He slipped through the blade blockade and closed in.

Igdrasir's fist slammed into the opponent's face, pounding flesh repeatedly, then twisted the arm to wrench the Single-Molecule Blade behind his back.

John felt like he was subduing a pickup truck.

He was forcibly pushed into the bathroom, barely maintaining his balance against the wall, suddenly exerted force, and smashed the man in sunglasses' head against the sink.

A bit effective, let's do it two more times.

Bam, bam bam!

The metal sink bore a bloody dent.

An electronic mirror flickered and then issued a warning message.

Crash!

The knob was also smashed to pieces.

A torrent of water shot from the crack, spraying directly onto the ceiling, and then rebounded from all sides.

A mixture of blood plasma and coolant spread out.

The man in sunglasses twitched for a moment, then died completely.

"Huff~ F*ck!"

John gasped for breath... shook his arm, using the larger flow of water to clean his hands.

John returned to the ward.

Gerry Pierce and his little daughter lay on the hospital bed, all auxiliary instruments connected through special circuits.

The surveillance in the corner of the ceiling had already been remotely destroyed.

The company's hacker lay clutching his stomach by the windowsill, eyes staring blankly, showing no signs of life.

Thud, thud thud.

[Open the door!]

[Don't move, you're surrounded!]

[...]

The metallic sliding door was pounded violently.

The public hospital had an ECPD duty room.

The police used tools to shatter the tempered glass on the door, hiding on both sides to observe the situation, flashing their guns and loudly shouting.

The corridors were bathed in red light.

It seems an emergency state had been initiated.

[Mission objective updated]

[Escape capture. (Not achieved)]

John ignored the hallway alarms, glanced around, and took the silenced smart pistol from the hacker's body.

[Weapon: Raqi-Silence]

[Module: Grade III Silencing, Advanced Penetration]

[Description: Raqi Industry's B45 stealth series weapon, supply halted when market feedback was excellent, switched to corporate-standard weapons, with scarce market circulation.]

John slipped the gun into his holster.

He pushed open the window, kicked the anti-fall grille, turned around, jumped out of the room, frequently changed his foothold to decelerate during the slide, and at approaching the ground, he rebounded and rolled to a landing.

The ordinary ward was on a lower floor.

His reinforced arch also partnered with an experimental-grade six-level shock absorption, making the landing as easy as jumping from a table to the floor.

What on earth is Maya up to?

Why did Raqi Industry send assassins after her family?

John paced and pondered in the building's shadows.

Siren sounds and disorderly footsteps echoed around the hospital; whatever covert operation the corporate dogs intended was now declared a failure.

Gerry and his daughter were still in the ward.

If Maya pushes the company to desperation...

Raqi Industry might disguise as medical staff, or directly apply pressure using privilege, to seize patients in the chaos.

John halted his steps.

He hugged the wall, observing in the shadows—under the sunlight, many security personnel and police were patrolling, while firefighters and emergency teams dragged their equipment into the corridors.

Messiah's Eye switched to scan mode.

In the surrounding greenish filter, several red data streams flickered, indicating surveillance coverage...

[Mission objective updated]

[Proceed to the hospital control center. (Not achieved)]

John silently traversed the gaps between buildings, climbed over debris to the open corridor, and immediately a breeze tinged with disinfectant wafted past his nose.

The public area's air conditioning left much to be desired.

John maneuvered through the building like a patient's family member, and through the floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall, he could see:

Patrolling officers and security teams downstairs had set up barricades, and elevators and stairways leading to the general inpatient area were manned.

Warnings were constantly broadcasted across the floor signage.

John boldly walked into a safe zone, then located the control center on the navigation aid screen.

The bad news was two policemen stood before the entrance.

The good news was the entry code lock had been disengaged due to the cops entering the scene.

Two police officers with baseball caps leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, chatting and smoking leisure with each other, holding a nearly overflowing coffee cup in hand.

The ward situation was under control.

They seemed to know the "criminal" had killed the company staff and escaped out the window before police arrived, likely treating it as a gang incident, lowering their guard to the minimum.

