The Creators: From Night City

Page 329

Once a battle breaks out, it can be said that regardless of victory or defeat, the only option for Research Institute 341 is to close down and cease operations.

As for herself, Fiona Vargas gazed at the nanoblade before her, which resembled an ice crystal work of art, and chose to heed the other party's advice, abandoning her plan to notify the guards.

After all, no matter how skilled the retired veterans she recruited through her connections in the New American sports world were, they couldn't defeat the Ghost Hound, let alone the [Anti-Entropy] team that had recently overwhelmed the New American special forces.

“We have paid a considerable amount of taxes in accordance with regulations. You can’t just barge in without any reason and then threaten me to close down with some random excuse.”

That's just how people are; they only think of reasoning when they can't win by force.

“I’ll repeat myself, Ms. Fiona Vargas, we are from the Special Operations Group of the Intelligence and Counterintelligence Department of [Anti-Entropy].” Vincent emphasized each word, stressing the “intelligence and counterintelligence” part.

The other person clearly understood the hidden meaning in Vincent's words, and his face began to turn pale.

When it comes to underground struggles between companies, killing without bloodshed is the least of it. Research Lab 341 may have some reputation in the global sports world, but it's blocking the path of [Anti-Entropy]. She has no doubt that this place will be wiped out by a group of burly men in black armor in no time.

Where are the biotechnology agents hiding?

"Damn it, I knew they were up to no good." Fiona Vargas, who was somewhat French, surrendered even faster than Vincent swung his knife.

“Listen, believe it or not, your dealings with biotechnology have absolutely nothing to do with me. I had no idea those people were biotechnology agents. They told me they were just researchers at Institute 241, and I was only temporarily lending them the equipment at the request of the director of Institute 214.” Fiona Vargas was trying to distance herself from the struggle between the two factions.

"Equipment?" Vincent suddenly sensed a conspiracy.

What equipment?

"A complete set of spectral nuclide analyzers was custom-made by a microelectronics company at a high price. It's hard to find another one like it in the entire Night City."

"What is this instrument mainly used for?" Vincent already had some guesses in his mind.

Fiona Vargas frantically rubbed and stroked the temples of her glasses, and after weighing her options repeatedly, she finally chose to cooperate.

"It can use multi-frequency laser-induced breakdown spectrum to irradiate the sample surface, determine the elemental composition by analyzing the plasma emission spectrum, and then use a terahertz imaging module to scan tissue density and water distribution to construct a three-dimensional microstructure map."

"Finally, the cells are automatically lysed using an integrated microfluidic chip to release DNA/RNA."

With a "whoosh," two mantis knives sprang from Vincent's arms, their sharp blades gleaming coldly under the fluorescent lights.

You'd better speak in a way that people can understand.

“OK, OK,” Fiona Vargas quickly raised her hand to indicate that she was willing to cooperate.

"In short, this is a powerful, fully automated gene detection and data imprinting device. It requires very little manual operation to accurately read all the gene sequences of a sample and record them using the HLZ-gene compression algorithm, making it easy to package and store or transmit over the network."

"This machine is what you use to detect and record the genetic maps of those children, right? These carefully modified packaged genetic data sound like valuable 'commodities.'" Vincent finally understood why the other party had been hesitant about this matter.

“That’s why you set up your research institute in Dogtown, a lawless zone, because you know that these experiments of yours would absolutely not be allowed outside.” Vincent felt that he was gradually making sense of the internal logic of this matter.

"Where are the instruments and the people?" Raven suddenly asked.

"The classified research base is on the third basement level. The entrance elevator is in the office over there."

Vincent was still debating whether to report the discovery to headquarters when Raven, having received the news, had already taken off.

Vincent chased after him out of the room, and the first thing that caught his eye was an exhibition hall on the wall displaying all kinds of prosthetic bodies. These products were all achievements of the 341 Research Institute.

An achievement built upon the corpses of numerous victims.

On the wall at the far end of the room, where the elevator door should have been, a small door has been opened.

