Deceitful Game

Chapter 316 The Whereabouts of Annam and Zheng Fu

"Ah, you're really good at talking."

Mingpo sighed, "It's getting me all fired up."

"Really?"

Shi Yue retorted, "You seem pretty calm to me."

"This is called smoldering. You just can't see my glow in BrinBrin."

"I don't think it would actually burn like crazy—"

"----but."

Mingpo stroked his chin, pondering, "He said someone would find me—how did he manage that?"

"Title effect?"

Shi Yue casually replied, "After all, if it's technology, I find it hard to imagine that the rebels' technology would be better than that of the company."

No matter how unbelievable something is, it can be attributed to the title effect.

"Titles" are, after all, something born from the collective unconscious of humankind, and theoretically, anything that people have dreamed of could become a title.

"And there's another problem. If I stay at the base or the company, how will people who come looking for me get in?"

Although Mingpo can come and go at any time, it's because his collar has already been registered here.

If anyone could enter the headquarters of the eight giants, then things like "blowing up Arasaka Tower" would be too easy.

People who are not logged in cannot even get close to the company building, let alone enter it.

The streets are full of cameras, and the hovercars can't find a place to park.

Mingpo dared to act recklessly because he and Shiyue both had guarantors. Without Gao Fan, he certainly wouldn't have dared to run around at such a tense time.

Sometimes, the difference between "presumption of innocence" and "presumption of guilt" lies in whether or not the above applies.

The rebels are an organization that covers six sectors.

The only reason they could avoid being easily located, monitored by time-traveling agents, or eliminated by the executive branch is because the rebels must have multiple high-ranking connections within the organization.

In a sense, these nominal "rebels" might be the real "board of directors' direct forces."

Because actual power has been controlled by non-human, sentient beings led by the dead souls.

Do you know where Brother An and the others went?

Mingpo asked Shiyue a question.

Judging from Russell's words, he should be like Mingpo, who quickly joined the Big Eight after leaving the research institute.

Since he can go to outer space, he is most likely a Horizon Logistics in the Deep Space sector.

The deep space sector extends from Antarctica to near-Earth orbit. It's said they're currently preparing to build a wonder, using a space elevator near the equator to send enough supplies to build an orbital habitation station, thus expanding the deep space sector beyond the planet.

Once one orbital habitation station is built, building more will only be easier. Eventually, it will likely be able to be constructed outside of Earth, forming a structure similar to an apple's net.

When Mingbo heard the news, he roughly guessed that Russell should be at Horizon Logistics.

"You mean, Brother An and Brother Shi?"

Shi Yao recalled for a moment: "I'm actually not quite sure either—"

In fact, both Annan and Zheng Fu were given nicknames by Mingpo.

Annan was initially referred to as "Secretary-General" by Mingpo—because the UN Secretary-General during World War III was called Annan. However, Annan later said he didn't like the nickname, so Mingpo and the others stopped using it and just called him Brother An, which eventually became "Anda."

Zheng Fu's nickname is "Brother Shi," and he quite likes it. Whenever Mingpo or Shiyue call out like that and come over, he smiles and gives them some food.

This wasn't because Zheng Fu considered himself a scholar or anything like that, but because the symbol for "scholar" (正负) looked very much like one. Occasionally, Shi Yue would call him "Brother Tu" (土哥), because Zheng Fu's attire was always the most simple among them.

Thus, "yes, yes, yes" and "right, right, right" took on a deeper meaning for them.

"Brother An seems to be the son of the chairman of Fuxi Data or Millennium Technology."

Shi Yao guessed, "All I know is that his family is in this business—"

That's about the same level as Gao Fan, probably around M6 to M7 now.

Mingbo nodded.

Annan and Gao Fan have completely different personalities and abilities. Annan is cold and cruel, ruthless to others and even more ruthless to himself. Moreover, he is extremely intelligent and can easily wield his power.

Even though Gao Fan has matured now, he still retains a strange sense of being a corporate slave.

He was born with the kind of personality that disliked trouble and was prone to compromise.

It's difficult to get him to toughen up.

Annan, however, was different—he consciously eliminated dissidents and expanded his power. During their role-playing games, Annan frequently used tactics such as "self-destruction" or "bait." He was a very rigid, intellectual type, perhaps best described as a utilitarian.

In other words, judging right and wrong only depends on the outcome, and justice is to ensure that "as many people as possible achieve the greatest happiness".

Therefore, what he pursued was "greatest happiness." He considered any behavior that could increase overall happiness and reduce suffering to be meaningful.

No matter who the "minority" being sacrificed is—even if it's himself—he's willing.

If such a person becomes a director, he will inevitably become a powerful director.

Then he will most likely have a fierce conflict with the "dead soul".

Just like how Tsunade and the Hokage's assistant were bound to clash with Danzo.

—Maybe Brother An is in the rebel army too.

Millennium Technology, in addition to maintaining the Sky Dome system, is also responsible for the management of information networks and the management and development of non-human intelligent entities. Fuxi Data, on the other hand, specializes in paradoxical technologies such as big data, predictive algorithms, and social engineering.

"But I do know where Brother Shi went."

Shi Yue answered decisively, "He definitely didn't join the rebels."

"————What?"

Mingpo raised an eyebrow: "Is he a corporate slave?"

"Yeah, he's mining with Union Resources."

Shi Yue shrugged: "I saw him when I went on a business trip before."

"----ah?"

Mingpo frowned, his face showing difficulty: "Joining resources?"

This doesn't mean Zheng Fu has become a mining machine—in other places, "mining" might refer to earning chips from deceptive games.

But if it's a joint resource—that's real mining.

Physical mining.

Of course, the name would sound better—"Resource Engineer".

United Resources is in the Furnace sector, one of only two industrial sectors.

