บท 110: Leaping Across City Center
Jackie crashed into the wall with a thud, making his head buzz.
Stunned by the impact, Jackie's movements slowed, and he bounced back like a rubber ball—thankfully, he held onto the web.
However, with that bounce, Leo flipped over—if Jackie landed on him, that would hurt like hell!
"Damn it! Jackie, grab the wall!"
Leo's scream snapped Jackie back to his senses. Jackie struggled in the air and finally managed to flip over and stick to the wall.
"Damn…" Leo wiped the sweat from his forehead, starting to question if this was a good idea.
"Holy crap…" Jackie, after confirming he wasn't sliding down, looked behind him—
They were already among the skyscrapers.
"You okay back there?" Jackie finally remembered he had someone hanging on his back, "Uh… I didn't mean to…"
V's voice crackled over the comms: "Haha, Jackie, you look a bit dizzy—hurry up and catch up, you two!"
Leo waved his hand, signaling Jackie to move on.
It had to be said, V was highly adaptable to this system.
Her reflexes were already sharp, and with the Sandevistan and Kerenzikov systems, plus her reinforced Achilles tendons, she was practically a mini Spider-Man.
Once she got used to the magnetic gloves, V's speed increased significantly, even daring to leap across the walls of skyscrapers.
Her bold moves left Jackie in awe—
As they climbed higher and higher, their altitude surpassed 100 meters!
As they ascended, the air grew colder, and the scents in the air began to thin.
The stench of the sewers, the smell of tobacco, the warmth of leaking heaters, the reek of garbage—
These chaotic smells faded away until only the unique, mildly acidic tang of Night City's water vapor remained.
This unique scent, impossible to ignore even at the very top of Night City, combined with the sharp-edged buildings, formed the night view now before the trio.
Strip away the absurdity of the lower levels, and this is what Night City truly is.
Now, only these skyscrapers stood out prominently.
The closer they got to the company plaza, the more they could see the corporate troops and NCPD vehicles stationed along the roadside defenses.
Aside from those special megacorp employees, most people were holed up in their homes—
The city center hadn't seen anything like this in a long time. The series of explosions and gunfights had people on edge—
A few long-lived Night City natives recalled the gang wars from decades ago.
Gangs thought the corporations were weakening, so they took to the streets to assert dominance, and the corporations swiftly unleashed their war machines.
Hover tanks, armored personnel carriers, heavy firepower, and heavily modified cyborgs took to the streets, forming tight ranks to slaughter the gang members.
Every corner of the street was soaked in blood.
Such a grim scene had dredged up those bloody memories buried deep within, leading people to lock themselves inside.
It was clear that the subway incident had embarrassed Militech, and the other corporations had quietly agreed to a brief period of martial law to display their power.
After all, throughout all of this, there was no real megacorp backing these incidents, so no one opposed such measures.
A bitterly cold night.
Not only were armed personnel patrolling the streets, but the surroundings of the five megacorporations were also swarming with drones.
Most striking were the two Scorpion hovercars slowly patrolling the sky.
It could be said that breaking through from the ground was a fool's dream—countless eyes and tactical sensors were watching.
V clicked her tongue, "I remember this place being packed with people this morning, and now it looks like a warzone."
"In a way, it's still packed with people."
A thousand meters away from the company plaza, the trio clung to the wall of a megatower.
Leo quickly scanned the armed forces' layout around them, trying to find a way into the Biotechnica Tower.
Though it seemed daunting, Leo knew this was actually a good sign.
With so many people wandering around the company plaza, many of them were likely seasoned operatives on duty to prevent infiltration.
But now that they had chosen to switch tactics to display force, they had naturally withdrawn those operatives—
Since the five megacorps had no objection to immediately issuing a wanted notice, it wasn't just Militech that believed the culprits had fled.
So, this lockdown was more about intimidating the people of Night City—just because there's some trouble in City Center doesn't mean it's out of control.
The wanted notice had already been issued, but identifying the suspects would take some time, and the corporate hackers had already started working.
The company's setup was primarily about demonstrating sovereignty, but the ground defenses were still tight.
