Commander! The car is ready!

PS: The author knows the correct Chinese spelling of "shotgun," but those three characters trigger the content filter, so an alternative spelling is used in the text.

Chapter 31: Commander! The car is ready!

Lying on the ground, Mann glared at Dorio as she loaded rounds into the cylinder of the Large Caliber Revolver.

"What are you doing?"

"Saving your life. You're welcome."

A red glow lit up Sasha's eyes.

The neural port on the back of an Animal Gang member's neck suddenly crackled with sparks.

He collapsed, his entire body convulsing.

Sasha had hacked into his cyberware, triggering an Electromagnetic Short Circuit.

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

"Hey, asshole!"

Rebecca popped out from behind cover with a "Lexington" Kinetic Handgun in each hand.

She unleashed a burst of shots, sending bullets flying.

Mann's crew and the Animal Gang traded furious gunfire.

Despite being outgunned, Mann's crew had yet to suffer any casualties.

More than a dozen Animal Gang members had already fallen.

Just then, the situation suddenly changed.

Two vans came racing down the passage outside.

One driver apparently lacked the skill to handle that speed and ran down two Animal Gang members who failed to dodge in time.

The van swerved to a stop between the Animal Gang and Mann's crew.

The other stopped a little farther away.

With the van providing cover, the remaining Animal Gang members found themselves under far less pressure.

They no longer had to rely on suppressive fire as they had before.

Instead, they could hide behind the vehicle and take their time lining up accurate shots.

"Shit, they're getting away... Damn it! Fuck! I knew we couldn't count on them!"

It wasn't that Mann distrusted Su Xiao and his two companions specifically.

He distrusted everyone outside his own crew.

He watched the leader run up to the other van, drop the corpse he had been holding up, open the door, and climb into the passenger seat.

Mann tried to rush out and stop him, but Dorio pinned him down.

"Stay down, Mann! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

With the van as cover, the Animal Gang's shooting became far more accurate. Their firepower was on an entirely different level now.

Mann clenched his teeth so hard that blood seeped between them.

He stared fixedly at the van the Animal Gang leader had climbed into.

A jumble of emotions churned inside him.

But frustration and resentment overwhelmed everything else.

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

The leader kept his eyes on the rearview mirror.

He saw Mann's crew make several attempts to stop them.

Each time, his men pinned them down with gunfire.

He felt a little more at ease.

But he wouldn't truly breathe easy until he got out of here and returned to his base.

The driver nodded.

He stomped on the accelerator.

Suddenly, something splashed onto his face.

His face was wet.

His eyes instinctively narrowed.

The driver hurriedly stopped the van.

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 his head in disbelief.

He saw that the leader in the passenger seat had quite literally lost his head.

Even the leader's brain matter had splattered

everywhere.

The driver stared in horror.

He even forgot to wipe away the gore splashed onto him.

Only then did the thunderous gunshot reach him from the distance.

Su Xiao worked the bolt.

A hot, gleaming brass casing fell to the ground.

It landed with a crisp clink.

Wisps of white smoke still curled off it.

Then came the second shot.

It killed the driver, who had recovered enough to try opening the door and escaping.

The driver's corpse toppled straight out of his seat.

Like a ragged sack, it hit the ground with a thud and lay motionless.

The entire area instantly fell quiet.

The battlefield, filled with flying bullets just a moment ago, now fell completely silent.

Everyone's gaze settled on the leader's now-headless body.

They couldn't help drawing a sharp breath.

With their leader dead, the remaining Animal Gang members lost all desire to keep fighting.

The Animal Gang members who had been so eager to fight just moments earlier now broke and scattered in every direction.

Naturally, Su Xiao wasn't about to pass up the chance to kick them while they were down.

As easily as shooting ducks, he picked off the fleeing Animal Gang members.

Only when the survivors were about to disappear from view did he stop.

Su Xiao glanced at the potential points he had earned.

Satisfied, he put away the "Ice Storm" sniper rifle.

He called V and Jack over, then went to regroup with Mann's crew.

Mann's face flushed slightly, guilt washing over him.

When Su Xiao and the others had failed to show up earlier, Mann had mistakenly assumed they had abandoned his crew and fled.

The truth had been exactly the opposite.

Su Xiao and his companions had been the ones to stop the Animal Gang leader-the key to completing the job.

Without them, the Animal Gang leader would have escaped, and the job would have failed.

"Is that an 'Ice Storm'? Holy shit, I heard not just anyone can use that gun."

Rebecca's gaze darted back and forth between the "Ice Storm" sniper rifle and Su Xiao's arms.

She tilted her head slightly.

That ridiculously cute little head of hers simply couldn't figure out how arms like his could withstand such powerful recoil.

Dorio's voice came from behind them.

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

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

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

Sasha nodded and hurried outside.

"Let's leave first. We'll hold the celebration at our bar in Santo Domingo. If you're interested, I'll send you the address later."

"Sure."

After Su Xiao and his two companions left, Mann went over to the dead Animal Gang leader and took several pictures from different angles.

Then he sent them to Faraday.

"Mann, the car's ready."

"I'm coming."

Mann was about to leave when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something off about the Animal Gang leader's clothing.

The Animal Gang probably had the most exaggerated physiques in all of Night City.

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

Yet this Animal Gang leader had wrapped his outrageously massive body tightly in a loose trench coat.

What was the point of having all that muscle if nobody could see it?

Anyone else might not have given it much thought.

But Mann climbed through the window into the van and pulled back the leader's sleeve to take a look.

An enormous arm emerged from beneath the sleeve.

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

Its bulging muscles were as big as a calf.

Mann took out a small knife.

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

Not a single drop of blood came out.

But the sensation through the knife felt wrong.

Mann sliced open the skin on the arm.

Then...

His eyes went wide.