This is the largest sector in terms of area, but also the sector with the fewest population.

Its coverage extends from all of Africa to the entire Middle East, and then to the western regions of China and Russia, while also including the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and most of the Atlantic Ocean.

Its main responsibility is the exploration, collection, and refining of various resources, including petroleum, rare earth elements, and various minerals.

This is also the region where paradox technology is relatively underdeveloped. This is because the paradox technology studied here is related to their scope of work—no matter how advanced the technology becomes, it will remain relatively unchanged.

The work here is basically controlled by various non-human, intelligent entities, and most of the work has been completely automated.

Living people here only serve as supervisors, embezzlers, and scapegoats.

However, similarly, due to the sparse population and harsh environment, each person is responsible for a large area. Basically, they have to drive amphibious vehicles back and forth across the wasteland every day, and occasionally venture into the ocean depths and deserts.

Take a stroll through the rainforest and snow-capped mountains.

Regardless of what resources are needed, mining ultimately requires extracting them from land or sea.

It is highly unlikely that the area is a gathering place, or even a nest, but rather a lawless wasteland.

There were a large number of wanderers driven out of the hives, bandits blocking the way between the various hives, illegal researchers and their inhuman intelligent army, mutated plants and beasts, and a large number of unexploded landmines and duds.

Resource engineers have to navigate their assigned areas with the threat and pressure of this junk, and that usually takes up the whole day. If a program malfunctions or a machine breaks down and needs to be manually repaired, then they have to work overtime.

Working at United Resources is essentially pure manual labor. There are no technical skills involved, so you can't earn any credit and therefore have no chance of promotion. But if something goes wrong, you'll be held responsible for a huge blunder.

The only advantage is that the salary is significantly higher compared to other positions at the same level. After all, non-human intelligent beings don't need a salary.

Although it wasn't used as a mining machine, it was still mining.

—Why is it that the atmosphere changes when those five people are with him?

"he----"

Mingpo hesitated for a moment: "Was it voluntary?"

"It's hard to say."

Shi Yue shook his head: "I guess he might have been framed or set up. It's also possible that someone was jealous of his abilities, so they dumped him in the wasteland to do hard labor."

"Why don't you pull him up?"

Mingpo countered, "Take him away."

For others, it would be nearly impossible to poach someone from the Big Eight.

But for young managers like Shi Yao who have "backing," this may not be impossible.

Leaving the Big Eight was indeed a defection, but it was ultimately just a resource exchange.

Even captured spies can be exchanged. In this cyberpunk era where capitalism reigns supreme, what can't be offered a price?

If Zheng Fu is just wasting his talents by mining at United Resources, then it would be better to offer United Resources a high enough price and buy him outright.

This kind of supervision doesn't require much technical skill, and replacing it with someone else wouldn't cause any problems.

"Of course I pooped!"

Shi Yue muttered in dissatisfaction, "But he doesn't want to leave—"

Why?

Mingpo frowned deeply: "What conditions did you offer United Resources?"

"That's more than enough. I've secured a lot of resources: two sets of asynchronous paradox technologies for mining within 12 months, plus two annual gold coins and 30 monthly silver coins—that's the highest I could ask for. They can't possibly disagree."

Leaving aside the paradoxical technique, the bargaining chips alone amounted to a full 54 months —

This bargaining chip is more than enough to exchange for the life of a minister.

Mingpo looked at Shiyue in surprise.

The power behind her is even stronger than Mingpo imagined.

Gao Fan probably couldn't even come up with this bargaining chip, let alone hand it over to his subordinates.

Xiao Fan even wanted to give Mingpo some pocket money, but Mingpo had to go get it herself.

"It wasn't something I just randomly picked up."

Shi Yao explained, "I did say that this price is for buying Zheng Fu—it was just given to me from above."

"They won't even sell at this price? United Resources is being too greedy!"

Mingpo frowned deeply: "Did you give them too easily? Did they think there was still some profit to be made?"

If that's really the case—

A cold glint flashed in Mingpo's eyes.

If Key hadn't taken down the person he was in contact with, he would have put a lot of pressure on her.

"No, it's just that Brother Shi doesn't want to leave at all."

Shi Yue shook his head, his tone somewhat wistful: "He said—"

"If I leave, what will happen to the people here? The order here is hard-won. Saving one life can lead to the birth of ten more; saving one heart can lead to the survival of a hundred. If I leave, the company will only send butchers next."

"—The people here?"

Mingpo repeated, puzzled.

—Who's in this abandoned area?

Mingpo was about to say that when he realized what he meant.

What Brother Shi was talking about was probably the scum from the abandoned area.

"He'd even save someone like that?"

Mingpo was unusually angry: "How many of those who were driven out of the Nest City were innocent? How many of them didn't have blood on their hands?"

"I have to say, just kill these trash! Clean up the garbage, and the world will be a cleaner place! Brother An should really talk to him about this—"

Shouldn't we distinguish between good and bad people when rescuing someone?

If we're going to save even a place like this, where 95 out of 100 people are bad, then aren't the ones who fatten up the wolves and suffer the innocent lambs?

Even a rebellious mining rig cannot enter the wasteland. It would only mean certain death.

At least Nest City has the resources provided by Central District—how could it survive in a resource-depleted, radiation-contaminated wasteland without plundering Nest City?

"No, he said—"

Shi Yao's expression was subtle: "If he were here, those people wouldn't cause any more trouble."

"Whether it's the hive or the wasteland—a new order has been formed under his deterrence and constraints. He is now practically the king of the land in Africa and the Middle East."

"That's why I said he definitely wouldn't join the rebels. Because, in the end, the rebels are all just corporate dogs from Central."

"But what he was trying to rebuild was a new order for the entire wasteland."

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