After a busy day, Leo had a comfortable sleep—
But he was awoken by the scorching temperature of the Badlands.
TN:We are back!
It was noon here, and after checking the time on his cybernetic eye, he realized that five and a half days had passed in this cyberpunk world, half a day longer than in the Marvel universe.
It seemed that the brief installation of the octopus arm had caused some discrepancies in the flow of time between the two worlds.
"Wake up! Don't sleep anymore! It's time to head back to the city!"
V shook Leo awake.
The three of them had stayed in the Badlands for a few days, one reason being to wait for the situation in the city to stabilize, and the other being that Leo needed to test how difficult it was to operate the machinery across dimensions.
The answer was that it was very easy.
"Stop shaking me! My brain is going to get scrambled!"
V withdrew his hand, saying playfully, "Ah, I just love shaking the dumb ones."
When Leo's main consciousness was placed in another world, his physical body here became more machine-like, capable of only executing simpler commands.
So he looked rather dazed.
Leo glanced at V and said, "Then you should wake up and shake your head every morning—Where's Jackie?"
"He went to teach the rookies how to shoot."
"Grab your stuff and drive the vehicle over; we're getting ready to leave."
"Woohoo!" V exclaimed, raising his arms in excitement and stretching as he walked toward the shooting range. "Time to head back!"
After saying that, Leo put down the history textbook of Aldecaldos in his hands and also got up to leave the tent—
The camp had undergone a significant transformation.
Aldecaldos was the main camp in Night City and was previously the station of the Red Ocher, located in a small ravine with only a few concealed paths leading to it.
Desert camouflage fabric covered the top of the ravine to prevent patrol drones from spotting them, and the generator was hidden in sandstone, maintaining a temperature consistent with the Badlands under controlled conditions.
With money, the Fixer Dakota had purchased new equipment, and Carol had also replaced the camp's gear.
The warehouse was filled with brand-new military weapons, stocked with ammunition and grenades; they were not just fully armed but also had all the necessary vehicles.
The vehicles had fresh paint; the commandeered armored vehicles and Behemoths had completed their respective modifications, and there were four Griffin drones and one sextant.
The heaviest asset was the basilisk, quietly lying in the warehouse, waiting for its next mission.
With food, medicine, and weapons, life was quite good—too bad there were still over a hundred thousand people outside Aldecaldos; if they wanted to arm the entire tribe to this extent, they would at least have to eliminate half of the Militech forces in North America.
In the tent, Mitch, Scorpion, and Carol were testing the software Leo had sent them.
The software collected operational data and transmitted it to another world through a cross-dimensional data channel—
[In the other world, you have confirmed that the mechanical arm is moving correctly, but there are issues with precision.]
[Warning: Please maintain molecular-level uniformity in your body to eliminate data communication delays.]
[Please refine the industrial process to achieve more stable methods.]
This was feasible, but stability and precision still needed improvement.
Another issue that Leo noticed was that if there was too much difference between his body in the two worlds, data exchange would become very complex.
Upon seeing Leo enter, the group looked up and waved: "You seem pretty energetic today?"
Leo found a spot to sit down: "We're about to leave, just confirming how the software package is running for you."
"Very well, but..." Mitch scratched his head. "If I'm not mistaken, you want to keep the production of artificial blood secret, right?"
Leo nodded frankly: "Yes."
Seeing that Leo had no intention of hiding it, Mitch said openly: "We can see that you plan to separate the production processes; that's fine and quite smart. But if you really want to keep it secret, you'd better have compatible cyberware for collecting information and a more secure chip."
"Any suggestions?"
"Well, there is an enhanced version of the work chip; you might have heard of it: the sexual doll chip."
Leo understood; this was indeed a direction to consider.
The principle of the work chip was an enhanced version of the skill chip, allowing workers to not need to master production technology but simply follow the chip's guidance to work, with the boss able to control the start and end of production.
However, in terms of confidentiality, it still lacked a bit, whereas the sexual doll chip was even more powerful.
The sexual doll chip, also known as the puppet chip, was used for dolls, primarily serving three functions: importing data from the system, controlling the doll's behavior during the service, and erasing the doll's memory after each service.
One could see how attractive this device would be in the sex trade industry:
In this world, many people still cared about their privacy in this regard, whether for personal pride or safety considerations.
Clients enjoyed absolute freedom and confidentiality, leading to a thriving sex doll business—a win-win situation.
However, this device actually originated from military laboratories, designed for use by soldiers.
After all, the battlefield is also a place that values confidentiality and obedience.
Coincidentally, Mitch and Scorpion were both military personnel, and there were plenty of deserters from the unified war era in Aldecaldos, making them adept at handling such chips.
But there was another problem.
"This thing isn't cheap. Deploying it on workers..." Leo clicked his tongue.
From its functionality, one could tell how expensive it was: high-end sexual doll chips featured bio-silicon hybrid chips imported from stable high-tech production sites like Orbital City.
Strictly speaking, work chips, skill chips, sexual doll chips, and even Sandevistan's chips all belong to behavior chips, which guide or even control the behavior of the user.
But memory control is a very complex process, and the precision of sexual doll chips is exceptionally high, with a complicated architecture and manufacturing method.
Carol shrugged: "But it can't be helped; it's clear this is a hard necessity. Aldecaldos is very willing to help you, but you need to figure out a way to get the materials yourself."
"And you're not exactly poor, right?"
Leo silently skipped the topic and looked at the chameleon beside him: "I'll think of a way; you all need to keep an eye on this big guy."
"Hah—do I even need to say it?" Mitch laughed loudly. "This is a treasure! I really want to see what expression people from other tribes will have when they see this thing. You don't mind us showing off this big toy, do you?"
In terms of ownership, the shares of the chameleon were equally split between the Bright family and Leo.
However, now Saul basically only cared about Leo.
Leo waved his hand: "Just be careful; this big guy consumes a lot of money to operate. Has Saul set off yet?"
"Not yet; he's still settling the bill with Dakota. Your money should be arriving soon."
Saul was about to send someone to contact the elders of other tribes, and soon the leaders or representatives of other tribes would arrive at the Night City camp for a meeting.
It was time to return.
The red and black striped Mackinaw roared its engine and slowly came to a stop in front of Leo.
Jackie sat in the driver's seat, and V knocked on the door: "Get in!"
Mitch shrugged: "Congratulations; you're about to leave this damned Badlands and return to the city's embrace."
"The city is full of trouble. Let's go; I'll be in touch."
The Mackinaw drove away, and the people in the camp stood up to watch Leo and the others leave.
Where would the future lead?
Much of it depended on the people in that Mackinaw.