In this city, money can make children sell out their parents, parents sell their children, and lovers backstab each other.
Aside from offering large rewards, Takemura successfully tarnished Mercer's image through targeted broadcasts, television shows, and secretly sending informants to spread rumors in Dog Town.
In the story Takemura crafted, Hansen is portrayed as a big-hearted 'good person' who recognizes talent.
And Mercer, as someone who just received the 'Medal of Honor' personally awarded by him, chose to backstab his devoted elder brother shortly after the ceremony, naturally becoming the villain of the story.
As for Hansen's current plight? He's already dead, of course.
For a time, Dog Town predictably fell into chaos.
A large number of desperadoes began scheming, thinking about how to score big off the Spark Team. In just one week, Jack, in charge of the checkpoint blockade, and Mann, responsible for security supervision, encountered two assassination attempts.
One was an ambush on the checkpoint by a group of Rebirth Mercenaries.
The other was an attempt by a soldier from the Netherworld Dog, unable to resist temptation, to backstab Mann.
Thankfully, the town's drones flying everywhere and the spider robots regularly patrolling and sealing tunnels inside buildings played a crucial role by detecting anomalies beforehand.
Under the protection of tank armor and close ctOS monitoring, both men luckily received early warnings and escaped unharmed. However, these consecutive assassination attempts seriously undermined the Netherworld Dog soldiers' confidence in Mercer.
Moreover, the Cubans, Military Science, and buyers and sellers from around the world began using their channels to pressure Mercer.
Under martial law, Dog Town's smuggling operations nearly ground to a halt, severely shaking investor confidence, and the Cubans were particularly displeased, even issuing Mercer the most severe warning.
In summary, it's 'lift martial law, Hansen's death doesn't matter to them, but if the business stops, not having you is very important to me.'
Suddenly, it seemed like the sky was falling and all the pressure came at once; even Kyoko, usually the team's mascot, spent nearly every day in deep dives, providing whatever help she could to Venus.
Finally, just when some of the Netherworld Dogs were becoming restless and wanted to ask about Hansen's whereabouts.
Hansen suddenly appeared.
To be precise, his voice appeared on Dog Town's broadcast.
In fact, in Dog Town, Hansen had a daily dedicated broadcast time, which could be understood as a propaganda station used to build prestige for Hansen and the Netherworld Dog.
Hansen would often give speeches during broadcast time, and even personally chat with the town's people about the crises in his past military career, though those stories were surely somewhat mythologized.
It was precisely this way that Hansen's rule over Dog Town became so deeply rooted, and it was one of the key reasons the Netherworld Dog could quickly gather a large number of people loyal to him.
"Good afternoon, Dog Town, this is your Colonel Hansen."
Hansen's voice played over the broadcast with crystal clarity, reaching every corner of Dog Town.
"Due to Arasaka's assassination attempt on me, Dog Town had to be under lockdown for a week. I know it was tough for all of you, but it's okay, the lockdown is over, and I'm back."
After Hansen's brief speech, he immediately praised the performance of the Netherworld Dog in a commendatory tone, and particularly lauded Mercer for taking over the Netherworld Dog and stabilizing the situation in Dog Town.
Then, Hansen publicly announced on the broadcast that starting that night, he would return to the Netherworld Dog and continue leading them forward as a leader.
Hansen's sudden appearance undoubtedly lifted the initially murky atmosphere of Dog Town.
But most of the Netherworld Dog soldiers were skeptical—was this really Hansen's voice?
Could Mercer be using technology to fake it?
It's no surprise they thought this way, with a week gone by and no sign of Hansen, everyone had quietly assumed he was likely dead and that the killer was Mercer himself.
But now Hansen suddenly emerged and claimed that Mercer was his most trusted, even praising the martial law measures Mercer took in Dog Town?
Stop joking!
However, when Hansen appeared, dressed in army-green short sleeves, standing confidently and sharply eyed at the Gem Cyan Hotel, the Netherworld Dog couldn't help but believe that perhaps things had taken a bizarre turn.
Because right next to Hansen, after a long absence, Mercer appeared, chatting and laughing with him, and although Mercer was wearing battle armor, his helmet visor was up, and anyone could see the friendly expressions on their faces.
Afterward, Hansen and Mercer jointly held a meeting for the mid-to-high-ranking members of the Netherworld Dog.
In the presence of those Netherworld Dog members with surprised expressions, Hansen even affectionately had Mercer sit in his deputy's seat, replacing the seat originally occupied by Bennett.
Damned, some of the Netherworld Dog members had witnessed Mercer killing Bennett with their own eyes... this is insanity!
And the words Hansen spoke afterward were even more unbelievable.