The Neuro Editing Group, one of the emerging groups, was established around the same time as Du Gao Technology. Both rapidly expanded within the past one or two years.

In the Cyber Test Field, there are quite a few emerging enterprises that have risen suddenly, each with its own unique strengths.

The founder of the Editing Group is a teenage genius scientist named Dou.

This teenager underwent brain modification surgery at birth and survived, possessing adult-like thinking. At the same time, his brain’s computational speed is a hundred times that of a normal person.

Moreover, after the age of 10, he demonstrated a talent for ’Neural Connection Technology’ and successfully recruited some powerful figures, including one known as Manager Shan.

Manager Shan, a level 54 Super Mechanical Warrior, a global bounty hunter, and besides that, he has another identity — a former Martial God!

...

The biochemical woman was killed, not with blood on the ground but a pool of white brain matter.

And ten streets away, there was also a headless corpse, whose owner, like the biochemical woman, was the gang leader of this district.

Such underground leaders are numerous in the Mechanical City, with varying levels, 20, 30, or even 40.

But in the Corporate War, those who are not well-informed and fail to retreat timely, regardless of their power, are the first to be purged.

Manager Shan killed his way through, taking down individuals of all levels, nearly all by himself.

As the highest combat power in this Cyber Test Field, Martial Gods are divided into two types: the Bio-Fusion War God, which follows a biological path, and the Mechanical Martial God, which takes the mechanical path.

The former follows a single technological route, with only the Xiao Family’s bio-fusion technology capable of advancement.

The latter, however, is different; theoretically, anyone with a Human Body Transformation Rate of 100% has the potential to break through.

And Manager Shan belongs to a very niche profession among Transformers, called ’Gear Warrior.’

This profession derives from ancient mechanical technology, without chip implants and consequently lacking automatic weapons, resulting in weaker ranged attacks but making up for it with terrifying melee capabilities. Covered head to toe, hundreds of gears attack simultaneously, with effects multiplying a hundredfold, dealing fearsome damage capable of instant kills on level 30 and 40 Elite Monsters.

After clearing all the underground forces, Manager Shan quickly reached the Business District.

In the Business District, the ’Brain-Machine Transformation’ of mechanical bees was not going well, with their corpses scattered everywhere, and peculiar mutant bodies, 3 meters, 4 meters, or even 10 meters tall, roamed the streets.

Some of them were covered in limbs, others resembled skinless zombies, or had specific organs rapidly replicating visibly.

A dense biological toxic fog rushed towards them.

Undoubtedly, these were the ’gifts’ left by the biological giants.

They evacuated their branches, leaving behind a pile of mutants.

"More monsters again," a flash of pain crossed Manager Shan’s eyes. The scene reminded him of some unbearable memories, the pitch-black outer space, the gigantic bloated corpses, those indescribable monsters.

"Ah!!!!!!"

...

Meanwhile, in the already shut-down Mechanical Main Brain, two figures were operating within, using the main brain’s power to accelerate Brain-Machine Transformation.

Among them, a doctor suddenly looked up and switched a screen.

"Boss, Manager Shan’s emotions are unstable again."

"That’s not important; what’s important is whether our transformation can proceed smoothly."

"In fact, it can’t be called smooth —" The doctor switched to another screen, clearly showing a large number of biological monsters in the Business District, battling the security department’s Corporate Warriors with very slow progress.

"Boss, I’ve always said that as an emerging enterprise like ours, we should hire an excellent military contractor to advance further in the Corporate War. In the future, the enemies we encounter will only grow stronger."

"Technology is the foremost power; the rest is merely noise," Dou stated coldly.

The doctor secretly sighed, noting the trouble of having a boss who is a research fanatic; he never listens to others’ opinions on resource allocation.

Seemingly sensing the doctor’s thoughts, Dou turned his head and said:

"Do you think we should sign a mutual defense alliance with military groups, even recruit more Corporate Warriors, and quickly clean up the city’s rebels?"

"Have you considered that perhaps this is precisely the goal of those monopolists?"

"I may not be a professional in biological research, but I at least know that the more raw materials, the more troublesome the spawned biological virus becomes."

"This is a Corporate War, not a military war."

"As long as more people are connected to our brain network, our Neural Network will become more stable. As long as we can expand our network a step ahead, creating a snowball effect, we can defeat any enemy on the virtual level."

"Don’t forget, the true purpose of this Corporate War is to liberate computational power in Cyber Space."

"Whoever accomplishes this will be the ultimate winner of this war."

The doctor shook his head:

"But you at least need allies."

"We have a temporary ally, don’t we? But you must understand, in this era, only those branded with the Thought Steel Seal will truly be your friends."

"Just do your antivirus work, my doctor!" Dou’s tone already carried a hint of impatience.

"Maybe you’re right, but my personal recommendation is to bring in the Special-Level Project - Sawtooth. We might have underestimated the intensity of the Corporate War."

Dou was silent for a moment, ultimately nodding.

...

Southern Hemisphere Zone 14, Puppet City

This is another Mechanical City within the Pharmaceutical District.

In the city, there exists such a project where city girls or boys would, during the night, shut off their consciousness, temporarily renting their bodies to some gray forces, like nightclubs or the houses of rich ladies, closing their eyes, and then a night passes.

This is called the Flesh Lease Project, a common and legitimate way to earn extra income in Cyber Era.

It does have some aftereffects, though.

For example, at best, some people might inexplicably find surgical stitch marks on their body.

Who knows what they did with their bodies.

And the technology behind this Flesh Lease Project is persona implantation, a new technology in the ’Virtual Personality’ direction.

What Puppet City studies is persona implantation in the biological direction.

"Mr. G, please take a look. Within this Mechanical City, with a population of 15 million, none of them have a newborn personality; they all have implanted ’New Personalities.’ They can be fathers, mothers, or white-collar workers, laborers, each with complete memories and life records."

At a café beside the street, Gao Gong looked around, feeling that compared to other Mechanical Cities, this one seemed more like a normal, non-mechanically-augmented civilized city.

"But I remember that persona implantation has a time limit. When time’s up, without restoring the Primordial Personality, the person turns into an idiot."

"Correct, we do have such limits, with some drugs lasting a week and others a month."

The person opposite smiled mysteriously and continued:

"But according to our agreement with the entrants, once time is up, we’ll give the person a choice, to return to their past state or maintain their current lifestyle."

"Mr. G, what do you guess they will choose?"

"That’s not a choice that needs making," Gao Gong sipped his coffee, "No one will give up their life."

The person opposite lauded:

"As expected of Mr. G, seeing through their essence at a glance. We’re not creating a temporary personality; we’re creating a new life!"

Gao Gong put down the coffee cup:

"If my guess is correct, your actual aim is to use biological means to create a Bionic Man race, right?"

The person opposite stiffened, no longer flattering, and forced a smile:

"We don’t have such guts to challenge the status of Bionic Men."

Gao Gong cast them a glance.

You don’t have such guts, but an important future Rebel Army member, the ’New Cloned Humans,’ didn’t just fall from the sky, did they?