Chapter 177: The BFG

Bang! The Minotaur mech was hit as if by an armored vehicle, its hydraulic legs dug into the ground but were still forced to retreat! Crack. Its mechanical legs hit deep debris, and the pressure on the centaur mech's arms increased sharply. It swept its shield forcefully— But it struck nothing. Jackie had gauged the distance perfectly, so the shield merely grazed his nose, not even hitting the chicken bone he was still chewing on. He sidestepped and ducked, delivering a powerful uppercut that broke the centaur mech's left arm in one blow! The exoskeleton arm twisted upwards, and the pilot, feeling the painful surge of broken electric currents shocking his nerves, screamed wildly as the mech's other arm swung in! The speed was so fast that most people couldn't see it clearly, but dodging often relies on experience. Jackie ducked again, avoiding the attack, and fiercely punched the cockpit. The cockpit was welded with thick bulletproof armor, but Jackie's punch nearly deformed it, transferring the force directly to the pilot inside! The mech instinctively recoiled, but Jackie grabbed the twisted left arm, kicked out forcefully, and dislodged the entire arm holding the shield! Just as the mech steadied itself and raised its gun, Jackie leapt high and smashed the shield into the mech's gun-wielding right arm, breaking it! Suffering a fatal blow, the pilot inside the armor let out a heart-wrenching scream! One of the mech's legs shot up violently, aiming a knee strike at Jackie— But Jackie had already calculated the distance. The long leg barely grazed his waist as he rushed in, smashing into the cockpit again! Both sides lunged forward, and this punch was unimaginably powerful! Bang! With a loud crash, Jackie's enormous fist punched through the bulletproof armor, and smoke even rose from the hole. The armor plate was deeply embedded in the pilot's neck, crushing his jaw and spine, cutting off the nerve signals entirely. A mixture of electrolytes and blood sprayed out, filling the cockpit and leaking outside. The mech ceased moving. This was a brutal, unrestricted free-for-all, pitting Jackie against military-grade exoskeleton equipment. Each exchange of blows left a terrifying crack in the ground beneath them. By the time the fight ended, the previously solid ground was covered with fractures and dust. The victor had dismantled the mech with his bare hands and raised his prize: An energy cannon. Navi was dumbfounded—this kind of physical difference between people seemed a bit extreme. Jackie looked at his hands, still chewing on the chicken bone, and thought: I just punched through bulletproof armor. Taking a deep breath, the intense combat had reduced the concentration of the lizard serum in his system, and he was starting to get used to this violent sensation. "Awesome!" V sat down with a thud and gave Jackie a thumbs up. "Got it all recorded for you too, adjusting the surveillance for 200 eddies." "But what about that thing outside?" Jackie looked up and saw that the situation outside wasn't good. A Vargis helicopter was hovering high above, and the drifters had already exhausted all their anti-armor weapons, hiding in cover to avoid the helicopter's gunfire. The factory had been bombarded beyond recognition by missiles and autocannons, but it seemed the enemy intentionally used firepower to isolate the largest building in the factory. Not far away, a Baskilik had begun to descend, and armored units appeared on the perimeter, clearly preparing to encircle and annihilate them. Leo emerged from the basement, pulling a bunch of wires and dragging a cart full of power and distribution boxes behind him. "Use this." Jackie tossed the energy cannon over and walked towards another minataur mech pinned under rubble. V, shocked, asked, "You mean we're going to use this thing...?" "Yes." Leo nodded, "But the factory's power isn't enough. We need a big one. There's still some methanol-2 and fuel tanks in the basement—get them to the generator room. I've already adjusted the circuits." The group nodded and headed toward the basement. As Navi passed Lear, he suddenly asked, "Cedric...?" Leo's hands paused while working on the energy cannon. "He perished along with his enemy." No miracle had happened. Without cybernetic support, humans are fragile. Especially since Cedric's body had already been ravaged by biotechnica drugs, gamma rabies, and cyberpsychosis, leaving him with little time. Navi remained silent, nodded, and headed for the basement. The battlefield wasn't a place for goodbyes. Leo was very familiar with the energy cannon—though he had previously dealt with larger versions, the principles were the same. Condensed matter physics, particle physics, quantum mechanics... all were his specialties. He might not understand how the alien materials and machinery were made, but just by looking at the monitoring values in the software, he could figure out the technology and design