Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

Without much time for sighs and lamentations, Thor quickly composed himself. Just as he was comforting the seriously injured Vol and instructing the tribal doctor to take good care of him, a series of violent explosions suddenly erupted from the minefield-covered 'death zone'.

Who detonated it?

He looked fierce and spoke in a stern voice.

"Before the mission began, I repeatedly emphasized that any large-scale detonation of the minefield must be announced in advance via the channel to prevent accidental bombing of our comrades..."

drip.

It is a communication channel.

[Mitchell: Saul, something's up!]

[Scorpion: Damn it, Mitch, Thor, get our people to retreat immediately. I'm sure it's company personnel. There's an abandoned outlying town in the 'Death Zone.' Just now, five or six Aragaka hovercrafts flew by—military-grade Surveyor A6s. Now... damn it, there are people inside. They even have missile vehicles...]

[Panan: Then why the hell are you still watching?! Are you out of your mind?! Damn it, with all this mess at the company, if we see too much, we're definitely going to be silenced!]

[Mitchell: Scorpion, stop looking, let's get out of here!]

The chat window kept popping up with messages from family members.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Saul made a decisive decision.

"Mitch, Scorpion, you guys come back. Men, the commission is temporarily suspended." Making money is one thing, but he would never gamble his partners' lives on the company's mercy.

Scorpion: Understood.

The words had barely left his lips when several exceptionally loud booms erupted from Scorpion's ID video microphone, plunging the communication channels of every Adcardo Bon family member into a cacophony of noise until Scorpion's almost distorted shouts returned—

[Scorpion: Damn it, it's Adam Hammer—!]

Looking northeast from the hill where Thor is, on the other side of the undulating sand and gravel hills, thick smoke and dust rise up like an elongated mushroom cloud.

His heart skipped a beat.

"Was this... an ammunition depot explosion?"

...

"Report, Councilor Russell, military technology has been discovered in a forward outpost in the northern Badlands. Adam Hammer has led the Tyrant forces to the outpost and has begun the annihilation mission."

Company Plaza, War Room on the 109th Floor of Arasaka Tower.

rustle…

Reclining in her chair, Vera gently nodded, her fingers lightly tracing the tabletop as she watched the live audio-visual feed transmitted from the combined perspectives of Surveyor A6, Cyber ​​Tyrant, and Adam Hammer.

Beneath the virtual restricted area outlined by crimson neon scanning lines, the entire circular building collapsed.

To be precise, it was crushed. There wasn't much building debris flying around; it was all pressed into the ground by the crimson force field. The ground was like a solid foundation, and it sank down at an even faster speed. The sprayed blood mist and bone fragments flew more than ten meters away.

Gravity field manipulation device.

Accompanying this was the heavy hammer's rough, maniacal laughter, like heavy metal music.

"Hahaha... That feels good! Come on, come on, my little darlings, wriggle around, I'm going to fuck you into a pulp!"

The explosions continued, a hail of bullets raged, rockets whistled incessantly, and machine guns roared furiously, but then—buzz—

The high-speed movement, the choppy, frame-by-frame animation, was Adam Hammer activating the [Seanwistan]. Wearing 'Cyborg 1.2 Mod' with added torso armor, he moved at high speed.

Under the mysterious magnetic field, within a certain range, the firearms held by military technology agents and soldiers hidden in the building were attracted, and even the heavy machine guns fixed on the turrets were forcibly torn off, with the mounting brackets emitting a tooth-grinding metallic groan.

The next moment, the hammer simultaneously pulled the triggers of dozens of guns, and bullets of various calibers swept through like hail.

The transmitted footage showed a scene of flying limbs and remains everywhere.

Magnetic generator.

And this was the destruction caused by Adam Hammer alone.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Four deafening, hammer-like sounds echoed as the four cybernetic Tyrants activated. "Authorized by: Vera Adelheid Russell, Councilor. Agreement passed...Execute the annihilation operation."

buzzing...

A gravitational field multiplied by five.

Rounds of crimson scanning lines outlined the buildings of the abandoned town, and in an instant, there was a tremendous roar that shook the earth, as if it would level the entire area.

Tremors... Roars...

The picture is so beautiful.

------

PS: Phew... This chapter introduces the storylines of the three selectable backgrounds in 2077: the corporate dog, the street kid, and the homeless man. The following chapters will then weave them together logically.

Chapter 102 An Unexpected Joy

A small, abandoned town on the outskirts of the barren land, seemingly blending into the desert.

Blood and fire.

Dust and smoke.

Gunshots, explosions, and the roar of engines.

Debris from reinforced concrete flying in all directions, twisted and deformed vehicles and armored vehicles, and mangled bodies...

Beneath the five terrifying shadows hurtling by, crimson warning scan lines flashed before the release of five gravity fields.

In an instant, there was a tremendous tremor that shook the earth, and rings of compacted craters appeared.

