As for land transport... the United States’ railways, calling them roller coasters on flat ground would be a compliment.
The main problem is that ever since the United States split into three parts, along with a bunch of free states, nobody maintained the interstate railways. Back in the Red Era, they were basically scrapped, shut down, and optimized. The war caused a lot of cities to collapse, and the transfer stations were gone.
Now, the transportation of goods between cities relies on nuclear-powered airships, and they only transport raw materials. The consumables in Night City are all locally produced, which ironically prevents costs from coming down.
"Once my water purification plant is built, I can keep the cost around 25 Euro per gallon, giving me a price advantage over True Water Corporation."
This was Lin Miao fooling Sol.
What nonsense about costs being 25 Euro—he calculated the cost was no more than 10 Euro. Moreover, the profit isn’t just about the water. By building this, Lin Miao can make the electricity meter run backward, and the sludge as a byproduct can be sold as fertilizer chemicals.
If a little political maneuvering is added, in the name of environmental governance, he could get some money out of the city government and reduce some taxes, and then the profits would skyrocket.
As for how to extract... Lin Miao heard there’s going to be a new mayoral election in 2077. He figured the candidates wouldn’t mind spending some city government money in exchange for environmental governance plus some jobs and votes.
But of course, he couldn’t tell Sol this. Theoretically, besides recycling wastewater, recycling waste materials is the same deal, a sure-fire profit-making business.
And Sol was still muttering "25 Euro... 30..."
Sol pondered for a long time, almost counting on his fingers, while Lin Miao thought this rough fellow wouldn’t figure it out anytime soon. But he wasn’t in a hurry either. Compared to Adcardo, finding a big brother is more important. Only with a sufficiently influential big brother can he implement the next steps of his plan.
So, where to find a big shot who’s stupid, rich, and doesn’t mind his own business?
Lin Miao patted his shoulder. "Take your time thinking it over. Notify me anytime once you’ve figured it out. I’m off to do some calculations."
Reyes initially thought it wasn’t a big deal when Lin Miao mentioned some Chun Er needing to be offloaded. But when he heard it was thirty thousand gallons, he nearly lost control and crashed.
Regardless of truth, Reyes and a band of underlings rushed to Adcardo overnight, and upon seeing five fully stocked oil tankers, he hurriedly jumped out before the car even stopped.
"My goodness, brother... No... Patron God, tell me honestly, where did these come from? Did you rob a storage terminal?"
Five full tankers, even a typical gas station could only hold supplies for one at most. Reyes couldn’t fathom how Lin Miao, after just a few days out of the city, first wrecked the Tiger Claw’s territory and then pulled off such a big haul.
"Just a little sum intercepted from the Night Wanderers. We brothers will surely get rich together in the future."
Lin Miao straightforwardly explained the whole sequence to Reyes. It was a secret before being done, but after that, it’s nothing.
"Don’t say another word. I know nothing, heard nothing. I’m just a businessman. Other messy affairs have nothing to do with me."
After hearing it, the old captain almost wanted to wash his brain and forget everything he just heard.
It’s likely related to internal power struggles at Peizhuo Petrochemical. When gods fight, mortals suffer. If Reyes dared to inform, the first to die wouldn’t be Lin Miao, but himself.
After pacing back and forth for a while, Reyes licked his dry lips and said to Lin Miao and Panam,
"Alright then, three tanks of Chun Er plus four vehicles; I’ll offer 350k. This price is fair, right?"
Lin Miao and Panam exchanged a look, a bit surprised that he hadn’t attempted to haggle. The number he offered was about what they had discussed beforehand, roughly 70% of the market price.
If everything went smoothly for Reyes on this trip, he could make around 80 or 90k. Of course, if he had his own channels, he could earn even more.
For example, the NCPD—government money isn’t claimed for nothing.
"But let me clarify first. I don’t have that much cash flow on hand, only 220k. The rest I’ll have to gather. If you trust me, the old captain, let’s settle the bill now. If not, I’ll take two vehicles first, and we can complete the rest of the transaction later."
Reyes didn’t even think about trying to lower the price; besides, Adcardo’s operation was smuggling. They just didn’t have sales channels for Chun Er. Trying to profit more from them was overthinking it.
Not to mention, he still couldn’t gauge Lin Miao’s intentions, raiding the Tiger Claw territory one moment and then snatching such a big haul from Night Wanderers. He didn’t want to offend him or cut off his earnings.
"Sure, you first pay Adcardo. I’m precisely planning on buying a batch of vehicles from you. Surely some discount for brothers if I pay with goods?"
"Absolutely no problem, 5% discount."
The vehicle market in the Western world is different from that in East Asia. Over there, a car over ten years old is practically scrap metal that nobody wants.
But here, you could even spot vehicles that are ten, twenty, or even fifty or sixty years old on the road. The old captain thrives on this, even though there are at least 20 soul tags on the ten stolen cars he holds.
But Lin Miao doesn’t care. After all, he’s not the one driving, so what does it matter?
Don’t joke—who knows how many cars’ soul tags they will affix themselves in the future.
In the old captain’s vehicle, Reyes was meticulously settling the accounts with Lin Miao.
"Clear accounts between brothers: 10 freight vehicles, 4 small trucks; with rounding off, I’ll compensate you a total of 70k. I’ll top up another 60k later, and we shall be square."
Lin Miao, smiling and wrapping his arm around Reyes’ shoulder, said, "Who are we, after all? Rest assured, I’m not in a rush for that 60k; I won’t press you."
"Don’t say that, business is business, friendship is friendship—the two need to be separate, or trouble will arise."
Hearing this, Reyes’ eyelids twitched. From his years of experience, nothing good comes from the following words. Besides, they just did business twice; how come it sounds like they’re so familiar all of a sudden?
"Let’s get this straight, I, the old captain, never handle illegal activities."
Lin Miao rolled his eyes; give me a break, a crime lord putting on an act.
"It’s , aren’t you most familiar with this land of Santo Domingo? Help me out. I want to start a company focusing on military-industrial security, waterworks, food, steel, chemicals, and maybe a bit of smuggling. You think that’s doable?"