Afterlife Bar.

Gloria raised her head and drank the spicy tequila, killing one of Johnny's Silver Hands.

After drinking, she put down the wine glass, quickly covered her mouth with her hand, and coughed lightly, as if she was choked by the chili flavor in the wine glass.

Gloria finally slowed down her strength, and then let go of her hand, and said a little embarrassedly, "Mr. Tang, I'm smiling." ”

Tang Yu also smothered the 'Johnny Silver Hand', the taste was indeed extremely spicy, and soaking chili peppers in the tequila could only be imagined by Johnny's crooked brain.

He thought anyone would cough the first time he drank it, and when Gloria looked up, he saw that her cheeks were already flushed.

"It's good to get used to it, sometimes life is like this glass of wine, the sweetness and sourness of beer, the bitterness and spiciness, all mixed in it, you can't tell what it tastes like, in short."

Gloria was thoughtful, and then asked seriously, "Mr. Tang, do you come here often?" ”

Tang Yu put down the wine glass in his hand and sighed with some emotion: "Well, there used to be a lot of coming, but now there are fewer people, this welcomes middlemen like you to talk about business, and companies like me are not very welcome to drink." ”

He thought that since they were all born, it was just time to give Gloria a plate of the rules of the middleman, which could be regarded as helping her again.

"You will have a lot of dealings with the next life in the future, especially Rogge, there are some rules on the road that you need to know a little bit."

In fact.

As long as you live in Night City, you have heard of rumors of a life bar, especially the queen of the next life, Rogge.

Almost all mercenaries want to take over from Rogge, because it's all big work, and they may become famous and rich overnight.

The afterlife is a paradise for trading, commissioning, buying and selling, and intelligence, and this time the entrusting party is from the wanderer tribe, and it is specially selected in the afterlife bar, which is enough to show that the signboard of the afterlife has been known from far and near.

Gloria felt a little surprised, and understood that Tang Yu was going to teach her, and her expression immediately became serious.

Tang Yu continued to explain: "The middleman, to put it simply, is the intermediary who matches the money between the owner and the mercenary. ”

"There are a lot of middlemen in Night City, divided into three, six, nine and so on, and there are only a few who can really play on the stage."

"A free middleman of Rogge's strength can't find a second one in the entire Night City, but even she has to be constrained by the company at some point."

"The era of freedom in the past is over, and now without a corporate background, it is difficult to step into the middleman industry and step on a piece of land."

Gloria's pupils shrank slightly, she didn't expect that the dignified queen of the next life, Rogge, would also be affected by the company, she was the strongest middleman in Night City, which showed the deep penetration of the company's power.

She knew that if it wasn't for Tang Yu's support, she would never have been able to step into the middleman industry for the rest of her life, so she couldn't help but listen more and more seriously.

In order to explain more clearly, Tang Yu used the middleman Faraday to illustrate, she had fought before.

"For example, Faraday, whom you dealt with before, is backed by military technology, and is more like an agent of the company to some extent, and the commissions he issues are basically related to the company, and he is not a real middleman in Night City."

"Because the real middleman is not rootless, each middleman has his own territory, controls the resources and intelligence in the area, and just finds someone to work for the company, which is somewhat meaningless."

"Even in the era of the declining world, if the middleman wants to gain a firm foothold in this industry, he must abide by the rules of 'honest cooperation', and in Night City, where the law is trampled underfoot, your reputation is your signboard."

Gloria understood and understood Tang Yu's subtext that if she wanted to become a real middleman, she couldn't rely only on Tang Yu's strength, but also had her own connections and strength.

Tang Yu casually gave a few examples, so that Gloria could know about the forces of several intermediaries.

"Take this commission as an example, Dakota is one of the intermediaries in the badlands where the wanderers live, she never betrays mercenaries, but she never allows others to betray her, and it is indispensable to deal with her in the badlands."

"And in the Night City area, there are even more middlemen who can be named."

"Westbrook's middleman, Kazuko Okada, is a polite old lady who has a lot to do with the Tiger Claw Gang, and she doesn't refuse good or evil."

"Father Sebastian, Heywood's middleman, was once a priest in the Valentino Gang, but anyone who dared to dangle half a bad word in front of him was sent to God."

