After the conversation, Leo hurried ho, moving so quickly that Matt wondered if the kid was rushing to write his will. Since the system had already deducted an hour's worth of points, he decided to check on the progress of the Blu Security Company.
Upon arrival, he saw that the empty apartnt had been filled with computers and hardware. Warehouse manager John was ticulously arranging items according to the zones Leo had designated, preventing the space from looking too cluttered, with Anthony helping on the side.
When Leo returned, he caught Skye tinkering with the main circuit breaker.
"Boss!" Skye snapped to attention. "All equipnt is in place. Do you want to flip the switch yourself?"
"No need, I trust you—this is your first ho, after all, go ahead and power it up."
Skye was montarily stunned. "This is my ho?"
"Of course," Leo waved it off, though he kept the rest to himself: If it wasn't your ho, how could I trick you into working for ?
As an employee, Skye showed great potential and execution capability. While Leo was in the Cyberpunk world, this side could only handle simple tasks, but without a second-in-command, things could fall apart quickly.
But these words stirred sothing within young Skye, and she quickly pulled the switch down.
"You said it—John, Anthony, hang up the business sign!"
The three of them, with one at the circuit breaker and the other two hanging the sign, looked sowhat comical.
With a click, the electricity flowed.
[Detected that the host has established the first research institute]
[Na: Blu Company]
[Director: Skye (Daisy Johnson)]
[Specializes in: Information Engineering, Network Security]
[Potential Developnt Direction: Xenobiology]
[The research institute has been bound to the system. Please lock in the current research project.]
[Once locked, researchers' creativity will be highly focused on this direction. Technology Points can be consud to inspire the director across dinsions.]
[Based on the status of the research institute, the current option available: ctOS system (from the Watch Dogs universe)]
[Allow the director to engage in more projects to unlock new options.]
Leo raised an eyebrow—his cheat had leveled up.
ctOS is an excellent company project, a highly integrated central operating system that smartens up a city, connecting to the system for overall planning and operational efficiency.
More importantly, this project isn't just a software endeavor; it also includes hardware upgrades.
If they could pull it off and get it up and running... money wouldn't be an issue for a while.
[Research project locked: ctOS]
[Upon completion, the research institute will lock into this type and provide cross-dinsional data transmission channels.]
Leo walked over to Skye, who was buzzing with excitent, and patted her on the shoulder: "Well then, from now on, you're the company's director. Do a good job—finish up the NYPD project first. I've got so tech for you to study."
After saying that, Leo moved to his personal computer.
The computer was equipped with multiple hard drives and a special interface—for quietly linking to a personal connection.
Leo was uploading data from 2077—an old chip design concept.
The teaching material ca from Arasaka Academy, featuring an example of an old network access chip design flaw that allowed netrunners to fry the implant via the network, scorching the user's nerves.
But while this network access chip was obsolete in the 2077 world, in 2011, it was cutting-edge architecture.
In fact, if not for the chip being implanted in a human body, the flaw wouldn't even count as one.
To save ti, Leo uploaded the design plans for the finished chip. Learning could happen slowly; making money needed to happen quickly.
"What is this, a central processor design based on a new architecture...?!"
Skye was intently watching what Leo was uploading to the server, her eyes wide with astonishnt!
After a glance, she said tactfully, "Boss, I may not be as smart as you, but I'm not dumb either..."
"I know you're not. I'll write a business plan for you, and find soone—Anthony, do you want to be a company executive?"
A bewildered Anthony pointed at himself, "?"
"Yes, you. I need you to communicate with people based on what I write, just like before. Starting today, you're the executive assistant."
As Leo spoke, he kept an eye on the ti: "In short, the company's next steps need everyone's effort. I'll spend a few days making a plan. Skye, study what's on your plate first. John, take people to work on-site—Skye will direct remotely. Anthony, you handle communication with the police and owners. Don't be shy, keep your logic clear. If you don't understand sothing—"
Skye raised her hand to interrupt: "Ask —now I get it. You're planning to trap in this little house, where this little house will forever be my ho?"
Leo shrugged, "You can arrange your own vacation, but the tech you want to learn is right here, both hardware and software."
Skye muttered under her breath, "Fine, fine, at least it's all-inclusive..."
After arranging everything, Leo clapped his hands: "Alright, ladies and gentlen, you are now employees of Blu Company. I look forward to your performance."
The three in the office felt like they were in a dream—a dropout girl and two unemployed workers.