Raven clearly didn't have the patience to slowly crack the elevator security system, so it chose the most efficient method.

The metal elevator door has smooth cuts, and the surface of the cuts is covered with a thin layer of ice.

It is the raven's knife.

Vincent had just glanced at the dark elevator shaft when a burst of gunfire, like firecrackers, came from below.

Needless to say, the ravens have already engaged in combat with the biotechnology people down below.

Now that things had come to this, Vincent had no choice but to grit his teeth, stomp his foot, and jump into the elevator shaft.

Raven's fighting style is very much like that of an elusive assassin.

The moment she jumped down the elevator shaft, she seemed to activate optical camouflage, completely disappearing into the darkness. When she reappeared, the blade was already kissing the waist of a biotechnology agent.

The ultra-low temperature nanoblades froze the blood inside the body before it could even flow. The biotechnology agent only realized what had happened when his upper body suddenly began to slide towards the ground.

He was cut in half without his knowledge.

"Enemy attack!!"

He was yelling wildly in the communications channel until Raven cleaved his skull open with a single sword strike.

The alerted enemy drew their guns and fired without hesitation.

The bullets then danced gracefully in the air.

Chapter 668 Tycho's Flower

A bullet flew out of the gun muzzle, spinning continuously in the air, creating invisible ripples, and flew at high speed toward a beautiful figure.

But what awaits it is an incredibly sharp nanoblade.

Raven deflected most of the bullets almost instantly with the blade in her hand, then charged into the biotechnology crowd under a hail of bullets and began a killing spree.

The battle was incredibly brief.

The slender yet voluptuous body, along with the crystal-white long blade, spun around, and the three metal arms used to block the attack, along with the two copper-spotted snakes commonly found in Night City, were severed in two along with their owner's body.

Raven didn't even glance at the results of its slash. Stepping lightly on its high-heeled combat boots, which had a contact area of ​​only a few square centimeters with the ground, it gracefully flipped over a large experimental table and continued its advance into the inner room.

She had to breach the entire stronghold before the enemy could react.

As long as she advances quickly enough and kills swiftly enough, the enemy won't have time to destroy the evidence.

There weren't many biotechnology agents. Apart from the four people killed by Raven in the outer room, there were only two people in the instrument room, which was covered with specially made anti-static surge tiles. When Raven rushed into the room, one of them had just pulled the pin on an incendiary chemical grenade and was trying to throw it on the experimental table to destroy the evidence.

But as the raven swung its paw, the grenade smoothly split in two along with its owner's five fingers.

Without a word, the raven, like the most ruthless death knell, pronounced the two men dead in an instant.

When Vincent arrived at the equipment room, he saw only a mess and a creepy scene of Raven holding one of the agents' heads and staring at him.

"Raven, what's this?"

“Code name 'Diatom', the mastermind behind the recent attack on the patrol team. Valerie has been looking for him for a long time, but she never expected him to be hiding here.”

After completing the facial data entry and sending it back to Valerie for confirmation, she casually tossed the head, still dripping with a mixture of white and red blood and tissue fluid, into a nearby hazardous waste bin.

On the lab bench, numerous transparent sample purification columns were laid out, along with a large quantity of lysis buffer, proteinase K, impurity removal reagents, washing buffer, and other related reagents, densely covering the entire table.

These are all necessary consumables for conducting gene detection topology. Although the operation of the spectral nuclide analyzer is considered user-friendly, the preliminary sample preparation work is still extremely tedious for laymen.

The spectral nuclide analyzer is quite a large machine, but its body, embedded in the instrument room, occupies an entire wall.

Vincent turned his gaze to the still-operating instrument, which had clearly been working non-stop until the raven burst into the room.

"What are they doing?" he asked, looking at the still-operating equipment.

"As you can see, these people are analyzing the genetic composition of the samples."

"Flesh and blood samples of the 'Black King's Apostles'?"