The wall shattered, and more than a dozen enemy soldiers hidden inside the building were caught in the crossfire, turning into a bloody mist and exploding. Several high-speed, modified wasteland vehicles were also thrown into the air, their parts scattered across the battlefield within a mile radius, shattered into pieces.

...

Unbeknownst to them, the sound of the wind howling like a ghost once again filled the audio.

The ferocious roars of the five prosthetic behemoths, which sent chills down one's spine, gradually subsided.

The heavily armored 'aRaSaKa' soldiers, clad in black, began to take over the battlefield.

"What a great show."

Turning her gaze away, Vera picked up the bone china cup containing black tea, took a sip, and murmured softly. Then, she stood up on the black marble floor tiles, which were intricately carved with the Arasaka Clover logo.

"Tanaka, I'm very satisfied with your 'Cyborg'. Well done."

She spoke to Shinichi Tanaka, who was standing respectfully to the side.

“It is my honor, Director—” Tanaka, who had a serious appearance and a stocky build, looked delighted upon hearing this and quickly bowed ninety degrees to express his gratitude.

The 109th floor of Arasaka Tower is a height that almost no mid-level research staff of his rank could ever reach in their entire lives. Today, he was fortunate enough to ascend it because of Vera's invitation.

"but."

Vera's sudden change of tone surprised Tanaka.

"You still haven't delivered on the original goals of the 'King Kong' project. The threshold is too high, and it doesn't have the widespread availability for large-scale deployment, so it can only be customized equipment for professionals like Adam Hammer."

"I'm so sorry!" Tanaka bowed again.

"Relax. This isn't a denunciation session." With a warm smile, Vera slowly turned around. "'Tyrant.' That's the mess I made for you. At least you finished the Cybernetic Transformer. Adam Hammer accepted your proposal."

"You passed, Tanaka."

"Thank you very much." Tanaka bowed deeply and remained so for a long time.

“You will continue to be in charge of the ongoing improvement and optimization of the ‘Prosthetic Body 2.0’ project. I will have Jimmy cooperate with you to deliver the new plan to me as soon as possible.”

"Yes," Tanaka replied repeatedly.

Pointing to the holographic screen, Vera continued to point out the problems and defects that the 'Cyborg 1.2 Mod' has exposed in actual combat.

For example, frontline field operators reported that the image display in the tactical chain when the gravity field generator of the cybernetic body is activated needs improvement...

In addition, Vera continued to make new demands, such as the 'Picatinny rail system' for the prosthetic body, that is, the standardization of accessory installation platforms, and the modularization of the addition and disassembly of armor, airship vector engines, gravity field operation devices, magnetic generators, and heavy firepower.

There's also miniaturization.

Depending on the specific details, miniaturization can be categorized in various ways: miniaturization with reduced performance, miniaturization without reduced performance, miniaturization with appropriately reduced performance, miniaturization with increased load to improve performance and increase operational difficulty, and so on. In short, there are many detailed requirements.

As for the series of improvement requests that Vera, who was both the client and the superior, put forward, Tanaka took out his PDA tablet and wrote down a long list.

Finally, faced with Vera's seemingly irresistible promise of a "performance rating increase of at least one level this year" and the encouragement of a promotion and raise, Tanaka's expression was priceless—a mixture of excitement and melancholy. After gritting his teeth and accepting this time-sensitive and demanding task, he bowed and took his leave.

Eyelids popping.

The situation room fell silent again.

Vera continued watching the show... no, she was watching the live footage of a field mission.

There's really nothing much to see here.

What remained were only sporadic gunshots, the heavy, thunderous footsteps of the massive object crushing the gravel, the clattering of the wind through the wooden windows, the rustling of clumps of grass rolling across the dry sand, the crackling of fireworks burning old building materials, the booming sound of collapsing houses, and the low moans and sobs of the wounded…

boom!

Another loud bang, flames rose, and dust flew everywhere.

Through the vision transmitted back by the cybernetic tyrant, Vera could see the desolate scene of fire and smoke rising from the outer town, which had become a battlefield.

Beneath a three-story building that appears dilapidated and indistinguishable from other abandoned buildings in a bad area, one can see a spiderweb-like network of cracked staircases and elevator shafts, as well as sparking cables that have fallen from the half-shattered underground walls.

Look at the storm of metallic heat emanating from the built-in machine gun turret that spews forth flames and the rocket launchers.

Clearly, it's the basement.

Moreover, it is a basement of considerable size with fairly complete supporting facilities.

Although the smugglers and scavengers inhabiting this abandoned town wear a motley crew of clothes and carry no uniform weapons or vehicles, exuding a distinctly rugged vibe, their well-organized weaponry, comparable to, or even surpassing, military-grade cybernetic bodies, befits their long-standing rivals of over half a century—

After the frontline agents of the Arasaka Security Forces engaged in firefights, they felt a strange sense of familiarity. Damn! It was either military technology, the new US FIA, or the Lazarus mercenary group. At the very least, they had received training from the former and had some contact with them.