Chapter 538 - 509: The Legend from Fifty Years Ago

After a night of intense warfare, Lille’s side now completely lacked any long-range weapons to bring into play—

In V’s hand was the trusty pistol Final Night that she had always carried, while Jack got his hands back on the two golden vicious madams. These two large-caliber handguns had been roughly modified by Lille, fitted into knuckle dusters that had been stripped of their 14mm shellless bullet feeding mechanisms, becoming two built-in pistols.

Lille also reverted to using his own Yinglong Submachine Gun; of course, the Octopus Arm could still transform for one charged electromagnetic shot.

The Holographic Crystal Ball captured the shadow in the sky and identified both the direction and scanning results in the trio’s Prosthetic Eyes.

[Benson Brand "Cascadia" 2076 Custom model (Floating Car)]

[Description: Top speed of 420 km/h, maximum altitude of 5 meters.]

[Note: An expensive hover vehicle, it is clearly more extreme compared to the floating cars prepared for commercial elite.]

Although the car’s maximum hover height was only 5 meters, its speed was incredibly fast!

The driver’s piloting skills were even more outrageous, with the top speed of 420 miles enough for them to dart between buildings high above!

Laymen might just see it as a floating car racing wildly, but experts knew better—

The Cascadia simply couldn’t fly that high!

The driver was pushing the vehicle to its top speeds to leap across high rises in the city, where the slightest mishap at such speed and altitude could lead to a devastating crash!

V, of course, quickly grasped that feeling, having experienced the Blast Ride’s top speed today, which was just over three hundred miles—

To keep control at a speed of over four hundred miles, what kind of terrifying driving skill must that require?

"I thought the ones who drove floating cars were either the wealthy or armed soldiers, this... what is this? A madman?"

Lille shook his head, "Hard to say."

It’s well-known that official forces value efficiency, standardization, and the absolute advantage brought by technology and industrial capabilities.

The Terrorist Mobile Team is an embodiment of such a philosophy.

Surprising the enemy is a tactic signature to special forces, or even to Lone Wolves.

And Lone Wolves... frankly speaking, they are Outsiders, and how could they possibly have floating cars to drive? If unregistered, they’d be shot down by corporations within minutes!

That thing isn’t meant for the Outsiders to use!

Jack, who was well-versed in the legends of Night City, immediately had his gears turning—

"Mano, I actually do remember one top-tier mercenary who loves driving his own private floating car..."

"Hold tight!"

Before Jack could finish, the legendary Mackinaw engine roared mightily, with the speed bursting to extreme, charging straight for the intersection!

At another main road of the intersection, several NCPD armored vehicles blared their sirens and charged out, with Jefferson 388 right in the middle of the convoy!

The on-duty police were dumbfounded: The Terrorist Mobile Team really got lost!

That armed pickup had charged right in front of the mayor!

Car accidents are usual in Night City, but such a brutal crash was indeed rare.

The NCPD’s Emperor 720 Iron Armor, rank-wise, was already a higher level anti-riot armored vehicle, well enough to handle a regular cyborg psycho, given its firepower.

But in front of the legendary Mackinaw, it was entirely insufficient!

Boom!

The two steel beasts collided in the night, battling for dominance!

The female was Chevrolet’s Emperor 720!

The thick steel plates and bulletproof glass deformed and shattered upon the first collision, sparks and fragments exploding everywhere!

The enormous impact swept the armored vehicle off the road like paper, flipping it onto its side, twisting and deforming the body as it screeched across the ground—

The convoy smashed into one another on the spot!

The Jefferson 388 carrying Ryan reacted extremely quickly and, with a series of maneuvers, sped past Mackinaw, piercing through the rain of metal fragments and sparks, and the chaos of the crash site!

A literal close shave!

In the midst of high-speed rotation, Lille watched the dark glass through his Prosthetic Eye.

The exaggerated horsepower of Mackinaw was fully unleashed, and under Da Mai’s coordination, the tires spun rapidly, kicking up dust as the special tread dug into the ground, causing extensive damage as if bulldozed aside—

The torque from the crash took less than a few seconds to correct; catching up with the Jefferson, whose speed performance was a concern, only required a burst of acceleration...

But at that instant, Da Mai chose to abandon the chase. The wheels, under control, changed direction into an impact-resistant mode:

The relentless Cascadia Floating Car, in a high-speed charge of nearly 400 yards, fired an anti-tank rocket—

And it was a woman, standing on the vehicle, manually hoisting the launcher to fire!

Boom!

The missile struck Mackinaw’s side perfectly, considering the vehicle’s attitude at that time and the generally weaker side armor of armored vehicles, this hit could not have been more precise!

Yet Da Mai was an AI, and the core system of the legendary Mackinaw was also AI!

The blast force was absorbed by Da Mai, the tires completely sideways now, drifting out of the smoke—

The Cascadia was also drifting in mid-air, slowing down and then quickly flipping over to execute a hard stop against a building!

The terrifying propulsive force, together with the momentum of the speed of over 300 yards, was negated little by little against the building’s facade, braking within a second, completely destroying the wall in the process!

The legendary Mackinaw burst out of the smoke, its electromagnetic locking system slightly damaged, while the Cascadia used the building’s wall to brake, leveraging the remaining momentum to slide up to the rooftop.

Both vehicles came to a perfect halt.

It was visible that the doors of the floating car had opened, and the driver, alone, tossed out the launcher.

Jack’s eyes widened as he suddenly exclaimed, "It’s Susan Frist! Mano, it’s—"

"Quit your yelling! We’re working here, not here for you to fanboy!"

Thump!

Lille harshly knocked on Jack’s head that was poking out, making a dull sound: "Keep an eye on Elizabeth! Sit tight! This chick means business—V! Get ready!"

Mackinaw floored the accelerator, chasing after the direction in which Ryan had departed.

Susan Frist, of course, Lille also knew the name, an old legend of Night City—

Legend, not a legend because she was a cop by trade, active in the NCPD in her early days, later joining the Terrorist Mobile Team, and a legendary law enforcement officer of the Free State Federation, including Northern California.

It’s hard to convey in a few words why she was so terrifying; it’s because those she took down fell on the path to making their names. Taking out an infamous criminal, people would only think of her as a formidable woman, but...

In the eyes of the public, her fame was rather ordinary.

And after the nuclear blast at Arasaka Tower, after the war for unification launched by the military technology against the Free State, her legend became increasingly less spoken of.

All that people knew had taken place more than fifty years ago, in the ’10s.

Never failing, cool and powerful, with a religious zeal and fervor for her missions...

A legendary mercenary and Lone Wolf of Night City!

V gripped his pistol and positioned Final Night at his waist, clicking his tongue, "That impressive, huh? Just because she’s got fancy gear? Being a corporate lapdog is something special? She even drives a floating car."

"Jack!"

Lille bellowed, scolding Jack back into reality as he rubbed his head: "Focus! Another couple of rockets, and we’ll be history on these streets! Where’s that cocky attitude of yours?!"

Jack snapped to his senses, picking up the twisted and deformed Chroni Titanium Armor Plates from the ground.

The active defense bombs had been depleted; avoiding rockets... would now rely on the extraordinary strength of the cyborg.

Steam hissed from the Power Armor Arm, adjusting to the most efficient operating range.

After attempting to catch helicopters by hand, Jack was about to try intercepting anti-tank missiles manually.