Am I the only one streaming Sword Art Online on the entire internet?

Ivy took the IWS-2000 off her back and held it in her hand. She aimed it inside and, after observing it using the thermal imaging system on her machine, came to a similar conclusion.

"No, he wasn't mistaken, although I don't know why that guy suddenly exposed himself for a moment. I saw him, he was inside."

Suddenly, Yuna warned from the side, using her eagle-eye vision to see something that Mo Yulan and Aiweixin couldn't see—a guy hiding in the deepest part using some unknown method.

“Alright, as expected, my Yuuna is the best. Doc, we detected an unidentified person hiding in the innermost room of the internet cafe, seemingly equipped with some kind of cloaking system.” Mo Yulan pressed a button on her ear and reported to Doc, “How did your negotiations go?”

"No results. They just want to cause destruction. Perhaps you stopped their plan to cause panic in the game, so they are now trying to cause even greater panic in another way. That's my guess at the moment," Gustav replied in a deep voice. "The only good news is that they didn't produce any of the suicide bombers covered in explosives like in White Mask. Although there are a lot of C4 explosives installed inside, we can eliminate them one by one. It's not a big problem."

“That’s easy to understand. Showa men and Heisei otaku, nowadays we should call them Reiwa weaklings, right?” Mo Yulan mocked mercilessly, but he obviously ignored the fact that there seemed to be a “Reiwa weakling” standing right next to him. “And these people also look quite amateurish.”

"Arrange your men. The demolition team will be in position and ready to assault in two minutes." Gustav ignored Mo Yulan's constant quips and jokes, and said seriously, "Also, this is your first official mission. You must proceed cautiously and steadily, and absolutely do not be reckless, understand?"

“I understand. Ivy, find the nearest sniping position. I'll call you if necessary. Vector, bring thermal explosives and other tactical equipment. You'll be in charge of the temporary operation this time. As for Yuna…”

“I’m working with you guys. That guy always gives me a very dangerous feeling. At least you and Vivi shouldn’t be able to handle him.” Yuna drew a short sword from her waist and held it in her right hand, while holding Ivy’s FN-57 in her right hand, staring intently in that direction. “Hopefully, that guy isn’t coming for us… but you never know.”

276. Negotiations break down, prepare for the final assault (4000)

"I really didn't expect that these guys would still be able to show up after more than 30 years, Clark."

Chu Ziyu stood on the rooftop of a building a short distance away, looking down at the streets already cordoned off. He gently tossed the last bit of his cigarette butt on the ground and sighed. He had no equipment for observing the distance, but his eyes seemed to see through everything, gleaming with an inexplicable light.

"You mean... Horizon? Doc just sent me some footage from the front lines, but I'm curious how you determined they were Horizon remnants. This doesn't seem like their work at all."

"It's just a trivial detail. I think we should be more concerned about what they're trying to do. A terrorist operation like this, completely concealed before it even happens, could plunge half of New York into chaos if it happened there, but I don't understand why they chose Tokyo."

"I never thought that even you would have things you couldn't understand. [When you can't be sure you see everything clearly, it's best not to get involved in the chaos.] That's what you said when you left the team."

The voice on the other end sounded slightly sarcastic. Chu Ziyu shook his head helplessly, then sat down directly on the edge of the rooftop.

"There are many things I don't understand, but I'll get used to them. Your Rainbow Squad should have no problem dealing with those obviously amateur terrorists now. I'm just worried about what other unexpected things might happen later."

“I don’t think you need to worry. Your ace should be over there, and if all else fails… you can just go there yourself.”

"You know I said those things, and I can't be sure I see everything clearly right now, so I definitely won't get involved myself. Sending Vivi over to take a look is the limit. If your team needs a backup, I'll go, but then we'll be on the defensive."

"So be it. Since we were able to confront those people's schemes before, there's no reason why we can't now. Even if the situation gets more chaotic, it won't be as bad as it was back then." Clark seemed quite calm, as if he had a lot of confidence in his team and Chu Ziyu. "I believe they will handle everything. We just need to keep an eye on them."

"You really have faith in those young people, Clark. Since you put it that way... so I'm just a babysitter? Are you ever going to stop?" Chu Ziyu's tone was calm at first, but when he understood what Clark meant, his expression suddenly became quite interesting. "I refuse to work for free. If you don't pay me properly this time, I'd rather watch them die out there and jump off this building than work for you."

"I trust you won't do that, Blank. After all, if something like that actually happened, it certainly wouldn't be a script that satisfies you. But don't worry, the pay won't be small... how about a container of instant noodles?"

"Get lost! Now, right now! If I help you again, I'm a dog, okay?"

