Night Wandering Ghost Camp.
Bang!
A dark grey bionic arm punched a solid steel punching bag so hard it deformed and flew into the air.
The chunk of iron flew up then fell back down; the man dodged sideways before throwing another punch, as if he were in a boxing match.
One punch, two punches, three punchesâ
Boom!
The accumulated kinetic energy snapped the iron chain, sending the bag flying high and smashing into a cement plantâs steel pillar, the sound echoing throughout the facility.
"Too bad, those Wanderers are quite formidable. We canât play the long game anymore."
Bowen, nearly two meters tall with a blue Mohawk.
Both of his arms had been modified, customized with top-notch bionic fibers, and integrated with micro fuel engines and bioelectric motor systems, evenly and sensibly distributed throughout his arms.
Truly, when these arms got serious, punching through bulletproof steel plates wasnât out of the questionâ
But the arms were only locally modified, the rest of his body couldnât actually withstand such stress.
Bowen relaxed his body, turned to a subordinate nearby, and asked, "When did that guy called Justice Jotaro from the city say the next delivery was due?"
"He said everythingâs ready, just waiting for the cops and Military Science to give the green light."
"Thatâs goodâ" Bowen licked his lips, "Motherfucker, these days finding a couple of fresh young kids isnât easy."
This time he really made a killing: Military Technology had provided them with a lot of supplies to kill with.
As it turned out, he barely had to use any of the supplies, yet Military Technology still had to get their own hands dirtyâ
He won twice over!
Now, all he needed to do was to get rid of the surplus military supplies on the black market and make a fortune, then buy some fun stuff...
Motherfucker, this is the life!
Right as this sick fuck was pondering how to enjoy Military Scienceâs supplies, an anxious voice from one of the lackeys came from outside the plant:
"Boss! Boss!! A convoyâs coming!"
Bowenâs brow furrowedâThe shouting lackey appeared at the warehouse door with a bang, moving too fast and slamming into the door.
"What the fuck? You sure?"
"Iâm sure! Saw it clear as day with the Military Technology drones... looks like itâs Adkaduo!"
"Adkaduo? You fucking kidding me, Military Technology has them pinned down at Stone Ridge Mountain, and youâre telling me thereâs an Adkaduo convoy coming here?
You high on something, seeing ghostsâoh wait, we are the ghosts!"
"Hahahahaâ"
"For real! Iâm goingâ"
Zap!
The drone display screen on the lackeyâs head suddenly exploded open!
Bowen couldnât make fun of the situation any longer!
His face went through rapid changes, and he immediately dialed the Military Technology contactâs number!
...
In the Military Technology office, Mercedes had already stopped thinkingâ
She found herself in the exact same predicament as her former colleagues in the city center:
If you accused them of being careless, the truth was theyâd already leveraged the maximum extent of their resources to achieve a goal.
But it was precisely in the process of achieving this goal, they would find that the enemy could respond with a much harder approach.
Itâs as if they had never considered that it was the city center, never considered it was a gathering place for Super Corporations, never considered what the consequences of such an attack on the company would be.
The critical point was, they actually won every time!
Now what?
She had no troops left at her disposal, the nearest were the Military Technology border troops stationed at the borderâ
Those troops couldnât be moved, nor would they listen to her...
Even if they did listen to her, where would she find those Wanderers?!
[New message from: Night Wandering Ghost]
Bowen: Fuckâs sake, does Military Technology just sit on their asses! You let them get away?!
Mercedes stared at the message box that popped up as if it were a lifelineâ
This was her last chance! An idea flashed through her mind:
If Bowen used Nash as bait, she could use Bowen as bait too, no matter what, she must eliminate them!
Mercedes: Theyâve already gone?
Bowen: Yeah, theyâve come over! Motherfucker, send some backup quick, I lost dozens of brothers today!
Mercedes: Youâre quite bold, but Iâd say please when your ass is on fire.
Bowen: My ass on fire? Youâre the one with your ass on fire! If I die, which dumb fuck in Evil Land would still want to work with Military Technology?
Bowen: If Iâm dead, all of Evil Land will know youâre useless. I donât know what will happen to Military Technology, but youâll definitely end up buried in toxic water!
Mercedesâ blood pressure soared, but she still tried to stay calm.
