Chapter 38
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Night had fallen.
The northern part of Watson district was engulfed by large patches of darkness.
Only a sparse number of public, outdated streetlights cast squares of light onto the ground at intervals of a few meters.
Occasionally a streetlight fizzled with electric sparks as the light flickered on and off, leaving the alleys on either side of the street plunged into pitch darkness.
At this moment.
Tang Yu and Jackie were lying low in the heart of the abandoned steel mill, finding a high ground made up of stacked containers at a distance from the workshop, silently observing the surroundings.
The reason they didn't get too close was to avoid being detected by drones; after all, the purpose of this mission was mostly to work as observers and look for the right opportunity to act.
The two men sat quietly on the container, waiting.
Tang Yu noticed that in the central workshop, six members of the Maelstrom gang had seen two of their number leave at dusk for some other matter.
The remaining four showed no new activity, each enjoying clouds of smoke and heavy metal music in the workshop, blissfully unconcerned about the upcoming deal with Maine.
Soon.
Nine o'clock arrived.
This was the time Maine and the others had agreed to make the trade.
Tang Yu looked on with a frown; although he couldn't see very clearly, he could make out a group of people entering the factory, slowly approaching the workshop gates.
Soon after.
The Maelstrom gang members in the workshop opened the automated retrofit gates.
The Maelstrom gang had made minor modifications to their base in the workshop, using it not just for meetings and entertainment, but it also had considerable defensive capabilities.
They typically chose one place in the factory for focused modifications while other areas were more or less neglected.
But the real heart of the Maelstrom gang was only one place.
The All Foods Processing Plant.
As the base for the Maelstrom gang, the All Foods Processing Plant underwent extensive labor and resource investment for renovation and rebuilding, not only with water and power fully in place but also various armored turrets stationed, practically a military base.
The location of this trade with Maine was one of the many Maelstrom gang outposts in Watson, not very large.
As the new group of people approached under the workshop lights, Tang Yu immediately recognized their looks and identities.
It was indeed Maine's team.
Leading the group was the bulky figure of Maine, carrying a safe that presumably contained the goods for the trade.
Walking beside him were the long-limbed tech madman Pilar with his bushy beard and the formidable Dorio.
Standing at the back, as usual, was the tall figure of Kiwi, looking indifferently at everything.
What particularly caught Tang Yu's attention was a new member in the team that he hadn't seen before.
She stood next to Pilar, chewing gum and blowing bubbles, seemingly a bit impatient.
Her light green hair was tied back in twin ponytails with a black scrunchie, and her outfit consisted of a black high-collared punk sweatshirt and tight shorts, gripping dual-plated green custom pistols, crossed behind her head.
After a second look.
Maine's team had five members, with the silver-haired girl Lucy not among them.
Tang Yu guessed that she might be acting as an external support hacker, remotely assisting Maine's team, while Kiwi would likely be responsible for dealing with the Maelstrom gang cybermod infiltrations.
But given Lucy's performance on the train, she might not want to confront Arasaka's operatives directly.
Lucy and Arasaka probably shared some secret, and this secret was likely concerning persecution and escape.
Regarding Arasaka's dirty deeds, there was almost no one more knowledgeable than Tang Yu.
Experiments on humans such as the cyberpsycho James were just the tip of the iceberg of Arasaka's vast and dark empire.
For now, even without Lucy's direct participation, Maine's team's lineup was clearly enough to handle the four people from the Maelstrom gang.
Even if an Arasaka special ops team arrived, they might not be their match.
Having crawled out from under piles of bodies, Maine's team, both in individual strength and teamwork, was a formidable force.
Given the Maelstrom gang's brainless and insane nature, it was impossible for them to simply pay for the goods on their turf without a hitch.
These cyberpsychos all suffered from varying degrees of cyberpsychosis, and their actions often defied logic.
At this moment.
After confirming the identities of Maine and the others, the gates slowly lifted upward.
Two members from the Maelstrom gang stepped out from inside. Their skin was a dark purplish hue, indicating symptoms of heavy metal poisoning.
