บท 164: Stop Chasing!
The vehicle smoothly exited the highway without any obstacles.
"Is that it?"
David felt the job was so easy, even simpler than secretly setting up a connection for Burger King in the subway last time.
The others in the car shot a look at this rookie.
Rebecca leaned in and explained, "It means the person who gave you the job did a good job preparing things. Getting a special permit and diverting Militech at a time like this means the fixer is pretty skilled."
"Actually..."
"Ahem," Lucy coughed, interrupting. "We're just here to transport things. A capable fixer is a good thing."
Pilar chimed in, "Speaking of which, how much are we getting paid? Jobs that go this smoothly usually don't pay much. It depends on the value of what we're hauling."
"Well... it's a bit complicated, but the payment shouldn't be less than 60,000."
"That's not bad."
With eight people, splitting 60,000 would give each of them 7,500. Considering they only had to make a few trips, that was a pretty decent amount.
Hearing this number, everyone was satisfied. David was completely blown away by it.
For chip thieves like them, making 100 eddies in a day was already considered good—now they were getting 7,500 in one go?!
He felt like a girl who had accidentally ended up working in a fancy nightclub—his whole perspective on money was starting to shift.
Or rather, this shift had been happening ever since he started getting jobs from Burger King.
"Hey!" Lucy knocked on David's head. "What are you going to do with all that money? You seem like you need it badly."
"I... I don't know. I might show off to my mom a little first, then buy some new implants? After all, we're going to change careers soon, right?"
Pilar grinned, waving a hand in front of David's face. "Haha, with your skinny build, you'll need to train more before you can handle implants. Check out my arm—pretty awesome, right?"
Lucy just stared silently out at the open road and the wasteland.
Show off a bit, spend some money, get some new implants, and then take on more dangerous jobs.
More dangerous jobs meant more money, better implants, and even more dangerous jobs.
The life of a mercenary.
"... No long-term goals?"
"Maybe buy a house?"
"That's a pretty long-term one."
But thinking about it, her 200,000 eddies moon ticket probably seemed like pocket change to people like Burger King.
So what was their goal, really?
Lucy gazed aimlessly around, even tapping into the rear camera feed to check out the scenery—then her expression froze. A police car was following them!
"NCPD! They're behind us!"
"Huh?"
Pilar tapped into the camera feed too, and his smile vanished. "This could be trouble."
He then burst into laughter. "Let's see how good the cops are at driving—Maine, we've got someone on our tail!"
"I noticed a while ago. I was just wondering when to shake them off!"
Both Columbus trucks suddenly slammed on the gas!
Rivers in the police car also accelerated!
Han, sitting beside him, was even more terrified—should he crawl into the backseat and hide, pretending he didn't see anything?!
"Please stop chasing them! You're obstructing official duties!"
"I'm just following them! The wasteland is chaotic right now, what's wrong with keeping an eye on things?"
Rivers refused to back off, tailing the two trucks closely!
As long as he didn't open fire, he had the law on his side!
The car he was driving was a specially designed NCPD Enforcer, a light armored police vehicle. If he got outrun by a couple of Columbus transport vans, he might as well crash into a rock and call it quits!
Pilar noticed this. "Head for the wasteland. His car's built for the city; our higher chassis will leave him behind!"
Rebecca frowned. "Hey, our trucks aren't exactly off-road vehicles either. Plus, we've got explosives in here... Hey!"
Bang!
The truck jolted violently as it veered off the highway, but luckily, the vehicle was sturdy!
Rivers didn't hesitate, yanking the steering wheel as Han watched in horror, leaving the paved road!
A second loud bang followed—both vehicles slowed down, but if they kept driving like this, they were bound to fall apart!
Who would survive?
Both vehicles clanked and skidded across the wasteland, the passengers inside dizzy from the jostling, though to an outside observer, it might seem a bit comical.
Because despite everything, the vehicles weren't moving all that fast.
Bang! Ironically, it was the higher-chassis Columbus truck that started shedding parts!
"We're done for!" Rebecca freaked out, bouncing around in the back seat, then pulled out two small pistols!
Lucy quickly grabbed her hand. "We can't shoot. If we shoot, it'll look like we're guilty!"
"So what do we do?"
"We..."
Whirr—
A drone appeared in the sky, establishing a signal connection.
Lucy quickly spoke through the comms, "That police car's gone crazy!"
Watching the drone feed, Leor frowned—how could they mess up such a simple job?
But after looking more closely, he saw that both sides of the chase were holding back. To the nomads, their speed looked almost like a snail's pace.
A snail's pace, and both vehicles were falling apart, smoking, but neither side had opened fire. The situation was strange.
Upon further drone inspection, the man driving the NCPD Enforcer looked familiar.
Right eye normal, left eye completely cybernetic, wearing a red vest.
