Chapter 243 - 225: Guns and Knives

The Tiger Claw Gang’s convoy, consisting of six motorcycles and ten members, sped towards the Meiquan District. Atop one of the bikes, a man wearing a red Evil Ghost mask looked grim—

He didn’t want to do Jotaro’s bidding at all.

"Mr. Saito, Jotaro is a coward, working for him is a disgrace to us."

"You naive fool," said the man known as Saito, donning a green Evil Ghost mask, showing no emotion. "This may just be our chance to see through the great mystery."

"How so? What mystery?"

"There are many who can fight, but few who can make money.

We are good at fighting, but Jotaro is good at making money, thus the gang wants us to listen to him. Maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong direction."

"...Bullshit."

"I’m curious about your view, but now isn’t the time to discuss such mysteries. Get ready to make a move."

The motorcycles they were riding suddenly accelerated, and Saito and the man with him let go of their bikes, wielding a knife in one hand and a pistol in the other, both weapons aimed at the speeding Mackinaw—

The rest of the Tiger Claw Gang quickly caught up, and the organized Bay Street was instantly thrown into chaos by the roar of engines!

Boom!

The first to be caught up was Man’s small van, and in a blink of an eye, two men wearing Evil Ghost masks were on either side of the van!

Rebecca, holding a shotgun by the car door, cursed loudly, "Die, you bastards!"

Bang!

Bullets flew from all directions; the two men riding motorcycles, wearing Evil Ghost masks, had superb riding skills, and with a burst of speed, they dodged the aim of the people inside the van!

In their place, another Tiger Claw Gang motorcycle came into view!

"Haha!"

The following vehicles were two-person motorcycles, with Tiger Claw Gang members at the back wielding guns, turning the chase into a shootout!

Man felt the situation was dire and shouted immediately, "Get down!!!"

Ratatatatat!

Bullets hit the van, sounding like a downpour of rain, and a ricochet bullet struck Dolly in the shoulder!

Catching sight of the blood splatter from the corner of his eye, Man’s blood rushed to his head, and he abruptly turned the steering wheel!

Bang!

The overconfident Tiger Claw Gang did not anticipate how headstrong Man could be, and while moving at high speed, the slightest touch caused them to lose control, crash to the ground, and collide with the following vehicles!

The whole van jolted violently, lifting on one side, but fortunately, it didn’t flip over!

"Couldn’t you have given a warning before doing that!" Rebecca climbed back beside the window in a rush, aiming her gun at the motorcycles behind them and cursing loudly.

"But I took out one!" Man yelled back. "You have to have faith in my driving skills!"

"It was two!"

Corrected loudly by both Rebecca and Pila, they had hit another one!

Another Tiger Claw Gang motorcycle plunged into a store at the roadside!

"Well done—"

Before Man could finish, the two fastest motorcycles suddenly slowed down, coming up level with the van, and wielded their Samurai Swords high—

Too fast for him to see clearly!

But Man, now without Prosthetics, started to fight the old-fashioned way.

He focused on the eyes of the two men, clearly spotting their targets: one aimed for the steering wheel and the other for Dolly!

Knowing Dolly was shot and couldn’t dodge easily, and unable to free his hands, Man had a flash of inspiration and locked the steering wheel in place!

Ssssss—Crack!

The sound of tires skidding and mechanics being stabbed overlapped.

It was Saito who aimed for the steering wheel, but targeting Dolly was the man with him.

However, Saito realized a hand was protecting the steering mechanism when his blade pierced, a hand made of cybernetic bionic Prosthetics.

Both Saito and his companion, having initiated the cybernetic enhancement called Si Anweisitan, suddenly noticed something: the van was tilting over, and fast.

On closer inspection, they realized that Man had quickly turned the steering wheel, causing the van to lose control.

The van toppled towards Saito, and consequently, the man’s blade couldn’t reach Dolly’s neck.

Moreover, Saito found his blade stuck in Man’s hand.

Indeed, they had triggered Si Anweisitan, but it was the kind that could only increase their reflexes by 30%.

Time seemed to slow by almost 30% to them.

Yet in the midst of high-speed battle, the speed of the van far exceeded what they could handle.

"...Mr. Oro, it seems we’ve met a tough opponent this time."

Boom—!

...

Thirty seconds earlier.

David and his group had noticed Tiger Claw Gang approaching a while ago, but Man’s van was too slow!

To David, it seemed Saito and his companion just paused beside the van, then quickly accelerated to their side!

But the armor of the Mackinaw was sturdy, their pistols couldn’t penetrate it!

Then David saw the van violently bump and flip a motorcycle, so he too turned the wheel—

But Saito and the other man almost simultaneously slowed down, causing David to miss them!

The two motorcyclists then threw away their magazines and swung their Samurai Swords high, moving so swiftly they were nearly imperceptible, striking towards the van—

And then the van suddenly flipped on its side, beginning to roll over!

Bang!

Saito’s bike was caught up in the melee, and while he attempted to leap clear, abandoning his sword hilt, he still got struck by the rolling van, his body losing control as he was flung forward by the momentum.

A series of physics problems... illustrations flashed through David’s mind.

The Tiger Claw Gang member, sent flying through the air due to inertia, would maintain high speed forward, and if David braked immediately while still moving forward, he might be able to scoop the man under the wheels of the Mackinaw.

So he braked hard, slowing the Mackinaw, then watched as the other man fell beside the passenger’s side—

The vehicle shook slightly.

