Chapter 111: Chapter 104 Reversal of Poles

In the metro, David and Lucy also received Lill’s message:

Lill, "Find a place to hide yourselves. You are not the main target, so run wherever."

Lucy, "Got it—settle the payment."

Transfer: +€20000.

Lucy and David also slipped out simultaneously—there wasn’t a single person outside the metro station, and the nearby street was the same except for a few cars abandoned by their owners.

If they wanted to hide, they could still find some concealed corners to take cover in.

Anyway, they weren’t the main targets of the chase; as long as they didn’t get caught by Military Science, the NCPD would at most offer them a cup of tea.

Twenty-thousand...not bad at all.

Lucy glanced at David next to her—this kid was still pinching his own hand, relishing the moment.

Clearly, he was still lost in the thrill of having taken down the company’s soldiers—did he see his hand glowing in his vision?

He didn’t even ask about the money.

Lucy felt a wave of irritation at this thought.

"Could you stop being an idiot? Why don’t you ask me about the money?"

David was taken aback, "You handle those things just fine."

"...Aren’t you afraid I’d pocket the money?"

"I trust you." David rubbed his head.

Lucy stared helplessly at David for a while, then sighed.

Forget it. From now on, she would still split the money evenly with him—otherwise, what if this idiot got killed because he didn’t have enough money for prosthetics?

"The reward is €20000, half for each—just this once."

David’s eyes lit up instantly.

Before he could start celebrating, Lucy smacked him down—

The two were currently hiding beside a garbage bin.

A Bimong Armored Vehicle roared past.

This behemoth itself was intimidating; you couldn’t shoot through it, and you couldn’t stop it.

But the thing trailing behind it was even more terrifying—

Military Technology’s Scorpion-tailed Lion Floating Armored Vehicle.

The floating car used by the Terrorist Mobile Team was modified from this kind of floating armored vehicle.

The vehicle’s front heavy-caliber machine gun continuously fired, creating terrifying craters on the ground and cars.

The massive kinetic energy made even the Bimong shudder; the thick armored plates began to show dents and then damage marks.

Burger King really caused a mess this time...

But when would Military Science realize the vehicle they were chasing was empty?

Watching the floating armored vehicle fly away, David asked nervously, "Do you think Big Brother Burger King can escape safely?"

Lucy shook her head, "I don’t know, but...this person is extraordinary."

How can the lower echelons contend with the upper echelons?

Just thinking about those super corporations was frightening.

Arasaka was Lucy’s nightmare, an enemy that made her tremble just thinking about, while Military Technology was the behemoth that defeated Arasaka in the last corporate war.

Facing such enemies, she couldn’t think straight—and surely, she wasn’t the only one.

Yet now, Burger King was still able to dance on the edge of a knife against such giants.

How did he manage to do that?

David, on the other hand, had a much simpler thought:

That’s fucking awesome!

...

Major Hardy was furious—

The squad blocking the metro hadn’t just failed their task; they were annihilated!

And two Bimong Armored Vehicles were stolen!

These two beasts were now rampaging through downtown, causing pressure from the NCPD and other companies—

With things this bad, how could they continue their business?

The city council and the city government were also getting tougher—they were united in their pressure this time!

Damn it, who said no one would charge in? This was supposed to be a massive advantage blockade???!

"Lieutenant Moeller, kill them! What’s the situation now?"

Major Hardy couldn’t maintain his composure, calling out his subordinate’s name directly.

Lieutenant Moeller, "We received information from the Ye Group that the metro has restarted, and there are passenger signals inside the Bimong Armored Vehicle—

But if the opponent broke through Bimong’s ICE, it’s likely to be a fake signal, but we can’t rule out the possibility that someone is actually inside."

Major Hardy, "What about the NCPD? What did their cameras capture?"

Lieutenant Moeller, "The enemy controlled many civilian cars, but an abnormal movement appeared on the network—a black and red striped Mackinaw Pika.

Major, we have four targets to track, and our manpower might not be sufficient."

The metro, two Bimong Armored Vehicles, and one...Mackinaw Pika??!!

Did that lunatic from yesterday come back??!

Major Hardy found it absurd—everyone thought they had fled, but now they were back?

Moreover, just because the opponent split up, he was now stretched thin.

Military Technology couldn’t provide more manpower!

The level of authority for this operation wasn’t even that high!

But he could still mobilize two full platoons! These forces should have been more than enough, but now it wasn’t!

Now, the problem was a company had lost a platoon’s worth of people!

"Damn, damn, damn!" Hardy ruffled his hair, "You have a Scorpion-tailed Lion, you must catch them!"

"Understood."

However, while Lieutenant Moeller agreed quickly, she was in a bit of a dilemma.

Where might the opponents be? Or were there people in each of the vehicles? 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

From a safety perspective, the metro was the fastest, but also the easiest for the NCPD to catch.

