Cyberpunk Maniac

But Takamanohara technology's reputation in network security was reassuring, at least the Whirlpool Gang's small fries certainly didn't have the skills to hack into his brain.

Furthermore, the old soldier prosthetic ballistic processor that Li Pan had been using was also Takamanohara technology's antiquity. As long as it was connected to the public network, it could update and inherit shooting parameter settings, eliminating the need to adjust the trajectory.

After undergoing surgery at the PROSTHESIS Prosthetic Maintenance Center and having the brain plug and hand's ballistic processor reinstalled, Li Pan opened his eyes and returned to the reassuring virtual electronic ocean, immersing himself in the light pollution of various pop-up ads leaping forward.

"Welcome to Chaos Technology support, I am your intelligent assistant Xingtian, now connected to the public safety system."

Citizen Li Pan, account balance 1147.95, current due loan repayment 3379.38. Total debt 30XXXX.XX.

Your next debt payment is due on the 15th of this month, please ensure your account has sufficient funds.

Your mental deviation is normal; thank you for using the public safety system and wish you smooth sailing."

Alright, Xingtian is installed, here comes the big one, everyone look at this.

"Xingtian, activate ECCM mode."

"ECCM mode activated."

The world cleared in a flash, all the ad pop-ups and information garbage were automatically blocked.

Hooray! Just for this sharp taste, I bought this pot of dumplings!

He heard about this from the old soldiers: Takamanohara technology was a secure network operator that could open a backdoor for its own systems, blocking redundant information within the system network, effectively boosting the chip processing speed.

Although this chip-level ECCM mode was almost negligible in battlefield and space environments, it was practically miraculous in Night City's city center, plagued with electronic eyes and billboards!

However, rubbing his neck, despite the anesthetics and the system blocking pain sensations, Li Pan still could feel the discomfort from the small surgical incision.

What exactly did that file cabinet do to instantly restore him...

Li Pan didn't quite understand it at the moment, and was too lazy to think more about it; after updating his prosthetic body, he felt like taking the subway to Warehouse No.7.

The Whirlpool Gang was a violent gang entrenched in Night City's industrial district, made up largely of unemployed workers. After Takamanohara lost the war, the local industrial system was completely destroyed, with 0791 becoming a complete dumping ground for Ye Corporation.

These production line workers were naturally one of the biggest losers. Generations of their ancestors had endured severe pollution and intense work in the industrial district, just to earn a clean living with their own hands. But now, even that chance was gone.

As orders and job opportunities vanished, the once bustling industrial district quickly quieted down. Anyone capable wouldn't stay in the factories, and they could only watch despairingly as the equipment, drenched in their forefathers' sweat, continued to halt production day by day, decaying and gathering dust.

So, some people sold their citizenship rights and became corporate-owned Social Livestock, hopelessly addicted to the cheap thrills of drugs and Super Dream.

While others tried to rescue themselves, they attempted to establish civilian workshops and conduct business on their own. They stole old factory machinery for illegal cybernetic modifications, used the shambles of the industrial district to produce illicit components, even resorted to self-augmentation, fighting with local gangs over territory, and to make up the shortfall in funds, they cyber-modified themselves, selling the eyes they gouged out and kidneys they cut out to private medical institutions for start-up funds to maintain cash flow.

Unfortunately, such actions and this scant funding were never going to save their old factories. Due to a lack of technological blueprints, low product quality, severed capital flow, the suppression and attacks from surrounding gangs, severe concealed dangers of homemade prosthetic bodies, and rampant abuse of substandard drugs, the Whirlpool Gang, with its heavy cybernetic modifications, became buried under insurmountable debts after repeated bankruptcies, eventually getting lost, losing citizenship rights, and thoroughly degenerating into one of the gangs most overrun with cyber-psychosis, most vicious, and most unscrupulous.

NCPA simply gave up on deploying patrols and instead organized police forces around the exits of the industrial district, setting up barbed wire and sniping at those crossing; anyone breaching the barriers directly attracted the armed forces of Cerberus for a sweep.

The NCHK Night City Broadcasting Association even had a special program following the Cerberus special assault teams raiding into the industrial district buildings of the Whirlpool Gang. There was no specific mission, just pest control, killing all the way to the end, with scenes just like in those blood plasma zombie movies.

But such strangulation didn't do much good, after all, Night City was built by these workers. So, numerous Whirlpool Gang members were still, like rats and cockroaches, utilizing the complex sewer system of the old Tokyo Capital, commuting back and forth in Night City, occasionally banding together to raid and plunder, especially keen on attacking warehouses and junkyards in the suburbs for supplies.

The Whirlpool Gang also knew their own reputation was rotten, so they wouldn't dawdle; thus, when Li heard from Big Bear that the Whirlpool Gang had scouted a location, he knew they were certainly going to make a move today.

Just like the old saying goes, when you see the first cockroach at home, there's already a nest that's moved in.

What? Why does he know so much about the Whirlpool Gang?

Simply, Li Pan's ex-girlfriend was from the Whirlpool Gang.

But the subway has arrived at the station, her story can wait until another day.