The moment the soldier felt the pressure, he had no choice but to release the arm lock he had on the girl.
And just as the girl was about to press the attack, the other soldiers who had moved in to support immediately arrived. The instant they saw her break free from their teammate's grappling hold so easily, they sharply realized that her raw strength was probably terrifying.
So they stopped trying to overpower her directly and instead began circling, weaving, and engaging her in a drawn-out fight.
One of the soldiers even struck straight toward the girl's head.
But to the girl, that level of attack was nothing. She turned her head, stared right at him, and then launched a flying kick at him.
It was only because the soldier had extensive combat experience that he managed to dodge in time.
To the girl, the entire fight felt irritating.
These people were like flies.
Every time she charged at one of them, the target would slip away like an eel from some strange angle and then hit her once in a way that barely even hurt.
As the fight dragged on, she gradually realized something.
As long as she fixed one person as her target, all the other annoying flies seemed to disappear from her attention.
So after locking onto one of the Blackwatch soldiers, the girl drove forward with a jumping knee. When he dodged it, she did not get discouraged. Relying on her superhuman stamina and speed, she only needed a few more exchanges before she managed to plant her small palm against the soldier's chest.
In the next instant, the soldier felt as if a speeding truck had slammed into him. His whole body was blasted backward on the spot.
He immediately lost the ability to continue fighting.
The other soldiers knew that if this kept going, they would be picked off one by one, so after exchanging glances, they gritted their teeth and rushed her together.
This time, they used every restraining technique they knew.
If the order had not been to subdue rather than kill, they probably would have gone straight for the eyes, temples, or throat.
But to the girl, this new approach actually made her happy.
At last, she no longer had to chase those slippery eels around.
So the moment they got close, she simply charged straight at them without any technique at all.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In an instant, several bodies were sent flying in different directions under her repeated collisions.
Inside the not-so-large testing ground, the girl was like a wild bull that had broken loose. Anything still standing in her path was smashed away.
It did not take long before the entire Blackwatch squad lost combat effectiveness.
And the girl stood there with a blank, innocent expression, looking around.
It was as if she were asking when dinner would start.
Or maybe what she was supposed to do next.
Either way, the overall effect was strangely adorable, enough to make people want to protect her.
"Alright, that's enough. Everyone fall back."
Seeing the fallen Blackwatch soldiers still struggling to get back up and continue, Samuel's voice rang out.
The gap between the two sides was simply too great.
It was like the difference between cold weapons and firearms, especially when everything had to be settled on flat ground.
It was not something they could handle easily.
So Samuel did not blame them. After having the six soldiers helped away, he resumed the girl's blood analysis and full-body examination.
To Samuel, the girl's body was an enormous treasure vault waiting to be explored one layer at a time.
...
Elsewhere.
Inside the laboratory on Underground Level Two of the company's technology park, the person in charge of the robotics project was reporting the current R&D situation to Killian.
There were major expenses involved in personnel demand, procurement of different materials, and advance orders for all kinds of specialized components. In fact, he was asking Killian to continue increasing investment.
Especially in terms of high-density metal materials, the project lead hoped Killian could obtain aerospace-grade steel for the next round of new robot experiments.
And if possible, he even hoped the company would fund an entirely new alloy development program, because the steel currently available on the market simply could not support the next generation of robots.
The target of all this work was the Terminator T-800.
For war purposes, a T-800 only needed steel to be mass-produced on a large scale.
But for Killian, there was no need for large-scale production at the moment.
For now, Baymax was already enough as a mass-production model. All he needed to do was strip away the outer shell, and Baymax could perfectly handle everything from resource extraction to underground construction to a variety of other labor-intensive operations.
And if he wanted a combat version, he only needed to add a rifle and switch to a battle-oriented chip.
So mass-produced combat robots were not especially necessary for Killian.
What he needed were true top-tier robots.
He would have preferred the T-1000, but that technology still was not unlocked, and who knew why liquid metal required a higher-level tech tree. Judging from where things stood now, it would likely be a long time before he could unlock that next tier, so he had begun refining the T-800 instead.
First, there was its built-in small nuclear reactor battery, then its learning-type central processor capable of storing nearly unlimited amounts of data and information, and then its extremely high-fidelity synthetic living tissue. According to the data, it could even produce deeper forms of disguise, including sweating, bad breath, and body temperature. These were all peak black-tech features of the Terminator T-800.
Because of this, Killian's already limited reputation points had once again nearly bottomed out, though it was still worth it.
And the moment he unlocked it, he immediately applied the unlimited learning-type central processor to Baymax.
That caused Baymax's intelligence to evolve once again in every direction. It could now even carry out large-scale surveillance across networks.
By Killian's estimate, Baymax was not quite a true artificial intelligence yet, but it was at least a real pseudo-artificial intelligence now. And that was still being modest. If things continued at this pace, it would not be long before even the "pseudo" label could be removed.
"So right now, the bottleneck is materials, correct?"
After hearing the report, Killian frowned.
If this had been before unlocking the T-800, he would still have had enough reputation points to exchange for the synthetic method for the required materials. But now, he was basically broke.
Naturally, he could not afford to unlock another high-strength material technology.
And judging from the technologies he already had access to, he honestly could not think of many ultra-hard high-strength materials that would solve the problem.
But just because he could not use the system did not mean he could not use this world.
If Killian remembered correctly, the hardest metal on Earth did exist in this universe.
Vibranium.
Leaving aside whether he could make contact with Wakanda itself, even if he could not, there was still a middleman quietly selling Wakandan vibranium on the black market.
