Players Invade Cyberpunk-Chapter 817 - 264: I Can’t Take It Anymore—I’m Going to Blow Night City Up with One Punch

He walked up to the first floor, and someone was already waiting at the door.

"Jack."

Lin Miao looked at the big guy standing by the door, his eyes complex.

"Mr. Lin… I..."

Jack lowered his head in shame. He had long known this day would come; the conflict between the Valentino Gang and Horizon Corporation had happened more than once. Yet even Jack had no way to blame Lin Miao for anything.

Drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion, loan sharking... A gang is not some fraternity house. Beneath the brotherly loyalty lies dirty interests, which is why, despite being a famous local bar owner, Mrs. Wells never allowed Jack to join the Valentino Gang.

"Go back, Jack."

Lin Miao patted his shoulder, with no intention of giving him a hard time.

"Give my regards to Mrs. Wells, and count all the turnover for the next week on my account."

It's hard to be a good person.

When it came to those gangs, Lin Miao had always tried to be restrained and forbearing. If unnecessary, he wouldn't make trouble for them.

Don't think these gangs felt any pity for themselves, getting beaten by players everywhere. In truth, Lin Miao had already done his best to restrain the players' attacks on them; otherwise, based on their actions, they would've been wiped out by players long ago.

These gangs, after all, have been rooted locally for decades. The threat of force is secondary. The key is that many in the gangs are related to locals by blood, friends, neighbors, bosses... Many ties are complex and tangled.

If a large-scale attack were to be deliberately targeted at a specific gang, causing too many casualties, it could potentially stir up hatred among local residents.

So even though it might seem like players have taken down numerous strongholds, destroyed a lot of drugs, and confiscated military prosthetics, players haven't, or rather Lin Miao has restrained them from making killing the direct target.

He was already holding back.

After all, it's a matter of persona. In Night City, players are a bit crazy—they like killing, robbing, and dismantling prosthetics—but they generally fall within the scope of being good people.

Once that persona collapses, it would bring boundless disaster.

Frankly, it would be like reenacting the Somali Incident in Night City, becoming enemies with the entire city's residents.

Back then, when the United States won the Gulf War, its national power was soaring. Who didn't know that the United States was unparalleled in the world?

After becoming a leader, they finally wanted to do some good to reinforce their image as the world's beacon, deciding to mediate the chaos in Somalia—playing a bit of a charade. Even their citizens rarely protested the war over this issue.

And what happened? When they got slapped by the locals, they had to swallow it down after their teeth got knocked out, retreating to hide away completely.

The reasons were complex, but fundamentally, the United Nations and the United States lost because of their arrogance.

No matter whether the Somalis knew if the United Nations' actions were for their own good, no matter how ignorant or foolish they were, the fact that the United States acted on a "we know what's best for you" attitude, without explanation or local investigation, led to a series of tragedies.

This wasn't something Lin Miao thought of himself, but someone specially came to talk to him about it. Lin Miao had prepared many contingency plans, but it was ultimately too late, and Horizon Corporation was still too weak.

He hadn't even formed the administrative backbone of the Taiping Continent, with no grassroots force to maintain order, let alone act under the noses of those companies, unable to replace the survival space of the gangs.

Logically and emotionally, now was a time to learn to swallow his pride.

But he couldn't bear it!

Players could kill as much as they wanted, but touching one of his official employees was unacceptable!

I'm such a great person, yet I didn't kill your entire family or annihilate your clan, and you don't kneel in gratitude but come to provoke me?

Is there still any justice in this world?

Is there any law left?

Not only Lin Miao was furious, but the players were just as enraged.

Lin Miao might swallow his pride for a while, but would the players put up with it?

Hell no!

Apart from the crap the devs shoveled, they wouldn't swallow any other pile of it. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

The news of a known NPC ally dying was the last thing players wanted to see.

Today it's Simmons; tomorrow, it might be Nia, and the day after that, Nishikawa Ayami.

In front of players, the gangs were just experience point dummies, but to ordinary people, they were death-dealers crawling out from Hell.

Thus, Lin Miao's response was swift and decisive. Before issuing a call to arms, he released a statement.

"Limited to 12 hours, hand over all culprits involved, or face the consequences."

Of course, both Lin Miao and the media knew this was just bluster. The other side was prepared and wouldn't possibly hand over anyone due to a mere threat; it was merely a justifiable reason for retaliation.

As for the NCPD?

No one took it seriously.

And behind Jack, players were already returning to the office from all corners of Night City, forming a bustling crowd stretching from the bar all the way to the street outside the front door. Cars driving by would dare not stop to watch, quickly turning around to avoid potential trouble from this menacing throng.

Lin Miao watched the eagerness in the players' eyes, a sense of feeling arose in his heart.

Unknowingly, the number of players active in Night City was closing in on the two-thousand mark. Except for the six or seven hundred still in Dog Town, almost all had arrived. Compared to the few small fry six months ago, they had grown exponentially. But aside from Lin Miao, probably no one knew he had hidden so many people in Night City.