armed vehicles, 12 of which belong to the Wanderers.
From the start, they never intended to complete the entire course, not even reaching the next segment of the race. So, when the sandstorm approached, their keen sense of danger in the Evil Land had already alerted them.
The Haboob is a terrifying storm. Even though they are familiar with the Evil Land, the Haboob rarely moves deep into Night City, and they wouldnât be insane enough to race desperately on a restricted road in the midst of such a tempest.
So, as the storm arrived, they departed from the raceway early. Relying on their extensive experience and skirting the edge of the storm, they quickly reached the designated position, ready to proceed with the plan and draw away the Military Technology forces.
One might wonder: Is this kind of show really necessary?
Of course, it is. There must always be room to maneuver, and this is why big companies like to hire Lille for their operations.
What seemed unbelievable to the Adkadios was:
Taking the detour indeed increased the distance, but the speed was somewhat faster.
And since they didnât have to fight and their starting position was quite forward, they almost missed the opportunity to lead away the Military Technology forcesâ
Lilleâs team was too fast.
If they hadnât caught up in time, Lille might have ended up fighting the Military Technology troops.
"Damn, what a pity," Panâan muttered, seated in the vehicle, looking at the Military Technology armored car behind her with regret.
She too wanted to race; she too wanted to reach the very end.
But the Adkadios, after all, werenât the local crazies of Night City, and didnât hold too much obsession with such victories or defeats.
"Stay focused. Even though this is an act, weâre still dealing with Military Technology," Solâs voice came over the intercom.
"Ha, now you also realize that corporations canât be trusted?"
"I knew it before you did..." Sol glanced at the rearview mirror and furrowed his brow, "Military Technology hasnât slowed down or turned back. Thereâs a problem."
"Hmm... what do we do?"
"Stick to the plan," Sol signaled to Carol who was in the copilotâs seat.
All the vehicles of the Adkadios fleeing opened their cargo bays, releasing Iron Beetle UAVs equipped only with EMP and communications jammers to takeoff quickly, covering the rear.
These drones were small and fast, a single, well-timed explosion could break the chase.
Even though it was just an act, Lille still left the Adkadios with a small contingency plan, in case the corporation suddenly turned hostile.
Whooshâ
In the high-speed chase, the drones were launched by mechanical catapults, their relative velocity so great that the relentlessly pursuing Military Technology convoy barely had time to react.
Though these drones had lost their machine gun modules, carrying self-destructive EMP bombs instead, they had combat warheads similar to those positioned at the front of missiles.
As the drones smashed into the vehicles, the explosive detonated, tearing open the metal shells of the cars, and the effects of EMP peaked, instantly rendering the panoramic Crystal Balls useless, and leaving them blind.
By the time the systems were back online, the Adkadios were long gone.
The corporationâs soldiers stepped out to pick up the wreckage of the drones...
This... shouldnât count as a complete failure, should it?
...
After crossing the defense line, they entered the outermost settlement of Night City. To be precise, there were once some farmers here, barely making a living by using Biotechnology fertilizers to grow Biotechnology crops.
But later, they couldnât sustain it anymore.
Deserted town, rundown houses.
"Holy shit, this is really fucking awesome!"
Many didnât dare to appear at the starting line directly, but they were brave enough to join midway and play dirty tricks on others.
After all, there were no restrictionsâit wasnât specified that one couldnât start participating from the middle.
As for those dazzling mid-race contestants, once they died, theyâd be nothing.
Many believed this race was very much in line with the local situation of Night City: here, you indeed have unlimited opportunities, but thereâs always one iron ruleâif you climb upwards, no matter what glories you once had, once you die, youâre nothing.
And thatâs exactly the kind of people hiding here, those who enjoyed playing dirty tricksâold tricksters.
And they were old acquaintances as well, just like the Adkadios wandering in Evil Land: the Chaotic Blade Association.
This town was located right on the route that had to be passed to enter the city, and after the town, a few hundred meters later, there was a choice to be made on how to get onto the highway, at a fork in the road.
The Legend Mackinaw might be tough, but this town had several hidden anti-tank missiles, and it also had the same Anvil-2 previously seen on the race track.
A bombardment awaited those who wanted to stand outâfoolhardy show-offs, as they saw them.
Three members of the Chaotic Blade Association were sitting by a small round table on a rooftopâtwo playing cards, one watching.
The rest were playing cards elsewhere in town.
"No... somethingâs not right, boss!"
"Bomb, what now?" Their leader discarded two cards.
"Itâs not a bomb..." The lookout with mechanical prosthetic eyes stretched them out extra long, "Itâs them... they donât seem to have come through here, right?"
Indeed, Mackinaw had bypassed the town entirely.
Suddenly, a group of vehicles lying in ambush appeared in the desert!
Things got a bit awkward.
No one had planned on stopping here.
Right, there werenât even guardrails on this desert highway!
"Boss! They really took off!" The observer was getting anxious, but the leader still did not respond.
As he watched, he reached out to grab his boss...
And thatâs when he encountered a problemâhis hand came back covered in a warm liquid.
"Huh?"
His eyes quickly retracted to their normal size, and he saw a small knife sticking out of both the Boss and the Second-in-commandâs heads, who were now peacefully ânappingâ.
Plop!
The small knife sent him into a tranquil slumber as well, as a pair of large hands pushed him aside, and a heavy body sat down in the chair.
This was an average-looking man, but his actions were far from ordinary.
"Just a bit more..." He looked towards the townâs signal tower.
Just a bit more and he would be able to make contact with the Moon.
The man looked into the distance, where frenzied vehicles charged onto the highway.
Elsewhere in the cloud of dust, another group of vehicles was heading toward the race track.
Watching this scene made him tense: The arrivals were network enforcers, likely here to confirm the identities of the deceased racers.
"Damn... what a coincidence."
The man didnât rest any further but headed straight for the communication tower.
As he walked, he also sent out a message using his prosthetics:
[Peter Fieldhammer: I know why Hot cooperated with Arasaka!]
[Peter Fieldhammer: Moon Command Center! This is Agent...]
....
Lille took a detour.
Although there would definitely also be various ambushes hit in the city, there was no reason not to avoid them if possible.
Still, he kept an eye on the small town until a large group of vehicles suddenly sprang from the desert on both sides, lying in wait!
Lille couldnât help but feel amused: These guys hadnât chosen to attack after entering the city, which could very well mean they wanted to make it look like they were running through Evil Land too!
Of course, they might have also thought it was an opportune moment to attack.
As these camouflaged figures surfaced, racing to get ahead of the others to the overhead highway, some vehicles charged directly toward the highway on-ramp, completely blocking the road!
"Really... theyâve lost all shame."
"Any mines left?" V wiped his knife in the co-driverâs seat, "I feel like..."
"There are." Lille also scratched his head.
In fact, the sensors had not detected any mines, but Lille didnât believe that the ones who thought of blocking the road and ambushing travelers would pass up the opportunity to plant mines here.
A series of mine explosions, combined with roadblocks, would make it easy to trap him.
The lights of Night City twinkled dimly through the haze, and Lille finally made a decision.
"Keep on the detour."
After saying that, Lille turned to V, "Thereâs a very troublesome job that I need you to do."
Jack and V were puzzled:
How else could they detour?
There was only one route into the city via the overpass here, did it mean they were expected to meekly make their way to another exit tens of kilometers away?
Itâs not like they could just plunge off a cliff, right?