Chapter 800 - 79 Causality (Four)

"Target spotted, suppressing fire!"

The entire street became shaky under the storm of ammunition, the sound of bullets bursting echoed throughout the reception hall!

The glass curtain walls were shattered in an instant, the floor and walls sparkled with sparks as fragments flew everywhere—

Jack suddenly dashed out from the hail of bullets, moving at an incredible speed, almost skimming the ground, only debris and metal fragments could hit him!

Pow!

The IMC soldiers didn’t even see when he fired, as the comrade beside them got their head blown off!

"Focus fire on that pilot...and the enemy!"

But the IMC soldiers were facing more than just Jack!

Destruction robots randomly appeared on both sides of the street, and as soon as they appeared, they launched an attack. This completely unpredictable position change and surprise assault thoroughly disrupted the IMC’s formation, allowing Jack, who was suppressed behind cover, to seize the opportunity to change positions.

The battle on the street turned into a chaotic brawl, the IMC soldiers became terrified from the destruction robots appearing repeatedly in different locations, while Jack’s unpredictability added immense pressure!

This was their research facility, why did so much heavy firepower suddenly appear?!

The IMC soldiers hiding in the building shouted in the communication channel, "Requesting air support! Requesting air support! Something’s wrong! Their firepower is too fierce!!!"

[Fighter pilot: Target locked, preparing for precision strike...]

[IMC soldier: Carpet bombing! They have some weird evasive method!]

[Fighter pilot: Copy that.]

Voom—

The engine sound of the fighter completely drowned out the sound of gunfire and cannons in the neighborhood, this fixed-wing aircraft had powerful vector engines, taking only seconds to transition from high-speed gliding to hovering aim!

Jack listened to this sound and felt uneasy: he couldn’t say much, even with BT crossing over with him, they couldn’t do anything against the fighter in the sky!

[Jack: Lille! They have air support!!]

The fighter hovered in the air, the gun bay under its belly opened, and amid Jack’s yelling, artillery spat out blazing light, a torrent of steel fell from the sky!

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang—

Fire and dust were raised several meters high, destruction robots crumbled under overwhelming firepower and combat capability in front of IMC infantry, being smashed like children’s building blocks in the path of machine cannon strikes, erupting into violent explosions!

Broken walls and ruins collapsed in flames, and this descending artillery became the only artillery in this engagement!

...

Jack opened his eyes—just now, he thought he was done for.

Pilots are indeed powerful, but special forces can’t win against fighter jets, it’s no contest.

Yet the world before him suddenly transformed back into a crumbling wasteland, all soldiers and bombings disappeared.

Lille stopped the cutting, and the time-space distortion ceased accordingly; it seemed that this overload of energy waves could somewhat influence time-space distortion.

BT looked at Jack hiding in the ruins, "Jack, you look in bad shape."

"Indeed not good, you get bombed by a fighter jet, you’d be worse..."

With the cutting stopped, the destruction robots had turned into external components that could only provide energy and bear pressure—they could continue, but he needed to pause for now.

The ceiling had been laser-cut nearly 20 centimeters deep and could soon be cut through...

The problem was, Jack returned to the past for less than a minute and almost got shredded by the fighter jet, while ten destruction robots that didn’t retreat in time turned into scrap metal.

It’s evident that facing the enemy in the reception hall is much more difficult than shuttling through buildings, since one doesn’t have to deal with fighter jets inside buildings.

This plan faced pressure much greater than Lille had imagined.

As Lille began considering whether to adjust the tactics, Jack boarded BT’s cockpit, taking a few rockets directly from the magazine after man-machine interaction:

[Jack: I memorized the fighter’s position, let’s do it again.]

[Jack: This plan can complete the mission most quickly and best, right? I can hold on, let’s continue.]

[Johnny: This guy is indeed badass, but I don’t think a person can withstand fighter jet bombings and endless security forces attacks.]

[Lille: You’re right, we can’t rely solely on Cooper.]

Lille looked at Colonel Anderson’s corpse—

Although there was only one pilot in this facility now, it wasn’t so in the past. Attacking from within has always been the most commonly used and effective hacking method.

[Lille: BT, I need your communication key, I want to contact Colonel Anderson in the past to coordinate our reception.]

[BT7274: Bold tactic, I will cooperate with you.]

Bzzz—

The cutting device restarted, the laser pulse device emitted a piercing screech—

Jack, already hooked on the high wall, focused on the void street below...

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he noticed not far away the wreckage of an identical IMC jet.

[Lille: Jack, get ready!]

...

Colonel Anderson suddenly fell into deep confusion.

Pilots are soldiers, not like the mercenaries of Night City, loaded with all sorts of prosthetics. As professional soldiers, they know clear minds are far more crucial than having an extra knife on the body or a gun hidden inside.

If he chooses to undertake an infiltration mission, he would bring the necessary equipment, like a projector that can scan targets and emit decoy holographic images, a module that allows full optical/acoustic invisibility at any moment, and a device for phase shifts at specific moments...

And the wristband he had—equipment they captured from other IMC labs, seemingly capable of monitoring time-space distortion phenomena, which was also crucial for his special operations.

He was professional, he could ensure he hadn’t been exposed...

Why did IMC suddenly go on high alert?!

[IMC Alert: Laser Net activated]

[IMC Security: Intruder spotted at the main entrance...they have combat robots!]

[IMC Security: What the hell, they’re in the reception hall!]

Bam!

The door to the research lab was suddenly barged open!

The IMC researcher who rushed in looked extremely nervous, and what he saw on entering made him even more panic-stricken:

He saw a pilot about to stab their computer with a data knife!

"He’s..."

Bam!

Shot dead, Anderson quickly retracted the data knife, cursing under his breath—how the hell did he get exposed?

Even stranger, a jet suddenly appeared outside the window, launching a fierce attack outside—

He was clearly indoors, so who exactly were the IMC fighting out there? Weren’t they exposed because of him? But where were the other resistance fighters?!

[Sizzle—]

[Authorized communication request: SRS Vanguard-class Titan BT7274]

[BT7274: Major Anderson, please coordinate with us to take control of the facility, we are launching a frontal assault.]

Anderson was stunned: the mission was clearly under his full charge, where did the others come from?!

But the communication key and the current situation left him no choice but to believe there really were other pilots executing the mission!

Even the task code...the electronic signature of the mission was authorized by him!

[BT7274: We must act immediately, IMC will use the weapons in the research facility to destroy Hamoni Star!]

As soon as he finished speaking, a pilot jumped from the air, shoving a rocket directly into the fighter’s engine!

Boom!

That was a resistance fighter pilot!

Anderson’s pupils constricted sharply, the data knife in his hand plunged into the computer.

[Anderson: I’ll coordinate with you, but I need to understand the situation.]