Chapter 230
In the field, Reed's special agent team had already infiltrated the crashed explorer vehicle.
As a seasoned veteran and a benchmark for New America's special agents, Reed naturally considered things like binding biometric information and self-destruction upon extinguishing the device. After ambushing and eliminating three security officers wearing exoskeletons, Reed remotely used tranquilizer darts to incapacitate two wounded security personnel.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of burnt metal and blood.
Without even glancing at Abernathy, whose chest had been ripped open by a sniper bullet and whose body was covered in a layer of yellow sand, Reed entered the cabin and reached out to pry open the brain of the network technician who was sitting in front of the large incubator, whose brain was roasted to a medium-rare state.
The screen lit up, and Reed's gaze sharpened as he looked at the Hybrid Tyrannosaurus Rex Cub immersed in a special nutrient solution under the viewing glass of the incubator, as well as the various unfamiliar injections in the storage box, and the custom-made crystal sealed boxes resembling high-end cosmetics and health products.
"Take away."
After defusing the bomb and scanning for any abnormalities, Reed signaled to his team to lift the incubator out of the hovercraft.
The off-road vehicle was already waiting outside, and it was quickly loaded and secured, then wrapped with soft padding.
"Reed, I'll fuck your mother!"
As soon as he got in the car, a video call connected. The background showed the car, where a battered and bruised Maine was cursing loudly. Reed remained unperturbed and calmly said, "It's been a pleasure working with you, Maine. I once again formally invite you to join the Federal Intelligence Agency and serve your country. If you survive, please consider it carefully."
"Together with you—"
Reed hung up immediately.
When he ambushed Security Officer Arasaka, he deliberately left Maine behind. This was not simply out of personal guilt or past camaraderie, but more to confuse the Arasaka support forces.
Would Maine dare to report this to the authorities?
Reed bet he wouldn't dare; he'd better think about how to survive first.
As for the culprit being Militech and Shinmi... Hmph, whatever Arasaka gets his hands on, he'll eventually say that.
Reed is now oblivious to his many lice and debts.
If Arasaka says so, then it's not true. Unless Arasaka has solid evidence, it's a trumped-up charge.
Bang, bang!
Several gunshots rang out; they were follow-up shots.
Reed patted the car door and ordered, "Retreat."
Buzz—
The specially designed off-road vehicle sped off in a flash.
The target was clear: the Coast Mountains southeast of Jackson Plains.
The Federal Intelligence Agency has established transportation stations and dug tunnels inside the mountains.
Boom! Boom!
Finally, at the scene of the destruction, multiple high-explosive grenades and incendiary grenades were thrown and detonated.
"Phew... It's over."
As Alex stood up, lifting the [Nekomata], he exhaled a breath of stale air and glanced north, where the floating vehicle of Arasaka was already faintly visible.
"Withdraw."
She said something.
"..."
No one responded.
"Um?!"
Alex's keen sixth sense as an agent instantly detected the danger. He grabbed his submachine gun, which he used as a secondary weapon, and was about to turn around sharply when... sizzle!
Optical stealth camouflage that flashes due to high-speed movement.
A powerful, iron-like hand covered her mouth and nose from behind, and a sharp blade was drawn—clang!
Stinging and burning.
The thermal wrist blade pierced Alex's back, went through his heart, and protruded a long way from his chest.
"You... huff... puff..."
With his Mimetic Shroud broken, Alex, now revealing his true form, staggered and coughed up blood mixed with fragments of synthetic organs.
She glanced down at her chest, where warm blood was dripping from the heat-generating blade's blood-spitting worm, making a scorching sound and splashing dark blood flowers on the sand.
"You are... Shinobu from the Arasaka Family ... sizzle..."
With difficulty, Alex turned his head, and his bloodshot irises reflected the iconic demon mask of the Arasaka Family ninjas.
At the very edge of the field of vision was the assistant gunner, lying in a pool of blood, his chest pierced and his throat slit.
Pfft!
The Cyber Ninja simply lifted Alex by the neck, twisted his wrist, and turned the wrist blade from vertical to horizontal, completely shattering her heart.
Another Cyber Ninja swiftly pinned Alex's head down, connected the cable to his network access chamber, uploaded the Puppet Virus, shut down the personal Intrusion Countermeasure Unit, hacked in, tracked his location, and marked him...
"Reading, location locked! Uploading data."
Thump.
Alex hung his head and knelt limply on the ground, his lifeless eyes filled only with regret.
Damn you, Reed! I must have been out of my mind to do this job because of you, I must have had the worst luck imaginable...
Her head tilted to the side, and her consciousness went dark.
[Reed: Items acquired, I'm out of the combat zone, retreat! Hello? Alex, please respond... Hello, Alex, damn it!]
On the other side, Reed was flooring the accelerator, speeding towards the forgotten minefield in the Badlands to the southeast.
Reed's good mood after calling Alex several times without getting a response instantly turned sour, and his brows twitched.
Just then, Alex's communication went through.
"Mr. Solomon Reed, Ms. Vera sent me to give you her regards."
Reed paused, his pupils suddenly contracting.
"Damn it!!"
Bang! He slammed his fist on the steering wheel, spewing out profanities.
Westbrook, Charter Hill.
Outside the window is a lush, green courtyard.
A gentle spring breeze, caressing the delicate flowers, whispers in the ear of a young woman with long, pale gold hair tied in a bun, her eyes gleaming with a soft, melodious voice, like the chirping of a magpie.
