Night City, the world-famous City of No Night, a dreamland chased by ordinary people, but in the eyes of players, it’s nothing remarkable. There’s even a feeling of ’Is that it?’.
The sanitation and infrastructure are no better than a small third-tier town back home. There are large industrial warehouses emitting black smoke, chemical storage tanks dozens of meters high, looking rusty, gang members can be seen everywhere on the streets, and there are even occasional gunshots. Is this the world of 2077?
Even though expectations were set by factors like Adcardo’s evaluation due to the trash hills outside the city, and despite players secretly browsing related cyberpunk works, understanding the culture and thinking, after all, it’s a futuristic sci-fi city, it shouldn’t be too bad. But when they truly entered Night City, they couldn’t help but be greatly disappointed.
It’s no less disappointing than imagining the beautiful water city of Venice in your middle school texts, or how graceful the banks of the Rhine River in France must be, and then growing up, having the means to travel abroad, only to find that the water is murky, not only is E. coli over the limit, but there’s also a sewer-like stench, living there long enough can even cause rheumatic arthritis.
Night City, currently open to players, only has the Santo Domingo district occupying the southeastern corner of the city.
Santo Domingo is divided into two neighborhoods: Arroyo and Rancho Coronado Farm.
Lin Miao’s rendezvous point with Gloria is in the southern part of Coronado Farm, located a few kilometers east of Skyscraper H4. When the players found Gloria, they were utterly amazed.
Compared to three days ago, Gloria seemed like a different person.
She wore high-top Martin boots, jeans, a black undershirt, and tied her hair in a high ponytail. Though she was still clad in the yellow jacket from her previous company, she had unzipped it with her hands in her pockets, transforming her whole aura. Now, even if you throw her into Rebirth Bar, plenty would mistake her for a bona fide fringe wanderer.
She even donned sunglasses somewhat like Mann’s, appearing mature and competent.
As the players’ truck stopped by the roadside and the rear door opened, Gloria hopped into the compartment with one leap.
The poor warrior exclaimed at the sight of Gloria, "Whoa, Katsuragi Misato?"
Although Lin Miao had told Gloria beforehand that his people were entering the city for the first time, their personalities might be a bit erratic, and not very familiar with Night City, needing her guidance, he hadn’t expected them to mistaken someone right off the bat, had he?
The poor warrior sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "Uh... nothing, you just have a similar aura to her, I mistook you."
The other players chuckled, a ruckus ensued.
Had it not been evident, why would Gloria believe this group could win a fair fight against Night Wanderers outside the city? She was puzzled as to why there were only six people in this truck; was the other one fully loaded with goods?
She found an empty seat and sat down, feeling somewhat anxious inside but not letting it show on her face, maintaining a calm appearance.
Despite Lin Miao thinking something might go wrong with this transaction, potentially failing or causing a conflict, a double-cross at the Sixth Street Gang’s arena was not uncommon, Gloria didn’t want to worry about such things. She had to complete the deal, and not only do that but also ensure she brings everyone back alive.
Although they hadn’t introduced themselves yet, Gloria was a firm employee, she could access partial profiles of these people from the names on their heads, while the records were minimal, containing only age, randomly generated faux histories, and actual achievements, it sufficed for Gloria to understand the players.
"Ask whatever you want, I’ll do my best to answer your questions..."
And on the player’s side, they were long impatient, especially Brother Ni, holding a small notebook seemingly filled with questions, queued up to ask this NPC from the city-based agency. Surely, she could provide him with plenty of usable intelligence to flaunt on forums.
Except when Gloria glanced while checking the players, she saw the heavy jackets they had taken off, hung inside the compartment, her pupils immediately contracted.
Swallowing, she asked Brother Ni, "What is... that?"
The headquarters of the Sixth Street Gang was in Arroyo, the largest industrial zone in Santo Domingo, boasting its own nuclear plant, robotic factory, logistics center, and heavy warehouse, besides large swathes of abandoned, unmanaged construction sites, making it a sanctuary for the Sixth Street Gang.
The transaction spot happened to be in an abandoned warehouse inside Arroyo, guarded by six or seven Sixth Street Gang thugs at the entrance. They looked akin to a militia group from Texas, donning wide-brimmed hats, dirt-gray jackets, wielding rifles, faces marked red by prolonged sun exposure, a presence as if declaring they’re second only to the heavens.
They perfectly fit players’ stereotype about rednecks.
After comparing vehicle information, the thugs removed the roadblocks and let the two trucks enter the warehouse.
The number of Sixth Street Gang ruffians inside the warehouse was even greater, the second-floor corridor sparsely occupied by over a dozen people, while the first floor boasted two to three dozen. Some sat on worn-out sofas playing cards and gambling, others watched braindance with foolish amusement, and even at one corner of the warehouse lay a boxing ring.