Things were starting to spiral out of control-
Lier couldn't figure out why Arasaka was intercepting them.
If it was just Militech agents moonlighting, all they had to do was scare those greedy bastards off-the agents were doing private jobs, and the company wouldn't turn a blind eye if something went wrong.
But now things were different-who knew what the hell had gotten into Arasaka!
Jackie thought Arasaka was stopping them because of what was in the trunk, but that didn't sound right to Lier-
That thing was just a lizard. It wasn't worth picking a fight with Militech over!
They could only be here for them! But what made them so valuable?
This wasn't the time to think about that, though. If there had been a first wave, there would definitely be a second!
The drones chased them like a swarm of flies, and Lier could already see more Arasaka vehicles heading their way!
"We can't get away unless we take out those drones!" Jackie shouted. "What do we do now?"
V fired at the drones while shouting toward the driver's seat, "Come on, use those invincible hacking skills of yours and figure something out!"
"Trying to get us killed? I'm working on it!"
It wasn't that Lier didn't want to use the same method he'd used back in Atlanta. The problem was that everything had lined up perfectly for him then.
He'd seized the opening when Militech's troops crossed a network boundary and forced his way in. This time was different: the corporate dogs had ICE equipped-a network firewall.
With the Sandevistan in his spine, Lier could unleash several times, even dozens of times, an ordinary person's processing power. He could even chip data blocks off the Blackwall.
But the sheer computation required to brute-force corporate ICE was enough to fry a hacker's brain. Sure, the company's standard ICE had long since been cracked by the experts, but Lier wasn't one of them!
That kind of brute-force hacking wouldn't work on ICE!
Still, he wasn't completely out of options-if he couldn't solve it through the network, he'd solve it physically!
Lier gritted his teeth and decided to try something bold.
He would split his attention: his cyber-eye would connect to the vehicle's cameras to help the smart shotgun lock onto targets, while his biological eye handled driving!
No sooner thought than done-
[Warning: disabling visual system synchronization will cause visual tearing, resulting in vomiting, nausea, or even fainting. If you have additional cybernetic implants, it may trigger cyberpsychosis.] [Disable visual synchronization?] [Disabled.]
Processing two images at once felt like tearing his brain apart.
In fact, when using cyberware systems to control cameras and similar devices, most people kept their bodies completely still.
That was because the human mind struggled to split its attention, especially when operating something outside the body!
[Mental distortion caused by the separation of sensory and motor nerves detected.] [Eliminate?] [Eliminated.]
His vision split into two different worlds. Lier felt as though his brain had been torn in half!
The car suddenly swerved across the road, nearly throwing V out. She cursed, "Do you even know how to drive?"
"You'd better hold tight. We're... holy shit-"
Before Lier could finish, he threw the car into a drifting turn-
Bang!
In the back seat, the hulking Jackie slammed into a seat with a sharp crack.
"Now what?" Jackie had had enough, too.
"See for yourselves!"
They both looked back-an enormous armored vehicle was advancing along the road they'd just been heading down-
A Militech Basilisk!
All three went pale. Even with a swarm of drones chasing them, they had to turn back!
The instant they turned, the drone swarm visibly hesitated. The Arasaka agents pursuing them were even more taken aback.
But a deafening blast soon snapped them out of their confusion!
Boom!
The shell easily punched through several drones overhead, sending wreckage raining down!
The Basilisk's main gun jolted everyone into action. V gripped the Eight-Star Shotgun on the roof and fired wildly-
"Out of the way! Out of the way!"
Lier and the others were now truly trapped in the middle: the Basilisk on one side, Arasaka's agents and drones on another, and Militech's agents on the third!
The three forces formed a triangle, with Lier's group caught at its center!
From a distance, the Militech agents repeated their usual spiel:
"You are transporting company assets. We repeat, you are transporting company assets and are suspected of smuggling. We will use force against you.
All uninvolved personnel must withdraw, or any injuries will be considered collateral damage during enforcement."
Arasaka brought out a loudspeaker of its own. "We have evidence that this vehicle is carrying Arasaka property. Stop for inspection. We reserve the right to use force!"
You think Arasaka's a pushover? Go ahead, have that Basilisk wipe us all out. Let's start a war!
"What are they doing?" Jackie and V asked at the same time.
"They're issuing liability disclaimers! They're about to open fire!" Lier gritted his teeth. "Neither side's going to hold fire. We're in the middle of a battlefield!"
Boom!
Two rockets launched by Arasaka came straight at them. V pulled the trigger, and the smart shotgun destroyed the rockets in midair like a missile-defense system!
That maneuver seemed to further convince the Arasaka convoy that Lier's group was their target. The leaders exchanged nods-but the Basilisk would fire, too!
Boom!
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By now, Lier's group was very close to the Arasaka convoy. He'd activated his Sandevistan the moment he split his vision, and now he made a sharp turn-
The shell slammed into an Arasaka vehicle!
Lier shouted, "Now this is getting fun-we're going right through the middle! V, use the Eight-Star Shotgun and fire as fast as you can! I've removed the fire-rate limiter. I'll handle targeting!"
