#1008 - Injecting nuclear power

【Illuminati: Are you sure what you're giving them is training? I've never seen such a brutal training.】

Night City accesses the Marvel world through cross-dimensional equipment for prosthetic body warfare. These "crazy" combat robots seem to be causing considerable trouble for Ultron, perfectly filling the role of cannon fodder, but the actual losses are also significant.

This kind of immersive combat technology means dying once will hardly cause any irreversible damage, but continuous deaths are another story:

Cybernetic bodies can adjust their physical condition on the battlefield, but the simulation equipment, in order to perfectly synchronize battlefield conditions, increases the connection to the prosthetic body, cutting off the connection only in the last second before death. This feeling is like watching a braindance—

In Night City, these braindances that allow experiencing death and slaughter have always been a major source of cyberpsychosis, except that many people can't afford offensive cyberware, so they mostly just become mentally ill.

On the day of the operation, at the Night City Defense Force base, a large number of soldiers repeatedly foamed at the mouth and lost consciousness. Other outsourced NCPD members in the area were no exception. Even the Maelstrom gang, who prided themselves on being tough and highly resistant to this kind of intense stimulation, had many members collapse.

In the Illuminati's view, this was almost equivalent to giving everyone a group braindance. It completely didn't understand what Riel was doing. If this was just training, it was a disaster.

"What the..."

She walked out of the room and saw Hansen sitting alone in the live-action training pod, looking somewhat mentally disturbed—

However, the New American veteran with a verifiable combat record had a strong ability to self-regulate. He shook his head and came back to his senses from that hellish scene. Just then, Riel reappeared in front of everyone.

The moment he appeared, hearing Riel's footsteps on the floor, and seeing his massive figure hidden under the cloak and the faintly glowing reactor on his chest, Hansen was immediately dragged back to that battlefield, and he began to question his life:

"...You... What is that thing? Such a vast battlefield, such intelligent training targets, I feel like my skin is burning, still burning now...

Where did you get it?! This world has never seen that kind of war!"

Riel laughed, his voice somewhat low: "Heh heh... Really? The Soviet Federation crystallized the entire Middle East. Can you imagine how much yield that was?"

Hansen was stunned for a moment. Of course, he knew about that war. The Soviet Petrochemical and Peizuo Petrochemical companies had always been at odds over control of Middle Eastern resources.

Ordinary people couldn't imagine how many resources the two giant companies that monopolized the world's energy could come up with. This meant that a huge amount of money and manpower was poured into the Middle East every year. Finally, the unbearable Soviet Federation, possibly with the support and authorization of Soviet Petrochemical, completely destroyed the Middle East with a large number of nuclear bombs, crystallizing its vast deserts.

As a military commander, Hansen certainly knew.

"That's not the same thing. No company can develop land to that extent. The so-called Soviet Petrochemical crystallizing the entire Middle East is also an exaggeration. In reality, it was indeed subjected to terrible bombing, but what actually hinders the company's development is radiation...

It's already a dead zone. Neither machines nor humans can work there. The radioactive dust that drifts to nearby areas every year makes people avoid it.

The battlefield you showed is not the same thing at all! If a company had that kind of development capability, it would have already ruled the world!"

The Illuminati nodded in agreement. It didn't access the battlefield; it only saw the combat records uploaded by the soldiers after they returned.

Rather than saying they were machine soldiers made by humans, the Illuminati felt that the scene was more like something created by a military entity of extreme power.

In the Illuminati's calculations, humans don't have that ability, at least not for another hundred years.

Riel nodded slightly: "Indeed. We have this ability now. I have a blueprint here, about that mechanical hive city.

I want the Night City's underground city to refer to these structures during construction, so that we can have a self-sufficient city integrating military and production capabilities.

How many people passed the battlefield assessment?"

The Illuminati's voice sounded:

【Illuminati: Less than 200 people performed well. If you broaden the scope of mental state assessment, for example, adding some people who entered a 'frenzy' state to your plan...】

Riel shook his head and refused: "What I need is a special forces unit. They must be able to maintain absolute calm. Madness is meaningless. How much crazier can they be than a pilot who can stably pilot a Titan robot?"

Militech and New United States always like to hire mercenaries from Night City, because the mercenaries here are the best quality in the world—

It can even be said that the entire North America produces awesome mercenaries. Militech has also benefited a lot from this leading industry, especially in the Internet age. Almost all legendary mercenaries have a close relationship with Militech, such as Blackhand, Susan, and Old Snake are Militech's regular hires.

Unfortunately, as Riel said, on the battlefield, a combat-proficient pilot who can also pilot a Titan is worth more than many such mercenaries. Hansen even felt that only another Titan pilot could defeat a Titan pilot.

"I agree with this plan." Hansen eagerly echoed Riel, "Not just Titan pilots, the ordinary soldiers on that battlefield are also good hands. What we need is a group of well-trained guys, not a bunch of rabble!"

【Illuminati: I understand. Then I will immediately have the prospective Titan pilots and regular soldiers who meet the requirements report to the fortress.】

【Illuminati: Also, while you were fighting in the virtual world, the agricultural laboratory built for the nomads has achieved remarkable results. Experimental fields have already begun to be built outside the city, and the water purification plant has also begun production and construction, but the energy bottleneck is coming soon.】

【Illuminati: The city's stability is still okay, but our deployable resources are rapidly decreasing. Many investors and companies have withdrawn from Night City, and the number of suppliers has decreased.】

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【Illuminati: Suppliers in New Mexico City plan to increase the price of goods, but that's not the biggest trouble. The Aldecaldo clan has sent back some military movements. They observed that New United States is deploying garrison troops to Southern California.】

【Illuminati: We must take the initiative to attack.】

New United States' revenge came neither too quickly nor too slowly, pretty much as expected.

Riel nodded and asked the most critical question: "What stage is Project Skyfall at?"

"Three engines have been assembled, only the nuclear warheads are missing."

Hansen eagerly took over the conversation, as he was very concerned about the application of this weapon.

In fact, Riel could roughly guess what the situation was, because the missile design used in Project Skyfall was also put into production simultaneously in the Marvel world. The industrial capabilities of the two worlds complemented each other, and the final products were the same.

Now it was time to inject some "nuclear power" into Night City.