"The intermediary who is active in the civic center is very well-connected, and he has a hot fight with companies, the media, mercenaries, and street boys, smuggling all kinds of contraband gadgets, and he is worth a lot of money."

"In addition, there are many middlemen with decent strength, roaming the streets and alleys of Night City."

"There is a middleman in Saint-Domingo, the 'old captain' Muammar, who usually does small tasks."

The middlemen Tang Yu mentioned were all those he had dealt with many times, but anyone who could make a name for himself in Night City basically had his own sphere of influence and factions.

After hearing this, Gloria's expression gradually became solemn, and she never thought that there were so many ways to be an intermediary.

Now she is really far behind these veteran middlemen.

All her reliance is from Tang Yu alone, and she needs to work harder if she wants to really step onto the stage of Night City.

Tang Yu said that this was not to put pressure on her, but to make Gloria understand that if she really wanted to help herself, she had to be fully mentally prepared to meet the challenge.

He had no intention of really letting Gloria carve out a territory in Night City on her own.

Instead, I expect her to have the ability to sit firmly in power when she really has the opportunity to take charge of one party.

As for this opportunity, it was naturally Tang Yu who planned for her and sent her to the middleman stage of Night City with his own hands.

Gloria looked at Tang Yu, her expression was focused, and she said sincerely: "Thank you, Mr. Tang, you really taught me a lot, I will seize the opportunity to work hard."

Tang Yu is a person who looks at actions and results, and it is useless to say too many good words, so he got up directly and said, "It's almost time, let's go to the box and wait." ”

The three of them left the bar and walked into the pre-booked box.

The security and concealment of the box in the afterlife bar are first-class, the signal is shielded, the physical sound is isolated, and all the conversation content cannot leave this private room, unless you say it.

The three of them sat on one side of the box, and some drinks and fruits were placed on the table.

Sasha sat on Tang Yu's right hand, looked at the box curiously, reached out and touched the leather cushion, as if he had something else to do with it.

Tang Yu noticed her move, but didn't make a sound.

Gloria sat on Tang Yu's left hand side, checked it, and it was almost the appointed time, and the entrusting party should be coming soon, so she took the initiative to tell Tang Yu some information.

"Mr. Tang, Regina Jones has left News 54, and she senses that something is wrong, and Military Technology is arranging agents to investigate the last big exposure."

"In order to avoid being discovered, she destroyed the traces and left the news station, and now she has started to work alone, mainly to do some things to sell intelligence and all kinds of news."

"According to her own thoughts, she wants to continue to investigate the cyber madman incident and want to research some dry goods."

Tang Yu nodded and felt reasonable, Regina Jones embarked on this path because of the big exposure.

Military technology has eaten Arasaka's move, and it will definitely investigate the matter of the inner ghost, and it is wise for Regina Jones to resign, otherwise she will be suspected of her, and she will have to shed her skin if she does not die.

Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps at the door of the box, and the two people walked straight into the box.

Tang Yu followed the sound and found that the other party was dressed simply, jeans with a sleeveless jacket, very typical of the Badlands wanderer style, but it was a little strange to wear a medical mask.

After the two walked into the house, the box gate automatically closed, the meeting mode was turned on, and the signal shielding device was activated.

One of them, a tall fierce man, asked in a loud voice, "Which of you is Gloria?" ”

Gloria motioned for the two to sit down and talk, and then said generously, "I am, now you can talk about this commission in detail." ”

The fierce man did not sit down, but took the initiative to stand aside, waiting for an elder in front of him to sit down.

The elder was wearing an old-fashioned cowboy hat, the brim of which had faded and looked a little shabby, and after looking at the three of them, he spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Since I didn't get the wrong person, I'll be blunt, this commission needs to go to our tribe to complete the investigation."

Gloria sensed the strangeness of the commission and asked, "You mean to go to the Badlands." ”

She knew that most of the wanderers gathered on the bad land to live, and scavenging, looting, looting, and killing were rampant, and they often staged tribal conflicts, which were extremely dangerous.

If you want to go to the badlands to complete the commission, I am afraid that it will be a lot of trouble.

