Players Invade Cyberpunk

Lin Miao shot him a disgusted look. "Keep reading."

Reyes initially wanted to mock the other person, thinking who would buy such garbage at this level. However, the real combat scenes that followed left him stunned.

There was a first-person view of Natural Curl slicing both a person and a car in half, a third-person view of Mantou and the car's struggle ending with Mantou being flung, and four exoskeletons aiming heavy firepower at the Night Wanderers. Lin Miao even included shots of Natural Curl and Wildman being instantly killed by Tariq using Sianweistan.

Usually, scenes of getting defeated like this wouldn't be shown for the sake of the product's reputation. But Lin Miao was not hoping for the old captain to buy it; it was for reference, so the more detailed, the better.

"So, how about it? Are there any buyers in the city?"

"Uh..."

Reyes licked his lips.

How to put it... he was somewhat confused.

Exoskeleton power armors were rarely seen on the streets of Night City, but that didn't stop Reyes from hearing about their reputation: reapers on the battlefield, humanoid tanks, capable of soaring the skies and traversing terrains at whim, even appearing in outer space.

Then, each piece of exoskeleton is explosively expensive, starting from hundreds of thousands, with no upper limit.

As for the thing Lin Miao presented, its combat ability...

Reyes thought it'd be better to ask the price first. He took a bottle of sparkling water from the seat back, opened it, and took a sip while asking,

"How much for a set?"

"Light model 18,000, heavy model 22,000, a fully enclosed system, electric drive, non-neural connection control, no need to worry about cyber psychosis. Of course, it's definitely stronger than the two sets you're looking at now."

"Pfft..."

He sprayed the sparkling water directly onto the car window, Reyes didn't even have time to feel sorry for his car, but instead he turned, asking in shock,

"How much? 18,000? Are you kidding me?"

Eighteen thousand?

It's not expensive, but it's damn cheap.

That just covers the money for an intermediate implant, barely more than that, not enough for a slightly upscale commodity, only entry-level capabilities for large corporations.

Caliburus Optical Eye Basic Model — 21,000.

Military Science Basic Mantis Blades — 15,000.

And that's without embedded add-ons.

However, the overall combat performance of a single battle implant is unlikely to surpass this set of exoskeleton.

In his mind, the actual combat performance of this set of exoskeleton is valued at least 30,000.

Most importantly — non-neural connection control, meaning that, just like a kinetic rifle, anyone can use it, without any usage threshold.

Yes, in the footage, these two people were killed by that Night Wanderer boss using Sianweistan. But dead is dead; as long as the exoskeleton remains, I can haul someone out in ten minutes and replace them, can your implant be replaced on the spot?

Modern military exoskeletons are all directly connected to the nervous system, making equipment dismantling troublesome as hell. According to Lin Miao, the only connection for this exoskeleton is a rear neck slot, which is solely for unidirectional reading of electric signals, entirely different from a dual neural connection.

"Hold on a second..." Reyes was still skeptical about the other's words. "This thing... what's your cost?"

Lin Miao shook his head. "That's a business secret, you know, but volume comes before price, not earning much from that."

He silently muttered to himself — probably about five times the profit, indeed not much.

"That sounds more plausible." Reyes breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that this thing indeed didn't have high technical content, and only by first capturing the market with low prices could any profit be made.

He couldn't help but express, "You've managed to find a new way. Why didn't anyone think of making cheap exoskeletons before?"

"You can't see clearly when you're involved in it, because there are implants." Lin Miao, being an observer, understood clearly; exoskeletons initially materialized in another world for aiding soldiers in carrying heavy loads and conserving energy during long-distance raids.

Here?

Because of the existence of implants, the initial opportunity for exoskeletons vanished, as humans didn't need such tools to bear loads. Until the early 21st century, one of the seven Wanderer settlements, Mexico's Meta Group, stimulated by the arms race, saw a group of retired soldiers develop the first exoskeleton armor.

Yet, this exoskeleton and the exoskeleton in that other world are two different concepts, not to be confused with one another.

The cyber world's exoskeleton was essentially created because humans couldn't bear too many weapon implants, making it larger — me.

Because the human body, despite carrying numerous implants, has limits.

Through dual neural linkage, individual consciousness expands beyond the flesh onto the entire exoskeleton power armor, basically akin to a Gundam or EVA, capable of loading stronger weapons, more advanced drive systems, and more robust armor.

But, fundamentally, it still involves simply equipping stronger implants onto [me].

Soldiers wearing these neural expansion devices invariably develop significant psychological disorders, ranging from pilots to tank drivers and exoskeleton operators alike.

Meanwhile, the exoskeleton Lin Miao offered, controlled with electric drive assistance programs, fundamentally bares no difference from a gun or backpack, just an ordinary tool.

If the currently prevalent exoskeletons utilize neural capabilities at a level of 10, the model Lin Miao holds probably at 0.1; naturally, there's no neural pressure to discuss.

However, Reyes remains undecided, though he has some ideas, but just isn't sure whether what Lin Miao presented is genuine or not, given that post-production combat videos can be deceptive, while the other clearly intends to seek his channel to distribute these goods into the city.