Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 192 Never Gone (Part 3) (9.1K) [First Update]

Kurt Hansen is in a terrible mood right now.

The last time I felt like cursing was six years ago, when the president of the new United States treated them like dogs. Now, I've been dragged onto the same pirate ship by the chief intelligence analyst of the new United States.

However, now that things have escalated to this point, the local tyrant of Dogtown is unlikely to "withdraw his investment" halfway through.

Because this guy is bolder than you might imagine…

The people from Arasaka died here. Those who should be compensated should be compensated, and those who should be made money should make money. Dogtown needs to be removed from the company and things should be harmonious, but this prerequisite is difficult to meet.

Hansen was able to start his business in Dogtown, transforming this run-down town into a "well-known enterprise" in Night City, offering jobs to criminals with guaranteed salaries and healthcare, selling arms internationally, and having friends everywhere he goes. It all boils down to two words:
Daring to do it.

I heard... Night City can't use heavy weapons? If a surface-to-air missile is launched, the person in charge has to step down?

It depends on the reason.

No, no, no... or rather, whoever holds the initiative has the right to speak.

Let alone Arasaka's airship flying in the sky, even if it were the new US president's SpaceX Aerospace One in low Earth orbit, Hansen would dare to attack it. As long as he could gain more benefits than the cost, and incidentally take care of these corporate dogs, then nothing else mattered.

But that's where the problem lies.

The continuous slips and blatant tilting made Arasaka furious.

Thinking of this, Hansen slammed the wine glass in his hand down on the coffee table.

He had never had the habit of throwing things or losing his temper when things were going badly, but today was different—if his subordinates weren't standing there, Hansen would have wanted to bite the cup to pieces and swallow it whole.

Is Song Zhaomei capable of doing this?

After all, Hansen didn't know much about what was going on online. He only knew that the hackers at New America were incredibly skilled, like a nuclear weapon developed by the company. But judging from the current situation, it seemed that the nuclear weapon wasn't solving the problem as cleanly and efficiently as he had imagined…

"Have you managed to contact Song Zhaomei yet?"

The calmer Hansen's voice was, the more trembling his men became... No one had ever seen the colonel lose his temper. Even when the supplies meant for his men were stolen by the Dogtown scavengers, the colonel would only fire his revolver and mutter a few words like "bastards."

No one doubted the colonel's power, so within the Ghost Hounds, there was an almost blind worship of this local tyrant.

Nine out of ten new Netherhounds are after the boss.

The soldiers under his command stood with their hands in front of them, their faces bearing the scars of battle. "Without the colonel, the entire Dogtown's network is down. If the anti-aircraft system hadn't been separate, Arasaka would have made us suffer a lot."

"Humph…"

The colonel kneaded the cup, letting out a cryptic smile.

Those below had no idea how Hansen could still sit so calmly. In their eyes, Dogtown had become a cesspool, and everyone was avoiding it.

"Was the prosthetic body I provided to these hackers from Europe not new enough? Or did they take the money and not intend to do the job? Is it really that difficult to gain access to the network...? What about the Terrorist Response Unit?"

The ghostly dog ​​hesitated, as if it wanted to speak.

The colonel refilled his glass. "Ah... let me guess. Night City's infamous reputation prevented the Terrorist SWAT team from keeping these guys for me, right? That's quite interesting. Those three airships the company dogs let in wiped out the Terrorist SWAT team..."

"Looks like there really is a 'treasure' underground?"

The soldier waved.

The elite soldiers who found Farida in Night City from Arasaka and Gunko and brought her back to Dogtown.

In modern enterprises, certain basic personnel are remarkably uniform in their staffing. There is always a squad of senior soldiers responsible for eliminating any potential threats. These ten-man squads, holding guns and waiting for orders from the colonel, are all remarkably similar in stature.

There was a reason why Hansen left the soldier in front of him to receive the guests in Gemstone Blue; he could almost instantly understand the colonel's way of thinking.

"The Animal Gang, the woman left behind by that middleman is now at the Long Beach storage yard."

Hansen hummed in agreement.

He needs to take some positive steps to wrap things up in Dogtown.

