"Taiping Continent, oh Taiping Continent, still the same Taiping Continent."
The Old Captain drove the car, mumbling something, the scene outside the car window was different from the bustling city center and industrial zone of Santo Domingo, this prosperity mixed with decay surprised Lin Miao in the passenger seat.
Clearly there are skyscrapers everywhere, it could be seen that the city government and investors once held great investment expectations for this place and actually poured a lot of money into it.
But now these buildings put up are all semi-finished, many buildings are just capped but not decorated, you can even see vagabonds living in the collapsed buildings.
Of course, what stands out most are the two landmark buildings, Peizhuo Petrochemical Stadium and Jewel Green Tower, sealed up within high walls, like an overturned bowl covering what should have been the most prosperous area of Taiping Continent.
The Old Captain noticed Lin Miao seemed very interested in this place, so he explained along the way
"This is Dogtown... remnants of the unified war, after the midnight storm, it became the den of Colonel Kurt Hansen and his Netherworld Dog Team, the biggest global black market in Night City and the whole North America."
"Are you going to take me in?"
"Can’t do that, the Old Captain doesn’t have that ability, the cost of free entry identity verification in this ghost place is ridiculously high, connections and relations, they even review your ancestors up to eighteen generations, otherwise you can only enter but not leave, not even the king of gods can help, no one wants to hide in Dogtown unless they’re in trouble and can’t escape."
Reyes seemed completely unfazed showing weakness to his partner, if it was swapped with that old woman Wagako, she would probably say
’The cost of free entry to Dogtown is not small, but if Mr. Lin requested, as long as you’re willing to pay a certain price, I might be able to get it for you.’
Lin Miao doesn’t know if she can truly do this, but he is sure she would take him for a ride.
This city refreshes Lin Miao’s understanding of the world every day.
At least in Lin Miao’s worldview, no matter how many forces are involved, a city should have only one legal armed force defending it on the surface.
But Night City isn’t like that.
Santo Domingo’s law enforcement isn’t managed by NCPD, but taken over by the Sixth Street Gang, NCPD has no authority over Santo Domingo’s security issues.
If it were like that, Lin Miao could understand, but the gates of Dogtown truly opened his eyes.
Nearly a hundred armed soldiers guarded the exits on the streets, the looming autocannons made one’s scalp tingle, even military-grade bipedal exoskeletons mixed with the guarding troops, cameras oversee the corners...
If one were to say the Netherworld Dog Team is the Ginyu Force, then Night Wanderer at most is a Yamcha.
Lin Miao’s players are pretty much a group of self-exploding Saibamen.
Reyes parked the car near the entrance of Dogtown in a garage, obviously this is his place, then said to Lin Miao
"The smuggling business from within Night City to outside is managed by a guy under Hansen named Dao Jie, the goods will be sent out by him, we just need to wait outside."
"Yeah, look opposite." Reyes gestured for Lin Miao to look across the highway, there was an NCPD precinct, but... why are there no cops?
As if noticing Lin Miao’s confusion, Reyes continued "That place has been occupied by Dao Jie’s people, turned into a drug factory and their operation site, police station—drug factory, funny right, hahahahaha..."
He laughed breathlessly, there’s a sense of helplessness, but indeed it was funny.
"These cops are really FW enough..." Lin Miao didn’t even know how to criticize them
"Who wouldn’t say so, a bunch of useless eaters, when things get serious you’d rather find a bunch of dung beetles than them, that’s why I rented a garage across from them, it’s interesting just to watch."
Reyes laughed for a long time, then explained "Dao Jie is one of Hansen’s six subordinates, Yuri Bichkov, Albert Murphy, Chester Bennett, ’Dao Jie’, real name Carl Robinson, Leon Lindel, each one is more capable than the other, they are way beyond the group of Night Wanderers from Evil Land you encountered, don’t pick a fight with them, or else it’s big trouble..."
His words were filled with dread for Dogtown, this colonel abandoned by the new United States has become a part of Night City... um...
Lin Miao didn’t know how to describe him, a leech maybe, it’s possible that he could generate revenue for Night City, quite a few big corporations cover up there and use the black market to evade taxes, but indeed he’s a local tyrant, a city within a city, outside Night City’s law.
"Speaking of which, you ask me to help you find the way to start a company, also buying production lines, what are you planning?"
Lin Miao glanced at him, took out a chip from the bag, and tossed it to the other
"Take a look, see if there is a market for it in Night City."
"So secretive..." Reyes inspected the chip with an odd expression before inserting it into the back of his neck.
The roughly designed diagram that popped up made Reyes slightly shocked
"Damn... exoskeleton?"
But he quickly realized, the parameters of this thing are far inferior to what those military industries released to the market, a whole gap between musket and a semi-automatic rifle.
He found it amusingly asked "Are you planning to enter the children’s toys market? Then you’d better make this smaller."