Raven placed her hand on the machine's control panel, and half of her sleeve slid into the machine.

In a short time, Raven retrieved all the instrument's work logs and accurately located the gene analysis work records of a large number of data packets.

The bad news is that some of the 'Black King Apostle's' genetic data packets have been downloaded and, it seems, have most likely been sent out.

The good news is that the bodies of the 'Black King Apostles' are not something that can be achieved simply through genetic modification, or rather, the secrets within their flesh and blood cannot be deciphered in a short time using a single spectral radionuclide analyzer.

“Notify Valerie, this matter has clearly gone beyond our jurisdiction. The biotech people have stolen our company’s important trade secrets!” Vincent scratched his head in distress, troubled by the escalation of the situation.

The major companies aren't fools; the terrifying dominance displayed by the soldiers of [Anti-Entropy] in their battles against the new American soldiers has long been a topic of discussion on the desks of every company executive.

It would be a lie to say that these tall and powerful cyborgs are not valued, but most forces only consider them as a matter of war preparedness and knowledge of their enemy, and rarely pay as much attention to or covet them as biotechnology.

After all, no matter how powerful a flesh and blood body is, in the minds of most forces, it is difficult to withstand the power of airplanes and cannons.

Some things are only truly understood by those in the industry. Biotechnology, which has always been at the forefront of the world in the field of human body modification, naturally understands the contemporary significance of the gene modification technology in these 'big guys' bodies.

This matter quickly reached the ears of the emperor.

This description is not an exaggeration at all, after all, Jiang Bing, who is on vacation, can indeed be considered 'standing in the sky' at this moment.

He was in Tycho's colony on the moon.

The Tycho colony was located in the Tycho crater in the highlands of the southern hemisphere of the moon.

This crater is one of the youngest large impact craters on the lunar surface, formed about 1.08 million years ago (the Copernican period), later than the extinction of the dinosaurs on Earth.

As Jiang Bing flew over this cyberpunk 'colonization zone' aboard New Orbital Aviation's spaceship, he marveled at the wonders of the universe.

"Dear VIP user of New Orbital Aviation, you have arrived above the Tycho Colony on the Moon. The spaceship is currently docking with the airport. There may be slight shaking, please understand. There are 14 minutes left until landing. The observation window is now unlocked. You can enjoy the magnificent panorama of the Tycho Colony through the special observation window."

Inside the luxurious cabin of the spacecraft, a soft female voice broadcast flight updates.

The transparent viewing window features helpful text annotations and detailed indicator icons, and even offers the option of audio narration.

Of course, all of these things cost money, and the related fees are already included in the six-figure airfare, and the charges will apply regardless of whether you listen to or watch them.

So Jiang Bing not only watched, but also turned on the voice intelligent explanation.

"Dear VIP customer, you can look to the lower left from the observation window of the spaceship. Now is the best location and time to appreciate the famous landscape 'Tycho's Flower'."

Jiang Bing readily agreed and looked out from the viewing window.

Tycho Crater extends outward from its center with numerous bright, slender, radial patterns. Combined with the traffic pipelines and external indicator lights built along these radial grooves, it truly resembles a pale flower blooming in the dark universe when viewed from afar.

"These radial patterns were formed simultaneously with the formation of this crater. When a meteorite impacted the moon, the ejected material covered the darker lunar surface. This material was mainly bright lunar debris, so the radial patterns would be very bright during a full moon, easily visible to the naked eye even from the distant O'Neill space station. It is one of the most dazzling features of the Tycho colony on the moon."

Chapter 669 Tycho's Colonies

The spaceship slowly approached Tycho's colony, revealing the full view of this magnificent outpost, the first humankind to venture into space.

The entire Tycho colony's main structure is located within a meteorite crater.

The main reason this crater was chosen as a site for human colony construction is its superior topographical advantages.

The Tycho Crater is remarkably well-preserved, with clear, steep edges covered in jagged grooves, and a relatively flat bottom compared to other impact craters.