No one wants to miss an opportunity, but that's just how the world is, and Hansen is able to accept it perfectly... without complaining.

Hansen: "Song Zhaomei must be contacted. My minimum acceptable outcome in this matter is to extract the valuable 'gold mine' (neural matrix) from that facility—what's the current situation at the Long Beach stockpile?"

Soldiers should respond directly. At this point, it's best not to explain the failure of the operation, but to clean up the mess and prevent Hansen from feeling uncomfortable.

"The wasteland at the Long Beach stockpile is only accessible to our armed vehicles. The engineering team is clearing obstacles for the mechs. It's quite remote there... We expect to be able to get in within half an hour."

Hansen squinted, pondering what might happen within the next half hour…

At this moment, the companies of Night City finally couldn't sit still any longer.

The first to arrive was the military technology from the Night City branch, because they gave Meredith an unauthorized order, and due to the unstable situation in Dogtown, they sent a Sunrise Daddy clone to bury the entrance to the facility—

That's just how the world is; there's never any truth between companies.

Hansen hadn't even started causing them any trouble yet, but the phone call came first.

Has the head of Night City's military technology been replaced?

Hansen had seen this guy in front of him more than once. When Lazarus was about to cause trouble in Dogtown, this secretary-general was the one who came to meet him. Now it seems he's been promoted—

If it weren't for the generous financial incentives, he would undoubtedly have retaliated against the company for concealing its military technology.

"Colonel."

The culture of military technology companies emphasizes efficiency and speed, which are military habits that Donald brought in during his time in the Marine Corps. They speak without any complicated or roundabout ways.

The colonel wasn't going to speak first; he wanted to see what the company's intentions were.

"This call isn't to catch up with the colonel; we're in trouble."

Hansen listened to the rhetoric of these New America lackeys. It seemed that they always treated him as a staunch ally of New America when there were problems, but when things were fine, they were just defectors from "Operation Midnight Storm." It couldn't be easier for politicians to play double standards.

For some reason, the new head of Night City's military technology headquarters always felt like he was dealing with a KB force whenever he spoke with the colonel.

A sinister man sat on the sofa, behind him was a fully armed officer wearing a ghostly hound mask and carrying a gun, and behind them was a vicious dog's head splattered with fluorescent paint—

But at this critical juncture, the pressure from headquarters came down, and we had no choice but to go ahead.

The colonel toyed with his wine glass. "Do I have to ask you to speak, sir?"

The CEO of the military technology division clearly hadn't expected such strong contempt from the other side. Perhaps because he had been threatened by Hansen before, the man's face immediately fell.

"Hansen...you've got a huge problem on your turf. Don't you think things are bad enough already?"

big trouble?
Everyone has their troubles, but I don't have any trouble. Why doesn't Hansen understand this?
"Look at how anxious and agitated you are... Should I have one of your female subordinates come in and give you a good spanking? Humph..."

Hansen's lips curled into a smile, his pupils rolling upwards as he looked at them. "You're the ones in the most trouble. You haven't been able to control a single weapon you've made (The Lark, Morgan Blackhand)... and you've even sent people into my territory to secretly plot against our assets—"

Your assets?!

The branch manager's eyes widened in disbelief. Why did someone describe being a bandit king in such a refreshing and unconventional way?

Night City was built by the Night Corporation. All companies have gone through decades of using various means to legally own their territory, no longer just having the right to use the land...

When Hansen opened his mouth, it was as if he had given everything in Taipingzhou to him!
The person in charge gritted his teeth and said, "Don't forget how Dogtown came to be! If we hadn't fenced this place off because we hadn't finished our finishing touches, Dogtown wouldn't exist at all!"

The details of Operation Midnight Storm are unknown.

But Hansen's forces' motive for being stationed here was far more than just a preliminary battle for the attack on Night City, because someone had to keep an eye on things down there, and any force would do as long as it wasn't Arasaka or European corporations.

Hansen spread his hands, looking somewhat innocent.

"I'm starting to not understand what you're saying. I just thought it was nonsense you were babbling in your excitement after getting a promotion and a raise—what's down there, and what does it have to do with your company? Oh, right, it seems like there's quite a stir online. I can even hear people saying that biotechnology is selling fake drugs to the public... Is that true?"

