Hearing Maeve's words, Loren frowned.
He then said to 2B, "Scan her body immediately and see if there's anything abnormal."
"Yes!" Upon receiving Loren's order, 2B immediately activated scan mode.
In mere moments, she discovered a signal source within Maeve's subcutaneous tissue.
"Report, Boss. An electronic device was implanted beneath her skin. It appears to be a miniature listening device. I've cut off its signal source!"
"No wonder. It seemed this woman wasn't completely stupid after all. Before dying, she at least managed to provide us with a lead."
"Boss, have you already identified the mastermind?"
"Mm, it should be him."
"Who is it?"
"Alexander Pierce, director of the World Security Council."
"Then I'll go kill him right now!"
Hearing Loren's words, 2B's face filled with killing intent, and she immediately moved to act, only for Loren to stop her.
"There's no need to rush. Alexander is one of Hydra's leaders, and killing him won't be easy. I'll upgrade your body first. That'll give us a better chance of succeeding." Loren considered it for a moment before speaking seriously.
The reason he was not in a hurry to kill Pierce was, first, that he truly intended to upgrade 2B to better deal with Hydra. Second, when Maeve died, another system notification had sounded in his mind.
[Congratulations, Host. For participating in the pursuit of the true mastermind and successfully killing the incident's planner—Maeve, you have been rewarded with one Reconnaissance Robot 9S blueprint.]
Anyone who had played NieR: Automata knew who 9S was. He was Miss 2B's partner, a Reconnaissance Robot.
He was mainly responsible for enemy reconnaissance and hacking attacks. His close-combat abilities were not strong, but he excelled at information warfare.
Loren happened to be lacking an artificial intelligence specialized in information warfare, so he wanted to create a super AI that could be deployed in real time.
That way, it could assist 2B in battle whenever necessary.
As for the Reconnaissance Robot 9S, he was also part of Loren's production plans.
Just not yet. After all, his time and energy were limited, so he could take things slowly later on.
And even if he did build 9S, he would change 9S's gender to female.
After all, if he let a male robot accompany Miss 2B on missions every day, wouldn't he just be making himself unhappy?
And 9S would not be the only one he built. Later on, he planned to create even more General-Purpose Combat Robots, ideally mass-producing them.
Only then could he go further in the Marvel Universe and secure his position more firmly!
With that thought in mind, he immediately shut himself inside the laboratory again.
Time flew by, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Over those two weeks, he devoted himself to research and development almost without rest.
After relentless effort, he finally completed the super AI—Alice.
Alice's core program was installed in two separate locations.
One was in the underground secret base beneath the manor where he lived, while the other was aboard a satellite in low Earth orbit. One on the ground and one in the sky, supporting each other.
No matter where he was, he could access her at any time and have the super AI, Alice, conduct all kinds of data analysis for him.
And it was not just him. 2B's mechanical brain could also connect to the super AI at any time.
This meant that in the future, she could not only rely on her own mechanical brain for tactical analysis, but also have Alice enhance that analysis.
This would greatly increase her computing power and naturally allow her to unleash even greater combat strength.
After all, an AI's strength depended on computing power!
However, due to the limitations of current technology, ultra-high-performance chips could not yet be manufactured.
As a result, the performance of 2B's mechanical brain was naturally limited as well.
But because the super AI did not need to consider size constraints, it could stack vast numbers of chips to boost its performance.
As such, its computing power was naturally beyond anything 2B's mechanical brain could compare to.
Over those two weeks, he had not only created the super AI, Alice, but also given 2B a simple upgrade.
He installed Anti-Gravity Devices in 2B's feet.
With them, 2B could use the Anti-Gravity Devices to briefly walk through the air, somewhat like Moonwalk from the One Piece world.
Besides giving 2B a simple upgrade, he had finally completed the Batman Suit he had been eagerly anticipating.
Not only had he built the Batman Suit, but he had also created its matching Batmobile and Bat Flyer.
His Batman Suit was also fitted with Anti-Gravity Devices, allowing it to fly briefly.
Inside the laboratory, 2B looked at Loren, who was clad in a black Batman Suit, her eyes full of amazement.
"Boss, is this the Batman Suit you mentioned? It's so cool!"
The Batman Suit Loren had created was vastly different from Batman's in the DC Universe. First of all, Batman's suit in the DC Universe left half of his face exposed and was more like defensive armor, while Bruce primarily relied on his own fighting skills to defeat his opponents.
Loren's Batman Suit, however, covered his entire face, and its overall design leaned more toward mechanization. Pale yellow luminous strips were embedded across its surface, giving it a powerful technological feel and an intense cyberpunk style.
Of course, those light strips could be adjusted freely. Once he entered a dark environment, they would automatically conceal themselves, making it difficult to spot his movements with the naked eye alone.
Beyond that, Loren had indeed installed a large amount of high-tech equipment in the suit, including a connection to the AI Alice, military-grade goggles identical to Miss 2B's, and miniature laser emitters.
There were also retractable steel claws, Anti-Gravity Devices in place of a gliding cape, and even miniature bombs with different functions.
Taken together, it was clear that Loren's Batman Suit was far more aggressive, like a mobile armory. It was somewhat similar to Tony Stark's Iron Man Suit.
Of course, only their styles were similar. Their manufacturing processes and overall structures were completely different, as was the combat power they could unleash.
As for which was stronger, no one knew yet since they had never been compared. But one thing was certain: Loren's Batman Suit looked far cooler than the first-generation Iron Man Suit, even cooler than the Batman Suit from the DC Universe!
That was why 2B was staring at Loren in amazement right now.
"There's something even cooler! Alice, open the sky canopy immediately. I want to test-fly the Anti-Gravity Bat Fighter!"
Listening to 2B's praise, Loren smiled with a hint of pride.
He then ordered the AI Alice to open the steel sky canopy above the underground base.
At the same time, a black, bat-shaped aircraft descended from above and slowly landed in front of Loren and 2B.
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