Chapter 210: Development, Development
Jamil was still on his way to Night City when he received the news, and the corner of his mouth twitched—especially after learning that the unlucky Brill had been blown up along with everything else.
That said, he was actually quite pleased about Brill’s death. One less competitor.
The one he suspected most had always been PROJECT Corporation. He was even convinced that blowing up the Militech building was only one of their objectives, the other being to get rid of Brill.
Hiss… come to think of it…
Did that mean he himself might be in danger?
The thought made Jamil fall silent.
“Well… it should be fine. That beast isn’t in Night City right now, so there’s no need to worry too much.”
Jamil shook his head. He wasn’t particularly afraid of the others—the real problem was that beast. He knew very well that he was no match for it. As for the remaining few… they looked far from simple, but he felt they were still opponents he could fight.
Of course, he didn’t really know how strong they were, since he had never crossed hands with them.
Judging from what they had shown so far, their strength completely crushed the rest, which suggested another possibility: they hadn’t gone all out yet. And as a cautious angel, he never fought a battle without preparation.
That was why he had no intention of clashing head-on with them—unless… the value they could offer was enough to override his reason.
Or unless their boss appeared right in front of him without any defenses. He never minded resorting to force directly, even if others saw it as a last resort.
For him, if the conditions were right, it was simply the most efficient option.
“Speed it up. Get to Night City as soon as possible.”
Jamil ended his train of thought and instructed the driver in front.
“Understood.”
Now that the Highriders’ representative in Night City had died in the explosion, this gap was the perfect window to negotiate terms with PROJECT Corporation. Rather than waiting to be pushed later, it was better to head over quickly on his own.
...
“Is this Source Energy?”
Roland turned his head toward Samuel.
In front of them was a small energy reactor, marked with a clearly visible PROJECT emblem and emitting an eye-catching orange glow.
Through the scanning system integrated into his body by Light, Roland could sense the immense amount of energy contained within this tiny device.
“Yes. This is the stable energy we’ve extracted so far. A large portion is still in a chaotic state and needs time to cool down.”
“...And where did you put that unstable energy?”
“Right here. Is there a problem?”
Hearing Roland’s question, Samuel scratched his head and replied with a puzzled look.
Roland’s mouth twitched. An unstable source capable of providing massive amounts of energy… so… wasn’t this thing basically no different from nuclear power?
Roland’s mind struggled to wrap around it. He wasn’t an expert in this field, but even so, he knew that standing on top of something like this was definitely dangerous…
Which meant… the current PROJECT Corporation building was essentially a super–high-yield nuclear bomb, one that could explode at any time if the energy went out of control…
“You’re confident in your control over Source Energy, right?”
“Please rest assured. Everything is fully under control.”
Samuel patted his chest confidently and gave his guarantee.
Roland simply nodded. After offering a few words of encouragement and handing over some material rewards, he left the area.
After all, chatting on top of a nuclear bomb was hardly comfortable.
Not long after, Roland arrived at Mudor’s side.
“The energy issue is basically resolved. You can start preparing on your end.”
Roland spoke to Mudor.
“Oh! Does that mean my brand-new masterpiece can finally see the light of day?!”
Mudor immediately became excited and rushed over to the “Bartmoss” body—a construct created through extensive genetic augmentation combined with PROJECT technology.
“You’re his creator. Give him a name.”
Roland glanced at the figure, now completely encased in black armor, and spoke.
“Hmm… let’s call him Apocalypse.”
Roland’s mouth twitched at the name, but he didn’t comment. After all, naming it was Mudor’s right.
“You’ve prepared his soul already?”
“Yes. We refined the data consciousness of numerous netrunners, extracted suitable memories and interwove them, then within his subconscious world—”
“Stop. I get it. No need to explain it in that much detail.”
Roland quickly cut Mudor off. Otherwise, this guy would probably keep talking for quite a while.
“After this is finished, there’s another important project I need to hand over to you.”
Mudor froze for a moment, then looked at Roland with curiosity.
Roland raised his hand, and a projection immediately appeared before Mudor.
As he stared at the design blueprint in front of him, Mudor’s eyes slowly widened.
“Th-this is?!”
“Renovating that city will probably take quite some time. During this period, you’ll be responsible for developing some of the corporation’s other products. Once the renovation is complete, you and Samuel will head over to take charge there.”
“Yes! I guarantee I won’t disappoint you!”
Mudor looked at Roland with fervent eyes and made his promise.
After settling everything, Roland left. He now needed to prepare to meet the legendary Twelve Angels.
It was said to be the pinnacle of combat power in the cyberpunk world, equipped with the most advanced technology and cyberware this world had to offer.
Roland was very curious about just how far their strength could reach. Still, to be safe, he decided to recall Maine, who was still training at the front.
...
“Brill is dead.”
“I know… his death doesn’t matter. What matters is that we’ve fallen a step behind the European Space Agency.”
“Don’t worry. I kept another person as a backup. We won’t be much slower than the European Space Agency.”
“What an irritating day. Have you found out who did it?”
“The lockdown was extremely tight. Their network technology exceeded our expectations—far stronger than any roaming AI we’ve encountered before. We suspect it was the work of warlords from Blackwall.”
“Possible… get in touch with NetWatch. Have them pay closer attention to Blackwall, especially during this period. Those guys have been getting more and more restless lately. In the past, they only exploited vulnerabilities to steal a bit of data.”
Far above the surface of the Earth, inside the Crystal Palace, two Highriders were conversing. Judging from their exchange, neither of them harbored much suspicion toward PROJECT for the time being.
Whether this was due to overconfidence or some other reason was unclear.
As for stealing technology directly through the network… almost all major corporations maintained data repositories isolated from the net. That was clearly unrealistic.
Author's Note
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