Chapter 550 - 521 Landing

A zero-point nuclear explosion was occurring.

Jack and V loved cars, with Jack favoring motorcycles and V preferring sports cars.

But no vehicle had ever given them such an outrageous thrust—

A high-temperature shock wave directly "collided" with the rear of the car, traveling through the vehicle’s structure and slamming into their backs with an unprecedented force, akin to being hit by a giant hammer, brutally "pushing" against them!

The high temperature burned and melted the rear of the car, flames licking at it, making it feel like they were in a firestorm!

Thrust! In a high-temperature version!

The immense thrust prevented blood from being pumped properly to their brains, but fortunately... cyborgs had their tricks.

Jack, for instance, had an entire lizard component based on biotechnology; the electronic systems interfered with the central controls but didn’t affect the lizard serum’s effects.

Even under such strong acceleration, these lizard muscles managed to keep blood pumping to the brain—at least enough to prevent complete blackout.

V was wearing a lightweight exoskeleton, originally intended to mount magnetic suction gloves, turbofan boots, and a spider silk emitter to improve mobility, but now, with Little Octopus controlling the exoskeleton, it was completely tightened, acting like an anti-G suit.

And Lille...

He was purely relying on lizard serum, and the lightweight exoskeleton used for stabilizing his octopus arm was sufficient for V’s somewhat sturdy physique but for Lille...

It was a drop in the bucket!

"Lilleeee ahhh—"

The most lucent Jack screamed the loudest, eyes bulging as his large hands gripped the car’s safety bars with all his might.

These safety devices were beginning to soften from the high temperatures, deforming under the violent impact. If Jack hadn’t been wearing gloves, his bones might have burnt to cinders long ago!

He shouted loudly because he saw it clearly...

They were heading right for Taiping State, toward the sea!

At this speed, hitting the water surface would be no different than crashing into a steel plate!

But Lille had already entered "auto-pilot" mode and couldn’t respond!

Mackinaw’s control system had completely shut down due to the nuclear electromagnetic pulse, but this advanced AI driver had one last trick.

All four wheels had already turned horizontally using the omnidirectional steering axles before the explosion occurred.

The hub design had a trick up its sleeve; it had turbofan-like devices inside, and when turned completely sideways, it acted like a small turbofan system.

Under such a landing... to float on the water like a surface vehicle was unrealistic.

The crucial point was that this bit of thrust ensured the car wouldn’t hit the water at too sharp of an angle—

Boom!

Mackinaw landed on the sea surface at 450 kilometers per hour, with a nose angle of 23 degrees...

It wasn’t much, but the speed was too fast!

The car started to flip, bounce...

then slam back down on the water surface!

A flaming metal box tumbled and bounced on the surface, finally slowing down thanks to the water’s strong resistance, with its nose nearly completely tilted as it crashed onto the beach!

Hiss—

Boom.

Mackinaw was completely deformed.

The smoking, legendary Mackinaw had fully landed on Taiping State’s Golden Beach in the night, with two tires flying off upon impact, wobbling into the distance.

In a night mostly free of light pollution, the moon and few stars contrasted the twisted wreckage of Mackinaw, which shimmered with a metallic coldness in the moonlight; from afar, it seemed to echo the sea’s moonlit reflection.

The waves beat against the beach, and everything quieted down, save for the scorched, flaming trench behind Mackinaw, reminding people...

Something was here.

Taiping State was lawless, but human social behavior only occurred in resource-rich areas.

An abandoned beachside amusement park didn’t qualify.

The waves whispered, and the night wind gently blew...

Bang!

The quiet was broken by a fist print punched from inside the car’s dented shell, followed by the screech of metal being clawed.

Ka—

Jack finally pried the car door open, and a huge cloud of black smoke spewed from the gap, followed by Lille and V being tossed out. With his strength near its limit, Jack painstakingly crawled out, like a zombie emerging from a coffin...

Plop.

The three lay on the beach, the only sounds left being their labored breathing.

