Progressing Without Limits, Starting from Arasaka

Chapter 101 External and Internal

The sky is vast and blue, the wilderness boundless and expansive.

The wind blew the sand low, revealing an explosion.

Boom—

Dozens, even hundreds, of muffled thuds followed, sending dust flying and pebbles, fragments, and steel balls raining down in all directions. When the commotion subsided, a series of soft thuds...

A group of rough men dressed in old, drab clothes emerged from a small hill on a desolate sandbar.

"Saul, everything's settled here, no problems."

"No. Just to be on the safe side, Mitchell, you and Scorpion go and check the minefield again. This is a company job, and the client is picky. If we miss anything, we'll have worked for nothing. It's not worth it."

The speaker was a burly man with a thick beard, known as Saul, whose features were distinctly Latino. He had a tattoo of a skull and horse from the Aldecaldo Tribe, one of the Seven Nomads' Nations, on his left arm.

They are Nomads.

Clearly, this Saul is the boss.

Under his instructions, the middle-aged white man called Mitch called his hooded companion to jump off the rocks, board the various heavily modified vehicles painted on the back of the hill, and speed off towards the recently detonated minefield.

"Alright, guys, let's move on to the next area's mine clearance..."

He clapped his hands, Saul's prosthetic eye gleamed with an orange-red light.

In Yi's eyes, only the video channel of the Nomads Family members was connected, and the map of the northern part of Night City popped up.

The administrative division of the Arasaka Waterfront and the northernmost part of the adjacent Old Industrial Zone in the north of the city, as well as the new district of the Arasaka Research Center, is drawn out in the northern suburbs of Night City.

Saul zoomed in on the minefield area in the northern Badlands of Night City within the information box, explaining to his family members the minefields that needed to be cleared that day.

Nomads value family, and loyalty to the tribe is always their top priority. They treat members as family members.

Saul methodically assigned tasks, buzzing...

The roar of the engine.

A large, muscular car with sharp lines, high suspension, and big tires roared up. Several modified Mizutani Jun 'Wild Wolf' cars followed behind.

Saul recognized the lead car, the Thunder Macintosh 'Warhorse'. Or rather, the person driving it.

His face suddenly darkened.

It wasn't a gloomy expression of hostility and readiness, but rather one tinged with helplessness, a feeling of not wanting to argue yet having to grit one's teeth and accept it—a very annoying and subtle expression.

Screech of brakes. The Mackinac 'Warhorse' spun out and came to a smooth stop.

Click. The door opened, and two Nomads, their clothes covered in sand, busied themselves carrying a companion lying on a plank. His leg bone was broken and his lower body was covered in blood as he got out of the car.

"Wal?"

Seeing that some family members were injured, Saul no longer cared about assigning tasks.

He leaped down the hill in a few large strides, calling for the team's medics to come and help, while asking urgently and sternly, "Who is it? How was Wall injured?"

"It's all because of your lousy idea!"

Bang! The door slammed shut, and the woman stepped out of the driver's seat of the Mackinac 'Warhorse' and confronted Saul head-on.

She wore simple, practical jeans and a cropped jacket, had light brown eyes, olive skin, a few freckles on her nose and cheeks, and jet-black curly hair that looked like a roll of steel wool coiled behind her head.

At first glance, it instantly evokes words like fiery and wild.

"This is the paradise you promised everyone? Fuck you! Before coming to California, you promised to change Aldecaldos, and this is how you change it? By becoming a dog for corporations and the government?"

"Cough, Panam, shut up..."

Some people tried to dissuade them.

I'm going to say it!

The tanned, hot girl pulled him aside.

"Minesweeping? Minesweeping my ass! Do you know why those vampires sitting in their luxurious coffins assigned this job to us? This is a minefield, a minesweeping operation. It's a mess they left behind from the last war. They know how dangerous it is and they're looking for cheap scapegoats. And you insist on going all the way from Jackson Plains to the north of the city to clear mines for them? You might as well go and eat shit!"

Panam's face was filled with resentment.

The minefields in the Badlands are relics of a war from long ago.

The landmines there have not been completely cleared. Six or seven years ago, another Metal War broke out. Old mines were not removed and new ones were added. It is a true no-man's land in the Badlands region. Only the most experienced smugglers know how to pass through safely.

