Chapter 211: Transition
“I’ve been stuck around here so long I’m about to grow mold… Is this what being recruited is like? This much free time?”
With his injuries fully healed, Jackie lounged in his chair, spinning as he spoke.
“I actually think it’s pretty nice. No need to risk our lives, and we still get paid.”
Lucy glanced at Jackie, then continued checking the latest network activity from time to time, making sure nothing unusual was happening.
Rebecca lay sprawled across the sofa, eyes unfocused. This was the team’s lounge—where they could stay whenever there was nothing urgent to deal with.
Lucy’s work, on the other hand, was an additional assignment, and the pay reflected that.
“I’m bored too… I can’t even go out and compete. Tch!”
Rebecca suddenly flipped up onto the table, clearly annoyed.
“Then why did you agree to it in the first place?”
Lucy looked at Rebecca, resting her chin on her hand as she asked.
Rebecca’s expression stiffened for a moment, but she quickly recovered. “Well, I figured since Jhin was here, nothing would really happen. And…”
“And?”
“No… it’s nothing.”
Rebecca shook her head and flopped back down, playing dead again.
Lucy could clearly sense that Rebecca was hiding something, but she didn’t press the issue. Everyone had their own secrets, and even friends didn’t need to pry into everything.
“By the way, where are Falco and Pilar?”
“They were sent out on patrol. Honestly, that beats sitting around here growing mold.”
Jackie pulled his clothes over his face and spoke in a muffled voice.
Lucy nodded and was about to get back to work when a message came in from upstairs, asking her to go up.
She paused for a moment when she saw it, then quickly remembered what had happened before—her first formal contact with the upper management of PROJECT Corporation. Was it the same people again?
Before long, Lucy took the elevator up to the upper levels of the corporation. Guided by a robot, she was led to Roland.
“Long time no see, Miss Lucy. It seems you’ve made your choice after all.”
Roland folded his hands on the desk and smiled at her.
“Mm… what is it you need me to do, boss?”
Lucy nodded and asked directly. She couldn’t think of any other reason he would have called her up.
“I want to offer you a choice.”
Roland narrowed his eyes slightly and handed her a tablet.
Lucy took it and immediately looked it over. Displayed on the screen was a rough visual outline of Ambition.
“What is this?”
She asked, clearly confused.
“One of your choices.”
Roland smiled and continued.
“One option is to simply work as a netrunner for our corporation. I’ll give you a certain level of protection, and you won’t need to worry too much about Arasaka’s hostility. The other option is to become her—to truly join our corporation. But in doing so, you’ll have to pay a price.”
“What price?”
Lucy’s eyes shifted as she looked at Roland.
“Everything you are. And you’ll have to give up everything you currently have.”
“...What does that mean?”
“Once you make this choice, your appearance will change drastically.”
Roland pointed at Ambition’s design.
“You mean… becoming a completely different person?”
Roland simply smiled, saying nothing.
Lucy fell silent, deep in thought.
After consulting with System, Roland already knew what would happen—the process would adapt her to the Template. Put simply, she would take on the appearance of her grown-up self. In short… rapid adulthood.
Lucy thought back over her life. She had met all kinds of people, experienced both the good and the ugly sides of human nature. Looking back, her life had been filled with tragedy. Her only real friends… were probably the ones she had now, Rebecca and the others.
So…
“I choose to truly join the corporation.”
Roland looked at Lucy, seemingly understanding her decision.
She didn’t want to become a burden to her friends.
“I understand. In a few days, I’ll notify you when it’s time for the modification. Until then, just carry on as usual.”
Roland nodded, signaling that she could leave.
After settling things on Lucy’s end, Roland turned his attention back to the corporation’s other operations. It was time to expand into other areas—such as stylish transportation vehicles.
There were also entertainment products from the PROJECT world, as well as new weapons. Kang Tao’s Zhuo-style had already gone on the market.
It did give other smart weapons on the market a small shock, though that was mainly because Roland hadn’t released competing weapons yet—partly as a courtesy to Kang Tao, since they had helped him before.
And with the Zhuo-style launching early, it also provided him with a fresh batch of refinement.
“Hmm… let’s go with these two new vehicles…”
【Kairola Hoverboard: A lightweight, fast single-rider vehicle that uses near-ground levitation for movement. The board features two fixed slots to secure the rider, allowing for a variety of fun tricks. It can also be paired with PROJECT’s “Joyride” entertainment game. The drawbacks are that it requires some time to master and its safety leaves something to be desired. After release, sales were strong, but it also caused a noticeable number of traffic problems.】
【Milus Single-Seat Motorcycle: A streamlined, high-speed motorcycle with a certain level of protection and autonomous driving capability. It uses a new energy technology that greatly reduces energy consumption while improving efficiency and increasing speed. If you’re chasing the thrill of speed, this is the perfect choice.
Please note: this motorcycle was originally designed for battlefield use in coordination with assault-type robots and is normally equipped with specialized modules. So don’t worry about certain missing components—trust me, you wouldn’t want to see that function anyway. Although removing it made the Milus designers quite unhappy, it was all done with customer safety in mind.】
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