This job... was taken hastily, but done quickly.

As consciousness gradually returned, Lille and V struggled to find a more comfortable lying position, all three striking the same sprawling "big" shape, gasping for breath, survived, staring at the moon slowly emerging from the clouds.

"Hell yeah!" V suddenly shouted, flipping off in the direction of the crashing Terrorist Mobile Team, also where the Night City stood, "Ha ha, Terrorist Mobile Team, eat my dust!"

Jack sat up, half tired, half excited, also throwing his head back in laughter.

Lille, however, lay motionless, like a corpse.

V immediately turned to poke Lille’s head: "You sneaky bastard, hiding away like that?"

Lille moved his one remaining functional eye to look at V: "I thought the first thing you’d do was curse me for having a nuclear bomb in my pocket."

"Why would I?" V shrugged, lying back down, "But honestly... that was intense."

V gazed at the moon, her mind drifting.

In truth, Lille saw her clearly; she wasn’t the reckless type, just someone who had been poor and alone in Night City for too long.

Everyone needs a sense of security; hers was tied to money and various ways to earn it. Sometimes she’d disregard safety for money, but conversely, she’d freak out if her job had severe safety issues.

Just like in Atlanta, when Lille told her they were going up against the Military Technology troops, she got so mad she got red hot!

But as someone hailing from Haywood, a nobody orphan...

What could be more satisfying than making a name for herself with something big, staying alive, and flipping the bird with vigor?

"But you know..." V patted Lille’s shoulder, "I trust you, Little Li Zi, good job."

Lille smiled: "This time, I won’t paint you any grand illusions."

"Screw you." V laughed, punching Lille, "Feels like a sucker, a gullible corporate tool."

But as she spoke, V suddenly thought of the feeling of flying in the car earlier.

That feeling of being looked up to by thousands, being able to overlook Night City, was awesome.

Too bad it was cut short by the nuclear explosion, and now she was a wanted criminal who might never get the chance to ride a floating car again.

So she mumbled to herself: "Floating cars are awesome; if only I could properly experience one someday."

When she said this, she looked like a kid seeing a cool new toy in the street, pure and childlike.

Lille didn’t share the general public’s fondness for flashy sports cars, motorcycles, or any inherently cool stuff like V or others did.

However, he had once been a child too, and of course had envied kids with better family conditions.

But his regrets were more abstract, like parents never attending his school meetings, and that buried itself in his heart as he grew.

Many people’s regrets, however, would turn into a materialistic chase, selling anything they could to pursue something he couldn’t comprehend, so he naturally couldn’t understand their yearnings.

As people grew up, their childhood longings and ways of fulfilling them often became... more adult, hidden under various external forms, making them incomprehensible to each other.

V’s love for luxury cars and houses was, to some extent, one of those yearnings Lille had never quite understood, but he suddenly got it now:

Considering V didn’t necessarily need luxury cars, maybe, as a street kid, this desire stemmed from seeing someone picked up and driven home in a car during a rainy street night without shelter.

"...There’ll be a chance." Lille took a deep breath, pain coursing through his limbs.

This pain wasn’t caused by artificial means and couldn’t be diminished.

But in fact, Lille had always had a high tolerance for pain.

Enduring the discomfort, Lille sat up from the beach and looked at Jack. This big guy was easier to understand—

Jack was more worried about his mother and... the girl he was about to woo.

Jack looked up at Lille and said: "Lille, we’re wanted criminals now, can we still go back?"

Lille scanned their surroundings, then removed his prosthetic eye: "Of course we can, and you have to remember, Night City needs us.

Alright, break time’s over. We better leave before the Voodoo Gang and locals find us, and then...

find a phone to call our mayor and the new deputy mayor for some work."

Just as the words left Lille’s mouth, Little Octopus’s voice rang in his head—

[Little Octopus: Boss! I’m back!]

[Little Octopus: Boss, seems like there are people in the amusement park.]