Chapter 344 - 319 Network Administrator Upgrade

Investing in Africa yielded results very slowly, just dealing with land conditions took ten days to half a month.

Fortunately, T’Chaka had now prioritized Atlas Group’s business, like a wife eager to get a marriage certificate to secure her husband’s assets—

But unlike those nasty examples, T’Chaka’s support wasn’t just verbal or formal; under his promotion, African Union banks had already started flooding the market with funds to hire the scarce engineering teams, machinery, and manpower.

One could say this King had immense confidence in the benefits Atlas Group could bring because, with such flooding, if their bet turned out to be worthless, it would eventually backfire big time.

It took time for goods to arrive, but land handling had already begun, funded directly by the government. Such treatment was indeed top-tier.

T’Chaka’s demand for high-tech was already outrageous, so in the evening, he immediately responded.

[T’Chaka, Lille, we’ve decided; we agree to include brain-computer interface technology in the insurance project.]

[T’Chaka, but our people might have a strong aversion to this mechanical technology.]

[Lille, don’t worry about it, that’s not a problem.]

Even though the African Union had strong appeal among its people, suddenly being ordered, guided, or instructed to install a brain-computer interface would meet resistance from anyone.

But when an excellent job was on the line, various desires, needs, or ideals would drive suitable people to install the brain-computer interface.

The business car carrying Lille slowly headed towards the Bloom Company building—

This building was across the street from Lee’s Financial Tower, originally a securities company that went bankrupt under multiple hits, auctioned, and bought by Martin. Now, it’s filled with Bloom Company’s servers.

Most of the nearby real estate had already been purchased by Martin; the street was full of employees from Lee’s Financial Group, and Xin’an Security guards patrolled vigilantly like police.

To the naked eye, this was just one aspect. The streets were filled with cameras, and drones occasionally flew overhead to monitor the surroundings—

These experimental security devices stirred discussions outside, but the people working or living here were basically insiders, with no objections.

With the highest sensitivity ctOS monitoring setup, unless an intruder had stealth-like abilities, there was no way they could evade surveillance.

Even if a top agent like Nick Fury came, it wouldn’t work, let alone his small sidekicks.

[Skye, Boss, a car brazenly followed you all the way from Jackson Avenue. Are they planning a machine-gun assault?]

[Skye, should we call the cops or get someone to take care of them?]

[Lille, we’re a legitimate company! No such eliminations!]

[Skye, got it, they’re here to negotiate, their phone is online. Where should we tell them to wait?]

The image transmitted to Lille’s cyber modulator showed that the follower wasn’t hiding their identity—

No secrets from Lille.

The car contained a woman, very bold, with flaming red lips and red hair.

She looked at the cameras whenever she had a chance, making it obvious that she wanted to talk.

Excellent anti-reconnaissance awareness, clear intention to talk, felt like Black Widow.

[Lille, have two people watch her, with the exoskeleton duty team.]

[Skye, got it.]

The car steadily parked at the entrance, and Lille got out and entered the Bloom Company building.

The security here consisted of elite members from Xin’an Security, carefully selected by Martin for their motives and attitudes. Each was equipped with a brain-computer interface and an exoskeleton, making them twice as effective in a fight.

Black Widow’s car stopped at the entrance. She quickly got out and intended to approach Lille, using her unbeatable charm to make a connection...

But she was immediately blocked by the entrance security, who directed her to another passage.

Her affectionate gaze was met by security guards who looked at her like a piece of meat, showing no reaction.

This was what puzzled the Shield Bureau: why did Xin’an Security employees have such high standards?

Left with no choice, she followed the security guard into another passageway of the building.

"Wait a minute, why is security leading the way?" Black Widow suddenly asked, "Doesn’t your company have any business staff?"

"No." The security guard shook his head, "Bloom Company is an information company; we take information security very seriously, first in the industry."

A completely irrelevant answer.

Black Widow closed her mouth.

...

In the corridor, several AVG guided carts weaved through the hallways along the ground’s guiding lines.

The carts transported various hardware, equipped with mechanical arms for various functions, serving as both transport tools and operational robots.

Most of the repetitive physical labor within the company had been replaced by robots, with some remaining tasks handled by Xin’an Security personnel.

