Cyberpunk starts with signing in for the legendary mantis knife

Welcome to the year 2077.

In 2077, technology is everywhere. Industrial automation, endless advertising bombardment, replacing human flesh and blood with circuits and steel. The list goes on. Most public transportation is now autonomous, whether it is trains, subways or buses. All of these vehicles have independent minds, can communicate with each other while on the road, and can self-correct at any time to respond to situations flexibly. In

2077, the entire society relies heavily on drones and robots.

From the simplest camera drones used for recording and live broadcasting, to bulky and huge warehouse machines, and even training robots.

People are accustomed to seeing giant automatic garbage collection devices on the streets and robots responsible for cleaning the streets.

Whether they are mass-produced products of chaebol groups or assembled machines cobbled together with stolen parts and technology, robots are not only an important role in the economy, but also an indispensable part of the daily life of Night City residents.

Although even the poorest social classes can obtain cheap electronic devices and services, most people still cannot afford the latest products or replace broken equipment. As a result, many people learn from an early age to adapt to local conditions, tinkering with discarded scraps to cobble together their own pastimes or forge weapons.

Modern society adopts a rigid class system. Forget the usual three-class model: upper class, middle class, lower class. Now there are only two classes - upper class and lower class, and each class is composed of three sub-classes - ruling class, middle class and ruled class. Bourdieu predicted this well. Shit, don't you know what I'm talking about? Go read some books, kid.

——Thompson, 2077

The Established Class

OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit.

There is a middle class, and it's made up mostly of lower-level corporate employees, state-owned enterprise workers, and private entrepreneurs who run their own businesses.

There are slightly different situations in Asia, Europe, and South America.

However, here and now, in the less wealthy United States, social stratification has reached its peak.

Megacorporations are at the top of society.

These multinational corporations hold the real power in the world today, with more money and influence than most governments.

In addition, they have created their own culture, laws, and social systems.

There may be significant cultural differences - for example, the policies of the Arasaka Corporation are influenced by Japanese traditions, while the attitude of the Militech Corporation towards the gun trade is no different from that of the American middle class.

However, they all value the same things, such as compliance with the system, hierarchy, loyalty, and most importantly, power.

Nowadays

, you either work for a company or you are alone - that is, you are either trying to run your own small business, are a freelancer, or are a social nomad.

The middle and lower-level employees of a company are expendable and can be replaced at almost any time.

The unemployed are the company's reserve army and a constant threat to employees.

If you're not productive, you'll be fired, if you're disloyal, you'll be fired - but if you're a threat to the company, you're dead.

This is why working in a company is so stressful.

You know what? No one is going to quit their career all of a sudden.

The top of the company

Most mid-level employees have a"work hard, play hard" mentality, using stimulants to achieve maximum productivity during work hours, but their moods plummet during short breaks.

"The"dominated" are at the bottom of the company.

They are cleaners, drivers, security guards and low-level employees.

They receive the most basic health care and live in employee housing in cheap communities funded by the company.

Some of them are only satisfied with mediocre jobs and live a monotonous life day after day.

However, most of them dream of getting promoted and entering the"middle class".

"——The middle class of corporate employees.

To achieve this, they are eager to work 16 hours a day, take stimulants for three meals a day, and treat tranquilizers and sleeping pills as dessert.

These people are already trapped, waking up every morning, waiting for their own"big opportunity" in a cycle.

"……

Because, if they are persistent, smart, and ruthless enough, their chance will eventually come, and they will have the opportunity to move up in the corporate hierarchy. They may get a nice apartment or condo in one of the corporate buildings, and the company will provide them with a bus. Their salary will increase, and they may even enjoy fresh—albeit still adjusted—food from time to time.

More importantly, they now have a chance to rise to the top of the company. They will get lucky, right?

Of course they will, because - boy, whether you have worked your way up to this position, or through connections, years of education, or honest credit, things will get more serious at this time, and the real battle for survival begins.

You are like a young shark living in a crowded fish tank, and the only way to survive is to be more fierce, more ruthless, and more calculating than your colleagues.

Every colleague wants to step over your dead body and sit in your warm office chair - this moment is also revealed the biggest fear of the average corporate employee:"They want to take what I have.

" This fear will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

As a mid-level employee, if you want to succeed, you must always be one step ahead of your colleagues.

To get to the top of a company, you have to always be ahead of the curve, and to achieve that goal, mid-level corporate employees have to play dirty games and exploit every opportunity to achieve their goals.

So, while most low-level employees isolate themselves from the world, the more ambitious among them take advantage of their environment, and here's why.

They work with guys on the street, buy information from middlemen, hire hitmen and web crawlers to do the dirty work, bribe unethical police officers, and treat journalists as their competitors in the workplace.

For efficient companies, everything and everyone is a tool or a weapon to achieve their goals.

Mid-level employees live a high-risk, high-reward life.

However, most of them will drop out of the competition sooner or later due to doping, excessive stress, or being eaten by bigger and hungrier"sharks.

" This is the essence of corporate life, kid.

"The"Juggernauts" are at the top of the corporate pyramid - they are the real badasses: board members, CEOs, company owners and their blood relatives.

These are the ruling members of the modern world.

Most of them inherited their positions from their families, but some have built their own alliances after decades of hard work, scheming, pulling the strings, consolidating power.

These guys have a more stable position, but it is far from secure.