Sniper 137 and the Obstacle

"Evade! Arasaka Support has arrived!"

The instant Reid's warning left his mouth, the roar of a sniper rifle tore through the air again. The bullets were not aimed at the Militech personnel still outside cover and scrambling to find shelter. Instead, they bit at Reid one after another like venomous snakes—the Arasaka sniper had clearly locked onto the real threat.

The second bullet skimmed past Reid's cheek, leaving a searing afterimage across his retina. His Kerenzikov activated instantly, and the synthetic muscle fibers formed by his cybernetic Nanoweave Fibers tightened like springs. The moment the third bullet left the barrel, his body had already shot backward to the side.

The sniper round shattered the concrete where he had been standing, spraying fragments everywhere, but Reid did not pause for even an instant—he knew this rhythm of battle far too well.

Everything he had fought through as an agent was returning to his body. The longer the battle went on, the more Reid felt himself gradually drawing closer to the peak he had once reached.

The fourth and fifth bullets followed close behind, sealing off his escape routes.

Yet Reid calculated their trajectories in an instant. The reinforced ankle cyberware in his legs compressed sharply, launching him into the air like a cannonball. Sniper rounds wove a deadly net of fire beneath his feet, but Reid forcibly twisted his body in midair, raised one hand slightly, and set off a smoke grenade in his palm.

When the sixth bullet pierced the smoke, it deflected slightly. The lethal shot that had been aimed at his heart only tore a scorched wound along his ribs. Using the impact of his landing, Reid rolled behind a concrete barricade as his cybernetic blood pump immediately worked with his synthetic lungs to force oxygen into his