But Leo didn't have ti to give them a pep talk. He turned and left the room, leaving the three of them to exchange bewildered glances.
...
The 21st century was the century of biology.
But not all students graduating with a degree in bioengineering could land a good job. On the contrary, those with a biology degree who also understood programming were in high demand—very high demand.
If, on top of that, they were proficient in hardware developnt, by 2077, they'd be top-tier job candidates.
But by 2077, the cost of education for such a degree had exceeded 3 million Eurodollars.
Biotechnica possessed a DNA trimming instrunt, the working principle of which was unknown, but they used it to cultivate crops that could be used to extract CHOOH2.
Biotechnica also had vast wheat farms in Night City and unknown human experintation projects.
Leo reached up and pulled down the window blinds, creating a large blank space on the wall, then stepped onto a treadmill.
This was a thod to enhance his physical training.
While running, Leo imagined a plan on the blank space of the blinds.
A large title appeared in his vision: The Bio-Era Heist.
First, the target was the DNA trimming instrunt—but that thing was up in the orbital station.
By 2077, the vast majority of corporate industrial production was done on orbital stations—safe, boring giant factories.
As the apex of the corporate food chain, Biotechnica was a bit different—they had their own orbital space station for production.
A core device like the DNA trimr wouldn't be in Night City.
He had to figure out a way to lure it down.
Leo drew a line between the orbital station and Night City on the blinds and then marked it with a question mark.
In one scenario, the company might risk bringing the device down—if work demanded it.
From a social engineering perspective, Leo needed to capture a Biotechnica executive born in Night City and make the situation so dire that bringing down the device was the best solution.
Leo rembered that Biotechnica's head in 2077 was a woman nad Joanne Koch.
And as for a potential story to stir things up—they were conducting human experints on nomad families in the Badlands.
This could be useful—Leo put a question mark after this line, noting that further investigation was needed.
Next was a contingency plan.
Stealing biotech isn't just about stealing biotech.
Because back in the early days of biotech developnt, to avoid being crushed by the two major energy companies—SovOil and Petrochem—they had voluntarily surrendered the CHOOH2 production process.
Now, this energy source was monopolized by the three conglorates. While Leo only wanted to cure his condition, it would undoubtedly cause a huge uproar.
Therefore, Leo wrote down two more nas next to Biotechnica: SovOil and Petrochem.
As he continued running and pondering, Leo thought: The situation is clear—without so cover-up, if the three giants team up, he wouldn't even know how he died.
Don't assu that because in Night City, street thugs can casually kill corporate employees, it ans the corporations can't handle thugs.
2077's history was full of massacres and wars within cities—those were the tis when corporations truly showed their fangs.
He needed a scapegoat, and after stealing the device and getting the data, he'd still have to return it, pretending nothing had happened.
Leo's mind landed on a na: Arasaka.
If those three companies were to track the device's whereabouts, they'd inevitably send troops to Night City—sothing Arasaka wouldn't want to see.
But Arasaka couldn't withstand the joint pressure from the Soviets and New Aricans, giving Leo a gap—he could use Arasaka, who'd be in a hurry to resolve the issue, to return the stolen goods.
As for who takes the fall for stealing, it didn't matter—as long as it wasn't Leo.
Leo marked this spot with a red question mark, then drew a line out, cutting it off in the middle.
The staged location would be his security firewall, which had to isolate him from being traced both physically and online.
Secrecy and misdirection were a given, but in 2077, nearly every action would leave traces on the network.
So from a network perspective, he needed a data wall to hide as much of his cyber activity as possible.
Leo suddenly thought of his cheat.
A data wall was a fortress built by combining real-world network equipnt layout with the structure of cyberspace data.
It could be used to protect privacy—wealthy people were all using it.
But fundantally, as long as sothing exists on the network, it can never be 100% unbreakable.
Unless there's no data on the network to begin with.
What doesn't exist can't be broken into. Leo could take a step back and make the wall incomplete.
Leo's eyes shifted to his system—
[Upon completion, the research institute will lock into this type and provide cross-dinsional data transmission channels.]
He could try removing part of the wall and placing it in another dinsion, then transmit the data when needed.
A cross-dinsional key—giving the Cyberpunk natives a little taste of a cheat.
So, the first step was to create a network data wall.
"Hoo—" Leo let out a long breath, stepping off the treadmill.
Just then, Padre sent a ssage:
"Leo, the client wants to thank you in person. She's bidding farewell to her daughter at El Coyote Cojo. If you have ti, stop by."
User Comments
0 comments from readers