Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 153 Invading Night City (Fifth Update)
At the entrance to the abandoned town outpost, the air was slightly distorted by the abundance of energy, and the only sound was the low hum of the weapon systems in standby mode.

The entire Mann squad assembled and stood silently beside the modified vehicle, no longer street mercenaries, but more like an alien killing squad awaiting final orders.

Chen Yu's order was issued via encrypted channel, concise and absolute: destroy Arasaka Tower and remove all restrictions.

Jack helped Valerie, who had lost an arm and was pale, to stand in the shadows of the outpost. They had just arrived in the abandoned town and were still shaken.

David and Lucy stood a little distance away, their eyes fixed on the group that exuded such a different aura.

Just as Mann was about to give the order to depart, a sudden change occurred.

Three figures, almost blending into the surrounding color and only showing faint outlines of heat sources, rose up like ghosts from the abandoned mechanical wreckage on the outskirts of the stronghold!
Their movements were faster than usual; there were no footsteps, only a faint hissing sound as they moved at high speed, tearing through the air.

It was Arasaka's cyber ninja, a professional cleanup expert, who had obviously tracked Valerie's signal here and chosen this seemingly relaxed moment to launch a thunderous attack.

Their target was the center of the team, seemingly the weakest link—Falco, who was adjusting his aiming and observation equipment, and Sasha and Qiwei beside him.

However, their surprise attack seemed too slow in the face of the enhanced perception and reaction of the Mann squad at this moment.

Mowell was the first to move.

Her Sianwistan system didn't even emit a full-power start-up boom; it merely gave a slight tremor, leaving behind a dissipating afterimage.

The low-frequency hum of the sonic blade being drawn from its sheath rang out almost simultaneously with the sounds of metal colliding and flesh being torn apart.

The cyber ninja at the forefront had just raised his smart katana when a thin red line appeared on his neck. His head and torso were instantly separated. Before the hot blood could even splatter, Mowell kicked his body aside.

The second ninja had just released his electromagnetic shuriken, which was aimed directly at the back of Falco's neck.

A translucent, diamond-shaped energy shield, distorting light, appeared without warning in the path of the dart.

The dart struck the shield's surface, exploding into a dazzling burst of sparks, but it couldn't budge it in the slightest.

It was Mann. He didn't even turn around completely; he just raised his right arm, and the shield generator responded instantly.

At the same time, the bionic skin on his left arm silently slid open, and a flash of blue light appeared at the muzzle of the precision plasma cannon.

There was no deafening artillery fire, only a muffled hum of energy release.

A blue plasma cluster the size of a basketball shot out at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow, accurately hitting the area where the second ninja was located.

There was no explosion, only an instantaneous burst of extreme heat.

The ninja, along with the ground and discarded parts within several meters of him, was completely vaporized, leaving only a shallow crater with edges resembling molten glass, and the air filled with the pungent smell of ozone and ionized air.

Upon seeing this, the third ninja did not hesitate to try to retreat, rapidly changing direction.

But Rebecca had already turned around. Her heavy bomb gun wasn't even fully raised to shoulder fire; she simply used her enhanced mechanical arm and neural connection to fire a near-close-range shot at an extremely short distance.

"boom--!"

The roar of the bomb gun sounded particularly powerful in the empty environment of the abandoned town.

The .75 caliber explosive bullet was fired and hit the ninja directly in the chest.

The immense kinetic energy instantly tore his upper body apart, turning it into a jumble of blood, flesh, and metal fragments that scattered everywhere. Only his legs below the waist managed to take a few steps forward due to inertia before collapsing to the ground.

From the cyber ninja's sudden attack to the three being instantly vaporized, the entire process took no more than three seconds.

A brief silence fell over the entrance to the outpost.

Jack's mouth gaped open, and Valerie's pale face, etched with disbelief, was also filled with disbelief. David and Lucy were completely stunned; they hadn't even fully seen what had happened, only catching glimpses of Mowell's afterimage, the fleeting blue light and shield on Mann's arm, and the rain of blood that rained down after Rebecca's loud bang.

