Chapter 198: ctOS Shutdown for Maintenance Today

Words : 1356 Updated : Oct 3rd, 2025

The wind howled! Leo felt the wind cutting across his cheeks like blades. Despite the immense tension inside him, he kept his mouth shut tight, eyes fixed on the Osborn Tower— How fast was this? Even with the activation of Sandevistan, the moment he shot out, Leo felt like he was on a roller coaster! He quickly reached the same altitude as, or even surpassed, the Vulture! Luckily, due to gravity, the upward momentum didn't last long, and soon enough, he began to slow down— Four octopus-like arms shot out, landing on the wall before his body! Boom! Dust and debris scattered as the octopus arms gripped the wall, and Leo rapidly started scaling upward! The flexibility of the octopus arms was astonishing: in their shortened state, each arm was only as long as a normal human arm, but when fully extended, they stretched up to nearly 168 cm. Equipped with 127 micro-motors and a mechanical structure far more flexible than traditional systems, they were controlled directly by Leo's brain via a neural interface— This was why Dr. Otto designed an AI to manage the control of the arms, and even that AI had the potential to corrupt human minds! Under this direct control, Leo felt his brain burning! The speed was awe-inspiring to ordinary people, but to Otto, it seemed miraculous! How could the human brain endure such a strain? Snap! The Vulture, holding Norman, swooped beneath Leo and then shot upwards. Leo seized the opportunity, leaping off the wall to pounce on the Vulture! The octopus arms grabbed the Vulture! The flight speed dropped dramatically, and the Vulture looked down at Leo, who was climbing up his leg and clutching his talons. He tilted his head. Leo didn't meet his gaze; instead, he drove a data knife viciously into the gap between the Vulture's blade wings! Ssssss! Electricity surged, and the Vulture suddenly spun in pain. The drastic speed change caused Leo's blood to momentarily stop flowing to his brain, causing him to lose consciousness for a second. Boom! The loud sound jolted Leo back to awareness— He realized he was still at the top of the Oscorp Tower! The servers, antennas, and cables were all severed by something sharp, scattered everywhere! Meanwhile, Leo's octopus arms were still tightly gripping the Vulture, and they had even caught the unconscious Norman Osborn! "Arghhhhhh!" The pain made Adrian scream, and his missile pods opened instantly! The octopus arms moved as if they had a mind of their own, quickly adjusting positions to avoid the missile pods and repositioning Leo! Missiles rained down on the Oscorp building, and violent explosions echoed across the district! People watched as the top of the Oscorp Tower was bombarded! Leo, regaining consciousness, dove into the Vulture's prosthetic system. He saw familiar neural anomalies: he had hacked into the systems of many cyber-psychos before and had logged their bodily conditions when their systems malfunctioned. Now, he confirmed that Adrian was also in a state of cyber-psychosis. In an instant, a surge of electricity burned through Adrian's hyper-excited nerves, cutting off his control over the equipment and even knocking him unconscious. Burn the nerves, then inject the right mixture of adrenaline, painkillers, and other meds. It was no exaggeration to say that in this world, only an experienced netrunner and ripper doc like Leo could stop Adrian's rampage and bring him down as safely as possible. But right now, they were 200 meters above the Oscorp Tower. With the turbine and jet engines stopped, the lift disappeared, and they were plummeting toward the ground. So, the second task—Leo had to reboot the Vulture's suit. Using his own nerves to replace Adrian's, he had to make a crash landing with the remaining control lines. Emergency modeling, emergency adjustments, temporary neural interface setup, and Leo's brainpower was being further taxed by his octopus arms— His brain cells were genuinely starting to burn out and die, and the Lizard Serum in his secondary heart pumped faster! Whoosh! The vector jet system hidden within the wings activated, and the bio-mechanical wings locked in place, turning their plummeting descent into a glide— Adrian regained consciousness, groggily. All the voices in his head were gone. He opened his eyes and saw the scene he had longed for his entire life— A gentle breeze brushed his cheeks, sunlight bathed him, and he soared lightly through the sky like a bird. Whoosh! The octopus arms acted as brakes and landing gear, and the three of them touched down on top of the Osborn building! Crack, crack, crack. Concrete shattered bit by bit under the force, and the octopus arms began to deform and collapse under the pressure, sending massive surges of electricity into Leo's brain— But they still managed to land safely. Boom. "Ugh." Leo's nose started bleeding like a stream, his head buzzing, and his vision darkened. Saving people is always harder than killing them. The view from the top of the Oscorp Tower was indeed beautiful. Leo glanced into the distance, feeling a sense of relaxation, like something had ended, and he collapsed onto the ground. He tossed Norman aside and removed the octopus arms, sitting down with a sense of loneliness that comes from having no one to share victory with. He picked up his data knife—the blade had gone through intense combat and yet remained unscathed, a true testament to Marvel's materials science. This thing was definitely handy, and Leo thought someone would definitely like it. He put the knife away. At that moment, he noticed Adrian staring straight at the sun. The old man was awake. "Did... I kill anyone?" "Almost," Leo kicked the unconscious Norman on the ground. "As for before you arrived, I'm not sure." "I... I blew up my own house." "Your family wasn't inside, right?" "No, just me... and those agents and soldiers. Oh, right, there was a young guy too. Osborn wanted to use him for an experiment." "Did you stop him?" "Yes." "And now Osborn is at your feet." "Yes... is he dead?" Leo glanced at Norman on the ground—pale, eyes rolled back, not dead, but whether there would be lasting damage was uncertain. "No, not dead." "Good." Adrian, still gazing at the sun, suddenly smiled weakly. "When I was young, we were poor. During the economic crisis, my useless father lost his job, drank himself silly, and would go on drunken rampages. My mother raised me alone. "After each beating, she'd secretly take me kite flying, saying it was a gift from my father when he was younger. "She would smile happily in front of me, but she always cried afterward. "She said when they were young, he promised to take her flying, to soar like birds and go wherever they wanted—Rome, Milan, Paris... "But why does life always turn for the worse?" "It didn't this time." "Yeah, this time it didn't. What's your name?" "Leo." "Thank you, Leo." With that, Adrian drifted into a deep sleep. Both of them had been saved now. Leo glanced over at Norman— A sudden loss of gravity, combined with the extreme tension, can cause all sorts of problems in the human body. Like what he just experienced: rapid ascension, blood failing to reach the brain, leading to unconsciousness. That's why pilots wear anti-gravity suits. Adrian's original design wasn't this extreme, but Norman had insisted on adding a turbine boost system. The double strain on a man over fifty like Norman had nearly fatal consequences, potentially inducing brain hemorrhage and other issues. Norman's current symptoms suggested something similar. "Too bad I only have one dose of medicine." Leo calculated the time and realized he had used the last emergency meds on Adrian. As for Norman on the ground, well, he probably wouldn't die, but how much of his brain would remain intact... That would be up to fate, Osborn. He had called for emergency services, but traffic was jammed. ctOS was down for maintenance today.

Chapter 198: ctOS Shutdown for Maintenance Today

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