Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Crispy on the Outside, Tender on the Inside
The Exiles tried to organize a resistance but were all suppressed behind cover by the irritable Russian woman, having to shoot under the threat of the heavy machine gun’s barrage.
Talia was on a killing spree.
John was frantically operating in the data world.
[Factory T76 Global Surveillance (Hacked In)]
[Scan Information Uploaded to Team/Yes]
Talia’s prosthetic eye began to flicker.
Her data cable connected to the control panel, and the outlines of enemies composed of data appeared before her.
The rate of fire of the artillery reached its limit.
The number of rounds plummeted, and the air above the gun barrel began to warp slightly.
John set up a rifle from a high position.
He was responsible for covering Talia’s blind spots—the electromagnetic bullets pierced through obstacles and steel plates, and the feel was indeed smoother than kinetic weapons.
The Exiles were in a desperate situation.
"F*ck!"
John suddenly held his head and crouched down, as if a pot of boiling water was surging in his brain.
He instinctively thought it was Black Light acting up, but his prosthetic eye activated on its own and captured a stream of red data, connecting his body to the opposite window.
[Hacking Detected, Prosthetic Eye Overheating Process...]
[Progress: 14%]
"There’s a hacker frying my brain from over there."
John rolled over and set up the rifle, locking onto the red silhouette on the other side, and emptied the remaining bullets from the clip.
The old iron sheet house was pierced through.
Dense charred bullet holes were left on the wall, and the red hacking data stream was cut off.
The humanoid outline also fell to the floor.
[Get Down, John!]
Talia shouted over the team channel.
Bam—
The wall of the monitoring room was penetrated.
The monitor and metal countertop were blasted away by bullets.
John fell back onto the floor.
His vision spun.
Tinnitus enveloped everything.
His throat was choked, and his body forgot how to breathe, while debris flew everywhere in the room.
The cement floor was shaking.
John seemed to hear a faint noise, the attack having impaired his hearing, but the actual volume might have been outrageously loud.
He forced his body to sit up, tearing open his scorched coat to see two bullet holes embedded in the bulletproof vest on his chest.
[Item: Sniper Rifle Bullet Head [Model Missing]]
"Huff, huff, shit..."
John moved to the wall, unclasping the side straps, finally relieving the deformation pressure on his ribs.
Severe pain transmitted from his chest to his head.
John’s scalp tingled with pain.
He quickly pulled out a syringe from the tactical belt, using the potent drugs to suppress the negative state.
The team channel was filled with noise.
[Is it reinforcements?]
[John, John! Answer, you f*cker!]
[Braga, go get John, if he’s not dead, drag him back and throw him outside.]
[Which bastard is taking potshots?]
"I’m not dead, f*ck, there’s a sniper in the arched dome of the factory high point."
John replied in the channel.
Talia quickly retreated after emptying the machine gun clip, and the others in the camp also retreated behind cover.
The sniper that came along was engaging from the front, without the focus or the right angle to deal with the high tower.
Rat-a-tat.
Downstairs was filled with dense gunfire, cross-shaped muzzle flashes spit in all corners.
The suppressive situation ended, with both sides in a standoff.
But the Exile convoy that was out hunting surely received the news and was returning.
If a swift attack is ineffective, they will have to retreat.
Talia cursed in the voice chat,
while camp members who withdrew tried to find a breakthrough.
[Mission Objectives Updated]
[Deal with the Exile Sniper. (Optional)]
[Retreat Before Reinforcements Arrive. (Optional)]
John came outside the room.
He saw the corpse of an Exile sentry—its head and body full of shattered gaps, blood dripping down the grid plate, with an intelligent sniper rifle at its feet.
[Weapon: Plato-Snake Shedding]
[Module: Strong Penetration, Ballistic Calibration]
[Description: Information garbled. (Experimental stage weapon, product number not found)]
John’s palm adhered tightly to the grip.
He relaxed his muscles, letting his body follow the weapon’s built-in program to reload.
[Item: Sniper Rifle Ammunition]
The pressure release valve on the black gun casing opened, and the gun body split towards both sides, like cracking snake scales. Unlike the position of traditional magazines, bullets were added from the top.
Click!
[△5/0]
John pressed against the wall, poking the muzzle out, his cybernetic eye connected to the scope, capable of magnifying and focusing to see the dome clearly.
He saw a streak of fire flash through the air.
By backtracking the trajectory, he locked onto the sniper’s position, but only saw a writhing white gel in the air, indistinct under the gray sky.
Military camouflage.
No wonder he hadn’t found this bastard earlier.
"Got you, scumbag."
John pulled the trigger, his shoulder sinking slightly, as if being forcefully pushed by a tightly clenched fist.
Bam—
A white line lingered in the air where the bullet traveled.
In John’s field of vision, he could clearly see electric arcs flickering around the sniper, with a mist of blood bursting, exposing the bone of half an arm outside of the armor.
Bam—
John continued firing, blasting the opponent’s head into pieces.
This was his first attempt at such a long-distance kill; he could only say that the CQC chip’s weapon coverage was indeed impressive. Moreover, this experimental sniper rifle had low prosthetic body requirements, with average precision and magazine lethality.
It seemed aimed at the low-to-mid market.
It didn’t have much attraction for high-end firepower users like Alonna.
[John killed the Shark Coin!]
Talia immediately led people into the transport station, and the gunfire, which had been at a standoff for a long time, became dense once more.
[F*ck!]
[There’s movement in the lounge.]
[Ah—]
[They released something.]
John was running along the wire corridor when static noise suddenly came through his earpiece. Before he could find a suitable sniping location, several signal sources in the team channel went out.
Zzz.
He halted abruptly, as all the surrounding electronic devices started spewing electric arcs, surveillance cameras extinguishing one by one, seemingly with their circuit boards fried.
John switched to a surviving security monitor.
He saw deeper inside the warehouse, a man glowing blue was punching into the power distribution box, ripping out the empty sockets and lines directly.
[Device signal disconnected]
The scene before John’s eyes switched back, showing a man suddenly appearing in the direction where the cameras had turned off.
[Name: Giancarlo (Electric Eel)]
[Faction: Exile (Ironfoot Kelp)]
[Scan: ETGC-cortex (experimental), blood pump, Sianweistan 3.0, etc.]
John saw several high-grade prosthetic bodies, some of which had no product name, just serial numbers—likely experimental products from Plato’s Warehouse.
The Electric Eel was taller and more robust than in the photos.
[Bounty: Attacking police, multiple murders, illegal detention, etc.]
This bastard’s rap sheet was extensive, making him an extreme faction even among the unrestrained Exiles.
[This bastard’s prosthetic body is hard to deal with.]
The companion’s warning came through the voice channel.
The Electric Eel was smoking all over, mentally appearing deranged, covering a dozen steps in the blink of an eye, swinging the metal in his hand to directly knock down a camp gunner.
The guy was still twitching on the ground.
The team channel was filled with unbearable static.
Talia had returned to the machine gun seat by now.
She held the trigger down, aiming at the Electric Eel and firing furiously. The heavy bullets struck the fibers and subcutaneous armor of the bastard, only causing a few blood mists to burst forth.
The Electric Eel was hit and frequently paused, then vanished from his position immediately.
He appeared beside the machine gun, with his scorched cheek suddenly sticking against Talia’s, his cybernetic eye removed, the eyepiece covered in scarlet electric currents and continually seeping white smoke.
Buzz, buzz.
Talia’s vision was all data turbulence.
Bam—
The Electric Eel’s head tilted to the side, the skin on the back of his head mashed into paste stuck to the ground.
Inside were writhing blood vessels and machinery.