Although Dog Town was small, it had an around-the-clock floating advertising airship anchored in the sky, displaying the banner of the Netherworld Dog and broadcasting the latest directives of the Netherworld Dog Commander, Kurt Hansen.
Usually, it was a welco ssage:
"I’m Kurt Hansen, welco to Dog Town, let recite a few rules."
"First, NCPD, get out! Any cop who dares to co in is gonna get a bullet in the forehead!"
"Second, corporations, get out! You’re not welco here!"
"Third, my n are in charge of street safety here, they are the law."
"Anyone who doesn’t follow the rules, don’t bla us for not being polite."
The vehicles of the Animal Gang stopped at the abandoned square, looking up at the airship, Wild Man King laughed:
"This place truly lives up to the na of Dog Town, it really is dogshit, those who co here have nothing but the chance to roll out."
Having said that, she looked towards Matt, who was doing squats beside her, "Kid, are you sure you don’t want to join ? I’ll supply enough protein powder."
"Not joining."
Matt was young but not timid, and in just one day, he went from a kid trembling at the sight of ard thugs to a little brother capable of exercising in front of them—of course, all based on his belief that his older brother ruled Burger King.
He shook his head while declining Wild Man King’s generous invitation, simultaneously squatting and observing Dog Town.
"Tell , why are you training so hard, what’s the plan? You don’t have a sports dream, do you?"
"I..." Matt was about to speak when he saw Lille and his two companions walk out from the sports field, "Big brother is here!"
Wild Man King promptly signaled her n, who all moved to the side of the cargo bay, waiting for Lille’s inspection and helping Jack with the loading process.
Lille took a brief look before getting in the vehicle. Because there was a lot of cargo and space was tight, important equipnt could only fit in one car; Wild Man King, Matt, Burger King, and two others—five people in total—shared a van, with two strong n holding the equipnt in the back.
Once in the van, Jack excitedly continued the conversation with Lille:, "Lille, do you really think I can be a sports star?"
"Of course..."
"Hey?" Wild Man King intruded into the conversation as if it were her own, "Wait a minute, you want to be an athlete?"
Lille responded with a question, "What? Is there sothing wrong with my brother’s physical condition?"
"It’s not that it’s wrong... it’s too good. I dare to ask, what is the prosthetic enhancent level of this big brother, according to FIFA’s standards?"
The level of cybernetic enhancent was a standard with many asurent angles, which Lone Wolf didn’t really care about; as long as the brain was okay, they could keep implanting.
But for an athlete—Lille knew there might be restrictions in this regard, but he didn’t really understand Cyberpunk World’s restrictions on it.
Moreover, international sports events were a bit out of date for him; hearing the words "FIFA" made everything seem a bit surreal.
"Uh... should I check?"
"Forget it, don’t bother checking," said Wild Man King shaking her head, "I assu you’re at least in your thirties, right?"
"Just twenty-nine, still young!"
"Stop kidding, I’m not doubting your ability to crush those sports guys on the field, but think about it, you’re almost 30, do you really believe there is hope?"
"So what if I’m heading towards thirty? I’m in great shape..."
"You’re nearly thirty, with both arms replaced, right? Bones as well, right? And a large area of subdermal armor... In short, your level of cybernetic enhancent is too high, you might not even be allowed to participate in heavyweight competitions.
More importantly, your magical... that incredible pharmaceutical, it’s stolen biotechnology, right?
They consider any unregistered biotech injections to be illegal stimulants; do you think they would allow you to bring that stuff onto the field?"
Wild Man King just shook his head, "Forget about you, many of our brothers won’t be able to compete in matches either..."
V suddenly retorted, "Isn’t it just that your brothers are too weak to fight in the boxing matches?"
"What are you saying! Let’s just drop it... well, you said it, so it must be true."
While they argued, Lille searched through the accessible public network for information.
The standards for athletes were all public, no secrets there.
In general, the younger the start in athlete training, the better; and athletes often have a cybernetic integration not much worse than top rcenaries, particularly regarding athletic abilities—while a rcenary might average far better at killing than an athlete, when it cos to specific sports, who is better is not a given.
The level of cybernetic enhancent is also an important standard for the level of a sports event.
Jack’s current cybernetic enhancent level, calculated by the widely applied FIFA thod, is about 43%, which is a moderate level of enhancent.
But the issue is that he has a rage component installed, especially Lille’s self-developed lizard rage component, which significantly affects the body, especially enhancing internal organ function to a great degree.
Even if the replaced parts are few, it’s possible to be classified at a high level of cybernetic enhancent by the examiners.
