"We have to go."

John pulled Angelica along, continuing their escape.

No need to scavenge Chuan's equipment.

Silent assassination missions don't carry firearms; the weapons they have are mostly smart-locked and require specific prosthetic bodies to function.

[...They're in the garden!]

[There's movement in the garden, take out your guns.]

[Hurry hurry hurry!]

...

The voice plugin detected shouts.

The pursuing Jingke soldiers had arrived.

John brought Angelica to the edge of the railing, held her and leaped down, falling weightlessly amidst a kaleidoscope of holographic projections.

Beneath the Bolago Club was a large shopping mall.

Angelica held her breath, clinging to John, disregarding her windswept golden hair and torn gown.

She saw a gigantic, muscular golden bull projection crashing into the glass curtain wall.

John kept his eyes open, seeking opportunities.

They passed through dazzling lights and phantoms, catching the railing before plummeting into the abyss.

John led Angelica into the floor, rolling to disperse the impact on a sofa set and coffee table.

[Bolago Club - Cloakroom Rest Area]

The wooden floor resounded with loud thuds beneath their feet.

The glass sliding doors opened to the sides, warm, fragrant indoor air rushing in.

The room was dim and tranquil.

The floor height here was about the same as the banquet hall.

The room was segmented by black and gold patterns, hiding many concealed conversation spaces.

A few scattered clients conversed here.

They turned to the sound, seeing the blood on John, hastily grabbed their coats and left.

A humanoid android stood in front of the metal counter.

"Do you need assistance, sir?"

It emitted a gentle electronic voice, its dark gold skin faintly visible under the employee uniform.

"I need to retrieve my weapons."

John presented his biometric information for scanning.

The android butler flicked its fingers, and the holographic screen flickered twice before flashing a red warning.

[Sorry, Mr. John, the security system is under maintenance... access services are temporarily unavailable, but don't worry, we have already assigned professionals to handle the situation on-site, you can stay in the rest area...]

Bang, bang bang—

Before it finished speaking, a barrage of bullets shot in from the entrance.

The guards stationed at the vault entrance received the message, rushed in with guns, scaring the other clients in the rest area into a frenzy of screams.

"F*ck!"

John cursed under his breath.

[...Tea breaks and snacks, we can also offer special-flavored English tea and Japanese sake...]

"Shut up!"

Angelica got up and leapt over the front desk, twisted the butler's neck, tearing open the panel amidst electromagnetic noise turning to static.

She was Vito's daughter, carrying Bolago Club's advanced access in her biometric information.

Zzz, click—

John looked up at the sound of the vault unlocking.

He glanced at a metal door that popped open, crammed with his weapons bag.

Grumble—

A rolling noise came from the ground.

Out of the corner of his eye, John saw a flickering geometric object, his prosthetic eye marking out a small countdown.

[Weapon: Jingke H41 Stun Grenade]

"F*ck!"

He grabbed his weapons bag and dove for the bar.

Bang—

The reception room was instantly filled with blinding light and a blast wave.

John was caught in mid-air by the impact.

He felt his skull shaking, the ringing in his ears drowning out gunfire, accompanying stabbing pain and dizziness shooting to his head.

Angelica reacted quickly.

She pulled the Rapid Runner Submachine Gun from the weapons bag John had thrown to her, rapidly firing at the first wave of advancing guards.

The bullets ricocheted off shields.

The room's chandeliers flickered under fire, smoke detectors were triggered, and the sprinklers exploded into a misty haze.

"...John...you..."

"...Stand up!"

Angelica's voice fluctuated in volume.

John lay on the ground, consciousness fading, the graphene chip quickly adjusting, helping him regain the consciousness he was about to lose.

He forced himself to stand, pulling out his rifle to return fire.

High-penetration bullets drilled into the narrow observation gaps in the shields, taking out the heavily-armored security. Those behind, left unprotected, were hit, forced to drag their bleeding bodies back.

Grumble—

More stun grenades rolled into the room.

"F*ck, uh—"

Angelica suddenly let out a painful groan.

John thought she was shot, but shielding her behind the bar for inspection, he found her whole body trembling.

