บท 16: Return, Matt Murdock
"Steven Knott, a veteran of the Fourth Corporate War, volunteered for the cleanup crew after the war to do dirty work."
"After retirement, he served as the president of the Atlanta Veterans Association, handling conflicts that the NUSA (New United States of America) couldn't publicly address, occasionally making some extra cash."
"Cyberware: 'Peregrine' Sandevistan, old model; Thermal Mantis Blades, reinforced tendons, subdermal armor... like most people in the association, he had a history of going cyberpsycho. He went berserk at a party and killed his wife and friends."
"It just so happened that the previous president had an accident. NUSA stepped in to protect him, adjusted the Sandevistan's power output, and let him continue serving the government."
"Arrogant, impulsive, easily manipulated."
A few hours later, Militech personnel arrived to investigate this conflict.
In fact, the second wave of Militech squads had already arrived before them, but unfortunately, they ran into a team from Kang Tao.
A fierce firefight ensued, and Militech eventually drove Kang Tao's people away, starting their investigation of the scene.
Various wreckages were scattered around; restoring the original scene seemed nearly impossible, with numerous issues.
Knott was the first to catch up with these little thieves. Who took down Knott?
It's reported that the other side was just some no-name thieves; how did they manage to take down such an elite?
Moreover, after Knott, a 64-man Militech squad arrived, but it seems they all went offline at the same time!
"Strange, really strange—the field investigation report has been uploaded, requesting technical support.
Thanks to that brain-dead Knott, he got himself killed while trying to make some extra cash, and now we can't even properly investigate."
The investigator watched as the upload progress bar completed, a line of text popped up.
"Upload complete, target: Nightingale."
The data from the scene and the investigation results were transmitted to a senior netrunner in Washington for technical analysis.
A response came quickly.
"It's clear that after Knott arrived, he encountered an ambush. He arrived at the scene almost simultaneously with the squad.
A Kang Tao netrunner team was lying in wait here and launched a net attack as the team crossed the net boundaries, with ICE (Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics) failing to properly defend against the attack.
The precise timing suggests it was planned long ago. It's recommended to raise security levels in response to this incident."
No one found anything particularly odd—after all, who could have thought that a single person could hack over 50 people's networks in an instant!
But the senior netrunner known as Nightingale hid some additional information she discovered.
Within the wreckage of the ruined software, she found something familiar...
The characteristics of those data fragments...
They came from the Blackwall she had crossed countless times.
Is it an AI from beyond the wall?
Casually erasing the traces of the Blackwall at the scene to ensure it wouldn't be discovered by NetWatch, Nightingale disconnected the data link.
She would investigate on her own.
[Temporal fluctuation detected: implanted cyberware. Forced expenditure of Tech Points to bind implanted cyberware.]
[Implanted Cyberware: Militech "Chapter" Mk.6 Prototype Core (Unfinished)]
[Description: A prototype technology not intended for human use, designed to host AI.]
[Weight: 2.622kg]
[Implanted Cyberware: Neural Interface]
[Description: A neural link at the nape of the neck that allows for the insertion of separate chips, already connected to multiple areas of the cerebral cortex.]
[Weight: 240g]
[Implanted Cyberware: Qilusi Mk.2 Cyberoptics]
[Description: Displays data from the neural interface as visual images within the cyberoptics, enhancing brain-machine interaction. Made with high-end components, its accelerated scanning algorithm can speed up image recording and recognition, with up to 8x zoom.]
[Weight: 24g]
[Implanted Cyberware bound, Tech Points -2886]
[Current Tech Points: 510]
Looking back at the operation over there, Leo actually guessed that the vehicle carried more than just smart weapons as soon as he saw the project name "Reality Warp."
Because in the game, the QianT Sandevistan Mk.5 was named "Reality Warp."
This Sandevistan had the best effect in the early versions of the game, crushing Militech's Sandevistan, but in the new versions, it became the weakest Sandevistan.
It could only slow time by 20%—not even as good as the Kerenzikov, showing that active neural enhancement technology is much harder to achieve than passive technology.
It seems that due to his interference, QianT's Sandevistan development jumped directly to the 2.0 version of the game...
