Chapter 129: Chapter 120: A Similar Predicament

"Stop running, you can’t escape."

"Tch."

V and Jack crouched behind a pillar, holding Achilles Rifles.

It was dark around them—they both had Prosthetic Eyes, but those were mainly for interfacing with the Prosthetic System.

In the dark room, the only sources of light were the moonlight and the red glow of the enemy’s thermal Mantis Blade.

But the woman from the Terrorist Mobile Team was different—V had seen that kind of Tactical Helmet on TV.

The helmet featured an integrated tactical compound eye, top-of-the-line, capable of detecting heat and sound sources, equipped with high definition night vision, and high magnification capabilities.

Even in pitch darkness, processed images were as clear as daylight.

But... that wasn’t a reason to admit defeat.

The two exchanged glances and nodded at the same time—the machine room and server room were just separated by a wall, but they needed to split up here and go in different directions.

Si Anweisitan activated, V leaped out with large strides and raisedAchilles!

Jack also ran in the opposite direction, crouching low.

However, Jack had only run a few steps when a huge figure crushed the glass with heavy footsteps and chased straight after Jack!

The ground shook!

Rory smiled slightly and immediately followed V, running in synchronization just on the other side of a glass wall!

"You can’t escape!"

V didn’t respond and pulled the trigger!

Bang!

Nine bullets fired rhythmically, the Achilles’s bullets carrying a faint blue electric current, penetrating the glass and leaving a row of straight bullet holes in the glass surface!

Crash!

The glass shattered like a falling curtain, Rory’s speed was the fastest V had ever seen among her enemies!

Not only was her speed impressive, her rhythm of battle was also the best, the calmest!

At such a close distance, V actually missed every shot!

The bullets spent, Rory’s red-hot Mantis Blade punctured through the curtain of shattered glass, lunging at V!

V backhanded the Achilles Rifle like a club, but the thermal Mantis Blade cut through it easily like a hot knife through butter!

The Mantis Blade sprung out!

Cling!

The blades clashed, but this time V wasn’t so confident!

The slash Rory made outside the wall had left a mark on the blade—hundreds of degrees of high temperature were trivial for Rory’s arm’s equipment, but not for V’s!

Feeling the heat on the Mantis Blade and hearing her own weapon wailing, V immediately raised her leg for a Knee Strike!

But Rory’s grappling skills were equally impressive!

Rory smoothly stepped back, pulling the Mantis Blade to the right, and delivered a spin kick to V’s abdomen!

Bang!

A dull thud resounded, and both of them exited Si Anweisitan, V uncontrollably thrown backward, smashing through an electrified glass!

Glass crashed down, Rory leisurely advanced, the smile on her face unstoppable—

She loved the killing, the blade penetrating flesh, the bizarre aroma of blood and ethanol in the air, and the soaring adrenaline.

The Terrorist Mobile Team provided her that stage—though it also kept her from going insane too easily; she knew she was at work now.

"Just off-the-shelf stuff, you don’t even have an ethanol combustion chamber on you. Hardward-wise, you could never beat me, feeling frustrated?"

V ignored her, stood up, and ran towards the side.

"Stop running! Show me your real skills, let me see your limits!"

With Si Anweisitan activated, V felt Rory constantly closing in from behind, so she had no choice but to turn and block!

Blades intersected, V learned from her experience, not trying to block with both blades simultaneously, but only using her left arm’s Mantis Blade to block one side, while ducking to dodge!

The thermal Mantis Blade easily cut through the metal door behind V.

V knew her chance had come—she lashed out with her right arm!

But Rory appeared effortlessly superior—

As she said, V was talented, but without better resources, more advanced prosthetics, talent was just talent.

The feeling of "just missing it" appeared in V’s mind for the first time—Rory dodged by a hair’s breadth, yet perfectly on target!

Rory’s right arm Mantis Blade retracted, and she backhanded a punch to V’s face, then fiercely kicked straight ahead!

Bang!

The door was smashed open, and V was thrown backward yet again!

Rory looked at her arm, tauntingly saying, "A 700-degree Celsius gadget, retract it when you say so, I don’t understand how you do it, but off-the-shelf gear definitely can’t."

"And..."

Rory’s right arm Mantis Blade sprung out again—still maintaining the same temperature.

V lay sprawled on the metal case, the metal plates beneath her dented from the impact.

Although this annoying woman always bragged, what she said was indeed correct.

If the initial exchanges on the wall left V a bit hopeful, the last two fights clearly made her feel that her opponent hadn’t even pushed Si Anweisitan to its limits yet.

Lille still thought she was the only one with a chance to defeat the enemy.

Now it seemed, V was just the strongest fighter in their trio, but the enemy she faced was much more formidable.

"Surrender—there’s still a chance for you," Rory’s voice came from the doorway.

V didn’t respond, just quietly slid her hands into the metal case behind her.