The cowboy hat elder replied calmly, "Indeed, because what I want to investigate happened in our tribe, and this matter is imminent, we have tried to find a few intermediaries, and finally Regina Jones, who recommended you to us." ”

Gloria steadied her position, vaguely guessing that this matter was related to the other party's wearing a medical mask, and asked seriously: "What happened to your tribe?" ”

The cowboy hat elder sighed, his tone unusually heavy.

"Speaking of this matter, we also find it strange, recently, our tribesmen have begun to die one after another for no apparent reason, and we can't find the cause of death at all."

"At first, we thought it was a problem with the water source, but after changing to a clean water source, people continued to get infected and died."

"Later, we suspected that the infection was transmitted through the air, and we wore medical protective masks, but it still didn't work."

"We have tried to find out the truth about the death of our people, but we have not achieved anything."

"In order to prevent new infections, the bodies had to be piled up far away from the tribe and away from the water source."

"The strange thing is that the corpses that have piled up will disappear by the next day, and there is no way to find where to go."

Hearing this, Tang Yu also sensed the seriousness of the problem.

Infections and corpses are missing, and all signs indicate that the tribe is being targeted.

The cowboy hat elder could not hide the depression in his heart, and it was obvious that the continuous death of the tribesmen had caused him a great psychological burden.

"So, we arranged for someone to check on the situation and find out where the body had gone."

"But I didn't expect something more painful to happen, the tribesmen sent were also missing the next day, and by the time someone sent them to find them, they had already died in the desert, leaving only a pair of slag flesh and bones."

Gloria's face was a little cold, and she couldn't help but think of that scene, on the dark moon and high wind, terror was rampant, wantonly harvesting the lives of the tribesmen.

Tang Yu frowned slightly and thought, the crux of the question is, why did the infected corpse disappear?

And the guards also died, leaving only the remains of bones.

Could it really be a cyber zombie?

The infected and dead slowly woke up in the middle of the night, staggered up from the ground, and took advantage of the caretaker's companions to rush up and eat them.

After eating and drinking, the group of cyber zombies scattered and fled, wandering the vast evil land.

That's a good idea.

Tang Yu quickly dispelled this joking idea, he was well-informed, and he had not yet seen any company that could develop the T virus.

The reason why this tribe has such a bizarre death must be something else.

The cowboy hat elder saw that Gloria was silent, as if he thought that the other party did not believe what he said.

He took out a microchip, placed it on the table, handed it to Gloria, and said.

"We took some photos and videos that you can look at and make a decision."

Gloria picked up the chip, put it in the bio-neural slot, and turned her prosthetic eye circle to begin reading the contents.

A moment later.

After Gloria finished reading, her face looked a little heavy, and then she nodded at Tang Yu, indicating that what the other party said was true.

Whether this commission is accepted or not depends on Tang Yu's meaning.

Tang Yu analyzed that this matter is likely to involve the company, contracting diseases and stealing corpses, no matter how you look at it, it looks like some kind of drug research.

As for what kind of drug research it is, they have to go to their tribe site to find out.

The cowboy hat elder also knew that this commission was difficult, after all, no one would want to do this kind of work, so he pleaded.

"We are willing to pay full or even double the honorarium, as long as you can investigate the cause of death, everything is negotiable."

"If you are willing to send someone to our tribe, even if you fail to investigate, 30,000 euros as a deposit, even if it is your compensation."

"Also, this is the address where our tribe is now, not too far from the outskirts of the city, so please consider it at your discretion."

The cowboy hat elder transmits the tribal address to Gloria.

30,000 euros is not a small amount, even if there is no gain, it can be regarded as a sure profit.

But the higher the remuneration, the greater the risk.

Tang Yu judged that this infectious disease was not transmitted by air, water, contact, etc., if the transmission vector was such a high intensity, I am afraid that the entire tribe would die.

He suspected food poisoning, or rather, food poisoning.

The Wanderer tribe has different sources of food, and most of them travel in small groups in search of supplies and food, both looting and scavenging.

If someone deliberately poisoned them, the death of some people is completely in line with the logic of representation.

Tang Yu asked, "Is there any inevitable connection between the dead and the dead in the tribe?" ”

The cowboy hat elder looked at Tang Yu, judging from Gloria's frequent actions of looking at him, this should be the main master, so he said solemnly.

