Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 444 The Dike Breaks (Part 4) [Thank you, Boss Tianji Tail Meow, for being the Alliance Leader~]

As the ruins collapsed, chunks of concrete and broken steel fragments began to rain down from above the hole—

Rebecca felt herself being hit several times by falling cement fragments. The intense pain made her eyes shine in the darkness. Through the pale green light of her prosthetic eye's night vision, she saw Miles falling!

"Hold!"

The fall happened in an instant. Rebecca activated the Senna Stein to try and see what was below, but it was too late to turn back!

She could only hug Miles with her small body. Miles felt his downward-facing body being forcibly twisted back. This girl…

Rebecca was actually prepared to use herself as a human cushion to create a buffer zone for Miles!

"Don't!"

The moment Miles finished speaking, the feeling of weightlessness tore his words apart, leaving only a strange, nauseating sensation of his heart rising from his throat.

Boom!
A muffled thud, like leather-clad steel striking the ground, sent a sharp pain through Miles' ribs. The girl beneath him stared wide-eyed—

"Uh…"

Miles felt dizzy and shook her head several times but still couldn't stay awake. She staggered to her feet and was surrounded by a bizarre scene of spinning lights. She took a few steps, clutched her chest, and knelt down beside the girl lying in the rubble.

"A little mercenary? Cough cough... a mercenary?!"

Miles reached out to shake the girl beneath her, but with her extensive first-aid knowledge, she knew that moving the injured person was the most dangerous thing at this moment, especially since Rebecca had landed face down.

Such an impact could easily cause fractures; if Rebecca were to be moved rashly...

She looked at Rebecca, lying on her side on the ground, her face covered in wounds. Her trembling hands seemed to have diminished much of the viciousness in her eyes; the girl on the ground had somehow turned purple-haired, as if…

Like a lark.

Miles first met Lark in her office. This girl, like the child in front of her, had been seriously injured in some missions. She still remembered the feeling she had when she first saw Lark on the verge of death and needing to replace her prosthetic body...

Trust, kinship, and love for the younger generation.

In the power struggle within the White House in Washington, these things quickly began to decay and rot. With endless exploitation, the feeling of unease in one's heart grew stronger and stronger.

It felt like I had lost something extremely important.

The agreement has been terminated.

The signal inside the prosthetic eye caused Miles to completely lose control of his panic.

The illusion of a lark lying on the ground vanished in an instant. Although Miles was terrified and didn't know why the protocol connecting to the lark had failed, she had to find a way to get Rebecca out of there.

Relic is still on this girl.

[Control module malfunction]

As Miles bent down to check Rebecca's injuries with the soft wire in his hand, the prompts from her prosthetic eye told her what had happened.

The Joint Logistics Command's internal AI supervisor found her as the emergency contact and reported the current battle damage situation in a completely emotionless voice.

Miles knelt quietly on the ground, listening intently, his eyes fixed on the dark depths of the facility beneath Dogtown.

Total defeat —

It's no exaggeration to describe the current situation as such; one could even say that Miles himself is at risk of losing his position.

Myers' faction within the White House is currently struggling to prevent Congress from removing the president and installing the vice president, as a new election would only push Myers further away from the center of power.

Therefore, the rescue operation was most likely to take Miles back and place her under house arrest. The colonel, with his keen sense of smell, realized that Miles's usefulness was about to be lost, which is why he sent an elite team from Dogtown to try to capture Miles and download as much new top-secret American information as possible from her head for future negotiations with the new power faction!

Damn!

Miles looked at Rebecca's extremely serious injury in her other eye, and she felt that there had never been a darker moment.

Even so, the competitive spirit in the eyes of this powerful woman of the new America burned ever brighter…

There must be another way!
Miles looked at the report from the Joint Logistics Command's AI:
The Birdcage Project (a plan to completely dehumanize and program larks by imprisoning them) has failed.

[Status of the Joint Logistics Command hacker team - KIA destroyed, only one survivor remaining, named Black Robe]

The White House has prepared contingency plans, assuming the Vice President has taken over the White House offices, following wartime presidential swearing-in procedures.

The House of Representatives halted Myers' bill, stalling aid plans for allies.

[Military technology and the interim president of the new United States announced the establishment of a new department, requiring half of the managers to be appointed by Military Technology and the other half by the new United States government. This department, collectively known as the Office of Corporate Collaboration, is primarily responsible for enabling Military Technology to better participate in a range of decision-making processes within the new United States.]

Miles breathed a sigh of relief.

