Chapter 108
The Federal Intelligence Agency has a long-standing tradition of selecting cannon fodder from places with simple, honest people who get excited easily and are full of troublemakers to join in the grand event.
If there are too many moderate people who use their brains, it will be difficult for her to manage.
Snap, splatter, splatter...
At this moment, the battle to cover and protect Vera's flanks also ended, and a crisp and continuous sound of flesh tearing rang out, which was the Cyber Ninja from the Arasaka Family Estate who were responsible for protecting Vera.
The ejected thermal Mantis Blades was covered in evaporating blood mist. The leading ninja said, "Director, you really didn't need to..."
Have you forgotten my job?
With a slight smile, Vera countered with a question.
"Running away is not my style!"
Then, her gaze sharpened, and in front of her subordinates behind her, she leaned forward and stomped hard on the straps of her specially reinforced, durable mid-heeled loafers—bang!
The yellowish-brown sand suddenly cracked, and soil splattered in all directions.
The play should come to an end.
It delivered a devastating kick to a high-suspension SUV that was so heavily modified that its model was unrecognizable, and with a loud thud, the door twisted and deformed, and the SUV, which weighed at least ten tons, flipped over.
Clang!
The car body flipped violently onto the uneven sandy ground, only stopping when it hit a protruding rock. Vera then swung her long gun at the black guy with his arm deformed and the cannon barrel of the Projectile Launch System extending out from the driver's seat. Smack!
Like a hot knife cutting butter, the sharp Gunblade scrapes against the metal shell of the cab and the windshield.
The bionic skin, artificial fiber muscles, blood vessels, and titanium skeleton inside were cut open.
Like molten iron, the Gunblade suddenly bent and elongated, forming a sharp arc, and with a splatter, red and white blood splattered from the driver's cab.
Seeing this, the five Cyber Ninja didn't say anything more.
Almost simultaneously with Vera's movement, [Sandevistan] moved at high speed, activated!
They clearly divided their tasks and rushed towards the flanks.
There was only one objective: to ensure Vera's safety.
Bang! Bang bang!
In the midst of high-speed combat, as if she had a third eye, Vera dodged several electrified sniper shots with lightning speed. She looked up and, in a glance, her super-sensitive intuition instantly locked onto the coordinates of a spy in a distant location.
[Coordinates sent]
Buzz... Buzz...
The Arasaka Octave, which was hovering in the air and moving at high speed to provide fire support, and was not destroyed by the remaining guided rockets, received the first priority order on site. It immediately split into two, with the Vector Engine shining brightly with blue flames, and roared towards the end of the Gobi Desert illuminated by the night fire.
A burst of machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades slammed into the ground.
Vera could sense that the spying coming from those directions had disappeared.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Several more guided rockets shot up from the ground, and a sky full of Heat Decoy- like decoys were launched from the bellies of the two Octaves. Amidst the heat waves and streaks of light, boom!
An octant was hit, lost its balance, and landed hard on the sand with its parts scattered and black smoke billowing out. There was an explosion and a flash, like a steel furnace that had exploded, blindingly hot.
Vera ignored this.
The adversary is an agent of the New American Federation Intelligence Bureau.
Even with the constraints of the covert nature of their work and the impact of frontline personnel disobeying orders, they are unlikely to be able to access more heavy weaponry. However, the level of Militech deployed in weaponry is something Arasaka must take seriously.
Military-grade cybernetic bodies are the most basic and need no further explanation.
It's highly probable that equipment such as multi-functional individual firearms, light armored vehicles, and disguised missile vehicles—which repeatedly veer off the line in the "Excessive Fires Prohibition Treaty"—will also be issued to special agents.
Because Arasaka is like that too.
Or rather, this is the case for all large corporations worldwide.
Da da da—
With the defensive Arasaka police force launching a counterattack and the assembly of mobile sentry emplacements, the attacking 'terrorists' vehicle assault was effectively halted for the time being.
