"I heard your operations span across the net, program dealing, and cyberware mods... One could say every lucrative trade in Dog Town has your hand in it, not an easy feat."
Hua Tiao chuckled, "Can't compare to you guys, we've just arrived and your network business and program industry are already squeezing us tight!"
Our crew doesn't even dare go online casually now, afraid you might accidentally kill them there... Truly impressive, I heard you even fried half of Voodoo Gang's servers in Taiping Prefecture, now that's skill."
The mutual flattery between them was as fake as it gets, but what's surprising is that none of these Street Kids around us seemed to find it off.
It was like two business people had crashed a gang hangout; Mercer and Hua Tiao were just shooting the breeze until Hua Tiao, unable to hold his impatience, used the excuse of taking a drink to cut to the chase.
"Actually, the Voodoo Gang from Taiping Prefecture contacted us."
As soon as Hua Tiao said this, V and the others, who had been laughing and chatting, immediately fell silent and turned to look at him.
But the Voodoo Gang member next to Hua Tiao hesitated for a moment before putting on a serious face—damn, how is the other side so professional?
Mercer, with an arm draped over Rebecca, smiled and said, "Oh? What's going on?"
"What else could it be? They want to team up with us, take you guys out first, and offered to give us all the bounty money.
They even said they'd share the quick-crack market with us and split the network in Taiping Prefecture by time slots."
After saying this, Hua Tiao paused and then laughed, "But as if I don't know what they're thinking? These fools are just trying to use me!"
He leaned back in his chair, speaking meaningfully, "At that moment, I thought, if these idiots are planning to team up with me to take you down, why can't I join forces with you to take out the Taiping Prefecture Voodoo Gang?"
Hua Tiao spread his hands, looking helpless, "Look at it this way, one Voodoo Gang in Taiping Prefecture, one in Dog Town, since when do two gangs with the same name operate at the same time?"
"I gave it a lot of thought and figured I had to tell you, you see, you've got fewer people but high-tech skills and strength. Us, although we're a bit lacking tech-wise, our power…"
He happily patted a burly man beside him, "Don't be fooled by us having only a few guys with the Frenzy System, our real kick is the expensive high-security robots we've got."
"In a real fight, I can't say we'd wipe out Military Science and biotech folks as neatly as you guys, but honestly? A couple of security robots can handle a bunch of thirty or so regular street thugs."
Hua Tiao spoke confidently, then paused, "Plus, over the past two years, we've gotten familiar with the smuggling business in Dog Town and built quite a network and sales channels in Night City.
What we lack now, frankly, is a piece of real estate in Night City to secure a stronghold. If we could grab a piece of Taiping Prefecture as well, to be honest, just by flipping smuggled goods, we'd easily make this much in a month!"
Hua Tiao held up three fingers and said, "Three million euros! Just from the cut we'd get from smuggling cyberware and black market goods!
Not to mention we could also take over Voodoo Gang's existing trades, and once we join forces, we'd dominate the chip and software market in Night City!"
Hua Tiao acting excited, said, "You still have connections with Hansen, you're the Director of Equipment Design now, and we could supply Hansen through you to keep the relationship strong.
All in all, wouldn't it be a breeze to net four to five million euros a month?"
"After dealing with the Animal Gang, if we can take over all of Taiping Prefecture, even the NCPD would have to respect us, we could even turn Taiping Prefecture into a bigger Dog Town!"
As Hua Tiao painted the future, he didn't forget to divide the pie with Mercer, "I guarantee, from now on our deals will be split at least fifty-fifty, you guys bring the high-end firepower, crushing competitors in tech.
We'll provide manpower to manage the streets, and you know that Taiping Prefecture is full of xenophobic Haitians, but if I take charge, I guarantee those Haitians will fall in line! They might even fight for us!
If you can cook up any valuable big deals, we can all get rich together, and once we take over Voodoo Gang, it'll be no problem mustering a hundred hitmen, then it's down to the Netherworld Dog..."
Hua Tiao lowered his voice, speaking mysteriously, "I know you and Mr. Hans have a good relationship, same here, when we have both money and men, we could get some powerful stuff from Mr. Hans...
Who knows, even the Netherworld Dog might not be a match for us!
By then, Dog Town is yours, I'll lookout from the outskirts in Taiping Prefecture, and if we can tap into Hansen's smuggling business..."
Hua Tiao swallowed hard, "Ten million euros a month? Twenty million? I have no idea how much Hansen rakes in a month!"
It has to be said, Hua Tiao truly knows how to strike a business deal, so much that even Rebecca, who sat next to Mercer, listened intently to his future visions, her eyes gleaming with excitement.