A typical robber mentality.

Perhaps the new head of military technology would understand Hansen if he investigated how his great-great-great-grandfather amassed his fortune in the 19th century.

"you…"

"never mind!"

Hansen tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp.

This bastard is too green to fight me. After the soldier behind him took the wine glass, Hansen pointed at the pale-faced man and said, word by word:

"Tell me the exact location of the underground facilities, their approximate locations, and the so-called neural matrix... tell me exactly where they are."

"With such a huge commotion online, the internet police haven't even caught wind of it yet. You should thank New America and me... The internet police building was blown up. You know better than me who did it. I've also sent my people to clean up the place. The internet police have been killed... several, right?"

The person in charge, recalling the pressure from headquarters, completely abandoned any intention to hide anything.

The promotion and raise are good, but the good thing is that we've found a new scapegoat—

They don't care who sits on the bench in charge of Night City; if the problem lies with you, they're very good at shifting blame.

"Okay, okay...we can have a proper talk."

“I’ve given you the map location, so this thing is yours now. No one will steal it, and no one will even bother with it anymore—but the facility must be abandoned. It contains evidence of the company’s roving AIs. If this information is leaked, the very existence of Dogtown will be a big question.”

"You understand, huh?"

Hansen nodded.

That's more like it. I almost thought they couldn't speak human language.

"Has the New America side figured out what to do?"

After hesitating for a moment, the person in charge stared at Hansen and asked, "What did the Lark say to you?"

Hansen remained calm. "It's been a long time since we last met, and it just so happens that Arasaka is going to cause trouble on my turf... Little Song holds grudges, and she wants to team up with your people to take down Arasaka. Is there a problem with that?"

"I'm quite interested in that biotechnology project (cloning). There are always bastards in the military camp telling these legendary stories. I thought they were all dead. I didn't expect to see them again. If there's any investment needed, I absolutely have to participate. I don't know what to do with the money from selling weapons in Dogtown..."

Depend on!
The person in charge was completely convinced by this local tyrant in front of him.

They still have the nerve to threaten me with the cooperative project—no, to threaten headquarters.

Because many people were watching this video conference, saying this would only prevent the companies from reaching a new consensus...

Is he really not afraid at all about launching surface-to-air missiles?

The person in charge remained silent, and Hansen knew that this idiot was handing things over with his superiors, so he wasn't in a hurry.

It doesn't matter who sits in Dogtown; what matters is that Dogtown will exist, and it will always exist.

"What Arasaka wants...can you give it to him?"

Hansen sneered, “Of course, but only if that guy isn’t around—none of my men, the Terrorist Mobile Unit, can stop him. If he were around, I would tell our enthusiastic media neighbors everything that New America has been doing behind my back.”

By this point, Hansen's demands were quite clear:

The Lark's backup option was the Neural Matrix. He also helped deal with the cyber police agents, and in the end, it was all as if nothing had happened. The biotechnology military came to the rescue... It was that simple.

As for why it's a backup option...

Hansen realized that the bird was in trouble, that it had dragged on for too long, and that it might even have been captured by the new America by now.

In the end, the result is nothing more than children fighting and adults coming out to break it up. But these "kids" are not clean, so we need to hide it from the internet censors. Everyone goes home, and we just need to be stricter with weapons in the future. Hansen can also get some good stuff.

But here's the problem...

Hansen didn't think that guy named Rin would let him go, and besides, even such a large group of people couldn't stop this weapon, which was more destructive than a lark... so he didn't want to keep this person around.

Throughout human history, striking similarities have always been found.

All large-scale wars that ultimately result in the loss of millions of lives are caused by some minor, seemingly insignificant frictions.

Hansen and the military experts both understood this principle, so to resort to underhanded tactics against that Rin at this critical juncture... wasn't this a clear indication that they didn't value Arasaka at all? On a smaller scale, this was open confrontation; on a larger scale...

This was the act that ignited the company war!
"Hansen, this is not a good idea."

Hansen's eyes darkened. Arasaka could sell weapons in Dogtown, and the Neural Matrix was worth the money, but this person couldn't live.

