Players Invade Cyberpunk

Moreover, it's not even within Night City, so there's a lot that can be done.

"Mm, Mr. Lin, I was just about to report on the engineering situation to you."

On the other side of the screen, Gloria was holding a book and seemed slightly surprised to see Lin Miao.

Her relationship with Lin Miao was obviously not as close as with Lucy, still treating him as a superior.

"Let's not worry about that for now."

Lin Miao had great confidence in the work efficiency of the players, especially since a sewage treatment plant isn't a conventional building. With the help of blueprints, construction would be much faster than usual.

Gloria blinked, waiting for Lin Miao's instructions.

"There might be people causing trouble at the construction site soon. Increase personnel and extend the patrol area, but avoid heading toward Terimon."

"This..."

Gloria hesitated a bit, knowing she shouldn't contradict Lin Miao, but still curiously asked,

"Isn't security already handled by Major Anderson from Military Technology?"

This is a collaborative project between Horizon Corporation and Military Technology, with Military Technology stationing a troop of more than two hundred people near the construction site to ensure its safety.

Gloria was puzzled as to why further measures were necessary.

Lin Miao shook his head.

"Those guys monitor more than they protect. If we really got attacked, they might not even arrive until everyone was dead."

Lin Miao understood the company's ways very well; the things he's currently working on can't just be justified as self-research anymore.

Military Technology

Huang Ban

And Kangtao with their unusual moves

These parties certainly suspect he's dug up some lost technology from the old web or other sources.

Military Technology might even use this as an opportunity to suppress Horizon Corporation, which is currently at its peak, making Huang Ban break his own leg, and then intervening to save Lin Miao, acquiring the company and taking all its technological reserves bloodlessly.

Qi Wei had a point,

In this world, no one can truly be trusted.

Of course,

Except for his beloved players.

"I've just recruited a batch of people, and they'll escort a new shipment of weapons to Big Sur by tomorrow morning at the latest. You can arm them and arrange for patrol."

The people Lin Miao recruited were, of course, the police officers who defied the NCPD's orders a week ago and charged into a fire to save lives.

Their morale and choices earned Lin Miao's admiration, and their treatment would be no worse than when they were with the NCPD.

But this also meant making an enemy of the NCPD.

"Weapons...?"

Gloria seemed startled by this news.

You have to understand, the players head out fully armed with their guns, rockets, exoskeletons, and even have internship mechanics players responsible for logistics.

Yet now, bringing in weapon shipments, and not just one, who are you preparing to fight?

"Yes."

Lin Miao nodded.

"Better safe than sorry. Medical supplies and winter provisions will also arrive gradually. Have them build a warehouse to store everything properly."

"Also..."

Lin Miao paused, looking at Gloria.

"Take care of yourself, and if danger arises, have them break through and retreat with you."

"Items can be remade, and the plant can be rebuilt, but you only have one life. I don't want to lose any of my employees."

This time, without Mann's team accompanying, Gloria's risk was undoubtedly much higher, given the reliability of the players.

In dangerous situations, being close to players is safest; when there's no danger, being near them is the most dangerous. They're more suited for assault and defense than being bodyguards compared to Mann's team.

Gloria smiled knowingly at Lin Miao's words, her attitude soften much more compared to reporting alone.

"I'll take good care of myself. Please also take care of your health."

She never forgot her identity and always knew that with Lin Miao's current position, he could find plenty of talented people to replace her anytime, and what she called a medical mentor was more name than fact.

But Gloria didn't choose to belittle herself; instead, she read a lot of medical books and performed many hands-on practices to enrich her theoretical and practical experience in her spare time.

Like the book in her hands now, "Prosthetics and Neurons."

After all, with the presence of players, she never lacks patients needing surgery, and she doesn't have to feel guilty about cutting into players, freeing her to perform dissections.

Regarding business operations, she also tried to get involved, and when she didn't understand something, there were plenty of talented people among players to ask for valuable insights.

After hanging up with Gloria, Lin Miao was met with Lucy's piercing gaze.

"Uh... It's not that bad... Just giving instructions for work."

"Hmph... Yeah, giving instructions for work."

Lucy's witty sarcasm had increased quite a bit recently.

"The task you gave me is taking shape. Would you like me to report now?"

"I think you reporting while sitting there is fine; there's no need to climb onto me. And why are you taking off my pants?"

"It's obviously to report the work."

Lucy replied righteously; she didn't learn much else from Lin Miao, but she did pick up quite a bit of his knack for babbling.

"I've found that creating virtual machines might let them access the old web... It should reduce their neural impact."

"Virtual machines?"

Lin Miao was clueless about electronic programs, and he's busy with other things at the moment, unable to find time to check information.

"It's... Simulating a subsystem on the original main system... Ooh... It... The subsystem doesn't differ much from the host system, but its performance will be discounted, unable to exceed the original system."

"... Huff... Huff... It's like creating a proxy for their consciousness and then controlling this proxy to operate in the old web..."

"Can anyone use this technology?"

"N... No... No, normal people can't... Use it... "

Lucy's nails were almost digging into Lin Miao's back, and after pausing for a moment, she continued to explain,

"Once a virtual machine connects to the network, worm-like viruses can still attack the host system through the virtual machine, and the damage could potentially be even stronger."

"But they're different... Their consciousness connection has barriers; if faced with a deadly threat, they will return to the other side of the barrier, not really getting hurt, but their brain might suffer a neural overload death."

Solid-state programs don't work well in the old web, and the disturbances they cause can potentially invite endless stray AI attacks, nor can server rooms mitigate the attacks players face.

"If we can have the virtual machine simulate a death signal ahead of time, triggering their consciousness retreat mechanism early, it could let their brains disconnect from the network before getting fried, allowing the virtual machine to die in its place, minimizing damage."