"Damn you, you waste of space, if I hadn't run out of bullets I'd blow your head off..."
Li Pan thought for a moment and said,
"I'm an employee of TheM company, are there any partner companies that offer a discount? Also, check the credit card loan guarantee limit that the company can provide."
These days, applying for a credit loan depends on whether you have a formal job. Even if you're short on cash at the moment, the company can help you pay off the loan. The bigger the company's dogs you are, the higher your position, the higher the loan guarantee amount naturally. You can fully enjoy the life of the elite with luxury houses, fancy cars, and beautiful women. The company also encourages employees to take out loans for consumption and to buy prosthetic body upgrades, after all, it can improve work efficiency.
But of course, once you're fired and your credit card is cut off, not being able to pay back the loan is another story.
The Dance Spirit waitress's eyes flickered with electronic light, and her voice suddenly became eager,
"Yes, we do offer employee benefits provided by your company. When updating prosthetic bodies, the annual credit guarantee limit is 50,000.00 with an interest-free repayment period of one year. For any amount exceeding this limit, a six-installment payment is supported with a basic interest rate of 3%..."
"Celestial brand prosthetic body suppliers can offer the employees of your company special discounts and offer exclusive membership privileges, the more you buy, the more the savings..."
"Wow! Your company really is a big client! Would you like to consider the 0791 local brand first? We have direct supply from the original factory, which saves on import and export tariffs, and makes it much more convenient to transfer and upgrade goods!"
Shit, to have made The Celestials' prosthetic limb companies compete fiercely for discounts and vie for such quality clients, just how much money does an average employee spend on prosthetic surgeries? It seems that being a dog for the monster companies certainly includes being battered and reset into a wreck...
But Li Pan, struggling on the edge of bankruptcy, didn't have that much spare cash to pay tariffs for fancy stuff from a different world, so he accepted the suggestion and grimaced as he opted to choose from the local 0791-based merchants first.
Speaking of the local brands in 0791, naturally, Takamanohara's old and established military-grade synthetic corpse manufacturer MURAMASA Muramasa Industries comes to mind.
Muramasa, as the designated arms manufacturer under a financial conglomerate, is widely used by everyone from companies to gangs, featuring technology from levels three to six, both military and civilian use, with a very complete production line and the advantages of mass production and ample stock, naturally the most cost-effective option.
Of course, due to Takamanohara's old backing and the use of Muramasa munitions by the Akai Tengu, Muramasa is now under investigation by the Security Bureau and being suppressed by the Ye Clan on all fronts, impacting its production capacity, but that is not something a guy with just 2500 bucks needs to worry about.
Another option is the weapons dealer JYHAD EQUIPMENT Holy War Gear under the Ye Corporation.
As the new ruler of Night City, Holy War Gear is expanding its turf, battling the old parties of Takamanohara, and hunting down the Red Dog operatives. Naturally, they've received various financial policies and subsidies to engage in unfair competition with tax exemptions.
So, although Holy War Gear's local production capacity in 0791 is still insufficient and they need to prioritize supplies to the security forces under the Ye Clan's banner, their rapid growth makes them quite a good choice for the long term.
Of course, there are many other large companies like those specializing in military manufacturing, global links, and authentic vision, brand names that have factories across the Celestial plains. However, such companies are either specialized in niche equipment or, due to tariff protections, sell high-end equipment at exorbitant prices, or restrict sales and serviceability, so they aren't particularly worth considering.
But even with the discount, it's still pretty expensive...
The cheapest level three chips are over 5000, and they're only about 30% better than the level two chips in performance. Moreover, they are still civilian-grade, lacking many features. It's really not worth it.
In this world, the technology difference between military and civilian use is vast. While civilian technology up to level three is enough to handle regular production and life, Li Pan's future opponents will be monsters, companies, and civilian gadgets clearly won't meet the standards.
Normally, the big company executives use level five tech equipment, but those gadgets start in the five-figure range, with core systems chips ranging anywhere from several hundred thousand to several million.
In comparison, level four tech equipment is a cost-effective product loved by mercenaries, gangs, and general company employees; you can get equipped for just tens of thousands of bucks.
So Li Pan wrestled between Muramasa and Holy War Gear for a while, but in the end, he went with HT Chaos Technology...
HT Chaos Technology is currently one of the top three tech companies in this Multiverse, a leading operator of cross-plane quantum virtual networks, and main public security systems. In 0791, they obviously have suppliers; although not very famous for personal synthetic corpses and equipment, they are the leaders in smart assistant chips and communication computing.
Li Pan chose a retired level four military chip, the Xingtian No.9, priced at 48,000, as well as a level three civilian ballistic coordination processor from the same HT brand. The little gizmo is a handheld processor that can directly link to the weapons subnet to assist with recoil control, aiming, shooting, vibration reduction. There's not much of a difference between levels three and four, but it's a huge difference from having none, and it even comes with a bundle discount: buying a second item for 30% off, costing just 1500. Altogether, this didn't even max out the credit card, awesome.
Of course, this Xingtian No.9 is a super outdated inventory model, and it's designed primarily with electronic warfare defense for frontline assault troops, to prevent them from being hacked or crashing as soon as they board a ship. And it was not exactly cheap, with locked source codes and not being favored by hackers for this reason, and generally not something gangs or mercenaries would use, so surely its cost-effectiveness can't compare with the other two companies.