------

"So it's that familiar line again, friends. Negotiations have broken down, prepare for the assault. Ying, Pulse, and Hibana, you'll lead the charge from the front. Echo will use Yokai to assist our advance, while Dokkaebi and I will serve as reserves. Dokkaebi, Hibana will use X-KAIROS to burn a few holes in the outer wall for you in a bit, try to kill as many of their people behind as possible."

Doc projected a floor plan of the entire internet cafe onto the ground, and then used a piece of chalk he found from who-knows-where to draw Mo Yulan's planned route of action on it.

"The new recruits will break through from the other side. They have thermal explosives, so their progress might be faster. That's all I'll say. Let's get going."

"Received." *5

Without exchanging many words, the group passed through the cordon set up by the rapid reaction force and arrived at the side wall of the internet cafe. The side wall was now covered with reinforcing nails, indicating that the outer wall had been reinforced.

"Place the exothermic explosive here. Then Hibana, burn two sniper windows for Dokkaebi at another location." Doc pointed to the wall and directed, "Recruit, we will be blowing up the outer wall on this side in thirty seconds, and the assault will officially begin."

“Received. Vector… Yes, yes, post it here. After the explosion, don’t rush inside. Ivy, take out everyone you can see first.” Mo Yulan responded from the other end. “Also, check if the other side has any Wi-Fi-like devices. It would be a mess if they bombed it but we couldn’t.”

“Wi-Fi…? Oh, you mean the signal jammer, right?” Vector was puzzled for a moment, then immediately understood what Mo Yulan meant. “No signal interference detected, the exothermic explosive can be activated normally. Let’s confirm one last time, the detonation time is thirty seconds later, right?”

“That happened just now. We only have ten seconds left,” Mo Yulan replied, slightly nervously squeezing the Vector she was holding. Then she began to count down, “Five, four, three, two, one… Ignition! All take cover!”

Vector quickly pressed the detonator in his hand and then hid behind a nearby flower bed. Mo Yulan and You Na found a nearby trash can, squatted behind it, and watched as the exothermic explosive installed on the wall began to slowly melt the wall behind it, and then instantly blasted a neat rectangular hole in the wall.

Behind the large hole were several terrorists wearing gas masks loitering on the outside. Although Mo Yulan couldn't see their expressions, their movements clearly showed that the sudden explosion had thrown them into a panic.

Then came several heavy gunshots. The three people initially exposed to their own line of sight fell to the ground after being shot three times by Ivyhin, while the others quickly took cover behind their own bunkers.

However, this brief period was enough for anyone to remember their hiding place. These chairs, primarily made of plastic, sponge, and fabric, weren't very sturdy, and certainly not suitable as cover in a gunfight. This time, it wasn't just gunfire from Ivy's side; a cacophony of gunfire erupted, almost filling the entire first floor, turning the building into chaos instantly.

"They're here! They're here!"

"Get hidden! They're breaking in!"

"Damn it, when did they get in? Weren't there armor plates set up?"

However, while these people inside were in a panic, there were always some who remained calm. The person who had returned here with the "mirror" saw the steel plates on both sides explode and immediately grabbed the "mirror," turning and heading towards the stairwell.

"Wait...we've been attacked...what do we do?"

"There's a big problem, panicking won't help. Go upstairs now, don't worry about what's happening on the first floor, they can't get over here."

The man glanced in Mo Yulan's direction, then turned around, hoisted the boy beside him onto his shoulder, and quickly ran up the stairs, locking the safety door in the stairwell.

"Push, push, GOGOGO!" Mo Yulan shouted over the radio, then found a table to use as cover and waited for a moment. "The outer perimeter of the first floor has been cleared. Aiweixin, you can come down now. Youna, help me scout out where anyone is nearby."

“It’s marked on the map. There are three people left on our route. Some of the hostages are on the first floor further inside, some are on the third floor, and the bomb is on the second floor.” Yuna tapped the holographic panel in front of her several times, marking the three locations. “So your plan is that you have no plan, right? Putting aside how to deal with the bomb, they can easily take those hostages and hold their ground. You won’t have many options left.”

“But how long do you think hostages without gas masks can survive in here? That’s a question for Uncle Doc to consider; his plan is much more thorough than mine.” Mo Yulan answered You Na’s question quickly, then explained, “Besides, to put it bluntly, we are actually an auxiliary combat unit, so we don’t need to consider tasks like bomb disposal or hostage rescue that non-professionals simply can’t understand.”

“Okay, if that’s the case, then there’s no problem.” Yuna breathed a slight sigh of relief, then raised her FN-57 and deactivated a camera in the lobby. “These things should be dealt with as soon as possible.”