But in that short time, two more Octans crashed.
Because they had to destroy the 'terrorist' rocket launcher, they essentially traded blows with the enemy.
Drones and armed robots were countless; they were all consumables anyway. One Mantis was also hit by a missile; the vehicle started smoking, sank, and crashed headfirst into the ground. The engine looked like it wouldn't be repaired anytime soon.
Assessing the extent of the damage, Vera examined the virtual screen grid map built into her prosthetic eye.
According to the route analysis, the support troops responsible for providing backup will arrive in 10 minutes. Even the Trauma Team's rescue team is on its way.
Sizzle...
[Warning: Intrusion underway.]
"Huh?" Vera noticed that the custom-designed [Self ICE (Intrusion Prevention Element)] plugin that directly connected her to the Arasaka Network Security Department was triggering an alarm.
Countermeasures
Vera's eyes flashed with crimson data.
With its superhuman computing power, unprecedented neural load capacity, and an unreleased, laboratory-grade network access module operating at high frequency—almost equivalent to the pinnacle of anti-intrusion and anti-cracking technology developed by Arasaka and Network Surveillance— it can crack, reverse-engineer, and counter-trace the Puppet Virus.
[Intrusion protocol approved]
[Cracking rapidly → Uploading]
[Target localization], [Collateral transmission], [Prosthetic overheating], [Synaptic meltdown]...
A set of intrusion countermeasures procedures.
Whether Vera had roasted the hacker's brains, hidden far away, to a crisp or a tender char, she didn't know, but the intrusion signal had certainly disappeared.
"Director, the airship system has been restarted!"
Just then, the excited voice of the accompanying cybersecurity expert Arasaka, rang out.
"Yes. Prepare to retreat. I'm not involved in this with certain people," Vera answered herself.
Just as she was preparing to find an opportunity to leave the battlefield, she heard a familiar buzzing sound in her ears.
The next second, a high-explosive shell from the main battle airborne armored vehicle hit the Octant, which was hovering in front of Vera. The Octant plummeted down with a huge fireball from the explosion, and large pieces of debris scattered everywhere.
"Haha... Do you like my gift?"
Those were three magnetic levitation armored vehicles.
It features a dual-body air cushion design, but the gun barrel is thicker and longer than the standard model. It also includes anti-rocket grids and rocket launcher modules. Vera recognized it: the Demon Lizard.
A man's rough, neurotic, and hysterical voice came from a loudspeaker, growing louder as it approached.
"Finally, finally I've had this opportunity. Heh heh, you little bitch Arasaka, your octant and vehicle ammo reserves are all used up, aren't they? And my hacking, thanks to your help, has run out of RAM too..."
Vera's expression was unreadable.
What the heck? Are you just adding your own drama?
The encrypted order I secretly transmitted through Kei Arasaka's legacy in North America—the secret agent society—to my predecessors at the intelligence station in northern Mexico should have been to find a way to incite Militech Agent, or related personnel infiltrated into the lower levels of the Federal Intelligence Agency, to go alone and attack Arasaka's return delegation.
Where did this idiot who's adding so much drama come from?
Vera glanced at the big metal lump a few more times, then decided to give up. She wasn't Adam Hammer; she wasn't fully equipped, and disassembling an armored vehicle would be too much trouble.
She raised her hand to stop the Cyber Ninja and security forces from moving, and said calmly, "Cybernetic Tyrant, move out."
[AI: Yes, 100% restarted, activating.]
Laugh--
It was an aerial transport vehicle accompanying the convoy of explorers. With a sound like pressure being released, a massive figure, completely encased in sharply defined metal armor, slowly straightened up.
A series of heavy, thunderous heartbeats; thick upper limbs and narrow lower limbs; arms like pile drivers; an armored head resting on exaggeratedly broad shoulders; and scarlet goggles that glowed.
"Authorize, execute the Annihilation Operation. Take them out..." Vera turned around.
