Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 724, Chapter 138: Wise Man, Draws His Sword
In Li De's eyes, the young man gave him a very special feeling at first glance.

It was a kind of inexplicable sense of unease.

This oddity did not stem from his incongruous attire—the samurai sword slung across his shoulder pressed a slight crease into his black bulletproof jacket, and the dark patterns on the scabbard floated. Despite being dressed in combat gear, he did not look like a combatant, but rather like a silhouette of an old era cut from a ukiyo-e print.

It wasn't because of that overly refined face, the kind of bone structure that would require spending at least 50,000 euros in Night City and using the exclusive channels of black market prosthetic doctors to replicate.

What truly made Li De's pupils contract was the relaxed muscle lines on the other person's body and the unguarded fingers hanging at his sides—on this battlefield torn apart by crossfire, his body was extremely relaxed, even the folds of the fabric at his shoulders and neck maintained the natural curve of a stroll.

Military-grade bullets are chiseling honeycomb-like holes in the concrete wall, while Agent Arasaka retaliates with grenades. Amidst the sounds of gunfire and explosions, the young man stands beside the collapsing staircase of the abandoned building.

He stood on the ground floor of the abandoned building, as if he were in his own backyard, relaxed. Facing Li De, who had broken through two lines of defense and rushed towards him, there was no panic on his face, nor did he make any move. He just stood there calmly watching Li De, as if he were looking at the flowers in the courtyard.

At this moment, Li De felt a strange, indescribable feeling welling up inside him.

He was well aware of his physical attributes—at his age and with his looks, while he could be described as handsome and upright, he was far from being a 'pretty boy'. Yet, the gaze of the young man in front of him gave him the illusion of being evaluated and scrutinized.

"Seeing Li De's face reminds me of the face he used to pretend to have when he was flirting with women at the banquet. It's quite interesting to compare the two faces." Mingzhi's thoughts flashed through his mind, and just as Mingzhi was making his judgment, Li De suddenly moved.

Although he was still troubled by this inexplicable feeling of being scrutinized, and even more uncomfortable with the young man's almost anatomical gaze, his professional instincts made him instantly put these distracting thoughts aside.

He clearly remembered his purpose in breaking through the encirclement to get here: he had to immediately eliminate the snipers entrenched on the rooftop and then rush back to reinforce the military technology squad that was being suppressed.

Time is life. Every second wasted increases the uncertainty of President Miles' safety. He needs to use this military-technological intelligence network to pinpoint the president's location and escort that important figure safely out of the perilous Dogtown. To do this, anyone who stands in his way will become an obstacle he must eliminate—no matter how strangely they look at him, it cannot change this undeniable fact.

Mingzhi's pupils contracted slightly as he keenly caught the fleeting determination in Li De's eyes. As someone who had worked with this top agent before, Mingzhi was all too familiar with the meaning behind such a look—it was a prelude to Li De taking action.

This man's loyalty was like an instinct etched into his bones. Even after being betrayed countless times by the new America, he would still unhesitatingly go through fire and water for his mission. Hesitation? Indecision? That was never Li De's style.

"Well then, let me see, Li De," Mingzhi's gaze was calm yet scrutinizing. "Will you choose to ignore me and head straight for the sniper on the roof, or decide to take care of me, this seemingly harmless ordinary person, first?"

Mingzhi deliberately positioned himself in a delicate position—neither directly blocking Li De's path nor making any aggressive gestures. If Li De wanted to bypass him, there were at least four ways to easily break through, and even the position Mingzhi was in itself did not constitute any obstacle.

Half a second, at most a difference of half a second.

For an ordinary person, it would be nothing more than a blink of an eye, but for a top agent like Li De, half a second could be enough to decide life or death. Would he take action against me for such a trivial delay? The answer came quickly—the moment Li De raised his arm and locked the gun on Ming Zhi, Ming Zhi understood his choice.

Li De was certainly aware of the cost of this decision.

The young man in front of him hadn't stopped him, and killing him would have delayed him for a moment. That momentary delay could have been the tipping point for the complete collapse of the military technology squad, but he still chose to fire.

There are two reasons:

First, Li De could almost certainly conclude that this seemingly unarmed young man was very likely the core figure of this Arasaka squad—or even the commander. The fact that he dared to stand here alone when the other party was not equipped with any combat cybernetics indicated a dangerous confidence. Taking him out might be more effective in turning the tide of the battle than eliminating the sniper on the rooftop.

Secondly, and more importantly, Li De could not ignore the sense of crisis that lurked beneath his skin. Although the young man appeared harmless, the agent's intuition was frantically warning him: if he turned his back on this person, even for a moment, death would follow him relentlessly.

So Li De pulled the trigger.

'None of the Arasaka members of the Night City Pheasant Faction saw through me, not even that Oda Santayu. Although that might be partly due to his current emotional state, to recognize my threat at first glance and then deal with me—that's truly admirable, Li De.'

Faced with Li De's choice, Mingzhi secretly admired him. He felt that Li De was more astute and more deadly than when they had worked together to complete missions before.

And now, this newly sharpened blade is pointing towards wisdom.

As Mingzhi listened to the anxious shouts from his squad members over the channel because Li De had suddenly rushed in front of him, he calculated the time it would take for his squad members to arrive at him amidst a series of panicked cries of "Protect Your Excellency!" and "Guard Your Excellency Mingzhi!"

When Li De rushed in and eliminated five combatants, the first three shots he fired at three of them only caused potentially fatal damage to one of them. The other two should still be alive thanks to their body armor and heavy subcutaneous armor. After all, based on the power of the 'discard pistol' in Li De's hand that I had seen, it was not capable of killing with one shot when it was not charged.
The person who was later shot in the heart by Li De with a dagger had a prosthetic heart, according to the data. This means that at least three people would be able to recover quickly and support him. Moreover, there was another combatant right next to the sniper. Faced with Li De's swift and unexpected advance, he should have already abandoned the sniper and gone downstairs to protect himself. So let's calculate their reaction and action time.
Four seconds.

He only had four seconds to give himself and Li De a chance to spar.

After all, in front of his subordinates, Mingzhi was just a bodyguard who didn't have a combat prosthetic and only knew a little bit of swordsmanship.

'Speaking of which, isn't the indistinguishability between swords and knives a kind of unique characteristic?'

Wisely drew his sword.

(End of this chapter)