Secondly, its diameter is about 86 kilometers and its depth is about 4.8 kilometers, making its overall space enormous and fully meeting the area requirements for a lunar colony.

At the center of the crater stands a central peak about 2.3 kilometers high, providing a natural core support for the construction of the entire colony's ecological dome. This alone has directly saved the European Space Agency billions of euros in construction costs.

The 15°-30° slope of the ring-shaped mountain wall and the central peak act like a natural communication 'lid,' providing not only a natural supporting structure but also a strong communication advantage.

Not to mention the vast area of ​​radiating patterns emanating from Tycho Crater, which contains a large amount of fine lunar soil rich in metal oxides (iron, titanium, aluminum) and glassy particles, providing a large, self-sufficient supply of raw materials for colony construction, industrial 3D printing, and modular building structure construction.

New Orbital Airlines' passenger spaceships slowly approached the colony's landing pad, preparing to land.

As they got closer, the details of the entire Tycho colony became clearer in Jiang Bing's eyes.

The most eye-catching feature is the central peak, which serves as an energy and communication hub. A large number of metal structural support frames, tens of meters thick, surround the central peak to form a space-age version of a metal semi-circular canopy, paired with a silver-white dynamic multi-layered shield, exuding a sense of technology.

Dozens of transport tunnels, resembling blood vessels, extend outward from the base of the central peak, connecting the various ring-shaped mountain walls and dividing the entire interior space of the ring-shaped mountain into dozens of sectors.

To withstand the occasional micrometeorite showers, solar storms, and moonquakes, apart from the thick defensive domes built over important facilities, the main structures of Tycho's colony cities were hidden beneath a thick layer of lunar soil.

The ring-shaped mountain wall is dotted with a large number of circular alloy entrances with a diameter of about 10 meters. These main entrances to the underground city are illuminated by blue indicator lights that resemble miniature galaxies, guiding the way in the darkness.

The ventilation cone towers scattered around the mountainside are each 15 meters high, and the water circulation exhaust condensation system causes ice crystal mist to escape from the nozzles at the top of the towers from time to time.

As the spaceship focused on the landing pad and slowly descended, Jiang Bing saw the more detailed structure inside Tycho's colony.

Within the basin, numerous silver pipes (2 meters in diameter) radiate from the dozens of main roads, connecting the entire ring mountain like a spider web, creating a sophisticated and efficient transportation system.

These pipelines are illuminated by various colored location lights every hundred meters, and the pipelines connecting mining areas, factories, energy centers, residential areas, luxurious large-scale commercial districts, and observation decks are all different colors.

The spaceship Jiang Bing was on landed in the seventeenth sector.

Dickens once wrote the following passage at the beginning of "A Tale of Two Cities".

This is the best of times, this is the worst of times, this is the age of wisdom, this is the age of foolishness, this is the epoch of belief, this is the epoch of incredulity, this is the season of Light, this is the season of Darkness, this is the spring of hope, this is the winter of despair, we have everything before us, we have nothing before us, we are all going direct to Heaven, we are all going direct the other way.

This passage perfectly describes Tycho Brahe's colony on the moon.

Matilda Portman grew up here. People like her, from the lower classes, probably never had a place to stand until they died. The laborers who built this colony with their lives never enjoyed the convenience brought by this beacon of humanity in the stars until their deaths. Meanwhile, the VIP passengers who disembarked with Jiang Bing did nothing, yet they could easily purchase their spacious mansions here, enjoy cutting-edge technology, and experience a wonderful lunar journey.

Although the airport terminal is decorated luxuriously, the low gravity on the moon makes everything here look different from Earth.

Almost all the ornaments and decorations are fixed in place in various ways. Although there are many tourists, there are no luggage carts that can be seen everywhere on the ground. Here, all luggage must be strictly bound and can only be untied when you arrive at your private hotel room.

The Tycho Brahe colony had a complete set of detailed and strict regulations for these people from Earth, ensuring that they would not cause any trouble on their first trip to space.