Chapter 132: Chapter 123 The Fall of the Scorpion-tailed Lion

"EMP——"

Bang!

The driver didn’t even finish his sentence before his head exploded from a gunshot!

All the patrolling members of the Terrorist Mobile Team were already dead, leaving just the unlucky driver!

With a single shot to the driver, the Scorpion-tailed Lion quickly veered. Lille, carrying V and Jack, leapt forward!

Bang.

"What the...?"

Jack was dumbfounded.

Even though the Scorpion-tailed Lion Floating Car was quite close, it was still almost ten meters away!

Carrying two such heavy individuals and still being able to leap over—was this even human?

Oh, maybe not entirely human anymore.

Jack was placed near the floating car’s deck: "Bro, say something, I’m scared."

Lille still didn’t speak, yanked open the cockpit door, and plugged in a personal link. The floating car quickly initiated auxiliary flight mode, stabilizing itself.

Next, he pulled out a few syringes from his tattered clothing and administered a shot to both of them.

V, who was unconscious, suddenly opened their eyes wide——

"Again!"

Bang.

V crashed into Lille’s shoulder, feeling dizzy. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Lille quickly shut down all the prosthetics on V’s body——

He had hacked into the system causing the cyber-psychosis and understood what was happening.

When the prosthetics no longer operated at high frequency, making the body over-respond to mental demands, the cyber-psychosis would quickly subside.

Fortunately, V had reached the limit in both prosthetics and body. They hadn’t completely gone berserk.

Any closer, and both Jack and V would have been done for. This time, they’d truly danced on the edge of death——all of them had.

Lille was a bit shaken, but his hands didn’t slow down.

"V! You’re awake!" Jack switched to a lying position, feeling the medication’s effects.

Though his bones were mostly broken, his large supportive bones were prosthetic, so he was relatively intact.

With the pain gone, he could barely roll over.

V, still dizzy, looked at Lille’s eyes and seemed to freeze.

"V, don’t be scared. This is Lille. Damn, you didn’t see how awesome he was..."

Jack suddenly paused:

The instant he explained, V leaned toward Lille.

She leaned against Lille, seeming to breathe a sigh of relief.

"...I thought you were dead."

"Why would you have such a stupid thought?"

After a moment of silence,

V looked up at Lille and suddenly smiled, "Damn it, you made me think I’d lost 700,000 bucks."

"...That’s the first thing you say?"

Lille, annoyed, turned to fuss with the console while saying, "Do I look like the type to renege on my debt? Relax, I won’t die until I pay you back.

And look at this, now we have a floating car——though it won’t be ours for long, for now, it’s ours..."

V struggled to stand up, leaning against the car wall, and muttered to himself in a voice no one else could hear: "Then let’s keep owing."

"Hold on tight!" Lille suddenly said, "Burger King’s Buying Idiot Squad is back on task——enemy floating cars expected in visual range in 30 seconds!

Jack, V, get ready! I mean, get ready to film some awesome footage!"

Jack and V smiled and waved their fists symbolically:

"Just go kick their asses!"

...

"It’s a damn EMP! The comms channel has been hacked! No one noticed? The Terrorist Mobile Team is off the grid!"

The Military Science Commander’s furious shout had an undertone of fear.

Just what the hell was it?

Even the Terrorist Mobile Team couldn’t handle it?

But the last communication showed they clearly had taken down one person!

"Swing around the back. I want to see what’s really happening! Get HQ to send more reinforcements over!"

"Sir, our comms system is down!"

"It’s a damn Scorpion-tailed Lion! Reboot, you hear me, reboot!"

As a military-tech combat product, the Scorpion-tailed Lion naturally had backup plans for dealing with an EMP.

After an electromagnetic pulse, it would activate backup circuits. Although smaller, these circuits were protected within a shielded enclosure.

So while an EMP of this magnitude could trouble a Scorpion-tailed Lion, it wouldn’t knock the floating car out of the sky. At most, it would reboot with reduced power and functionality.

The driver knew this too; he was just panicking, freaking out.

Things were beyond being out of control; they were now utterly incomprehensible.

The Terrorist Mobile Team had top-notch prosthetics and riot gear from top-notch companies——

Even if the company held back their real T0-level gear, it was at least T0.5 or T1 level. Combined with each company’s top products, they were almost invincible.

But this time, they had lost contact.

Not only physically defeated, but they also vanished from the net. The team’s hacker had their head blown off, the Biotechnology team’s hacker probably died on their hacker chair——

And then... an EMP hit.

Combat skills, tactics, and technical abilities, the enemy showed exceptional prowess!

The NCPD and the big five companies genuinely realized this was beyond a small-time heist, some even began contemplating the possibility of the Fifth Corporate War——

But there was just too little intel.