Wasn't that Detective River Ward, the righteous cop from the game? Shouldn't he be protecting the mayor instead of chasing legitimate NCPD subcontractors?
Leo didn't waste time trying to figure it out—whatever the case, he had to stop the chase before those Columbus trucks completely fell apart.
"Mount up. There's a police car chasing them."
V mounted the gun on the car window. "Both the car and the driver?"
"Just the car."
The car roared to life, shooting out from behind a boulder!
Both the chased and the chaser saw it, and through their cybernetic eyes, they could see the long gun barrel mounted on the car window.
In the police car, both Han and Rivers felt a chill run down their spines.
The Red Ocher Clan!
Han immediately lunged at Rivers, pinning him down!
Bang!
The tungsten penetrator round easily tore through the already damaged armor, piercing the front right headlight, then through the wheel hub, blowing out the rear tire!
The car spun out of control, hitting a bump in the sand and flipping over!
Rivers felt the world spin around him—
Bang.
The car crashed down.
Rivers barely managed to lift his head, seeing the Columbus trucks slow down, billowing smoke as they casually drove away.
Blood trickled down his face as his cybernetic eye suddenly flashed a series of error messages.
[Warning! Cybernetic malfunction!]
[Warning! Unknown signal detected...]
[Detective, there are many things you should be investigating, not chasing after your own colleagues.]
[The Nightingale Project killed dozens of nomads. If you want justice, why not go after the real culprits who are still alive?]
[Here's a lead: Alex Pushkin, Biotech Market Division Employee.]
[Before you gather solid evidence, it's best to investigate discreetly. You understand why, right?]
The words "Red Ocher Clan" and "Nightingale Project" connected in Rivers' mind—those people really were out there in the wasteland.
And the Nightingale Project had also been the cause of the disturbance that day. Rivers instinctively felt the lizard people were somehow connected to all of this.
He never expected that the lead on the lizard people he had been chasing would come from an outlaw.
"Burger King," Rivers muttered as he struggled to push off a piece of debris pinning him down. "Han? We've got a lead... Han?!"
Han had been flung halfway out of the car and looked unconscious, muttering something under his breath.
"Stop chasing... please, stop chasing."
Rivers let out a sigh of relief, but he had no energy left to continue the pursuit.
"Well done—you're off the hook for that police car. The guy inside was just a hot-headed rookie."
A desert sports car with a wild yet beautiful design roared up next to the two trucks.
The car's sleek, aggressive look caught everyone's eye.
It was so cool.
Except for Lucy, everyone quietly swallowed, imagining how amazing it would feel to sit in such a car.
"Unload at the next town, then we'll settle up. Follow me."
The car sped off into the distance.
Chapter 165: Ready to Go
There are many ghost towns in the wasteland. Some were built for extracting oil, and after the resources were depleted, people left. Others were grand but failed developments, abandoned when profits were nowhere to be found. Some were former farming hubs, deserted when agriculture became impossible for various reasons.
Now, those former farmers and workers, now outlaws, gather in one such ghost town.
Bang.
Panam closed the door and walked with an energy that made her seem like she could take flight.
"It's been a long time since we had such a fun job—Saul, see? I told you we should've gone back to what we do best!"
"But it's too early to tell if it's worth it."
"Worth it? Look at these four armored vehicles! With a few tweaks, they could be our main force. The armor! The engines!"
"I've heard rumors someone down south managed to get a Behemoth. Well, now we've got some good stuff too!"
"Vehicles won't get us through this. What we need is weapons, supplies."
Saul remained calm, but soon Cedric stepped out of one of the vehicles, saying, "Saul, look at your stiff face! If I were one of your men, I'd slap you to wake you up! This is just the beginning!"
Everyone instinctively looked at Saul, who felt uncomfortable—Are they really thinking about slapping me?
"... It has been a big haul, but there's no turning back now."
Cedric tapped Saul with his cane. "Come on, the city folk have always seen us as criminals. This is no different."
He turned to his young tribe members, waving his cane. "No matter what Elder Aldecaldo says—I'm telling you, you all did great! Keep it up!"
The Red Ocher tribe boys were still relishing their recent carjacking success. Hearing Cedric's words, they instantly shouted in unison, "Awesome!"
Panam crossed her arms and, with a chuckle, added, "Idiots, but I like it." Then, standing beside Saul, she remarked sarcastically, "Too bad we have a leader who loves to disagree."
Saul gave her a disapproving look and then turned his attention forward.
"The trucks are here—let's see what we've got."
Two Columbus cargo trucks, with bumpers barely hanging on, rolled into town.
As the trucks stopped, they made a loud creaking sound, almost like a dying donkey, and then belched out a cloud of black smoke.
The scene was rather worrying, but the trucks themselves weren't worth much. The important thing was what was inside.
What was inside would shock this group of ragtag nomads.
Leo stood by the weapons cache and began distributing guns.