“No need. With Little Angel and Grace here, these people are our eyes and ears.” Mo Yulan replied calmly. He replaced the drum magazine on the V308 and then reconnected the communication with Doc. “Doc, we have entered the building and eliminated all enemy units. We await further instructions.”

“You don’t need to do anything more. Our next plan is to locate and defuse the bomb. Once the bomb disposal procedures are ready, we’ll break through to the vicinity of the stairwell. Now, continue along the previously planned route and clear out all remaining resistance fighters on the first floor. They don’t number much, but still be careful.” Doc paused, then gave a new instruction, “If neither of us is mistaken, there’s an unidentified threat on the first floor. Try to avoid that thing.”

"Don't worry, if we really encounter him, we'll treat him." Mo Yulan confidently agreed. "As for the remaining people on the first floor... there are only three left on our side, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"That's settled then, good luck."

Doc put the walkie-talkie back on his waist, looked at the mess in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh.

"If only we could solve disasters before they even happen. Even if we successfully complete this operation now, I imagine many people will be traumatized."

“But that’s not very realistic. All we can do is resolve the situation or prevent it from escalating further. None of us are prophets; none of us have the ability to foresee the future and take down terrorist strongholds in advance,” Grace comforted her. She had also come from the sniper post to join the action team after the first phase of the breakthrough operation was completed, which was why she was here.

“But this time, a full two days passed between the initial signs and the outbreak of the incident. Theoretically, we should have had enough time to complete the investigation and take care of them ahead of time… Damn it.” Doc slammed his fist on the wall next to him, cursed a couple of times, and then turned his gaze to Pulse, who was fiddling with a bomb disposal device. “How much longer until we can complete the bomb disposal procedure?”

"To be honest, this job should have been done by Dokkaebi. I'm not a professional... It's done, but this design is actually quite strange. If they had placed the hostages on the first floor, we probably wouldn't have been able to make such a breakthrough. We could only have avoided the hostages being harmed by having multiple people snipe from a distance and throw stun grenades at the same time."

Pulse pushed up his sunglasses and handed Doc a white bomb disposal kit that looked like a laptop, his tone somewhat hesitant.

“You’re being overly cautious, Pulse. You were the one who said not to use common sense to speculate about the terrorists’ actions,” Hibana said from the side, her tone somewhat wistful. “Besides, whatever disputes or right and wrong there are behind this, it has nothing to do with us. All we need to do is rush up there, ensure the safety of the hostages, and then bring them down safely.”

“That’s right, all that extra thinking is pointless right now. At least until we’re done, we don’t need any more of that.” Doc put the bomb disposal kit back into his backpack, then patted Pulse on the shoulder and continued, “Don’t overthink it, although I doubt you’ll stop thinking right now. Let’s get going. We’ll leave the remaining enemies on the first floor to our recruit squad.”

“Okay, okay, I’m overthinking it… Think about what we’ve been through before, our enemies, haven’t they had their share of tricks?” Pulse complained somewhat resentfully, then pulled hard on the bolt of the car king’s gun in a fit of rage, and sighed heavily. “I’m just worried that in the end we’ll be facing enemies we weren’t prepared to face, like those monsters that were no different from the Terminators back then.”

Doc didn't answer him further, but simply held up his shield and silently walked towards the stairwell. He followed helplessly, but at that moment, a deafening explosion suddenly came from deep within the first floor, and the shockwave from the explosion even reached them.

Doc immediately crouched down, using his shield to steady himself. The others, though initially thrown off balance, quickly regained their footing.

"Damn it... Could they have detonated the bomb? That would be a real problem." Doc muttered under his breath, then picked up the walkie-talkie from his waist. "Recruit, what happened?"

"We have encountered an unknown enemy and are currently exchanging fire... The situation is not out of control yet, we can continue with the plan, let me have some fun with him."

277, hunter?

"...Can anyone tell me what this thing is? How did it get here?"

Mo Yulan huddled behind a fallen table, using it to shield himself from the hail of bullets. He couldn't even figure out where this person had come from. They had already cleared out the remaining three people on this floor and were planning to rest there.

But at that moment, the system page in front of him flickered a few times, then suddenly turned into a large mosaic. Then, this guy appeared in front of him as if out of thin air, and then knocked Vector down with an elbow strike.

The man before him was dressed in a jet-black combat suit, with a matching full-face mask covering his face. He carried a LOVA-C in his right hand and a small hand axe in his left. This appearance was all too familiar to Mo Yulan, yet it was precisely this familiarity that struck him as odd.

