Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 526 The Long Road Home (Part 2) [5.2K]

Heavy Hammer genuinely wanted to dislocate the girl's legs, but the furious look on Takeda's face during the call made him somewhat worried, so he chuckled softly—

The meaning is quite clear: do you want to leave by yourself, or do I have to do it for you?
Fortunately, the girl opposite him wasn't stupid either; she took a few steps forward slowly, like a captured criminal.

With things having come to this, the two mysterious mercenaries who were extremely powerful in Vladimir's memory have both confessed—even if Hammer hadn't killed the white-haired girl, Vladimir guessed that she would most likely become an idiot under Arasaka Tarun's interrogation.

Heavy Hammer assumed that the enemy the girl was muttering about was her, and since there was no resistance, Heavy Hammer simply stopped worrying about it.

The Freedom Front leader beside Vladimir looked at the scene in the distance and laughed helplessly. "The people below D-sector are all scum. Few of us locals believe those guys. As for what special prosthetic body that girl you're talking about... you'd better take a good look. Hammer can still take her without breaking a sweat."

After saying that, he patted Vladimir on the shoulder and said, "Don't get anxious. Although we haven't been very effective lately, we can still ask the Far East for help. I believe the company will definitely not stand idly by. After all, the heavy hammer was an unexpected factor."

Even now, he still thought Vladimir was lamenting the "new helper" he had just found in that garbage dump in Sector D. However, when Vladimir heard these well-intentioned words of comfort, they turned into a jarring sound of helplessness.

This is clearly giving up.

The guy in front of them knows exactly how powerful they are...

Lucy walked slowly, exhaling white breath. In fact, there were only two things on her mind: when would Rin be able to rescue Sasha, and what should she do after returning to that so-called home? How should she face her parents who treated her like enemies?

These problems are giving Lucy a lot of trouble.

However, what she wanted wasn't complicated. When Rin's answer and what she saw with her own eyes were completely gentle, Lucy would shatter this tower and the shackles of family ties that she almost severed in her heart.

"I'm here, dear Mom and Dad."

Hearing the woman's voice, Hammer threw Sasha, who was lying on the ground like a dead person beside his arm... Lucy silently watched Sasha, who was still trying to raise her finger as if to persuade her to leave. She slowly bent down and waited for the airship that brought the airflow above to land.

The hammer's hand made a circle, and the hovercar began to descend rapidly. In that case... it would all be over.

However, Hammer didn't feel bored. At least, simple killing was too low-level for Hammer. He preferred to let things deteriorate unpredictably, giving all enemies a chance to grow—in his opinion, nothing was more satisfying than personally crushing the opponent's confidence.

Therefore, when he was serving Arasaka Yorinobu, he had a history of letting assassins go more than once. He knew very well that a behemoth like the company could not be destroyed by a single person. He was waiting... waiting for someone strong enough to cause the company to suffer huge losses and to fight him.

Clearly, Rin is that person.

In the mind of the person who was being edited, he had only lost temporarily and had not died at that guy's hands... That's why he chose to spare Sasha's life.

Lucy's eyes were filled with anger and coldness. Sasha had been abandoned on the ground in this state, and her body temperature was rapidly dropping. If she was not treated properly, she would likely suffer irreversible damage.

"Takeda only told you to capture me, right? Then why didn't you kill her?"

The heavy hammer's footsteps thundered behind him, and his breath seemed to carry the stench of steel and flesh. "My memories tell me that you weren't in that scene... and this woman, she seems to be an accomplice of the person who injured me."

Are you injured...?

Lucy gave a cold smile.

It seems that even a heavy blow requires some mental preparation.

It's just unclear when Rin will choose to make her move...

Logically speaking, this area is too bad; there are no large signal transmitting devices or lines capable of handling massive amounts of data. Hackers can't just kill someone randomly on the street—

At the very least, that person either didn't have a firewall or connected to an unknown device.

After much thought, Lucy's eyes fell upon the towering, dark spire that seemed to reach into the clouds. In that instant, she seemed to understand everything. She struggled to support Sasha, who had fallen to the ground, and carefully walked step by step onto the hovercar as it landed in the fierce wind.