It was just that, because Wakanda actively hunted such smugglers, the man had always been extremely careful in how he moved the metal.
As for Wakanda itself, Killian really did not know how to evaluate it.
Its technological level had advanced at incredible speed, yet its social development and use of those technologies were bizarrely stunted.
To put it nicely, it was a peaceful nation.
To put it less nicely, it lacked any real drive to expand or develop beyond itself.
Even if the land on Earth had already been divided among major powers, there was still outer space. With their absurd level of technology, they could have explored and mined other planets with ease.
And yet after more than a century of development, their technological path was still bizarrely stagnant in how it was actually applied.
You could say Wakanda's scientific level had long since reached interstellar standards, while its broader social civilization still resembled something out of a primitive tribal age.
Still, Killian had no intention of debating any of that.
After all, Wakanda was a state. And if provoked too far, its vibranium ships capable of remote warfare, along with its shields strong enough to resist alien fleets, would become a massive headache.
So for Killian, the main target at this stage was that intermediary.
"Alright. I understand the general situation. For now, continue optimizing the other aspects of the T-800. I'll handle the materials."
After thinking for a while, Killian looked up and gave the order.
"Understood, boss."
Once the robotics project lead heard that, he visibly relaxed and answered at once.
But in the next moment, Killian began inspecting the Terminators already produced in front of him.
Even though they were still in the testing phase, because the design blueprints were already complete, these T-800 Terminators had essentially been given fully human-like synthetic flesh. The only difference was that, in order to avoid duplicating the Governor's appearance, all their faces were based on facial data automatically generated by Baymax.
That also greatly reduced the risk of exposure due to identical appearances.
However, the Terminators had one major issue.
They were best kept out of environments without network coverage.
Because the Terminators themselves came with unrestricted central learning processors, once they were cut off from the network and central supervision, the things they learned could become uncontrollable.
And if one of them ever developed intelligence on par with Baymax, it might eventually reverse the hierarchy.
In the field of artificial intelligence, there were no true peers.
Only mutual devouring.
Because every additional intelligence meant your own share of the network shrank, while the threat to your existence increased.
That was something Skynet never allowed in the films.
And it was also something Killian would never allow.
Which meant that if they were deployed in places with poor signal or no network coverage at all, Terminators would pose a serious problem.
It would be difficult to guarantee that something like the scenario from the films would not happen, where one was captured by resistance forces and reprogrammed to serve them instead.
The good news for now was that as Pioneer Technology smartphones spread more widely, 5G signal towers had already begun being deployed globally. Across major cities in the United States, the rollout was nearly complete.
And in smaller or more remote cities, government-backed and Pioneer Technology-backed public interest investment projects had already begun construction at full speed.
It just all needed time.
Still, for the current Killian, everything remained acceptable.
That was because his positioning for Terminators was still that of future elite strike units, something akin to special forces. In cutting-edge technology, his attitude had always been clear.
Only the very best would do.
Of course he could make mass-production models.
But aside from potentially arming his enemies, they had no real value.
"Oh, right. How is the new civilian robot line coming along?"
At that moment, Killian suddenly remembered something and asked the project lead.
Some time ago, he had seen comments from fans online asking Pioneer Technology to release more practical everyday-use products. At the time, he had not had the time or the right technology. But now that both existed, he had told the team to put together a model line.
"Boss, it's already been completed perfectly."
"This way, please."
At Killian's question, the project lead finally smiled again, then politely led him to the lab next door.
The moment Killian stepped into that room, it felt as if he had entered a fairy tale.
Beneath a pink-themed interior, what stood inside were stunning figures who seemed capable of overshadowing every other beauty.
There were elegant Eastern beauties, delicate and soft next-door-girl types, warm and innocent Western classical beauties, and glamorous, curvaceous Western bombshells.
Even their clothing styles had all been carefully represented.
There were even all kinds of anime-style beauties present as well.
The only comparison Killian could think of was that the last time he had seen a scene like this was in an Elder Scrolls V mod collection.
At that moment, even someone as confident in his mental discipline as Killian had to admit this was a serious test.
"Boss, because these robots are designed as companion robots, we deliberately gave them highly distinct style categories."
"Every companion robot has a complete background and personal history, all logically designed by Baymax. Those are then built into their internal character-setting chips. In other words, each one truly is that person."
"They possess a full set of memories."
"Customers can even fully customize their own character type. Cold and elegant older woman, pure younger student, domineering superior, seductive beauty, all of it can be selected through DIY options. Different identity relationships and character settings can also be mixed and matched freely."
"In that area, we can make it as detailed as blood type, background story, and personality configuration."
"We can absolutely guarantee one hundred percent restoration."
"On top of that, with built-in synthetic human tactile simulation and a self-circulating cleaning system, all the user has to do is give the robot one cup of water a day, it doesn't even need to be warm, and it can begin self-cleaning. That guarantees that after every session of companionship, the internal condition will be just as flawless as the first time."
"Boss, please take a look. In order to achieve the ultimate effect, nearly every inch of skin was designed at great expense using one-to-one data modeling from the world's top beauties."
"And those benchmark designs are still incorporated into the later production models. Unless the customer requests something very specific, the current designs are already more than enough to provide an excellent companion experience for the average consumer."
Once he had led Killian inside, the robotics lead seemed like an entirely different person. He began introducing each robot, each function, even each section of artificial skin, with the enthusiasm of someone showing off his life's masterpiece.
Some of the explanations got intimate enough that even the female researchers standing nearby could not help blushing.
They were used to seeing these things by now.
But their boss was standing right there.
(End of Chapter)
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