Five minutes earlier. In the main control room of the basement, a woman sat calmly in a chair. A young man stood beside her, one hand restin
Five minutes earlier.
In the main control room of the basement, a woman sat calmly in a chair. A young man stood beside her, one hand resting on the hilt of his blade, eyes cold as ice, staring at the computer screens.
The control room was packed with monitoring equipment. At the center of the desk, a retractable metal conduit extended downward, connecting to an array of linked monitors.
"Brutus—leader of this Scav gang, known on the streets as 'Lightning Claw Wolf.' His implants include a Sandevistan Mk.2, a Kerenzikov, and alloy claws embedded in his palms... What the hell kind of implant is that?" Lin Mo muttered, staring at the intel the nearby netrunner had pulled up, deep in thought.
On-screen was a live feed from the room in question.
The footage was nauseating—disgusting enough to make one physically ill. Several times, Lin Mo had to fight the urge to storm in and put a blade through the fat bastard's skull.
But caution won out.
Anyone who could lead a Scav pack of this size was no ordinary thug.
Lin Mo was confident in his abilities.
But confidence wasn't the same as invincibility.
Sasha looked equally displeased. Her lips curled downward in a subtle frown, her eyes sharp and cold.
Using her scanner, she analyzed the target's movements through the camera feed, doing her best to ignore the depraved acts on-screen and focusing solely on his cyberware and behavior.
When Lin Mo asked for her input, she hesitated briefly, then raised her slender hand.
Her fingers, like sculptures of obsidian metal, were elegant and precise. The black alloy shimmered faintly under the room's lighting.
If cyberware designers could be called creators, then this hand was a masterpiece—functional without sacrificing aesthetics.
As Lin Mo watched, Sasha's fingers flexed. From beneath each fingernail, razor-sharp claws extended with a whisper, gleaming silver in the dim light.
"Probably something like this," she said. "These are Catclaw Mk.2s, corporate-made. Good for slicing and precise enough for covert work."
Lin Mo nodded thoughtfully. If Brutus had similar mods, he'd need to be cautious. In tight quarters, a hidden claw strike could be fatal even for someone with his reflexes.
"So, what's the plan? Can you hack him? Maybe hit him with a quick cyberpsychosis spike?" Lin Mo asked, keeping his gaze locked on the screen.
Sasha's irises shifted from red to green, data streams flashing rapidly as she attempted to jack into Brutus remotely.
A few seconds passed before she shook her head. "Not likely. Even if I manage to breach his ICE and plant a daemon, it'll only disrupt him for one or two seconds—tops."
"..."
Lin Mo sighed. "This isn't how it works in the games..."
In Cyberpunk, breaching someone with a psychosis daemon was practically an instant kill. Here? A couple seconds of lag—if that.
Still, he couldn't argue. His INT stat was only 4. He wasn't a netrunner, hadn't trained for it, and unlike the legend known as V, he didn't have S-tier quickhacks or a Relic chip doing the heavy lifting.
"Can't delay any longer," Lin Mo said as the music in the room swelled to a peak.
If he waited, the woman would die.
Even though the contract Kawako had issued through Wakako was for an execution and not a rescue, letting her die now felt wrong. If she could be saved, he'd save her.
Sasha frowned, then nodded. "I'll try another quick intrusion. No promises."
"That's all I need. Leave the rest to me."
Lin Mo's eyes stayed locked on the screen. Every detail, every breath of Brutus's posture, he was calculating it—waiting for an opening.
Then, it came.
With the final beat of music pounding from the speakers, Brutus stirred. His lips curled into a twisted grin.
"Company should be sending someone soon..."
Lin Mo narrowed his eyes.
Company?
Brutus raised his gun, eyes locked on the helpless woman before him. A manic smile stretched across his face.
"A festival without fire... and no bodies? That just wouldn't be right."
The screen captured every word in crystal clarity. The camera in this room had top-tier access, likely custom-installed so Brutus could record his "masterpieces." The angle was perfect. So was the audio.
"You're right," Lin Mo whispered coldly.
"Someone's going to die tonight. But God is merciful... and He doesn't make mistakes."
And with that, Lin Mo vanished from the control room.
The electronic door took too long—so he carved through it with a few lightning-fast strikes, then kicked it open with a metallic boom.
Nothing could stop him now.
Sasha blinked, stunned, her eyes darting between the open door and the screen.
This was it.
Brutus's attention was entirely on his victim. In his mind, the scene was set, the climax moments away. He had no idea someone had already breached the door.
The blade sliced through the steel like butter—silent, smooth. Only the final kick made noise, snapping Brutus out of his dream.
The rest was a blur.
Not even Sasha could follow it.
Two shadows collided on-screen, movements too fast for the human eye. Wind gusted through the room from their sheer velocity, knocking over anything not bolted down.
Gunfire erupted. The steel door was shredded. Iron shrapnel sprayed across the floor. Smoke filled the air.
Then—freeze frame.
Lin Mo, his expression grim, had his katana driven straight through Brutus's right hand.
Brutus was slumped on the couch, more annoyed than afraid. His shoulder opened up, revealing a compact auto-launcher.
It locked onto Lin Mo.
The flaming-red pistol—Hellfire—lay nearby, just out of reach.
Both men understood the standoff.
Who would flinch first?
Lin Mo said nothing. His mask covered half his face, but blood trickled from a cut on his cheek. His eyes were glacial.
Without warning, he slammed his foot into the hilt of the blade, severing Brutus's hand at the wrist.
Blood sprayed. Sparks flew. Lin Mo stared down at him, expression full of scorn.
Go ahead. Shoot.
Brutus's face twisted. He hadn't expected the intruder to go this far. His pain editor dulled the agony, but the shock was real.
Then—bang!
The shoulder launcher fired.
Lin Mo twisted his body, dodging a fatal shot, but the round tore into his shoulder. Blood splattered. He staggered slightly from the impact.
Brutus activated his Sandevistan, retreating instantly. In one smooth motion, he scooped up the limp woman and bolted from the room.
Outside, he turned and raised his mutilated arm.
With a hiss, another launcher deployed—this time a micro-grenade system.
Boom.
The explosion rocked the basement. Dust fell from the ceiling. The sound echoed like thunder.
Brutus spat, blood mixing with saliva.
Lin Mo's door kick had cost him a tooth.
But it wasn't over yet.
Through his cyberoptic HUD, Brutus saw the red-outlined silhouette of a body—still alive, crouched behind cover just outside the room.
The grenade hadn't done the job.
"Tch. A standoff? Perfect." Brutus sneered, gripping the woman's hair tighter with his left hand.
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