Vladimir could no longer sit still. He turned and ran to the rooftop, hoping to use some technical means to interfere with the departure of the airship, but no one present dared to cooperate with him...

After all, they all followed that man's lead.

The man, his face grim, crossed his arms and turned to watch silently as the floating vehicle that rose from the ground in the distance gradually became a larger and larger cube. Their destination was undoubtedly the Arasaka Tower.

Vladimir can't afford to bring them along when he's courting death—

"Turn off the power."

The simple, cold command left Vladimir, who was adjusting the angle of the high-powered launcher above, feeling utterly dejected. He helplessly watched the hovercraft slowly pass overhead, his mind still preoccupied with the words and actions of everyone in his newly formed team—

This feeling is very strange.

These girls seemed to have just as many beliefs as I did, and perhaps even more stubborn ones.

"It's over."

Vladimir pressed the signal jammer but there was no response. The speed of the airship rapidly increased overhead as it headed towards the distant tower.

However, the building's power system, which had been cut off long ago, suddenly seemed to have been reconnected and repaired, making this once-dead building stand out brightly among the surrounding buildings.

The residents of Warsaw had clearly noticed this as well, all looking in the direction of the building.

"Vladimir, what the hell are you doing?!"

They thought Vladimir was so stubborn that he'd rather expose their entire group than not attack the Arasaka airship—

However, everyone was dumbfounded when Vladimir gave an equally bewildered answer.

Without warning, the power transmitter launched a strong interference attack on the hovercar. As a result, the hovercar above it seemed to be gripped by an invisible hand and began to veer off course, falling like a fly that could no longer fly.

Unexpectedly, this terrifying descent did not last long; the thing returned to normal, and more and more hovercars began to converge on this side.

These were security personnel that Takeda had assigned to the area near the tower. The sudden turn of events led the commander of this security unit to issue an order for the entire force to move toward the signal transmission area.

"Fuck me!"

"Vladimir, you fucking killed us!"

Everyone scrambled to escape. The sheer number of drones and hovercraft was terrifying. Vladimir, who hadn't had time to run, sat blankly on the snow-covered rooftop, watching the massive swarm of aircraft. The hovercraft carrying the team's two hackers sped up like a wounded beast, heading straight for the Arasaka Tower.

Having lost a glimmer of hope, Vladimir calmly accepted his defeat.

Sadly, the heavy hammer didn't even choose to get off the hovercar and give him a proper death and defeat; this neglect is incredibly frustrating.

The situation inside the hovercar was not as calm as it appeared to the naked eye.

Inside the violently shaking cabin, Lucy's smile was tinged with hatred as she stared at the steel skull-like Heavy Hammer opposite her. At that moment, Heavy Hammer finally uttered its first question and unease—

Clearly, the fear of the moment of death in the clone's past life was still lingering in his memory; it was just a false memory deceiving him.

"Is this the enemy you're talking about?"

"Make a move..."

There's always been a strange feeling about how Chongchui speaks.

Lucy looked at Sasha, who had been thrown onto the cabin floor, and wondered what Lin Yue meant...

Rin takes every step carefully before acting. It's clear that he's using the Arasaka Tower that Lucy just started looking at as a large signal transmitter for his attack. The floating vehicle is just an appetizer, used to attract the security forces that are trying to ambush the enemy outside the Arasaka Tower.

The closer the floating vehicle gets to the Aragaka Tower, the closer the hammer gets to its own countdown.

hum!
The hovercraft shuddered, and the AI ​​driver began frantically reporting errors. It was now questionable whether the vehicle could even return to the hangar along its intended route.

With a powerful kick, the airship's cabin was blasted open, and the howling wind made Lucy instinctively shield her eyes with her arm. However, her attention was entirely focused on Sasha, who had fainted on the ground.

"Now, drop her down."

Through the gaps blocked by the heavy hammer, Lucy saw the dizzying height outside. The text messages on her phone gave her no reason to doubt. Instead, she seized the opportunity, grabbed the handrails with both hands, and kicked Sasha with all her might.

