Chapter 37: Chapter 35: East Wind Overnight (Please Follow)

Things had already gotten somewhat out of control—

Lille couldn’t figure out why Arasaka was intercepting them.

If it was just Military Science doing a side job, all they needed to do was scare these greedy agents away—after all, the company wouldn’t just ignore any issues arising from side jobs.

But now it was different—something had snapped in Arasaka!

Jack thought Arasaka was intercepting them because of what was in the trunk, but Lille felt something was off—

Because that thing was just a lizard, totally not worth clashing with Military Science over!

It had to be for them! But what value did they hold?

However, now wasn’t the time to think, because if there was a first wave, there would definitely be a second!

Drones chased them like flies, and Lille could already see Arasaka’s vehicles rushing their way!

"We can’t escape unless we deal with the drones!" Jack yelled, "What do we do now!"

While attacking the drones, V shouted towards the driver’s seat, "Use your unbeatable hacking skills to think of something!"

"Are you trying to get us killed? I’m thinking, I’m thinking!"

Lille didn’t want to use the method from Atlanta, because last time they had the advantage of the right time, place, and people.

They had caught a Military Science squad crossing the network border and had performed a forceful hack, but this time, it was different; the corporate dogs were equipped with ICE, a network firewall.

With the Si Anweisitan in his spine, Lille could unleash computational power several to dozens of times that of an ordinary person, even enough to knock down the Black Wall’s Data Blocks.

But the amount of computation required to forcefully crack the corporate ICE was enough to fry a hacker’s brain, and although the corporation’s general ICE had long been cracked by major players, Lille wasn’t one of them!

This brute-force hacking couldn’t be used on ICE!

But there wasn’t entirely no solution— if it couldn’t be resolved online, they’d have to think of a physical solution!

Lille clenched his teeth, deciding to make a bold move.

He was going to multitask—use his Prosthetic Eye to connect to the vehicular cameras to assist the Smart Shotgun with targeting, and his biological eye for driving!

No sooner thought than done—

[Warning: Disconnecting vision system synchronization may cause visual tearing, leading to vomiting, nausea, or even fainting. If you have more implanted prosthetics, it may induce cyberpsychosis.]

[Would you like to disconnect the vision synchronization system?]

[Disconnected]

Handling two screens at once felt like his brain was being torn apart.

In fact, most people who use prosthetic systems to control things like cameras let their bodies enter a state of inactivity.

The reason is that human ways of thinking make it difficult to multitask, especially when it involves remote operations!

[Detection of cognitive distortion due to separation of sensory and motor nerves]

[Would you like to eliminate it?]

[Eliminated]

With his vision divided into two different worlds, Lille felt like his brain was being torn apart!

The car suddenly swayed on the road, almost throwing V out, who cursed loudly, "Can you even drive!"

"You’d better hold on tight, we... shit—"

Lille didn’t finish his sentence and immediately drifted on the spot—

Bang!

In the back seat, the big guy Jack slammed into the car seat, emitting a crisp sound.

"What now?" Jack couldn’t take it anymore.

"You guys look for yourselves!"

Both turned their heads back—only to see a massive armored unit coming their way from the direction they had just been driving—

Military Technology Mo Xi!

The color drained from all three faces, even though they were being chased by a swarm of drones, they had to turn back!

The moment they looked back, the drone swarm hesitated noticeably, and the Arasaka agents following them did so even more.

But quickly— a loud noise awakened them from their confusion!

Boom!

A shell easily penetrated several drones in the sky, their debris and remnants falling like rain!

The Mo Xi’s main gun awakened everyone, and V, holding the Eight-star Gun on the car roof, went crazy firing—

"Don’t block the way, don’t block the way!"

At this point, Lille and his gang were truly caught in the middle, one side Mo Xi, the other Arasaka agents and drones, and still another side Military Science agents!

The three sides formed a triangle with Lille and his team caught in the center!

The Military Science agents echoed the same rhetoric from afar:

"You are transporting company assets, again, you are transporting company assets, suspected of smuggling, and we will employ forceful measures.

Unrelated personnel, please retreat, or you will be considered collateral damage in law enforcement."

Arasaka also pulled out a loudspeaker, "We have evidence that suggests the vehicle is carrying Arasaka property, please stop for inspection, we are authorized to use force!"

Are you kidding me, do you think we at Arasaka are pushovers? If it’s going to be like this, just let the Mo Xi take us out, let’s go to war!

"What are they doing?" Jack and V asked simultaneously.

"They’re issuing their disclaimers! They’re going to open fire!" Lille gritted his teeth, "They have no intention of ceasing fire, we are in the middle of a battlefield!"

Boom!

From Arasaka, two rockets were fired directly towards Lille’s side, and V immediately pulled the trigger, the Smart Shotgun acting like a counter-missile system, destroying the rockets in midair!

Among the Arasaka convoy, this move seemed to confirm to Arasaka that Lille and his team were indeed the targets, the leaders nodded to each other, but the Mo Xi would also open fire!

Boom!

By then, Lille and his gang were very close to the Arasaka convoy, having activated the Si Anweisitan from the moment he started splitting vision, Lille made a sharp turn—

A shell smashed into Arasaka’s car!