"Finally caught you by the tail."
Vera set down the gleaming, silver-white gauntlets, picked up a steaming cup of tea, blew on it lightly, and said, "Target: Solomon Reed. Move in."
The Flame Art Electronic Fireplace in the corridor was burning brightly, and the central holographic screen was playing a third-party perspective: a scene of a blonde, brown-skinned girl with a nose ring being disemboweled by Cyber Ninja's blade. She looked like a beast waiting to be slaughtered.
That's right, she sent out a tactical team of her personal Cyber Ninja.
They were secretly deployed to the Arasaka Border Checkpoint in the southern part of Night City a day in advance.
There's no need to guess; once the Federal Intelligence Agency takes action, they will be constantly monitoring the movement of the airships. In the wasteland, the movements of wheeled vehicles are also quite difficult to conceal, unless there is a sandstorm.
Therefore, Vera provided her ninja team with the latest type of ground effect hovercraft, which was stealthy and fast, with a speed that was in no way inferior to conventional hovercars.
The prototype technology comes from Atlas Military Industries in Call of Duty XI.
The automated factory on the Arasaka Waterfront has been fully mastered thanks to Vera's debugging, and has now begun mass production of Model A.
The initial battle went quite well; they managed to ambush that old bastard Reed by exploiting a ground area overlooked by the Federal Intelligence Agency. Not easy at all.
After taking a sip of tea, Vera leaned back, her fingers tracing the surface of the cup, and looked at the holographic screen with a hint of anticipation.
On the other side, a split-screen display showed the Arasaka support force Badlands towards the Badlands of Jackson Plains.
Aside from the nearest mobile unit at Dogtown Arasaka Barracks and the 3D map with the coordinates, they had arrived at the crash site. With location shared, they had locked onto a Federal Intelligence Agency unit, and a new round of firefight had begun.
Another red dot, identified as belonging to the Special Rapid Response Unit (SAT) of the Security Department, General Security Bureau in the opposite direction, heading north back to Night City.
Their unit designation is marked in the lower left corner of the image: SAT-6.
Special Rapid Response Unit Team 6, Vera's original unit when she joined Arasaka.
I recently went on a counter-terrorism field mission to Paramar, a small Central American country. I left Night City a week before the escort mission in Abernathy.
Vera had calculated the time in advance.
After all, the window of opportunity for Abernathy to travel from southwest to Los Angeles is very short, and she has the right to interpret the relevant background data.
Abernathy was the bait Vera used to fish.
Whether you catch anything or not is one thing, but if you don't fish, you'll always come back empty-handed.
Despite the "lucky koi" phenomenon, success ultimately favors those who are prepared.
Vera will never lose out.
Because of the conflicts between Abernathy and Jenkins, which are internal competitions that Arasaka tacitly approves of, this period is the period of the Arasaka internal circulation elimination that she tacitly approves of. Everyone is settling scores and grievances, each showing their own unique abilities, and it depends on who has the ability to create chaos.
The difference between Vera's arrangements succeeding and failing lies in whether she achieves two goals with one move or even more.
Whether the SAT Team 6, as a backup, can be used or not is simply a matter of expending ammunition.
This 'ammunition' is for waging localized counter-terrorism wars and helping authorities suppress resistance, and is not subject to urban fire control conventions.
If the SAT Team 6 does indeed collide on their return journey, an error of tens or hundreds of kilometers is not a big deal.
[SAT6-CO (Commander): Yes, Madam!]
South of Night City, eighty kilometers from the Jackson Plains Corridor, lies a desolate desert shrouded in dust.
Accompanied by the roar of the Vector Engine, the Arasaka Heavy Armored Aircraft, with its crew all equipped with EX0-2 combat exoskeletons and AST Armor, was parked.
In the cockpit, the orange-red data stream flashed rapidly in the prosthetic eye of the officer, SAT6-CO. Turning his head, he immediately ordered, "Technician, position locked, we've got him! Data entry, launch!"
Click-click—
The heavy armor modules on the top of the hovercraft deployed in response.
The core contains an internal bomb bay, where four hypersonic missiles with sharp caps are activated and ignited. They detach from the weapon racks, take off, and streak white lines through the air with light, heat, and whistling sounds. They get faster and faster, and their exhaust flames form Mach rings as they fly toward the northern horizon!
Meanwhile, in Jackson Plains.
The tires screeched and squeaked, the engine roared at its limit, and the air inside the shaking car felt oppressive and heavy.
Nearly three minutes had passed since the order to retreat was given. Reed, in a somber mood, drove out of the narrow passage and into the minefield.
Behind them, around the site where the explorer crashed, the sounds of gunfire did not stop; on the contrary, they intensified.
Reed knew very well that Alex was not coming back.
He lost another old friend...
Humans aren't plants or trees, so naturally he was saddened, but the situation didn't give him even a moment to be sentimental. "Multiple flying objects are rapidly approaching, speed is being measured... Mach 2.8? Mach 4... Approaching Mach 5?! Damn it, they're hypersonic missiles!!"
The teammate's exclamation brought Reed back to his senses.
He turned his head to look in the rearview mirror.
Four blinding streaks of light flashed across the sky, relentlessly pursuing the target like maggots clinging to a bone. The large missile body split in mid-air according to its programmed sequence, followed by a dense scattering of numerous independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) like a shower of petals!
In a glow interspersed with cherry blossom pink, Reed stopped thinking.