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Chapter 190 c
🕑 Added 2025-04-27 15:01:03 +0000 UTCChapter 190 c
V’s face didn’t look any better. If it were only enemy infantry, they could still trust Delamain’s armored bodywork and try to push through the rain of bullets. But Arasaka didn’t just have infantry—they had blocked the entire road with armored SUVs, completely sealing the way. In this situation, even Delamain couldn’t brute-force their way through. And that wasn’t even mentioning the two armed AVs hovering above; even if they didn’t immediately attack, just tailing them and guiding Arasaka forces would already be enough of a nightmare.
"Maybe we should turn around quickly," Jackie suggested. Since the road toward Little China was blocked, they could retreat back into Arasaka Waterfront, then cut right through the City North Industrial Zone. Maybe there was still a slim chance.
"No need," Leo’s confident voice came over the squad comms. "I’ll clear the way. You guys follow behind."
Leo stepped down from the Delamain cab without hesitation, raised his arms, and fired the anti-armor missiles mounted at his elbows. Two white trails streaked through the air, drilling straight into the armored SUVs blocking the road.
Boom! Boom!
Both SUVs were blown sky-high, breaking apart like shrapnel raining down with a thunderous crash. Soldiers scrambled to dodge, their perfect defensive formation thrown into chaos.
Suddenly, time slowed. The pieces of the SUVs and vehicle debris froze midair, suspended alongside the soldiers frozen mid-dodge. Leo braced a heavy machine gun against one shoulder, calmly opening fire into the immobilized crowd. Bullets cut clean, slow arcs through the air, rippling like waves.
With Time Zero active and enhanced by his tactical visor, Leo had all the time he needed to aim precisely, turning the heavy machine gun into a precision rifle. Each shot targeted a vital spot on a soldier’s body, striving for one bullet, one kill.
When the slowdown ended, fountains of blood burst from the soldiers as they dropped like wheat to a scythe. One of the falling armored SUVs crashed onto a walker mech, flattening it instantly. The second walker frantically tried to adjust its aim but found no target in its sights. In the next moment, a crimson blade pierced through the pilot’s back, stabbing directly into his heart. The pilot coughed blood, eyes dimming instantly.
Arasaka's special assault force was caught completely off guard. In just a single engagement, dozens of soldiers were wiped out. Those few who survived the initial onslaught were in utter disarray, clueless about where the enemy was. Only the two armed AVs in the sky retained situational awareness.
The twin autocannons on the AVs began to spin up, preparing to fire. Leo sensed the danger immediately and sprinted into the densest crowd of soldiers. Unexpectedly, the two AVs, ignoring the lives of their own ground troops, unleashed a deluge of gunfire straight into the area where Leo had taken cover.
The ground erupted in dust and smoke as countless rounds tore it apart. Leo weaved and darted through the chaos, while the soldiers around him were massacred mercilessly. Thanks to his Falchion armor, Leo remained unharmed, but Arasaka's own forces were slaughtered en masse. Still, the AVs showed no intention of letting up; instead, they fired several rockets into the fray, turning the battlefield into a furnace of smoke and shockwaves.
Leo stayed low, biding his time, muscles tensed like a coiled spring. Bullets tore through the air above him, kicking up debris and splinters, but he did not move recklessly. He watched the AVs hover and shift, searching for the briefest opening, knowing that charging blindly would only get him killed.
Only when he saw the rockets strike a cluster of abandoned vehicles, creating a massive explosion that shook the very ground, did he move.
Leo timed his leap perfectly, using the explosion’s shockwave to propel himself skyward, hurtling straight toward the AVs.
The AV pilots realized the danger and tried to dodge, but it was far too late. Leo, moving at incredible speed, slashed past them like a flash of cold light. The pilot, along with half the cockpit, was sliced cleanly in two. Without control, the damaged AV veered wildly and crashed into the second AV, sending both spiraling down like broken kites.
Boom!
A massive explosion lit up the night sky.
Seeing that Leo had cleared a path, the two Delamain cabs immediately accelerated, weaving through the now-chaotic Arasaka lines. One of the cabs swung its door open early for Leo to board. Timing his step perfectly, Leo leaped forward, arms outstretched, landing squarely inside the moving car.
The two battered cabs raced through Little China’s streets and disappeared into the neon-lit chaos.
Of course, not all of the Arasaka special assault force had been killed. Those who survived were either injured or pretending to be dead. Who in their right mind would risk their lives for a paycheck of a few thousand eddies? After watching so many of their comrades die, choosing to play dead was practically professionalism at this point.
Once Leo and the others had fled, the surviving soldiers crawled to their feet. Soon after, Takemura Goro arrived with a group of Arasaka guards.
He stared at the carnage—the wrecked AVs, the piles of corpses, the ruined street—with a face even more rigid and grim than usual.
"What happened?" Takemura demanded coldly.
A surviving soldier quickly reported the situation to him. After hearing the explanation, Takemura’s face darkened further. Without hesitation, he slapped the soldier so hard that he knocked him to the ground.
"You let a few petty thieves slip past you with so many men at your disposal?!"
"Takemura-sama, it’s not that we were incompetent. The enemy was simply too strong."
"Bakayarō! Don’t make excuses! Find them immediately! They are the murderers of Saburo-sama. They cannot be allowed to escape!"
"Hai!"
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Meanwhile, at a night market on the edge of Little China, two battered Delamain cabs pulled up. The cars, riddled with bullet holes and battle scars, looked like they'd been dragged through hell and back.
Three figures stepped out—Leo, V, and Jackie.
Jackie carried the cold storage container holding the relic, while Leo, during the cab ride, had already removed his exoskeleton armor, returning it to its disguised form as a silver suitcase.
They didn’t continue driving because the cabs were too obviously damaged and would draw unwanted attention. The moment they broke out of Arasaka’s encirclement, Leo had instructed Delamain to find a place to drop them off.
"Let’s move. We’ll change clothes inside the market, wait for the Flathead to meet up with us, and then leave," Leo said, taking the lead.
Neither V nor Jackie objected. The three quickly parted ways with the cabs, sending them back to headquarters, and headed into the bustling night market.
What they didn’t know was that a group of thugs hanging around the entrance had been watching them ever since the Delamain cars rolled in.
The thugs—despite their limited brainpower—could easily tell from the beat-up cabs and the conspicuous suitcase that Leo’s group was likely carrying something valuable.
The moment the three disappeared into the market, the thugs exchanged glances and quietly followed.
—
Over ten minutes later, at another exit of the night market, the three of them—now dressed like ordinary tourists—emerged. They boarded the sleek coupe that Jackie had called earlier, heading straight for the No-Tell Motel.
As for those thugs who had intended to rob and kill them? By now, their corpses were rotting in a dark alley near the market.
Jackie drove, while Leo and V sat in the back. Holographic billboards and neon lights painted their faces in ever-shifting colors.
Their mood was high. Though the operation had been a little rougher than expected, they had made it out of Konpeki Plaza alive!
Despite the countless surveillance cameras in Konpeki Plaza, Leo’s tactical visor, along with V and Jackie’s Kiroshi Optics Mk.III cyber-eyes, had interference tech installed—jamming most of the footage as they moved.
