"Am I dreaming? Johnny actually doesn't like shooting anymore?"
Berry stroked her chin, both surprised and wondering what medicine Johnny had taken today; after seeing Rogue, she had actually changed her nature.
Of course, what she didn't know was that Johnny had indeed changed her nature.
One can only say that love truly possesses magic, capable of making even a descendant of the Great Western King of America, who had anti-urbanized five hundred thousand people, become benevolent.
"Hmm, it hurts quite a bit, you're definitely not dreaming."
Wells pinched his forearm, found it quite painful, and finally confirmed that neither of them was dreaming.
"Forget it, let's not bother with her. Let's go run the mech and see if there's anything to improve."
"Woohoo, thunder hammer armor, activate!"
Wells shouted, his expression excited… As the chief designer of the Hive Organization, Berry's armor design philosophy was a hundred years ahead of Night City.
Unlike V's feminine, stealth- and assassination-oriented Chassis, the mech she designed for a big guy like Wells truly conformed to the original concept of a mech.
That is, tough, sturdy, like a humanoid tank, a python — that's what it was.
The big guy's exclusive armor design was entirely white, nearly two and a half meters tall, and over a meter wide horizontally. This massive contraption, comparable to several refrigerators stacked together, weighed around five hundred kilograms.
Standing in the basement, Berry even had to add a layer of steel plate to the floor, otherwise, the floor would have almost cracked.
Berry gave this model of heavy armor a very artistic name: "Crusader."
Of course, this was changed under V's intervention; Berry originally intended to be more direct and call this generation of armor "Thick and Hard."
"This 'Crusader' model specializes in bulletproof capabilities and heavy weapon loading, built specifically for frontal assaults and defense. Its defensive capabilities are self-evident; it can even withstand a main battle tank firing directly at its head. As for weapon mounts, as long as you can, even anti-aircraft autocannons can be disassembled and used directly."
Berry gave a lengthy introduction, only to realize she was talking nonsense, as Wells, who was engrossed in the mech, didn't seem to be listening at all.
"Holy shit…"
The moment he first saw this mechanical behemoth, Wells was completely conquered.
His ox-like eyes were not only sparkling, but his hand had already pulled out his phone and was taking pictures everywhere.
"Berry, can you make a miniature model of the same style? I'll put it on my bedside table and play with it every day."
Hearing this, Berry gave Wells a surprised look.
You kid, you really know how to have fun.
I haven't even gotten to play with such a good thing yet, and you're already coveting it.
"Hey, don't get carried away yet. Have you sorted out what I asked you to do?"
"Ah, what, what thing?"
In front of the armor, Wells' already low IQ seemed to drop even further; now he couldn't hear a word.
However, when he saw Berry's resentful gaze, Wells suddenly snapped back to attention and quickly said with a compensatory smile,
"Hi, forget, how could I forget? You asked me to select excellent warriors in the Hive, right? I've already picked two."
Wells looked guilty, no longer in the mood to admire the magnificent mech.
"Hmm… I'm almost starting to think highly of you, Jackie."
After saying this sarcastically, Berry then explained the next steps.
It was natural that Berry wouldn't just make one set of armor.
According to her design, different armor designs should form specialized functional teams for combat.
V's "Phantom" squad had already proven the correctness of this approach.
In a complex battlefield like the city, only functional specialization could allow these mechs to maximize their capabilities.
For example, the "Phantom" squad specializes in stealth and assassination missions, while for the Soon to be established "Crusader" squad, Berry's arrangement is for them to serve as assault specialists on the frontal battlefield, with both defensive and penetration capabilities consciously strengthened.
And Jackie Welles, as Berry's designated captain of the "Crusader" squad, naturally had to choose his two teammates to form a three-person squad.
Jackie did indeed do this job.
However, only after hearing Berry's explanation did he understand the intention behind asking him to do this job.
When it came to combat, Jackie became serious, stroking his chin as he introduced the two promising candidates he had chosen.
"In our Hive, according to the requirements you gave me, I picked out two very capable guys."
"One is named 'Jumping Shot' James, and the other is 'Chagatai'."
Pfft!!!
When she saw Jackie seriously utter these two names, Berry almost choked.
She even paused for a moment before she could barely suppress the internal absurdity.
What kind of ridiculous names are these?
Berry said it directly.
"What are these bizarre names? I'll assume 'Jumping Shot' is a crude nickname you gave him, but where did this 'Chagatai' come from? Where do we have Mongolians in our Hive?"
"Uh, heh heh, their names are indeed a bit… that… but I promise, they are both top-notch experts."
Jackie clearly knew that the names of these two brothers were a bit strange, so he awkwardly scratched his head before explaining.
"James is a good hand, a young lad with bulging muscles, and most importantly, he's a military veteran with solid combat skills."
"Then why did you give him such a strange name?"
Berry looked confused, highly skeptical of Jackie's explanation.
"Uh, because this guy likes to use shotguns, so over time, everyone started calling him 'Jumping Shot'."
Although she couldn't understand the connection between liking shotguns and "Jumping Shot," Berry at least tolerated it. After all, this was the Hive, not a Sunflower Kindergarten, so a bit of crude humor was understandable.
But the next one, she couldn't quite understand.
"Chagatai"? Did their Hive have Mongolians?
"Ah, this 'Chagatai,' that's also a nickname."
"His real name is John, but he disliked that name for being too honest, not fitting his temperament."
"Coincidentally, this guy really liked the legendary world conqueror 'Genghis Khan', so he took his name."
"But wasn't 'Genghis Khan' named Temüjin?"
Berry expressed confusion, wondering if there was a problem with the world's history or if her own perception was distorted.
Wasn't Genghis Khan's real name Temüjin?
"Hey, Berry, you really are cultured. I only found out by searching the internet that 'Genghis Khan' wasn't actually named 'Genghis Khan'."
Well, you're the real MVP.
Wells, looking utterly lacking in knowledge, gave Berry a thumbs up.
"That guy is also half-witted like me. He got the person wrong, mistaking Temüjin's son for his father, which is why he calls himself 'Chagatai'. But he's been using the name for so long, he just decided not to change it."
...Silence, just silence.
Berry pondered whether it was birds of a feather flocking together or people of the same ilk associating.
Otherwise, how did Jackie manage to find these two heavyweights out of the two hundred-plus people in Honeycomb?
"How about we go meet these two guys?"
"Of course, no problem."
Jackie nodded with a serious expression.
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