Chapter 233
"Dog shit!!"
Kairi lost his composure.
In sync with the sound, inside and outside the cave, armed personnel serving their respective masters pulled their triggers almost simultaneously. Instantly, gunfire erupted, bullets flew, grenades exploded, and sparks flew everywhere.
The crisp sound of shattering bottles and jars filled the air; food on the table was smashed by bullets, crumbs flew everywhere, and wine was spilled all over the floor.
"Everyone, attack! If you want to live, then all of you, make your move!"
Kairi roared.
The technician shifted his gaze away from Lucy and Kiwi, focusing all his efforts on infiltrating and interfering with the Arasaka Heavy Soldier in front of him.
Kiwi leaped and hid behind the truck, her pupils constricting, clearly ready to strike, but then...
[Lucy: Kiwi, if you trust me, don't lay a hand on Arasaka, that scum who infiltrated the Federal Intelligence Agency.]
[Kiwi:??]
Although she didn't understand why, Kiwi still chose to believe Lucy. After all, there were no other options at this point.
With a bang, Lucy, who had been lying behind the stacks of supply crates, clenched her teeth as the explosion began.
Blocked here by Arasaka's pursuers, surrounded by enemies, there's no way to escape... There's really no other way!
To avoid being killed as a New America agent, and even to save Kiwi and Rebecca, there is no other way but to—
"Arasaka, I am Kushinada Lucina! Help me! I am the daughter of Kushinada Takeshi, the head of the security system at the Paris Arasaka Tower Warsaw Branch, Europe!!"
229
Chapter 229 Lucy returns to Arasaka, all are loyal retainers.
"—I am the daughter of Kushinada Takeshi, the head of the security system at the Paris Arasaka Tower Warsaw Branch in Europe!!"
At this moment, in the Stone Ridge Mountains cave, the Arasaka pursuers launched a fierce attack.
Dust billowed up with the roar, gunshots echoed, and sparks flew everywhere.
In the blink of an eye, someone was shot and fell to the ground groaning in pain.
But everyone still clearly heard the hacker girl's sudden, desperate shout.
In this violent symphony just beginning with the clashing of bullets, the air seemed to freeze, becoming inexplicably still.
"What?"
Rebecca, lying dead on the gravel ground, was filled with astonishment; she even thought she had misheard.
Kiwi's eyes widened—so that's how it is, she understood. This was Lucy's past, which she didn't want to talk about.
Without further hesitation, as she ran towards the entrance of the modified carriage, crimson data characters flowed through the tall female hacker's eyes: intrusion protocol, Quickhack, Puppet Virus... the target was Federal Intelligence Agency agent!
"Fucking!"
NUSA Joint Intelligence Bureau Leader Kairi, who was unleashing a barrage of fire on Arasaka's troops, suddenly changed his expression upon hearing this. The notification that his [Personal ICE] was activating its protective network made him curse, "Arasaka's little bitch, I'll fucking kill you!"
Why is a descendant of an Arasaka executive hiding in the cyber mercenary group that murdered him? Is this an internal power struggle stemming from Arasaka 'Arasaka attempt to overthrow him?
Or was the entire operation a setup by Arasaka?
The thought of this possibility sent chills down Kairi's spine, as if ice had been stuffed into his veins.
Unfortunately, he couldn't care less about anything else. His blood was boiling and he was burning with rage. Even the health monitor in his body was beeping, warning him that anger was harmful to his health. At this moment, he had only one thought in his mind: since he couldn't escape, he should kill the descendant of this Arasaka in front of him and do his best to inflict damage on Arasaka. That would be a way of serving his country!
He immediately turned his gun around.
Kill those three bitches!!
Faster than any action or vocalization, Kairi's command went straight into the minds of the agents present.
Just as the agents of the United Federal Intelligence Agency were cursing and the Arasaka assault team seemed bewildered, the agent who had just carried Rebecca away as a hostage lowered his gun, pulled the trigger, and bang!
Before Rebecca could react, she felt a sharp pain on her face—it was burning hot! The bullet had missed.
The gravel shattered along with the bullet, scattering and leaving bloody streaks on Rebecca's face and neck.
"Shit! Fuck you!"
The agent cursed angrily, his prosthetic eye was dull and lifeless, sparks flew from the Brain-Computer Interface his ear, and his hands trembled as if he had Parkinson's disease.
Undoubtedly, it was hacked.
Data blockage, reactivation of the prosthetic eye, prosthetic malfunction, contagion...
Lucy covered her forehead with her hand, beads of sweat sliding down her cheeks, like a pale rainbow shining with white light. Beneath her asymmetrical side-parted bangs, her irises flashed red light at a high frequency.
The Network Access Warehouse Puppet Virus plugin is fully activated!
In a desperate attempt to save their lives, Lucy teamed up with Kiwi and used up all of her RAM in one go.
The decisions and actions of each party were made almost in an instant.
"Careful!"
Rebecca, who had narrowly escaped execution, roared at Lucy with eyes wide with fury.
Lucy saw it, of course. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kairi appear like a ghost behind the truck, raising his Arasaka Masamune assault rifle and aiming it at her.
Didi.
The communication notification tone sounded: [Kiwi: Damn it! He has a more advanced Intrusion Countermeasure Unit (ICE) on him! It will take time to break through the protection system!]
Even though Maine's crew had purchased a number of powerful Puppet Virus plugins on the market with the deposit provided by Jackie Welles, and even Lucy and Kiwi, who were hackers, had upgraded their ICE, the Federal Intelligence Agency was not a street kid or a regular mercenary. Without the assistance of professional equipment such as hacker chairs and data centers, it would really take a lot of time to crack military-grade ICE using only personal brain-computer interfaces.