Lille shouted, "Now it gets fun — we’re going through the middle! V use the Eight-star Gun, fire at your fastest speed! The firing rate limit has been removed, and I’ll lock on!"

He planned to pass between the Arasaka agents and the Military Science agents!

In his mind, two worlds were spinning wildly; one was a world of gunfire and bullets, the other a world brought by the vehicle’s cameras giving a panoramic view —

The entire battlefield was in his sight!

"Are you out of your mind?!" Jack’s face turned green while V was thrilled, feeling as if time had slowed down in her world!

"Jack, the magazine! Quick, take it off and give it to me!" V reached out for the magazine of the Eight-star Gun, it was time to fight for their lives!

On Arasaka’s side, an agent yelled, "Boss! Should we continue? If this goes on, our firepower will hit the Military Science people!"

"Just do it! Those in the vehicle must be taken down!"

His immediate superior had already ordered him to do everything possible to gather details about the incident involving Military Science in Atlanta!

He couldn’t miss any sign of activity!

On the Military Science side, a similar conversation was happening, and the soldiers were scared; they did not know whether to fire indiscriminately!

This side was facing a similar dilemma; he knew if he couldn’t deliver results, his mixing of personal affairs with official ones would be exposed, and he would be done for!

The leaders on both sides finally reached a high level of agreement —

They had done so much effort; if they failed to intercept those in the vehicle, they would have to take all the blame!

The car was like a sharp sword piercing through the center of both factions’ formations.

V felt as if the whole world had slowed down, seeing drones, Mo Xi, and agents all turning their guns towards them.

Rockets, high explosive bombs, Mo Xi’s cannons, and basic bullets rained down on them like actual rain — literally!

Lille synchronized and launched Si Anweisitan, maximising the calculating power of smart weapons!

The two reached an understanding in that moment —

Boom!

Intense explosions.

An intense explosion erupted between the two teams, shrapnel scattered like fireworks towards the other side, and then more explosions followed.

Nobody could see what exactly happened in that instant, just heard countless explosions!

The next second, almost no one from either side was left standing —

Burning drones fell like rain, the air was filled with burning debris, and wreckage was everywhere.

They shouted their colleagues’ names, fear sweeping through their hearts —

This was the battlefield now!

Whoosh! Bang —

The battered Venom snaked through the smoke and flames, possibly cushioned by a small mound, it slightly took off, then banged down on its wheels.

It wobbled off towards Evil Land before anyone could react —

The leader of the survivors of Arasaka got up, his badge read: Arasaka Counterintelligence.

His suit was half blown off, revealing his modified physique, and he looked around blankly, just as a man from Military Science also stood up, both equally bewildered.

Still fighting?

Military Science might have had a slight advantage since they still had Mo Xi.

But... they weren’t originally here to fight against the company, were they?

Both men swallowed hard, their thoughts rapidly churning, and finally synchronized their lips —

"Kantao."

...

So what exactly happened in that moment?

First, Jack swiftly removed the magazine from the Eight-star Gun and handed it to V.

Then, V tore off the strap that secured the Eight-star Gun, changing the magazine three times and pulling the trigger 14 times.

As a shotgun, each shot of the Eight-star Gun would discharge eight projectiles.

As a smart weapon, each bullet from the Eight-star Gun was controlled by the central system to hit the target V wished to strike.

And as a prototype weapon, the Eight-star Gun was equipped with projectiles that had a small-scale explosive capability.

This meant, in that instant, V fired a total of 112 smart high explosive bombs.

With Lille’s calculations, 16 of those were directed towards incoming rockets to detonate them in mid-air, creating lateral shockwaves that disrupted the trajectories of other, particularly light, bullets to protect the Venom from being turned into a sieve.

Thirty bombs were directed towards the cannons firing from Mo Xi, detonating en route and diverting the cannonballs’ trajectory, creating a large hole next to the Venom.

Twelve projectiles targeted drones potentially hit by stray bullets, 30 hit drones not affected by stray shrapnel, and the last 20 targeted the fuel tanks of vehicles on both sides, piercing the exterior armor and causing explosions.

The final four projectiles finished off the job by suppressing and injuring two very lucky agents — because they hadn’t been hit by stray bullets.

The simplest task was done by Jack who just removed the magazine, followed by V who changed the magazine and fired the shots.

But the most crucial task was performed by Lille who entered the data in an instant and decided the shooting mode.

After completing the shooting and transmission orders, the gun exploded due to the high intensity of the firing.

Only the two team leaders saw a bit of what happened — because they also had Krensky and saw some things in that instant.

To them, it seemed like the weapon burst open, then the smart bullets shot out like a swarm of missiles, hitting their intended targets.

It was like fireworks blooming in the night sky, unfortunately consuming their people and equipment in its blaze.

They couldn’t perform ultra-fast calculations like Lille, but they still tacitly calculated their circumstance.

Hmm.

This was a joint operation, a collaboration between Arasaka and Military Science, as they discovered Kantao’s secret weapon.

Yes, it was Kantao.