Captain! The Car Is Ready!

The author knows it should be called a shotgun, but those three characters are sensitive, so "scattergun" is used in the text instead.

Chapter Thirty-One: Boss! The Car Is Ready!

Mann lay on the ground, glaring at Dorio as she loaded ammunition into the cylinder of the Large Caliber Revolver.

"What are you doing?"

"Saving your life. No need to thank me."

Red light flared in Sasha's eyes.

The neural interface at the back of an Animal Gang member's neck suddenly crackled with electricity.

He collapsed, his entire body convulsing.

Sasha had hacked into the Animal Gang member's cyberware, causing an Electromagnetic Short Circuit.

The Animal Gang member standing beside him immediately turned his gun toward Sasha.

"Hey, bastard!"

Rebecca leaned out from behind cover, holding two Lexington Kinetic Handguns.

A burst of gunfire rang out, sending bullets flying everywhere.

Mann's team and the Animal Gang exchanged furious fire.

Although Mann's team was at a disadvantage in firepower, none of them had been injured so far.

More than ten Animal Gang members, however, had already gone down.

Just then, a new development suddenly emerged.

Two vans came speeding down the passage outside.

One of them seemed to be going too fast for the driver's skill. It slammed into two Animal Gang members who failed to dodge in time.

The van swerved and stopped between the Animal Gang and Mann's team.

The other van stopped a little farther away.

With the vans as cover, the remaining Animal Gang members immediately came under much less pressure.

They were no longer being suppressed by firepower as they had been before.

Instead, they could hide behind the vehicle and fire with calm precision.

"Damn it, they're going to escape... Fuck! I knew they couldn't be trusted!"

It wasn't that Mann didn't trust Su Xiao and the other two.

He simply didn't trust anyone outside his own team.

The leader had already reached the other van. He threw down the corpse he had been holding, opened the door, and climbed into the passenger seat.

Mann wanted to rush out and stop him, but Dorio held him down tightly.

"Get down, Mann! Do you have a death wish?"

With the van as cover, the Animal Gang's fire became much more accurate. It was clearly on an entirely different level from before.

Mann clenched his teeth so hard that blood seeped through the gaps.

He stared fixedly at the van where the Animal Gang leader had already taken his seat.

His heart was filled with conflicting emotions.

But more than anything, he felt frustration and unwillingness to accept the outcome.

"Drive! Hurry up! Get us out of here!"

The leader kept his eyes fixed on the rearview mirror.

Seeing Mann's team try several times to stop them, only to be suppressed by his men's firepower, eased his mind somewhat.

But for the great weight in his heart to truly lift, they still had to leave and return to their hideout.

The driver nodded.

Then he slammed his foot down on the accelerator.

Suddenly, something splashed onto his face.

His face felt wet.

His eyes instinctively narrowed.

The driver quickly brought the van to a stop.

He kept wiping his face with both hands.

Only then could he finally open his eyes a little.

Then he froze.

His hands were covered in blood.

The driver turned around in disbelief.

The leader sitting in the passenger seat had already been blown apart beyond recognition.

Even the leader's brain matter had been blasted everywhere.

The driver's face filled with horror.

He had even forgotten to wipe away the filth that had splattered onto himself.

Only then did the shocking gunshot ring out from far away.

Su Xiao pulled back the bolt.

A hot, brass-colored shell casing fell to the ground.

It struck the floor with a crisp sound.

Thin wisps of white smoke still curled from it.

Then came the second shot.

The driver, who had recovered and was trying to open the door and escape, was killed.

The driver's corpse fell straight from the seat.

Like a torn sack, it hit the ground with a slap and lay motionless.

The entire scene immediately fell silent.

What had just been a battlefield filled with gunfire was now utterly quiet.

Everyone's eyes focused on the leader's body, which had been blown beyond recognition.

They couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath.

With the leader dead, the remaining Animal Gang members no longer had any desire to keep fighting.

The Animal Gang, who had been full of fighting spirit just moments ago, had their morale collapse and scattered like frightened animals.

Su Xiao naturally wouldn't miss the chance to kick them while they were down.

Like shooting ducks, he casually cut down the fleeing Animal Gang members.

Only after the remaining Animal Gang members were about to disappear from sight did Su Xiao glance at the Potential Points he had gained.

Satisfied, he stowed the "Ice Storm" sniper rifle.

Then he called V and Jack over and went to join up with Mann's team.

Mann's face reddened slightly, and guilt welled up inside him.

When Su Xiao and the others had failed to appear for so long, Mann had mistakenly assumed they had abandoned the team and fled.

The truth, however, was exactly the opposite.

The key to leaving the Animal Gang leader alive and completing the mission had been Su Xiao and the others.

Without them, the Animal Gang leader would have escaped, and the mission would have failed along with him.

"Is this 'Ice Storm'? My god, I heard this gun isn't something just anyone can use."

Rebecca's eyes moved back and forth between the "Ice Storm" sniper rifle and Su Xiao's arm.

She tilted her head slightly.

That adorably tiny brain of hers simply couldn't imagine how an arm like that could withstand such tremendous recoil.

Dorio's voice came from behind them.

"Enough. I don't know if you've noticed, but there are corpses everywhere. If you want to chat, do it somewhere else."

"Dorio's right. Let's get out of here first."

Mann waved his hand. "Sasha, go get the car ready."

Sasha nodded and hurried outside.

"Let's leave first. As for the celebration, we'll hold it at a bar in Santo Domingo. If you don't mind, I'll send you the address later."

"Okay."

After Su Xiao and the other two left, Mann went to the dead Animal Gang leader's corpse and took several photos from different angles.

Then he sent them to Faraday.

"Mann, the car is ready."

"I'm coming."

Mann was about to leave when the corner of his eye caught something strange about the Animal Gang leader's clothing.

The Animal Gang's bodies might be the most exaggerated in all of Night City.

That was why they usually wore clothes that showed off their bulging biceps.

But this Animal Gang leader had used a loose trench coat to wrap his outrageously massive body up tightly.

Wasn't that like wearing fine clothes while walking through the night unseen?

If it had been anyone else, they might not have paid much attention.

But Mann still climbed through the car window, pulled up the leader's sleeve, and examined it.

Beneath the sleeve was a massive arm.

Even by Animal Gang standards, it was far too large.

The muscles were knotted like those of a calf.

Mann pulled out a small knife.

He stabbed it into the Animal Gang leader's arm.

Not a single drop of blood flowed.

But the sensation transmitted through the knife was wrong.

Mann cut open the skin of the arm.

Then...

His eyes widened.