“A real person’s behavior should be quite different from that of an AI, so how to get Vector out of the battlefield is still a problem.” Mo Yulan took advantage of the enemy’s brief ceasefire to launch a burst of suppressive fire, then turned her gaze to Aivixin and Youna, who were hiding in cover on the other side. “Push him back to cover! I’ll go and move Vector!”

"Let Ivy go, Dad, it's too dangerous." Ivy's worried voice came a little too late, because after saying this, Mo Yulan put the V308 back on her back, flipped over the overturned table, and quickly moved to Vector's side. Then, while firing the Moroccan hand cannon in her right hand at the enemy's hiding place, she grabbed Vector's collar with her free left hand and asked loudly, "Vector! Can you still stand up?"

“I think you’re assuming I can’t stand up when you ask this question, otherwise you wouldn’t be lifting me up like a kitten.” Vector’s voice was as flat as ever, but anyone could hear the weakness in it. “Take your hand away, I can walk by myself.”

“Actually, I only realized it now. If you can’t walk on your own, I have no way to lift you up.” Mo Yulan removed her left hand and quickly changed the magazine on the Moroccan hand cannon with her right hand. “I think I should tell Doc and the others that something’s definitely wrong… Hey, friends over there, can you say something?”

He was met with silence; the mysterious man had no intention of wasting words with him, unlike anyone Mo Yulan had met before. Upon realizing he was pinned down behind cover by enemy fire, he quietly took out a strange metal ball and forcefully threw it into the center of a nearby open area.

"So we still don't know anything. The only thing that feels familiar is this way of doing things... Wait, is he coming for me? But that's not realistic. Where would we find hunters right now... Vector, find cover! Everyone take cover and prepare for an impact! Why the hell does he even have something like this?"

Mo Yulan had only been reciting for half a minute when he noticed the metal ball that had suddenly fallen to the ground. He immediately recognized what it was and exclaimed.

However, this warning came too late. By the time he shouted, the metal sphere had already split into more than a dozen smaller metal spheres on the ground, followed by beams of red light locking onto Mo Yulan and Vector. He quickly flipped over a table and held it in front of him and Vector, using it as a makeshift cover. However, the small spheres suddenly stopped when they reached the table, and then actually climbed vertically up the table.

"Only the Shimada family would climb walls. Who exactly are you... By the way, how's your mecha's defense? Probably higher than mine, right? Be ready to take over command at any moment." Mo Yulan looked at the small metal balls rolling towards them and said with a wry smile, "I hope these things don't just blow me up. I hope it won't..."

He took a first-aid spray from the side of his backpack beforehand and was about to hand it to Vector when he noticed the girl suddenly hugging him tightly and resting her chin on his right shoulder.

"Although it's not armor-specific, it's still better than yours, so it's okay... Remember to give the repair cost to the commander when you get back, otherwise he definitely won't be able to afford it."

Vector whispered these words into Mo Yulan's ear, followed by a series of deafening explosions and a powerful shockwave. Her hands fell limply to her sides.

"Lan!"

"I'm fine, continue the suppressive fire... Vector! Vector!"

"85% damage to the machine, unable to conduct normal combat, requesting evacuation." Vector's voice suddenly turned into an inorganic electronic tone. She slowly finished speaking, then closed her clear orange eyes. "Error. Mind map not uploaded, entered hibernation mode."

"Rookie! What happened?" Doc's anxious call came through the walkie-talkie hanging on his chest, but Mo Yulan had no time to pay attention to that now. He stared intently at Vector's now charred back, with large areas of electronic components exposed.

“We have encountered an unknown enemy and are currently engaged in combat. The situation is not yet out of control… Let me have some fun with him…” Mo Yulan’s tone suddenly became extremely dangerous. He straightened the Vector’s body and placed it aside, then took his V308 back from behind. “I feel like I have to do something. This is already an unplanned loss.”

"Unplanned losses? You've had staff reductions?"

“Theoretically, it’s not a loss, but I’m really angry right now. Aiweixin, can your IWS-2000 penetrate his bunker?” Mo Yulan was still leaning against the table, then took out a fragmentation grenade and weighed it in her hand. “If not, I’ll try to force him out of his bunker. This guy has too many fancy tricks; we’ll lose a lot of money if we keep fighting like this.”

"The space is too small, I'll try my best... What's going on?"

As Aivis answered, she loaded an armor-piercing high-explosive round into the IWS-2000. But at that moment, she suddenly heard the sound of another peanut rapidly cutting through the air, and a low cry of pain came from the mysterious man's side.

"It looks like another sniper, although I don't know why he didn't choose to shoot directly at vital points when he wasn't exposed at all... He's probably one of Doc's people."

Mo Yulan made this deduction, and then his Augma suddenly received a call request.

278. Unexpected Support