Chapter 118: MaxTac

Bang! The door slammed shut as bullets clattered against it, creating a series of sharp metallic pings. The door was sturdy, but it quickly became riddled with dents— V and Jackie exchanged nervous glances, then pulled over a cart full of tools and discarded parts to barricade the door. This place looked like a server room—but there were also a lot of discarded components lying around. V asked, "What now? What is this place?" Leo panted heavily, starting to scan the surroundings. "...Robot relay station. How much ammo do we have left?" "So we can control all the robots from here?" Jackie checked his remaining ammo. "Four shotgun shells left, one magazine for the rifle." V also checked her magazines as she replied, "Two rounds left in the sniper, one magazine for the rifle." Whether it was the Satara, Achilles, or Nekomata, their ammo was both expensive and hard to come by. The reason was due to the tech behind these weapons; the magazines themselves functioned as batteries, and their bulky size left limited room for actual rounds. This was bad news. Jackie's enhanced Satara fired two rounds per shot, Achilles had a magazine capacity of nine, and Leo himself only had one magazine left— Considering Leo's habit of emptying a full clip with each trigger pull, he essentially had two shots left. In total, the three of them had about 23 shots left—barely enough to cause significant damage. "If only that were true—I'm down to my last magazine too." The servers were all encased in sleek black shells, with pulsing red barcodes—definitely high-tech. Nearby were two maintenance drones, the same type that had helped them open the window earlier. "Unless the hacker on the other side is an idiot, he'll definitely reroute the combat drones to other floors when he sees we're in here. If I connect to this server, I'll probably get snagged by ICE. And another bit of bad news, all the access accounts have been locked—looks like Biotechnica finally woke up their hacker and put them to work." "So now what?" V asked. "We keep climbing." The higher floors had separate elevators with deeply hidden access controls. The only way up was to use the walls again—no maintenance drones to open the windows this time, so they'd have to do it themselves. Leo quickly found what he needed—a thermal cutting tool. From the moment he saw the maintenance drones, Leo had noticed that their tool heads were interchangeable and that they came equipped with thermal cutting software. Naturally, this meant they'd have the necessary components. Tempered glass is a material known for its toughness and high strength, but it's hard to work with. However, high temperatures can significantly affect the mechanical properties of such materials—regular glass can be cut with heat, but heating tempered glass will cause it to shatter. He quickly pulled out something that looked like a welding torch from a pile of scrap parts and started working with his tech specialist gloves. He disassembled multiple mechanical parts and connected them to form a meter-long lever structure, securing the thermal cutting device to the top. Then, he directly linked the control circuits to his cyberware, enabling direct control. The thermal cutting tool had an operating temperature of about 350°C, but after modification, it could reach up to 700°C, greatly expanding the heating range, though also increasing the likelihood of the device self-destructing. But longevity wasn't a concern here. With high temperatures and some external force, the glass should shatter easily enough. "Got it, Jackie!" Leo quickly moved to the edge of the glass, heating it with the makeshift cutter— Boom! At that moment, the door and a section of the wall were blown apart, leaving the wall mostly cracked! V quickly aimed her Achilles and began firing at the robots, but there were too many of them! And they had no regard for their own safety! As the glass made cracking sounds and several fractures appeared, Leo waved his arm at Jackie, who was rushing over— "Ram it!" Boom! The mechanical properties of the tempered glass had altered under the accumulated heat, and Jackie's impact caused it to shatter! But it only shattered! Large sections of cracked glass remained connected, even curving slightly, but they didn't break away completely! "Shoot it! Then jump! Use the webs!" Jackie nodded and fired the Satara— This time, the glass burst apart! Large shards of glass broke off and fell away, and Jackie grabbed Leo and leaped out. V abandoned the robots and pushed off hard with her reinforced tendons! The three of them jumped out, and this scene was caught by the robots that had just entered the room: The scene transmitted to the hacker and commander, whose first reaction was— "These three are insane?!" But then a strand of white web shot out, and the trio swung out several meters, only to swing back again! "The enemy has some kind of grappling device, initiating rapid descent!" Upon seeing this, the Militech commander didn't have time to ponder what kind of grappling hook could latch onto tempered glass. He immediately ordered the descending soldiers on the roof— Dozens of soldiers quickly rappelled down as V pushed off the wall and leaped upward! The distance between the two sides rapidly closed, catching everyone off guard— The enemy not only had a way to anchor to the wall but could also gain momentum from it! Some soldiers' eyes widened—they might even be able to walk on the wall! And the answer was, V really could walk on the wall! Passing by, two seasoned Militech soldiers didn't even have time to react before V beheaded them! All the rappelling soldiers turned their guns on V, including some who were equipped with Sandevistan, but none of them had magnetic gloves! They weren't prepared for this! They were a regular unit, not a special ops team! V took out two Militech soldiers and then used the friction from her magnetic gloves and shoes to charge downward— The targeted soldier activated Sandevistan and began adjusting his altitude by gripping the rope, but V controlled her descent speed using her Mantis Blades and magnetic devices! In the end, relying solely on ropes, their mobility was far inferior to V's! Slash! The Mantis Blades sliced through the soldier's body—this was a massacre! Meanwhile, a little lower down, Leo was using the same method to break through the 79th floor's glass. But— In the air, a Manticore was rapidly approaching. MaxTac had arrived. "Damn, damn, damn!" The Militech commander felt utterly humiliated. So many people, and yet they couldn't do anything to those three! This mission wasn't like those semi-private jobs taken by Colonel Hardy in the past. This was official business. Patrolling the city center was an NCPD contract, and capturing these three was a Biotechnica contract—a temporary one. But no one expected them to actually come back! They made the same mistake twice! Before taking the mission, he, like everyone else, had mercilessly mocked Colonel Hardy—now demoted to Lieutenant Hardy. But only when facing these three did they realize how tough they were! It was as if they always had a trick up their sleeve, always finding a way to avoid direct fire! And on top of that, their combat ability was far beyond that of ordinary soldiers. Despite the urban warfare favoring the larger force, they were constantly being outmaneuvered and broken through! With precise tactics, a diverse range of responses, and exceptional combat prowess, just three people were making an entire unit struggle! The only consolation was— They were formidable, but they'd eventually run out of ammo. Yes, even though it was frustrating, they didn't believe these three would escape this time. The Scorpion's wide-area jammer had already blocked communications—they couldn't send any information out. In the end, the only downside was that collateral damage would be a bit higher. However, at that moment, he noticed the MaxTac VTOL, which had been observing the situation, suddenly started moving, heading towards the other side of Biotechnica Tower. Combat channel. Inspector Rory: "Permission granted by Biotechnica to apprehend the suspected cyberpsycho perpetrating the terror attack on the company plaza." Inspector Rory: "Militech forces, you are now secondary assault units." Inspector Rory: "MaxTac preparing to engage." Inspector Rory: "Target located, engaging shortly." On the Manticore, Inspector Rory sat in her chair, adjusting her temporary gear. She stared with excitement at the figure wreaking havoc on the wall— As her emotions soared, the Mantis Blades, overlinked to her nervous system, gradually heated to a glowing red— [Modification complete.] She forcibly melted the securing mechanism before the system could retract! Bang! Rory stomped hard on the VTOL, causing a deep thud!