in and some left, and soon there were not many people left in the whole gambling game.

The 100 million chips donated by Mr. Blue Eyes were not only not lost in the hands of Jiang Bing and Margarita, but they even got a lot more.

As a professional gambling organization, the "Pink House" naturally has employees who are good at gambling. However, it is not that our army does not work hard, but the enemy has Gundam.

After all, her two opponents, one is a sharp-eyed and sharp-eared "craftsman", and the other is a world-famous wizard from another world. If they really start cheating, no one can catch them.

Especially Margarita, although her chaos magic is weak, she has her own way of playing even if she lacks mana. With the blessing of her telekinesis magic, perspective is too easy.

Finally, when the employee of the 'Pink House' opposite lost all the chips in front of him, he couldn't help but lean over and talk to him.

"You two obviously enjoy having fun, but the gambling aspect doesn't pique your interest. I wonder if you'd be interested in a bigger venue with more exciting gambling options?"

“For example, racing.”

"He's taken the bait," Jiang Bing thought to himself.

Even though he came here specifically for this purpose, Jiang Bing still had to maintain his own personality.

He fumbled with the cards in his hand and nonchalantly sarcastically said, "I didn't expect there would be a junket operator in Colonel Hansen's place."

This was a very impolite statement, and the other party immediately became angry.

But her professionalism still brings a smile to her face.

"I am not an ordinary stacker, sir, not everyone is qualified to receive my invitation." Lian Jiangbing praised himself subtly when he said this.

"Oh? What do you want to say?"

"Shakunta, a sales representative from the Pink House, is pleased to meet you two."

Although Jiang Bing only learned about this force yesterday, he certainly couldn't ignore the performance that required cooperation.

Margarita came in at the right time as a female companion and part-time assistant, and whispered a few words in Jiang Bing's ear.

The next moment, Jiang Bing pretended to suddenly realize something.

"The Wasteland Rally is truly one of the most influential events right now. It's even able to attract African idiots like you."

"Seizing opportunities in a timely manner and pursuing fame and fortune has always been the creed of the Pink House."

"I have to say, you've successfully caught my attention." Jiang Bing acted like a domineering CEO.

"Since you can openly solicit customers in Baoshiqing, it seems that you have reached an agreement with Colonel Hansen." Jiang Bing stood up and took all the chips back to the sensor chip.

"Come on, take me to your house."

"I will definitely not let you down, sir."

Shakunta twisted her waist and led the way, and soon led Jiang Bing and the others down to the 89th floor.

This floor has been occupied by the 'Pink House' and is also bustling with people. However, unlike the 92nd floor, the environment here is more elegant. Well-dressed upper-class people either gather together to cut a cigar, holding a glass of whiskey and discussing the world, or sit together in groups of three or five, playing bridge, taking the opportunity to chat about some secrets of their interactions and collude with each other.

Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the large screen displaying the "Wasteland Rally" competition information projected by more than a dozen holographic projection devices in the hall.

The holographic screen, which was more than ten meters long, displayed the general information of the 54 participating teams and the names of the drivers. Jiang Bing even saw the "Hao Zai Lai" team at the end, and it also gave a brief biography of the driver Natalie Dubois. Unfortunately, Vincent was still an unknown person with only a name and not even a photo.

He would probably be very unhappy if he knew.

Under the giant screen, gathered 70% of the people on this floor, as well as the "Pink House" staff wearing pink clothes, also known as "dealers".

The scene here is very similar to the racecourse in Happy Valley in Hong Kong in the early years. Well-dressed gamblers will make targeted bets based on the odds given by the "Pink House".

In addition to the large holographic screen, this professional mobile gambling organization has also thoughtfully prepared a large amount of popular science materials, which introduce the relevant information of the many teams participating in this competition and their performance in previous seasons. Of course, these are all simple data.

If you want more insider information, you can only rely on your own ability.

"Mr. Wang Xiang, welcome to the Pink House. You can place bets as much as you want here. Of course, while you are waiting for the game to start, we will also regularly hold various large-scale gambling games. If you need, we can also try to arrange a game for you on the spot." Shakunta introduced with all her heart.

"You guys are quite professional." Jiang Bing exclaimed in admiration as he looked at the series of facilities.

"Of course, please come this way." Shakunta led the way and led the group to a semi-open box on the second floor.

Each employee in this private room has a limited number of places, but compared to those "retail customers" in the hall, the card in Margarita's hand is worth her best efforts to entertain them.

After all, no matter how much she tries to deny it, it cannot change the fact that she is essentially a "stacker" who makes money by taking a cut of her clients' gambling money.

People who work in this industry are all very shrewd. After Shakunta settled Jiang Bing down, she left on her own accord to make room. After all, the head was already registered under her name, and it would be bad if she stayed here without knowing the current situation.

"Mr. Sabul, we've found the target." Silodinger reported in a low voice in the common language of the wizarding world.

Following the direction he indicated, Jiang Bing saw the target person of this trip at a glance.

Lucius Lane, the outgoing mayor of Night City.

Chapter 398 A mistake

The sun in the hearts of Night City residents, the embodiment of freedom, and a good public servant of the people, these are the praises everyone gives to Lucius Lane.

Of course, some people like the other version.

Night City's biggest con man, a corporate lackey, a greedy politician, and a big fat pig.

Yes, this comrade mayor is extremely fat, at least one and a half times heavier than Dexter DeShawn.

However, the above slander cannot erase his achievements. During the Unification War, the New American troops attempted to capture Night City and bring this pearl of the west coast back under the control of the New America.

It was the great Lucius Lane who led the citizens in a heroic resistance. Under his wise leadership, the Militech forces were repelled, and Night City still maintained its independence.

He was elected mayor as promised.

As for how he repelled the military-tech troops, don't worry about it.

Anyway, Arasaka Tower has stood again in Night City since then.

Despite constant accusations that Ryan took dirty money from the company, he still sits in the mayor's seat, and in the eyes of many people, he is still a symbol of freedom in Night City.

And what is worth Mr. Blue Eyes's gambling? The answer is now obvious.

That's the future of Night City, or the future Mr. Blue Eyes wants.

A Night City without Arasaka and military technology is a good Night City, but this is difficult to achieve. As a second best option, a Night City with both Arasaka and military technology can barely be considered acceptable.

But Lucius's appetite was a little too big when it came to collecting the money, and he sold the entire Night City to Arasaka obviously a little too quickly.

This is not only unacceptable to military technology, but also to Mr. Blue Eyes.

Of course, Jiang Bing didn't accept it either.

Night City has its own quick reaction force. This army with little presence is basically concentrated on the border. Although there are not many of them, it can be regarded as the last dignity of Night City.

However, Lucius Lane obviously did not want this respectability. Although it was unknown from where Mr. Blue Eyes got the information, the fat mayor submitted a plan for the replacement and technical support upgrade of the rapid reaction force on the eve of his departure. He wanted to replace all his combat equipment with unified specifications while further strengthening the combat effectiveness of this force. Therefore, he needed to seek external technical support and introduce advanced experience from large companies.

Mayor Lucius recommended several options.