A crunch—the sound of something being crushed was captured by David’s newly replaced advanced hearing assistive prosthetic.

The Mackinaw braked sharply, then reversed, bumped again, and stopped beside the overturned van.

"Man? Dolly? What’s happening over there..."

"Dammit..." Rebecca’s voice came through the communication channel, "Man, you bastard, could you give a heads up before doing something like this..."

"As long as you’re okay—Lucy?"

"Taken care of." A string of data flickered in Lucy’s eyes, "The electronic warfare equipment in this car is very advanced, it was a big help."

On the streets, several motorcycles from the Tiger Claw Gang suddenly lost control, crashing straight into the roadside.

One of the bikes did come to a slow stop, but the rider’s movements were very stiff.

Stiff, but gradually becoming smoother.

"I’ll go save the person... What’s up with that guy?"

"He..." Lucy said in shock, "He’s forcibly shutting down his prosthetics to shake off the interference!"

"Switch it up, I’ll handle him, you go save the person, move fast, otherwise it’s all over when the NCPD shows up."

David chambered a round into his pistol and got out of the car heading towards Evil Ghost.

...

[Error!]

[Physical activity threshold exceeds prosthetic drive limit, forced movement may damage prosthetics...]

[Shutting down the coordinator might cause extreme increases in body load...]

[Enhanced Achilles tendon coordinator shut down]

[Bionic Joint coordinator shut down]

[Muscle fiber coordinator shut down]

[Cyber modulator shut down...]

[Warning, you are forcibly driving the cyber system with your native body...]

Red error pop-ups appeared and vanished one after another.

The locked feeling of his prosthetics slowly faded away, replaced by a heavy sensation in his body as if it were being filled with mercury—

But this was also part of the training Evil Ghost regularly undertook.

He glanced at Saito lying on the ground, broken and twitching repeatedly.

"Saito... you were careless."

With the samurai sword raised high, Evil Ghost redirected his gaze and fixed his eyes on David, who had just gotten out of the car.

David raised his gun as Evil Ghost lifted his samurai sword.

"A person’s gaze reveals their intent, while the direction the gun barrel points to reveals the bullet’s trajectory."

David fired his gun, Evil Ghost swung his sword with a slight sidestep, his other hand hidden behind him, reaching into his belt bag—

Clang!

The first bullet aimed at Evil Ghost’s head was deflected by the samurai sword, producing a clear ringing sound.

The second bullet went askew, the third hit his flank, and the fourth grazed his left hand.

He pulled a flash bomb out of his pocket.

After throwing the flash bomb, Evil Ghost closed his eyes, firmly memorizing the distance between him and his enemy, along with their postures—

The sudden flash bomb blinded David, and the panic of losing his sight stimulated his brain...

He took a step back and stomped heavily on the ground, and it was this stomp that miraculously calmed him down a bit—

Or perhaps, his fear response was just dull.

His newly exchanged auditory sensor picked up the sound of Evil Ghost’s voice shifting from in front to the front right, clear and distinct.

A simple flash bomb, not a shock bomb, made a sound but it was relatively minor and didn’t completely incapacitate David’s auditory sensor.

"At this distance, any prosthetic eye would struggle to avoid optical damage from a flash bomb, even if one closes their eyes.

The enemy would likely be the same, so the attack must have been planned before the flash bomb was thrown, he won’t evade it."

This thought flashed through his mind, David positioned the pistol in front of his chest and fired towards the direction of the sound!

But instinctively, he took a step back and stumbled to the ground!

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

The magazine emptied, and David felt an intense pain in the left side of his lower abdomen!

In this brief exchange, David fired a total of seven shots, hitting with each one, but three of them struck at poor angles causing only grazes, two hit the arms, and two hit the torso, but they didn’t penetrate deeply enough, some even got lodged in the prosthetics.

None were fatal.

Evil Ghost had inflicted only one wound with his blade, carving a horrifying gash in David’s lower abdomen, blood pouring out.

Yes, Evil Ghost had even predicted the possibility of David falling to the ground, too many enemies have ended up on the floor after that move.

The slash was aimed at the enemy’s lower body—if the enemy hadn’t fallen, it would have severed his legs.

The reason why the flash bomb wasn’t a shock bomb was here: he would adjust his swing based on the enemy’s sounds.

What he didn’t expect was for David to still discern the attack vector, leaving several bloody holes in him.

It was highly unusual: the enemy had quickly calmed down from the blindness.

Those shots actually caused Evil Ghost’s strike to deviate, and he felt as though the blade hadn’t pierced the enemy’s organs.

So after completing the slash, he quickly retreated, taking cover behind the overturned car, waiting for the prosthetics to reboot, while reloading his pistol.

"David?!"

Lucy and Man, who had just climbed out of the car, were stunned by this scene. Lucy was especially frantic, calling out David’s name.

David simply changed the magazine and then gave Lucy a thumbs-up.

"I’m... okay, did you rescue everyone?"

"Everyone’s fine... the NCPD is coming, we need to get out of here!"

"Then let’s get out."

David looked in the direction where the sound had last run towards, feeling a strange sensation in his heart.

Although it was brief, it was... truly an exhilarating fight.

Lucy helped David back onto the Mackinaw, and they fled before the NCPD’s cars arrived.

Evil Ghost emerged from his cover as well, lifting up the unconscious Saito onto the motorcycle and racing back to the gang.

But Evil Ghost knew they had lost.