Chapter 342 - 317: Which Way?

Rockets burst into exaggerated flames in the air, and the pedestrians around screamed and fled as the NCPD alarms sounded immediately!

"Cough, cough..."

Under the flipped sports car, a woman dressed in a hacker’s uniform crawled out of the vehicle, her legs clearly modified with mechanical enhanced prosthetics, kicking the stuck door open with one foot.

Boom!

Ahead, several rockets flew, hitting a newly started Mackinaw, the force of the explosion pushing the car slightly sideways, elongating the wave of flames.

A G240 quickly approached the car; a burly man stepped out, his left arm’s rocket launcher still emitting white smoke.

He grabbed the warped car door and forcefully tore it open, yanking Jimmy out of the car.

This Super Dream editor previously wore an indifferent expression that had turned slightly excited, as if only the intense battle between life and death could elicit his reaction.

"Indeed a professional mercenary..." Jimmy’s left hand was somewhat deformed, yet his face was full of admiration.

"This level of explosion won’t be a problem, will it?"

The woman who spoke, codenamed Phantom, seemed unfamiliar with Night City.

Jimmy, leaning on the car, got into the G240: "Of course not, this is Night City, it’s like this every day; we’d better get out of here fast, these people are no joke..."

Before he finished speaking, Phantom suddenly ducked, several bullets pinging against the sports car’s undercarriage—David was chasing them!

Red data lights immediately flickered in her eyes, and Jimmy saw a special transmitting device placed on the roof of the G240, flashing rapidly at that moment—

"Si Anweisitan? Impressive cyber prosthetics, plus two hackers..."

David, driving the Si Anweisitan, sped towards them, but his prosthetics suddenly lagged, causing him to stagger!

[Lucy: They have a hacker, and a dedicated radar hacking system!]

David’s lag lasted only for a moment before he returned to normal, but that brief time was enough for Jimmy’s group to position themselves—

But just as the big man sat down, he saw the Mackinaw he had blown up...

A car door, sharp as a blade, shot towards them!

Bang!

The A-pillar in front of the driver’s seat was bent halfway by the darting door, its massive force even lodging it in the pillar!

The three people in the car were stunned; what kind of force was this?

However, stunned as they were, as top mercenaries, their muscles remembered what to do; the big man floored the accelerator, the tires fiercely burning rubber on the ground...

But then something even more exaggerated happened!

The burning Mackinaw suddenly sunk, the already damaged chassis crying out in fracture, a man covered in burn marks leapt out with his fists raised high!

It was Jack!

His body still aflame, the exoskeleton’s propulsion system suffered minor explosions, jet fans pushing the air, making him look like a multi-stage combustion rocket charging at them!

The big man driving slightly opened his mouth in shock at the sight, but his surprise didn’t slow his actions; he immediately lifted his arm fitted with the rocket launcher—

[Lille: Aim for the hood.]

Jack immediately changed his target, his fist smashing towards the hood!

Bang!

The sound was deafening!

Enhanced Finger Tiger pounded fiercely on the hood, the car, just starting to surge forward, was abruptly stopped, its rear end lifting high!

The airbags deployed instantly, brutally hitting the driver in the head, and the rocket launcher failed to launch, intercepted by the car roof and exploding on the spot!

Boom!

The car remained slightly upright, a mini rocket exploding right there, the entire car jumped backwards while in that inverted position...

Bang.

And then it crashed down.

The people inside the car felt the world turn upside down, the big man in the driver’s seat especially aflame, his outer skin burnt off, exposing the composite armor underneath...

In the back seat, Phantom pulled her head out of the smashed launcher, dazed, not understanding what had happened.

"What’s going on..."

"Ah!!!"

She looked up to see her companion in the driver’s seat roar and throw a punch, only for it to be grasped by a larger exoskeleton mechanical hand.

Then came the second punch, which was also caught.

The prosthetics were crushed by immense force, motors burst into sparks, parts flew off, and oil dripped from his powerful cyber prosthetics...

Suddenly, the 200-plus-kilogram companion was lifted out like a chick, the car jerked violently, clearly due to a chassis fracture!

Inside the deformed car, Phantom suddenly became somewhat panicked, and in the confined space, she looked at the client sleeping like a baby in the passenger seat...

Who exactly was trying to kill him?!

Zing!

The sound of metal being torn apart resounded as two Mantis Blades zinged in!

Phantom, sweating profusely, stared as the Mantis Blade cut through the twisted chassis and various mechanical structures like a hot knife through butter, passing by her nose...

Feeling nothing, Phantom discovered her synthetic skin had been cut open.

In extreme tension, her subcutaneous injector injected all the nerve activity enhancers directly into her densely innervated central nervous system, preparing for a desperate struggle—

But the blade tip just gently scraped the synthetic material below her skull, the terrifying computational power instantly overwhelmed her personal system, and in that moment, she felt as though she was facing an entire corporate hacker attack team!

Zing!

The Mantis Blade retracted, a wave of nauseating system collapse washed over her, Phantom’s mind went blank as she dumbly watched a pair of arms tear open the car shell.

The one tearing open the car shell was a woman, her movements sharp, her clothes still burning with traces of flames, some parts scorched through revealing her toned body and skin.

She had a uniquely beautiful look...

Her facial features sharp, her gaze icy, her hair flowing, and her hair color was her favorite type.

"Tui." V spat, looking at the terrified Phantom, "Can you fight well, which gang are you from?"

"I..." Phantom’s brain short-circuited, she didn’t know how to respond, and after struggling for a long time she blurted out, "Budapest, comrade!"

The translator quickly translated what the woman said: Budapest, comrade.

V thought for a while, not recalling any gang named Budapest, so she slowly said, "So you are a nobody."

[Lille: Idiot! Budapest is a city in the New Soviet!]

[V: Oh.]

[V: The New Soviet is?]

[Lille: The ’Su’ in Su Petrochemical.]

[V: That powerful?]

[V: Wait, you’re quite lucid now, why do you have to talk through messages?]

...

New Soviet.

It wasn’t directly translated like New America because the changes within the Soviet territories were more complex than the straightforward dissolution that happened in old America.

The full name of New Soviet was "Soviet Federation Republic," generally speaking, the central government’s control and authority had weakened, and the member states had greater power.

But these governments were not the real helm, the real leader was someone else, which was the Soviet World Petrochemical Group, known as Su Petrochemical.

V might not have remembered immediately, seeing as Night City almost had no Su Petrochemical industry, there was no need to understand the Soviet.

Why would Russians come all the way to Night City?

[Lille: Take the person away, ask them if there’s any problem.]

"This food is really good... is it a Latvian specialty?"

At the dining table, King T’Chaka couldn’t stop praising Maya’s cooking, who appeared a bit restrained.

Lille’s mother, although having spent most of her time in Mei Country, had been a Latvian in her youth.

The ruler of Latvia was only a Grand Duke, T’Chaka was a king!

Lille rubbed his head, steam rising from his body, fortunately, it wasn’t obvious across the steaming dinner table facing T’Chaka.

He smiled and said, "This is mysterious Eastern cuisine, Latvians can’t afford these, speaking of which, aside from our food subsidies, I hope to purchase some food to send to Eastern Europe, as part of humanitarian aid."

"That’s easy to say."

Wakanda lacks many things, but not food; wheat yield of eighteen hundred per acre was not a problem.