route behind the weapon. This weapon was essentially an upgraded version of an electromagnetic gun, where the projectile was replaced with charged particles. Before converting magnetic energy to kinetic energy, the process is intentionally delayed, converting magnetic energy into heat. The charged particle clusters partially ionize into plasma in the energy storage chamber and are fired in one burst when the magnetic rail reaches its peak power. The energy laser was impressive—handheld destructive laser weapons were rare, and replicating their functionality using another's firmware would take time to study. However, militech had already upgraded the soft drive of this weapon. Leo only needed to hack in and take control. Two energy cannons, with a total of 12 magnetic rail acceleration arrays. After removing the parts damaged in combat from external forces and overclocking, 9 arrays were still operational. The particle magazines still had enough for one gun, not much, but not too little either. Power would come from the factory's energy system—thanks to the fact that it was a factory, even though a large part of the wiring had been wrecked, the remaining lines were still enough to power the new energy cannon. For increased safety, they added a lot of safeguards to the makeshift weapon, making the energy cannon larger. Using armored gloves to constantly check and adjust the modules, Lear also connected his personal link to the first centaur mech. As he fine-tuned it, Leo looked up at the sky and began calculating the Vargis helicopter's altitude. "Unauthorized user detected." "Current mode: Locked combat mode." "User information reset." "System unlocked." "Weapon module detected: Military-grade minotaur mech energy cannon." "Software loaded: Military single-soldier energy laser V0.35." "Software loaded: Military single-soldier energy cannon V1.64." "Military-grade minotaur mech external power adapter damaged, undergoing manual repair." "Manual adjustments enabled, input work ID to skip." "Smart monitoring complete, software loaded, weapon online." "Single-soldier energy laser array." "Current ammunition: 57%." "Status: Insufficient power (44%)." "Rising voltage supply detected, weapon in standby mode." A brand-new energy laser cannon was set up, its energy arrays flickering with a dangerous red glow. In the basement, as they crazily poured fuel into the combustion chamber, the circuits began to destabilize— "Power supply rising: 57%." "Power supply rising: 69%." "Power supply rising: 80%." "Power supply rising: 86%." "Minimum firing requirement reached." Leo watched the numbers spike and shouted on the comms, "Everyone get out—Jackie, get over here!" "Power supply rising: 94%." "Warning: Circuit highly unstable, do not use this weapon in civilian structures, may cause..." "Manually silenced alarm, good luck." The three emerged, stunned: The new energy cannon was not only glowing red; arcs of red electricity were now escaping from it. The entire cannon was trembling slightly, as if it might explode at any moment. Jackie gulped, "Uh, me?" Leo nodded, "You. Don't worry, it's totally safe." He patted the cannon, and a red arc zapped him backward. Jackie's eye twitched. Leo continued, "You just said you trust me the most. Now hurry!" Jackie gritted his teeth and hoisted the cannon— The red arcs, as if they had found a conductor, surged onto his body! Just as Leo had said, the stray charged particles weren't dangerous—or at least, not to Jackie! Jackie felt his whole body tingle as he aimed the heavy cannon at the Vargis helicopter hovering 100 meters away! A red targeting box appeared in his cybernetic eye— "Power continuing to rise, approaching rated threshold!" "Power supply rising: 97%." "Power supply rising: 100%!" "Fully charged, fire immediately!" This weapon didn't produce the explosive sound of ballistic firearms; instead, it generated a low, deep vibration. The high-frequency vibration barely escaped the weapon's structure, but the particles and electric currents rubbing against the air and gun created a low hum with a wide amplitude but low frequency— The sound carried far, and it felt like it struck the heart. Jackie pulled the trigger. "I'm blowing it up!!!" Buzz! "Suppressive fire initiated, ground forces may advance." "Target location marked." "Ground forces received, advancing." The Vargis helicopter methodically strafed the ground, leaving fire and explosions in its wake. An attack helicopter versus infantry was a one-sided slaughter, even a tank wouldn't help much. The pilot remained calm, maintaining the cool professionalism of a military tech soldier. Until... The helicopter's thermal imaging detected something unusual. "This is W-2, detecting high-energy reaction." "High-energy reaction rising, battlefield coordinates: TN: Alright that's all the chapters I owned including today's please to make sure to send me those tasty stones and reviews so support me and give me motivation.