Now, due to a new land purchase agreement reached between Arasaka and the Night City government, the city's boundaries have expanded northward, and Arasaka and the city hall are carrying out mine clearance work in the northern suburbs.

Their branch of the Aldecaldo Tribe, under Saul's impetus, took on one of the outsourced projects announced to the public by the Night City Hall and Arasaka: mine clearance.

As Nomads who had only recently moved to California and had nothing but a few tents on the sand dunes, they couldn't get any big jobs from companies except for mine clearance and serving as cheap labor.

"I know you are unhappy with my views."

Saul ignored the sarcastic tone in Panam's words and asked, "But what's important now is that you tell me how Wall got hurt."

"He was injured by a landmine. Those bastards from the Maelstrom... I'll skin them alive sooner or later."

Panam cursed under his breath, his teeth itching with hatred.

"They wanted to fight you for 'eating shit,' and a conflict broke out between us. While clearing mines, they provoked Wall, causing him to trigger an old-fashioned anti-personnel mine. Damn! The company's bastards, they make such high-quality killing machines; they're probably half a century Anteiku..."

The Maelstrom refers to the Nomads of Nomads.

They were among the worst and most despicable people, often expelled from their original families and tribes for violating tribal behavioral norms, such as murdering or raping family members, poisoning drinking water, human trafficking, and betraying the tribe...

These kinds of Nomads have a name in the underworld: the Maelstrom.

"I will settle accounts with those who broke their oaths..." Saul hesitated for a moment, then said, "But for now, let's complete the commission first."

"Depend on."

Panam looked utterly disappointed. "Are you an idiot or can't you understand human language? Still thinking about your damn company's commission? We should be..."

"Otherwise?" Saul stared into Panam's eyes and said, "In this business, the most important thing is integrity. Once you take a job, you have to complete it. Are you only doing one-off deals?"

Under Panam's suddenly somber expression, he stared straight at her and emphasized, "The important thing is that I need it to feed our family... water, food, medicine, weapons, building materials, fuel..." As he spoke, Saul pointed to the south.

Watson District, the northernmost part of Night City.

Over there, one could faintly hear the bustling activity, the clamor of voices, and the hum of heavy machinery.

Abandoned factories and unfinished buildings in the Old Industrial Zone that were incorporated into the new district were demolished. People from all walks of life gathered under the northern wall of the Arasaka Waterfront were forcibly evacuated by the NCPD and the Arasaka Sheriff. Settlements in the wilderness were razed, outer cities were demolished, and camps were driven away...

The sight of hundreds of giant bulldozers and road rollers working simultaneously is truly spectacular.

"These are things that cannot be compared to the smuggling business of the so-called Patriots of the Six Street Gang."

Saul pointed at that and said.

"Oh, the Six Street Gang has already been defeated by the Barghest of Pacifica. Arasaka also cracking down on the scattered members of the Six Street Gang in the Heywood Scenic Area. Even I, Badlands bumpkin, have heard about it. Don't tell me you didn't know."

Saul was well aware that his move to break with the Nomads family's smuggling tradition and instead try to build a relationship with the company after taking power did not receive much support from the older members of the family.

But he had no choice but to do it.

Wandering the Badlands, scavenging junkyards, looting oil depots, robbing company transport convoys... making a living on the highway is no easy feat. The family can't afford any more setbacks; one strategic misstep and the entire family will crumble.

The only thing that could provide the family with a large amount of funds and resources was the company's work.

Like Panam, he also disliked the company and did not want his family to become a tool under the company's control. However, it was true that the company had power, influence, and money, and his family tribe needed the company's money and resources.

As long as you don't sell yourself into slavery and become completely immersed in it, what's wrong with being a little pathetic and obsequious if you're eager to do this kind of physically demanding work?

"Panam... don't let prejudice ruin you. You need to learn to control your temper."

The wind and sand blew through Saul's thick, messy hair and rough, worn-out work clothes.

"We can discuss our differences later. Now, let's complete the commission. The work with Arasaka and the city hall is honest and straightforward. We take it from the Arasaka outpost on the border, so there are no middlemen taking a cut. As long as the people from Arasaka confirm that there are no remaining minefields in this area, the money we earn will be enough to support the family for a long time..." he said earnestly.

