"So?"
At that moment, Ross tilted his head and looked at Killian as he asked.
This was the first time he had ever seen a businessman come not to sell a product, but to proactively admit that the technology was still not mature enough.
"So, how about this. We provide the technical team for free, your military gives us a certain level of support, and in return, helps us gather live combat data for the future Tyrant models."
"Of course, all expenses during combat operations will be covered by our company."
"And then, I hope General Ross can persuade the military to support us when our company proposes certain laws in the future."
Meeting Ross's gaze, Killian spoke directly.
For him, military backing was also one of the most critical parts of the bigger picture, so on this point he did not mind giving up a little more or earning a little less later.
"What kind of laws?"
"You need to give me a rough idea. Otherwise, no matter how good your product is, I can't make promises."
Ross was somewhat tempted by Killian's proposal, but only somewhat. After all, the free lunch was usually the most expensive one.
He had no intention of becoming a traitor to the military because of one impulsive decision.
"As you saw, Tyrant T-000 is extremely powerful, but it has serious intelligence defects. Even in its normal form, we still can't properly control it with basic commands."
"In the end, the problem is that any non-human creature simply has too little intelligence. And once our product invades its body, that intelligence drops even further."
"That means this weapon can only be deployed onto battlefields where there are no friendly forces at all."
"As a weapon, that's still far too flawed."
At that moment, Killian slowly laid out all the Tyrant's weaknesses.
He had every reason to believe that Ross wanted the Tyrant to become more perfect and mature even more than he did.
After all, Killian was just the merchant making weapons. If this one failed, he could always turn around and develop another.
But Ross and the military were the ones who had to use those weapons. They themselves could judge more clearly than anyone else whether something was truly practical.
And right now... with a weapon that had the destructive force of a small tactical nuke, no meaningful operating cost, and the potential to someday reach the efficient execution level of a special forces unit, how could Ross possibly not be tempted?
"So you want to run human trials?"
"Heh. You're telling me a company as big as yours can't find donors who are willing to 'consent' to human experimentation?"
After Killian nodded without denying it, Ross looked at him in surprise.
It was like suddenly finding a dragon egg in a rat's nest.
After all, America had never lacked human testing. Any drug had to go through human trials before reaching the market.
That was why, as early as 1947, the American medical and legal communities had helped draft the Nuremberg Code as an ethical basis after World War II.
And under that code, human experimentation with the subject's consent was explicitly recognized as legal.
There had even been major scandals later on because the government had conducted human experiments without obtaining written consent from the subjects.
Because of that, regulations were introduced requiring hospitals and pharmaceutical organizations to obtain written signatures from patients before carrying out any similar human testing.
Of course, everyone knew that "consent" could be interpreted in all sorts of ways.
So even after the law was improved, many companies still carried out human trials after obtaining the "consent" of their donors.
The process might have been twisted, but for a rising pharmaceutical giant like Killian's, it should not have been difficult.
"Heh. Test subjects are easy enough to find. But qualified test subjects are very hard to find."
"Take the Tyrant in front of you. We spent tens of millions of dollars across the globe, selecting from dozens of the finest black gorillas in the world, and this was the one with the best physical condition."
"You could say its body was already superior to that of an adult human."
"Not to mention that most people willing to sign consent forms are severely ill, nearly broken physically already. My company has no interest in running a charity."
Of course Killian understood exactly what Ross meant by consent, but he deliberately acted as if he did not.
There was no way he was going to wade into that swamp, only to later have superheroes tear into him over illegal experiments, followed by the media dragging him across the headlines.
What he needed was a human rights law jointly supported by both the government and the military.
In other words, for criminals convicted of especially serious offenses, murder, armed robbery, and similar major crimes, the punishment would be death, along with the formal stripping of human rights and the end of legal protection by the state.
Afterward, their bodies could be donated by the government for medical advancement.
Of course, that last part would be buried in the least noticeable section.
His real purpose was simply to strip such people of their human rights.
They were trash anyway. Why shouldn't they be put to some use?
The T-Virus itself was a treasure vault. Every different biological specimen, even every different human being, could open up an entirely different evolutionary path for it.
And what Killian needed to do was discover those paths and choose the best one.
Just like how Umbrella had later succeeded in creating the Tyrant line only because, by pure chance, they found a Russian soldier with an exceptionally powerful and healthy body, one who would not lose his mind after infection.
From there, they used that soldier's genetic foundation to produce clones and lay the groundwork for the perfect Tyrant.
And now, Killian also needed to find a person like that. As for buying one directly through the system... too expensive. Not worth considering.
At this stage, what he needed was to slowly feed Ross and the military the dream, not cram the entire banquet into their mouths in one go.
Take tonight as an example. In just a single evening, Tyrant T-000 had already earned him more than six thousand prestige.
And even if Killian directly exchanged for the complete final version of the Tyrant instead?
Same situation, same setting, at most he would still have made the same six thousand.
But if he released it in stages, that would be different. Repeated harvesting. Version updates. Constant iteration.
That was what a good company, a good enterprise, had to do if it wanted to develop steadily over the long term.
"Heh. You really are thinking far ahead."
After hearing Killian's explanation, Ross let out a mocking laugh.
To Ross, Killian's behavior was clearly an attempt to have it both ways, wanting the benefits while still planting himself firmly on the moral high ground and making sure everything stayed inside the limits of the law.
That way, even if another incident like the Redman affair happened in the future, it would still be something already permitted within the legal framework.
(End of Chapter)
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