Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 872. Hansen and Miles
Dogtown, 7:32 a.m.

Everything is normal.

Dogtown seems unusually quiet today.

This doesn't mean there weren't chaotic gunfights on the streets, or that there weren't explosions that could be heard throughout Dogtown; rather, it means the environment was exceptionally quiet.

Every group that operates in Dogtown year-round has sensed a subtle atmosphere.

Dogtown seems unusually disorderly today.

Or rather, the hounds that usually arrive with a howl when they cause a big commotion seem to be slower on duty today, as if they need to report and verify before they can be dispatched.

This eerie atmosphere was only unnoticed by the drug addicts on the street. For Li De, who was making final preparations, this atmosphere meant only one thing.

Hansen had noticed something.

As an experienced agent, he could see the reason why the Netherhound was so strange. The intelligence he had gathered also gave him information about the various operations the Netherhound had carried out that day. And in those operations, Li De saw a circle.

That's the large circle surrounding the sapphire blue, surrounding the stadium.

All the probing and harassment deliberately orchestrated or commissioned by the new American personnel can at most reach the edge of this circle. Beyond this boundary, no matter how violent the explosions or how widespread the chaos, the hounds remain motionless.

Just like outside that place, the Netherworld Hounds are not on duty today.

Li De could tell that the distance of this circle's edge was the limit.

What limit?
The limit of how quickly the Ghost Hounds' personnel can get back.

The Ghost Hounds are now shrinking even their ability to maintain basic order, like a clenched fist, unwilling to waste a single bit of power, accumulating all their strength in preparation for a fatal blow. Even their actions in dealing with the chaos seem to be some kind of test and verification.

If the Hound of the Underworld continues in this manner, within a few days, Dogtown outside this circle will fall into complete anarchy. At that time, Hansen's title of 'King of Dogtown' will become a laughing stock, and it will take an unknown amount of time and effort to reintegrate Dogtown.

But perhaps Hansen is taking a huge gamble.

He could gamble with the title of King of Dogtown, which he could reclaim with time and effort as long as he lived, but could Rosalind Miles, the president of the new America, gamble with it?

Her time was running out. Because Rosalind Myers had been gone for too long, the opposition in Washington had become increasingly united. If things continued like this, even without Hansen exposing Rosalind Myers's weaknesses, her current position would be overthrown by the military technology faction in the new America.

Hansen is gambling with time and stalling for time.

He staked everything on himself and Rosalind Myers, determined to use time to force her to submit and gain control over the new US president's weakness!

He wants to use this threat to influence the entire new America!
Hansen understood this, and so did Rosalind Myers.

For Hansen, after losing external support and making such a risky gamble, there were only two paths before him.

One path leads to death, while the other—if successful, will bring unparalleled glory.

By then, he would no longer be just the defector Colonel Kurt Hansen, nor the "King of Dogtown" huddled in this dilapidated neighborhood.

He will be the one who truly rewrites history:

Hansen, Hansen of the New America. A man who holds the president's secrets in his hands and can control the pinnacle of power—Mr. Hansen.

For Rosalind Miles, there has never been only one path forward.

She will not yield, and she must never yield.

The political journey is never a game where bowing your head brings peace or retreat ensures stability. All she could do was move forward, relentlessly forward—until no one dared stand in her way anymore.

She once held the high position of CEO of military technology, and was then pushed to the throne of the new US president in the vortex of politics. So she used her skills to try to lead the new United States to annex military technology. To this end, she did not hesitate to launch a war of unification, expand national power, and even reach a temporary agreement with her mortal enemy Arasaka despite strong opposition.

She never compromised.

The Congress in Washington could not, the board of directors of military technology could not, and even Arasaka could not make her yield in the slightest. Now, a mere Kurt Hansen thinks he has something on her and dares to force her to bow down and admit defeat.

Impossible.

Kurt Hansen thought he would have two paths, but for Rosalind Miles, there was only one.

Either she dies, or Kurt Hansen dies.

No accidents.

Rosalind Miles gave Kurt Hansen a chance, allowing him to hand over the lark that could serve as evidence, but Kurt Hansen chose to gamble and be greedy, so Rosalind Miles would not hesitate any longer.

If the lark doesn't belong to her, then she shall die.

Kurt Hansen refuses to compromise, so let's all die together!
Absolutely no one can threaten her or force her to compromise!

Under Rosalind Miles’ unwavering will, her most elite forces were mobilized and entrusted to Li De, as well as another trusted aide who had attended military technology and Arasaka high-level meetings with her.

Rosalind Miles herself is prepared to withstand all social and political pressure.

Unless she were to completely wipe Dogtown off the face of the earth—which would inevitably cause a massive uproar and be essentially no different from removing her from power—she had already granted that aide and Li De the corresponding authority to detonate a nuclear bomb in Dogtown.

Li De's team was carrying four small nuclear warheads, with enough yield to completely raze the entire Gemstone Blue Building and stadium to the ground.

Rosalind Myers had even prepared a perfect excuse for this "accident".

After all, as everyone knows, the electricity supply for Dogtown Stadium comes from the fission reactor on the nuclear-powered airship that Hansen seized. So, wouldn't it be very 'reasonable' for the reactor to go out of control, causing a nuclear leak and even an explosion?
The new America is already prepared. Just like during the Corporate Wars, when military technology detonated a nuclear bomb at Night City's Arasaka Tower, but then accused Arasaka of using nuclear weapons, both sides do indeed possess nuclear weapons. If things really get out of hand, no one can say for sure. And this ambiguity is more than enough to explain to the political and public audience.

Amidst the mutual accusations and the presentation of evidence by both sides, the only option available to the public, who only possess a partial understanding, is to believe what they believe.

"Get ready to do it."

Li De picked up the box containing the nuclear warhead.

He's known as the Morgan Black Hand among spies, and now he's really going to do what the Morgan Black Hand did.

(End of this chapter)