So the local tyrant of Dogtown was about to hang up.

He only has one life, and he knows that perfectly well.

"and many more--"

"Colonel, this man will never be allowed to appear in Dogtown again!"

This guy is capable of anything, so headquarters immediately started giving Hansen a shot in the arm.

Hansen became interested.

The person in charge continued, "I don't know if you can understand... this guy is out of control right now. Arasaka can't save his life. The most urgent thing is to evacuate him. Headquarters is in contact with you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lucius's face appeared on Hansen's screen.

……

I don't know what they said, but Hansen hung up the phone... his expression seemed to be one of relief mixed with a hint of ecstasy.

Soon the special team that was on standby was dispatched to the Long Beach stockpile.

Hansen stood up and walked to the handrail of the floor below Gemstone Green. The guys in the recruit camp were still fighting each other down there, with the distinct atmosphere of gang slang and behavior.

But Hansen saw something different:
He understood that many things were about to change.

A complete change...

……
-
Today is the day with the least amount of outdoor activity for Dogtown residents.

Gunfire erupted continuously from the Long Beach stockpile throughout the afternoon: it was a battleground where gang members used abandoned buildings as cover against a constant stream of hounds swarming into the narrow alleyways.

Jack's face still bore the scratches from the road, but now he had many new wounds.

"I never fucking thought I'd be involved in a war in Dogtown. I bet most of those bastards from the Sixth Street gang have never been on a battlefield!"

"Madam, how much longer do we have to hold out?!"

Looking down to her feet, Emma, ​​whose wounds were simply bandaged, leaned against the wall, her eyes flashing with a constant light. In the intervals between shots, she would get up and fire back with her pistol.

Suffering always helps people grow, and Emma, ​​who has very few prosthetics, chose not to answer the mercenary's question.

"A quiet girl who's almost out of ammo, relying on these guys lifting weights?"

Angie, clutching her hat, crawled through the air, her feet brushing against mounds of dirt kicked up by the Ghost Hound's heavy machine gun fire, sending dust flying everywhere...

"Can't you shut up for a minute, Jack?!"

Jack's eyes widened. "We need some kind of plan, right?"

After he took down the Ghosthound's heavy artilleryman with a single shot, he yelled, "Where's Rin? Where's V? Damn it!"

Angie looked at Emma, ​​whose lips were pale, and she shook her head slightly.

"Hansen has blocked all cell tower signals in Dogtown, so we can't get in touch with him."

Jack cursed.

With such loud gunfire, V could definitely hear it. Everyone saw Dogtown launch the surface-to-air missile, so who else could those hovercraft flying in be but Arasaka's?

V contacted Jack immediately to try and reunite them, but the signal dropped too quickly—and with no word from him for so long, Jack was also worried about his friend.

Angie felt a chill run down her spine as she watched the hounds firing their guns across the wasteland. If this continued, they wouldn't be able to hold out until Rin came out... they would all lose their lives here.

In fact, most of the gangs in Night City are no match for the Hound of the Underworld.

Because gang members rarely undergo military-grade modifications, most rely on prosthetics such as hormones and subcutaneous armor. Their eyes might be slightly modified for slow-motion capture in boxing matches, but there's no comparison.

If it weren't for the loyalty of Angie and Emma's people, it would have been the best outcome if they hadn't been scattered.

The Dogtown Long Beach stockpile can be sneaked in from anywhere. If it manages to flank or a mech gets in, then everything is doomed.

"Emma, ​​what's below this floor? Tracks, and an unfinished tunnel—"

Angie fired her gun while shouting through the dense barrage of gunfire.

“Subway, and also abandoned maglev train projects.”

"None of the men I sent down have returned, damn them!"

Emma didn't know why there was a network connection down there, but at that moment she realized that if things continued like this, she would be finished within ten minutes.

Just as they were talking—

The animal gang members who were blocking the way with heavy machine guns had already been locked onto by snipers from the building across the street.

Jack pressed Angie's back down. "There's a sniper rifle!"

The bullet pierced a large hole in half of the person's body!

Because of the sniper, the Animal Gang and Emma's heavy firepower were silenced for a moment as they took cover!

