Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

Enjoying a rare moment of good mood while basking in the morning sunlight, and just as Saburo Arasaka was eagerly anticipating Vera's return to Tokyo the day after tomorrow with the Sun Ladder Flower and the Progenitor Virus sample, *zzzzzz*...

"!!!"

Saburo Arasaka suddenly opened his eyes, which were closing slightly, and what came into view was a dark red.

His withered, wrinkled old face was stained with the flames from the explosion, displaying an alternating, flickering fiery red hue.

The explosion could not have occurred at the Arasaka family compound.

Yes, Johannesburg!

Saburo Arasaka's face suddenly turned extremely ugly.

On the holographic screen, a substation in a corner of Johannesburg, South Africa, burst into flames, billowing smoke shot into the sky, and sparks flew back and forth, turning a small part of the city red in an instant.

The images clearly show that this substation, in addition to supplying some neighborhoods, is exclusively for the Arasaka Industrial Park in Johannesburg!

In this series of explosions, the once brightly lit factory buildings in the Arasaka Industrial Park were plunged into darkness.

At that very moment, amidst the flashes of gunfire and the echoes of explosions in the dark factory area, Saburo Arasaka's previously casually deployed covert security team in the industrial park had already suffered casualties.

"Enemy attack! The Johannesburg Industrial Park has been subjected to a premeditated attack by an unidentified armed force. Note: All personnel are equipped with military-grade advanced cybernetic implants and high-powered controlled firearms! They are sabotaging the backup power network within the industrial park. Repeat..."

On the dedicated communication channel connected to Johannesburg, the roars of the industrial park's garrison troops rang out.

At this moment, how could Saburo Arasaka not understand that the Stairway to the Sun project had been leaked?

Someone wanted to take advantage of the situation and dispatched an elite force of equal caliber.

"ばか(八GA)!"

How could it be so fast?

The timing was so precise?

Arasaka's border posts in South Africa are no pushovers; accumulating such strength certainly cannot be done in a day or two.

Vera Adelheid had only extracted the progenitor virus less than a day ago, and the stability plan had only recently been submitted as a PowerPoint presentation to the University of Tokyo. How were they so certain they would achieve results? Making such a heavy bet...

Before Sanlang could even ponder for a moment, a 'beep beep' sounded, indicating a new document had been sent. The latest urgent report from the northern border post in South Africa also arrived: several black warlords in Central Africa had shown signs of large-scale unrest!

......

Arakasa Industrial Park, Johannesburg.

Inside the biological research and testing area factory building.

Boom!

The flickering firelight illuminated faces fully armed and wearing various types of external optical prosthetics. The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning components.

Flying glass, shattering concrete, the roar of gunfire, and the flashes of explosives constantly consumed the hands of both sides in the attack and defense.

Urgent and intense.

"Fuck Arasaka, how come there are several other teams hiding inside? Where are the hackers? Mark their locations for me!"

The attackers' curses, accompanied by a dense barrage of fire from kinetic machine guns and technical shotguns, instantly covered the entire narrow corridor. Several security guards, armed with submachine guns and wearing lightweight aramid bulletproof vests, fell to the ground like rag dolls, blood gushing out.

"...Damn it, there are too many of them! Quickly restart the automatic defense turrets!"

"No, they have at least a dozen hackers operating simultaneously. The substation was bombed, and they forcibly crammed a massive amount of the Puppet virus into our factory's control center. They didn't even try to control it; it's purely a data jam. My computing power is barely holding on against the intrusion, and cleaning it up will take time."

boom!

A scream followed by the sound of a body collapsing.

"Damn it! Shoot that bastard to death!" Accompanied by Arasaka's angry curse, a loud, electric-like explosion echoed in the room.

boom!

Wearing unidentified protective suits, the machine gunner, who was at the forefront, was suddenly thrown back as his head exploded, splattering blood and brain matter that smeared the glass on one side.

"It's a Nekomata! Damn it, that bastard Arasaka is so sneaky! Besides the basic defenses, he also hid this level of defense, damn it!"

The Nekomata Electromagnetic Sniper Rifle, the pinnacle of the Japanese company Tsunami Defense Systems, fires tungsten nail bullets that can easily penetrate individual soldier armor and conventional buildings. Even the thickest subcutaneous armor and titanium skeletons will be shattered.

Rumble!

No sooner said than done, the newcomers clearly knew the trick to dealing with the cat-like sniper: bomb! One after another, miniature rockets accurately struck the defensive point where the gunfire had started a hundred meters away, and the violent explosions instantly blew the guardhouse to pieces.

A figure in optical camouflage jumped out of the gap and retreated, but while still in the air, a series of scorching and powerful heavy warheads slammed into his chest, sending him flying back through the air.

clang!clang!clang!

Sparks flew.

These are all military-grade controlled firepower products for non-civilian use.

If you zoom in, you can see that the sniper's lightweight overlay armor was the first to be broken. The alloy-plated armor under his skin was dented and damaged due to the massive kinetic energy of the impact. The most serious wound was near his chest, where several shots hit the same spot. These people were all extremely accurate, shooting him straight through.

"Damn it, you bastards, you're the grandsons of military technology!"

It is said that the person who understands you best is always your enemy.

