Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 810, Section 20: The Ape?

As soon as Carl stepped into Section B of the warehouse, a bone-chilling cold swept over him.

This place wasn't a cold storage facility, yet the temperature was abnormally low. He instinctively wrapped his clothes tighter around himself. This familiar chill instantly reminded him of his experience at the logistics center—when he, Johnson, Kenichi Shiro, and Jade were trapped in a low-temperature cold storage room. That cold storage room had the air conditioning set extremely low to ensure the quality of real meat products.

The temperature in the cold storage was set so low back then to ensure that the real meat would be safe. So does that mean this warehouse also stores meat?
Considering that the owner of this warehouse is a biotechnology expert, it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Carl stood at the door and observed the warehouse. Almost every shelf inside was covered with an indistinct tarpaulin, and he had no idea what was underneath.

Carl's breath condensed into mist in front of him. He rubbed his fingers, which were stiff from the cold air. This temperature was definitely not right; normal refrigeration wouldn't need to drop to this level.

He slowly approached the nearest shelf, his finger hovering over the edge of the tarpaulin, pausing for a few seconds—there were no infrared lights, no pressure sensors, not even the most basic mechanical mechanisms. After confirming it was safe, he lifted the tarpaulin.

It seems that the warehouse's defenses are entirely focused on the 15-meter-long "death corridor" on the outside, while the inside is completely unguarded. Perhaps, for the owner, the traps inside are more dangerous than intruders—a slight mistake could cause irreparable damage to the 'collection' inside the warehouse.

Karl's movements stirred up a cloud of icy mist. Dozens of biological storage tanks were neatly arranged under the tarpaulin, their surfaces covered with spiderweb-like frost patterns.

Storage tank?
Carl had seen his fair share of biological storage tanks; he had dealt with many scavengers, and those scavengers' residences almost always contained human-related biological storage tanks. However, for a large biotechnology company like this, with such tight security and so many well-prepared traps in the warehouse, it was unlikely that they would be storing human biological storage tanks.

In layman's terms, the value is too low, it's not worth it. The cost of just building that deadly corridor outside is enough to buy half a block of cleaners' dens. For a company, value is always the first thing to consider.

Carl vigorously wiped away the frost on the surface of the jar with his sleeve, and the frosted glass made a faint cracking sound as the frost crumbled.

In the pale blue culture medium, an unusually well-developed muscle tissue slowly rotated, its surface covered with a spiderweb of purplish-red blood vessels—the distribution of these blood vessels was very strange, neither the standard venous sequence of humans nor the physiological structure of any known animal.

"This is."

Thanks to Oliver's rigorous training and countless medical memes, Carl, while not as skilled as a professional prosthetic doctor as Vil, is certainly qualified to open an underground clinic in Twisty Street.

He squinted, his brain beginning to analyze automatically: the density of muscle fibers far exceeded human limits, yet the tendon connections strangely possessed ergonomic features—like a biological weapon specifically designed for combat, but retaining an interface for easy installation of prosthetics.

Chimpanzees? No, primates don't have such exaggerated explosive muscle structures, but the subtle outline of the deltoid muscle does indeed show the shadow of an 'upper arm'.

For some reason, Karl suddenly remembered a prosthetic body—

"Gorilla arm".

The implant, named after the dominant primate, has a biomimetic structure that perfectly replicates the muscular system of a mountain gorilla.

In nature, gorillas have fast-twitch muscle fibers accounting for up to two-thirds of their muscle structure, while humans are dominated by slow-twitch muscle fibers. The former can unleash lightning-fast contraction speed and terrifying power, but at the cost of higher energy consumption and faster fatigue.
The latter, like a slow, inextinguishable fire, shines brightly in a protracted battle, while the writhing tissue before him now shimmers with the explosive texture characteristic of fast-twitch muscle fibers. But this is not a gorilla arm composed of mechanical structures; it is living tissue, true biological tissue.

Even just seeing a portion of the organization, Karl could imagine how terrifying the full power would be.

Especially noteworthy is the presence of clearly designed interfaces for prosthetic implantation.
A human gorilla arm, if combined with a prosthetic gorilla arm, can unleash far more power than just 1+1=2.

With muscles capable of withstanding greater force, the gorilla's arm can reach its maximum potential.

Carl seemed to know what kind of place this warehouse was.

This is clearly a biological storage facility for biotechnology, but perhaps fearing it might be destroyed by spies from rival companies, it was stored in an inconspicuous warehouse on the outskirts.

'What exactly are they plotting?' Karl pressed his fingers against the transparent shell of the incubation chamber, producing a faint cracking sound of frost.

Is it about developing a new generation of biological weapons? Or creating some kind of multifunctional biomimetic organism? Looking at the pre-installed prosthetic interfaces and the enhanced muscle structures, he felt that the latter was more likely.

Recently, a trend of keeping bionic pets has indeed emerged among high society.

These expensive 'living toys' can provide emotional companionship like real pets and transform into deadly bodyguards in times of crisis. Compared to the already saturated military market, this emerging luxury goods sector clearly has greater commercial potential.

Biotechnology companies have chosen to take a different approach, replacing traditional mechanical devices with biological muscles, perhaps precisely because they are drawn to this gimmick—what could be more appealing to wealthy individuals seeking unique experiences than a 'purely natural biological bodyguard'?
'Using gorilla-level strength as a pet?'

This marketing strategy is indeed brilliant: it can attract environmentalists by using "eco-friendly" as a selling point, and also appeal to customers with a strong sense of safety by using "innate protective instincts".

In this era of rampant prosthetics, perhaps this kind of back-to-basics biotechnology is actually the most cutting-edge choice.

Putting aside others, if biotechnology really launched such a product, he would definitely buy two without hesitation—one for the Wild Wolf Bar and one for Old Wei's clinic.

He could both entertain the two old people and act as their bodyguard—he was perfect.

Just as Carl was about to lift each tarpaulin and thoroughly inspect the entire B-sector warehouse, a slight noise suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

The sound came from outside the door.

Under Karl's gaze, the metal door that he had carefully closed when he came in was now slowly and almost silently opening a crack, and dim light seeped in from the crack, casting a widening trail of light on the floor.

(End of this chapter)