Chapter 13: The Ex-Wife Missile Development Plan

Chapter 13: The Ex-Wife Missile Development Plan

"Don't look so down, White. Actually, besides the Iron Suit, I'm planning to launch another project—one just as important."

"If it succeeds, you might even get promoted and earn a generous bonus from Hammer Industries."

Ever since the Iron Suit made its debut—

Hammer had come to a realization over the past few days.

This kind of black-tech weaponry, far beyond its time, was not something ordinary people could hope to touch.

Ordinary people simply couldn't build it—it required geniuses.

So instead of wasting energy, Hammer decided to keep Jiang Feng in his position and let him do as he pleased, while relocating the rest of the original weapons development team elsewhere.

After all, Hammer Industries had invested a lot to recruit those talents too.

Even if they weren't on Jiang Feng's level—

They were still perfectly capable of handling more conventional projects. It would be a waste to let them sit idle.

Upon hearing Hammer's promises—

White's gloomy expression finally lifted a little.

With a bit of renewed hope, he asked, "Mr. Hammer, this new project you mentioned is...?"

Faced with this question—

Hammer suddenly turned serious. For once, he was solemn, clearly showing how much he valued this so-called new project.

"White, if we're going to develop Iron Suits, we can't go without a specialized weapon to pair with them—a trump card."

"We need to completely surpass Stark Industries. So, I want you to develop a high-power, miniature missile that represents the pinnacle of personal weaponry."

"I'm calling this project: The Ex-Wife."

Hammer declared this bizarre name with an unusually straight face.

"Ex-Wife Missile?!"

White's eyes widened as he blurted out in disbelief.

Although he thought the name was absurd, knowing Hammer's quirky personality—and since it was clear Hammer had no plans to fire him—

He wisely chose not to object and simply nodded in agreement.

In truth—

White wasn't much more serious about his job than Jiang Feng.

While Jiang Feng wanted to use Hammer Industries' resources to gain arc reactor tech and build the perfect suit—

White wasn't so different.

The main reason for his earlier rage was simply his unwillingness to lose his salary from Hammer Industries.

But now that he knew he could still earn money here—

White calmed down immediately.

Whether it was the Ex-Wife Missile or something with an even more ridiculous name—it didn't really matter.

After all, White wasn't one for career ambition.

He figured—

With his boss's level of intelligence, he could probably slap together a substandard product, and Hammer wouldn't even notice.

"Rest assured, Mr. Hammer. Leave the Ex-Wife Missile to me. We'll make it a weapon that shocks the world!"

White mimicked his boss's tone, wearing an equally serious expression.

Seeing this, Hammer nodded with satisfaction.

In his mind, he thought:

With such a committed and proactive employee, Hammer Industries' Ex-Wife Missile is bound to shine on the global stage.

Combined with Jiang Feng's Iron Suit—

In the near future, when both weapons debuted together, defeating Stark Industries would be inevitable.

Once White left the office—

Hammer, now alone, whispered softly:

"Tony Stark, believe me... It won't be long before you fall from your pedestal."

---

At the same time—

The most luxurious research lab in the building had already become Jiang Feng's personal domain.

With the so-called "small fry" gone, he immersed himself in building the Iron Suit.

As a mechanical engineer—

Jiang Feng relished crafting machines by hand.

It provided him not only experience but also a kind of joy no ordinary person could understand—it was a passion that intoxicated him.

In the past few days—

Thanks to his deep research into the exoskeleton armor, Jiang Feng's manufacturing speed had been steadily climbing, reaching an entirely new level.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The rhythmic clangs of metal striking echoed throughout the lab like a melodic symphony.

It was clear to see—

All the equipment and materials in the lab were being fully utilized by Jiang Feng, quickly forged into the remaining parts of the armor.

