Woodhaven Street is getting more and more crowded, and the pungent smell of burnt air is overshadowed by the cheap smell of alcohol, in which the fat of synthetic meat wafts away.

Although the food is cheap, the atmosphere of the whole venue is surprisingly lively, and the people who eat are really happy.

For no other reason, 15% of Night City's population earns less than €2,000 a year and less than €170 a month, and more than half of these people live in Santo Domingo.

The cheapest food on the market, such as the pink burrito XXL, is 10 euros a piece, which is more expensive than many bullets, and a bucket of grilled chicken nuggets in a fast food restaurant costs 30 euros or more.

Street snacks made from black market synthetic meat or other cheap ingredients may be cheaper, but not by much.

All in all, 170 euros is not even enough to live in a decent house, and you even need to pick up garbage once or twice a month to eat.

There are many reasons for this price distortion: corporate wars, unification wars, and financial crises and inflation arising from various wars

It can be said that since the beginning of the 21st century, the world has been in a terrible inflation, and the prices of these basic necessities have risen particularly dramatically.

Although I don't know what nerves the Six Street Gang has, but free food and wine?

It's unimaginable.

Even if you put aside those homeless people, the per capita annual income of the whole Santo Domingue is about 3000~4000 euros, and a free meal is still not something to be ignored for them.

For these people, every dollar is worth breaking in half.

"Cool!" A man with a missing arm drank with the rest of his mechanical arm, "The American Dream is awesome!" ”

The soldier standing guard on the side was happy: "Cool, right? ”

"Cool." The man was drunk and courageous, shook his head and put his hand on the soldier's shoulder, and gave a thumbs up, "The American dream is this." ”

The Sixth Street Gang took out a small energy wallet and handed it to him: "Look, send this thing back with a full charge, you can exchange it for wine." ”

"And this kind of good thing? Release! The sixth-level version is my business! I don't dare to kill, I'm good at stealing electricity! ”

Then the man snapped and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Sleeping on the ground, he kept babbling something in his mouth, and he couldn't even tell what he was talking about because of the translation software.

On the roof, V was also happy when he saw this scene: "This is just the beginning of drinking and pouring?" ”

[Lille: The man didn't live long, and his nervous tolerance had made it difficult for him to stay awake. 】

"Drunkenness is not good for nerves?"

[Lille: To be precise, hangover curing is related to whether the body can secrete some catalysts, and you will be very uncomfortable and dizzy before the alcohol cure. 】

[Lille: But with the same alcohol concentration, whether you are drunk or not has a lot to do with the nerves, and it is normal for a person with a nervous breakdown to fall into alcohol. 】

"So do we count this as poisoning?"

[Lille: No, he won't live long without wine, it's more like treating him to a big meal before he dies.] 】

No one knows whether the man who fell to the ground had just recovered from an illness, had suffered a nervous breakdown from the long hours he had worked, or had experienced some other blow.

All he can know is that he can't even carry a glass of wine now.

People here have a hysterical sense of disobedience when they relax, as if they want to drown themselves in the pleasure of alcohol and meat.

But it's just a little bit of wine and synthetic meat.

Jack became a little silent at this moment, just looked at the cheerful appearance in the venue and did not speak, and ate meat silently.

After a while, David brought the two hackers in the team, Lucy and Qi Wei, to V's table-

To be precise, this "barrel", beer and synthetic meat are placed on a rusty metal barrel, fuel is placed in the cylinder next to it, and the barbed wire is placed on it to form a simple grill.

"This is only a guard mission, it was originally a guard mission, but we didn't have the time to guard for a long time, so it became the way it is."

V began to explain the division of labor of this task straight to the point.

But as soon as she spoke, she felt a little strange: as soon as she was asked to do these things, she felt uncomfortable.

Fortunately, she only conveyed what Lille meant, and she was done with it.

David sat back and nodded.

【Data in Transmission】

"We have four main defensive areas, the first one is overhead, the road above the Petro Dam, but there's another group there."

The area of the Petropetive Dam is counted as a separate large area, with open terrain and no cover, and the possibility of the enemy sneaking up to the dam to snipe is almost non-existent.

