In American comics, all your teammates are the main characters and bosses

Chapter 174: Mann Team in Action

At the headquarters of the Six Street Gang, Armstrong looked at these representatives from various giant corporations without showing any concern in his every move.

On the side, Will Cannon had already made preparations early on, and if the negotiations broke down, he would dissuade them, so as to minimize the conflict - and at the beginning, Will Cannon thought this was unlikely.

You know, the representatives gathered in the Six Street Gang this time, any one of them stomped their feet and the whole Night City would shake three times. The Arasaka Group is very powerful in Night City, but if you really count, it is only on par with military technology in the corporate ranking. In the world audience of Cyberpunk 2077, the strongest is still the monster room of the European Community - and because of the importance of nanotechnology, not only did the weapons company send representatives to visit, but even the European Community sent a large number of staff to contact.

As for mid- and upper-level companies like Yeshi, there are even more of them. And these small companies are not coming here to learn about nanotechnology like the big companies, but to determine the future development direction.

Even a fool, after seeing Armstrong's performance after the Battle of Saint-Domingue, would more or less realize that whoever masters nanotechnology will be able to control the next world war and influence the balance of victory or defeat.

With so many big shots gathered together, not to mention others, even Will Cannon, who was personally making the contact, felt a little intimidated.

But who would have known that the representative of military technology only briefly mentioned some core information sharing about nanotechnology, and Armstrong lit up his cigar with disdain.

This is indeed a bit frustrating. After all, negotiation sounds good, but in reality, whether it is a debate between countries or a bargaining between small vendors, it is all the same: asking for a high price and paying back the money on the spot.

They come with sincerity, so naturally they will quote a high price. Then we can talk slowly and see when we can reach a reasonable price that both parties agree on, and then make a final decision.

What about Armstrong?

What kind of stuff are you? How dare you bargain with me?

Military technology? Kill him.

Militech is Will Cannon's backer. Will Cannon has wanted to become the boss of the Six Street Gang for a long time. However, the previous boss was supported by Ye's Company and had a close relationship with the NCPD. So Will Cannon found Militech, a giant company that has close ties with the new US government and is very suitable for Cannon in terms of concepts, cooperation methods and styles of doing things.

As a result, Armstrong's punch smashed his upper body, leaving him no chance to beg for mercy.

Will Cannon was stunned. While he was stunned, Armstrong beside him was not idle. He punched them one by one. From Arasaka Group? Killed. Representative of the new US government? Killed. From Yeshi Company? Killed. From NCPD? Killed...

During the process, some of them wanted to resist, but Armstrong did not even think of defending himself. He just waved his hand indifferently and sent them all on a magical road to heaven.

At the end, looking at the remaining representatives of several companies, organizations, governments, and independent regimes, Armstrong announced with a dull expression on his face:

"Do you think I'm here to play house with you? You're actually bargaining with me?"

Shaking off the ash from his cigar, Armstrong took a deep breath and said calmly with a bored look on his face:

"I am not interested in your thoughts. I am just telling you that a new era has arrived and I will shape this world into what I want it to be."

Hearing this, the cannon beside him felt a little dazed, and couldn't help but think of the first empress dowager in history who was suspected of being a cyber psychopath -

Declare war on military technology. Declare war on Knight Corporation. Declare war on Arasaka Corporation. Declare war on the European Community...

“We had a lot of fun.”

Just when the scene was a little cold, accompanied by the cracking of space, Ron's figure also arrived directly from the apartment to the headquarters of the Six Street Gang.

When Armstrong saw Ron coming, he just nodded and said, "I don't like talking nonsense with them."

But seeing Ron's unique appearance, the remaining company representatives and the entourage of representatives from large companies, negotiators, or "company dogs" couldn't help but hold their breath.

"Simple space technology." He explained casually to make it easier for them to hypnotize themselves.

Although this seems unnecessary, after the mission is completed, it can effectively prevent the system settlement from deducting additional system coins due to the impact on the world view.

Having already completed his plan and seeing Ron coming, Armstrong simply said to the people around him, "Okay, you can go now. As for the other companies in Night City, I will visit them one by one. Well, organize all the materials so that it will be much easier for me to take over."

"..."

What could the corporate representatives say? They were angry but dared not speak, they just looked at each other for a few seconds and then left. The entourage of several giant companies such as Military Technology took the bodies of the representatives on the ground and the broken prosthetic parts.

It's not that they take them away with the idea of ​​recycling them, but because by analyzing the state of these prosthetic parts, they can conduct force analysis, thereby accelerating the improvement of their response to nanotechnology.

After everyone left, only Ron, Armstrong, and Will Cannon were left on the field. Ron asked bluntly, "What do you mean? Are there any traces of the world virus?"

"Military technology and Arasaka." Sitting on a chair, Armstrong took out a cigar and asked Ron if he wanted one. Ron shook his head and just leaned back in his chair and said:
"No, I've smoked a lot recently."

"That's a shame, these are authentic Cuban cigars."

Armstrong was not in a hurry. He just slowly lit the fire and did not pay attention to Will Cannon beside him. Then he said:
"This gathering of representatives was sudden. They did not have enough time to prepare adequate plans, so they could only ask questions about the most core ideas. In these boring conversations, I felt that the questions about military technology and the Arasaka Group were the most acute. They intended to master nanotechnology while also trying to figure out my identity."

"Trying such a sensitive issue on the first contact, I suspect the world virus parasite is somewhere in between."

