Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 685, 99. Firearms KK
Regarding the White Noisy Eagle, Carl's team didn't investigate further. Apart from Nottingham-Wenlio, who seemed thoughtful after hearing the name from Carl, the rest of the team were hearing the term for the first time. Nottingham-Wenlio also stated that he knew some relevant information and would take necessary measures.

This raid, which involved the life and safety of Oliver's father and a deal between three forces, ended with the destruction of three ACPA mechs and the deaths of all the attackers.

Although Adcado and the Sixth Street gang members tried to keep them alive, these well-trained attackers did not hesitate to activate the self-destruct devices implanted in their bodies when the operation failed. The "mole" Roy, who was involved, knew almost nothing about the core intelligence. The whole incident was only settled after he was brought back to the Sixth Street gang.

For KK Squad, the matter ended there until they learned more about the attackers and what the White Noisy Eagles represented.

Perhaps, what they care about more now is the weapons that Karl has already received.

The designers from the Tsunami Design Bureau did indeed appear a month later as promised, but the test location they proposed surprised the KK team—it was an open-air weapons testing ground deep in the Badlands Desert.

This test site, eroded by wind and sand, is no secret. Its coordinates are probably marked in the intelligence files of major military enterprises. The design bureau's senior management is well aware of this, but they don't care because this weapon is destined to become famous with the use of KK.

This transforming weapon, named after the user's codename 'KK', utilizes the latest 'Tidal Energy Core' technology from the Tsunami Design Bureau.

The dual-frequency resonant energy chamber beats like a living heart, and can autonomously adjust the energy output ratio according to the combat situation.

What is most amazing is its perfect synchronization with Karl's bioelectric signals—through the connected single-molecule wires, the weapon can capture the subtle fluctuations of nerve currents and complete the shape transformation in the instant before the muscle fibers have contracted. The designers proudly claim that in Karl's hands, this can be said to be the world's first truly 'zero-delay' intelligent transforming weapon.

But this perfection comes at a price.

This weapon has four transformation modes, and each mode will change its form depending on the amount of energy used. For example, when it transforms into a smart aiming weapon, it will change into a submachine gun or a pistol mode depending on the amount of energy output. The weapon is equipped with ammunition adaptation, but the user must manually control the type of ammunition to change the mode. Its own energy is used to supply transformation and firing, and does not provide energy for firing in some modes.

Each transformation of this weapon is like dancing on a knife's edge.

Even a soldier who is proficient in a variety of weapons on the battlefield would need at least three years of practice to become a user without systematic training, and even then, there is a 48.6% chance that his arm will be burned by overloaded energy during the third transformation.

The design team estimates that even a top mercenary like KK would need a year of specialized training to master the basic operations.

When it came time for testing, the designers originally only planned to conduct a static demonstration. They prepared a complete set of instructional holographic images and even wrote safety instructions for each transformation mode.

Chief designer Niptunus even deliberately adjusted the weapon's sensitivity, setting it to a simple mode. He had to admit that the genius designers at their Tsunami Design Bureau had overused their talents to make this weapon unusable by ordinary people.

Even the intended user, KK, considered the weapon to be the result of extensive practice and flawed in its design. However, he couldn't resist the endless stream of inspiration that flowed from his mind and that of his colleagues. He even apologized to Carl for this until Carl casually took the weapon.

Before anyone could react, Karl completed the entire combo.

The long whip, composed of a special alloy shell woven from monomolecular threads, shot out like a living creature. The moment it cut through the test dummy, a sound of energy surging like a deep-sea vortex came from inside the weapon.

The whip suddenly contracted and reorganized into a short-barreled gun. The hexagonal energy chamber rotated and unfolded into a cannon muzzle. A ball of blue-white plasma completed a deadly dance of collapse and expansion inside the barrel before roaring out. After firing the energy attack, the recoil of the weapon should have shattered the arm bones of an ordinary person, but at this moment, it was neutralized by Karl's slight turn of his wrist into an elegant spinning motion.