Hammer hadn't expected this guy to suddenly attack his companion. His hand instinctively reached out to grab Sasa, but Lucy, as if possessed, also tried to jump out of the cabin—

Heavy Hammer wouldn't give her that chance. His hand, like an iron clamp, grabbed Lucy's wrist and punched her in the face before she could launch her cyber intrusion.

The girl's face was swollen all over, her left eye was quickly filled by her eyelid, and she collapsed to the ground, dizzy and disoriented. Blood flowed from Lucy's mouth, and her smile held a cruel edge. The obsidian-like tower outside drew closer…

"No matter how many times you try, you will still fail."

Suddenly, Hammer opened its mouth and roared at Lucy like a wild dog, clearly sensing an uneasy atmosphere...

At this moment, the soldiers of the Freedom Front fled in panic. The drones hovering above had already killed many who were trying to escape from the buildings, while Vladimir was now completely surrounded by the descending Arasaka armed forces...

Looking at the black cybernetic armor and intelligent weaponry on the Arasaka samurai, the soldier in front raised his gun and shouted for Vladimir to raise his hands.

He was essentially the link between the Far East Gilafa Company and the numerous riots that erupted in Europe.

“Vladimir, you are suspected of violating company facilities and kidnapping a company representative—you are under arrest. Put your hands up now.”

Arasaka knew Vladimir's identity, but if he were caught in the open, it would be a fatal blow to the large European companies that were being squeezed out by Girafa's cheap products.

Vladimir slowly stood up, showing no intention of heeding the soldiers' instructions, and instead chose the most reckless action.

Clearly, in the soldiers' eyes, this guy who instigated various riots against corporate colonialism and corporate ziben was a super dangerous element.

"I have something to say before I'm arrested—"

Vladimir, head bowed and a carefree smile on his face, raised his middle finger with one hand and said, "Fuck you, Takeda and Arasaka!"

He wanted to be riddled with bullets by these people, just like the day his companion in the car was beaten to a pulp by Arasaka, leaving only his lower body.

So he chose to rebel.

He held one hand in front of his forehead, as if he wanted to raise his gun to fire.

In that instant, I heard a strange buzzing sound in my ears, and my brain suddenly felt a chilling heat. Then, a piece of data was uploaded to my mind.

In an instant, the world fell silent.

Vladimir could even see the hovercars in the distance…

How is this going?

Vladimir had no recollection of his brain-computer interface having such powerful computing capabilities, nor did he remember that his prosthetic eye could see the scene in front of Arasaka Tower without the aid of any equipment.

All the stagnation vanished instantly, as if it had just been a nightmare.

Immediately afterward, under Vladimir's resolute yet bewildered gaze, the soldiers, not understanding what was happening, instinctively looked up at the sky. However, as if caught between reality and illusion, a pure, unadulterated red began to appear in everyone's eyes…

The slowly flowing data prompted Arasaka's hacker to loudly call for an emergency on the channel!
Upon witnessing this scene from afar, Hammer immediately reached out and took over the self-control system of the hovercraft, ordering it to return to Arasaka Tower without any interference.

Heavy Hammer didn't want this woman named Lucy to die before things escalated further—after all, Hanako Arasaka in space was currently able to temporarily control herself.

Below, a floating vehicle was carrying a lot of garbage. Sasha, who had fainted, fell limply into the garbage bin, whose route had been altered by someone. The soft garbage became a cushion.

Seeing Sasha break free of control, Hammer was furious and almost lost his mind, but he still grabbed Lucy by the neck, stared at her with his terrifying eyes, and growled, "Him!"

"where?!"

Seeing the crazed Hammer, Lucy's smile became even more unrestrained. She simply stared at Hammer and gestured for him to look at the buildings in the East District that were surrounded by the Arasaka Squad.

Those bright red numbers have changed now…

The terrifying thunder seemed to be buzzing in my ears!
But everyone knows that it wasn't a change in the weather, but rather that malicious programs in cyberspace had launched a large-scale intrusion campaign through some kind of device!