The hounds quickly advanced, and everyone retreated into the abandoned buildings.

Just as the group was about to move to a different location, a shadow appeared on the side of a nearby container—

The ghost hound that suddenly broke in came face to face with this Haywood kid!
They immediately realized what was going on when their eyes met.

Jack's hasty gunshot only resulted in his weapon being knocked away by the opponent, who immediately pulled out a military knife. Despite being bleeding, the opponent seemed oblivious and charged at an incredible speed!

Immediately afterwards, he braced his arm against the guy's wrist and then kicked the hound in the knee!
"I go!"

Jack felt like he'd kicked a telephone pole, the kind made of concrete. It was obvious this assault soldier had been modified!
Heywood's lone wolf fighting skills left Angie, who was caught off guard, wide-eyed...

But she quickly realized that the entanglement between the two sides was not conducive to shooting, so she decisively picked up the steel bar on the ground and hit the hound hard on the head!
The hound, its movements slightly sluggish, had a vicious look in its eyes. With a twist of its wrist, it strangled Jack's neck!

Immediately, Jack, his face flushed red, raised his foot and stomped hard on the assault soldier's foot, letting out a whistle. Before the hound could even raise its head, the large machete on Jack's back slashed at its mask!
Bang!
After the shot rang out, Emma, ​​having emptied her magazine, finished off the fallen soldier. She wiped the blood from her face, tossed the gun aside, and picked up the fallen soldier's rifle.

It's hard to believe that none of these three people have any prosthetics.

At this moment, Emma had already torn her white nightgown into a short skirt, and the strip of cloth was wrapped around the bleeding wound on her arm. Her expression showed no fear whatsoever.

Angie: "The Valentino gang isn't for you, but the Animal Gang is—"

Jack didn't forget to call out to Emma, ​​even though he sensed out of the corner of his eye that the situation was not looking good. He still joked, "Yeah, my mom says I'm big and eat a lot too—Emma, ​​we have to go."

"We have no choice but to risk going inside and check it out. Staying here will only lead to these bastards catching us sooner or later!"

The group acted in unison, quickly retreating towards the bottom of the building.

Having come this far, we can only try to hold out in narrow terrain for as long as possible.

Completely scattered, Angie couldn't contact anyone, but she couldn't shout to reveal her location—

"and many more!"

Emma stopped halfway through her walk.

"Rin's team found the other person downstairs. A hacker is contacting me."

Jack frowned and asked, "Did the call go through?"

Emma suddenly saw the word "uploaded" on her brain and, thinking she was being targeted by hackers, stepped aside to avoid disturbing her comrades. However, after the upload was complete, she discovered that it was just an email.

The content is concise and clear: Qiwei can't handle the current situation and needs the help of a highly skilled hacker.

The rest are just some documents, which a layman definitely wouldn't understand.

The group looked at each other, all feeling somewhat helpless.

Forget hackers, we don't even have anyone who understands the internet!
Only Emma among them had received a formal education and was able to understand this information.

Emma, ​​who had originally planned to venture deeper into the area, seemed to have made her choice. She lifted her skirt, turned around, and left.

"I need to go to the top floor and try to find something like an antenna!"

Jack quickly reached out and grabbed the woman's arm, then immediately covered Emma's mouth with his hand.

Before Emma could even question her, she noticed that Angie was also leaning against the wall with a sullen face.

Confused, Emma held her breath and listened intently, only to hear a series of disordered footsteps echoing within the abandoned building…

Jingle bells...

The sound of a weapon scraping against a bulletproof vest could only come from the Ghost Hound.

Jack put his finger to his lips to make a shushing sound and pointed upstairs. The group slowly retreated to the other side of the building, attempting to move upwards—the cries of the hounds inside the building were becoming increasingly clear, and their hearts were in their throats as they walked and observed.

"What on earth is this building?"

Hearing Jack's complaints, Angie shook her head.

"This place has so many floors that you might run out of stairs. Back in the day, this area could have been the most beautiful part of Night City... Anyway, why am I telling you all this? Is this your first time here, kid from Night City?"

