To prevent the outbreak of the Fifth Corporate War, Militech had even gone so far as to reluctantly abandon its ambition of unifying its home nation, allowing Night City to continue existing as an independent entity.
Seizing this opportunity, Night City completed its transformation into a fully "neutral" international city—one not officially controlled by any nation or organization.
This alone was enough to reveal just how deeply the megacorporation's feared the birth of another full-scale corporate war. Under such circumstances, they were even less willing to provoke the Mechanicus, so long as the Mechanicus did not climb onto their heads and force them into a corner.
As long as everyone relied on their own methods and played within the unspoken rules of the circle, things were acceptable. No one wanted an extra ruler of the world. The true goal of the megacorporation's was simple: seize absolute power—and make obscene amounts of money together.
In any case, most corporate interests did not seriously conflict with those of the Mechanicus. In fact, the Mechanicus's existence even helped restore Earth's environment, something that benefited everyone.
As for Biotechnica, whose technological path overlapped and directly conflicted with the Mechanicus—well, they could afford to give up some benefits. After all, who told them to be weak?
Better a dead daoist friend than a poor one.
Without support from other megacorporation's, Biotechnica had no chance of defeating the Mechanicus. If anything, they might even end up being crushed in return.
The biological weapons Biotechnica excelled at were completely useless against the Mechanicus's hulking masses of steel.
Meanwhile, the Mechanicus possessed atomic-level Nano mechanical insects, capable of effortlessly dismantling every known biological method. Compared to such Nano machines, bacteria were nothing more than oversized jokes.
More frightening still, the Mechanicus could record biological data, replicate it, and even strip targets of their abilities outright.
It could be said that the darkest aspect of the Mechanicus's technology lay precisely here: its Nano mechanical insects could record not only technological blueprints, but also genetic information—transforming flesh and blood directly into steel.
Biotechnica was the textbook example of an entity defeated from head to toe by the Mechanicus. They couldn't even mount token resistance. If a war truly broke out, all they could do was rush forward and get beaten senseless.
Although Biotechnica was furious that the other megacorporation's had chosen to stand by and watch, there was nothing they could do.
Even Arasaka, their closest long-term partner, had no intention of helping them suppress the Mechanicus this time.
The Mechanicus could not be eradicated—and no one dared to destroy it completely.
This was the confidence that came from mastering absolute technology.
It was no different from nuclear weapons in Xiao's previous life. Once everyone possessed them, no one dared to start a war lightly.
After the nuclear deterrence era began, wars were only ever fought by the great powers against small nations, or through shadowy proxy conflicts. There had never been a direct war between the major powers themselves.
When both sides possess the means for mutual destruction, no one dares gamble on what kind of counterattack a cornered opponent might unleash.
Thus, even though nearly one hundred million eddies had vanished without a trace, Biotechnica had no choice but to swallow the loss.
In the end, Biotechnica could only console itself: the entity backing the Mechanicus was a megacorporation, not some random street trash. Being threatened was perfectly normal.
Wasn't it just a fifty-million-eddie dimensional chip? Sooner or later, they would have to buy one anyway. When the time came, they could resell it internally to employees and earn the money back.
Moreover, the funds they had paid to hire other corporations had already been returned. All they truly lost was the bounty cancellation fee—a few million eddies at most. Hardly worth mentioning.
As for the protein farms, Biotechnica already paid massive employment fees every year to hire Arasaka Security.
If Arasaka couldn't protect the protein farms, then they simply wouldn't pay them.
Instead, they could donate to the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Either way, the money had to go somewhere—why not give it to them?
After comforting themselves like this, Biotechnica suddenly experienced a moment of enlightenment, as if their Ren and Du meridians had opened all at once.
They consolidated the company's finances and ran the numbers carefully.
The result was startling.
The Mechanicus's so-called "charitable protection" costs were actually one-third cheaper than hiring Arasaka Security.
After all, the Mechanicus brought its own equipment, while Arasaka required the client to supply everything.
More importantly, the Mechanicus's combat effectiveness far exceeded that of Arasaka's security forces.
Additionally, the Adeptus Mechanicus had restored vast tracts of contaminated land. If they wanted to cultivate those fields, they would still have to purchase seeds from Biotechnica—meaning most of the donated money would eventually flow back anyway.
At the end of the year, the finance department recalculated the accounts three times and arrived at a shocking conclusion:
Even after excluding the two hundred million eddies in military expenditures covered by headquarters, this year's profits were still three hundred million eddies higher than last year.
This…
It seemed they hadn't lost money at all.
They had made a killing instead.
So who lost?
Who lost?
"Oh~~~~~~~~~"
After staring at the financial report and exchanging confused glances, the Biotechnica executives all turned toward Arasaka Tower next door, their faces filled with undisguised schadenfreude.
Arasaka's Night City branch had lost its largest Biotechnica contract.
This year's Christmas was probably going to be a bleak one.
Yorinobu Arasaka: convex.
This round… was a real loss.
…
…
More than half a year had passed since the Mechanicus launched its holy war against the Badlands. The old year faded away, and time finally reached 2076.
At the core of the Mechanicus, hundreds of cultists who had reached the peak of cultivation knelt motionlessly, like statues frozen in prayer.
At this moment, their consciousnesses had sunk deep into dimensional cyberspace, where intense discussions and calculations were underway.
They were debating how to break through the next stage beyond priesthood. The Great God of All Opportunities had offered only a few vague hints.
They would have to extract the method of advancement from knowledge itself—and determine the most suitable path on their own.
After half a year of furious debate, these peak cultivators had roughly deduced the prototype of a Fusion Furnace, along with its method of condensation.
However, what kind of spatial structure could be considered successful—and where it should be constructed—became the subject of fierce disagreement.
One faction believed the heart was the optimal location. As the core power source of the human body, replacing it with a Fusion Furnace would naturally maximize output.
Another faction argued for the abdomen. Since the Fusion Furnace could directly transform food and energy, the stomach and intestines would become unnecessary. The abdominal cavity was therefore the most suitable space.
Neither side could convince the other.
In the end, both factions chose their own approaches and began advancing independently.
But the experimental results were grim.
Whether they chose the heart or the abdomen, their original power was insufficient to construct a stable Fusion Furnace core.
Unlike Xiao—who directly controlled all condensed original power through his brain—the believers' original power fell short in both quality and quantity.
Even if they exhausted everything they had, they could only condense a Fusion Furnace core the size of a finger—and it was extremely unstable.
When using original power normally, they could casually convert their entire bodies into alloy.
But when attempting to construct a Fusion Furnace, their lack of endurance became painfully clear.
Even if they forced the process, the Fusion Furnace would collapse in a very short time.
⭐ Enjoying the story?
You can read ahead and support the translations by joining my Patreon! Your support helps me update faster and take on more projects. Thank you for reading!
Read up to 50 chapters ahead!
patreon.com/AminaSims