"Get a couple of people who can modify vehicles. Install the MK31 on one of the trucks."
"Hand out these Ajax rifles—they're military models with experimental high-tech enhancements. The hotter the barrel gets, the faster they shoot. They eat through ammo, but this military-grade stuff hits way harder than what you're used to."
"Here's a Satara-modified version with armor-piercing shells. It's not great against vehicles, but it'll punch right through personal armor—there's even a single-shot armor-piercing version here. It's powerful, so someone steady should take it."
Navi raised his hand, "I'll take it. The leader's supposed to be at the front, right?"
Leo looked surprised but nodded. "It's yours. Handle it carefully. Most vehicle armor won't stand up to this thing, but the recoil is brutal."
Navi nodded. "I'll use it well."
After that, they handed out a variety of anti-armor weapons, heavy artillery, and anti-air missiles.
Ammunition, grenades, and explosives were the last to be distributed, and by the end, they were armed to the teeth.
Besides weapons, the shipment also included plenty of bulletproof armor.
Once they donned the armor and helmets and mounted the MK31 on a vehicle, they would have an infantry fighting vehicle.
With the armored vehicle in front and the MK31-equipped truck as an infantry fighting vehicle, they'd use drones as their information hub, providing real-time battlefield data and enabling cyber warfare remotely.
It was starting to look like a real army.
Once they stormed the Wraith's stronghold, they could toss grenades or SPH explosive launchers to take out enemies behind cover. Even if the Wraiths had drones, they could deploy EMP grenades to disrupt them.
Taking down the Wraiths stronghold wouldn't be a problem.
If they encountered military tech units, they could break out the recoilless M5 rocket launcher for anti-armor action. And if helicopters or hovercraft showed up, they had ground-to-air missiles ready.
In fact, Leo hoped militech's air units would show up—it would be a chance to give them a hard hit.
With everything in hand, the nomads quickly began modifying the vehicles, and Leo himself needed to make some adjustments.
He still had two Kang Tao Ba Xing Chong smart shotguns—the high-explosive shells were used up, but there was no shortage of smart shotgun ammo.
Besides sourcing supplies from Dogtown, David had also brought in smart ammo used by the carnage shotguns.
With the finished product and blueprints on hand, Leo could adjust the ammo himself using his tech gloves.
With a bang, Leo secured the Ba Xing Chong on both sides on his vehicle, then jumped down and shouted to the vehicle modders still tweaking the mounted machine guns:
"We've got an hour to fine-tune the gear! The attack starts after sunset—move it!"
Leo walked over to where Maine, David, and a few others were repairing vehicles. "This time went pretty well, though there were some hiccups."
Transaction: -80,000 eddies
Account balance: 55,648 eddies
"Thanks, boss!"
David was so excited after receiving the money that he bowed deeply.
Everyone nearby looked at him strangely—even Leo felt uncomfortable. "Kid, can you act normal? I'm not some corporate lapdog from Arasaka!"
"Uh, then what should I say?"
Leo rubbed his forehead. "You get paid for the work, and you're thanking me? Whatever. Get the car fixed and head back; you're done here."
"I..."
David tried to say something, but Lucy covered his mouth immediately—
"We'll be on our way then."
However, Maine spoke up from behind, "There's not much work in the city right now—seems like you're planning something big. We could keep working together, right? You need more people, don't you?"
Leo raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"
Maine nodded, and the rest of his crew had no objections.
No kidding—they barely made enough to cover their medical bills after the last job, and they still had to pay off the car loan. If they didn't take on more work, they'd starve.
Seeing his situation, Leo stroked his chin. "Is the city really that bad?"
Maine nodded. "Pretty bad. The cyberspace seems chaotic, but we're not netrunners. We've got to find work somehow."
Honestly, Maine's team was well-rounded and quite capable.
If they added David and Lucy…
Leo glanced over at them.
Lucy waved her hand dismissively. "We'll pass on this one. It looks dangerous."
"It is dangerous—look around. You just transported two full trucks of restricted military equipment. I won't lie to you, we're short on manpower right now. If you join, I can offer 120,000 as payment."
The offer was still highly tempting—
Lucy bit her nails, visibly torn.
Kiwi, who had been quiet, raised her hand and said to Maine, "Shouldn't we ask what exactly we're doing?"
Leo chuckled. "You're not stupid—look around. What do you think we're doing?
We're going to war. We're taking on the Wraiths, and if mili tech gets in our way, we'll take them down too. Now, knowing that, you can still walk away. But if you stay, decide by nightfall."
David and Lucy exchanged glances, still hesitating—
Cough, cough.
The car window slowly rolled down, and Leo glanced up at the mysterious figure inside—V.
V sat there, looking cold and serious, and said in a deep voice:
"Think it over, kid. A nobody, or a legend?"
David immediately covered Lucy's mouth. "We're in!"
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