The first thing Leo did when he opened his eyes was check the time.
It seems he had been gone for about 20 hours, and it was now 6 PM.
This makes him realize that his work efficiency in the Cyberpunk world is not ordinary, with an hourly rate of 25,000 eurodollars.
Unfortunately, the money can't be used in both worlds.
Right now, he was holding an old-fashioned smartphone, which was incredibly laggy.
Although he had used the system to set up commands for learning, he hadn't really learned much.
However, the news he found did confirm that this world was indeed the Marvel world.
His apartment was located in Hell's Kitchen, a gathering place for poor immigrants, and the place was rented.
Structurally, it resembled the poor man's apartment from Spider-Man 3, but smaller, shorter, more humid, and with creakier floorboards.
Moreover, his mom had been out all day, with no rest at all—it looked like she was struggling to make a living to treat him.
He still needed to work hard—both here and there.
Leo still had a lot to do—like connecting his array of offline cyberware to this world's internet.
It seemed that even though they were the same cyberware, they were entirely different things from two different timelines.
Leo needed to modify many parts to make them compatible with this world's internet.
Additionally...
"So, when converting physical items, 1 Tech Point equals 1 gram of mass, pretty strict."
Leo wanted to stand up, and this time it felt a bit refreshing—because in the other world, the cyberware was surgically implanted.
Here, it felt more like it just appeared out of thin air, with no pain from cutting open his body and bones, making the first operation feel more real.
This piece of cyberware started from the cervical vertebrae and extended up to the thoracic vertebrae, completely replacing this section of the spine after removing the original vertebrae. It was inserted from the back of the neck, fully replacing this part of the skeleton.
The internal biological neural connectors and spinal reinforcements automatically ejected after connecting the spine.
The spinal reinforcements would eject from the cyberware to fill the gaps between the bones, and the artificial nerve fibers would extend, reaching into the bone marrow and grey matter, connecting to the nervous system where it needed to.
Ultimately, it would directly or indirectly affect all of the body's motor and sensory nerves.
Feeling like he had been electrocuted, Leo suddenly jumped up from the bed.
Now he could move normally, without worrying about paralysis, but he would still die sooner.
"First, I need to set up a power limiter; otherwise, if I run at full power, I might look like a fireball."
When the Sandevistan kicks in, the body heats up like an overclocked computer.
Even though the cyberware itself has very little metal content—mostly composite materials—it's unlikely to be detected by metal detectors.
But if it runs at full power, the noticeable increase in body temperature would be obvious even without instruments. In fact, even at normal power, Leo's body temperature would be about 0.1 degrees Celsius higher than his normal temperature.
This cyberware didn't have safety protocols, but Leo could add them himself.
Just as Leo was engrossed in understanding these Cyberpunk world technological marvels embedded in his body, a sudden noise came from outside the door.
Leo frowned.
"Haha! Look at the big dick I drew; this place is now called Dick House!"
"Hahahaha!"
Just listening, Leo could tell they were street punks. He was puzzled; even though this was a poor man's apartment, how did street punks get up here?
From the sound of it, they seemed to be playing outside. Soon, a different voice came through.
"Get out of here! You lousy punks!"
The voice was strong, but a bit old. Leo recalled that it sounded like... the landlord?
The noise escalated instantly, with the street punks' voices turning cold and angry:
"Screw you, old man, you're asking for a beating!"
Leo couldn't take it anymore—in his memory, the landlord didn't seem like a bad guy, so he decided to go out and take a look.
Bang!
Just as Leo opened the door, he saw two street punks about to strike, but their movements stopped.
The landlord uncle and the two street punks were also looking toward the lower apartment entrance—where a man with a warm smile was standing.
He wore round sunglasses, a suit and tie, holding a cane in one hand and a file folder in the other.
"If you lay a hand on him, I can guarantee that you'll spend some time in a cell and lose all your earnings during that time."
"Damn it, it's this jerk again, let's go."
The two street punks, looking like they had met their match, walked away, muttering curses. The lawyer, however, graciously stepped aside to give them some space.
"Oh, Leo, you're awake? I think your mother will be very pleased to hear that."
He paused before introducing himself, "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Matt Murdock, and I'm here to help you."
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