Players Invade Cyberpunk
Chapter 107 - 33: Doing Business Requires Proper Justification (Thanks for the support of monthly tickets, here’s an additional update)_2

Chapter 107: Chapter 33: Doing Business Requires Proper Justification (Thanks for the support of monthly tickets, here’s an additional update)_2

The good impression was indeed good, but Sol was not willing to stake the tribe’s interests based on just a few words from the other party. Moreover, people are not always what they seem; he had only been here a few days, and this guy was already targeting Adcardo...

"Step by step, if you want to survive in Night City, you have to have some tools in your hand. Civilians first, military later. What do you think?"

"Civilians... Are you referring to... this?"

Sol took out something that looked like a pill from his bag. Even at night, it glimmered slightly in the moonlight.

This was the water purification tablet Lin Miao had given Adcardo a few days ago. Despite its name, it wasn’t a traditional chemical flocculant or disinfectant.

Lin Miao raised an eyebrow, "Did you figure it out? Or do you have some opinions?"

"I took this to the people at Dakota for testing. They told me it’s a type of supermolecular compound that expands in contact with water, quickly spreading and forming a molecular sieve resembling a reverse osmosis membrane on the water surface, about 0.2mm thick. However, it’s different from the filters and water purification tablets on the market; its molecular structure is quite strange, kind of like a combination of zeolite and reverse osmosis membranes.... No matter the effect, at least drinking it won’t make you sick."

"So, do you intend to sell this?"

Sol had intended to continue, but he only remembered this much from the test results that Dakota had told him—microorganisms, heavy metal ions, hydrogen bond disruption—he couldn’t make sense of any of it.

But what was certain was that this was not available on the market, so Sol guessed that Lin Miao might have found this technology from the old network or wilderness ruins.

The Initial Net Collapse led to a massive loss of technology, so finding something valuable was not unusual.

Hmm... all these things were written on the medicine bottle’s instructions, indeed somewhat related to the trade Lin Miao wanted to undertake, but not entirely.

"Yes, and no."

Lin Miao started with a riddle and then said,

"Instead of selling purification tablets, why don’t I sell water directly?"

Sol was taken aback and then frowned, saying,

"Building a water factory in Night City? You’re asking for trouble."

"Speak your mind."

Lin Miao didn’t rush to refute but gestured for Sol to continue.

"Cost, it’s not just Night City; a century of continuous industrial pollution has made the snow on the Himalayas dirty, and you can’t find a single clean water source worldwide. Purification costs keep rising; many water factories either go bankrupt or switch to selling beverages or provide ridiculously expensive pure water to the so-called upper class. Even the water we use for Adcardo’s plantation is costly...."

Every household in Night City has a water filter installed. Without it, who knows what color the water is that comes from the tap; even the water factory itself probably doesn’t know.

The city government water factory only guarantees that what flows through your pipes looks like liquid, a product precipitated by flocculants and filtered, but it could be cola, alcohol, heavily laden with pharmaceutical residues, or industrial wastewater... certainly not clean water.

Are the beverages on the market pure and sanitary?

Ha ha~~

Do you know why Silly Monkey is so sweet?

It’s to cover up the fact that the water is not clean with lots of additives and strong flavors.

Of course, the water used for making drinks and alcohol is at least somewhat cleaner than the water from the tap factory. Coupled with alcohol and high sugar’s antibacterial properties, it’s slightly better.

If that’s all there is to it, it might be possible to reduce the production costs of pure water by expanding the scale of water purification, but you first need to ask those beverage groups if they are willing to share their water sources.

Because the relatively clean water sources in Night City have been directly purchased by Continental Foods and other beverage companies, which continue to pollute other water sources to control them.

This has finally forged a Night City where a 0.3L beverage sells for 2-4 euro-gold while 3.8L of genuine water dares to sell for 99 euro-gold.

Oh, this ’genuine water’ doesn’t mean it’s genuinely clean water; rather, it’s the water produced by the ’Really’ water factory. It’s barely up to drinking water standards but far below pure water.

This is also why Sol is not optimistic about Lin Miao’s idea of opening a water factory to sell water.

Lin Miao cleared his throat, interrupting Sol, and asked,

"I know all that you mentioned. But do you know what my purification cost is, what the water’s selling price is, and what the profitability model for this water factory is?"

Sol was at a loss for words. He seemed to have not actually asked that question....

"What is it?"

Lin Miao had a set of blueprints for a water purifier. Although it had the same name as the ones installed in everyone’s homes, the construction scale on the blueprints was probably no less than a two-story building covering 300 square meters.

In addition to supporting sewage treatment facilities, building a small sewage treatment plant would theoretically allow for the daily treatment of about 5000 tons of sewage without issue.

"I asked an old acquaintance to conduct a water factory survey in Night City. According to his feedback, Continental Foods Corporation’s total water treatment cost at the beverage factory in Santo Domingo is roughly 40-60 euros per ton, with sludge coefficients negligibly ignored. Afterward, adding the costs of syrup, caffeine, can packaging, etc., the total is between 0.8-2 euros, with the common selling price being three times the cost, while genuine water is about 30 euros per gallon (3.8L)."

It’s somewhat amusing to say, but the efficiency of factories in Night City far exceeds that of another world, yet because of the Initial Net Collapse and the rogue AI issue, the sea is filled with AI-controlled unmanned submarines, and sea transport directly halted.