The unfolded gun frame precisely caught the magazine that Karl had inserted. The energy wave and the physical ammunition fused together in the chamber. The energy, which replaced the hammer, ignited the gunpowder in the bullet. Finally, as the plasma ball hit the bullseye nearby and vaporized along with the three composite armor plates behind it, a hole appeared in the head of the dummy 300 meters away.

Neptune's prosthetic eye, connected to the monitoring program, kept updating the data: "Perfect neural synchronization rate, perfect energy conversion efficiency... This is impossible."

His voice was drowned out by the hum of the weapon cooling system, which resembled the receding tide.

In the center of the testing ground, Karl gently stroked the gradually calming energy patterns on the weapon's surface. The blue light waves swirled and dispersed at his fingertips, as if paying homage to their true master. "A remarkable design."

Karl watched as the weapon in his palm gradually shrank—the flowing energy patterns receded like the receding tide, finally solidifying into a sharply angled metal cube. He weighed the metal block, which was about the size of a head, and ran his fingertips over the heat sink on the surface, which was not yet completely cooled: "It's just not easy to put in your pocket."

The cube spun in his palm, revealing the fuel tank interface hidden on the side.

“The energy mode requires a fuel cell, and the physical bullet mode requires a separate magazine.” Karl flicked open a dark compartment with his thumb, and three miniature bullet cores floated and rotated in blue light. “Except for having to be an arms dealer on the go—it’s perfect.”

Neptunes' glasses reflected the light of the data stream, and his professional instincts allowed him to temporarily ignore the absurdity of the test data: "We've done twenty-seven simulations of the ammunition compatibility scheme."

He brought up a holographic projection to show the honeycomb-like energy conversion matrix inside the weapon. "The EMP protection layer is enough to withstand four seconds of tactical electromagnetic pulse, but in actual combat..." His explanation abruptly stopped—the monomolecular line on Karl's wrist suddenly pierced the cubic seam, and those encrypted interfaces that should have required triple authentication now actively wrapped around the user's neural connection lines like thirsty blood vessels.

The cube disintegrated in silence.

Without the clanging of mechanical deformation or the hum of energy activation, as if breaking through some dimensional barrier, the seemingly decorative cracks on the metal surface suddenly lit up, and were reassembled into a cone-shaped sword through the connection of energy current. The eerie blue light veins flowing along the spine of the sword were covered with cracks composed of alloy plates.

“You skipped 44 safety protocols.” Neptune’s voice was as dry as the desert wind. “This form was supposed to be unlocked after three months of acclimatization training.”

He operated the console to bring up the design blueprints, and dozens of red warning icons immediately popped up in the holographic image: "The current sword form only uses the core architecture. To unleash its full potential..."

The projection unfolds into a tree diagram, showing the numerous tactical components that need to be connected externally—from a sword guard that can deploy an energy shield to a grip that can be reloaded with ammunition.

“You can choose the simplified mode.” The designer pointed to a branch solution, “After discarding 70% of the alloy components, it can disguise itself as the size of a regular pistol or a miniature submachine gun.” The hologram demonstrated how the weapon retracted into the gauntlet. “Of course, in that form, only the most core components will remain, and the deformable form will only retain the most basic form.”

"In other words, this thing can be transformed by adding extra transformation components, as long as there is enough material?"

Just as you expected.

Neptunes nodded: "The core component we use is actually only the size of a fist; the rest are deformable and replaceable components that you can add or change as needed."

That made Karl understand.

Simply put, it's a transforming weapon. The core is only so big, but it has special adapter components. As long as it's connected, it can be used. It will combine into various forms depending on the amount of materials carried and the plug-in materials to deal with various situations.

Carl felt there was something familiar about this design.

Upon closer reflection, Karl realized where the sense of familiarity lay.

Isn't it just the human body as it is now?

The human body is a set of components that can be easily replaced with prosthetics. However, there is a risk of energy leakage (cyberpsychosis). The core is the brain, which is in the form of Adam's hammer.

Whether by coincidence or not, the genius designers at the Tsunami Design Bureau have created a weapon with a concept similar to cybernetic modification.

(End of this chapter)