Before the words were finished, a buzzing sound rang out.
Blue flames erupted from the vectoring nozzles on the giant's back and legs. Boom! A hurricane howled as the flying metal giant streaked with fire. Then, with a resounding crash and a burst of brilliant sparks, one of the Demon Lizards was thrown into the air and crashed into another Demon Lizard behind it.
Before their turrets could rotate, the Cybernetic Tyrant hovered in mid-air, projecting a red alert zone of gravity field, representing death, downwards, indicating internal identification.
Buzzing and booming!
With a roar, a shudder, and a tooth-grinding metallic groan, the three Lizard tanks slammed into the ground, their rear ends jerking violently. The next moment, the ammunition detonated, exploding from the inside out, sending waves of heat scorching the air until it was distorted and scorching hot.
It doesn't matter who this guy is; maybe they have a grudge, but Vera has no interest in remembering.
She has gotten what she needed.
Vera, her body stained with blood and ashen, raised her head, blowing away the heatwave from the explosion, and looked towards the horizon.
There, accompanied by sirens and trailing blue flames, a series of black dots hurtled towards them.
Chapter 111: New America Under Showa-Style?
The monstrous, mangled flesh, bone fragments, and shattered Cybernetic Tyrant.
All of them were stuck inside the burnt and charred composite material clothing and the severely twisted and damaged 'centaur' half-body bipedal exoskeleton armor.
It's like the raw material for hand-beaten beef balls that wasn't completely crushed.
Moreover, it's packed with Tech and Fierce Goods.
Bone fragments, cartilage, additives, alloy materials, electronic components, carbon fiber, and ceramic polymers have all been completely mixed with the minced meat into a lump.
"Interesting, you're very well prepared."
Vera stored "Black Abyss IV" in the black and gold box. Not minding the dirt, she half-squatted down and pried open the iconic translucent red shield of one of the damaged centaur exoskeletons.
From a mass of rotten flesh, they found what appeared to be a skull, with fragments of subcutaneous implanted components behind the mastoid bone still sparking with electricity.
The Self ICE (Intrusion Counter Element) is a pretty good model among military-grade systems; is it a specialized piece of equipment designed to counter her combat hacking capabilities...?
Based on the information currently available, the enemy's attack tactics are, well, not entirely wrong.
First, delay and then wear down Vera, maintaining sustained firepower. Then, the demon lizards charged at her at close range, and finally, an elite squad equipped with 'centaur' exoskeletons, wielding cluster Thermal Cannon, finished her off in one fell swoop, decapitating Vera, who was said to possess the strength of Adam Hammer but was 'equipped' and unprepared.
Good idea.
Compared to Adam Hammer, she is indeed too offensively focused on high ground and poorly defended.
Pity...
Vera glanced at the Cybernetic Tyrant standing guard like a gatekeeper, and at the Cybernetic Tyrant roaring in the distance, rampaging through the nozzles of the King Kong Vector Engine and slaughtering the attackers. She chuckled and shook her head.
Selling weaknesses doesn't mean I'm gambling with my life.
Looking down, Vera gazed at the humanoid shape inside the exoskeleton, which was humanoid to some extent, and could be identified as having a head.
A single glance from the prosthetic eye.
[Scanning in progress, unable to accurately identify at this time]
The result was as expected.
"Preservation".
"Stand up, "Vera said.
"Yes." The accompanying Captain Arasaka understood immediately.
Collecting brain matter and intact brain tissue is like how the Black Dream makers in Night City pick out the most exciting murders from the NCPD's daily cases. Even if someone's head is ripped open by a gun from the MaxTac, they can still extract usable Cyberpsychosis from the fresh brain matter to make Mewtwos and sell them on the Black Market.
Generally speaking, the fresher and more complete the information, the higher the quality of the extracted and edited information and the more vivid the dream.
Mewtwo editors are naturally not lacking in Arasaka's intelligence department.