The Nekomata tech sniper rifle

"Director Cai, the vehicles have entered the main road. We're about to pass through the checkpoint."

"Understood. Stay alert. Director Zhu still doesn't know what happened. This shipment is extremely important."

"Roger."

In the Kang Tao convoy, Cai Pin lit one cigarette after another.

Calling it a convoy was generous. There were only two vehicles, and to avoid drawing attention, the team's visible security presence was minimal.

No AVs, no drones, just two Villefort Columbus V340s-cheap, modified armored vans. Stripped of their Kang Tao livery, they looked like ordinary vans. Their only advantage was the ample space inside.

By now, Cai Pin couldn't stop cursing Zhu Shen. To fool the enemy, you have to fool your own people first? What kind of brain-dead bullshit was that?

He'd fooled his own people, but not me, the one who mattered, and he'd even given me an opening. What good was that strategy?

Useless.

Still, the fact that the APD hadn't found Zhu Shen's body yet made her uneasy. Were those kidney-harvesting bastards really that good?

The APD had raided two of their hideouts in a row, and they still hadn't found Zhu Shen's body?

If they were that fucking capable, should the company's operations division recruit its field personnel from the Scavengers?

But Zhu Shen's signal had never come back online. She only felt something was off; she had no concrete evidence that anyone was targeting her.

Ding-

Her phone rang. Cai Pin answered, her voice low. "I've already left. Where will your people take over?"

"Once you're past the Checkpoint, you'll see us. Still no word from your boss?"

"No-" Cai Pin checked the little loose end she'd left behind. That ordinary employee named Zhu Ranran had finished her work and fallen asleep.

If Zhu Shen really came back alive, he certainly wouldn't spare an employee of that rank any consideration. Either an alarm would sound, or Zhu Ranran would die.

No alarm from the office. No alarm from the database. No alarm from the safeguard she'd left behind.

Nothing had happened.

"Everything's normal, apart from those Scavengers being surprisingly good at hiding, and that merc being surprisingly stupid."

Clack-

The massive checkpoint gate rose.

The checkpoint had two gates. Once the convoy drove through the first, it was sealed inside.

The narrow space was packed with heavy machine-gun turrets. Anyone with a brain wouldn't try to resist.

But anyone who bypassed the checkpoint and tried to break through the border would face relentless pursuit by heavily armed forces.

All manner of ray and sonar scans activated. The transport crew's cyberware would also undergo comprehensive scanning.

Cai Pin kept herself as calm as possible, as though she were transporting an ordinary shipment.

"Scan cleared."

The checkpoint gate rose, and Cai Pin smiled.

It worked.

"I'm through the checkpoint."

"Good. Keep driving. We'll have eyes on you any moment."

The convoy raced down the road, passing car after car as it headed toward Mexico City.

After a little over an hour, Cai Pin spotted the motel in the distance.

"I see you. Get ready to hand over the shipment."

Upon receiving the call, Cai Pin issued an order to the convoy. "Prepare to stop for a break."

Her voice was calm, but Cai Pin's heart was anything but.

Once the deal was done, she'd receive a huge sum of money, escape fucking Kang Tao, and head to Europe!

Besides that particular shipment, the vehicles carried several Kang Tao Prototype Weapons. She could sell those to the Europeans while she was at it. Together with her payment for this job, that would be enough to spend the rest of her life enjoying herself in Europe!

As for... what would happen to the rest of the convoy, that was harder to say.

Cai Pin drew her A-22B Shingen pistol, reflecting that she was about to use a Kang Tao weapon to kill Kang Tao personnel.

The next instant, a shout came over the comms:

"Goddammit! Cai! You didn't even fucking realize you were being followed?!"

Bang!

The deafening report nearly blew out her hearing. The driver's head exploded!

The Nekomata tech sniper rifle was the weapon that had made Tsunami Defense Systems famous. Charged by six electromagnetic acceleration arrays mounted along its two sides, its Tungsten Nail Rounds could easily penetrate thick walls and armor, shattering Titanium Skeletons.

No one could rest easy in the face of the Nekomata's devastating power, so sales of the rifle were tightly regulated.

Unless they worked for a government or a major corporation, mercs had almost no chance of getting their hands on one.

"Now that's a technological miracle!"

The bullet streaked through the air trailing electricity and punched straight through both armored vans!

One van went out of control, plowed headfirst into a roadside rock, and exploded!

Lier threw up his arms and cheered. Power that terrifying really got the blood pumping!

The van in front lurched violently and nearly flew off the road, but quickly swerved back onto it.

V had the Nekomata braced through the sunroof. She raised an arm above the roof and whooped:

"I hit it! See?! I told you I could hit it with my eyes closed!"

