Chapter 14: Down with the Superiors, Survival Against All Odds (Part 2)

Stan, an active operating system, activated in an instant to drain the body of all its potential, pushing reaction and action capabilities to their limits. In the user's perception, time seemed to slow down or even stop.

Krensky, when the body was extremely tense, continued stimulating the nervous system, passively enhancing body reactions and squeezing out potential.

The limit of Krensky was roughly a 50%-60% time slow down. The more excited and agitated the user, the more dangerous the situation, the stronger the effect.

Don't think of this as a highly practical prosthetic. Compared to Stan, it was almost useless.

Most people would die in battle before they even had time to feel nervous. After being shot, the time-slowing effect might reach above 40%.

However, their bodies would already be shot and unable to sustain high-speed movement. So, if an ordinary person activated this thing... it wouldn't necessarily be a good thing.

In summary, because this was a passive effect, for ordinary people, it couldn't be triggered when needed. When it did trigger, it might be close to death.

But V was different. Entering battle, her attention always remained at its peak, her body always stayed tense.

As V got closer to the Mantis Blade, more and more bullets whizzed past her, the world in her eyes slowed down.

The bullets Lille randomly fired at her collided with her, avoiding the parts protected by subdermal armor, producing a few blooms of blood.

Her body started to hurt, started to tense, started to secrete adrenaline, the world slowed down more and more—

She waited for an opportunity.

The final difference between the two might be around 10%, but the raccoon dog was using supersonic bullets. At a distance of less than 30cm from the muzzle to the body, the deceleration effect would have to reach 99% to react.

Even if they could react, physical limits were there. Stan was a physical enhancement component, not... the kind of magical components that broke physical limits and exceeded supersonic speeds!

Boom!

The terrifying kinetic energy impacted Notte's body, mechanical and physical alike, both shattered in that moment.

The tungsten nails penetrated through, leaving a hole with a diameter over 12cm in his body.

Passing through the hail of bullets, V stood and turned, but Notte collapsed powerlessly—

Boom!

An additional shot exploded Notte's head completely, fragmenting the invaluable Stan along with it.

The gunfire echoed in the sky, leaving only the sound of flames burning around.

Clean and swift, without giving the big guy a single chance.

"Damn... awesome, V..." Lille propped himself up, barely raising a thumb. "Killing a veteran using Krensky in Night City, that's already a legend, only counts if killed by Heavy Hammer."

"Fuck you." V plopped onto the ground, unable to stop smiling, "I killed one of the elite of Military Technology! Should've been me killing Heavy Hammer!

No, why do you always bring up Heavy Hammer! You got issues!"

"I do have issues."

"I think this dumbass also had issues. You don't know, just now he stood there like dancing, waiting for me to crash into him."

"Maybe he had an episode." Lille lay on the ground, gasping, "Cyberpsychosis?"

"What do we do now?" V held the raccoon dog, looking at Zhu Shen, "He doesn't seem dead yet."

Lille held back his discomfort to stay conscious, then glanced at Zhu Shen, who was about to roll his eyes back.

"Leave him— I planned to handle him myself, but now... let's see his fate. No idea how long the trauma team will take to get here."

In reality, the trauma team wasn't a suicide squad. Military Science had dispatched their military team, so they had to wait until this was over before coming.

V glanced at Lille in astonishment: "You originally planned to sell him out?"

"I'm here to make money, not to be a dog. He broke the rules first.

Military Technology has another wave of pursuers right behind him. We have to keep moving forward. That vehicle, push it upright, put the stuff over.

Lille pointed to the overturned Military Technology Bimong Armored Vehicle not far away.

This thing conservatively estimated to weigh 5 tons; V could probably get it upright with effort—though theoretically, the vehicle should have a rollover correction function.

"Then what? I guess we'll be wanted fugitives for the rest of our lives, become Wanderers?"

"No." Lille shook his head, "As long as we can escape, they won't trace us.

Don't forget, you're still hunting Scavengers and are half an undocumented resident, while I— I am a pure black undocumented resident, they can at most track me installing brain-machine interface and prosthetic eye in Atlanta.

