The Butcher of the Wasteland

"My car!"

On the other side of the battlefield, a person let out a scream.

Navi was startled, thinking something terrible had happened to V.

But in reality, it was just a heartbreaking scene unfolding in front of his eyes.

The Windgate, moving at 300 miles per hour, flew off a cliff nearly 20 meters high. In mid-air, Jackie stomped hard on the roof of the car, propelling himself forward. The tremendous physical strength from the Lizard's berserk module couldn't quite withstand this kick, which showed just how exaggerated Jackie's strength was.

Jackie and Leo, on his back, flew over 300 meters through the air, but the Westhorpe wasn't as lucky, nearly falling straight down like a rocket.

Needless to say, the car exploded.

Not only did the car explode, but the Militech outpost also blew up!

Navi asked with concern, "V? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," V gritted his teeth as he reloaded his ammo, setting up his gun in a new position.

"How could I be in trouble?"

Bang! Jackie's leap from the Windgate was so fast that when he landed, Leo was flung off his back!

Luckily, although Leo wasn't that physically strong, his reaction speed after activating the Sandevistan system was quick. He grabbed onto the outer armor of the Basilisk tank just in time to avoid falling.

The Basilisk tank wasn't just equipped with cannons but also had missile bays and possibly an anti-infantry invasion system. Leo's first task was to hack into the weapon system!

The most direct way to do this at the moment was to connect to the vehicle's circuitry.

"Stop posing, hurry up and crack this thing—watch out!"

Bang! A rocket came flying towards them, and Jackie, with a swift movement, caught it with one hand and threw it back!

Boom! "Got it!"

Jackie grabbed onto the turret, his muscular arms flexing with such force that dents appeared on the surface!

Creak—crack!

The Basilisk tank's chassis made a deformed sound, and Leo's face turned pale as he desperately climbed to the top of the vehicle!

Boom! The Basilisk's underside suddenly erupted in a circular explosion, a defense system designed to prevent infantry from getting close. No one expected someone to drop in from above!

The shockwave made Leo's head throb with pain, but he had climbed up just in time; otherwise, he'd be dead by now.

Creak! Jackie ripped open the turret system. At the same moment, another rocket flew towards him. He used the torn-off turret to block it!

Boom! The heatwave and shockwave nearly sent Leo flying, and he couldn't help but worry: could Jackie withstand this kind of impact?

The answer was: yes, he could.

Bang! The flaming turret structure passed through the smoke and smashed into a Militech soldier!

The turret crushed the soldier, breaking most of his bones and shattering his skull. As he struggled to get up, blood filled his cybernetic eye, and he trembled as he looked up at the top of the vehicle—

How was he still alive?

The smoke cleared, revealing Jackie, with half of his body scorched red but quickly healing.

At that moment, he looked like a war god.

Flames, desert sand, and the night sky all paled in comparison to this man.

The butcher of the wasteland.

Then he saw Jackie, holding an Achilles rifle in one hand and shooting, while his other hand seemed to be searching the ground for something. Suddenly, he put whatever he found into his mouth? What was that? It looked like a military ration, but the thing was still on fire!

Soon, the war god aimed his gun at the soldier, electric sparks flashing from the barrel.

In his final moments, the soldier realized the truth: Jackie had been eating the same military rations they did.

A bitter thought surged in his heart: they ate the same things, so why was the difference so huge?

Bang! The exposed missile compartment on the turret spewed black smoke, jammed from firing.

Leo had already connected his personal link to the vehicle and hacked into its weapon systems.

"Sweet! This is the thrill of battle!"

Jackie continued to eat while firing, surrounded by burning vehicles and half-dead Militech soldiers.

Leo knocked on his head, using both physical and cybernetic methods to snap the crazed giant back to reality.

He pointed at the connection point of the driver's cabin door.

"Don't forget, we're here to crack this thing open. Time to get to work."

"Oh, right."

Bang! His fist struck the connection point, and the dull thud sent a shiver through the driver inside the vehicle.

This unstoppable armored vehicle had become a living coffin!

