Players Invade Cyberpunk-Chapter 759 - 245: Now That Explains It

"..."

Zheng Shichang dared not answer this question.

In a daze, he felt like that little lamb pierced by a stick, roasting over the fire, his skin sizzling from the charcoal, and the fat melting into oil, constantly dripping down. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

And Benjamin was the devil wielding the cooking instruments.

Under the devil's temptation, he no longer remembered how many people he had killed?

Ten?

Twenty?

About forty or fifty, perhaps, Zheng Shichang couldn't recall. After all, to company people like them, the lives of those at the bottom were always worthless.

Until he killed a colleague.

His position wasn't high enough to cover it up, so he had no choice but to seek Benjamin's help, pinning the matter on the Cleaner, thus handing leverage to the other side.

"Relax, Mr. Zheng, it's no big deal."

Benjamin's technique with the knife and fork was elegant yet slow, his movements calm and composed. Paired with his pale, cold-toned skin, he seemed more like a traditional European aristocrat, at least more proper-looking than those guys from the Watson District underground.

Who would have thought the stuff he was slicing was human flesh?

"Cannibalism is the common theme of this era. Whether it's me or you, or those bigwigs in the corporate square, we're all cannibals. I just do it a bit more directly."

He slowly stuffed a piece of grilled meat into his mouth.

"Survival of the fittest, evolution of the fit, this is a tradition left by nature through billions of years of development. We are the new age evolvers, so it's only natural to eat the failures in the evolutionary chain."

"God gave everyone a chance, but unfortunately, they didn't seize it."

With the aggravation of cybernetic enhancements, and their value surpassing the physical body, many believe they are at the forefront of evolution.

They think the world will eventually belong to cyborgs, with humans born with original sin.

And the obedient Zheng Shichang had just one thought in his head:

What bullshit is he saying.

He wasn't any kind of Christian, didn't believe in God or original sin; he only believed in the almighty dollar, and that was all.

But forced by circumstances, he could only nod along, not touching the meat on his plate.

Benjamin didn't care about that, he never considered the other person as his kind.

While eating leisurely, he asked:

"Did you find the information I asked you to look for last time?"

Zheng Shichang shivered a bit:

"No, the data related to Horizon Corporation is highly classified, my position doesn't have the authority."

"Interesting."

Seeing the other didn't bring what he wanted, Benjamin wasn't upset, as it proved some things in itself.

Many wondered, since Horizon Corporation is already a military tech pawn, why did Kangtao suddenly step in and even partner with them to build a cybernetic factory, which has recently begun production.

"So it seems your company indeed has a deep cooperation with military tech."

"No."

Zheng Shichang shook his head repeatedly, this was the one thing he was sure of.

"Kangtao has nothing to do with military tech, all cooperation ties are strictly with Horizon Corporation."

Zheng Shichang remembered clearly, military tech had repeatedly tried to approach Kangtao to jointly suppress Lin Miao's listing, but the related documents never even reached the board, Dong Hui just passed them off directly.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have fallen to him to propose it at the New Year's event, though he got shut down even then.

Kangtao...

That makes sense now.

Benjamin's previous confusion vanished, he couldn't figure out why Horizon Corporation had been out to mess with the Cleaners since entering the Taiping Continent.

That makes sense now.

Soviet Petrochemical truly had no interest conflict with Horizon Corporation and military tech, the Cold War animosity of the past had dissipated with the fall and division of the United States, now New America was crippled, not worth mentioning.

But when it comes to Kangtao, it's another story altogether.

The Soviet Union and Tokyo University.

Whether between the two companies or the people behind them, they could at least be described as hostile, if not throwing actual punches.

Their enmity dated back to the early last century, even after so many regime changes, it wasn't over, and the following decades were full of conflicts.

Now it seemed Kangtao intended to use Horizon Corporation to trouble Soviet Petrochemical in Night City, looking to sever Soviet Petrochemical's profit chain, then have Horizon Corporation recycle low-grade cyber enhancements for resale to Southeast Asia.

Kangtao wanted Horizon Corporation to tackle Soviet Petrochemical, military tech wanted Horizon Corporation to take out Hansen, causing trouble for Huang Ban.

The Cleaner was simply an unfortunate victim in this struggle of giants.

With all clues connected, getting the answers he wanted, Benjamin no longer wished to keep Zheng Shichang around. Although the other was on his bitch list, it wasn't time to cook him just yet.

He preferred to wait until fear had taken root deep in the opponent's heart, grown into a towering tree, and then make his move when the taste was most exquisite.

After sending away the trembling fellow, Benjamin, with a firm no-waste policy, also finished his share of food.

The ingredients brought by the other were all stored in the refrigerator.

Only after cleaning the utensils did he use a private communicator to dial a contact, speaking the purest Russian.

————

Brother Ni: "Those should be the Cleaner's smuggling routes."

Determined to deal with the Cleaners within seven days, the players didn't stop for a moment, searching all of Dog Town for intelligence related to the Cleaners.