Lieutenant Moeller was confident in her capabilities—yet facing such a madman, she felt some sense of security only with four military drones following behind her.

The moment they burst onto the street, the pre-programmed drones opened fire!

Two Achilles rifles and the Octant were locked in opposition, as the drone-mounted heavy machine guns and railgun projectiles were fired simultaneously!

Dolly sharply turned the steering wheel, and the whole vehicle drifted aside, bullets from the heavy machine guns pierced through the side panel of the car, easily penetrating the door and creating terrifying holes!

Fortunately, Jack was sitting in the passenger seat, taking all the bullets—striking his subdermal armor, leaving behind dreadful cracks!

But the Octant wasn’t so agile, being a type of heavy drone meant for providing suppressive fire and not known for its flexibility!

Achilles bullets struck the Octant, leaving black scorch marks on its surface, damaging the flight control system, and it started to spin, as V and Jack pulled their triggers again!

Bang!

The massive Octant exploded in mid-air!

Pterosaurs spun through the sky, smart bullets scattered like rain, and Lille locked his finger on the trigger, directly engaging the drones in a shootout!

Flames, small EMPs, fragments—the two vehicles charging at each other were like knights riding through gunsmoke on their steeds, facing head-on!

Lieutenant Moeller gritted her teeth and sped toward Mackinaw—

Just to stop that vehicle would mean victory!

However, Moeller thought the rear cargo area filled with bodies; suddenly, the white cloth lifted—

Hand grenades flew like baseballs, even a rocket came swooping!

Dolly driving the car reacted swiftly with an emergency stop!

Hiss——-

Boom!

The explosion of the hand grenade flattened Mackinaw’s door, blasting it to a halt, the door riddled with shrapnel indents.

However, Emperor Ragnar barreling straight toward them was in a bit of a tight spot.

Indeed, it was a light armored vehicle with a stable chassis and not a small amount of armor.

But the designer surely didn’t anticipate its undercarriage getting bombed—after all, this vehicle wasn’t made for withstanding landmines! And then there was the rocket!

The rocket exploded right in front of Ragnar, while the hand grenade slipped underneath the vehicle—

Two different forces of impact sheared off the vehicle’s suspension, and the whole car slammed to the ground like a man drained of strength, sparking a trail of fire.

Spilled fuel ignited, turning the vehicle into a burning wreck on the spot.

In the sky, the Pterosaur drones’ smart bullets had moderate locking efficiency, and after a volley of fire, bullets all hit the vehicle body, while Lille managed to destroy one of them.

Moreover—until the appearance of hand grenades and a rocket from the rear of their wagon, the Pterosaurs still thought it was a hearse!

V and Jack popped their heads out, one gun each, shooting down the drones.

The Achilles’ railgun had no trouble penetrating Pterosaurs, a type of light drone.

Lieutenant Moeller did not perish in the fiery explosion; she activated her Si Anweisitan, barely jumping out of the vehicle as the blast shook her head violently.

She emerged beside the car, looking at the wreckage all around her, feeling chilled to the bone—

A broken Mackinaw, with such firepower?

She had an unpleasant suspicion.

The enemy hadn’t split up; they were all here.

This was a gambit, a wager based on the outcome of the battle in the subway.

The condition for Military Science’s victory was to annihilate the enemy, but the enemies had eliminated half of their force and had split up into smaller units.

From that point on, Military Science was somewhat in a dilemma, but still held the advantage.

If Military Science craved a total victory, they would most likely choose to divide their forces, hoping that the remaining men could defeat each squad.

Dividing troops to pursue escapees, even if just a few got away, would only amount to a pyrrhic victory for the adversaries.

But the enemy didn’t divide at all, instead gathering on this most unlikely broken-down pickup.

Thus, a Mackinaw with concentrated forces would inevitably have the upper hand in combat against the divided Military Science troops!

But obviously, if Military Science also chose to concentrate their forces to pursue the Mackinaw, they would be completely obliterated.

Yet what kind of commander, in that situation, would choose to chase this Mackinaw with full force, taking a gamble? Are they brain-dead?

However... only by taking such a mad gamble, could they win this battle!

Colonel Hardy was, of course, not insane.

Seeing that the enemy ceased fire, Rebecca and Pila popped out their heads, flipping Moeller off—

The grenade had been thrown by Pila.

Just as Moeller prepared to relay the message, she saw the person in the passenger seat lunging towards her!

He too had Si Anweisitan!

With her body’s functions pushed to the limits by prosthetics, Moeller had no strength left to deal with the network message as V’s Mantis Blade was already in front of her!

Lieutenant Moeller ducked under the Mantis Blade, aiming to strike at V’s abdomen, but V was quick too, instantly adjusting his other hand to slash.

This was a close-quarters fight between evenly matched opponents—Moeller was using Military Technology’s top-grade Si Anweisitan, which to the user, was almost equivalent to reducing time by 70%!

But... Si Anweisitan, while a high-burden prosthetic for ordinary people, was equally demanding for Moeller.

