From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 100 Insurance Military Industry (4000)

noon.

new York.

As the most populous city on the east coast of the United States, it is also one of the nation’s economic, commercial, and entertainment centers. It seems prosperous, but it used to be in dire straits.

The gap between the rich and the poor is huge, the cost of living is extremely high, and you may be threatened by violence and criminals at any time. As a result, the quality of life of ordinary people is actually not high. Although it looks glamorous on the outside, it is actually full of hardships.

Manhattan, where the Empire State Building is located, and Brooklyn, which is less than five kilometers away from each other in a straight line, should be a typical comparison of the huge gap between rich and poor. However, today's Brooklyn is lined with a large number of new buildings, and there are still huge buildings under construction. .

Get a closer look.

It can be seen that there are many old-fashioned Hex robots in the open space, assisting workers with welding, assembly and other matters. The construction site supervisors wearing white safety helmets have the red "Atlas" symbol printed on their clothing. Λ" logo.

It seems that Atlas contracted these projects, which not only created more job opportunities for Brooklyn, but also significantly increased income and consumption levels here.

In addition, the streets of Brooklyn are covered with holographic technology, and the infrastructure is becoming more complete and advanced. Van-like "objects" even flash in the sky from time to time?
  This is almost like the shadow of the rebuilt New Accra in every aspect, except that the number of patrol drones is smaller.

In comparison, Manhattan's development appears to be relatively sluggish.

However, even if Atlas provides a large number of jobs, not everyone is willing to spend five days a week and seven hours a day at work, even if these jobs have comprehensive medical pension insurance and three times the overtime. Subsidies and holiday benefits, and the average hourly wage reaching $3, don't help matters.

You must know that according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage in various cities published in early 1999 was 6.89$ in New York.

No matter how you look at it or calculate it, working well is one of the best ways to improve your life.

But there are always a small number of people who want to take the wrong approach, either enjoying happiness for the rest of their lives at once, or directly reincarnating and sending them to the next life.

now.

In a remote neighborhood of Brooklyn, inside a local New York bank branch;
  The holographic screen displays advertisements for various financial products and recommends drinks and food from partners, while the large central screen displays the status of each counter and the real-time time:

1999年2月1日，星期一，10:35。

Maybe it was because of Monday, or because Atlas paid wages on time on the first of every month, so the lobby of this bank was crowded with people waiting to handle business, and even the ATM machines were full.

Although today's society has entered the Internet age, and functions such as mobile payment and online shopping have provided great convenience to life, there are still many people who like to convert their wages transferred to bank cards into cash.

The Internet has made it possible to consume and shop without leaving home. For example, on Atlas Taobao.com, some accessories and clothing from private merchants are marked with the words "Only 9.99$! Free shipping and gifts! Come and buy!" Attract everyone to consume.

A one-time consumption of 9.99$ has no impact. If it is three, four, or even more times, all that seems to disappear is just numbers. It requires deliberate inner calculation, or checking the balance in the bank program to realize that this month's consumption is a bit biased. high.

On the other hand, traditional cash is actually held in the hand, and it does lose convenience. However, every consumption has an intuitive feeling, and each has its own pros and cons. People need to find the balance between the two that suits them best.

It is also during this period that many banks have a large amount of cash stored in them, providing an opportunity for some criminals to take advantage of it.

On the street outside, an old white van speeded up instantly after passing the intersection and rushed to the door of the bank.

Chi——!
  When the van came to a sudden stop, four armed men wearing black hoods, gas masks, and black clothing immediately poured out of the van.

!

The two security guards who noticed something unusual in the van from the very beginning saw four 5.56mm caliber gun muzzles as soon as they put their hands on the holsters at their waists.

The leading militant warned in a dull tone: "We only seek wealth, not life. If you don't want to die, throw away the gun and lie down on the ground!"

"."

Hearing this, the two security guards frowned and hesitated for a while, and finally chose to hand over their guns and surrender, lying on the ground with their heads in their hands.

"Handcuffs! Let's go."