With the weapons systems offline and the door mechanically jammed, there was nothing they could do!

Bang! Another thud. The door began to cave in, and the screws holding the mechanical locking system in place started to come loose.

Bang! The armor plate deformed, turning white in some spots.

Bang! A fist the size of a sandbag broke the connection, and Jackie tore the door off!

The drivers held weapons, but they had no time to fire before their heads exploded, shot by smart bullets.

In their final moments before death, confusion filled their minds:

"Why was someone still eating during a battle?"

Crunch.

Jackie chewed the biscuit as he tossed the two corpses out of the cockpit and shouted to Leo inside, "Do you need me in there?"

"No."

Leo shook his head.

The Basilisk tank was meant to be piloted by two people using a neural link. As cyberpunk tech, these armored vehicles operated through brain-machine interfaces.

The Basilisk tank would act as an extension of the human body, but controlling this non-humanoid equipment often led to all kinds of issues.

This was why extensive training and neural synchronization calibration between two pilots were necessary before they could operate it effectively.

But Leo didn't have that problem.

And besides, when two pilots synchronized, their neural senses would blend together.

The thought of two guys' minds merging like that just felt… odd.

[Unauthorized user information has been overwritten.]

[Warning: You are operating the mech solo.]

[Warning disabled.]

[System reboot in progress.]

[Militech California Border Force Armored Unit 4: Basilisk tank MH-332 online.]

[Command overwrite complete.]

[Weapon systems online.]

"All set—now let's see what Militech is really capable of."

On the other side, even though the Militech forces continued to advance, the situation with the Basilisk tank had made them uneasy for a while now.

In theory, the flames and smoke from the explosions should've cleared due to the Basilisk tank's fast movements, but the expected outcome hadn't occurred.

The Basilisk had stopped, enveloped by flames and debris, with two figures seemingly tinkering on top of it.

Finally—

Whoosh! The Basilisk's hover engines blew away the black smoke covering the battlefield, filling the Militech officers with a moment of joy—

But then their communications were suddenly interrupted by the remote commander's broken voice!

"Retreat! The Basilisk has been hijacked!"

All missiles were launched!

Boom! This wave of explosions completely crushed Militech's assault. The Alacadoes, who had been hanging on for dear life, suddenly realized that no more bullets or explosives were being fired at them!

This multimillion-eddies assault had sealed their victory!

The Basilisk tank charged full speed at the remaining Militech forces, easily overwhelming even the most advanced vehicles like the Behemoth and the Emperor Ragnar!

Boom! The active defense system wiped out an entire outpost in one go, while Jackie, holding the Achilles rifle, charged ahead of the Basilisk—

Victory was theirs!

"Haha! Corpo dogs, bet you didn't see this coming! Chase them down! Pursue them!"

Leo, following close behind Jackie, pressed forward with the Basilisk, while vehicles from the Adelkados raced past them.

"Navi, have your people gather the spoils and get ready to retreat."

Navi: "Uh, Burger King, did you block V's comms?"

Leo paused, nervously rubbing his hands before reconnecting the call.

"Leo! My car!!!"

"Uh, tactical necessity…"

"Stop explaining. You owe me 1.7 million—wait, there's a survivor."

Meanwhile, V discovered a Militech officer trembling in the wreckage of Vargas' crash site, still on fire.

Leo saw it too through V's cybernetic eye.

That woman looked familiar.

V's eye quickly scanned NCPD and public databases, identifying the person.

[Meredith Stout]

[Affiliation: Militech]

[Position: Director of Government and Public Relations, Militech, Night City]

[Tenure: Less than one month]

"…Capture her alive."

"Got it—looks like someone's in trouble."

Another call came in:

Saul: "We did it, we did it! We took out an entire Militech armored unit! Do you know what this means?"

Saul: "But then what? We trashed Militech, got our supplies, but how do we deal with their retaliation?"

Saul's voice was a mix of excitement and fear.

Leo rubbed his chin and replied: "Retaliation? That's not certain. For all we know, they might even thank us."