Mercer said irritably, "I'll repeat it one last time: this is a first edition, an experimental product. My people can use it because my people are badass. What level is Bennett at?"
Hansen's face darkened further as he spoke in a cold tone, "Fine, since that's the case, let your person try it. That guy named Jack, his size is basically a match for the armor. Let him try it, okay?
I want to see whether it's a problem with the person or the armor."
For the first time in the video, Mercer showed his full face, also showing anger, "Alright then, if my person has no problems, what do you say?"
"Haven't you made your demands? Equipment worth five million euros, you can use it as you like, as long as it's placed in the research workshop." Hansen was angry, but he hadn't lost his rationality.
Mercer, however, sneered, "In that case, I've recently taken an interest in chemistry and medicine. I want a separate advanced sterile laboratory, equipped with a complete set of R&D and production equipment, how about that?"
"Agreed." After Hansen finished speaking, he straightforwardly said, "Now, immediately bring your people over."
"Wait for it." Mercer abruptly hung up the video call.
But Hansen stood there, his face gloomy, without saying a word for quite a while.
Standing next to him, a refined-looking Netherworld Dog softly reminded, "We can't just spend money freely anymore. Last quarter's profits are already exhausted, and we still have some payments outstanding..."
Hansen spoke expressionlessly, "I know. It's not like the laboratory can be set up in a day, is it?"
The Netherworld Dog finally breathed a sigh of relief. As someone who had just joined them not long ago, specifically responsible for finances, the man named Gago was under a lot of pressure, to be honest.
Hansen just kept a stern face, looking at a few designers on the side, he said directly, "Get that testing program ready for me. Keep a close eye on it later. I need to confirm if it's a design issue or a human one, got it?"
The designers looked at each other in dismay, until one of them finally said, "Actually, the computer inside already has built-in...
"Then replace it now with a set you wrote yourselves! And add a hacking alert for me, got it?" Hansen finally couldn't help but lose his temper, raising his voice, "Damn it, don't you all realize why I'm angry yet?"
The group of designers quickly nodded and said, "Yes! Colonel!"
They hurriedly started urgently searching for other check programs. Writing one now was certainly too late. Fortunately, everyone had at least some technical reserves on their computers, and they quickly found an old system to tweak and modify. It should be usable when installed on the armor.
A designer hesitated and softly defended Mercer a bit, "Colonel, the stuff Director Mercer designed is actually pretty good. The neural load stuff... is indeed hard to say."
"I don't need you to tell me if it's reasonable or not!" Hansen coldly stared at him, making the designer quickly lower his head.
Hansen didn't understand technology, but he understood people—honestly, from a personal perspective, he admired Mercer's extraordinary talent and his leadership ability to bring his team together, including their cohesion.
To turn a bunch of street punks into a cohesive unit, and for that unit to fearlessly take risks time and again, that's definitely not something just anyone can achieve.
He could see that Mercer treated his people well, but precisely because of that, he could deduce.
If this armor would develop severe abnormal reactions like Bennett's after just a few minutes of use, there's no way Mercer would use it on his own people.
That's his judgment of Mercer—he's not the type to joke around with his people's lives or use them as experimental subjects.
Therefore, Hansen speculated that Mercer absolutely had some secret to reducing neural load.
Human variability?
Ha, Hansen could acknowledge V's capabilities, but what about the other girl named Rebecca? Her innocence and naivety were apparent to Hansen even from eight hundred meters away. Could she be more resilient than Bennett?
No way. Bennett has undergone who knows how much professional training, while Rebecca probably didn't even know what it felt like to directly control machines via a Brain-Computer Interface before encountering the armor!
Hansen didn't believe that Mercer had just found a group of geniuses. He could say with near certainty that there was something fishy going on.
He gave a subtle signal to one of the Netherworld Dogs with a facial expression, and the subordinate immediately nodded, wordlessly sprinting away to secretly prepare a powerful weapon against Mercer and the Spark Team.
A set of ultra-high spec electronic warfare equipment—in theory, it could instantly jam all of the opponent's network signals and engage in electronic countermeasures.
Moreover, it was a special electronic warfare device capable of launching ultra-high-intensity EMP strikes at any time.
In fact, ever since figuring out Mercer's level, almost every time he met with Mercer, he would secretly arrange for someone to be ready to activate the program at any time.
No matter how strong a cybernetically enhanced human or hacker, they can't withstand equipment attacks of this level.
If such electronic warfare equipment couldn't handle them, then they could always resort to an EMP—forcing all electronic devices into shutdown and even scrapping cybernetic bodies. Without a Network Access Vault, Mercer would naturally be left doing nothing.
Honestly speaking, Hansen felt a growing murderous intent. He didn't take kindly to being treated like a fool all the time, and he believed he had shown Mercer plenty of sincerity, yet he still acted like an ungrateful wretch, playing tricks on him up to this point.