Lier shouted, "I saw! One vehicle down, two Combat Robots and one driver offline! Watch the one up ahead! There's still a machine gunner!"

Inside the car, Zhu Shen was driving, just as worked up. He wished that shot had hit Cai Pin, but he still needed the van intact.

"Watch out! They've got heavy firepower in there!"

"They're shooting? I'll give the fucker another round-"

Bang!

Both sides fired almost simultaneously. Dense machine-gun fire shredded the rear doors of the Kang Tao transport van, and a rain of bullets poured across the highway!

Lier's side sent only a single bullet toward the Kang Tao van!

Thwack!

The bullet merely grazed the machine gunner's shoulder, but its terrifying kinetic energy blasted a massive hole clean through it!

V shouted excitedly, "Woohoo! I feel like time's slowing down! A whole fucking lot!"

Lier yelled, "Don't fucking go cyberpsycho on me! Heavy gunfire sends your adrenaline through the roof and boosts your Kerenzikov's efficiency! Watch out!"

The medic beside the gunner reacted instantly, whipping out an injector and plunging it straight into the gunner's heart!

Roaring, the machine gunner actually steadied the weapon with just one hand!

Screech-

Zhu Shen wrenched the wheel, abruptly changing lanes. The terrifying machine-gun fire easily tore apart the rear half of their van's cargo compartment!

But while Zhu Shen was an excellent driver, the unlucky bastard beside them wasn't. Bullets swept across a small sedan like a swarm of locusts, shearing its roof clean off!

Boom!

The unlucky driver perished in the flames. Lier worked rapidly on the tablet in his hands. Nott might not have sent anyone along, but he'd provided a full complement of equipment.

There were several Demons on the tablet. Lier was going to use hacking, and his target was the Kang Tao medic trying to stabilize the machine gunner!

Countless lines of protocol code flashed across the tablet. Zhu Shen spun the steering wheel, watching anxiously.

"I told you that you should've installed an operating system!"

Lier said nothing. He rapidly cracked the target's defenses, the upload progress climbing faster and faster!

"Got it-the NUSA-Exclusive Daemon!"

[First protocol breach completed]

[First Demon upload completed]

[You have mastered a practical technique: Network Hacking (beginner)]

[Tech points +150]

[Current tech points: 176]

Demons were equivalent to viruses in the real world, but here, "Magic of the Cyberworld" was a more fitting description!

This Demon caused enemy cyberware to malfunction, affecting both the medic and the machine gunner!

The heavy machine gun's rain of bullets suddenly swept skyward. Their van quickly steadied, and V immediately settled into position.

"Come on, asshole."

Bang!

The machine gun fell silent for good. V fired another shot, blowing out the van's tire. The Kang Tao vehicle left a long skid mark across the pavement before sliding off the highway with a bang and crashing into a large rock!

V shouted excitedly, "Woohoo! That felt fucking amazing! Beating the shit out of corpo dogs!"

"Save the celebration! Get your gear ready. Cai Pin's still alive, and this job isn't over." Lier tapped the roof, then said to Zhu Shen, "All right, we're clear now. Do you want to kill her yourself, or should we do it for you?

"If she has combat cyberware, I'd recommend letting us handle it."

"Pleasure working with you, kid. You'd better come up with a handle, though. Calling you that feels strange, and I don't mean to look down on you.

"I'm killing that woman myself. She has no combat cyberware. Absolutely none."

"No problem. Your call. But we should open the cargo compartment and check the shipment. We can handle that."

"Cai Pin dies first."

Zhu Shen checked his pistol, then got out and walked toward the van's front seats.

Clack-bang.

As Zhu Shen approached step by step, a woman struggled to pry open the deformed door, then shakily crawled out from beneath the overturned van.

"Cough... cough... I never thought... you'd manage to turn this around."

Cai Pin's face was covered in blood. Half of it had been mangled, exposing the mechanical structure beneath, sparks flickering inside.

Her shapely body had been twisted and deformed by the impact and the crushing wreckage. Her pretty face now looked utterly horrifying.

Her smile was bleak and hopeless.

It was puzzling. She was the one who had driven Zhu Shen into a corner, yet somehow it felt as though she were the one he'd been relentlessly hunting down.

Just like the life she'd always lived.

"Why?" Zhu Shen asked.

"Why?" Cai Pin echoed, her laughter growing ever more crazed. "Hahahaha... haha! You're asking me why?

"You never treated me like a person! Just a walking fleshlight! Look at the cyberware in my body! I installed all of it to please you!

"Do I only exist to please you? Why?!

"I'm going to destroy you! I'll make you writhe in hell because of an insignificant cripple like me, with no escape for all eternity!"

"That's all?" Zhu Shen's expression didn't change. "How disappointing."

Cai Pin's crazed smile concealed the blue light that flashed through her Cyber-Eye.