Mercedes: Listen up, Iâve uploaded a batch of new driver upgrades for that military technology gear you received, as well as methods for firmware upgrades.
Mercedes: Donât get wiped out in an instant, weâre almost there.
Bowen: Thatâs more like itâdamn it, youâve got to hurry up. How the hell did you let them get away?
Mercedes cut off the communication directly; she had no desire to chat further with Night Wandering Ghostâs slick talker.
On the other hand: How could the video of the military technology being ambushed get out?
She wasnât a fool.
But she forgotâhow could Bowen prepare for a firefight without knowing the firepower of Adkaduoâs Team?
Mercedes was an agent by trainingâwhen it came to commanding battles, she definitely had a scholarly approach.
The kind that had barely used relevant knowledge since leaving the academy.
Moreover, the most pressing issue now was that both Night Wandering Ghost and Adkaduo had to die!
Night Wandering Ghost had gotten hold of the companyâs internal control drivers, while Adkaduo had caused huge damage to the companyâs image; it was her duty to deal with it!
With no one at her disposal, she tricked the people from the border checkpointâ
How to trick the colleagues at the border checkpoint?
She confirmed the status of the fugitive and passed it off as official intelligence to the border checkpointâs commander.
She had no evidenceâshe had to rely on deceit.
Fake evidence was circulated internally in the company, and the task of capturing the fugitive was assigned to the border checkpoint commander.
Identifying the target was a merit in itself.
As long as they could catch the person and confirm that it was the recent Class-A fugitive, even if something was discovered later on, it would not lead to being thrown into the sea... probably.
"Damn it... they must be the fugitives."
Mercedes took a deep drag of her cigarette, then smashed it on the groundâthis time, she was going in herself.
[Military Technology Internal Notice]
[Class-A Fugitive: Hamburger King Trafficking Big Shots]
[Sighting Information: Evil Land]
[Current Status: Fleeing to the border, possibly aware of undocumented smuggling channels]
[Requesting support.]
[Military Technology Internal Affairs System Outcome:]
[Border armored units join in the manhunt.]
...
"Quick, quick, quick, equip this batch of goodsâtwo people over here, two people, the new prosthetics and drivers from Military Technology, to install them is to strike it rich!"
The entire Night Wandering Ghost camp was mobilizedâat a time when the boss was still alive and had not crumbled, their efficiency was quite high.
Bowen was holding a Saratoga submachine gun, shouting at the top of his lungs and flailing his armsâ
When a shorty passed by him, he immediately dragged him back:
"You, head over to the retrofitting room, get you fitted with something nice."
The little brother chuckled nervously, about to speak...
Smack!
Bowen slapped him, still with a smile on his face, making it seem like a kind big brother was earnestly advising a junior.
"Listen up, Military Technology firmware, once itâs installed, you can use the badass Centaur Mecha."
The little brother no longer dared to speak, nodding frantically, cowering in Bowenâs arms like a startled little animal.
"Thatâs it, off you goânext one, Centaur Mechas worth hundreds of thousands a set, the fully unlocked version from Military Technology, try them all!"
With that, Bowen grabbed another person, and the three of them went into the prosthetics retrofit room.
"Just the two of you left. Once this ordeal is over, youâll be the second-in-command. Ever seen a Centaur Mecha?"
Bowen pointed at the two large crates that had just been unloaded next to him, then pushed the two towards the operating table.
"In a bit, youâll be inside that thing, wreaking havocâthis is genuine stuff from Military Technology, pinching people like pinching baby chicks. Alright, letâs start the retrofit."
The two swallowed hard, their eyes filled half with excitement and half with fearâ
They half reluctantly lay down on the operating tables, and Bowen gave a secret signal to their prosthetics doctor.
The latter injected a large dose of anesthetic into bothâ
Soon, the two unlucky fellows fell into an infantile sleep.
"Crank the power to the max, use all neural links."
"Boss, this could be risky..."
"I know, so keep the anesthesia coming. If I wake them up, you wake them up again.
By the way, dismantle the cyber receiverâsince the cyber lunatics donât need it, lest it gets hacked by hackers."
The stuff was indeed badass.
But he didnât want to become a lunatic, because becoming one meant getting his dick chopped off, and how would he have kids then?
So, it was better to let his subordinates become the lunatics.
With this in mind, Bowen called out a few times in the channel and rushed to the basement.