Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 850, Section 60: Collapse
As soon as Karl finished speaking, nine figures launched their attack simultaneously. Their movements were so coordinated that they almost blocked all angles of evasion.

Under this coordination, even a professional mercenary team might suffer some damage in the first wave of attack, but the velociraptors' movements didn't seem very fast to Karl and his companions.

The first velociraptor leaped into the air, its claws aimed straight for Karl's face. Karl did not dodge, but instead kicked the ground with his foot—a block of cement mixed with steel bars flew up and crashed into the approaching shadow like a cannonball.

Just as the cement block was about to hit its head, the velociraptor suddenly raised its metal forelimbs to block, and a piercing impact rang out, sparks flying everywhere.

"Watch out, they have combat implants!" Karl warned, noticing something in the velociraptors' movements. "They're not ordinary creatures!"

"Understood, then let's spread out and fight—we have a rough idea of ​​the speed."

The moment Oliver finished speaking, the three of them suddenly scattered as if they had practiced countless times, and their tight back-to-back formation disintegrated instantly.

They initially rallied to cover each other in the face of unknown threats, using each other's backs to defend against attacks from blind spots. But once they figured out the rhythm and limits of their opponents—these velociraptors, though coordinated, were ultimately not fast enough—dispersing and annihilating them became the most efficient option.

Jack fired first, his gun spitting fire as bullets whistled through the air, precisely targeting the fast-moving figures.

However, these creatures reacted with astonishing speed, dodging and weaving with an eerie rhythm. Most bullets could only tear through the air, striking the ruins in vain and raising a cloud of debris.

Occasionally, a few shots would hit their targets, but these only produced bursts of sparks mixed with blood mist and metal fragments, leaving gruesome wounds—but they did nothing to slow down their killing spree.

The velociraptors seemed oblivious to the pain, merely swaying their bodies slightly before accelerating and attacking again.

“I should have known—this kind of biological weapon wouldn’t have a pain detection system installed!” Jack spat, moving quickly amidst the gunfire and screams. “How could something meant to be a bodyguard or pet for the rich have such a ‘weakness’?”

Before he could finish speaking, a velociraptor pounced from mid-air. Instead of retreating, Jack charged forward, meeting the attack head-on, his arms swinging out horizontally like battle axes—

There were no extra movements, and the specific trajectory was not even visible.

With a piercing metallic tearing sound, the velociraptor's head detached from its body and flew into the air, sparks flying from its severed neck, mixed with dark lubricant and fragments of bionic tissue.

"This hardness—was this flesh modified with some kind of special alloy?" Jack shook his hand, staring at the headless body still twitching on the ground. "Damn, it really is all iron underneath!"

"I think it's really exaggerated that you could just clamp your arms between your arms and snap the iron neck."

Oliver complained, but his hands never stopped. A precise burst of fire forced the oncoming velociraptor to retreat sharply. He then steadied his gun and calmly fired three more short bursts in quick succession.

The bullet seemed to have eyes, piercing deep into the velociraptor's chest cavity.

With a blinding spark and the noise of mechanical operation, the bionic body convulsed violently a few times before collapsing to the ground and remaining motionless.

“It seems they’re not entirely without weaknesses,” he said, blowing away the faint wisps of smoke from the gun barrel. “We just need to find the core.”

"Stop posing like a cowboy in the West, let's finish this quickly." Carl's calm voice cut into the battle. He casually placed one hand on the head of a swiftly charging dragon, and with a sudden burst of strength, he twisted the head off with a sickening metallic twisting sound.

However, the headless body did not stop immediately. Following the last command, it lunged in the original direction, its movements stiff but still unabated.

Karl glanced at the still slightly trembling head in his hand, then extended the monomolecular wire, precisely piercing into the cranial cavity. Soon, he found a usable interface within the complex mixture of mechanical and biological tissues.

“The head is their core for surveillance and identification,” he quickly analyzed. “It combines image storage and friend-or-foe identification functions—it’s indeed a very suitable design for guarding homes.”

He then changed the subject: "However, this also becomes a weakness. In order to prevent the system from accidentally injuring its owner, once the head is destroyed, their programs will forcibly stop operating after executing the current instruction. So, theoretically speaking, hitting the head is the most effective solution."

"The design is thoughtful—it's a pity that the laboratory is now abandoned, and who knows when it will be rebuilt."

Before Jack could finish speaking, another velociraptor's head twisted and deformed under his swift and decisive strike, ceasing to function completely.

If they had faced such an enemy when they were just starting out, they might have really been in a tough fight and even paid a heavy price. But in the eyes of the three of them now, after the initial wariness and the brief surprise at the image of the 'dinosaur', dealing with these modified creatures was almost effortless.

Just when they thought the cleaning would be over in seconds—

The entire underground space suddenly trembled.

Whether the battle with the velociraptor had shaken the already unstable structure, or some unknown change had occurred deeper underground, before the three could react, a suffocating cracking sound came from above—

The entire ceiling collapsed with a roar.

"Crack-!"

Concrete fragments and twisted steel bars cascaded down like a waterfall, instantly flattening a velociraptor in front of Carl. Pure physical weight and gravitational acceleration transformed into primal violence at that moment.

Smoke and dust filled the air, and pebbles flew everywhere, making the entire space seem to groan under the weight of the storm.

"Damn, it's really going to collapse a second time! What do we say, should we evacuate or not? There's still time for Kais Anwaystein to get out." Oliver shouted through the rising dust, his voice carrying through the rumble of the collapse.

Karl quickly scanned his surroundings and decisively rejected the idea: "No, let's spread out and search separately! Getting out is easy, and locating the source and clearing the route back won't be a problem, but if we don't investigate now, many traces of the attack will likely be completely buried—"

"Working overtime at a collapse site like this," Oliver muttered to himself, but didn't argue further. Indeed, even if the entire ceiling collapsed, he was confident that he could create a temporary barrier in an instant, stabilize himself, and then escape without much difficulty.

"Okay, let's do it."

Without the slightest hesitation, the three figures suddenly separated and disappeared into the still-collapsed ruins.

(End of this chapter)