That is--

Like trapped beasts, the Freedom Front soldiers stared in despair at the drones above, but the crimson data filling the sky seemed like divine punishment descending without warning, piercing through everything in sight...

The blood-red data stream pierced through the soldiers, through the mechs, and through the heavy Octave drones, squeezing out the unique sparks that came from the short circuit of steel and cybernetic bodies amidst the dazzling red!

The distorted wails tugged at the nerves of the soldiers who hadn't been attacked. Vladimir abruptly stopped, watching the desperate soldiers convulse and kneel on the ground, helplessly reaching out their hands to their enemies.

Is this... divine punishment?

Vladimir was a staunch Christian who fantasized that corporate dictators in this terrible world could suffer such divine retribution, but... the scene was just too shocking!!
Amidst the billowing black smoke, lay rows of falling machines and hovercars, while everyone faced their inevitable fate in fear.

Catch them all in one fell swoop!
In the vast expanse of the cyber network, the man preparing for the Black Wall uses countless dense data streams to guide the Black Wall's attack targets. At this moment, he forcibly strips away the computing power provided by Ultraman in order to confuse the situation.

However, the meticulous Lin Yue could not stop there.

He spoke.

“We are everywhere, we are intelligent beings who know you, we are immortal, we are… your masters.”

A huge Night Clan logo suddenly appeared on a holographic vertically suspended neon light on a high-rise building near Arasaka Tower. Immediately afterwards, this strange blood pattern appeared on every display screen in the entire city. It was a modification made by Lin Yue.

"Welcome the wave of AI intelligence."

After Lin Yue finished reading those words, the smile on his lips made Ultraman, who was watching from behind, slump down a little.

He had always remembered, remembered the dangerous AI organization that had vanished from Night City, the Night Clan…

Using someone else to do your dirty work is Rin's specialty.

At that moment, when Heavy Hammer saw the Night Clan logo appear on the screen inside the floating vehicle, he immediately sensed something was wrong. He grabbed Lucy and, as if he had been launched by a slingshot, began to plummet rapidly towards Arasaka Tower.

At a height of 100 meters, only a heavy hammer could be used to carry out this measure…

"He's here to kill you."

Lucy faced the howling wind, knowing that Rin was waiting for her to be hammered into the Arasaka Tower before unleashing her thunderous attack.

The heavy hammer remained silent, but increased the force of his grip, nearly knocking Lucy unconscious. He looked behind him, just as he had looked at Morgan Black Hand decades ago after his mishap…

This enemy filled Hammer with both excitement and fear.

"Where are you going?"

Hammer looked at the top of the Aragaka Tower, which was so close at hand. The troops and various artillery systems that were already gathering there were ready to provide support. He suddenly opened his skull-like mouth and roared, "Get those damn things out of here!"

Cutting off the communication store's hammer was undoubtedly rebellious, but he didn't expect that Warsaw's Arasaka Tower was so trashy that it had long been used as an enemy weapon!
Fuck!
As Hammer watched the artillery system suddenly unleash a fireball, he shielded his head with his arm, and the thumb-thick bullets that struck him only left a faint white mark.

"You're going to be disappointed. He's trying to hack me, but unfortunately, my equipment is directly connected to the low Earth orbit network."

This is the most logical statement that Chongchui made.

Lucy's eyes narrowed, and her heart skipped a beat for no reason.

Could it be that the new cybernetic body of the Heavy Hammer was designed from the very beginning to protect against cyberattacks on the ground?

At this moment, Lin Yue's expression within the cyber network also changed slightly, and he let out a surprised sound... Then he began to focus all his efforts on using the hacked Arasaka heavy weapon to attack the heavy hammer that was dodging and weaving under the artillery fire!
At this moment, Otto quickly asked, "You don't want that girl to live anymore?"

However, Lin Yue remained silent, precisely controlling his weapon.

"Go home, Lucy."

"While seeing the truth clearly, pay attention to safety."

His frenzied attacks were a celebration of Lucy's long journey home, while also using data to firmly lock onto the guy.

For... Sasha.

……

……

(End of this chapter)