Not everyone is as gifted as Spider Murphy or Song Zhaomei the Lark.
Lucy might have some, but she's still too young, not even 21 years old yet. She hasn't accumulated enough experience, her mentors are too weak, and she's already wasted most of her prime adolescence while on the run.
Her talent is far from being realized, and her strength should not be limited to this level. She needs time for professional and systematic learning to make up for it.
What Lucy lacks most right now is precisely time.
Da da da da—
The ferocious face and the flaming gun flames were reflected in Lucy's tightened pupils.
Oh no, it's too late, we're doomed.
Am I about to die?
Her mind went blank, her heart pounded, and her breathing became rapid. Accompanied by a sense of resigned helplessness, several painful memories, like nightmares, began to swirl in Lucy's mind.
A cruel father, a cold mother, a bloody family, a hellish Old Net space, a precarious life on the run, precious memories of spending every day with Maine's crew, and the distant dream of going to the moon...
What a chaotic life.
Lucy stopped thinking.
Boom--!
A blur of motion crashed through the pile of supply crates at high speed.
Jingle bells!
The relentless barrage of bullets scraped and sparked against the EX0-1 assault exoskeleton armor shell.
Debris flew everywhere, her hair swayed in the strong wind, and Lucy resumed her thoughts.
Looking at the back of the Arasaka Heavy Soldier blocking her way, she felt her heart skip a beat.
[Lucy?]
A communication came in, and I heard the familiar, honest voice of a young boy.
It's not a stranger's communication that requires permission, but rather a familiar person with a note attached.
David Martinez.
David?
Lucy was so stunned she couldn't speak.
David: It's me, thank goodness I made it in time. Lucy, it really is you. What are you doing in the Badlands, and calling yourself... never mind, we'll talk about it later.
Just as Lucy was surprised to run into him, David, an Arasaka security guard who had seen it all, was even more bewildered when David realized that the person he was yelling at was an acquaintance he had met through selling medicine with a family member.
"Call..."
Taking a deep breath to ease the physical and mental strain of using [Sandevistan], David calmed himself, picked up the Type 31 heavy machine gun with one hand, aimed it at the enemy dual-wielding [Masamune] who was firing at him, and pulled the trigger all the way down—bang bang bang—
The explosion echoed through the cave, and the heavy warhead exploded at the rear of the truck, scattering debris.
The relatively lightly equipped New American agents were instantly suppressed.
Kairi dodged and avoided.
Some unlucky souls who didn't react in time were hit in the chest, splattering flesh, bone fragments, and blood. They fell backward and remained motionless.
David's other hand wasn't idle either.
After removing the portable folding riot shield, he pulled out the HJKE-11 [Yukimura] smart pistol and two magazines from the holster on his thigh and tossed them to Lucy.
"Hide well."
After speaking, David pushed off with his foot, and his burly body transformed into an elongated black shadow with an agility beyond his size, locking onto the agent who appeared to be the leader and relentlessly pursuing him.
Once Lucy had recovered, she looked closely and saw that in the blink of an eye, Arasaka had gained an absolute advantage.
Five or six of Xinmei's bastards have already been taken down.
But thinking about it, it makes sense. The team of agents responsible for restraining them was probably not the main force of the Federal Intelligence Agency. It was just a lightly armed ten-man squad compared to the armed forces of a large corporation. They could easily crush the thugs on the streets of Night City, but they were not strong enough to deal with fully armed opponents of the same level. In addition, she and Kiwi hacked into them at a crucial moment, which was equivalent to one side experiencing a network fluctuation during a team fight, causing the team to crash.
That guy named Solomon Reed is the real danger.
Having recovered her RAM, Lucy glanced at Rebecca.
Fine.
Rebecca, being the stubborn girl she is, didn't try to fight back.
Instead, she cowardly but correctly found herself behind the headless corpse whose head had been blown off. The New American agent who had been affected by her Puppet Virus had already been finished off by Arasaka's accurate marksman.
Kiwi... wait, where is she?
[Kiwi?]
Lucy's correspondent asked.
Didi.
[Kiwi: I'm fine. For now. I've taken cover in the engine room cabinet. Hopefully, Arasaka will spare me the rocket launcher out of respect for you being the daughter of a high-ranking executive.]
His tone carried a hint of teasing.
Lucy is waiting for a reply.
The electrified bullet grazed Lucy's cheek and struck an irregular stone wall not far away. Amidst the flying debris, the Federal Intelligence Agency technical officer, who was hiding behind it and resisting the hacking attempt by the Arasaka network expert, had his entire arm and shoulder torn apart by the ferocious electromagnetic bullet. The exposed cables flew wildly, and blood gushed out.
"The name Kushinada Lucina, the father Kushinada Takeshi, and the mother Kushinada Kimel. According to the 'Missing Person Notice' from the Warsaw branch of the database, it matches. I'll assume it's true for now."
An unfamiliar male voice suddenly interrupted from the side.
As they spoke, a barrage of bullets fired from multiple directions swept them into a honeycomb of bloody mist.
Tap, tap.
"..."
Lucy looked up at the Arasaka marksman, who was walking over unhurriedly with the M-179 [Achilles] in hand.
The armor was much thinner than David's, but he looked like an official.
After all, that Tokyo-accented Corporate Dog vibe is totally authentic.
"It seems you cherish your commoner friends."
Katsuo Tanaka gave the green-haired, twin-tailed loli lying dead a meaningful look. "If it weren't for this accident, Ms. Kushinada, how long did you plan to run away from home?"
A high-ranking security officer at the Arasaka branch in Warsaw had lost his daughter. It happened a long time ago, and he wouldn't have remembered it if Lucy hadn't revealed it herself.