Arasaka

On the planet Jili, the surface serves as a testing ground, while the higher-ranking citizens of the mother city reside in the layer below the surface, from the mantle to the Earth's core.

The reason why Freedom Shore is said to be the closest place to the Mother City is because there is the largest rift on the surface of Machine Rift Star on that side.

As for why Cybertron is on a satellite, don't ask. The answer is simply the pride of mechanical life.

If you live with carbon-based life forms, they won't be able to breathe.

"You don't seem surprised?"

Inside the mechanical octopus, Miss Shell's intelligent voice rang out, because she could clearly sense the indifference of the planet's natives towards the universe.

In the mechanical octopus's "eyes," the senior engineer, who was studying the attribute panel, looked up with a silly grin and glanced at the "night sky scenery" that seemed to be magnified a thousand times. The asteroid belt was changing at a constant speed, and meteorite fragments the size of small mountains flashed past outside the window from time to time.

Why do I care? I was sick of this awful scenery in my previous life.

"Uh, I'm shocked, I'm so shocked I'm completely dumbfounded."

After delivering that sentence with a stiff, monotone expression, the senior engineer's gaze wandered off, and he looked completely lost in thought.

Miss Shell fell silent, but she was very interested in this person. Based on her investigation of biological characteristics, she had a 1% probability of being certain that the person in front of her was the "super mutant monster" from before.

Is the other party an accomplice of that "super hacker"?

How did the other party come to know Mr. Aramaki?

Why does Mr. Aramaki trust him so much?

As someone from outside the mother city, can he keep the arrogant and fierce soldiers of the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division in check and successfully complete this mission?

In short, she was filled with curiosity about this man.

The mechanical octopus nimbly crawled across the meteorite fragments with agility and lightness, and quickly found its target.

A super-structure that reaches a height of 100,000 km and whose top pierces through the radiating clouds, the Desolate Plate Tower.

It is also the largest space elevator on this planet.

"Through the platform at the very top of the space elevator, we will use star trails to travel to Cybertron," Miss Shell suddenly said.

"Oh."

The senior engineer glanced at the enormous building outside the window. He knew that, in addition to being a space elevator, the Desolate Tower was also the largest public personality storage center on the planet.

In the future, the hacking of this megastructure will mark the beginning of the cyber wave.

The mechanical octopus skillfully passed through the defensive platform, its six mechanical claws expertly inserting into the elevator. Then, its gaze rapidly ascended. Three minutes later, amidst the white mist created by the atomization of coolant, there was a 'creak' sound, and the gravity noticeably changed, giving the feeling of an elevator arriving at its destination. The engineer's body sank; he knew he had finally entered the top of the tower and could clearly hear the noise from the outside.

The mechanical octopus's mouth slowly opened, revealing a massive interstellar platform before its eyes.

Those who could appear on the Desolate Tower were all either rich or noble, and there were even some Cloud Nobles. However, they still maintained enough awe in the face of the guests personally picked up by the mechanical octopus of the Mother City. Soon, a large area around them was cleared out.

A group of about thirty people were looking at the newcomers with curious eyes.

These people are the messengers of another mother city, the Deep Web. They are the representatives responsible for overseeing the replacement of the Golden Law. Among them are semi-electronic robots, fully mechanized metal life forms, and super AIs composed of countless overlapping holographic projections. Each of them exudes a terrifying aura; in layman's terms, they are second-tier boss monsters.

In the eyes of these people, there was suspicion, incomprehension, doubt, and hostility. Only two people expressed goodwill, and these two people were two of the original trio from Mother City: the super-powered Cyber Hacker Chapai and the neural modeler Tong.

"Young man, Boss G, long time no see," Chappie greeted, squinting his signature dead fish eyes and raising his hand.

"Mr. G, the representative of our Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division, is also the person responsible for supervising the network operation in place of Captain Motoko."

Tong adjusted his glasses; it was less of a greeting and more of an introduction of the senior engineer.

According to Aragaki, Cybertron, the Deep Web, and the Fortress will each send a representative to jointly oversee this operation.

"Ugh, so sleepy," Chappie yawned. "The people from the fortress aren't with us. The Cybertronian representative is up there, which means you're the boss here."

With six departments under the joint supervision of three parent cities, this organizational structure inevitably leads to a complex web of interests and cutthroat competition among the various parties.

Departmental interests are one thing, the inclination of the parent city is another. In fact, with the covert support of certain large corporations and super-rich individuals, even people in the same department may have different stances on certain arrangements.

However, Gao Gong was not interested in any of these things; he was only there to carry out the old man Aragaki's arrangements and investigate the whereabouts of the "Information Matrix".

He had no interest in anything else.

So, aside from greeting the two of them, the senior engineer continued to daydream and had no intention of improving their relationship.

Of course, no one else seemed to have this idea about him, this inexplicable "paratrooper".

After completing the second-tier job advancement, the senior engineer's two main attributes each exceeded 200 points: 210 points in Strength and 216 points in Perception.

For every 100 points gained in a primary attribute, an additional talent or skill will be added.