This is... the power the boss bestowed upon them? This is the true strength of Mann's squad now?

David felt a chill run down his spine, and his previous reluctance to participate was completely replaced by awe at the inhuman power he was facing.

Mann retracted his arm, the plasma cannon muzzle closed, and the shield dissipated, as if nothing had happened.

He didn't even glance at the three pools of rapidly cooling wreckage, his gaze sweeping over his team members.

"Inspection complete. Departure."

There was no boasting, no unnecessary explanation.

It was as if I had just casually cleaned up a few annoying bugs.

The team members nodded silently and quickly boarded the vehicle.

With a roar, the modified vehicle, like a steel behemoth awakened, burst out of the abandoned town with unstoppable momentum, crushing the wreckage on the ground and heading straight for Night City.

All that remained were the lingering smells of gunpowder, blood, and molten metal at the entrance to the stronghold, and the stunned Jack, Valerie, David, and Lucy.

Deep within the abandoned town's workshop, Chen Yu's scarlet optical lens retracted from the external monitoring screen.

The data from the brief engagement—reaction time, weapon effectiveness, energy consumption, and coordination efficiency—had already been recorded and analyzed in his processing core.

"Clearance efficiency: 94.1%. Response to the sudden threat is satisfactory." He murmured in an unreadable voice in the empty workshop, "Now, proceed with the main instructions."
-
The convoy, like a wedge, drove deep into the traffic arteries of Night City.

Almost as soon as they entered the city's surveillance range, Arasaka's security forces swarmed out from every corner like a startled bee.

"Attention, four intercepting vehicles at the intersection ahead, equipped with light machine guns." Falco's calm voice rang out in the squad's encrypted channel as his vehicle darted through traffic like a fish.

"Roger that," Mann replied, raising his left arm as blue light converged at the muzzle of the plasma cannon. "Rebecca, clear the area."

"I can't wait any longer!" Rebecca shouted excitedly, and the heavy bomb gun roared deafeningly.

The .75 caliber explosive round was fired, instantly turning the front half of the first interceptor vehicle, along with its occupants, into scattered metal fragments and blood mist.

Almost simultaneously, the plasma cannon on Mann's left arm fired a blinding blue ball of light, which accurately hit the second vehicle.

There was no violent explosion, only a muffled roar and a burst of high-temperature plasma that expanded and then dissipated instantly. The entire vehicle, along with its foundation, was vaporized, leaving a huge gap with melted edges.

Before the security personnel in the other two vehicles could even fire, Dorio leaped off the vehicles like a cannonball, slamming her fists into the ground the moment she landed.

The built-in shock generator was activated at full power, and a visible shock wave spread forward in a fan shape. The armor plate of the third vehicle was instantly dented and deformed as if it had been hit by an invisible giant hammer. The windows shattered, and the people inside the vehicle instantly lost consciousness.

The fourth vehicle was engulfed by the viscous promethium flames sprayed by Pila, instantly turning into a fiercely burning iron coffin. A brief, shrill scream rang out before silence fell.

The battle began in an instant and ended in an instant.

At this point, the news media in Night City began to react.

On a huge holographic billboard on the street, an emergency news broadcast cut off the original product advertisement. The host spoke rapidly, deliberately creating a sense of shock: "...Breaking news! A group of unidentified armed men have stormed into the Heywood district from the Badlands! They are carrying extremely dangerous heavy weapons and are currently exchanging fire with the company's security personnel! This is simply insane behavior and a blatant challenge to the city's order!"

In the channel, Pila chuckled: "Did you hear that? 'Unidentified armed men'! We're celebrities now!"

As Rebecca changed the drum magazine for her explosive gun, she scoffed, "Challenging the order? I'm here to demolish houses!"

(End of this chapter)