Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 966, Section 177: Professional Assassination Techniques
Wilton Holt
The deputy mayor of Night City, a leading candidate for the next mayor—is dead?
Even Karl was stunned when he heard the news.

"What's the specific situation?"

He got into the hovercar driven by his subordinate, and while communicating with the current high-ranking officials in Dogtown, he asked his subordinate, who was in charge of intelligence, a question.

This subordinate came from the Arasaka Counterintelligence Department and now works in the Dogtown Intelligence Department. Even though he has changed jobs, he has maintained the keenness unique to intelligence personnel and has arranged manpower in all aspects. Therefore, he was able to come to Karl to report the news as soon as he received it.

This subordinate knew exactly who to report to first, and Carl was the first in the leadership to know the news—but everyone knew that it wouldn't be long before this bombshell news would sweep through the entire Night City.

Carl must first find out the truth and prepare himself.

After all, Wilton Holt's death was no small matter.

"According to reports, a cyberpsychotic assassin killed Wilton Holt."

"Cyber ​​psychosis?"

As Karl listened to his subordinates' report, he felt a strange sense of familiarity with this situation.

He had used this tactic before when he and Wilton Holt were discussing how to lull former Mayor Lucius Lane into a false sense of security, but that assassination attempt was doomed to fail as a cover for their true purpose. Now, however, things are more uncertain.

"Do you have detailed video recordings? Send them to me so I can take a look."

"I'm very sorry, sir. The incident happened just three minutes ago. We still need to obtain the relevant video footage through other means. Right now, we only have the records from the NCPD, which may not be enough to reconstruct the scene. We need some more time."

When Karl asked if there were any 'detailed' video recordings, this intelligence officer from Arasaka clearly understood the company's rules, which were to follow orders perfectly from superiors.

Since Lord Karl had given such detailed information, it must have been as detailed as it could possibly be, including footage of the wind direction, the angle of the sunlight, and even the smell of blood. They didn't have time to process such comprehensive data in just three minutes, so they could only apologize to Lord Karl.

Listening to the intelligence officer's words, Carl paused slightly. He realized that what he was saying might be misunderstood by those accustomed to company rules. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "The records from the NCPD are enough. Can you send me a copy? Was it given to us by our NCPD partners?"

"Yes, it was the people over there who thought that you would definitely pay attention to this news, so they urgently sent a copy over."

Without any hesitation, the intelligence officer knew that if Lord Karl wanted to see it, all he had to do was immediately display the image.

As the intelligence officer decisively took out professional equipment and began playing the video, Karl unconsciously pursed his lips.

He really doesn't like people being overly respectful to him, and it seems that this discomfort hasn't changed even now.

'However, no matter how uncomfortable I am, I can't show it to my subordinates who are used to this kind of behavior, otherwise they will feel intimidated. I should slowly change them and gradually adapt myself.'

With his mind racing, Karl focused intently on the video playing.

The NCPD's record is not long, likely because it was indeed an emergency. They only captured the process from the assassin's appearance to the successful assassination, and then the moment he was riddled with bullets. The footage clearly shows the scene: Wilton Holt set up a temporary stage in Japan Street, with his expensively hired private bodyguards guarding the core area, while NCPD officers were deployed further out on the perimeter.

From the perspective of the deployment procedure alone, this is already a fairly standard configuration.

Perhaps due to his deep-seated distrust of the NCPD, he deliberately placed the police officers in a slightly distant location. However, this arrangement, in effect, created a wide buffer zone for him by using the police to form a barrier, thus creating a relatively safe buffer area for him.

One of the speaking techniques used by politicians is 'street politics,' which involves giving speeches in the streets, sacrificing safety and security measures, in order to project a populist image.

However, this time Wilton Holt's arrangement was not the kind of populist speech with few guards, where he was vulnerable to being shot at by armed assassins. His security was impeccable, and it could even be described as a perfect street speech setup, which was a testament to Wilton Holt's many years of political experience.

Since Wilton-Hotter didn't leave any hidden dangers in terms of defense, does that mean it wasn't a problem with the setup?
Carl quickly finished watching the video.

The entire assassination lasted only six seconds. If the time it took for the assassin to be shot and killed is excluded, the actual effective action time from the sudden attack to the target's death was only a short two seconds.

He broke through the NCPD's defenses, used S.A.R. Stein to advance, and fired three shots from ten meters away before the bodyguards could surround him—two shots hit his torso, and the last shot was a precise headshot.

The entire sequence of movements was as precise as surgery; even by Karl's standards, this person was absolutely qualified to take on highly difficult tasks at the 'Afterlife' bar.

The technique is impeccable, but the shooting mode...
Something is not right.

It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the 'Mozambique shooting method' he used—this standard shot, which involves shooting at the chest and head, is indeed the most effective way to completely neutralize the target's ability to resist.

But that's where the strange thing is.

First, Mozambique employs typical close-range combat tactics. While ten meters isn't a particularly long distance, it's hardly close-quarters combat. Second, the core of this marksmanship lies in ensuring the target stops moving and prevents resistance, rather than aiming for the fastest possible kill.

In other words, this shooting method is perfectly acceptable in combat, even considered a perfect way to stop a dying opponent at close range. However, in assassination...
It's lucky they even managed to fire one shot, let alone two torsos and one headshot? What kind of assassination is that?

If there really was a chance to fire three shots, wouldn't it be better to aim for the heart or head and empty the bullets as fast as possible? Karl could also tell from the footage that the assassin's marksmanship was excellent, even extremely accurate. He had definitely received professional training in this area, and it wasn't that he couldn't do it.

However, there seems to be another explanation—judging from the assassin's distorted face and the characteristics of the overloaded prosthetic body during the charge, this is clearly a typical state of cyberpsychosis.

It's not surprising that a madman driven by instinct would use the most familiar shooting method based on muscle memory.

If this inference holds true, then a person who, even in a state of loss of control, would still instinctively employ professional shooting techniques such as the 'Mozambique shooting method'.
Karl was deep in thought.

'Is he a police officer? A professional bodyguard? Or a specialist in close-quarters assassination?'

(End of this chapter)