Centered on the main activity area of Woodhaven Street, it is divided into three areas to the north, with the deepest due north and the remaining two areas closer to the small fan, which is partly a built-up urban area and partly an unfinished construction site and other wasteland.

In urban areas, hackers can take over smart devices such as road network cameras and cars that have been hacked to monitor them, but wastelands without cameras on the side can only be patrolled manually.

These are the two areas that David needs to take care of.

"In general, it's patrolling, and if you see any strange people, shoot them directly."

Lucy raised her hand: "I want to know who the enemy is?" Is it dangerous? ”

"Like you, mercenary, it should be quite powerful, as for whether it is dangerous or not" V paused, looked at Lucy and asked curiously, "I remember you snatched it the first time we met. Burger King, why don't you think that's dangerous? ”

In V's memory, David was a good student when Lucy was a thief, and now David wants to do a big vote every day, why is this girl getting less and less courageous?

According to Lille, Lucy is the street kid and David is the good citizen?

Lucy was a little embarrassed: who knew that stealing a chip on the subway could steal it from the big brother!

"It was an accident."

As for why she is getting less and less timid

David hugged Lucy with a big stab and grinned: "Don't worry, although it is a bit absolute to say that there will be no problems, we will definitely be able to handle it!" ”

"Well, then we're in charge of the second district, so let's go over and see the place first."

Lucy covered her forehead, lifted two portions of wine and synthetic meat from the ground, and the two of them left.

Qi Wei was still in place, looking at the backs of the two leaving, thoughtful.

V glanced at her: "These two people don't seem to have an ordinary relationship, huh?" ”

"It's not ordinary, we all slept together."

"Oh~ no wonder." V shook the wine can, "I can see that you are an old senior, you are familiar with the two of you?" ”

Qi Wei scratched her head and sat down on the broken wall on the side: "I brought the girl in, she shouldn't have grown up on the street like us."

The first time I saw her, she was a directionless girl who didn't know anything but hacking.

Later, I don't know why, but suddenly I was motivated, as if I had a goal.

Same as you do now. ”

"What do you mean?" V pointed to himself, not quite understanding the ambiguous words, "What do you mean to be the same as we are now?" ”

"That's it. It's very energetic, can I ask, what are you guys doing all those crazy things for? ”

"Why?" V thought about it.

If anything, the dream that ran through her childhood was very simple: she had seen so many awesome things, and she just wanted to be the most dick in Night City, pretending to be fierce.

But that's a bit too cheap.

[V: Do you hear me?] Ask you! 】

[Lille: Me? Didn't he ask you? I was just trying to survive in the first place! Now that's one of the goals as well. 】

The external brain refuses to provide a good answer, and V is lost in thought.

Then Jack spoke, and he looked at the people in the arena celebrating wildly, and suddenly thought to himself: Isn't this his favorite kind of drive, Thursday?

Free drinks, good brothers get together and have a good time.

Being able to invite guests to dinner and being respected is his goal - to be a decent person.

So he said as a matter of course: "Of course, it's to be a decent person and a big man." ”

Good simple answer, though. V, however, felt that this answer was similar to her thoughts.

Qi Wei looked at the "big man" and looked at the towering skyscraper in the distance without too many emotional fluctuations: "Everyone in Night City thinks so. ”

"What, what do you want to say?"

"I just think that people like us, the so-called punks, are either escapers from the shameful past, or dreamers with big ambitions and lost themselves. ”

Hearing this, V sneered, finished his beer in one gulp, and said disdainfully:

"As soon as you hear it, you know that it's the confession of a loser, you won't have this kind of thinking when you make enough money, you should mix with us more and make sure you earn enough."

"Well, it's just a little too exciting."

"Alright, get ready to work."

As the words fell, the Six Street Gang turned on the power of the stereos around them, the volume of manic rock music increased, and the sound waves pushed the atmosphere to a climax, and the sergeant's voice rang out—

"The little bastards, they're all fed with the American dream, right?"

(End of chapter)