Players Invade Cyberpunk

The Scarlet Killer took off his helmet and opened his eyes to see a middle-aged man with a crew cut sitting by the bed.

He hurriedly got up, wanting to stand, but was stopped by a wave of the other's hand, so he could only sit back down on the bed.

"I saw on the forum that you guys fought a group of bandits last night and captured more than four hundred people."

"Yes, we fought all night. They started with advanced smart weapons, something I've only seen in concept weapon PPTs. Luckily, our hacker crashed their network, otherwise, we might have suffered severe losses last night."

"..."

The man was silent for a moment, then lit a cigarette and asked.

"I also saw on the forum that players said you're holding a public trial grievance meeting. How's that going? Has anyone reacted?"

"No... no one has reacted. From start to finish, no one paid any attention to me. The effect wasn't very good, the prisoners were initially uncooperative, and the public trial didn't inspire their enthusiasm. In the end, I had to privately seek out a batch of prisoners of war with unstable wills to communicate with them, persuading them to come forward and identify others, only then did a few people cooperate."

Getting them to identify others is very difficult, especially since the Chaotic Blade Association is not a group of the oppressed. These bastards, especially those who come out to fight, are bastards among bastards.

Everyone is almost equally rotten, having done everything from arson to robbery, you can ask them to identify someone else's crimes, but if you simply want to use this to gain their trust, that's wishful thinking.

"Hmm... that's normal."

The man nodded slowly, no reaction, either they didn't care, or they didn't oppose this kind of behavior.

"Bandits are not good political work targets, nor are they good for incorporation, especially given the large numbers. According to their setting, it's hard to say if they were coerced or forced, and without a strong main body as a backdrop, doing political ideological work at the start is very tough."

"However, your decision was right. Fighting during wartime is one thing, but massacre after the battle is another. The key is not to let them kill the prisoners, especially so many. Letting them go is like releasing a tiger back into the mountains. Killing them would cause a serious moral collapse. Keeping them for labor reform is the best way to utilize them."

"The only pity is that we have too few people, only four out of more than a thousand spots were filled. Two went to Big Sur to survey the terrain, one was killed by a stray bullet in the city last night and is now reflecting on his mistakes. Currently, it's just you with many tasks and responsibilities. I'll transfer two political workers to assist you in working with the masses, to find out what they really want, what hardships they've suffered, even bandits can't be completely heartless, there's always a way to persuade some of them."

"As for what they did before, it's not important, since it wasn't done here, and the environment is different. As long as they are willing to reform, we can appropriately give them a chance, but still must strive for related living conditions. Don't intentionally mistreat them."

"Identify the black sheep and key figures inside promptly. If necessary, break them down one by one. Once they form a scale, it becomes much easier, and you can try seeking help from locals. Sometimes using some non-essential means is not unacceptable."

For them, the best targets for conversion aren't the people of the Chaotic Blade Association, but neutral nomadic tribes like Adcardo and Red Ochre Rock. However, sometimes you have no choice, and you have to bite down on the food delivered to your mouth, even if the methods are a bit intense.

The middle-aged man felt a bit regretful, yet somewhat relieved.

The regret was that they had too few people inside, making it impossible to carry out work and facing difficulties at every turn. The relief was that the game had emerged at a good time, if it had been ten years earlier, it might have been disastrous.

The Scarlet Killer nodded vigorously.

The middle-aged man stood up to leave but paused, sat back down, and asked gravely.

"Little Li, what do you think... why does this game exist in the first place? What exactly is it?"

This wasn't just his question, it was a question many people had. By now, the commotion this thing had caused was huge, you could say everyone knew, but so far, no one could find out the reason for it.

"This..."

The Scarlet Killer, called by name, was somewhat embarrassed. It wasn't just him, the game forum was also full of discussions, but no matter how players debated or @ the game officials, they would never respond, letting all sorts of rumors fly, even the version update times were random.

"I believe matter doesn't appear out of nowhere, nor does it disappear without reason. I think... the secret's answer is still within the game."

Perhaps thinking his judgment was somewhat presumptuous, he hastily added.

"It could also be aliens or even gods or immortals, but since it appeared in the form of a game, following the thinking pattern of conventional game puzzles, the answer should be found in the game."

"Oh?"

The middle-aged man became interested, after all, he wasn't in the game and didn't understand many things.

"In which aspect?"

"I think, if we have to find an answer to this question right now, the most likely... should be the two cults discovered by players underground in Night City in the last two versions."

"The latter is AI, acting as the main antagonist in the game's worldview, to some extent it can be seen as a war between humans and AI, but as representatives of rationality within the AI faction, they used religious terms from mysticism, and there are strange idols in the city..."