The bones of their foreheads to their eye sockets had been removed and replaced with metal electronic facial panels, with four to five red cyber eyes of varying sizes installed on them.
They were similar to their macabre spider tattoo purge marks, resembling cyber zombies, an amalgamation of death, metal, machinery, and human bodies, exuding a sinister madness everywhere.
Maine saw the glow of red cyber eyes on their faces, with vortex-shaped lenses enlarging and shrinking, seemed to be scanning precisely and adjusting their focus.
The Maelstrom gang member leading out coughed a few times, with remnants of smoke powder spraying from his nostrils, like the lingering smell of burning plastic.
"You've arrived pretty much on time, did you bring the goods?"
Maine lifted the safe in his hands, giving it a solid pat indicating the trade item was inside.
The Maelstrom gang took another look up and down at the bulky figure of Maine and warned viciously, "Once you're in, best all of you behave!"
Maine grunted in response.
The five-person team followed the Maelstrom gang one after the other into the gates.
The twin-ponytailed girl, who was walking beside Pilar, spat the chewed-up red gum on the ground forcefully before following the group into the workshop with an indifferent glance at the Maelstrom members.
Once Maine and his companions entered the workshop, Tang Yu activated thermal imaging scan in his Dragonfist glasses to continue monitoring the inside of the workshop.
Despite not seeing specific details, he could roughly gauge the situation onsite by the different thermal signatures of each person.
As Maine and the others entered the workshop, they first observed the interior layout and situation.
The entire workshop was filled with a dim red haze of fog lights, with aggressive heavy metal rock music bombarding the ears, immersing one in a red and black chaotic hell just like their red cyber eyes.
The interior space wasn't large, comprising two floors, with rusty iron staircases on either side leading to the second floor, where two members of the Maelstrom gang stood looking down with an automated heavy machine gun set up in the middle.
In the center of the hall, scattered around steel cutting tables were a few dilapidated couches, with an old two-tube speaker system atop the tables emitting deafening music.
On the workshop floor and tables were scattered remnants of drug vials and burnt silver foil used for smoking.
Maine was seated in the middle of the hall on a shabby couch, with Dorio on his right and Kiwi perched with long legs on his left, while the twin-ponytailed girl took over a whole sofa for herself.
Pilar, however, was immediately drawn to the trinkets on the cutting table and went to take a closer look.
A Maelstrom gang member picked up the remaining burnt silver foil, knelt down at the table, and carefully swept the scattered yellow powder on the table onto the foil.
Iron filings and dust were mixed in, rolling it into a ball-like shape.
He sneered as he lit the foil ball, then stuffed it into a smoking jar.
As the foil ball burned, the jar quickly filled with yellow-white smoke.
He shoved the mouth of the jar hard against his nose and inhaled deeply, shaking his head and taking a heavy drag until his lungs strained with every breath, then loosened the jar and exhaled a long breath of white smoke.
Comfortably, he uttered, "Ohhh..."
Then gave his body a great shiver before holding out the jar to Maine, shaking it twice: "Have a couple of drags of this stuff, man, the flavor's out of this world."
Maine silently refrained from taking the jar, knowing all too well that it wasn't anything good.
But the gang member kept the jar in his face, with an if-you-don't-smoke-I-won't-talk-business kind of attitude.
Dorio, sitting beside him, frowned and discouraged him: "We're here to do business, not inhale whatever the hell that is."
The Maelstrom member just grinned and extended the jar to Dorio instead.
"You try it."
A murderously intent look flashed in the eyes of Maine and his companions, with hands slowly moving toward the triggers of their weapons.
The thugs of the Maelstrom gang also ceased their careless laughter, with the two upstairs openly aiming their guns at them.
Without hesitation, Maine was about to reach out his large hand to take the jar.
But a long mechanical arm snatched it away, and Pilar, imitating the others, took a fierce drag from the jar.
Smoke immediately turned his face tomato red as it seemed he was suppressing the strong tickle in his throat.
Finally, like a rumbling buffalo snort, two plumes of smoke ejected from his nostrils.
"Phew..."
