Chapter 373 - 345: Joke Robot and Red Shirt Factory

Excluding massive industrial zones like Arasaka Group, Aloroy Industrial Park is the largest industrial area in Saint Domingo.

Because the headquarters of the Six Street Gang is located there, security is indeed the best in that turf, and workers love to apply for jobs there.

However, now, next to the Red Shirt Psychiatric Hospital, many illegal buildings have been constructed, adhering to the mindset of opening businesses first and getting permits later. Adkaduo has occupied the nearby unoccupied houses and started organizing production.

The area used to be scarcely visited, but recently it has become bustling with people.

In the abandoned lot behind the original Red Shirt Psychiatric Hospital, Adkaduo built workshops using prefabricated buildings.

"It’s still safer here. I heard that a car exploded on Martin Luther Street again, and several people from the Six Street Gang died."

In the workshop, the skill worker’s prosthetic eye flashed with a blue light.

The skill chip he used had been modified by Lille from a doll chip, and as long as the prosthetic eye had a scanning function and the prosthetic memory met the minimum requirements, it could guide his work.

He didn’t need to understand the principles or reasons of production, he just had to follow the instructions. If he used a Cyber Modulator capable of taking over his limbs, he could even work hands-off.

While fatigue was indeed present, he didn’t have to use his brain.

The workshop primarily reprocessed semi-finished products, while more core parts were completed by Adkaduo elsewhere.

Before him was a blood production device, equipped with blood cells.

And his words were addressed to a nearby robot, which moved on tracks and was equipped with a pair of omnidirectional bionic hands.

"That impressive?" Though the robot’s voice was electronically synthesized, it sounded emotional, as if a real person was talking, "The same chaos happens on our Martin Luther King Street, but it’s just zero-cost buying.

New York is pretty much the same, the price of oil has skyrocketed recently, life is getting harder."

The worker smiled, finding value in boasting and making jokes while working.

Although the world the robot boasted of was fictional:

Something about the United States waging war globally, beating up Europeans, and dominating the world—this kind of reality-fantasy novel was quite entertaining.

The robot thought the same.

In another New York, in another world, an Atlas worker laughed: the United States disintegrating, Europe dominating? How could a robot dream such a thing?

In their respective worlds, this system was interpreted by Lille as being built to handle potential emergencies, thus creating an intelligent robot system.

In the Marvel World, it was explained as: the system was created to train AI while avoiding some censorship issues.

In the Cyberpunk World, it was explained as: preventing AI from developing an awareness of the real world, essentially encapsulating them in a false worldview.

But in reality, they were all real people.

The worker continued with a laugh, "This is really amusing, I’ve got Adkaduo over here, and you’ve got Atlas over there."

The robot responded, "Indeed, it’s amusing, but a wanderer providing jobs? That’s too fictitious."

"That’s the Wanderer—and the Wanderer also has the Meta Group! Don’t you think it’s even more absurd for a disabled young guy to start a company?"

"Hahahahaha." "Hahahahaha."

People from two different worlds laughed together, each thinking the other was foolish.

While treating each other as confidants, they found amusement in making fun of each other’s fantastical worlds, adding some joy to their mundane lives.

As laughter filled the air, the plasma was bagged and sent out of the workshop for boxing and shipping.

Hearing the laughter inside, Lille, followed by Jack and V, passed by expressionlessly.

V pointed inside at the robot: "Get me one of those joke-cracking robots too, it’s quite creative."

"Don’t covet everything you see," Lille said grumpily.

Seeing this, Jack shut his mouth: he actually wanted one too, to help him draft his own Enforcer’s Handbook.

They continued through the workshops on a road that led underground, where a heavy, massive blast door stood in the passageway.

Upon entering a command, the door slowly opened—

A new world was revealed.

Behind the heavy blast door, there was a vast underground space supported by rough walls and steel-reinforced concrete pillars.

Although this vast underground space had ventilation ducts, the air was still filled with the distinct smell of welding and the scent of machine oil typical during metal processing.

High-precision CNC machines, 3D printers, laser cutters... A multitude of valuable manufacturing machines belonging to the Vortex Gang were laid out on the ground, patched up and put back to use, continuously operating.

Compared to the advanced production factories shown in corporate promotional videos, the machines here seemed somewhat disorganized.

But compared to the quiet and meticulous corporate factories, this place was rugged and bursting with vitality.

Adkaduo was not without technical personnel, like Mitchell and Scorpion, who could even modify Mo Xi floating cars, proving they had a fair understanding of technology.

What they lacked was more systematic and deeper education, as well as opportunities to practice.

They were eager to learn more, to bring hope to the Tribe, so they were genuinely excited each time they applied a new piece of knowledge.

Here, core production would be completed, the development and assembly of the Iron Beetle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle started here—

Of course, the assistance of "comedian robots" across dimensions was indispensable.

The roaring of machines, the clanging of metal, and the excited conversations of people mixed together, assaulting the senses of Jack and V...

The two gaped in awe at everything here, looking around as if they were country bumpkins who had just entered the city for the first time.

They only knew that Lille and Wanderer were messing with some camp, but they had not expected...

That the camp had turned into this!

"Holy shit! This place... this place is like an underground kingdom!"

Lille chuckled, "The Vortex Gang has a lot of good stuff, but they don’t know how to use it, and much of it ends up as seat cushions.

Luckily, most of the equipment isn’t that sophisticated, the really awesome stuff is inside."

"Awesome? Could it be the car is modified? Was it modified here?"

"Not exactly, but it’s related."

The coolest thing about this facility right now is something that the Vortex Gang used as a footrest, scattered throughout the entire food factory.

It was also confirmed by Lille’s comparison with a list of missing goods from online surveillance:

A versatile large-scale alloy forging machine.

The furnace used super-high temperature plasma furnace technology to ensure the metal melted completely, forming a uniform alloy liquid.

The molten alloy would flow into the cooling and solidifying device through the automated casting system, forming components of the desired shape.

Because the facility was set lower down, the exhaust and filtration systems were connected to nearly 80% of the exhaust holes within the facility.

Paired with the wall-embedded furnaces, the whole machine resembled a volcano, with heat rising and lava flowing—

Then the casting hammer fell.

Bang!

In the control room, Adkaduo and Sherman’s Mackinaw support team stared intently at the screens.

At that moment, Lille walked in.

As he walked, he began explaining to V why the legendary Mackinaw had not been modified over this period.

"I’ve mentioned that the Mackinaw needed a major overhaul, using a lot of custom technology, some of which I provided."

Lille had intended to enhance the strength of the new version of the legendary Mackinaw early in the upgrade plan.

Now it seemed that this decision was correct: the emergence of stamping sniper rifles would turn them into live targets, and the armored plates previously promised by the Thunder Power Company were not sufficient.

Lille’s points of reference were mainly in two areas: one was the armor-piercing tip used by the Osborne Group on Scorpion Battle Suits, which is now used on V’s Mantis Blades.

The second was the material used by Dr. Otto on the Octopus Arm.

One was hard, the other tough, and both very light; Lille hoped to integrate these advanced materials into the new structure of the legendary Mackinaw.

Upon seeing Lille enter, everyone turned around, and Sherman dramatically opened his arms, his face flushed as he approached Lille:

"The nemesis of companies, the savior of Mackinaw, the ultimate villain under the moonlight of Evil Land, the most badass legend of Night City—you’ve finally arrived!

It’s unimaginable, really unimaginable... this place is practically Heaven!"