Abyssal Wanderer.

And so, while promising the mortician a rosy picture, Number One also contacted the Abyss Wanderers team with whom he had a long-term cooperative relationship, and paid a high price to reserve the printing rights for the entire Theseus Path Depth 3.

Personality distillation system, third-order puppet circuit, broad-spectrum energy core, Marathon II bionic enhancement system, Periphert inertial anchor, Ariadne-type nano-neural intrusion wire, pseudo-Poseidon's Gift type active armor...

Why are there so many adjustments and modifications to the Theseus Path in Depth 3?

Looking at the prices for printing permissions in the list, Number One couldn't help but feel a little pained.

Of course, if he compares prices from multiple vendors, haggles at several black markets, or even shamelessly leverages the connections of the Fire Thieves, he can easily reduce his budget by 50%.

But considering he needed it immediately, the team was already very generous to only charge such a small price for expedited service.

Number One even suspected that the team might not have some of the printing permissions—after all, the Theseus path is a high-risk ascension path, and having such a set of printing permissions on hand would make them easy targets for the Olympian Order's joint enforcement team.

They might be looking for a second transaction with their peers, and are just temporarily listing their listings here.

Even so, the most crucial element, the "Pegasus," was still missing from this entire set of adjustments and modifications.

Number One sighed softly to himself, then said:

In short, money is not an issue. You have to gather a complete set of Depth 3 modifications and upgrades for me within two hours, no matter what.

His strong statement left the middleman somewhat embarrassed, and he said:
All other printing permissions are fine, but "Pegasus" is indeed a bit of a problem. Recently, many large clients have been snapping up "Pegasus" in the trading market, and several quadrants that easily produce "Pegasus" have been jointly enforced by several companies, resulting in a severe shortage. It's not really a matter of money.

Ok?
Upon hearing this news, Number One immediately sensed something unusual.

To be fair, Pegasus did undergo a significant upgrade and modification due to high demand.

This isn't because there are many Theseus Path Adjusters it's compatible with, but because it possesses the ability to repair brain damage. Many wealthy people whose brains have been damaged by radiation or neurotoxins consider it a panacea that can cure them.

As for the "zombie switch," it's an added bonus, allowing the enhanced user to completely surrender their body to zombie mode when they don't want to face certain things.

With such convenient features, coupled with the fact that its individual enhancement has minimal side effects, even natives who don't intend to pursue the Ascension path might want to equip one. Therefore, the Pegasus is considered a relatively common salvaged item on the Abyss Wanderers' black market.

But now it's so hard to buy even if you pay extra... This seems a bit too suspicious, doesn't it?

Which companies are included in the blockade of those quadrants?

Number One asked.

[It cannot be confirmed, but judging from the composition of the law enforcement team's adjusted route, it seems that Apollo Biology and Pluto Deep Dive teams are the majority.]

"That's what the middleman replied."

Apollo Biology and Pluto Deep Dive...

Number One pondered silently.

If these two companies have any similarities or differences, it's that both have Theseus Pathfinders at Depth 7 on their boards of directors...

The Apollo virus is ineffective against people who have enhanced their Pegasus. Could this be related?

Thinking this through, Number One exited the contacts app.

Meanwhile, the exoskeleton armor he had created using a full ton of computational energy was nearing completion.

PD-A7 "Binder", also known as the Descendant of Prometheus (Armor Type 7).

This is the Aegis Transformation Module he obtained at Depth 5, a mass-produced exoskeleton armor specialized for urban combat. After continuous improvements by the Firebringer's technical team, it is now comparable to the combat-type Depth 3 Coordinator in terms of both weapon strength and durability, except for a slight shortcoming in the power supply system.

Of course, the prerequisite is that the pilot's skill level cannot be too bad - although in theory, even unmodified natives can be equipped with it, within the Firebringers, this thing is only used by Coordinators of Depth I and II.

Ordinary people, even those who have undergone long-term training, would find it difficult to unleash even 30% of its power. "Take this one, put it on."

He spoke to the mortician in an unquestionable, commanding tone.

…………

"Who knows if there's a back door inside? I'm not wearing it!"

Jiang Zhou had intended to refuse loudly, but the thing's design was just too cool.

The entire exoskeleton armor is about two meters tall, looking like a combination of a sports car and knight's armor. Its exterior is covered with a streamlined, dark gray silicon carbide ceramic plate, the surface of which is covered with fine electrophoretic patterns, like blood vessels flowing with blood-red indicator lights.

The armor's head features a panoramic sensor mask without facial features, consisting only of a horizontal V-shaped viewfinder slit that flickers with an unstable scanning red light. The armor's back has two auxiliary robotic arms, but they don't resemble weapons; rather, they appear to be auxiliary devices for moving through complex terrain.

The most eye-catching part of the entire suit of armor was the thick, trailing umbilical cable at the tailbone—Jiang Zhou initially mistook it for a tail, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was actually an electrical cable. Judging from the number of turns, it was probably about a hundred meters long, and at the end of the cable was a deformable universal transformer connector.

"This thing..."

Jiang Zhou swallowed.

Is it easy to use?

He wanted to ask if there was any danger, but then felt it was a bit impolite to question someone like that.

In response, Number One seemed to read his mind and gave a snort, then said:
"If we consider this as payment for the four tons of computing power you delivered, then this Chainbinder is definitely quite useful."

His meaning was clear—this was simply a reward for these computational resources; don't worry about anything else.

No problem...

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

After all, the fact that the Human Path would send over the calculation element suggests that this is likely part of a larger plan. Moreover, if anything unexpected happens, they can simply activate the emergency safety device on Number One—during that trial, they had inscribed the Dark Moon Mark into the core of the other's mind.

If the mark is activated, it may not kill him immediately, but it can at least trap his consciousness in the City of Sages, causing his physical body in the base reality to completely disconnect.

In addition, Number One also said he would give himself a Deep 3 upgrade... This is probably because Theseus Freight just mentioned that Christie gave him an SVIP membership.

As Jiang Zhou thought this, he couldn't wait to put on the exoskeleton armor.

He would certainly assume that these computational elements were sent by Christie… no, by Charon.

Sending him the Deep 3 adjustment and modification printing permissions was probably also a way to win him over and show goodwill to Charon... Besides that, solving the current problems in the Nord resettlement area is also very important.

After all, if the great thunderbolt really struck, he wouldn't be able to escape.

Having figured these points out, Jiang Zhou was able to put aside many of his doubts and donned the armor.

As the neural control interface was connected to the brain-computer interface located at the occipital bone, countless technical parameters, functions, and operating methods of the "Chained One" flooded into his mind.

After all, the operator does not need to specially optimize the brain's neural network to adapt to the armor. The operation of the "Chainer" is mainly based on force feedback, combined with eye movement and voice control and a small amount of neural signal optimization and correction. In other words, although the performance of this exoskeleton is very powerful, it is still inferior to the Adjuster with the same performance in terms of control reaction.

But according to Number One, this thing is still enough to compete with a Deep 3 Adjuster, which means the values ​​given are still too generous.

Thinking this, Jiang Zhou tried to lift his foot.

Then he failed. (End of Chapter)