Even up to 50 meters in the air, the defenses were dense, but beyond that, it was less so, with only a few small drones patrolling sporadically. Clearly, the higher the altitude, the lower the perceived threat of invasion.
Leo quickly identified a route for entry.
This route, however, was quite convoluted.
First, although the Biotechnica Tower stands tall in the company plaza, as one of the Big Five, showcasing their control over Night City, in reality, Biotechnica's properties are not limited to this single tower—though this tower alone covers over 80,000 square meters and exceeds 400 meters in height.
Standing in the company plaza, one might be fooled by the relatively plain design and unremarkable height of the Biotechnica Tower.
From a visual standpoint, this tower doesn't seem that tall, and with its odd yellow metal walls, it gives off a squat, chubby impression despite its large footprint.
But if you come to its side, you'll witness an architectural marvel—a gigantic, kilometer-long aerial structure.
It's not an exaggeration to say that it looks like a skyscraper laid on its side.
The horizontal Biotechnica structure spans a kilometer, connecting the Biotechnica Tower in the company plaza with its real estate in City Center.
This is another equally tall building where Biotechnica's subsidiaries operate or rent out space to other high-tech companies.
For example, software vendor Softsys, which focuses on civilian equipment software system development, and the offices of All Foods Factory, a company acquired by Biotechnica.
And in City Center, this building is connected to multiple towers via similar, though much smaller, corridors—
It's practically a sky empire.
In fact, within these Biotechnica properties, a unique ecosystem has already formed.
If you're wealthy enough, you could live your entire life in these buildings, up in the clouds.
This complex aerial connection structure is the route Leo identified.
Using that massive sky bridge, or rather, sky structure as cover, the trio could bypass the heavily defended ground forces and avoid the mid-level drone swarms.
Leo quickly uploaded the planned route to the other two's cyber-eyes.
Jackie and V looked at the skyscraper on the other side—this time, the distance to cross was far, with a six-lane highway below.
Two armored vehicles moved in opposite directions—Leo issued the command just as the vehicles were about to meet.
The two exchanged a glance, V's reinforced tendons suddenly engaged, and she kicked off, leaping out, web shooting, skimming low across the highway under the cover of darkness.
With a snap, V adhered to the wall, then climbed and leaped, scaling the skyscraper in seconds, signaling to Jackie from the top.
Jackie didn't have reinforced tendons, was heavier, and was carrying Leo, so V had to help.
He gripped Leo with one hand, "You ready?"
"You're asking me about the route I planned?"
Leo may have spoken confidently, but he was feeling quite nervous inside.
The plan was—Jackie would first toss him out using his Gorilla Arms.
Jackie nodded, took a deep breath, and began to swing Leo slightly with one hand—
"1, 2, 3… V, catch him!"
Leo had never been hit by Gorilla Arms before, so until Jackie threw him, he had no idea how powerful they were—
Jackie's other hand slid a bit under the immense force, and Leo's mind went blank.
He found himself skimming across of the middle of the road, flying quite high.
At the peak of his trajectory, V followed the plan and shot a web to catch Leo—
Then the hardest part was over, but Leo almost messed it up.
The weightlessness caused his blood flow to slow, his brain was oxygen-starved, and he forgot to protect himself, crashing into the glass with a bang.
V called out Leo's name anxiously, quickly pulling him up, "Leo? What's wrong with you?!"
"Damn…" Leo slapped his forehead, snapping out of his daze.
The good news was he had hit bulletproof glass, which was relatively softer.
Shaking his head, his biomonitor kept alarming while stimulating his auxiliary heart to increase blood pressure to his brain.
Although he felt like he had been shattered, overall, nothing was seriously wrong, and he quickly recovered.
"I'm fine, Jackie, come on over."
"You scared the hell out of me—"
On the other side, Jackie breathed a sigh of relief, patting his chest.
Then he bent his elbows, pushing off with a powerful leap—no reinforced tendons, but Gorilla Arms.
He skimmed just above the road, another patrol team passing below—
Everything seemed normal.
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