The Wraiths stopped about a dozen meters away, using their cars for cover. By this point, the pickup truck—their primary target—had already been riddled with three-round bursts of armor-piercing bullets from the authentic assault rifles in Rosie's and Lucy's hands.
Still, aside from the Wraith member manning the machine gun in the back of the pickup, only the driver was injured and had taken cover behind the vehicle. The rest remained unharmed.
Mercer's grenade, thrown into the wind, was blown back a good distance and ultimately exploded just four or five meters away, narrowly missing him. Old Cowboy fared slightly better. With surprisingly strong arm strength, he hurled a grenade toward a car, but it was blocked by the bulletproof body, failing to cause effective damage.
"Open fire! Open fire!"
The Wraiths roared and quickly organized a counterattack, wildly firing submachine guns, kinetic assault rifles, and some even blasting shotguns haphazardly from a distance. Outside, chaos reigned. Gunfire flickered through the dim dust storm, but Rosie had pre-highlighted the enemy in her cybernetic eye.
Her cybernetic interface locked onto enemy signals, outlining their bodies and allowing even gunfight novices to determine positions in the blinding storm.
Mercer opted against using an authentic assault rifle and chose his Kenshin Pistol instead—a choice that proved correct. Though it lacked suppressive fire, its tungsten-tipped bullets, fired with a "zing" after a one-second charge, penetrated two bulletproof car windows and struck a Wraith member directly in the head.
"Damn it! I'm hit!"
"What the hell? He got shot in the head and isn't dead?"
Mercer cursed. The dust storm wasn't just a visibility problem; radioactive particles in the air were disrupting network signals. He'd been trying to hack since the beginning, but repeated attempts failed due to network fluctuations and disconnections.
"These lunatics probably have metal parts in their bones. Skulls are the easiest to thicken. If you're not confident, aim for the body—they don't have money for heavy armor or bio-organs!" Cassidy shouted.
[Lucy: They have bulletproof vests… Be careful! Mercer, I see them flanking the house! Someone is priming a grenade!]
[Rosie: I'm suppressing!]
[Lucy: Daichi! How much longer?!!]
[Daichi Tetsuya: Coming!!]
"Be careful! The pickup truck on the other side is coming over!" a Wraith shouted. From behind the house, a pickup truck burst out of the sandstorm—Daichi Tetsuya at the wheel.
In the truck bed, Leon struggled to keep his eyes open while wielding a light machine gun, unleashing full suppression on the flank. His contribution was crucial. With the Wraiths hiding behind their cars, away from direct line of fire from the house, Daichi's sudden maneuver left them exposed. Move to the side, and they faced Mercer and the others directly; stay put, and the light machine gun would tear them apart.
"Damn it! Deal with that pickup! Hurry!" shouted one of the Wraiths, but it was useless.
In the game, enemies wield all sorts of high-end weapons, often enhanced by Sandevistan or Berserk implants. In reality, these wilderness criminals didn't have such advanced cyberware—but they weren't entirely unarmed.
"Damn it, I'll give him a blast!"
A Wraith crawled into a car, pulling out a man-portable rocket launcher from the back compartment. He emerged during a brief pause in fire, shouldered the weapon, and aimed at Daichi's pickup. Before he could fire, two spiraling tungsten-tipped bullets pierced his neck—Mercer's Kenshin glowing with electromagnetic light.
The bullets passed through, trembling the man's entire body from electrical discharge. The rocket accidentally launched, exploding somewhere in the distance.
"Nice shot, Mercer!" Leon shouted, though his reloads were still clumsy.
"No! We'll be worn down outside! Charge inside!"
The Wraiths shouted and rushed the house. Mercer tried to intercept, but grenades rolled and exploded near the door, forcing him to duck. Lucy and Rosie on the second floor continued firing, but the Wraiths' movement and suppressive fire made accuracy a matter of luck. Leon finally reloaded, but the Wraiths were already starting their cars and charging straight toward the house.
"Old Cowboy, fall back!"
Mercer remained unnervingly calm, rolling toward the stairwell. Cassidy retreated into the kitchen, using the bar as cover.
"You can prime a grenade," she said.
"Good idea!" Mercer replied.
When the Wraiths kicked open the door and smashed the windows, Cassidy drew their attention. Mercer rolled a grenade down the stairs to the doorway.
"Grenade!" the Wraiths screamed, but Mercer had primed it a second earlier. The explosion was faster than expected, riddling two Wraith members with shrapnel—they screamed, still alive but gravely injured.
Three Wraith members charged forward, bullets spraying as they endured Cassidy's fire. The lead Wraith roared, shotgun in hand, while the others randomly fired modified rifles. Mercer smirked.
Coming inside? Then the radioactive dust wouldn't interfere with his network signals.
He poked his head out, his cybernetic eye flashing gold, quickly locating the opponent's subnet. He sent the quickhack program.
The program didn't require pre-hacking the subnet—just a thought to execute it, using Mercer's brainpower to run the icebreaker and virus simultaneously. He observed the enemies while the program worked.
The three Wraiths screamed as six quickhacks uploaded. Cyberware malfunction disabled mobility; synaptic meltdown fried their brains. Mercer exhaled, then aimed at a Wraith knocked down by a grenade.
This time, he didn't charge—just a short trigger pull. The tungsten bullets flew, delivering a close-range finishing blow.
[Mercer: Nice fight. Clean up the battlefield.]
[Lucy: Nobody's hurt, right?!]
[Daichi Tetsuya: Leon's hit!]
[Leon: I'm fine. Shoulder grazed—bullet went through, no bone hit.]
[Cassidy: I saw you bleeding, Mercer. Check yourself.]
Mercer finally felt the pain, dulled by adrenaline.
[Mercer: No serious wounds. Must be from the grenade blast.]
[Rosie: Our survival kits have needles, thread, medicine. I'll grab them.]
[Daichi Tetsuya: No need. I have a bag in my pickup. I'll bring it.]
Mercer kicked a burnt corpse, bending down to drag it out.
"If you're unhurt, lend a hand… How did these Wraiths find this place?" he asked casually, though his eyes carefully scrutinized Cassidy.
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