She had made it to the power distribution room.

Through the darkness, Rory frowned: she saw V fiddling with the power box behind her...

Not giving up?

The next moment, she saw V turn around, smirking mockingly, and giving her the middle finger.

Thump—

The floor lights came on.

"What did you do..."

The electricity meter spun wildly, lights flickered, and sparks flew—

But the massive electromagnetic pulse that Lille had been waiting for did not occur, and Rory’s tactical helmet just flickered a few times.

Both of them were stunned.

Bang!

A heavy thudding sound came from behind the wall V was standing by.

.....

Just after Jack had separated from V, a heavy set of footsteps came from behind him, followed by a colossal Terrorist Mobile Team member charging towards him!

He raised his Achilles Rifle, however, the bullets only left holes in the guy’s clothes!

Not only was he fast, but he was flexible, and even his head was bulletproof!

"Mierda!"

Jack cursed loudly, threw away the Achilles, took a deep breath, and adopted a sumo wrestler stance, staring intensely at the huge figure closing in!

Bang!

It was like being hit by a tank!

Jack felt as if all his internal organs were crushed—if not for the heavy subdermal armor cushioning the blow, he would certainly have been pulverized!

The two burly men easily smashed open the server room’s door, crushing several machines along the way!

Jack spat out a mouthful of blood, clenched his teeth, stopped the guy’s charge, and then slammed his full force into the enemy’s prosthetic spine!

These hits were even more effective than bullets, causing the Terrorist Mobile Team’s heavyweight to viciously slam Jack into the wall!

He swung his fist again, Jack ducked under and dodged, throwing a punch at the opponent’s jaw, but it was useless!

Jack felt like he had hit metal, the giant countered with a headbutt, nearly knocking him out!

In the third round, Jack swung away from the corner, drawing the guy to turn around, then landed two heavy punches on his abdomen.

These blows were enough to break steel bars, yet the opponent merely stepped back half a step and stood firm, his movements unaffected!

As Jack watched the approaching fists, his pupils dilated—

"V!!!"

Zzzt!

Suddenly, electric arcs burst from the floor, the massive fist froze midair!

The tall figure trembled, stuck in place. The electric surge lasted a full 3 seconds!

When the electricity resumed normal, he stepped back—but did not fall.

Jack was stunned—he saw smoke rising from the man’s body, but he just wouldn’t fall!

The giant’s tactical visor suddenly turned red, he hurled Jack’s neck back toward the wall with force!

Bang!

The immense impact completely overwhelmed Jack’s nervous system, all he saw was a blur—

The giant didn’t stop, he picked up Jack and hurled him toward the wall again!

Boom!

The wall cracked on impact.

Boom!

The crack widened, the wall bending nearly to breaking point!

Boom!

The wall burst open!

Jack crashed through the wall landing next to V—

"Jack?!"

Bang!

Behind the broken wall, the giant gasped threateningly.

Rory took off her helmet with a mocking smile—

She looked at V, who had just raised her head.

"Such a familiar scene."

This scene reminded her of years ago when she was similarly cornered by the Terrorist Mobile Team, running out of ammo and fuel.

The guy back then pointed a gun at her, the Terrorist Mobile Team switched off her prosthetics, draining her Choline2 fuel.

When she woke up, she was faced with a choice: either recuperate in a "Psychiatric Hospital" or join the Terrorist Mobile Team.

"Thinking of creating an EMP impact? Not a bad idea, but without proper authorization, trying to bypass state agent blockade, overclocking the building’s power supply, is nearly impossible—

Especially since your meat-based ICE device is already destroyed, headquarters, turn off #0034’s berserk component, or he’ll go mad."

Meat-based ICE? Destroyed?

V stared blankly at Jack—who, mustering all his strength, merely trembled as he sat up.

Rory continued, "Alright, your meat-based server is gone, that inconspicuous skinny guy, no more chances of turning the game around.

You burned our side’s hacker, so a spot for a hacker has opened up again, come out, keep some dignity.

Find some homeless nobody cares about on the street, fit them with illegal prosthetics to serve as your server—cruel and cunning, the Terrorist Mobile Team needs people like you."

"V, what’s he talking about..."

Before Jack could finish, #0054 appeared at the doorway—

He was the marksman assigned to track down Lille.

Only then did V and the groggy Jack realize what Rory was talking about.

Lille was dead.

...

But Rory noticed something amiss—

"Corpse squad, take a picture of that kid’s body, upload it to their network.

Corpse squad? Where are they?"

Rory frowned—why wasn’t anyone responding?

Before her question could be answered, Rory’s Si Anweisitan was involuntarily activated!

V was charging towards her with a speed much faster than before!

Her prosthetic eye exhibited unstable behavior on the cyber network, the measurements from electronic devices were highly erroneous—

The chaotic and way beyond spec operation of prosthetics, a sign of cybernetic psychotic break!