Pilar, both excited and thrilled, praised: "This stuff is really top-notch, I could suck this down all day!"
The Maelstrom members looked at Pilar, and despite initial surprise, seeing Pilar content, they drew back their smiles and said.
"You're not bad. Now we can really talk business, friend. You can call me Dum Dum." Pilar took a drag of his cigarette, belched out smoke, and laughed, "You can call me Pilar Pilar, haha."
Dum Dum and the others laughed heartily.
The once tense atmosphere dissipated into relaxation thanks to Pilar's witty act.
Maine placed the safe on the table: "This is what we're dealing with today, military-grade Sandevistan, from the killed cyberpsycho James, a flat rate of fifty thousand euros."
Dum Dum picked up the safe and placed it beside him: "What's the code? We need to inspect the merchandise first."
"1003."
Following Maine's code, Dum Dum opened the safe to find a Sandevistan neural operating system kit, covered in bloodstains, lying intact inside.
Dum Dum turned on his cyberoptic scan to check the details of the cyberware. After confirming everything was in order, he closed the safe again and looked at Maine and his people.
"The stuff is genuine, no problem, but do you know who wants this body part?"
Maine stared back at Dum Dum, "That's your business, I just take the money and leave."
As soon as he finished speaking.
The workshop's shutter door was blasted open, and more than a dozen Maelstrom gang members stormed in, guns aimed at Maine and his crew.
Almost simultaneously, Maine also raised his arm cannon and machine gun towards the intruders, while Dorio and others quickly readied their weapons against the Maelstrom crew members.
The twin ponytailed girl, seething with rage, pointed guns directly at the heads of two Maelstrom members, whose combined brains wouldn't make a whole.
Both sides were in a standoff.
But the Maelstrom had the clear upper hand in numbers and position on the field.
The Maelstrom leader strutted up to Maine and threatened, "You doing business with me? Now I'll show you how to do business. Leave the stuff and get the hell outta here."
Maine was unfazed, "Bastard! Who the hell are you?"
The other party, apparently irked by Maine's question, spread his arms wide and laughed: "Hahaha, you don't even know who I am and you dare to do business here, today I'll tell you, I'm Royce, and I'm taking this cyberware."
Royce again put the gun to Maine's forehead, "Do you want to die here, or do you want to leave before I change my mind?"
Maine knew of Royce, the second in command of the Maelstrom gang, a typical cyberpsycho who acted without regard for consequences.
Maine guessed that Royce, seeing only five of them, wanted to swallow this deal whole.
Kiwi, holding her temple with one hand, with a pink cyberoptic emitting a red light scan, targeted the fourteen members of the Maelstrom in the facility.
In just a few seconds, she could remotely infiltrate their cybernetics and burn out the electronic components, just waiting for Maine's signal.
But what Maine was actually worried about was when the Arasaka agents would make their move.
Dum Dum had already taken out the military-grade Sandevistan for inspection, and he believed the Arasaka agents should have noticed by now.
Just a bit longer.
Seeing that Maine was still unreceptive, Royce's expression grew increasingly ferocious.
Just as Royce was about to lose his patience and was about to blow the brains out of the black bruiser before him, the workshop's red lights suddenly went out, plunging the area into darkness.
Emergency lights flickered on, indicating a safety exit that no longer existed.
Simultaneously, the workshop's steel shutter door was blasted open by a huge force, flying towards the entrance and crushing two Maelstrom members underneath.
Boom!
The steel slab landed with a clang, crushing them completely, their brains splattering like watermelon hit by a truck, and their blood darkly smeared over the walls.
Dozens of red laser points swept into the room; wherever they landed, a storm of gunfire followed.
The rat-tat-tat of bullets ended four Maelstrom members, their cyberoptics shattered into dark voids on their faces.
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the rest of the Maelstrom members were shocked, scrambling to see what was happening outside the shutter.
Royce immediately realized what was happening and cursed loudly, "Fuck, it's their doing, kill them all!"
Royce thought the explosion was Maine's doing and was about to fire on Maine and the others.
