Going through the gates of hell was not a pleasant experience; when he was originally caught by the Scavenger and tied to a chair, he had already given up all hope.
Falling into the hands of the Scavenger and being used to film black cyber-dreams could be described as a fate worse than death, even though death was the final outcome anyway.
But what he didn't expect was that he was actually rescued, saved by people from the Special Operations Department.
You should know that he was just a regular employee of Ascension Technology, not a senior executive at all, and his meager salary wasn't enough to support him buying a Trauma Team membership.
If it were in other companies, a low-level employee like him who didn't enjoy Trauma Team benefits would likely just be waiting for death.
The employee who had walked between life and death didn't know what words to use to describe how he felt at that moment.
He could only stammer out his thanks.
But David smiled slightly.
"No need to thank me, this was the company's arrangement. Keep up the good work in the future."
"I will, I definitely will," the employee quickly said.
There are many ways to win people over, and saving a life often has a very good effect.
While it might not make people so moved that they give their all for the company, it can still increase their sense of belonging and motivate them to work harder.
Having completed the mission, David led the employee out of the apartment.
On the way back, Jack had already learned of the mission's success through Lisandra and called again.
"Alright, David, you're so efficient. Is that guy okay?"
"That guy is fine, he wasn't injured. I hope he can come to work on time tomorrow."
"That's good, you worked hard. If you ask me, L should give us more manpower. Just us few guys are really a bit too busy," Jack complained to David.
As Ascension Technology grew stronger, the number of tasks to handle increased.
But Luoqi had never expanded the Special Operations Department's manpower, which led to Jack and the others often being extremely busy.
Situations like having to come out to work overtime late at night, as was the case tonight, often occurred.
Jack had also complained to Luoqi, but this was also something that troubled Luoqi.
Of course, Luoqi knew he needed to expand his manpower, and not just in the Special Operations Department; he also needed his own army to truly contend with those large corporations in the future.
Although their combat strength was already very high, in terms of the entire Night City, there was basically nothing that could threaten Ascension Technology's core members.
But relying on just a few people to fight through Night City was not very realistic; he needed a large number of combat units to help him handle daily combat missions.
The problem was that there were too few trustworthy people in Night City; free mercenaries were unreliable, and training combat personnel himself would require a lot of time and cost.
Moreover, as long as they were human, there would be weaknesses, making it difficult for Luoqi to fully trust them like he did Jack and the others.
Fortunately, Luoqi was already taking steps to solve this issue. Since people were unreliable, he wouldn't use people.
...
The next day.
In the laboratory, Lao Wei looked at the blueprint in front of him and fell into thought.
"Is this the robot soldier you mentioned? Why do I look at it... and it doesn't quite seem like it's capable of fighting?"
After a long time, Lao Wei finally managed to squeeze out this question.
Just a few days ago, Luoqi was talking animatedly with him, discussing his AI army plan, punching Military Technology, and kicking Arasaka Group.
Things like vibranium bodies, one fighting ten, not even panicking when taking a direct nuclear hit, made Lao Wei completely stunned as he listened.
But when he saw the blueprint today, he found that something seemed off.
He saw that the robot model in the blueprint had a large cylindrical camera head on top, and its chest was completely filled with a square display screen.
The mechanical arms on its limbs looked very... mechanical. Although the overall shape was still humanoid, it was completely unrelated to the concept of bionic robots that should exist in this era; it looked more like a robot style from the last century.
If this robot were used in industrial production, then Lao Wei would definitely have no objections, but if you said this thing could fight, then he could only reserve his judgment.
What Lao Wei didn't know was that this thing was indeed originally meant for production, not for combat.
[Mobile Robotic Versatile Entity (Marvin) Auto-Assistant]
[A mechanical auto-robot from the Titanfall universe, a mechanical personnel responsible for manufacturing and other such daily tasks.
Although typically used for production tasks, given enough stimulation and exposure to ideas, Marvin can potentially improve to some extent, becoming smarter and more capable than their brethren, and even developing self-awareness. For example, a certain Marvin Robot who likes to give a thumbs-up.
Note: The Marvin Robot in this module can stably stimulate self-awareness and has strong plasticity, capable of learning different types of skills. At the same time, it is protected by system rules to ensure absolute loyalty to the host at all times.]
[Price Correction: World Correction -10%]
[Item Module: 45000 Euros]
[Manufacturing Blueprint: 450000 Euros]
This was the origin of this blueprint.
Lao Wei was indeed right; these robots didn't look like they were meant for combat.
Although this was the case, the characteristics of the Marvin Robot gave them the potential to become combat robots.
Pathfinder in Apex is the best example, and his combat ability is definitely not weaker than that of ordinary soldiers; he could even be called a great weapon on the battlefield.
And the most important reason Luoqi chose it was disguise.
Nowadays, Ascension Technology was being watched closely by the major corporations in Night City. A large reason why Arasaka and others were not rushing to take further action against Ascension Technology was that it currently posed no threat.
Although Power Excitement Agent was currently popular in Night City and brought huge profits to Ascension Technology, it was just an stimulant and not worth them making a big fuss over.
And although Soldier Serum was powerful, the impact it brought was not on Ascension Technology itself, because Ascension Technology was not an armed technology company; it had no army, no weapons.
So even if the Soldier Serum's effect was strong, Ascension Technology itself couldn't threaten them. The real threat lay with Arasaka and other large corporations that obtained the Soldier Serum.
And if Ascension Technology were to produce a powerful combat robot now, it would undoubtedly indicate their desire to enter the armed security field alongside Arasaka, Military Technology, and Kang Tao.
This would undoubtedly make Arasaka and the others wary, and their attitude towards Ascension Technology would no longer be as peaceful as it is now.
Even Arasaka, their nominal partner, would regard Ascension Technology as a huge threat.
But if Ascension Technology only produced a regular civilian-grade industrial production robot, then there would be no such trouble.
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