Look at the scene, all around there are Military Technology and Kantao personnel, weapons, drones, and vehicles."

Dead and damaged people and vehicles belonged to the companies, the attacking sniper raccoon dog rifle from Veterans Association.

The President of the Veterans Association—everywhere, right here.

"They'd only know someone participated in the fight, but who? That they'll have to find out themselves.

On the surface, everyone would only believe Kantao and Military Technology fought each other mercilessly."

"Then I can only trust you..."

Boom!

Just as V was about to say more, a bullet grazed the rock. V cursed and hid behind the stone.

"Hell! Pursuers! Think of something!"

Lille hunched over and moved towards the cargo box—

Hoping Notes hadn't had time to shut down that physical channel! He needed to call for external support!

"Old V! Old V! Thank God, need a favor!"

...

"This... this Stan is a true prototype.

When activated, the Stan will push the nervous system to the extreme, so it can't equip any Magic Doll or carry out complex intrusion protocols.

Because there's a saying: Once you become too immersed in data, your brain will virtualize, your brain accelerates more until you completely forget you're human.

That's why Stans have safety protocols, restricting you to human activities and not becoming a supercomputer.

But this Stan didn't have such restrictions—even the software had no signature, looks like the developer didn't have time to write it.

Imagine Stan's crushing combat power against ordinary people, equipped for network work, achieving the same effect in real-time cybercombat.

But, I must say, it's not a prosthetic meant for humans."

Lille called in Old V to check the prosthetic.

Old V was quite surprised; he had never seen such a thing.

Unregistered component, unregistered driver, unregistered code name...

Such items represented top-tier company prototype technology, but clearly not for humans, meant more for research purposes.

Of course, it could be for people deemed doomed from the start.

After hearing Old V's explanation, Lille's plan changed—

He originally intended for V to equip the Stan, but it was clear V couldn't handle it.

Lille concluded: "So, equipping Stan's users can at most fight, but this one is different, it can be used for hacking."

"No..." Old V shook his head, "It can, but if you do it, you will definitely go mad—companies love making this kind of twisted stuff."

"Indeed twisted—install it for me."

The air went still for two seconds, Old V's brow knitted upwards.

Lille took off his clothes while ensuring the surgical instruments were functional.

"Are you insane!"

"No, I'm not—this is the boundary of the Rust Belt domain, when crossing the domain, people must reload domain protocols and ICE stuff.

At that moment, network defenses are relatively weak, everyone fights in cyberspace on bodily capabilities.

Now is the best chance, the domain boundary is moving towards us, we don't even need to move to encounter network fluctuations!

I can then, from the network, take them out, after losing contact, the pursuers face a sprawling plain—they can't find us."

The network boundaries in the Cyberpunk World were shifting.

The Black Wall prevented humans from using the old Internet, only permitting usage of the "great intranet" under network surveillance, with different domains being different intranets.

As the Black Wall negotiated attacks and defenses with the AIs outside, these borders among the domains fluctuated physically and in cyberspace.

And these small changes became critical now.

"This is not the point!" Old V couldn't believe it, "You will go insane! And maybe before you achieve this big task! Cyberspace is an abyss, once fallen, no one climbs out!"

"I won't go insane." Lille calmly lay on the surgical table, "Trust me, I won't go insane."

"Do it, Old V, it's the only way to escape the chase—"

"No..."

"No time—Old V, do it!" Lille muttered, "Do it! Or we're dead!"

Boom!

Bullets rained down more densely, even hitting the cargo box door!

"Damn—this's the most unethical operation I've ever done! No anaesthetic this time!"

Lille turned and lay on the operating table, information flashing before his eyes—

[Severe pain induced by surgery is eroding your consciousness]

[Remove?]

[Remove]

[Severe pain due to severed spine]

[Severe pain due to dislocated spine]

[Remove.]

Pain—

Excruciating pain, regret for entering this world, engulfed his brain.

Yet he didn't pass out, nor lose the ability to think—he even used his prosthetic eye to control the operating table's built-in mobile panel, learning hacking skills!

Old V was a little stunned.