Emma had no intention of joining the conversation; aside from constantly searching for a signal and calling out, she barely paid attention to her surroundings.

Anqi's eyes and brows were full of helplessness.

When Emma insisted on coming here, Angie was extremely unwilling. Everyone knew that the current situation was beyond what ordinary people like them could handle. However, compared to that, she wanted to know if Mr. Rin could escape from this operation.
"Heywood, why are you here? How much money is worth risking your life for?"

Seemingly feeling increasingly heavy-hearted as she walked, Angie muttered and asked:

Everyone knew that going up in this abandoned building was actually blocking their own escape route, but there was no other way... going down to face the hounds or crawling into the strange facility where no one had returned was not a good option.

Jack peeked down and quickly pulled his head back down.

Behind the Long Beach stockpile, in front of the buildings, are the mechs of the Ghost Hounds, clearly indicating that they don't want to let any enemy escape.

"What else can we manual laborers do besides handle guns and cars? My old friend asked me to help out with this... a favor from Night City, I can't refuse." Jack shrugged. "Girl... after this, I bet Night City will be in an uproar, we might even become big shots!"

Big man?
Angie shook her head. When she first took office and secured her position as the leader of the Dogtown Animal Gang, she almost felt that she had achieved her life's ideal. However, more and more helplessness constantly reminded Angie that there was someone else in charge here.

"Hmm... And you? And why are you working for Arasaka?"

Jack made no attempt to hide anything.

Angie was speechless for a moment. For money? For fame? ...It didn't seem to be either.

One thing she didn't want to admit was that she could no longer stop moving forward.

"I have to work my ass off, Arasaka is my sugar daddy... Wait, are those so-called good buddies of yours from the company? Aren't you afraid the company will sell you out?"

The two of them made no attempt to hide it from Emma.

Because the woman has been silent since she went upstairs.

Emma was completely focused on examining the signal and couldn't hear anything anyone else was saying.

She knew that all her methods had failed... What should Rin do?
Jack shook his head, his tone very certain: "Of course not."

We made our way to the top floor.

The uneven rooftop of the building was overgrown with weeds, surrounded by graffiti left by homeless residents, worn-out sofas, and litter and excrement everywhere...

Emma's eyes darkened slightly when she saw the antenna with its cover torn open, but she still walked towards it with firm steps.

The two men, staring at each other, drew their guns in a defensive stance, completely unaware of Emma's lips trembling with excessive mental stimulation and the sudden interruption of her medication.

"She knows how to do this?"

After checking the surroundings, Jack was somewhat suspicious of Emma, ​​but Angie pulled him back and shook her head slightly, "That woman is crazy, let her do it... don't stop her."

Jack looked at him with suspicion.

Angie confirmed it again.

“They’re not on our side. We’re after commissions, money, and status… This woman’s after people.”

Jack: "What do you mean?"

Angie sneered, "It seems you don't understand relationships very well. I don't know much about what this woman has to do with Rin, but if she had to choose between the middleman in Dogtown and Rin, she would choose the latter without hesitation."

Jack slumped down and rubbed his hair...

What is all this nonsense? So all this time he and the female leader of the animal gang were being ordered around by a madman?

"Rin, find someone to help Rin..."

Emma's hands searched through the hard, weathered pipes that might even be electrified, and soon her delicate hands were a bloody mess.

It's hard to say whether this thing even has electricity.

But the woman persisted in her search...

Jack reached out to try and pull Emma up, but the woman slapped him away.

Startled, Haywood glanced at Emma's completely inhuman expression and sighed helplessly.

She knew very well that the entrance to the facility below might be found by the hounds very soon.

As Emma spoke faster and faster, her grip tightened.

Just as the two were about to stop wasting time there, the woman who had been kneeling on the ground like a madwoman paused for a moment and grabbed a black wire from a pile of pipes.

"... "

Her laughter was somewhat strange. She stared at the line as if it were a precious treasure, then inserted it into the interactive slot behind her neck without hesitation.

"屮."

Jack was stunned by this fierce energy.

She didn't prepare herself at all... Rin is really something for daring to use her.

Almost everyone knows that these old, dilapidated devices definitely contain computer viruses; it's just a matter of how many...