"The deceased is basically a family, occasionally a single one, but there is not much connection between families, the tribe is relatively large, and not everyone can maintain harmony."

When Tang Yu heard his words, he basically confirmed the judgment in his heart.

This tribe has been kept in the dark from beginning to end, and it is very likely that it was used as an experiment by a certain force, poisoned to death with precision, and then dragged away the body to recover it for further research.

Cycle.

Death could only be avoided if the experiment was successful.

If the experiment is not successful, if it continues, the tribe will be disheartened, if not extinct, and it will not be long before it will collapse.

It is extremely difficult for wanderers without tribes to survive in the bad land, and if they don't do well, they will encounter the people of the Random Knife Society, and they will be cut into sticks and hung on the car as sacrifices.

Tang Yu asked casually, "How big is your tribe?" ”

The cowboy hat elder replied: "Originally, there were 1,349 people, but now 40 people have died due to infection, and some tribesmen have fled hundreds of people overnight because they are worried about their safety. ”

After he finished speaking, he couldn't help but start to cry, covering his nose and sobbing, and suddenly burst into tears, blaming himself.

The fierce man next to him seemed to want to comfort, but he didn't know what to say, so he just asked for help and looked at Tang Yu.

The commission has been clearly explained, and the cause of death from the infection has been investigated.

Tang Yu was seventy or eighty percent sure in his heart, even if he couldn't investigate it, it wasn't that dangerous.

But what he really wanted to test was Gloria to see if she had the guts to take on this horrible badland commission.

Gloria saw the cowboy hat elder sobbing, her mood was very complicated, obviously this commission is not easy, infection, missing corpses, tribe rout, if this matter is not investigated, a tribe of thousands of people may die.

From the bottom of her heart, she can't stand it, and wants to help the other party get out of the whirlpool.

But now, as an intermediary, she can't just rely on emotion, and rashly promise the other party before the matter is thought through, which is not only irresponsible to the customer, but also irresponsible to the mercenary.

Without detailed intelligence, it will lead to the work of mercenaries, falling into great passivity.

Gloria is in deep thought, trying to figure out the crux of the commission.

She tried to discard all emotions and focus only on the commission itself, her brain was racing and her thoughts began to boil.

Infectious diseases, missing corpses, transmission routes, and other elements were pieced together in her mind to come up with a perfect answer.

Suddenly.

Gloria's eyes flashed with a hint of divine light, and she seemed to understand something in an instant!

She immediately looked back at Tang Yu beside her, her eyes were full of confidence, but she still wanted to seek affirmation from him first.

In a flash.

Gloria's gaze met Tang Yu's, sincere and warm.

Tang Yu didn't say anything, just looked at her quietly.

Gloria was slightly stunned, she didn't get Tang Yu's clear approval as before.

But she soon understood that this was a test for her, a test of her faith.

Tang Yu had already given her the first ride, and for the rest, she had to cross the river by herself.

Gloria understood the meaning of Tang Yu's gaze, and she couldn't back down from this step, because this was a choice she was confident and sure of.

As if she had received the greatest support, she no longer hesitated, looked at the cowboy hat elder, and said bluntly.

"This commission."

"I took it!"

Johnny: "Tell me, what's your idea for instant noodles?" Looking for my gossip material? Get some new writing material, that's why you dragged me back from the road? ”

V: "'Teucer' gold boss rewards the helmsman!" I can't thank you enough! ”

Johnny: "Okay, let's work together like this, get instant noodles into the little black house, and I'll just say a few words!" ”

V: "Deal!" ”

Instant noodles: "Eh, eh??? (Quickly dragged into the small black room by V)

Johnny: "'Teucer' gold lord, I met my old acquaintance in a foreign country, looking back on the past, how beautiful, you were eighteen that summer~ You were eighteen that summer~ You were eighteen that summer~"

V: "Johnny!! ”

————

PS: It's not there tonight, I've just finished being busy, I'm so tired

Special thanks to the big guy of Tok, the big guy is heroic, and the big guy makes a fortune!

Tefigura, starting point reading iOS100.00

(End of chapter)