John stood with hands in pockets beside the sink, observing.

Japanese suddenly came from behind him, and he turned to look:

A few suited members of the Owl Town gang were shouting. Since the police had controlled the scene, these guys' vehicles were stopped and searched, leading to a verbal conflict...

Raqi Industry has connections with the Owl Town gang.

The police must have forcibly held them as suspects.

John wanted to ask them for information.

But looking at the flashing red and blue lights of the police cars and the aircraft flying overhead, he decided not to escalate the matter.

John thought for a moment, walked past the corner, and leaned against the wall.

He pulled out the Silence silencer pistol he had just picked up, connecting the scope to his Messiah's Eye with a palm patch. As his pupil focused, he steadily pulled the trigger.

biu!

A very brief soft buzz sounded.

"Ah!"

A distant member of the Owl Town gang kneeled.

The smart bullet had drilled a blue burn mark on the back of his thigh, likely hitting the bone to not penetrate.

The scene was instantly covered with screams and exclamations.

Bystanders scattered in all directions.

The policemen in front of the security control room dropped their coffee.

They drew their guns and went to the scene to support.

John calmly walked out from behind the pillar, quickly walked to the security control room, and pushed the door open.

"Hey, what happened..."

The burly man sitting on the chair didn't turn his head, and the surveillance footage had already switched to the location of the conflict.

The entrance to the lobby was already blocked by police and gang members.

The burly man was intently watching the center of the footage.

He didn't hear a response. Realizing something was wrong, he just started to turn around when his neck was clamped by powerful arms.

The burly man struggled stiffly for a dozen seconds before fainting.

John didn't kill the security guard.

He pulled out a data cable and plugged it into the terminal, and Black Light roared as it crushed through firewalls and authorization protocols.

[Hospital monitoring system. (Hacked)]

John's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Although it was just a small security branch, it was a large public facility system. Black Light had no trouble invading, but the physical burden was more severe than expected.

John took a deep breath, shook his head.

He immediately left the security control center, went against the chaos, and walked down the stairs to the underground parking lot.

[Prosthetic Body: Atlanta Virtual Network]

[Function: Remote device control.]

John channelled the video footage to his Messiah's Eye, constantly popping up small windows for backtracking searches.

An assassin from Raqi Industry appeared in the elevator surveillance.

Reverse searching along the way confirmed their vehicle.

John noticed the black business car was broad—usually a team of five to six people according to the company's structure.

He approached with the gun wanting to grab a live one, but found the car was empty.

Messiah's Eye activated scan mode.

John noticed there were bullet holes and bloodstains around the car window, and he followed the fresh combat marks deeper into the parking lot.

He walked through the dimly lit passage, entered an unlocked metal door, and saw more hidden rooms in the narrow corridor, with a row of cleaning carts at the entrance, and...

More blood stains.

John walked past the metal strip light shade, his shadow extending in the wet, stain-covered, dragged-marked passage.

He slowed his pace, finally standing still.

The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet, and concentrating on it, it seemed only the roar of giant equipment pierced the walls.

John firmly believed there was danger lurking in the darkness.

"Maya!?"

He tentatively called out.

"It's John, not sure if you remember, but I just saved Gerry and your daughter..."

There was a collision sound in the dark.

Maya staggered out clutching a gun.

She squatted against the wall within the light, wiping sweat and grime from her forehead and eye sockets, her whole body covered in new wounds, her clothes soaked in blood.

John activated night vision and walked deeper, finding a utility room around the corner with its top bulb already shot out.

Inside lay three company assassins from Raqi Industry.

John stepped away from the blood pool, saw a few used Healing Potions scattered on the floor, along with daggers, clots of blood, bullet heads, torn rags...

"Whew~ thank you, John."

Maya had evidently been through a fierce struggle.

She shed the guise of a housewife, revealing the resolute Special Affairs Bureau agent once more.

John shrugged his shoulders.

"I didn't expect us to meet again either."

"Why are you here?"

Maya's hand gripping the gun tensed slightly, seemingly very nervous.

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