But Emma wasn't afraid.

As a golden light flickered in her eyes, the two people on guard nearby breathed a sigh of relief.

After a moment of silence, Emma's waist went limp as if all her strength had been drained.

Angie, arms crossed and unsure of her next move, noticed a message pop up in her inbox. At the same time, Jack also received a message…

The two looked at each other.

Jack scooped Emma up and ran downstairs!

Because Emma just did something, she used a public communication channel to send a message to V, which means that all communication carriers within the signal range will receive this message!

Jack, carrying the completely motionless Emma, ​​sprinted towards the doorway on the rooftop. Angie's feet were slipping, but she ran forward recklessly...

call!
A sudden gust of wind swept across the rooftop!
A tremendous roar came from the fence behind the doorway. The graffiti was... a ghostly hound hovercar?!

"The Netherhound has this thing too?!"

Jack shielded himself from the blinding gale with his arm, and the two quickly tried to go around it to the left and right, because when the hovercar was lifted up, its engine was facing them. Once the thing adjusted its posture, it would definitely be bombarded with machine gun fire again.

Angie thought Jack was talking nonsense.

In a villainous kingdom that possesses surface-to-air missiles, how could they not have hovercars? They're just not commonly seen in this place...

Sure enough, the machine gun spun rapidly. Jack wished he could jump off the building to dodge the bullets, but there was nothing here to stop the downward force of gravity. The machine gun spun, and trash flew behind them. It was as if a snake was chasing them from below the ground at a speed beyond their running speed!

Dodging in the face of real heavy firepower and snipers is a complete waste of time; whoever rushes in slowly is an idiot!

"My darn thing!"

Angie's cursing was very unrestrained.

But it wasn't out of anger; rather, a machine gun bullet grazed the side of her taut thigh, leaving a bloody gash. The burning pain felt like a punch to the bone, and she lunged forward towards the back of the water tank—

She was lying on the ground when she was hit so hard by the cement that she almost vomited blood, and her body didn't even have time to curl up.

The hovercar was more agile than expected. By this time, Jack had already run into the doorway and turned his head to look at Angela behind the water tank not far away.

He retaliated twice with his gun held in one hand. Two bullet whizzes, barely audible and muffled by the engine, echoed from the hovercar. Ignoring the attack, the armored vehicle spun rapidly, and several ghostly hounds leaped out of the door.

The moment one of them raised his gun, Jack quickly retreated back into the corridor.

Da da da!
Bullets sent dust flying through the doorway, and Angie almost had her back broken by a soldier's kick!
Pfft!

A deafening ringing in her ears followed, and Angie felt as if something flashed past her.

Indeed, a black line zigzagdredged around the falling soldiers. In Angie's eyes, the soldiers' bodies seemed to be shattered by invisible, invisible energy; a thick, tomato-sauce-like substance squeezed out from half of their bodies before disintegrating.

The silvery-white muzzle reflected a cold light.

The hovercar seemed to sense something was wrong and tried to pull itself up halfway, and even a Dogtown soldier who hadn't gotten his footing was thrown off—

"Humph…"

A disdainful chuckle escaped from beneath the helmet of the terrorist squad member.

The crisp sound of the projectile launching system echoed through the sky!
The hovercar's engine was instantly destroyed, and it began to spin amidst thick black smoke, its altitude plummeting!

"Dorio..."

Mann watched the crashing hovercar and murmured her name.

The impulsive choice wasn't wrong, but selfishness was. He demanded an explanation from his lover.

Two pairs of staring eyes were fixed on the man dressed as a member of the terrorist squad. He raised his gun and pointed it at the bewildered Angie.

"Where is Dorio? I've asked so many people... I hope you can answer soon."

屮? !

Haywood yelled, "Calm down, buddy! That healthy, boxer-like lady is downstairs in this building!"

Mann mechanically turned his head to look at Jack, who was just as strong as him, his mouth moving as he muttered some unrelated thoughts.

……

　[Unfinished projects]: The prototype of Dogtown was the exposure of the underground facilities at that time, which led to the military technology surrounding the area. Hansen chose this place as his base partly for safety, but the other reason is worth pondering.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)