Two security guards had their wrists tied with plastic ties and were dragged into the bank lobby by armed men.

"Everybody put your hands up! Get down! Get down!"

"what"

"Shut up! Or we will feed you a bullet! This is not a joke! Get down!"

Before the crowd had time to scream, the scene was taken over by militants who quickly took advantage of the situation, but before that, the bank staff had already pressed the silent alarm.

The leader of the militants, who seemed to have known this for a long time, looked at his watch and reminded loudly: "There are still three minutes! Speed!"

Three armed men forcibly tied everyone up and guarded the scene.

The leader first punched the bank manager in the face, leaving obvious injuries, and then threatened him and opened the safe door to the vault. Everything went as expected.

After all, they had figured out the police patrol routes and intervals nearby, and calculated the time from when the silent alarm was triggered to when the police station responded and dispatched police to the bank.

Well-equipped and well-trained, this is obviously a professional robber, not an ordinary "zero dollar purchase".

"Uh! Uh!!"

Suddenly, a middle-aged man in a plaid shirt began to have difficulty breathing and his body began to twitch uncontrollably.

Moreover, his hands were tied, making it impossible for the uncle to take out the medicine bottle in his pocket, and his twitching and struggling became more and more severe.

"Beep-! Beep-!"

The smart watch worn by the uncle on his left hand also sounded a piercing alarm.

"What's going on!" The leader who heard the commotion rushed back into the hall.

"Maybe he has a heart attack?" One of the robbers shrugged, indicating that they were "innocent."

"Forget it! The mission continues!" The leader turned around and returned to the vault without asking any more questions.

Soon, the uncle who failed to take the medicine in time collapsed completely.

However, the leader successfully returned to the hall dragging two black travel bags filled with cash and reminded him again: "Forty-five seconds!"

Before he finished speaking, a robber quickly stepped forward to help the leader carry their "loots." But when they just wanted to leave the hall.
  "Boom! Boom!"

Large-caliber gunshots actually came from the street outside, hitting the engines of the vans responsible for picking them up one after another, cutting off their retreat.

"Da da!"

The driver who didn't know what happened got out of the car to check. He was also shot with a rifle and his arms and calves were disabled. He fell on the street and wailed.

"Enemy attack! Alert!"

Seeing such an unexpected situation, the leader yelled loudly and threw away his travel bag, ready to pick up the 5.56 rifle hanging in front of him.

The other robbers are also prepared to fight to the death. Anyway, they have hostages and sufficient ammunition, so they will always have a way to create an escape opportunity.

Bang—bang—!
  However, before the four robbers could separate themselves and find cover, eight "armor-piercing bullets" pierced the bank wall one after another and hit their shoulders accurately.

Snap—pop—!
  However, before the "armor-piercing bullets" were about to penetrate their shoulders, low-intensity self-destructions occurred one after another.

Om-!
  The four robbers fell to the ground with their arms becoming limp. They could only hear a ringing in their ears and their shoulders were too numb. They couldn't realize what happened for a while.

The rapid loss of blood caused their consciousness to fade.

!!!

The people with their hands tied and lying on the ground were shocked. Some of them were so full and frightened that they vomited the breakfast in their stomachs.

Outside the street at this moment.

An airship painted mainly in white with red accents and with hatches on both sides unfolded was hovering at low altitude around the bank, assisting the "soldiers" armed with AMWS firearms to eliminate all the robbers.

However, these soldiers equipped with mechanical skeletons are wearing medical green combat uniforms, and their armors and face-covering helmets are also medical white, just like "special forces" affiliated with the hospital.

After confirming that the threat was lifted, the airship floated in front of the bank's main entrance.

Then, five soldiers carrying professional equipment jumped out of the cabin and rushed to the bank lobby.

Two of them went straight to the uncle who had a heart attack and started rescue work.

"Loss of consciousness, no normal breathing and pulse, prepare for CPR (cardiac resuscitation)."

"Three two. One! Check the situation."

