#1014 - Sun (Wednesday)
The violent fire in Houston was the first signal that this commotion had begun. The Night City army, rampaging through the badlands of Southern California, instantly dropped all pretenses—
Drones, transport aircraft, and flying cars swarmed the sky. The iron torrent in Hanson's memory surged across the desert as relentlessly as ever:
A metal flood composed of thousands upon thousands of drones, tanks, and robots came crashing forward.
Monsters forged of steel observed the world through sensors. Their heavy frames carried armor, missiles, machine guns, radar, and jammers that Military Tech was so proud of.
Every soldier, every piece of equipment, every artillery piece was precisely guided by the central battlefield dispatch system. This was the metal warfare model that helped Myers take the Free State.
It was also the military strength that Hanson once admired and marveled at.
If ordinary people were to see this, they would probably lose their ability to fight in an instant, prostrating themselves psychologically. It was precisely this kind of propaganda that made people fear companies like Military Tech and superpowers like the New United States.
Even the gangs of Night City never dared to confront the big corporations head-on. You could even say that their petty thefts were a way of testing the company's bottom line while making a living.
But Hanson knew that was a thing of the past: the wars they had experienced in the virtual world were far crueler than this.
Thinking of this, Hanson glanced at the "morale" data in his HUD. As expected, it had hardly wavered. Their state could even be described as "wildly ecstatic."
Compared to the armies of Ultron robots that could blot out the sky and corrode the earth, Military Tech's "metal torrent" seemed a bit childish.
Thinking of this, Hanson looked at the "pathetic" metal troops opposite him and smiled.
[Hanson: Initiate Blackwall Bomb.]
The initiation command was entered, and the Nightingale's exclusive communication icon and progress bar appeared on the HUD—
Reaching 100% was only a matter of seconds.
Black and red scrambled code and lines filled the entire Military Tech network. For a moment, the soldiers thought time had stopped:
Everything around them and themselves had stopped. The sky was painted with collapsing phantoms, and the ground beneath their feet lost its color, with patches of darkness taking over the surface.
It was as if the computer in front of them was lagging, freezing for a moment, and then slowly recovering at a single-digit frame rate—
One second: Drones in the sky lost their flight control systems and crashed down, a total of six frames of footage.
Two seconds: A large number of tanks and armored vehicles lost their direction, crushing their comrades and crashing into friendly forces, a total of twenty-two frames of footage.
Three seconds: Only then did people notice that the Night City army had broken through the security line.
Four seconds, five seconds... The world in their eyes was burning, burning to ashes.
Crack!
At some unknown time, the soldier had fallen to the ground. The huge armored pickup trucks of Night City easily crushed his body. He heard the sound of gunfire mixed with electrical noise, which was the last thing he perceived before leaving this world.
This scene was like a terrifying plague in the eyes of the commander in the rear: the frontline soldiers and machines were all shot down by an invisible force as if they were harvesting wheat, completely without the power to resist!
In cyberspace, the red and black data streams constantly pierced through the defenses of Military Tech's hierarchical command network. One defense zone after another was disconnected, and the server areas used to carry the vanguard ICE and Blackwall exploded, with thick black smoke billowing from the buildings.
Boom!
A violent fireball erupted from the Los Angeles military base, and black smoke instantly drifted into the nearby urban area!
The commander rushed out of the command room filled with thick smoke, roaring outwards before he could even open his eyes:
"Assemble the troops!"
Buzz—
The violent engine sound of a Mackinaw flying vehicle swept across the sky. Before the commander could open his eyes, he was shot dead.
And those who remained were the nomads who had driven here with Jack. Most of them held weapons in their hands, their expressions tense with a mixture of excitement and fanaticism, their hands stained with blood and oil, waiting for the "big guys" to fulfill their wishes—
A black shadow flew out of the hole at the top, falling towards the ground under the effect of gravity!
"Ah— — —"
Bang.
The corpse was smashed to pieces.
Someone immediately recognized the identity of the deceased: "I'll go... It's the CEO of the Iowa State Agricultural Company."
Bang!
Before the words were finished, another corpse fell.
"Bastard mayor..."
One politician and company executive after another was thrown from the top of the building, and an increasingly fanatical emotion filled the hearts of the rebels.
So these big shots can die too.
Bang—
Big Mac smashed open the last anti-theft door, and Jack walked in with a smile, only to see the Military Tech area manager cowering in the corner, trembling.
Your colleagues are waiting for you downstairs.
Las Vegas, the magnificent gambling district, suddenly plunged into darkness, and all entertainment and revelry seemed to be paused.
In cyberspace, hackers only saw some kind of terrifying giant tentacles stretching out towards them, and their brains stopped thinking.
Tss—
V pulled the mantis blades from the console, and a series of lightning bolts seemed to be bleeding power. In the circuits, this electricity controlled everything, but once they were "bled," they would dissipate into the air and disappear in an instant.
Little Octopus appeared on V's shoulder. V touched its head and walked towards the door, passing through the bloody, limb-strewn passage and walking straight into the elevator.
The elevator she was riding in was also extremely luxurious. Through the huge curved glass, she could see the entire Las Vegas from this tallest and most symbolic elevator in the state:
Including those abandoned cities buried by the desert on the periphery.
At this moment, the once brightly lit gambling city was in fear in the darkness, while the abandoned cities were re-lit. The abandoned and deceived people walked out of the dark corners and enjoyed electricity once again.
And this time, they secretly vowed never to give up what they had gotten.
The New United States is burning.
V looked at the guy in the elevator who wasn't quite dead yet. The latter's throat seemed to be vibrating.
"You... are crazy..." This was a woman with a man's voice, "You can't win..."
"Save your strength. I didn't expect the New United States to have a loyal dog like you."
V raised her head and looked at the sky. With the help of Little Octopus, her eyes seemed to penetrate countless meters of altitude and see the three trajectories streaking across the sky.
Nothing is impossible.