As for those truly core network tasks...

Only Skye handled them online.

In the core control room, the room was filled with screens of varying sizes, forming a massive wall display. Skye sat on a chair in front of the wall display.

This scene reminded Lille of real full-time hackers from Internet surveillance tutorials, who, after getting a brain-computer interface, could become physical computers, needing only minimal settings to inject energy fluids into their bodies, without even needing to move.

But those hackers’ bodies were usually in poor condition—the ultra-fast computing in the deep access pods would accelerate energy metabolism while prolonged lack of exercise caused muscles to atrophy, leaving them in an unhealthy state.

If neural interface devices were not used, ordinary shut-ins would also become obese or underweight due to a lack of exercise.

However...

Skye turned her chair around, a piece of bread in her mouth, looking both healthy and energized in her reports—

A natural-born stay-at-home saint!

Meanwhile, her hands kept typing on the keyboard, feeling like she regretted not having more hands.

Lille, with his sharp eyes, noticed several screens full of forums—

Network maintenance was highly automated, so part of why Skye was so busy was because she enjoyed trolling people online...

"Boss, this place is really nice, much better than my previous shithole!"

This wasn’t just a server room; next door was Skye’s own room.

Out of respect for his employees, Lille didn’t pry into her room, but it was clear she was very happy with her work and life here.

Since Bloom Company was founded, ctOS had already covered most of New York.

Typically, such advanced public safety systems would face resistance in chaotic neighborhoods, but this time, it met little difficulty.

Meanwhile, cities in California like San Francisco and Los Angeles were also gradually coming online. This system had proven so effective at maintaining public order that no matter the political strife between politicians and Lille, they had to acknowledge its benefits.

"Glad you like it. I’m here for a new task; we need to establish a cross-continental link with Wakanda."

"That’s awesome?" Skye thought for a moment and then typed a big question on the screen:

Which country is Wakanda?

Don’t think it’s an exaggeration. For these African countries whose nationals barely knew how to go online, most educated Americans would struggle to recognize them initially.

"Uh... Africa? But can they even go online?"

"Not only can they go online, they’ll have a dedicated line, a fully funded undersea cable to connect them."

"And then install ctOS?" Skye chewed the bread, puzzled, "But they can’t even feed themselves; would ctOS be useful?"

"It’s not that, the cable will open-source some technology for them, like brain-computer interfaces."

"Brain-computer interfaces?!"

"Yes, brain-computer interfaces, we need to quickly promote these technologies within our ranks to shorten the education cycle."

"But..." Skye’s eyes shifted, "They can’t afford much in patent fees, right? Free and open-source?"

"Free and open-source, promoting standards and expanding basic technology are key. If you want to learn these commercial ideas, you can learn slowly, but..."

Lille’s prosthetic eye gleamed with blue data light: "Look at the screen, we’re about to link their devices."

Half-confused and half-convinced, Skye looked at the screen.

Several screens on the wall displayed rapidly flashing data streams, soon transforming into incomprehensible gibberish!

And throughout the process, Lille merely lifted his head slightly...

Skye’s heart pounded faster—she had long suspected her boss had superpowers!

Some kind of fourth-dimensional pocket, mind-hacking... but she had no proof!

The boss was finally revealing his true self!

She turned her head to look at Lille, seeing the gleam from one of his eyes now clearly visible, simply...

"Awesome!"

[Device connected, welcome to Wakanda Royal Line.]

[Su Rui, welcome to Wakanda, Mr. Lee.]

Ignoring the content on the screen, Skye grabbed Lille’s hand: "God!"

Lille snapped his hand away from the girl: "Like hell, it’s a god. Want to learn?"

"Huh? This can be learned?"

Lille pulled out a chip from his brain-computer interface, the same parallel line 2 military technology he initially used.

This chip had been working well, remaining intact and ready to pass on.

While Lille also brought over the Crow Microcontrol chip from the other side.

[Cross-Matter Transmission: Crow Microcontrol Type 4 Access Chip]

[Technology Points, -2700]

[Current Technology Points: 8000]

The chip gleamed under the screen’s light, drawing Skye’s attention.

It was time to give his little network manager some company benefits.