"Go to hell."

Panam still looked furious.

"Saul, after this commission, you wait and see. Going solo is fine, I'll show you the proof of my continued smuggling. Living off the company? Hmph, you've forgotten the original purpose of the Aldecaldo Tribe. I'm telling you this: relying on the company, the tribe is doomed..."

She stormed off in a huff.

After asking Mitch and Scorpion for their locations, she drove away. Although she disagreed verbally, this hot-tempered girl still loved her family deep down. Despite her complaints, she was still willing to continue venturing into the minefield.

Saul sighed as he watched Panam leave.

This girl is great in every way, except she's too stubborn.

Without much time for sighs and lamentations, Saul quickly composed himself. Just as he was comforting the seriously injured Vol and instructing the tribal doctor to take good care of him, a series of violent explosions suddenly erupted from the minefield-covered 'death zone'.

Who detonated it?

He looked fierce and spoke in a stern voice.

"Before the mission began, I repeatedly emphasized that any large-scale detonation of the minefield must be announced in advance via the channel to prevent accidental bombing of our comrades..."

Didi.

It is a communication channel.

[Mitchell: Saul, something's up!]

[Scorpion: Damn it, Mitch, Saul, get our people to retreat immediately. I'm sure it's company personnel. There's an abandoned outlying town in the 'Death Zone.' Just now, five or six Arasaka hovercrafts flew by—military-grade Surveyor A6. Now... damn it, there are people inside. They even have missile vehicles...]

[Panam: Then why the hell are you still watching?! Are you out of your mind?! Damn it, with all this mess at the company, if we see too much, we're definitely going to be silenced!]

[Mitchell: Scorpion, stop looking, let's get out of here!]

The chat window kept popping up with messages from family members.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Saul made a decisive decision.

"Mitch, Scorpion, you guys come back. Men, the commission is temporarily suspended." Making money is one thing, but he would never gamble his partners' lives on the company's mercy.

[Scorpion: Understood.]

The words had barely left his lips when several exceptionally loud booms erupted from Scorpion's ID video microphone, plunging the communication channels of every Aldecaldo Tribe family member into a cacophony of noise until Scorpion's almost distorted shouts returned—

[Scorpion: Damn it, it's Adam Smasher—!]

Looking northeast from the hill where Saul is, on the other side of the undulating sand and gravel hills, thick smoke and dust rise up like an elongated mushroom cloud.

His heart skipped a beat.

"Was this... an ammunition depot explosion?"

"Report, Director Russell, Militech has been discovered in a forward outpost in the northern Badlands. Adam Smasher has led the Tyrant forces to the outpost and has begun the annihilation mission."

Corporate Plaza, War Room on the 109th Floor of Arasaka Tower.

Rustle...

Reclining in her chair, Vera gently nodded, her fingers lightly tracing the tabletop as she watched the live audio-visual feed transmitted from the combined perspectives of Surveyor A6, Cybernetic Tyrant, and Adam Smasher.

Beneath the virtual restricted area outlined by crimson neon scanning lines, the entire circular building collapsed.

To be precise, it was crushed. There wasn't much building debris flying around; it was all pressed into the ground by the crimson force field. The ground was like a solid foundation, and it sank down at an even faster speed. The sprayed blood mist and bone fragments flew more than ten meters away.

Gravity field manipulation device.

Accompanying this was the heavy hammer's rough, maniacal laughter, like heavy metal music.

"Hahaha... That feels good! Come on, come on, my little darlings, wriggle around, I'm going to fuck you into a pulp!"

The explosions continued, a hail of bullets raged, rockets whistled incessantly, and machine guns roared furiously, but then—buzz—

The high-speed movement, the choppy, frame-by-frame animation, was Adam Smasher activating the [Sandevistan]. Wearing 'Cybernetic Kong 1.2 Mod' with added torso armor, he moved at high speed.

Under the mysterious magnetic field, within a certain range, the firearms held by Militech Agent and soldiers hidden in the building were attracted, and even the heavy machine guns fixed on the turrets were forcibly torn off, with the mounting brackets emitting a tooth-grinding metallic groan.