"Get on it! Everyone, fucking charge!"
Hovering behind the car and taking a deep breath, Lille waved his hand, summoning his underlings to surge forward using their prosthetics or guns, whichever they had.
Crack!
A loud noise erupted as something slammed into a body, bones and prosthetics crunching under the impact, Lille lifted his head to see one of his underlings slammed by a car door.
He turned and looked up to see Jack tearing off two more car doors, using them as bulletproof shields while charging towards them like a bulldozer!
The Tiger Claw Gangâs heavyweight looked like a sumo wrestler; with a serious expression, he clapped his hands and then braced himselfâ
Bang!
The bulldozer, Jack, collided fiercely with him, and the Tiger Claw Gangâs gunfire halted:
The sumo wrestler was pushed back, the ground cracking under his feet, his robust legs trembling, sparking with electrical energyâ
Crack.
Finally, he steadied himself.
Flushed with exertion, the sumo wrestler was about to counterattack when Jack smashed through the door shield with a punch and sent his chin flying.
The prosthetic chin flew towards the charging members of the Tiger Claw Gang...
They suddenly didnât know what to do.
"Fuck this, retreat... shit!"
Seeing that the situation was dire, Lille attempted to flee, only to discover that the sports car behind him had suddenly started, its engine roaring!
His feet stiffened as if welded to the ground, unable to move, just watching the car catapult him away!
Bang!
Although an enemy hacker had uploaded a Magic Doll that impeded mobility, making his prosthetics unresponsive and movement difficult,
while flying through the air, Si Anweisitan significantly enhanced his reaction rate.
Flying high, he saw everything, and now he could see the whole battlefield:
Jack, like a raging bull, was charging towards him, his underlings already starting to abandon their gear and flee.
In the distance, a woman wielding a Mantis Blade was slashing at his female ninja, who was parrying with her swordâ
but behind her, the ground was littered with broken weapons and dead female ninjas.
Then, as Lille spun around in the air, he saw at the center of the market, atop a small building, a hacker with data light flickering in his eyes, clearly directing the battlefield.
The hacker was holding a Dian Type Submachine Gun, bullets forming a continuous stream headed his way...
"Now Iâm totally fucked."
Bang!
Time returned to normal, and a burst of electromagnetic pulse exploded in the air, Lille crashed to the ground, a bloody mess, but still breathing.
Broken blades flew off, another female ninja was slaughtered, and the remaining members of the Tiger Claw Gang desperately ran, soon blending into the crowd.
Lille reloaded his magazine and stowed the Yinglong back into its case, then walked down the street.
"All right, thatâs it for now. Letâs compile the clues and evidence chain," he said.
...
Ivan had a dream.
In his dream, he was tied to a cross, a man in a white suit standing in pink and purple lighting, fiddling with a console.
"Ah, Ivan, Ivan, Iâve been good to you, even paid you a salary, so why did you betray me..."
"No, no, Mr. Jotaro, it wasnât on purpose, not on purpose!"
"What do you mean ânot on purposeâ? Was it an accident?"
The man in the suit walked up to him, smiling wickedly, seemingly fiddling with something on the cross.
"I really made a mistake, I really know I did, please let me go, I swear..."
"Look at this."
Finally done tinkering, the man in the suit stepped back and then pointed above him.
Trembling, he slowly lifted his head...
Bang!
Suddenly, his sisterâs head dropped down, hanging before him!
Her vacant eyes stared hard at him, her tongue removed, and her mouth still moving...
"Aaaaaaah!"
Snap.
Jack lightly slapped the young man, interrupting the spell, then turned to Lille and said, "Heâs awake."
Ivan stared around blankly, trembling as he looked at his surroundings.
It looked like a street in the Geisha District, covered in graffiti, the air filled with an indescribable stench; dirty and foul-smelling.
But... at least it wasnât as bloody.
Lille sat across from Ivan, "Kid, did Lenny come to you for the goods? Whatâs your name?"
