Chapter 1423 - 462: The Situation Is Settled

Chapter 1423: Chapter 462: The Situation Is Settled

Lin Miao didn’t impose impossible demands, letting the police confront the companies head-on. As long as they maintain order along the way and prevent people from taking advantage of the chaos to loot, that’s enough.

The armed forces of the corporation have designated personnel to deal with them, no need for the police.

Upon hearing this, the police finally relaxed completely.

Maintain order? Not a big deal. As long as they’re not forced to fight at the front lines, they can accept it, even if there’s an investigation afterwards they can deflect responsibility.

When a profession loses its sanctity and social responsibility, becoming purely transactional, whoever pays more becomes the master.

Soldiers, doctors, police officers, teachers, all are alike.

The military and police swiftly dismantled the barriers, letting the protest march pass through, the crowd at the highway entrance pouring into the city center like a flood breaking its banks.

Meanwhile, the city center was already in chaos, with protest groups shouting in the streets everywhere.

Walt indeed didn’t organize the city center’s protest activities, he neither had the capability nor the channels, and causing trouble in the city center could easily be detected in advance, leading to the plan’s failure.

Who then was organizing the protest in the city center?

Other companies.

No matter how big a corporation is, for the sake of cost, it cannot encompass every aspect of society. Every additional department increases management costs and difficulties geometrically, so there’s bound to be a large number of upstream and downstream enterprises.

For the sake of profit, the monopolizing giant companies would definitely compress raw material prices to the lowest, squeezing the profits of other related enterprises to zero or even a loss, unless the raw material company is also a monopolizing giant.

But unfortunately, Detroit’s upstream and downstream processing enterprises aren’t monopolizing giants. They hardly make any money from industry and rely on this industrial recovery to shuffle the industry and increase profit rates.

The hands of the General Three Houses have undoubtedly blocked their path, pulling everyone down together.

You may be satisfied, counting money while sitting atop a mountain of gold, but what about us?

So, even though Lin Miao and Walt never contacted these people, upon seeing Lin Miao personally coming forth to lead this charge, the small-to-medium enterprises immediately chose to follow, even if just to stroll in the streets as a gesture, with masks and helmets, and saying we’re doing this openly.

If you wanted to just watch from the sidelines, well that’s possible too, but don’t blame Lin Miao for settling scores later.

In a struggle with two sides, the centrists are always the first to die.

Faced with conflicting forces, standing with Lin Miao is the best choice because capital needs to appreciate.

The old industries can no longer satisfy capital’s desire for self-appreciation, and so being abandoned is just a matter of time.

Not only these small-to-medium companies, even some shareholders of General Motors and Ford were secretly stirring things up.

A so-called public plan is when you know what I am doing, how I am doing it, but you are still powerless, and can only watch everything happen in front of you.

By this point in events, the large corporations had no alternative but violent suppression.

The city center’s police force was paralyzed, asking them to shoot at a few civilians was one thing, but with people everywhere, if they initiated gunfire, they risked immediate retaliation and becoming sieves, and besides, police officers are part of the citizenry too, not born killers, they’re reluctant to shoot even if ordered.

Christopher looked on as the crowd converged on the skyscraper from all directions underfoot, a seething fury of disdain rose within him.

If it were Lin Miao against him, he might see it as a chess challenge, but who were these people anyway?

Do they not recognize their inferior status, daring to come out to demand jobs?

You dare!

With this, let me teach you the price of violating the rules.

"Deploy all troops, seal off the streets, anyone involved in the commotion, shoot to kill."

"And those mercenaries, I’ve kept them long enough, now it’s their time to work."

"Yes!"

Christopher sneered inwardly.

Your mercenary forces are mostly in Cuba, the remaining hackers at the Night City headquarters, even if Adcardo wishes to help you, what ripple can a group of wandering vagabonds create?

Thinking that with Miles’s support you can act recklessly, you really believe we are made of mud?

United, we three stand against just you, prepare to pay for your arrogance!

Prepare to fall alongside Miles in disgrace!

Dozens of armed hovercars took off one after another from the headquarters of General Motors and Ford, the military-green vehicle body with tough decorations, heavy machine guns on either side exuding a murderous aura.

Though at first sight, the discrepancy in the number of personnel between sides was vast, between ordinary citizens and cybernetic warriors was an insurmountable wall, making combat disparity capable of being described as one against a hundred and not exaggerating.

Relying on such absolute military superiority, corporations could achieve absolute suppression of civilians, striking fear into them till they no longer dared resist, killing hope till all relegated themselves to being blood slaves for capital extraction.

"Buzz——"

Armed hovercars descended from the sky accompanied by ear-piercing alarm sounds, a dazzling red light casting across the front of the human tide.

[warning]

The hovercar doors opened, fully equipped heavy-armored warriors jumped down, vehicle-mounted loudspeakers still broadcasting to the chaotic crowd.

"Warning! Detroit citizens, immediately leave the district, return to your residences, or you will be deemed as terrorists!"

After repeating three times, the soldier barriers were also fully deployed, standing like a wall of iron at the street corners, the terrifying weapons conjuring images in citizens’ minds of how these soldiers once massacred those who resisted, a reluctant retreat beginning to take shape within them.