But Maine, who was already prepared, had charged up his gorilla arms and, seizing the moment Royce turned to shout orders, struck out with a heavy punch towards Royce's lifted gun barrel.
At the same time, Royce did not hesitate to pull the trigger.
The bullet flew, colliding directly with the incoming fist.
The bullet merely left a dent in the huge fist, but the heavy punch smashed into Royce's face.
Bang!
Royce flew backward like a felled tree, his cybernetic face nearly caved in.
Seeing Maine make his move, the twin ponytailed girl unleashed her fury. She was already impatient with these cyberpsychos and, with a fierce laugh, began firing her guns wildly at the Maelstrom members.
Kiwi, sitting on a couch, lifted her legs high and somersaulted backward to take cover behind it, preparing for a cyber intrusion.
Above, on the second-floor gallery, two Maelstrom members raining down machine gun fire below.
Triggering their automatic machine gun setup, the firepower pinned Maine and his team, forcing them to seek cover.
In the midst of the firefight, dum Dum grabbed the safe with the military-grade Sandevistan and made a run for it. He couldn't control the current situation and was focused on getting the goods out.
Dust filled the workshop, and the darkness obscured vision, allowing Dum Dum to make it to a secret passageway and escape through it.
He headed towards an overgrown open lot, abandoned for years, with no electronic surveillance to track his escape.
The overwhelming firepower made it difficult for Maine's team to retaliate; even the enraged twin-ponytailed girl was scooped up by Maine and ducked behind a cutting table, sparks flying as bullets struck.
However, she seemed fearless and aimed her gun to return fire, only to be held firmly by the shoulder.
Then, the assault team outside began to enter the workshop, their precise gunfire quickly taking down the remaining Maelstrom members.
The two Maelstrom members on the second floor firing wildly at the assault team seemed unfazed by the bullets on their ballistic helmets and vests.
Suddenly, another round of fire from the assault team left the last two Maelstrom members dead on the second floor, their bodies tumbling down.
Maine peeked around the cutting table corner and anxiously said, "It's the Arasaka squad!"
In just a few seconds, Kiwi quickly hacked into the automatic machine gun setup, aiming at the Arasaka squad that had entered the workshop and opened fire madly.
The high-velocity armor-piercing rounds struck the Arasaka squad members, blowing their helmets and brains to pieces.
Pilar took advantage of the chaos to throw a series of stun grenades towards the workshop entrance.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Multiple explosions in the air, the shockwave carrying shrapnel, instantly minced several Arasaka squad members.
The first wave of the Arasaka squad was forced to retreat, giving Maine and his gang a moment's respite, allowing them to reposition and secure a defensive lineup.
Meanwhile, the Arasaka squad launched another wave of attack, with high explosive grenades relentlessly thrown into the workshop, and armor-piercing cannon fire demolishing the walls and destroying the second floor's automatic machine gun.
The situation grew increasingly dire, and Kiwi quickly contacted Lucy, monitoring from outside.
"Have the Militech people arrived?"
Lucy, in the work van, frowned as she earnestly controlled drones to inspect the situation in the workshop.
Her drone, circling outside the workshop, was shot down by an EMP blast after a short while, catching only a glimpse of Militech's airborne vehicle side.
Lucy replied with gravity in her voice, "The Militech armed floaters have arrived; my drone was just taken down."
Kiwi swiftly relayed the message to Maine and the others. If they waited for Militech to stab Arasaka in the back, they could use the opportunity to escape.
Realizing the safe was missing, Maine scanned the area, "The cyberware is gone, it must have been taken by someone from Maelstrom. We can't disengage now, have Lucy check out the west side of the factory, it's an overgrown no-man's-land!"
Lucy, receiving the orders, quickly got out of her vehicle and dove into the alleys near the abandoned steel mill, racing towards the west side.
On the Militech floater, meredith Stout held an optical electro-telescope, looking down at the abandoned steel mill below.
Confirming that the Arasaka squad was in a firefight with people inside the workshop, she said coldly.
"Let's not rush."
"Let them fight it out a bit more."
"Then we'll go in and clean up."