If I'm not mistaken, even if she carries the girl up there, they'll only be met with a relentless pursuit and interception by the hounds of Dog Town...

No matter how the situation reversed, Miles had no way to change it.

But she won't let the last advantage she has slip away!

Her gaze fell upon the broken steel pipes on the ground. Resolutely, she stripped off her clothes, used the military dagger at her waist to slit the fabric, and placed the two steel pipes behind Rebecca's body, simply wrapping them with the fabric.

This would provide some support for Rebecca's fractured bone, since Miles would have to carry her out no matter what.

Miles quickly hoisted Rebecca onto his back, glanced at the gate ahead, and strode forward with renewed vigor.

Rebecca's petite frame was anything but light.

Even though these prosthetics reduced the weight burden, the full weight of the modifications was enough to bring Rebecca's weight close to 80KG. Miles didn't have many combat-type prosthetics except for some tendon enhancements.

She held the gun horizontally, grabbing both of Rebecca's hands so that she could sit down behind her without much effort.

Step by step, Miles showed no sign of defeat or dejection, only a near-suicidal madness.

The door slowly opened under Miles's watchful gaze.

Although she has completely lost contact with the Lark, the Joint Logistics Command still grants her access to the Dogtown underground facility, though it is sometimes unresponsive.

After all, this was an old company asset from decades ago, and she was only able to get the key here thanks to Lucas, so she didn't care too much.

Wow!

Miles stepped on something and nearly fell to his knees, only to find it was a pile of lubricating oil leaking from a machine.

What…?
Miles looked at the machines still sparking wildly. It seemed a battle between machines had taken place here; the turrets above had been destroyed by the guard robots, and the robots below had been completely wiped out…

This place is eerie in every way.

Coupled with the lark's hateful cry just now, Miles withdrew his last bit of mercy and wanted to continue forward—

boom!
A violent tremor came from above the rooftop.

Miles listened to the terrifying rumbling above him, and for a moment he had no idea what was happening.

Just as Miles was looking around trying to find a place to hide, all the computers on the desks around him, which had been abandoned for who knows how many years, suddenly lit up...

The bright red light on the screen was accompanied by the rattling sound of some old computer audio equipment. Miles was surrounded by these computers, and his expression was somewhat frightened.

The constantly flashing red screen seemed to display no text or any other information; it just kept flashing.

Unbeknownst to them, the vision modules of all the robots filling the warehouse turned red, and the firewalls of all systems issued warnings!

[Warning: ICE is out of service]

[Destruction Point - Black Wall (12341, 65745)]

Miles stared at the computers, which showed no change or new behavior whatsoever, and quickly carried Rebecca forward. She couldn't stand being there for another second. Miles, of course, had no idea what was going on; if she had, she would have preferred to stay in the only potentially safe place in this underground facility—the so-called living quarters.

The upper level is the robot maintenance center…

The automated guard robot above Miles's head was banging its head against the wall with a rhythmic thud. The robot's erratic behavior abruptly stopped the moment Miles opened the lower corridor door.

Its strange, deep red prosthetic eyes slowly turned and aimed at the gate ahead, while the machine gun in its hand slightly turned as it walked forward.

……
-
an hour ago.

"No matter the cost, you must bring back that bitch from the new America!"

Hansen paced back and forth anxiously, looking at the face of the person he was talking to in his network control room.

"You know that Dogtown took the blame for your bullshit agreement!"

Although the Dogtown boss spoke slowly, his anger had clearly reached its peak.

"Don't worry, the people I'm talking about are underground in Dogtown, just a bit deeper than last time—"

Hansen was utterly fed up with these rats who only knew how to burrow underground. "I've taken back Dogtown, but if Arasaka attacks the area behind Dogtown, we can only watch helplessly as we get beaten up..."

"Do these Japanese bastards, Arakawa, really not know what hatred is?"

"The company dogs in Taipingzhou killed the rich kid's father, and they even went up to him and lick his boots—"

The politician of New America, Myers’ so-called assistant, shook his head with a smile.

"Colonel, I suggest you don't be too narrow-minded about anything. Sometimes what people want is not a harmonious family and a happy life... Arasaka Yoriyuki would love for his own father to die."

"And I have something to tell you: the man from Taipingzhou is not dead at all. At least within the network, we found the huge AI entity that used to frequently appear around him."

Hansen suddenly stopped in his tracks.

It was in his nature to eat from both ends; that was the nature of this greedy wolf.