After all, in Iron Man 2—

Ivan Vanko had managed to secretly create a terrifying Whiplash suit right under Hammer's nose.¹

So with the powerful AI Linglong assisting Jiang Feng—

An AI capable of hacking networks and altering Hammer Tower's surveillance footage—

It was perfectly feasible for him to create multiple suits in secret.

Each suit would help him trigger his Forging Genius talent, farming upgraded versions of the Iron Suit.

Possessing both futuristic mechanical knowledge—

And the AI Linglong—

Jiang Feng owed it all to his experience in Night City during his first trial world.

Back then—

Jiang Feng had just become a Reincarnator and had unlocked his system.

A total newbie.

When he first crossed over—

He couldn't believe it. He hadn't been hit by a truck or anything—how did he suddenly transmigrate?

Unable to understand it—

He accepted his fate and chose to lay low in Night City, behaving like an ordinary citizen.

Thankfully, the reincarnation space he was in was quite different from what you'd find in novels—

There were no mandatory main quests.

And every Reincarnator was given a reasonable starting identity in the trial world.

Because of this—

Jiang Feng was able to gradually settle down.

After figuring out the effects of the Infinite Class System—

He took full advantage of his Mechanic class's starting talent—Exceptional Aptitude—which greatly boosted his learning ability.

At an incredible pace—

He absorbed the cutting-edge knowledge of the year 2077, learning rapidly and broadly.

Jiang Feng was ambitious.

Now that he had become a Reincarnator and awakened a cheat-like system, he had to be bold.

After mastering basic cyberware knowledge—

He began moonlighting as a junk scavenger in Night City, collecting all sorts of discarded cyberware and electronic devices.

He first tried to repair them—

Then resold them. Surprisingly, they sold well.

In 2077—

People's quality of life hadn't improved with technology—if anything, it had gotten worse.

Forget used products—even junky-looking gear would sell, as long as it worked.

And to level up his Mechanic class as fast as possible—

Jiang Feng barely cared about profit.

He sold everything dirt cheap and manically repaired discarded devices just to grind experience.

Through constant effort, day and night—

His Mechanic class quickly reached Lv2.

After unlocking the Handy talent—

His repair efficiency skyrocketed, and his grasp of futuristic tech grew more refined—he was slowly becoming a skilled ripperdoc.

Selling secondhand products while repairing cyberware—

He attracted countless customers with his high-efficiency, high-quality, low-price services.

Word spread fast. Business boomed.¹

Before finishing his first trial world—

Jiang Feng had successfully ground his Mechanic class to Lv3 and had mastered a wide array of mechanical tech far beyond the early 21st century.

In the world of Cyberpunk 2077—

Besides its advanced cyberware technology—

Its other hallmark was AI development.

In that world—

High-intelligence AIs weren't rare at all.

The net was full of rogue AIs, and the Old Net was crawling with powerful, autonomous programs.

Skilled hackers often wrote their own custom AIs.

So in addition to mechanical tech—

Jiang Feng's greatest prize in Night City was acquiring his own AI.

He named it Linglong—his irreplaceable assistant.

Now in his second trial world—

Jiang Feng leveraged his cross-dimensional knowledge to craft numerous Iron Suit components at breakneck speed.

His efficiency was terrifying—

Completely unlike what Hammer had imagined.

Hammer believed that, even with Jiang Feng's talent, developing an Iron Suit would take immense effort and time.

But in reality—

Aside from the core power source, which required the most complex tech—

The rest of the Iron Suit was, for Jiang Feng, no harder than fixing combat-grade cyberware.

Thanks to the Mechanic's third talent—Forging Genius—

Crafting was effortless.

Even more importantly—

This talent gave him a chance to create upgraded or even limit-breaking gear.

So—

Jiang Feng wasn't satisfied with making standard-grade Iron Suits.

He already had a plan—

To keep crafting different components until he had a complete, upgraded set of Iron Armor.

That was the equipment Jiang Feng truly wanted.

And if he dared dream a little bigger—

It wasn't entirely impossible that he might forge a few limit-breaking parts during this trial world.