Angelica's pupils shrank to the extreme.

Red flashes could be faintly seen around the whites of her eyes, muscles quivering madly under the skin, and her prosthetic body joints were conflicting with each other, as if even the implanted organs might stop functioning the next second.

"Damn it, what's happening!?"

John was at a loss.

Beep beep beep beep—

Suddenly, red lights started flashing in the room.

A piercing alarm sounded around the safe.

[John!]

Oulos's voice came through the team channel.

"F*ck, finally... her condition's not right..."

[I know, it's Jingke Heavy Industry doing this, their cyber security division is on the scene. They've activated the lockdown protocol via satellite. Now an entire team of corporate hackers is ready to take over Bolago Club's security system.]

"She lost consciousness!"

John relayed Angelica's symptoms amidst the barrage of bullets.

"What should I do?"

[She's just a remote-controlled Barbie, corporate soldiers will come to retrieve the hostage. You have no value except to be killed, so save yourself first!]

In the corner of the banquet hall.

Oulos sighed and then slowly frowned.

The wealthy and powerful received the message and prepared to leave.

Mr. Vito and Jingke executives had already taken the elevator up, mobilizing security forces to protect the conference area.

Oulos gave Kuang Xin a look before turning and disappearing at the edge of the light circle.

Buzz buzz buzz.

The team communication channel was suddenly cut off.

[Bolago Club - Locker Area Lounge]

The red warning light kept flashing in the mist-covered room.

Oulos's voice had disappeared.

A wall of data enclosed the cyberspace, disabling communication signals and network operation pods.

[Scan detected, synchronizing infrared signals...]

A notification popped up in front of John.

The hackers activated scan mode; the infrared outlines of the room and the two people were synchronized into the eyes of soldiers outside the door.

A burst of Advanced Penetration bullets destroyed the partition.

The wall crumbled like crushed pastry in a shower of debris, the dust suppressed by sprinklers, revealing a dark, sparking and arcing hole.

John dragged Angelica into the alloy service desk.

The scene was a mess.

Pursuing enemies.

An unconscious companion.

Various elements stirred John's memories.

"Oh, f*ck, this is just like that time with Gino."

A thought flashed through John's mind as he pulled a data cable from his wrist and plugged it into Angelica's neck.

[Biometric scan in progress...]

[Confirm connection to data terminal/Confirm.]

A notification popped up in front of him.

Black Light gently swept across.

As always.

The lockdown program from Jingke Heavy Industry's lab was completely overwritten.

The prosthetic body on Angelica was factory reset, even the hardware's built-in firewall was deconstructed and reorganized.

"Hoo—aah—"

She suddenly arched her back, gasping like a drowning person surfacing for air, losing consciousness completely before saying a word.

The specific process probably wasn't pleasant.

But at least her expression wasn't that pained anymore.

The gunfire continued.

The metallic reception desk was torn to shreds under the machine gun fire, the alloy steel plates deformed, exposing the wires beneath the operation terminal, a maintenance port faintly visible amidst the sparking arcs.

John, quick on the uptake, seemed to latch onto the key to breaking the situation.

He pulled the data cable from Angelica's neck and plugged it in.

Black Light hadn't subsided, boiling anew, destroying the barrier between the firewall and the system along the local network, invading the security facilities...

John painfully lifted his head.

His pupils dilated and flickered.

The red and white data streams rapidly flickered in his eyes.

[Bolago Club Surveillance Subsystem [Hacked]]

A notification popped up in front of him.

The backlash from Black Light almost knocked John unconscious.

"Cough, argh—"

John forced himself to vomit beside him until bile and mucus laced with blood flowed from his nostrils.

Black Light's intrusion knows no bounds.

It kicked Jingke's hackers out of the local network, and after invading the security system, it even wanted to take over the entire building's equipment...

But John's body couldn't take it.

Before his consciousness collapsed, Black Light retreated just in time, leaving control over only one surveillance camera.

[Mission Objective Updated]

[Clear Jingke Heavy Industry Security 0/7 (Not Achieved)]

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