"...A single 'Dove' missile wiped out twelve targets, and the X-16 cleared out eleven more in under a minute... If you can help me collect enough AI cores, I could even build you an android army. Less than a million silver coins per unit. Think it over?"
Atop the giant wall.
Overlooking the slums, Ibs wore a gleeful smile as he chattered away with commentary, clearly enjoying the spectacle.
Before, all he could do was stand here and watch those organic beings slaughter one another from afar, at most selling them a few weapons they could afford.
Now, he could finally join the fray himself.
He was extremely satisfied with this new shareholder. Earning profits for Boulder Military Industries and watching organic beings inventively get themselves killed were among his few pleasures, as well as the meaning of his existence.
After all, he did not have all the miscellaneous desires humans did. He was even less interested in consumption, reproduction, art, philosophy, and the other ways humans relieved their loneliness.
In the ruined, cluttered alleys, shadows of people began retreating one after another. The gang members had been scared out of their wits by the X-16s that had suddenly entered the battlefield.
A few Hornet assault rifles were the only heavy weapons they had, perhaps supplemented by a few cheap RPG launchers. Most gang members only had pistols and pipe rifles, making them no match for the X-16s at all.
They had never expected to face Boulder Military Industries' androids.
In most gang members' memories, the towering giant wall had never acted against rats like them who lived in the gutters, because there was nothing to gain from it.
They could not understand why they deserved a missile dropping from the sky, much less why the esteemed Mr. Ibs would