Chapter 183: Chapter 160: Highest Level Security Meeting, (VI) New Member

Doctor Lin watched Lin Qi’s back as he entered the workshop. He raised a hand, as if to say something, but then lowered it.

He sighed.

Easy for him to say. That stuff was worth tens of millions!

He just takes it when he wants to?

He used to make a few pleasantries and give a specific time for payment.

But now he’s not even bothering with the act?

To be so brazen about living off his old man... it really reminded him of his own style back when he was young.

"Young people need to walk their own path, but they can’t just use their old man’s money to pave the way, can they?"

Shaking his head, Doctor Lin sat down on the sofa, dialed his comm again, and continued the conversation he was having earlier.

...

’I’ve dismantled A-Class Prosthetic Bodies before and gained some experience back in Greenfield City. If I rush this, I’m afraid I’ll waste these A-Class Prosthetic Bodies.’

Lin Qi picked up his tools and began dismantling and modifying the A-Class Prosthetic Body.

The more he disassembled and reassembled, the greater the pressure on Lin Qi became.

His knowledge of Prosthetic Engineering was proving to be insufficient.

Unlike with Pharmacy, there were no shortcuts for Lin Qi on the path of Prosthetic Engineering.

Although his learning efficiency was much higher than others, this was a true engineering discipline that required time to accumulate experience.

Lin Qi made up his mind. He would have to temporarily slow his progress on the path of Pharmacy, the one leading to becoming an A-Class Pharmaceutical Researcher.

In any case, he had no leads on reaching S-Class yet, so he had to pick up his Prosthetic Engineering research again. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Otherwise, once his Wizard Level reached Level 3, his Prosthetic Body and Exoskeleton Equipment would become his weak points.

At the same Level, those with Extraordinary Professions can crush those with Prosthetic Implantation.

But the boost that a Prosthetic Body and Exoskeleton provided to an Extraordinary Professional was also not to be ignored.

Lin Qi worked for a long time and finally completed the initial modifications.

Without changing the Prosthetic Body’s appearance much, he had radically modified it into an Exoskeleton.

However, compared to a Prosthetic Body he designed himself, the performance of this modified set would be about thirty percent weaker than the original version.

’It’s good enough, though. Now for the most troublesome part: checking for algorithm backdoors and corporate tracking chips.’

For an L-Class Prosthetic Body, especially one he designed himself, Lin Qi could complete this task easily.

But when it came to an A-Class model, and one he was relatively unfamiliar with at that, Lin Qi no longer had the ability.

Lin Qi sent a help request email to Guang Ling.

After paying another seven hundred thousand Credit Points, Lin Qi, now with a terrifying debt in the millions, received Guang Ling’s help.

First was the hardware. The A-Class Prosthetic Body had a hardware backdoor. Guang Ling directly tossed the design schematics to Lin Qi. These were the production blueprints from Liu’s Heavy Industries, with the function of every single part annotated.

The backdoor hardware, in particular, was marked with perfect clarity.

Theoretically, this kind of information had a very high security classification within a large corporation. If it were to be exposed, the impact on the company would be enormous.

But Guang Ling had gotten it anyway.

After Lin Qi removed the hardware backdoor, Guang Ling gave him a choice between two options.

The network backdoor!

Guang Ling presented two choices.

One: remove it directly. Two: have Guang Ling modify the algorithm.

Between A or B, Lin Qi decisively chose "or."

He sent an email: "I want to modify the networking hardware into a signal simulator. It would abolish the networking function, but the corresponding serial number could still be queried in the corporation’s backend."

Lin Qi’s request was tricky. In any case, he himself didn’t have the ability to handle this kind of algorithm.

Lin Qi could only physically destroy the corresponding module, but if he did that, there was a high risk of exposure when the company identified him wearing this "Prosthetic Body".

Guang Ling quoted a reasonable price.

Another million!

Lin Qi felt like he was being robbed.

With no other choice, Lin Qi continued to write bad checks.

At this point, Lin Qi was shouldering a debt of two million.

With Guang Ling’s assistance, Lin Qi completed the modifications.

By the time Lin Qi put on the new "Prosthetic Body", it was almost 12:00 AM.

Lin Qi sat on a chair in the workshop and rested for two minutes.

At 00:00 on Monday, March 14, 2089, an email from Guang Ling was sent right on time to every member of the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps.

[You have received an invitation to the "Highest Level Security Meeting." Connect?]

After a long time, the day of a Highest-Level Mercenary Corps meeting had finally arrived again.

Given the current situation in the Asian Administrative Region, Lin Qi believed Guang Ling would most likely make a move.

Lin Qi immediately chose to connect to the meeting room.

Through the synergy of the electrodes behind his ear and his Intelligent Brain, a projection instantly appeared in Lin Qi’s retina.

Lin Qi’s senses of sight and hearing were already immersed in the meeting room.

Guang Ling, Capitalist, Master Ma, and King Arthur had all entered the meeting room at the first possible moment.

As Lin Qi looked at King Arthur, his focus suddenly sharpened, and he glanced at the seat beside her.

In the seat marked with the Roman numeral "VI"—seat number six—a figure had appeared.

"The Highest-Level Mercenary Corps? Highest Level?"

The voice of the person in seat number six trembled, utterly astonished by those two words: Highest Level.

Hearing the voice next to her, King Arthur immediately turned to look.

There, in the shadows, was the new member.

No, not yet a new member.

Lin Qi recalled the scene when he had joined the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps.

’The same shock, the same feeling of being shrouded by the unknown.’

After about ten minutes of discussion, Lin Qi had been "persuaded" by King Arthur to agree to join the Mercenary Corps.

Only after Lin Qi truly became familiar with the world of Mercenary Forces did he understand that the name "Highest Level" was really just a name.

Fortunately, the Mercenary Corps had a leader who was reliable enough.

Guang Ling’s command over the network was worthy of those two words: "Highest Level."

But perhaps, in the entire Mercenary Corps, only Guang Ling was worthy of the name "Highest Level."

As for the others?

A Tier Four Martial Artist, a Tier Three Knight, a Tier Two Wizard...

Lin Qi didn’t think any of them could bear the weight of those two words, "Highest Level."

"As you can see. Highest Level."

Just as Lin Qi was reminiscing, King Arthur suddenly adopted a strange tone.

Her voice was laced with a thick air of nobility.

Lin Qi was very familiar with this air; it was the same one she used when she "persuaded" him back then.

’King Arthur was at it again!’

This Golden Knight, who was less than 1.6 meters tall, was starting her new round of "persuasion."

...

「Asian Administrative Region, Alliance City, Edge Zone, Landfill.」

A young man with a full Prosthetic Body lay amidst the garbage, his body half-paralyzed, though his ocular prosthetics still maintained power.

Thanks to his still-stable ocular prosthetics, the young man successfully entered the meeting room.

Looking at the meeting room’s interior, the young man’s thoughts raced, and a guess formed in his mind.

’Regardless of whether this "Highest Level" is real or fake, they must want me to join.’

’I can be saved!’

"I can join you! I’ll do anything! But I need to survive first! I don’t care who you are, but I’m in the landfill in the Edge Zone of Alliance City, in the Asian Administrative Region! In thirty minutes, at most, I’m going to be sent into the compactor! Help me!"