But could the NCPD really stop these thugs?

Next was the Bimong Armored Vehicle—this one had power, driving through Night City’s streets like a bulldozer. Whether it was the NCPD or their own people, the attacking options were limited.

If they could get more resources from above, there would be more plans, but right now, her unit had only one sniper available...

One squad to assist the NCPD at the next metro station, the sniper with a team and the Scorpion-tailed Lion to intercept the Bimong Armored Vehicle.

She herself...would lead a team to intercept the Mackinaw; that’s the best they could do.

At least the Scorpion-tailed Lion could chase down one Bimong by itself—that was already great news.

...

"Prepare for combat, whoever chases us will be met with force—take them down, and Military Science will have no one left."

Lille was driving, receiving a reminder from Lucy.

A Scorpion-tailed Lion appeared on the street—but luckily, it chose to pursue the Bimong Armored Vehicle.

Splitting forces was inevitable, and it was also a fatal move.

The issue with Biotechnology was due to Joanne Koch’s own work failure, even if she shifted the blame to Emilia Morton, it was still an employee issue.

The company wouldn’t allocate too many resources to handle such matters.

So Koch was actually leveraging her connections to mobilize some company resources for a clean-up operation.

From arranging agents, framing Morton, to blocking the metro, finding reasons to kill witnesses, they were all ruthless moves.

Unfortunately, each one fell just short a bit.

And that bit made a world of difference.

In fact, if Project Nightingale really was exposed, Military Science wouldn’t allocate too many resources to protect Koch and Biotechnology—they were partners, not tied together.

The reputational impact of Project Nightingale on Military Technology was negligible: Military Science had launched so many wars, could they care about a slight reputation loss?

Military Technology was even the client; they didn’t need to make a big fuss—at worst, they would blame it all on Biotechnology, saying they conducted unauthorized experiments.

After all, they were the boss, Biotechnology had to deal with it.

This was why, even in the game, after Koch successfully eliminated Morton, Murphy, Kuno, Mendoza, and many others, she could only hide in a hotel, not the company tower.

Even in the game, if V demanded a few thousand more, they would storm in, and the opponents would only be a few elite mercenaries, as if no one cared about the life or death of the regional director of the super corporation.

If things went south, the company would only severely punish her, cutting ties, not helping her solve the problem.

This splitting of forces was a checkmate—when Military Technology’s forces were focused together, it was troublesome, but when spread apart, the chances of winning were greatly reduced.

The better news was, given the circumstances, Military Technology wouldn’t ask the NCPD for help, and the NCPD would gladly step back a bit—

Now, the issue had become a personal problem for Military Science; they failed to blockade, didn’t kill anyone, and let terrorists steal their vehicles and roam downtown!

If the NCPD got involved, they’d be carrying out the city government or other companies’ requests to find out what had left Military Science in such chaos.

Clearly, Military Science’s executors didn’t want to see this—they were already in hot water!

At a higher level, Military Science’s executors had to help Lille withstand the pressure from the NCPD to keep them out.

Lille hacked Military Technology’s ICE and took out a raccoon dog, giving Military Science and Biotechnology reasons to suspect other companies were meddling, like Arasaka.

As for Arasaka, it didn’t matter—they were happy to see Military Science suffer; they’d even provide support to the city government to put pressure on Military Science—it was all legitimate requests.

Military Science was specialized in Evil Land’s security; deploying multiple combat units within the city was going too far, wasn’t it?

But this attitude made Military Science even more suspicious of Arasaka.

Peizhuo Petrochemical and Kantao—onlookers, but this state didn’t clear suspicions, especially in Arasaka’s eyes, where these two companies were likely suspects.

A game of werewolves, if not me, it must be you, right? But it’s fine, I’m not a good guy either.

And these two companies naturally suspected Arasaka, given that Military Technology had used terrorists against them in the last corporate war. Arasaka retaliating was quite normal, wasn’t it?

Arasaka was determined to strangle Military Science at this critical juncture.

The result was, Arasaka applied pressure, others stayed silent, just watching.

All in all, the higher-ups were all playing politics; it was impossible for them to coordinate and share intel—still far from that stage.

The lower ranks couldn’t unite together, it’s a fact.

But this didn’t mean the higher ranks were a monolith—finding this gap and using your strength correctly to wedge between them might just offer a chance at survival.

The Mackinaw drove slowly on the deserted street, 100 meters ahead, an Emperor 620 Ragnar Military Technology armored vehicle burst out of the corner.

Following closely behind were an Octant Heavy Drone and three Winged Dragon Light Unmanned Aerial Vehicles—

"...The key to solving the problem lies here—" Lille took out a Yinglong, motioning Jack and V to get ready to fire.

By now, the two had already switched to the newly adjusted Achilles Precision Rifles—

"Open fire!"