"V, once you get to the power supply area, crank up the breaker to the max, and then upload the Magic Doll I gave you; with some luck, we might be able to create a massive EMP,"

"Jack, nothing much to watch out for in the server area, but when V blows the breaker, there will be a high-intensity surge—make the most of that opportunity."

Bang!

The bullet pierced through the laboratory glass, shattering the table next to Lille with a single shot, leaving behind a black, scorched bullet hole.

Lille ducked into cover—a second later and he would have been blown apart by a railgun projectile!

Clearly, the one chasing him was that sniper from the Terrorist Mobile Team, the precise shooter.

Only now, he had switched to an Achilles—a gun common in the high-end market and standard issue for the Terrorist Mobile Team.

"Suspect A, drop your weapon now, and you might still have the chance to receive legal defense. If you continue to fire, you will be dealt with according to the ’Night City Cyber Mental Illness Disposal Measures’ as a cyber psychosis patient."

"Oh, the Terrorist Mobile Team can talk now?"

Lille sneered mockingly, lifting his arm to fire a volley of Yinglong bullets.

But now, he was without the help of the surveillance cameras.

Without visual assistance, the smart bullets had poor lock-on capabilities, relying on pre-input trajectories for tracking.

Yet, such lock-on was ineffective against the precision shooter #0054, who was equipped with Si Anweisitan.

The bullets traced a curved path through the air, #0054’s body feinting, all bullets passing through him.

"Pathetic weapon."

If it weren’t for the EMP trigger on the bullets, #0054 wouldn’t even need to dodge; his body’s synthetic material bulletproof gear and Subdermal Armor would be enough to stop Yinglong’s bullets.

Lille had known this would be the outcome.

He pressed on towards the lab area—here, the walls were replaced with electrically charged glass, opaque without power.

The dim and cramped environment.

Biotechnology was unwilling to grant bottom-level access to assist the Terrorist Mobile Team, who preferred to keep the floor in darkness rather than risking Lille getting access again.

After all, they were no ordinary soldiers from Military Science; they needed no robotic assistance, no lights, no surveillance, nothing at all.

Bang!

The bullet missed; the laboratory glass shattered next to Lille as he quickly ducked behind a pillar.

Clearly, this member of the Terrorist Mobile Team didn’t seem to want a quick battle; on the contrary, he seemed to want to see Lille’s limits.

"...So you’re the hacker? Or maybe the tech expert? Show me what tricks you’ve got."

Lille hid behind the cover, panting as he reloaded his magazine.

He had no tricks; in the end, the only things that had gotten him this far were so-called skills and knowledge.

Physically, he was just a dying weakling.

Lille raised his hand and pulled the trigger—the bullet fired—

But suddenly, 0054’s voice was heard right by his ear:

"...Or is this all you’ve got?"

Lille’s skin crawled—the enemy had directly approached from behind!

He turned around, and 0054 grabbed his neck with one hand!

"Cough—"

The enemy’s strong grip made it difficult for Lille to breathe; he used all his strength to smash the butt of his gun against the attacker, but such a feeble assault...

The other man didn’t even flinch.

It was as though he was hitting a steel plate.

tilted his head, puzzled.

"It really is as it seems, you’re excessively weak, to an exaggerated extent. Even hackers need strong bodies for prosthetic implants. What are you hiding? Look at what prosthetics he has."

The last sentence was directed at the Hacker on the Scorpion-tailed Lion.

The Hacker replied, "Hacked in, scanning... nothing too impressive, I guess all hackers in Biotechnology are good for nothing, no detection of military-grade ICE.

Interesting, you know, I just found similar target information over at the Criminal Investigation Department.

Do you know what they call it? The Cyber Psychos selling burger joints to gullible kings! Haha, I think they’re the real cyber nutcases!"

Apparently wanting to flaunt his superior skills, the Hacker even made his voice appear directly in Lille’s mind!

Lille, his face turning purple, suddenly smiled painfully—

"It’s the fucking big shot from Burger King, idiot."

Red text appeared in the system!

The mysterious Si Anweisitan’s power was at full throttle.

All neurons were engaged in computation, those that were already surpassing ordinary humans were now working at full capacity under the stimulation of Si Anweisitan!

Even without using the deep dive interface, Lille could enter cyberspace—

In a split second, enormous computing power constructed the most common type of ICE, running wild with the help of his own server and that of another world!

The hacker who had infiltrated the system was caught off guard and directly connected to the newly constructed ICE—

The surge in computational load caused his body temperature to shoot up instantly, and the heat dissipation prosthetics on his back were all activated, steaming out!

"How is this possible—I’ve been attacked...!"

Pop!

The ICE server on the Scorpion-tailed Lion also started belching black smoke, 0054 sensed that something was wrong, and in his eyes, Lille’s body temperature was rising sharply!

This temperature rise only lasted less than a second, and as he was dealing with Lille, he found the guy’s neck twisted—

Lille’s world plunged into darkness.

Click.

let go, and Lille’s corpse fell to the ground.

"Dead...? 0064, are you still online?"

"Uh... I... I..."

On the Scorpion-tailed Lion, the hacker sitting in the chair had vacant eyes, his body shaking violently, as if he was having a seizure.

He tried to speak but couldn’t make a sound.

He wanted to type, but he found he no longer recognized the letters—

He felt he should know every single letter, but in reality, he didn’t understand what those things were at all.

It was a strange feeling.

Panic spread in his heart; he felt he knew what the symptoms were, but he couldn’t remember anything, only fear!

The world before his eyes began to shake violently, he even had hallucinations, everything was turned upside down—

Click.

His neck twisted, and he fell from his seat.

All members of the Terrorist Mobile Team received a message:

[Terrorist Mobile Team Hacker #0064 has triggered the Cyberspace Psychosis Protocol, please have personnel retrieve him.]

[Biological monitoring final data: Large scale brain nerve charring, physiological signal disorder, loss of consciousness, monitoring failure.]

Operational channel:

Rory, Chief of Police: Report the situation.

Terrorist Mobile Team Sniper #0054: #0064 suffered neural burnout from an ICE counterattack after infiltrating enemy network.

Rory, Chief of Police: Impossible, the network signals nearby have been jammed, they don’t have access to an ICE server, what about suspect A?

Terrorist Mobile Team Sniper #0054: ICE appears to be embedded in suspect C’s body, his body temperature experienced a brief rapid rise.

Terrorist Mobile Team Sniper #0054: I tried to save #0064 by killing suspect C, but suspect C died prematurely, likely from implanted components exceeding body load.

Rory, Chief of Police: Assessment of suspect C’s combat capabilities?

Terrorist Mobile Team Sniper #0054: Very low level of prosthetic integration, equipped with an unseen spinal prosthetic, likely a biological ICE server.

Terrorist Mobile Team Sniper #0054: His body was weak, seemed like he was about to die from illness, now it seems he might have been a decoy pushed to the front and a flesh-and-blood ICE server.

Terrorist Mobile Team Sniper #0054: #0064 was deceived.

Rory, Chief of Police: Looks like there’s another hacker hidden in the building, no wonder #0064 couldn’t find traces of the enemy hacker’s remote intrusion.

Rory, Chief of Police: That’s a cruel move, leave the bodies, someone will take care of them.

Terrorist Mobile Team Sniper #0054: Roger that.

After receiving the order, 0054 turned and left.

After he left, Lille’s finger moved slightly.