Athletes generally climb up from lower-level leagues, displaying skill and potential in lightweight classes, demonstrating cybernetic control and compatibility in middleweight classes, and the heavyweight class is partly judged on the cybernetic quality from corporate sponsors.
But first, you have to start from the lightweight class, or even more precisely from detailed biological examination data, to show your potential to sponsors.
After reading the ssage, Lille turned his head to look at Jack, whose expression was complicated. It seed like the big boy had guessed this possibility long ago, yet he still harbored so hope...
But this was sothing Lille simply couldn’t handle.
More importantly, he realized that international sports events conduct extrely thorough physical examinations of athletes. The risk of leaking secrets was too high; it was unsafe—after all, Jack wasn’t a real athlete.
So, Jack’s dream of being an athlete was shattered.
Lille then patted Jack’s shoulder heavily, saying everything without speaking a word.
V curled his lip: "So what do we do now?"
"Actually..."
The Wild Man King scratched his head, indicating he had sothing to say.
As for Lille, after reviewing the information, he too had thought of an option—
A young kid with potential...
Wasn’t there one right here?
Matt felt the gazes of the older guys suddenly turn towards him. His heart, which had been thumping since earlier, now raced even more wildly...
"I can do this! I can!" Matt quickly raised his hand, his voice trembling, "I really can! I used to train in sports..."
"Doesn’t look like it." Lille shook his head as he recalled the information he had just seen, "You must work out regularly, right? Systematically."
Lille unexpectedly pinpointed the truth in no ti.
But what Lille said next lifted Matt’s sunken heart again, prompting him to nod frantically.
"We really do lack whatever cos... Let’s walk and talk. I want to know what you did before," Lille said.
Matt continued to nod crazily: "I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!"
But V interrupted this conversation with a question that she had been holding back: "You said we have to pretend to be tycoons, but why from the sports world?
Why not pose as car dealers, arms dealers, prosthetics dealers, or suppliers? We have connections and strength in those areas as well.
Why switch to the sports industry? Is it more prestigious to be involved in sports than to sell arms?"
Lille slowly nodded: "Right, you’ve finally noticed the issue. I thought..."
V suddenly felt underestimated and was quite annoyed.
Noticing the change in the big brother’s emotions, Lille quickly added: "... Jack, Wild Man King, you don’t know either, right?"
The latter nodded, and even Matt nodded as well.
Indeed, they were only more knowledgeable about sports due to their interest; it didn’t an they understood why Lille chose that identity.
V’s anger subsided a bit, but she still glared at Lille with dissatisfaction.
Ignoring her gaze, Lille explained: "... Today, even the largest economy in the world, the European Union, has barely a few mber states, and even the United Nations, established after WW2, has fewer than 200 mber countries.
But FIFA, at its peak, had over two hundred mber countries. The influence of sports events is imnse, beyond imagination."
Even today, after decades of fierce competition between major corporations, many small countries have vanished, and the United Nations has essentially lost its purpose.
FIFA remains strong, with mber countries genuinely spread all over the globe.
Sports seem to be a world away from their life-or-death existence, but when you broaden your view globally, it indeed has a wide-reaching impact.
"... Besides, being a materials wholesaler is too conspicuous. Hansen will investigate everyone who deals in those goods, but for those in sports, he has only one requirent: pay the protection fee on ti.
However, as you know, the fields of sports are deeply related to cutting-edge prosthetic technology and biotechnology.
Just with these points, the field is very suitable for us to enter."
In the sky, airships continued to broadcast Hansen’s welco ssage, and the streets were filled with fully ard Netherworld Dog soldiers, armored vehicles, combat cha, and drones.
High above, high-speed transport drones occasionally flew by. After a loud bang, they dropped supplies marked with red smoke down into Dog Town.
Nobody knew who sent these airdrops or what was in them.
The residents of Dog Town just felt as if the whole world was dumping stuff on them.
The booming sounds dissipated, and the constantly operating construction machinery continued to work, too noisy for anyone to calm their spirits.
Dog Town... although it’s just a small part of Night City, it truly has an international dinsion.
As the car slowly moved forward, the few people in it suddenly felt this "internationalism" had a subtle significance.
The whole world was in a great economic decline, stuck in a life-and-death struggle, but it didn’t stop people from making money by watching gas.
Just like Dog Town—despite being impoverished, dirty, and disorderly, it didn’t stop those who ca here to make money.
Out of the blue, Matt said: "Why do people love watching sports so much?"
Lille shrugged: "How would I know? Maybe it’s like how you dream of being a sports star rather than shooting and killing, huh?"
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