Our technology may have gotten better, be we sure as hell haven't. In this city the right data file's worth a lot more than a human life, and anything - everything - can be bought for the right price. They say The Government © used to exist to protect us - well, now it's staffed entirely by amoral killers-for-hire, in stiff competition with a dozen other rent-a-spy corps, information extraction services and assassination providers. Well, maybe not all that much has changed... The rich keep getting richer and the rest of us, well, don't. There's good money in hacking, if you've got the smarts, the guts and the requisite disregard for privacy, or you could always sell yourself on the streets or to some pharmacorp. Professional thugging's big business too, but that can be a hard market to break into, depending on your comfort level with breaking kneecaps. If that doesn't sound too great, hey, there's always new slums popping up...

This development sounds like it could be a new start, though. DeveleCon bought up all the wilderness to the southeast of the City and they're not wasting any time getting it built up. There's a boozhy new development  right on the coast, all neon and glass - I think the suits are going for some kind of Tokyo vibe. There's a lot of Russian and Chinese money being thrown at that place, though, so I'd watch my step around there - those Novye Russkie guys'll dump you in the bay for walking too confident down the street. And of course there's another slum up north. Apparently it was some kind of housing project abandoned back in the teens, but the builders need a place to stay, so now it's theirs. Those PLA Faction guys have some kind of pirate radio station there and they're working with the triads too, so I'd keep my head down if I had to visit. But on the other hand the suits haven't been able to tear it down, 'cause the mob has the best snipers in the world on their payroll, and they haven't gotten a Government © permit yet to carpet bomb the place, so for now it's sticking around. I hear they pay big money for data over there, so you might want to check it out. I also heard those Ocean Corps clowns - you know, the alien cult that dresses up like the navy or something? - I heard they're drifting by there too. For a bunch of brainwashed morons they sure got lots of cash. Maybe they'll hire you.

Lots to see. Lots of opportunities...