He was going to drive straight between the Arasaka and Militech agents!
The two worlds in his mind spun at a furious pace. One was filled with gunfire; the other showed him every direction through the vehicle's cameras-
He had the entire battlefield in view!
"Are you trying to get us killed?" Jackie had gone pale, but V looked thrilled. In her world, time was slowing down!
"Jackie, the magazine! Take it out and give it to me, quick!" V reached toward Jackie for the Eight-Star Shotgun's magazine. Now it was do or die!
On Arasaka's side, an agent shouted, "Boss! Are we still doing this? At this rate, we'll hit Militech's people!"
"Fucking shoot! We have to take down the people in that car!"
His immediate superior had ordered him to spare no effort in obtaining the details of Militech's incident in Atlanta!
He couldn't let even the slightest lead slip away!
The same conversation was taking place on Militech's side. The rank and file were scared, uncertain whether they should open fire indiscriminately!
Their leader was in much the same position, though. He knew that if he failed to produce results, his abuse of company resources for personal business would be exposed. He'd be finished!
In the end, the leaders on both sides reached exactly the same conclusion-
If they failed to stop the people in that car after putting in so much effort, they would take all the blame!
The car cut through the gap between the two convoys like a sharp blade.
V felt the whole world slow down. She saw the drones, the Basilisk, the agents-every armed unit-swing their weapons toward them.
Rockets, high-explosive rounds, the Basilisk's cannon fire, and ordinary bullets poured down on them like rain-actual rain!
Lier activated his Sandevistan in sync with her, pushing the smart weapon's processing power to its limit!
In that moment, the two moved in perfect unison-
Boom!
A violent explosion.
A violent explosion erupted between the two forces. Stray rounds scattered like a shower of petals into the opposing ranks, followed by even more explosions.
Nobody could make out what happened in that instant. All they heard were countless explosions!
A second later, almost no one was left standing on either side-
Burning drones rained down, flaming fragments drifted through the air, and wreckage littered the ground.
They shouted their colleagues' names, terror sweeping through their hearts-
This was a battlefield now!
Whoosh! Clang-
That battered little Viper burst through the smoke and waves of flame. Perhaps a small mound had launched it slightly into the air; its wheels hit the ground with a clang.
It rattled toward the Badlands before anyone could react-
The Arasaka agent in charge staggered to his feet after surviving the catastrophe. His ID badge read: Arasaka Counterintelligence.
Half his suit had been blasted away, exposing his augmented flesh. He looked around in a daze. Across from him, someone on Militech's side happened to stand up, looking just as bewildered.
Were they still fighting?
Militech might have had a slight advantage. They still had the Basilisk, after all.
But... they hadn't come here to wage war on another corporation, had they?
Both men swallowed, their thoughts racing. At last, in silent agreement, they mouthed the same word-
"Kang Tao."
So what had happened in that instant?
First, Jackie had swiftly removed the magazine from the Eight-Star Shotgun beside him and handed it to V.
Then V had torn away the rope securing the Eight-Star Shotgun, reloaded three times, and pulled the trigger fourteen times.
As a shotgun, the Eight-Star Shotgun fired eight pellets with every shot.
As a smart weapon, each round fired by the Eight-Star Shotgun would strike the user's chosen target under the guidance of its central controller.
And as a prototype weapon, the Eight-Star Shotgun used pellets capable of small-scale explosions.
In other words, V had fired 112 smart high-explosive rounds in that single instant.
Under Lier's calculations, sixteen of those 112 high-explosive rounds flew toward rockets that might hit them, detonating them in midair. The resulting lateral shock waves disrupted the paths of other rounds, especially lighter bullets, keeping the Viper from being shot full of holes.
Thirty flew toward the shell fired by the Basilisk and detonated along its path, deflecting it so that it blasted a huge crater beside the Viper.
Twelve pellets flew toward drones that might be hit by stray rounds, thirty struck drones untouched by the crossfire, and another twenty flew toward the fuel tanks of the vehicles on either side, piercing their outer armor and triggering explosions.
The final four delivered follow-up strikes, suppressing and wounding two extraordinarily lucky agents-because neither had been hit by a stray round.
Of the tasks involved in pulling this off, Jackie's was naturally the easiest: removing a magazine. Next came V's reloading and shooting.
But the most crucial role belonged to Lier, who entered the data and determined how to fire in a single instant.
After completing its firing and receiving its transmitted commands, the gun blew apart under the strain of such intense shooting.
Only the two leaders caught a glimpse of what had happened-they also had Kerenzikov implants, allowing them to see a little of what occurred in that instant.
From their perspective, the weapon had burst apart with a bang, and then smart rounds had launched like swarm missiles, striking their intended targets.
They had bloomed in the night sky like fireworks. Unfortunately, it was their people and equipment that burned away.
They couldn't perform high-speed calculations like Lier, but they still reached an unspoken agreement after calculating their own circumstances.
Right.
This had been a joint operation between Arasaka and Militech. They had uncovered Kang Tao's secret weapon.
That's right. Kang Tao.
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