The next day, Mann and the others arrived very early. Last night, they had already agreed to discuss the action plan at Jiang Heng’s home today.
Jiang Heng and Lucy had not yet gotten out of bed when they heard a knock at the door.
Ding dong~~
“Damn, why are these guys coming so early?” Jiang Heng couldn’t help but grumble.
On a cold day, the happiest thing is to be in a warm bed with a beautiful girl. If you’re feeling up to it, you can even have a morning workout.
That's right, Jiang Heng was just getting cozy with Lucy.
“Okay, stop fooling around, go open the door.” Lucy grabbed Jiang Heng's hand resting on her and said with a reproachful tone, messing around so early in the morning!
With no other choice, Jiang Heng got out of bed, put on his pajamas and slippers, and went to open the door.
As soon as he opened the door, Mann’s big black head came forward. Before Jiang Heng could say anything, a bunch of people rushed in.
Mann, D’orio, Rebecca, Pilla, Qiwi, Falko, and even Sasha the cat girl were all there, not a single one missing.
“What the hell are you doing here so early?” Jiang Heng looked at the crowd sitting on the sofa in disbelief.
“Cough, cough~ Well, we had nothing to do, so we came early.” Mann said confidently.
“Alright, do whatever you want. I’m going back to sleep.” Jiang Heng rolled his eyes and headed upstairs.
Of course, going back to sleep wasn't really an option. Jiang Heng wasn't really sleepy anymore, so he put on his clothes and went downstairs with Lucy.
“Lucy, you two haven't had breakfast either, have you? That’s great, none of us have eaten!”
As soon as they both went downstairs, Mann spoke.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Heng exclaimed, "Good grief! You guys are so eager just to get a free meal!”
It wasn't really their fault. Ever since they had a meal at Jiang Heng's place, eating those synthetic foods felt like eating garbage.
Jiang Heng didn’t mind too much, after all, it was just a few extra pairs of chopsticks.
“I said, stop crowding around the kitchen door. Rebecca, go get a few scallions, Sasha, go wash these Chinese cabbages. And Mann, the rest of you don’t just stand there, go clean the house.”
It had been a while since they had a big clean-up. With free labor, it would be a waste not to take advantage of it.
Jiang Heng was also thinking about getting a maid robot. It wouldn’t do anything else, just do the cleaning, or maybe help take care of the fruits and vegetables in the greenhouse.
Then Jiang Heng walked into the kitchen and started making dough, preparing to make noodles.
There were noodles in the fridge, but not enough for so many people.
Besides, Jiang Heng was thinking about making dumplings for lunch. It would be too much of a hassle to cook so many dishes, it was better to just cook a big pot of dumplings.
“Alright, we’re on it!” Mann and the others immediately got to work, with such enthusiasm.
Sasha also immediately went into the kitchen to help wash vegetables. Even the rebellious little loli, Rebecca, became quite obedient, but she wasn't quite sure what a scallion looked like, so she asked Jiang Heng, "Hey~ what does this scallion you’re talking about look like?"
“Lucy, take her to see what it is.” Jiang Heng said directly to Lucy.
Then, Lucy took Rebecca to pick scallions.
For a moment, only Jiang Heng and Sasha remained in the bustling kitchen.
“Jiang Heng, what should I do to make bio-technology and military tech pay the price they deserve?” Sasha suddenly asked while washing vegetables.
Hearing this, Jiang Heng fell silent for a moment, but then he told Sasha the harsh reality: “Sasha, even if you expose everything about the Nightingales Program, it won’t have much impact on military tech or biotechnology.”
“Why?” Sasha became a little agitated.
Jiang Heng: “Because those companies are no longer something that can be brought down by just a little bit of bad publicity. Do you think people don’t know about the company’s ugliness? No, they know very well. Everyone living at the bottom of Night City knows, they even curse the companies to go bankrupt every day.”
“But why are those big companies still standing in the most central and most prosperous areas of Night City? Still clinging to this city and constantly sucking its blood? Because in this era, companies have monopolized everything, they control everything in the world. Go out and look, everything you can see belongs to the companies!”
“People don’t want to use the things produced by the companies, they have to! Cybernetics are made by the companies, medicine is made by the companies, food is made by the companies. Even if you know those things aren’t good, what can you do? Can you just starve to death, or die from illness?”
“So Sasha, it's useless. Even if the Nightingales Program is exposed ten times, for the companies, it's probably only slightly more than a mosquito bite.”
“This world is already terminally ill. The bottom rung wants to overthrow the companies? It’s impossible. The only ones who can bring down companies are companies.”
By the end, Jiang Heng couldn't help but sigh. The Cyberpunk world was like this, pessimistic and full of despair.
Even V, the living閻王in the game, couldn’t change it. After all, the best outcome was just a decline in Arasaka’s credibility. It wasn’t even clear if they actually went bankrupt.
Also, Arasaka’s stock price fell because other powerful people no longer believed in Arasaka’s “Soulkeeper Program.” They withdrew all their investments and resources. Coupled with Arasaka’s arch-rival, Militech, taking advantage of the situation, it caused the Arasaka organization to disintegrate and suffer a series of setbacks.
Even so, would a behemoth like Arasaka just collapse? Jiang Heng thought it was unlikely.
The companies in this world are incredibly powerful. They not only monopolize technology and resources, but they also have their own armies, with the power to start a world war.
Like the Fourth Corporate War, which was actually a standoff between Arasaka and Militech. They fought each other for interests all over the world, throwing the whole world into chaos, especially in the Americas.
Ordinary people wanting to kill companies? It’s completely impossible.