Chapter 521 - 492: Electromagnetic Frenzy (Part 5)

The Tiger Claw Gang’s motorcycle convoy was like they were on steroids, zipping through the streets at high speed, wielding either long knives or single-shot long-barreled pistols, the bombardment of micro missiles one after another, and they could only evade passively.

However, the enemies were outright cyber psychos, with several even using the force of the blasts to pounce forward, diving headfirst into the fireballs generated by the explosions, emerging covered in flames—

Bang!

Qian Chuan’s forearm flipped out a stockless rifle produced by Military Technology, and a single armor-piercing bullet blew the brain of this cyber nutcase to bits—

But the other henchmen weren’t as lucky!

Their movements were quite extreme too, but given the peculiar situation, whenever the electromagnetic shield of their prosthetics was damaged, malfunctions spread like a virus...

Lille could only delay them from being burnt by Munemasa, passively shutting down the functions of the prosthetics, but this wasn’t a solution at all!

Some henchmen could still adapt to the disparity caused by partial function shutdown, but others experienced immediate deformation in their movements, leading to fatal falls!

Boom—

An enemy burst out from the smoke, pulled the trigger, and bullets sprayed out!

Qian Chuan’s blade and gun fired in unison, the bullets were deflected by his blade, his samurai sword was thrown simultaneously, hitting the enemy square in the chest.

The spider silk pulled the blade back into his hand, with more explosions coming his way, he no longer paid attention to the fight, accelerating straight through the black smoke to reach the legendary Mackinaw’s side.

"This is not the way..."

In the explosion, he didn’t see another mercenary already catching up, desperate, pouncing out from the flames—

Bang!

Jack shot this guy’s head open, then grabbed his body and flung it away.

As for Qian Chuan, peeking into the car, what he saw almost made him piss his pants:

Inside the car, two octopus arms were lodged against the car’s shell, twitching sporadically like they were having seizures to counteract the excess vibrations from the ride, while another octopus arm was crazily dismantling the car’s chassis—

The interior of the legendary Mackinaw was anything but luxurious; in fact, most of the components were detachable, allowing for on-the-spot modifications with sufficient technical expertise.

But Lille’s condition...

Qian Chuan had never seen someone whose head was emitting black smoke still be alive!

Not only was Lille emitting black smoke, but his single prosthetic eye also flashed with a bright blue light, his body occasionally shivering due to electric arcs, and the octopus arm along with the car’s circuitry occasionally exploded in red lightning—

Qian Chuan wasn’t clear on the rogue AI situation, he just felt like he was seeing ghosts!

One of the octopus arms suddenly shot out from a gap blasted in the armor, swinging upwards!

V dove fast, grabbing the octopus arm and landing forcibly on the car roof, the thud of the impact commanding Qian Chuan’s respect—

But soon something else demanded his respect too: the drone bombardment abruptly ceased, and the car burst out from the bomb-induced smoke, looking up,

Motorcycles and drones simultaneously crashed to either side, smashing into the buildings flanking the street!

Was that it?

V rolled onto the car roof, lying flat and synchronizing with the octopus arm to peek into the car window, shouting and banging on the roof, "It’s transforming!!"

Qian Chuan caught snippets, so he turned to check—

He saw the pursuing Centaur mecha burst out of the smoke, revealing a completely different appearance:

The Centaur mecha, already battered, seemed to be layered with an exoskeleton, its entire left side covered in some additional structure, with flames bursting from where the new and old structures connected...

The person inside had turned completely charred!

Some unstable small text appeared on Qian Chuan’s HUD:

[Lille: Run, now.]

The Centaur mecha...

No, now it should be called the Centaur robot, this gigantic robot pulled out an armored box from the sky, and from within it retrieved a giant, distinctly shaped electromagnetic gun!