"I... I donât know anything, I donât know anything!"
Ivanâs head shook like a bobblehead, and Lille gave Jack a signal with his eyes.
Then Jack grabbed the kid and turned him around.
Yes, they were still at the market in the Geisha District, on the rooftop next to it.
From here, one could see the entire market.
The NCPD had blocked the streets, identifying the bodiesâall from the Tiger Claw Gang.
Once the NCPD realized the dead were all gang members, they would pack up and leave the bodies to various outsourced body disposal services.
As for their work attitude, they didnât feel troubled for the death of so many people; at most, they felt headache due to the complaints from citizens about the street blockades.
Because in Night City, the death of gang members and criminals wasnât even counted in the death toll.
This kind of precise strike on gang members, with no collateral damage, they wish gangs would fight like this every day, brains splattered would be even better.
Ivan looked on dumbly, "The Tiger Claw Gang... all dead?"
Jack lifted him up again and turned him back around.
Lille spoke, "Yeah, we did it, Iâm currently investigating a case of someone being kidnapped from the streets, and the trail led to you."
"You guys are NCPD?"
"No," Lille shook his head, "Could the NCPD do something like this?"
"No... they couldnât."
Ivan was still somewhat stunned, the nightmare he had just experienced, and the reality in front of him were making it hard for him to comprehend.
But the nightmare...
Ivanâs eyes rapidly refocused, and he suddenly snapped back to reality, "Brothers, please save my sister. The Tiger Claw Gang wonât let us go!
Iâll give you anything you want, I still have 5000 saved up, I have a stall in the Geisha District, and ... and..."
Ivan racked his brain but couldnât think of anything else, while Lille just waved his hand:
"What does your sister do? Is she involved with this too?"
"No, she... she works at the docks, sheâs a legitimate company employee! Please help me, itâs all my fault, itâs all my fault..."
"Enough with that, weâre currently working, we donât have time for that kind of job."
Lilleâs statement almost made Ivan faint, but he quickly added, "However, I can refer you to a mercenary squad, they might be free, depending on your cooperation."
Having been led around the whole time, Ivan didnât think twice, he just vehemently nodded, "Guaranteed cooperation!"
Lille stood up and started to message that mercenary squad.
...
Elsewhere, in Saint Domingo, David, wearing electricianâs goggles, was trying to find the faulty wire among a bundle, then fix the electric cable.
He pulled the cables together and soldered them, speaking through the channel, "Power it up."
Zzzt.
A spark jumped, and the apartmentâs power was back on.
[Sender: Lucy]
[Lucy: Dataâs normal, the property management sent the money, 200 euros each.]
Not bad, after experiencing several thrilling situations, David had began to get back on track.
His mind was filled with what Lille had told him, the feats of conjuring extravagant weapons with ease on the battlefield, and various overpowering thoughtsâ
So now, his routine was, take on some tech-related legal contracts by day, and do some dirty work at night.
However, dirty work wasnât available every day, so tonight, he was also doing electrician work.
[David: I feel like Iâm getting the hang of it.]
[Lucy: Sigh... what is even with your brain? You were talking about doing tough jobs before.]
[David: Learning skills isnât bad, without good techniques, you canât use good gear, and without good gear, tough jobs are a no-go.]
[Lucy: If thatâs really how you thought, you wouldnât have dropped out of Arasaka Academy.]
[David: ...That was then, this is now.]
David jumped out from the maintenance pipeline, just in time, a TV by the roadside was broadcasting news:
"Just moments ago, an intense shootout occurred in the Geisha District..."
The scenes captured on TV made David pause to watch: this was not just intense.
Cars were flipped over, riddled with bullet holes, the road was also pitted, as if smashed by some construction machinery.
Impressed, David clicked his tongue, "What kind of prosthetics could pull off stunts like this?"
[Sender: Burger King]
[Burger King: David, got a job for you.]