He had already received the margin from Miles, but at this critical juncture, he realized that Miles was going to lose, so he had no choice but to sell Miles and start taking over the new leader of the United States.

However, there is one exception.

cold.

The colonel was terrified as long as this man was alive.

He had taught that Queen of Taipingzhou a good lesson; he had taken everything back from Dogtown, leaving the colonel, who had been dreaming of making a fortune in his own backyard, somewhat dumbfounded…

What the hell did you say?

The president's aide in the new United States wore a cryptic smile.

"It's obvious, Colonel, your strategic vision has always been poor, but we're willing to take advantage of you, so... get to work."

Hansen pondered for a long time.

"I promise, I don't want either Lark or Rin to wake me up while I'm sleeping."

The assistant on the other end spread his hands. "Guarantee? The only guarantee I can give is that Miles's dog is still working for her online. As for the Lark, we don't need to worry about it. We believe that it would be in our ultimate interest if the Lark got out of control."

"Miles has been in office for so many years, do you really think you can bring her down with your current tactics?"

“We need an opportunity to completely crush Miles, and the Lark out of control is the key factor. Just think... the new US president's personal weapon has caused such a huge mess... hahaha!”

Hansen thought about it carefully and realized that this made sense.

Moreover, the online battlefield is right here in Taipingzhou, so it's a win-win situation no matter how you look at it.

"Get your hackers offline. Myers only wants one outcome to win, but that outcome will never come."

The New America assistant had a confident expression on his face.

Hansen was somewhat curious. "What was the result?"

The assistant explained somewhat impatiently, "Unless the black wall is blown up and our collusion with the network surveillance is brought to the forefront, is that even possible? In the underlying code of the Nightingale, self-destruction takes precedence over blowing up the black wall."

“That Rin is chasing after the lark to kill her; she has no choice but to die.”

Hansen was stunned for a long time before letting out a cold laugh.

"I thought those little cops on the internet were really righteous... Okay, of course I'm happy to hear you say that. Even the internet censors can't crack that thing. I'm a rough guy, of course I know that."

"Also, how do you plan to deal with Arakasaka?"

The assistant on the other end replied, "If Kang Tao doesn't say anything, Arasaka's Asia will be completely taken over. I bet Kang Tao has been wanting to eat Arasaka's fat meat for a long time."

"Otherwise, do you think your Dogtown wasn't destroyed by Arasaka's son immediately?"

Hansen's lips twitched slightly.

The other end of the phone hung up.

"Fuck you."

Hansen didn't like these dogs in suits; they were the same people who sold the dogs in Dog Town during the unification war.

However, the task was indeed quite difficult.

The colonel wiped the sweat from his brow and ordered his men to do it immediately.

The main force of the Ghost Hounds began searching for the underground entrances that had been dug everywhere in Dog Town. They filed in and headed towards the deep tunnels below. These topographical maps were provided by military technology at a one-to-one scale. Satellites had even scanned the entire terrain of Dog Town and compared it to the maps, which were then downloaded into everyone's brains.

The only infuriating thing is that those guys from New America didn't speak up sooner, allowing the elite troops that the Dogtown boss had spent so much money to raise to be completely wiped out in Taipingzhou.

But... seeing the US dollars in his account made Hansen feel much better.

Hansen had wanted to kick those Cubans out of the water for a long time. He wanted military technology to be on his side, so he could do whatever he wanted. Dogtown was Hansen's money-printing machine.

Speaking of Cubans, Hansen has stopped paying tribute to Cuba for a long time, but now no one named Aguilar has come.

It seems that the emergence of DRAR in Taipingzhou has indirectly protected him. No matter how powerful Aguilar is, he will have to suffer a lot after coming from Taipingzhou!

Hansen thought about it and felt that today was the brightest moment of his life.

He sat on the sofa and slowly poured himself a glass of gin. Putting everything else aside, Dogtown was much cleaner when the Queen was around.

All the cleaners, voodoo gangs, and shady middlemen are gone. Every penny is hard-earned, ill-gotten gains. They make money comfortably without giving anyone a share. The miniature fusion engine at the Peizhuo Petrochemical Stadium is the greatest gift the Gilafa Corporation has given to his kingdom.

When Hansen took his first sip of the drink, the bitter, icy sensation was exhilarating…

Apart from--

"Colonel, the advance troops have lost contact!"

Hansen's drink choked instantly.

The entire sapphire blue hue instantly plunged into complete darkness the moment the sip of wine got stuck.

[Network interruption]!
……

……

(End of this chapter)