[Your strength has exceeded 200 points. Please select an upgrade direction: Gene Lock Unlock/Hulk Mode/Random Mutation]

[Your perception has surpassed 200 points. Please select an improvement direction: Lightning Sensing/Vibration Mode/Random 'Mutation' option]

The evolution of carbon-based species is often accompanied by "mutation," which, simply put, is "superpower."

Furthermore, some carbon-based civilizations have evolved into civilizations with superpowers.

[Random selection complete. You have obtained the basic genetic mutation 'Low-level Magnetic Field Mastery']

Low-level magnetic field mastery (mutated talent) (first tier): A shallow level of ability to master the life magnetic field, its effect is roughly equivalent to crushing a chicken.

Uh—that means I'm a bit of a pain in the ass.

However, after advancing to the second tier, talent also becomes an option for improvement. Whether this talent has potential or not remains to be seen after improvement.

With 15 specialization points, the senior engineer raised "Low-level Magnetic Field Mastery" to "Level 5", which is also the upper limit of the first-tier talent.

[You have upgraded your mutation talent, 'Low-Level Magnetic Field Mastery', to Level V, and are undergoing a second mutation. Random mutation generation is in progress.]

The senior engineer suddenly felt hot all over, and the parts where the mechanical body was originally located were filled with itching and burning.

This feels like I'm lacking iron in my Five Elements?

[Mutation complete. You have gained the second-tier mutation talent – Metal Magnetic Field Control]

Wow, that works!

The senior engineer's eyes lit up.

Metal Magnetic Field Control (Mutant Talent) (Tier 2, Level 1): A powerful magnetic field that can control the twisting and deformation of ordinary metals, interfere with metallic and magnetic materials over a wide range, significantly reduce the status of mechanical life forms, and slightly reduce the operating efficiency of large mechanical buildings.

Simply put, this is an ability targeting the "mechanical" class.

To put it more simply, this thing is a super low-budget version of Magneto.

The senior engineer quietly activated his ability, and for some reason, the surrounding mechanical beings suddenly felt a tightness in their anus.

"By the way, why isn't the collider here?"

Speaking of mechanical bodies, the senior engineer naturally thought of the robot made of 100% shape memory metal.

"He's a traitor to Cybertron. If he goes to someone else's territory, he'll probably be dead." A semi-electronic, curvaceous mechanical woman next to him said coldly. Most of her waist was made of electron tubes. It might be sexy in the eyes of mechanical life, but in the aesthetics of carbon-based beings, it was nothing but horror.

"Model TX, the collider's ex-girlfriend. She almost beat me to death when the collider was caught cheating on her," Chapei chuckled lewdly and secretly sent the message to the senior engineer.

Oh, I see. Ex-girlfriend—

The senior engineer nodded in realization, then glanced at Cha Pai. Cha Pai's superpower, "virtual thinking," was definitely at level two, though it was hard to say which level it was.

It seems there isn't any technology on this planet specifically designed to develop superpowers, right?

"That annoying old man is here again," Chapman sent another message.

An annoying old man?

The senior engineer looked up and saw a group of people hurrying towards them from not far away. In the middle of a group of bodyguards wearing sunglasses, there was a thin, bony old man wearing small sunglasses.

Like you, Arasaka!

In the previous life's planetary storyline, the two old men, Aramaki and Arasaka, were locked in a fierce battle. After the Arasaka Tower was destroyed, the Arasaka Group suffered a great loss of strength, especially since the tower contained a large number of artificial intelligences and backup data of high-ranking officials. The compensation money almost cost the old man half his life.

Later, for some unknown reason, Arasaka offended Aramaki, an enemy of the company, and was driven by this old man to hunt down players in various ways, resulting in a very tragic end.

However, in Gao Gong's memory, even at the end of the story, the old man was lucky enough to survive, while Aragaki died in the later part of the story in order to protect the mother city.

Kindness?

"Hahaha, so you are distinguished guests from the mother city. Your presence at our company is truly an honor. We bow in greeting!"

A group of Arasaka Group executives bowed at the same time, their posture so perfect it was as if they had been given a tap on their spine.

Unfortunately, nobody paid him any attention.

That's only natural, since the mother city is like the system, and no matter how rich the merchants outside are, they are still subject to management from above.

The Arasaka Group can only be considered a second-tier conglomerate, and it is still some distance from being a first-tier super enterprise.

Aragaki wasn't embarrassed at all. After glancing around, he said with great interest, "I wonder where Miss Suko is. Last time, we really owed her a lot. Without her, my family business's data would have been stolen by those petty thieves."

"Captain Suko has something to do, so this guy is in charge now," the bespectacled girl said calmly, while secretly patting the senior engineer on the waist.

Oh, it seems I'm in charge now.

Arasaka has a keen eye and immediately realized that the atmosphere was a bit stiff, and that this strange man seemed to be the one in charge.

"Hello, I am Saburo Arasaka, the head of the Arasaka Group. May I ask who you are?"

"You can call me Mr. G," the senior engineer said with a smile.

An old man and a young man each stretched out their hands. The old man's hands were covered with wrinkles and his bones were bony, while the young man's palms were as shiny as jade.

The two shook hands.

The senior engineer suddenly discovered something very interesting.

There wasn't a single trace of metallic element in Arasaka's body.