Santo Domingo — rooftop of an abandoned megablock.
Lin Mo slid his katana back into its scabbard, his expression calm and detached.
He glanced down at the assassins lying unconscious at his feet, stripped of all ability to resist, and couldn't help shaking his head in mild disappointment.
They were supposed to be an elite black-ops strike squad.
Ambush specialists.
Cold, efficient killers.
But the fight… ended far too quickly.
Too weak, he thought.
He had expected firepower, coordination, maybe even a challenge.
Instead, they hadn't lasted even two minutes in his hands.
Two minutes.
Under temporal dilation, that stretched into a full eight to ten minutes — more than enough time for an average young man to jog an entire kilometer around the rooftop.
More than enough time for Lin Mo to kill these assassins several times over.
Unfortunately, his Sandevistan still had a hard limit: at most 16 seconds of continuous activation.
Even in slow-time mode, that translated to barely over a minute of usable dilation.
Running it for two full minutes was impossible.
If he pushed it to the full 16 seconds, the speedware would overheat and lock up, needing time to cool down.
That was why, whether today or in any past fight, Lin Mo always controlled the activation perfectly:
Use it in bursts.
Turn it off behind cover.
Never let it overheat.
Never allow himself to be caught without it available.
With his reaction stat far above the implant requirement, he could practically run the Sandevistan all day —
if not for the cooldown.
Hope this performance convinces Sis to agree… Lin Mo thought quietly.
A sharp hiss of grav-thrusters interrupted him.
He looked up.
A flat, coffin-like AV drifted toward the rooftop — boxy, rugged, and distinctly unaesthetic.
A Zetatech Atlas AV, the most common model in Night City.
Its bulky, utilitarian shell looked nothing like the sleek executive aero-vehicles favored by corpos.
Still, its price and reliability made it the standard ride for Trauma Team, Network 54, and countless corporate service units.
Even megacorps bought fleets of these to ferry regular employees.
Zetatech's PR department had played its cards right — in Night City, tech didn't sell floats; connections did.
Lin Mo spotted the Qianchi Corporation markings on the hull.
His sister had sent backup.
He glanced once more at the unconscious assassins.
No one had died prematurely — exactly as he intended.
He had left a few alive for interrogation.
Whatever happened to them next was his sister's problem, not his.
The corp security detail spoke to him with respectful caution as they loaded the assassins into the AV.
Lin Mo boarded as well, riding back toward Qianchi Tower.
Qianchi Tower — AV Hangar Level
"Welcome back, our little hero! Come here, let big sis give you a hug! Don't mind if I steal a kiss, right?"
Lin Mo had barely stepped out of the AV before being greeted by a flying tackle of enthusiasm.
The wine-red-haired woman, Liu Ruoying, spread her arms dramatically, ready to throw herself at him.
But behind her, Xu Wanxue tightened her grip on Liu's collar like a steel vice, stopping her mid-pounce in the most unceremonious way imaginable.
Then Xu stepped forward, expression blank, and in one smooth motion executed a perfect takedown, flipping her friend onto the ground with military precision.
Lin Mo blinked in shock.
He never knew his sister could move like that.
Had she installed combat skillchips just to discipline her shameless friend?
防火防盗防闺蜜 — guard against fire, thieves, and your best friend, Lin Mo sighed internally.
The nearby security staff stood stunned.
No one had seen the ambush coming.
Xu Wanxue approached Lin Mo calmly, her softened gaze sweeping over him.
He still wore that simple earth-yellow jacket he liked so much —
but not a single drop of blood stained him.
Clean as the moment he'd left the house.
Proof of absolute precision.
A Sandevistan user who got blood on themselves without meaning to would be nothing short of disgraced.
"You've grown up," Xu murmured.
Lin Mo smiled.
"Didn't disappoint you, did I?"
"Disappointed? A little, yeah," she said with a bitter, helpless smile.
"Who wants a little brother who can wipe out an elite assassination team in under two minutes?"
"That still counts as an achievement, doesn't it?" Lin Mo replied lightly.
Xu nodded silently, her eyes briefly distant.
"I remember the day I brought you home. You and I barely understood each other.
I bought so many parenting books, wanting to raise you into a real, responsible man."
"And how'd that go?" Lin Mo asked with a grin.
"One line from those books stuck with me," she said softly.
"A child's future dreams always both align with and contradict the guardian's expectations.
It's a paradox.
Some children follow the path laid out for them.
Some carve their own.
A guardian can guide… but shouldn't interfere too much."
Lin Mo sighed.
"I guess I wasn't the obedient type you wanted."
"No," she said gently.
"I'm not disappointed in you. I'm disappointed in myself — for failing to guide you the way I thought I should.
But you? I'm satisfied a thousand, ten thousand times over."
She pulled him into a soft embrace, ignoring the bewildered gazes of everyone around them.
Then she leaned close to his ear and whispered:
"Later, I'll be using one of the internal operating rooms.
There's a gift waiting for you."
Lin Mo's eyes widened in instant realization.
The Qianchi Sandevistan Mk.4.
The top-tier speedware he'd been dreaming of.
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