Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 859, Section 69: Weapon Confirmation
The three hounds carrying the grenade were Carl, Oliver, and Jack.

With Hanz's help, they joined the Hound of the Underworld, and now they are recruits of the Hound of the Underworld. They were selected for this weaponry due to their outstanding performance.

As for the other four members of the Ghost Hound team, three of them were people planted by Hans. They were the ones Hans had mentioned who "needed to receive guidance"—and the so-called "guidance" naturally had to be demonstrated in person to be truly effective. When Hans said that, Karl already understood.

Of all the weapons depots, the only ones not belonging to Hanz's faction were the manager, Captain Carl Taylor, and another ordinary team member who was completely unaware of this.

It must be said that the fact that Hanz could extend his reach so far within the Ghost Hound—even to just a small sub-armory—is enough to demonstrate how extraordinary his methods are.

The box landed steadily in the explosion-proof cabinet of the isolation room with a dull thud. The three 'Ghost Hound Team Members' who had just seemed clumsy—Karl, Oliver, and Jack—exchanged glances and instantly shed their feigned panic and awkwardness.

Captain Carl Taylor, with his back to them, was still directing several other team members, unaware of the subtle shift in the atmosphere behind him.

“You four, go and take inventory of the assault rifles and ammunition on the west shelf,” Karl-Taylor ordered without turning his head, his tone still tinged with annoyance. “Then you three, check the quantities and batch numbers on the terminal. Don’t get them mixed up again!”

"Yes, Captain."

Amidst the responses, the three members of Hanz's team understood immediately and moved tacitly toward the western weapons rack, subtly sandwiching the only unsuspecting member between them and leading him away from the isolation room.

The opportunity is here.

Carl winked at Oliver and Jack, and Oliver immediately stepped forward, seemingly casually leaning against the door frame of the isolation room, but actually blocking most of the view inside.

With a flick of his wrist, a miniature signal jammer silently activated, temporarily blocking several inconspicuous surveillance cameras in the isolation room—weaknesses clearly marked in the warehouse layout diagram provided by Hans.

Jack quickly moved to a row of newly moved weapon crates, pretending to tidy them up, but actually listening alertly to the sounds outside.

Carl slipped into the isolation room filled with dangerous explosives, his eyes quickly scanning the labels and marks on the crates.

“Fragmentation grenade. Plastic explosive laser-cutting grenade.” He read it quickly in a low voice, his fingers tracing the box. “They’re all standard equipment for the Ghost Hounds, nothing special.”

His goal was clear—to find weapons that were not part of the regular rations or that had undergone special modifications.

Hans' intelligence indicated that the missing team was carrying specialized equipment, including high-frequency signal jammers and deep geological scanners, and the weapons used to carry out such covert sabotage missions would certainly not be ordinary.

Time ticked by, and from outside came Captain Carl Taylor's intermittent shouts and the echoes of his teammates.

Suddenly, Carl's fingertip stopped at the edge of a crate that looked no different from any other but was slightly lighter. The crate had no obvious label, but Carl smelled a familiar odor from it.

A gun-like smell permeated the biotechnology construction site.

Carl's heart raced slightly. He flicked the monomolecular wire and opened the crack in the lid.

Inside were not neatly arranged standard weapons, but several oddly shaped pieces of equipment wrapped in shock-absorbing foam. One of them immediately caught Karl's eye.

It was a heavily modified "Ajax" kinetic assault rifle, unlike the modified Ajax assault rifle commonly used by Ghosthound, this one had undergone even more modifications.

Its barrel is noticeably longer and heavier, with a large nozzle attached below, resembling an under-barrel shotgun attachment, and its metal construction.
Karl's pupils contracted slightly. He recognized the metal structure; he had seen the same type of metal in the weapon used by the mysterious attacker who had died in the laboratory.

Was it not just a weapon from various countries, but a modified weapon from various countries? Now that he thought about it, the weapon he saw underground might have had its modified parts destroyed or disassembled beforehand, which was why more people weren't needed to destroy it. But the remaining traces were enough. "Oliver, Jack," he called through the communication channel, sending what he saw, "compare this structure to yours, does it look familiar?"

Upon receiving Carl's message, a faint light flashed deep within Oliver's prosthetic eye, and less than two seconds later, a reply arrived.

"The match is very high; it should be the same type of modification you saw underground before."

The conclusion is clear and unquestionable.

Jack's voice joined the communication channel, and he also thought the two things were similar or the same: "So, it was the gun that came out from here that blasted up the biotechnology's precious greenhouse?"

"Maybe, but we can basically draw a conclusion."

As Carl spoke, the sound of Captain Carl Taylor's footsteps getting closer and closer could be heard outside.

"You three! What are you dawdling about in there? Does it take that long to move a box?" His voice was filled with doubt, clearly showing his suspicion about the quietness on the other side.

Oliver coughed immediately as a warning.

Carl slammed the lid shut and pushed it back into place, while simultaneously turning to the side and pretending to be struggling to adjust the position of another box.

Captain Carl Taylor appeared in the doorway, frowning as he looked inside: "What's going on?"

“Captain,” Carl turned around, his face now showing the slightly nervous expression of a new recruit. He pointed to the peculiar box, “This box doesn’t seem to have a label. We weren’t sure where to put it, so we didn’t dare touch it.”

Carl Taylor's gaze swept over the box, and when he saw what it looked like, his expression changed slightly, and a barely perceptible hint of apprehension flashed in his eyes.

"That's none of your business!" His tone suddenly became urgent, even a little tense. "That's special equipment directly under the command of higher-ups. Leave it there and don't touch it. I'll handle it. You three, come out when you're done and help count the rifles!"

"Yes, Captain!" the three replied in unison, bowing their heads and quickly walking out of the isolation room.

Carl Taylor gave the box one last look, then carefully closed the heavy blast door of the isolation room, even locking it himself.

Seeing his reaction, Carl, Oliver, and Jack's last doubts vanished.

It seems to be confirmed that the attack on the underground biotechnology lab was carried out by Hansen's men, and the weapons they used came from the armory.

Hansen was not only secretly drawing up elite troops, but also secretly equipping them for clandestine operations.

Now that it's confirmed to be Hansen, things become much easier.

The three mingled with the other team members and walked towards the weapon rack on the west side, their eyes meeting silently once again.

Clearly, this biotechnology attack is not an isolated incident; this arsenal still has weapons ready, indicating that Hansen's ambitions are far from small.

The next step is to find out where these weapons ended up and how much Hansen actually did with them.

(End of this chapter)