Lille’s prosthetic eye was locked onto this enormous robot:

Clearly, Munemasa intended to upgrade the Centaur mecha on-site to a unit capable of wielding greater power, and once the upgrade was complete, it would likely be an all-around giant combat robot—

That would be beyond their capability to handle, at least not in their current state with depleted heavy ammunition.

According to the plan, Munemasa showing up was the riskiest, but also the most ideal scenario:

If it appeared openly in the real world, then its network traces would be even more prominent.

Although it was unclear why its presence in Night City hadn’t triggered attacks from the Black Wall in the network, Lille’s task now was to lock down every network channel Munemasa had, trapping it here...

This required time, and more helpers.

But the most deadly threat was the gigantic weapon in Munemasa’s hands!

The scanner showed that it was the electromagnetic gun manufactured by Rheinmetall, from which Lille had seized fragments!

If Munemasa managed to mount that weapon, it wouldn’t just be them in danger; even the company would go ballistic!

The scanner in Lille’s eye fought against Munemasa’s electromagnetic interference, piercing through the massive chassis to acquire structural data.

He needed to identify the structural weak points before Munemasa could fully assemble the shoulder-mounted electromagnetic gun...

Unfortunately, those weak points were dwindling one by one as the drone’s internal welding modules kicked in, while Lille’s octopus arm rapidly adjusted the control platform above the chassis, the vehicle’s electric central control platform—

There would only be one chance, and the greater the power, the better.

"Electromagnetic gun!"

Da Mai’s voice startled V lying on the roof, but she quickly realized that it was Lille speaking—

Before everyone else could piece things together, V threw the raccoon dog she carried into the car.

"Full speed!!"

Da Mai’s voice was thunderous, overwhelming the clashing of blades, gunshots, explosions, and roars on the battlefield.

The Tiger Claw Gang understood, Mackinaw floored the pedal, and the biker gang likewise revved up to full throttle, speeding out of the combat zone.

The mercenaries weren’t activating any special abilities; they were just going cyber psycho. Their already wrecked vehicles were left behind, and instantly the engines roared.

At this moment, the interior space of Da Mai had been stripped nearly bare, with seats pushed aside, fully exposing the naked circuit boards.

Lille dismantled the raccoon dog in a few moments, this weapon he was immensely familiar with, the powerful electromagnetic sniper rifle.

The raccoon dog had significant power, capable of blowing up ordinary cyborgs and armored vehicles, but for large robots, the damage spread was too small—

It was unlikely to knock down the towering Centaur robot, which was still amassing height, in a single shot.

But the good news was there were only a few technological paths for electromagnetic weapons, and the raccoon dog and EMG-85 electromagnetic gun followed essentially the same principles.

The superconducting circuits of the EMG-85 had lost their superconducting properties, but they still conducted electricity, and the barrel itself was made of super-durable, heat-resistant materials—

The electric control platform was damaged and unsuitable for controlling the car under these conditions, but the electromagnetic gun needed only short-term power, and it required immense power, making hacking unlikely.

The octopus arm, under Lille’s control, meticulously aligned the circuitry, fixing the barrel and raccoon dog’s components onto the massive electric control platform...

This improvised weapon might not have the designed strength of the EMG-85, but it should buy Lille enough time.

As long as he could complete his assembly before Munemasa did.

His actions were certainly noticed by Munemasa, the massive robot emitted a bone-rattling low-frequency vibration, as if... it were laughing.

It was like two gunslingers with disassembled firearms on the table, engaged in an assembly duel.

The difference being, street kids and mercenaries usually assembled relatively simple pistols.

But they were assembling super electromagnetic guns with muzzle velocities exceeding 3000m/s, enough to make even military vehicles cautious!

Within Lille’s somewhat reddish scanner view, ghostly red arcs hovered above Munemasa’s head, revealing a line of warped text...

[I enjoy this kind of duel.]

Lille laughed—

The last one to enjoy a gun duel with him in a chase had been so long ago, they might soon be ten months along, ready to give birth.