Well-informed companies had already received reports of humanoid monsters, all growing restless——

They weren’t here to cooperate.

"This is the Terrorist Mobile Team headquarters. Dispatching more reinforcements."

"This is Military Science Regional Command. Dispatching more units for lockdown control."

"This is Arasaka Regional Command. Dispatching support units."

"Yes, the more the better! Should’ve done this earlier!"

The Scorpion-tailed Lion’s commander used profanity to mask his anxiety——he had even forgotten that before the mission, he’d boasted they wouldn’t need this many men.

The floating car wheeled around the side——

He saw the Terrorist Mobile Team’s floating car heading straight for him!

"Terrorist Mobile Team, what are you doing——what the hell is that——dodge, damn it!!"

The commander’s voice turned shrill——

He saw a dark shadow on the wall, clinging to it, effortlessly cracking the reinforced glass, moving incredibly fast——

Only when it leapt did he realize in horror that it looked like a Lizard Man!!!

The floating car began to evade, but Lille shot out a strand of Spider Silk and yanked hard!

Bang——

Lille grabbed the car’s edge, his cold eyes fixed on the commander——

"Aaaahhhhhhh!"

Terrified, the commander pulled the trigger, but his prosthetic eye blacked out——

A claw pierced his abdomen, yanking him down——the commander fell, Lille boarded.

The driver turned pale——what the hell was this thing?!

Splorch!

A claw tore through the seat, ripping the driver’s chest open!

[The Lizard Man serum’s bloodlust and berserk effects]

[Evolution Heart: intelligence influence negated.]

Lille, unaffected, began hacking into the floating car——both floating cars were now his!

"So, what now? Are we just gonna ride off in these floating cars?"

V’s voice came over the comm channel.

"Of course not." Lille quickly adjusted the autopilot programs, getting both cars parallel, then jumped back.

"Look at this, everything’s black——it will get even darker on the way.

But the Scorpion-tailed Lions are too conspicuous; driving these would get us chased to the ends of the earth."

Then he pointed toward Haywood——

"Our Mackinaw is still parked there, ready to go."

"Drive the Mackinaw back?"

Jack and V had strange looks——

If they drove that Mackinaw back...

That Mackinaw would become a living legend.

Lille looked up and saw black spots rising in the distance——company and Terrorist Mobile Team floating cars.

"Prepare to disengage."

Lille picked up V and Jack——and a large burlap sack bound with Military Science bulletproof vest material from the ground.

"What’s inside?" V patted the bag, it was hard.

"...The target of the mission and some Biotechnology control tech components."

Jack and V exchanged glances——they were now quite familiar with Lille’s methods.

Someone was going to have a bad day.

With a flick of Spider Silk, the three of them swung away, disappearing between the buildings.

...

"Military Science Asset, Scorpion-tailed Lion floating armored personnel carrier #0345, suspected hijacked."

"Terrorist Mobile Team Asset, Scorpion-tailed Lion floating armored personnel carrier #0014, suspected hijacked."

"Target sighted, target locked."

The Scorpion-tailed Lion’s windshield was made of one-way transparent material, meaning those outside couldn’t see into the cockpit.

To the two arriving reinforcement floating cars, these two missing assets seemed to be fleeing off in a panic.

Suddenly, the two floating cars screeched to a halt, then shot straight toward them!!

It was a sudden shift, but those two floating cars accelerated rapidly, spewing flames!

Bang!

The leading Military Science Scorpion-tailed Lion didn’t react in time and took a direct hit!

The Terrorist Mobile Team fared a little better but still got a huge dent, lost control mid-air, and nearly crashed!

With the collision, the preset program activated, causing the internal engines to overload and combust!

The three floating cars plunged straight toward Company Square, two of them even aflame, like fireballs!

The soldiers in Company Square were stunned——this scene could be seen from kilometers away.

Night City was in shock.

The quick-reacting commander hurriedly urged the soldiers to dodge. The once orderly Company Square suddenly fell into chaos as soldiers scrambled for cover——

The Scorpion-tailed Lions were not falling straight; they were spinning rapidly!

In the dark Company Square, the burning Scorpion-tailed Lion Floating Cars used up their last vestiges of life dancing toward the ground!

Many soldiers were crushed by the plunging Scorpion-tailed Lions. The Bimong Armored Vehicle also took a hit——

Blazing light flared!

Boom!!!

After the explosion, the soldiers looked up at the devastation, lost in confusion.

A lookout seemed to have seen... just before this, something, something with a tail, leap onto the Scorpion-tailed Lion?

But the confusion didn’t last long.

"...NCPD emergency alert, Haywood edge sighting of wanted vehicle... red and black striped Mackinaw.

Wanderer riot——request support to intercept target!!!

Shit, Wanderers... the Wanderers have gone crazy!!!!"