However, V was different; Qian Ti had minimal stimulative effect on nerves, and her tolerance was strong.

While the 20% Time Stop Effect was far less than Lieutenant Moeller’s prosthetic, when they were about to clash in close combat, V’s Krensky would activate, accelerating her movements.

This back and forth resulted in Moeller not gaining the upper hand, with the almost-there sensation making her extremely uncomfortable and frantic.

One second passed, and after four exchanges of blows, neither Moeller nor her opponent had gained the upper hand. Moeller intended to retreat and send out information to the other groups.

Two seconds passed, and it was a mistake to increase the distance. Moeller could only rely on close-quarters combat with her fists, which was to the greater advantage of V with his Mantis Blade.

Moeller had no choice but to switch tactics and attempt to close in, still without time to process network information.

Three seconds passed, and V began intentionally controlling the distance. Moeller couldn’t threaten V and was somewhat awkward under the attack of the Mantis Blade.

Four seconds passed, and Moeller’s biometric monitor began to alarm—the Si Anweisitan was entering a medium-high risk zone due to running at maximum power.

At the fifth second, Moeller’s nervous system entered a state of abnormal excitement. She landed a punch in V’s stomach but was momentarily stunned after delivering the blow.

At the sixth second, the Mantis Blade pierced Moeller’s shoulder, sending severe pain through her nerves, and her Prosthetic Eye started to hallucinate.

The seventh second... Her Prosthetic System began to lose control, her speed significantly slowed, and the Mantis Blade slashed her neck.

By the eighth second, the high burden of prosthetic operation caused her blood pressure to spike, making her bleed out rapidly.

Excessive blood loss triggered a chain of adverse reactions, and V struck Moeller’s body multiple times with the Mantis Blade.

At the ninth second, both Mantis Blades pierced Moeller’s abdomen simultaneously, lifting her high.

In everyone’s eyes, the two combatants switched positions countless times within nine seconds, moving so fast they were nearly invisible; but at the ninth second, everything came to a halt.

Moeller’s arms drooped, and she kneeled on the ground.

She felt only numbness—her Pain Editor had exceeded safe thresholds. She didn’t feel pain, but her body wouldn’t allow her to move anymore.

The Mantis Blade swung down viciously—a head soared high into the air.

V wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, retracted his Mantis Blades, and put a full stop to this hunt.

...

Major Hardy slumped on the sofa.

Just now, Lieutenant Moeller was killed in action.

Two Bimong Armored Vehicles were retrieved.

But there wasn’t a single person on either one; the enemy had faked the signal. According to the reaction from the NCPD, even the subway train was empty.

The enemy bet on the fact that he didn’t have the guts to focus on pursuing that broken Mackinaw.

But then again, no matter his choice, from the moment he lost a squad, he was no longer holding the winning cards; rather, he had to try his best to make up for the defeat.

He just hadn’t expected to lose so miserably.

Tactically, the enemy had completely outplayed him.

Who could have imagined that the battered Mackinaw from yesterday would dare to come back while the blockade was still not fully formed?

Contact: Mark Carroll.

Beep—

Mark Carroll, "Is everything settled? It doesn’t sound too good..."

Major Hardy, "It’s all over."

Mark Carroll, "?"

Mark Carroll, "What do you mean?"

Major Hardy, "Lost a platoon, a sergeant, a lieutenant, a whole 34 soldiers."

Major Hardy, "You tell me they won’t come back, but they fucking did, driving that fucking broken Mackinaw back here!"

Major Hardy, "They just fucking came back after changing their paint, that’s all!!!"

After the outburst, deafening silence ensued.

Major Hardy, "So what’s the deal? It’s time to spill it."

Mark Carroll, "...The regional director of Biotechnology caused a problem, the company won’t help her fix her screw-ups, so she came to me; I liaise with her in business."

Mark Carroll, "Send me the combat report, I’ll report it to the superiors,"

Mark Carroll, "You’re right; it’s all over."

.....

"Wuhu!"

Inside the car, V let out a cheer like a little girl—

She had never expected to live such a legendary day in her life!

Jack also couldn’t hide his smile, patting V’s shoulder, and the two performed a classic fist bump ritual—

"Awesome, dude!"

Lille, however, said, "We haven’t gotten away yet—the NCPD is still guarding the perimeter of City Hall."

Jack wrapped an arm around Lille, "Hey~ I trust you, bro. What’s your plan next?"

Lille helplessly pointed at a nearby sign—

They had been running southeast all along.

Because there was the headquarters of a completely neutral logistics company—Delamain Enterprises.

If they wanted to escape, the Mackinaw was definitely not going to cut it—the NCPD might start checking every Mackinaw in the city center soon.

The NCPD didn’t have enough police power; everyone in Night City knew it. If they wanted to slip through the lockdown, Delamain was the best bet.

"Find a place to park the car, then we prepare to scatter."

As Lille said this, he looked at the traffic equipment on the street.

They’d have to tamper with the traffic network—people could know the Mackinaw went in and out twice, but they couldn’t be caught on camera.