"Heartbeat and breathing have been restored and the client is ready to be transferred."

Within half a minute, the two soldiers put on the respiratory mask on the uncle and transferred him to the folding stretcher.

The other three soldiers maintained and controlled order at the scene and checked whether the hostages had suffered physical trauma.

But while cutting off the straps, the soldiers also warned all the hostages not to move around at will. On the one hand, they were worried that it would interfere with the rescue work of their teammates, and on the other hand, everyone present except them might be suspects.

Therefore, all hostages are prohibited from leaving the scene until the police arrive.

As for the four robbers and the driver, they also received simple treatment from the soldiers and were put on universal-type metal handcuffs, unable to move at all.

Next, the airship landed slowly, allowing the soldiers to carry the uncle into the cabin. Then, under the watchful eyes of the police officers who had already arrived, the airship took off again and gradually disappeared into the sky.

"Ouch" a police officer joked to his partner: "Atlas's medical team, that name is really confusing!"

"Stop dawdling, deal with the scene quickly, and then report to the dispatch desk that there are five bastards here who need treatment."

"Yes."

The police officers stopped deserting and quickly assisted their partners and more colleagues who arrived at the scene.

The full name of Atlas's medical team is Atlas - Emergency Medical Response Team, or EMRT for short, or medical team.

Each member is a former professional special police officer with emergency medical qualifications. At the same time, the medical team also has the power to intervene in police communications.

If an ongoing violent crime in New York City involves a customer who purchased Atlas medical insurance, especially if the customer is in critical condition, and ordinary police officers are unable to arrive in time, then the medical team will have temporary law enforcement powers to directly Handle criminal incidents first for the police.

And Atlas customers can enjoy the emergency treatment services of the medical team as long as the annual insurance amount for themselves or a family exceeds 1200$ and 1800$ respectively.

However, the prerequisite for activating this service is to purchase a smart bracelet worth 39.99$ to detect the customer's physical condition at any time. After all, the medical team also needs to guard against false alarms.

Atlas can enjoy a certain degree of law enforcement power in New York because the newly elected mayor of New York signed a number of agreements with Atlas to improve medical care and create jobs.

If we dig deeper into the reason, it is that Watt International collapsed at the end of 1996. As of today, February 1999, 2, nearly two and a half years have passed.

However, the impact of this incident directly led to the reshuffling of the American political arena, and it also fell into a "bloody storm" for the past two and a half years.

The Internet not only provides the convenience of shopping without leaving home, but also creates multiple channels for news dissemination, allowing people to learn a large amount of information instantly.

Therefore, "Soldier Boy" uses the Internet to expose the politicians who have been coerced and bribed by Vought International, as well as what the politicians do in private and their true appearance.

This directly aroused public outrage in the United States. West Coast cities, led by Seattle and Los Angeles, were more radical. However, southern cities, led by Houston and Dallas, spontaneously formed a militia group of more than 30,000 people to cooperate with the national people. The Guard and the federal government are engaged in a standoff.

You must know that the southern United States has always been at odds with the federal government, and now a devastating scandal has been exposed, causing the southern people to completely lose their trust in the federal government.

But Atlas, or Sui Yang, the leader behind the scenes, took advantage of the most turbulent period to support a group of "new political stars" and began to actively participate in the mayors, governors, and congressmen of the United States in 1997-1998. campaign.

More than half of these "rising stars" have successfully won the votes and support of the people and stood out from the election by virtue of their outstanding political achievements and clean backgrounds in their early years, in sharp contrast to the politicians involved in scandals.

Of course, the reason why they were able to win this election is inseparable from Atlas's strong financial resources and the secret operations of the Hunter Company.

Some of the actual new political figures are investigators who were inserted into the government in the early years of Sui Yang, and some are real politicians who were caught by Atlas.

The political turmoil in the United States has further expanded Atlas's control over the main universe. As for other military-industrial complexes, whether overtly or covertly, they cannot compete with Atlas today, and they are no longer on the same level. superior.

(End of this chapter)