"That's it."

Hearing this, Ron nodded thoughtfully. "To prevent any fish from slipping through the net, let's solve it together."

"I think so too." Armstrong nodded in agreement.

On the side, Will Cannon, listening to the conversation between Ron and Armstrong, felt completely dumbfounded.

This, this is not right.

Without much nonsense, Ron and Armstrong discussed straightforwardly what they were going to do next.

"How do you arrange the time?"

"One to one and a half months." Ron said, "David is an intern in a brother department and will be stationed in this world in the future. However, considering the impact of our arrival on the world line, I plan to train him into a reliable official member in one month."

Hearing this, Armstrong nodded. He didn't have any ill feelings towards David, and helping David was just a matter of saying something. But now that it was formally proposed, Armstrong still asked with some doubt: "Isn't our mission the world virus? Why do we have to pay attention to members of other departments?"

"Gu Yi is in the same base world as us, and he has helped our department deal with a lot of the mess in the base world." Ron said:
"This is my personal matter. I have restored David to factory settings. You can look back at his abilities and buy him a set of prosthetic armor from your system store if possible. Don't make it too bad, but don't make it too expensive either. Heatwave or Foehn level is enough. A little stronger won't make much difference to this world. I'll pay for the system coins."

"Ha, I was wondering why you asked for something less expensive. It seems like you also want to save money."

Armstrong smiled and said, "But now that I've said it, there's no problem. You're the boss after all."

Armstrong spoke in a relaxed manner, giving people a completely different feeling from before, and seemed particularly easy to talk to. The sharp contrast between the two even made Cannon a little confused, wondering which one was the real Armstrong.

In fact, Armstrong is indeed easy to talk to.

For Armstrong, the only thing he values ​​is "strength". This strength is not limited to violence that destroys everything. It also includes multiple manifestations of strength such as will, connections, identity, and wisdom.

As long as one of them gets Armstrong's approval, then Armstrong is actually quite easy to talk to in the corresponding field - this is why Armstrong hopes that Raiden can join the Desperadoes so much.

Especially since Ron was not simply giving an order, but paying with system coins. Armstrong did not have the idea of ​​taking kickbacks, because at this stage, his knowledge of the system store was still limited. Once he knew about the system stores of other members of the team, he would probably not be so indifferent.

"I want to change this world, and I want to see what it will look like in the future. I do need some people from the 'brother department' to stay here. Leave it to me, and I will select a set of prosthetics suitable for David. But let me be frank, this only includes the basic prosthetics, and I will charge for subsequent prosthetic upgrades."

"No problem." Ron said, "You can ask David for it yourself when the time comes. By the time he needs to upgrade his prosthetics, he should have completed many missions and have some wealth."

"I see... So, helping the company train new people is also a good business?"

"I guess so, but I'm not helping to train them just to make money."

Having said this, Ron turned around and disappeared from Armstrong's sight.

For a period of time afterwards, Ron didn't pay much attention to the Sixth Street Gang, or even David and the others.

In fact, Ron didn't care much about whether David could be with Lucy and Rebecca in the end.

It’s not that Ron doesn’t want to see lovers get married, but Armstrong’s arrival has changed too many things.

In the original plot, the emotional drama between David and Lucy was limited by the budget of only ten episodes provided by Netflix, which gave people a very abrupt feeling. But when it was unfolded, David felt the throbbing of his heart when he saw Lucy for the first time, and then chased after her. At the beginning, Lucy didn't have much idea about David, until later they began to discuss their dreams.

At that time, David's mother Gloria had died and didn't even know the meaning of life. Lucy longed to go to the moon. Naturally, fulfilling Lucy's wish became David's wish... In general, Lucy and David's meeting and love was the collision of two lonely hearts.

And now... Lucy is still alone, but David's fate has improved a lot. Even if Armstrong hadn't come, Gloria would still be dead, but given David's status in the group, it would only be a matter of time before Adam Hammer of this world became a dead soul under David's feet.

Now, under Ron's help, David has returned to factory settings, and his condition, energy, and destiny are much better than before. Perhaps David will still fall in love with Lucy at first sight, but he has ushered in a new destiny. It is unknown whether David, who has not experienced the death of his mother and the loss of his dreams, can empathize with Lucy.

In contrast, Rebecca is still more likely to be interested in David because in her original destiny, Rebecca was attracted by David's personality... But Ron didn't care much about the emotional issues of these boys and girls.

Whether their love story was a cyberpunk tragedy or a family-friendly one rewritten by a golden finger called "World Tree Company", it had no effect on Ron.

If you can help, help. If you can’t, just let it go.

After returning to Helheim and adjusting the speed of time, Ron methodically prepared for matters related to his ascension to godhood.

While Ron was carrying out matters related to the ceremony, on the other side, the team consisting of David and others also began the task of searching for the 'famous V'.

Among the three V's, Street Kid V was the easiest to find. As they all made a living on the streets, it didn't take Mann much effort to learn from other middlemen that the most capable assistant under middleman Dexter DeShawn was a guy named Vincent, nicknamed 'V'.

Through his intermediary Faraday, David and his team successfully contacted the first V not long after.

"Are you the Mann team that Drest mentioned? What do you want from me?"

Vincent V, who came from the streets, looked at the people in front of him with some curiosity and said, "Let me make it clear first, I have no intention of changing jobs. Besides, you guys don't look very professional at first glance, and there are even children in the team~"

(End of this chapter)