Military technology and Arasaka have been fighting for so many years. In recent years, there has been peace, but secret security forces and infiltration agents like them fight almost every day. They know you better than your own mother. The moment you bend over, the other side knows what you're going to do. This sense of familiarity in the fight meant that the Arasaka security forces guarding the Sun Stairway Flower quickly finished off the fight with all sorts of vulgarities.

"You're talking nonsense! Arasaka, you stupid piece of trash, it's because that bitch Russell of yours made too many enemies! Someone paid us to ruin her cushy job! We're a business of integrity! Welcome to place your orders with us next time, you Arasaka dogs."

In any case, agents who infiltrate military technology will naturally deny it to the death!

Before returning to military technology after completing their mission, their identities were concealed. Even if they were found out, they would be considered retired and told that they had nothing to do with military science, their contracts had been terminated, and they were employees who acted voluntarily.

Da da da da da da——

It roared!

The two sides exchanged passionate shots.

"We are outnumbered, they came prepared, and clearly chose the time when Director Russell was away... Where are the reinforcements?"

Blood and flesh splattered as another Arasaka heavy security guard had his upper body blown off by a rocket. Crouching behind the rear bunker wall, the Arasaka security team leader looked at the door of the biological laboratory not far behind him—the laboratory of the Sun Ladder Flower was right there.

"Attacked. They are not just one group. They have heavy anti-aircraft firepower. The armored airships sent by the branch to reinforce have been shot down. The latest news is that the black warlord's army has made unusual movements at the northern border outpost, and a large number of mobile troops have been drawn to the border and are unable to move."

"Damn it! Tell them to ignore those black guys. The lab, their target is the lab!" The security team leader, Arakasaka, angrily slammed his fist on the floor tiles. Thud! The floor shattered completely.

“We can’t count on the local branch for now.” He gritted his teeth and asked, “What about Director Russell?”

"The Grand Johannesburg Hotel..."

"Contact Supervisor Russell immediately. The Johannesburg Grand Hotel is less than 15 minutes away. If things go quickly, tell the brothers to hold on for another 10 minutes; reinforcements will be here. As long as we hold out until Supervisor Russell arrives, everything will be fine..."

Meanwhile, at the Grand Johannesburg Hotel.

Dormitory, "Zzzz..."

Boo!

Vera was awakened from her deep sleep by the 'beep' of a new email notification and the sound of something outside the window.

Why is the sky red?

------

PS: I'll take a day off and update twice tomorrow, concluding the Johannesburg incident.

φ(゜▽゜*)?

Chapter 055 Do you know why Vera was recognized by Adam Hammer?

The brightest star in the night sky.

It was a burst of firelight.

Vera, who was still half asleep, instantly woke up and sat up from the head of the bed to look out the floor-to-ceiling window—

Power outages plunged parts of the city into darkness, the sky was half-reddened by fire, armored hovercraft plummeted with sparks and lightning, gunfire erupted in the industrial park, and guided rockets wound their way into the sky from every nook and cranny...

A complex array of emotions, like a pie chart, flashed across her face in an instant.

Terrorist attack?!

This is truly...so exciting...and a real shame!

"Beep beep beep... Attention! The building has activated a red alert. Johannesburg's public service facilities have been subjected to a large-scale terrorist attack. For your safety, please remain in your room and do not move around unnecessarily. Hotel security personnel will do everything in their power to ensure your safety..."

The AI-powered alarm has been sounding throughout the entire hotel building.

No sooner said than done, just as Vera, her face filled with barely suppressed surprise and anger, stepped into the French windows wrapped in her bathrobe to observe the scene, BOOM—!

The Johannesburg Grand Hotel's commanding location and exceptional vision allowed Vera to clearly see the site of the explosion.

In the suburbs, on the transmission line towers connecting the main substation of the city to the urban area, some key nodes almost simultaneously lit up with fireballs. The towers twisted and collapsed, engulfed by the thick smoke and shock generated by the explosion, and the city's power supply was interrupted!

The hotel building was unaffected thanks to its backup generators and ultra-large energy storage batteries.

"I am Vera Adelheid. Someone, notify the Johannesburg Security Department to prepare heavy weaponry and mobilize riot control forces!"

In less than two seconds, Vera composed herself and issued a command, saying "beep beep." She opened the virtual screen grid built into her prosthetic eye plugin. Before she could even check the old emails, the notification sound for a new email rang.

She glanced at them; there were reports from the Johannesburg branch, hotels, industrial parks, and even urgent requests from the intelligence department. She quickly scanned them one by one; they were all just reports of situations, requests for support, and tactical guidance. She then clicked on the data unit in the intelligence department's attachments.

A dark, blurry video of a firefight inside an industrial park was transmitted.

The accompanying battle report stated that the attackers were military technology personnel, or even if they weren't, the military technology team was still involved. It was not a covert security force within the industrial park's defense sequence. They said they could only hold out for less than 15 minutes at most. The enemy came prepared, bringing various military-level heavy firepower. Their target was clear: the Solar Ladder Flower and its experimental results.

[Received, please hold on for 10 minutes.]

beep.

send.

Swish.

Vera continued working simultaneously, taking off her bathrobe and quickly changing her clothes while replying to and issuing commands.

"Prepare the hovercraft, the heaviest armored hovercraft your hotel's security team has. Destination: Arasaka Industrial Park. Send them the route and tell them to set off immediately, and to rendezvous with me en route!"

Hotel AI: "Your notification has been forwarded. Is there anything else...?"