Chapter 413: BYD, you're still choosing here!
Shadaloo and NESTS have very similar structures and many technical resemblances, but in reality, they still have different focuses and priorities.
While Shadaloo possesses cloning technology, it is more adept at modifying the human body through implantation and also has related techniques for brainwashing and controlling others with psychic power.
NESTS, on the other hand, focuses more on the integration of humans and machinery, as well as genetic modification and transplantation.
But what Cheng Tian was more interested in was actually NESTS's reinforced combat suit technology.
Simply by relying on reinforced combat suits that utilized high technology and recorded a vast amount of combat data from various fighters, an individual with almost no combat foundation could gain the fighting ability to contend with and even defeat top-tier fighters.
Although Cheng Tian's main body was incredibly resilient, it was undeniable that his close-quarters combat ability was only at the level of a 'normal person fighting'.
Twenty points of strength and agility were enough for Cheng Tian to maintain a 'monster' status in the real world, but for players in the Dimension with primary strength or agility builds, his instinctive adult male abilities were pretty useless.
While the Stand was powerful, the main body's shortcomings were undeniable. He might be able to gain an early advantage through a first-strike kill and information asymmetry, but once he was seen through and targeted, the main body's weak fighting ability would be infinitely magnified, which was quite fatal in a fighting arena.
Directly smashing people with 'Za Warudo' was a way to abandon thinking, but after realizing that Iori's Yasakani no Magatama had time-slowing or even time-stopping effects, and seeing that tea-drinking little guy, Cheng Tian no longer dared to assume he was the only one with time-stopping abilities in the arena.
Since he couldn't further extend his strengths to turn his bucket into a ladle, patching up his weaknesses became a logical idea.
And NESTS's combat suit, which could even save a fighting novice, clearly suited Cheng Tian's needs better.
Shadaloo also had similar enhancement technology called the 'Feng Shui Engine'.
But that was an implantable type; not only did one have to consider the risks of surgery and potential rejection reactions from the body, but even without rejection, it still had extremely high demands on physical fitness, and how much combat power could be unleashed depended entirely on the user's own combat proficiency.
Combat suits could stably raise the lower limit, maintaining overall skill at a higher level, but the drawbacks might include additional energy consumption or limited continuous combat duration.
The Feng Shui Engine, however, had extremely wide fluctuations in its upper and lower limits; a wild card could use it to slay gods, but most ordinary people couldn't even utilize its intended effects.
Cheng Tian furrowed his brows, lost in thought.
If the leaders of NESTS and Shadaloo knew what Cheng Tian was thinking at this moment, they would probably exclaim in unison:
"BYD! You're still choosing here!"
December (Decapre) was curled up in the corner of the cage, scanning Cheng Tian. Her abdomen, a mix of old and new wounds, still throbbed faintly.
During Vega's cruel experiments, she had almost lost all normal emotional fluctuations; even if she wanted to smile, she could only forcibly pull back the corners of her mouth with two fingers. Only when it came to Cammy would she lose emotional control.
However, this endowed her with the ability to think more calmly in her normal state.
The short-haired woman in a suit was not to be trifled with; her agility and strength surpassed her own, and not only were her fists brutal, but they also carried a striking effect that could burn the spirit.
And similar psychic burning, she had only ever seen on her master.
As for this man who could make that humanoid she-devil show a large-dog-like expression, he must be her master, right?
Most individuals capable of genetic research view life as dirt, or simply see themselves as existing above all living beings—this was something December had experienced deeply.
But a mission was a mission; even death had to be valuable.
Thus, after waiting for several hours in this cage, which could even hold super-powered dinosaurs, December decisively made her move when she saw Cheng Tian.
However, despite her original intention being merely an attempt, her full-force, no-holds-barred psychic sting assassination failed to even penetrate the opponent's psychic barrier... This indeed exceeded December's judgment, and at the same time, she directly felt the opponent's pure and powerful psychic fluctuations.
Could this person be the mysterious leader of 'NESTS' who had never officially appeared?
December was thinking faster, trying to figure out how to transmit this information before she was punished.
Yes, that's right. December, one of Vega's personal guards, firmly believed Cheng Tian's Hammond Innovation Lab to be NESTS's front organization.
Even the previous encounter and chaotic battle with the sixth wave of invaders, the NESTS Cyborg , in the lab, were seen by December as indirect proof.
Because of the many overlaps in organizational nature and specialized technology, NESTS and Shadaloo are also mutually hostile competitors in the underworld.
The NESTS Cyborg, with their iron-clad flesh and flesh-clad iron, might seem baffling to others, but to Shadaloo, they were conspicuously obvious.
Similarly, December, who possessed the same body and appearance as Cammy and was one of the most recognizable members of Vega's personal guard, was also recognized immediately upon encountering them. However, they only managed to transmit the image back just before being disassembled into parts.
And this led to the NESTS junior cadre, responsible for managing this group of invaders in the lab, making the following report to his superiors after receiving the images from the dead operative and identifying the masked woman as Vega's personal guard through big data screening:
The Hammond Innovation Lab is suspected to be a front organization for 'Shadaloo'.
"When it's time for the funeral feast, you Shadaloo and NESTS can just sit at the same table..." Cheng Tian didn't know that the encounter between these two groups, NESTS and Shadaloo, at his place had led to such a ridiculous conclusion. He just stared at December for a long while before saying:
"Do you want to surrender? If you surrender, I can spare your life, you know?"
December remained silent, but she knew that since the opponent, despite having overwhelming combat power, still spared her life, he must want something. And the more he wanted, the less she could easily satisfy him, otherwise, the moment she completely satisfied him would be the moment she lost her life.
Dying was fine; dying with important information was the most humiliating.
"Forget it, someone like you, so heavily brainwashed by psychic power, would never willingly betray Vega."
But the next second, Cheng Tian changed the subject, directly giving up on verbal persuasion, and instead pulled out a thick 'Bible' with reinforced corners.