Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

Meanwhile, on a secret communication channel unknown to these ordinary soldiers risking their lives on the front lines, the commander of the hacker attack team, serving as a backup support force, was engaged in a heated debate with his superiors.

[“'The South African bird' is calling for its nest, requesting a retreat. The situation is rapidly deteriorating. The intelligence is incorrect. In addition to the local garrison in Johannesburg, Arasaka security forces are also stationed in the Arasaka Industrial Park. The infiltration has turned into a full-scale assault. The operation has failed.”]

"Rejected. Continue the mission. Hold on for five more minutes. Vera Adelhead's personal involvement, the overseas friend's risky disclosure, and the highly confidential additional security forces stationed by Arasaka—all of this demonstrates the importance of the 'Stairway to the Sun Project.' It's either get it or destroy it. Such a massive investment must be rewarded accordingly!"

"But...we don't have the individual combat capability to deal with Vera Adelheid..."

"No buts, execute the order! You have five minutes before she returns to the industrial park! Within five minutes, either obtain the Sun Ladder Flower or destroy it!"

......

The bloody firefight had been going on for a minute and a half.

"Damn it, those damn Arakawa bastards are still alive! Damn... Arakawa's reinforcements are less than five minutes away... Another group has been wiped out, we don't have time to waste with them! Blow up the lab first!"

Before the words were even finished, boom—!

An exceptionally violent explosion shook the experimental building and factory, drowning out the continuous roar of gunfire.

The powerful shockwave spread out like ripples, and thick smoke and flames burst through the walls, filling the air with the acrid smell of burning flesh and electronic components.

"cough cough..."

He was knocked to the ground by the hot gas flow, and the collapsed wall pillars formed a triangular area that actually protected the squad leader of the Arasaka Security Special Agent Team.

He struggled to open his eyes and saw that the temporary defensive line had been blown to pieces in the flames. His subordinates and the basic security personnel of the laboratory were mixed together with the twisted and melted machine gun turret.

"Damn it, just how many controlled weapons did those military technology bastards smuggle in... cough cough."

The scorching airflow made his eyes and enhanced respiratory tract extremely uncomfortable. He looked behind him and saw that the laboratory door where the Sun Ladder Flowers were stored had been melted through by the torrent.

One of the areas was a mess, with several sparking cables hanging from the shattered ceiling, crackling and occasionally emitting small bursts of lightning. In a broken glass cage, the corpses of some white mice that had been killed by shock, burning, or electrocution lay in a corner.

Most importantly, inside, a machine whose analysis plugin was still functioning at the moment concluded that it was a DNA analyzer and synthesizer, severely damaged, with a viscous, light-colored liquid seeping from the twisted metal splinter...

"Sample extract of the Sun Ladder Flower... No, Lord Saburo, that belongs to Lord Saburo! We absolutely cannot let these barbarians with their military technology take it away..."

Using the Pain Editor to suppress the shock and spasms in his body, he struggled to crawl out of the rubble and toward the experiment. Even though his pants were torn open by twisted metal fragments on the ground and his legs were ripped open, he still crawled inside.

"Master Saburo..."

He is a member of the security force of the Arasaka family compound. From a young age, Arasaka picked him out of the orphanage, raised him, installed a prosthetic body on him for free, allowed him to freely enter and leave the sex doll brothel, and made him a person above others. Therefore, he must repay Lord Saburo!

"As long as Director Russell is still around, the experiment can be restarted..."

Approaching the instrument, he collapsed onto the dripping, viscous liquid, and with the help of the clean walls and floor of the laboratory, he saw his own reflection.

Reaching out, his hand, stained with the sample liquid, touched half of his bloodied face. His helmet and face shield had been partially shredded off by shrapnel, revealing the reinforced teeth in his upper and lower jaws and the bionic flesh and prosthetic structure inside, with electrical sparks crackling.

boom!boom!

At the same time, the screams of the remaining men on the outer defense line and the gradually thinning gunfire told him that in order to prevent the experimental results from falling into enemy hands, he had to destroy the samples. He took out the high-explosive grenade from his waist and was about to pull the pin.

Whoosh!

An electromagnetic steel needle bullet pierced his heart.

"Damn, we almost let that damn dog Ara-saka get away with it." The military intelligence agent, who had entered the lab carrying the severed arm, fired a few more shots at the torso before kicking away the motionless corpse leaning against the equipment.

"call..."

Looking at the dark red flowers in the broken culture jar, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Take the flowers, don't leave a single trace for Arasaka. Collect the data, we only have less than two minutes..." He said, walking to the control panel. The technician who followed him in immediately pulled out his personal connection cable and began to crack it.

"Sir, cracking it will take time, and the console's storage chip is partially damaged, resulting in data loss. I might only be able to extract a portion from the spare chip..."

"Fuck, identify as many as you can, but it doesn't matter if you can't identify them all. With the flowers, are you afraid we won't be able to figure it out?" He squatted down in front of the damaged DNA synthesizer, looking at the liquid dripping from the hole, and asked thoughtfully, "Who brought the medical sealed container?"

As he called out, two more military science agents entered the laboratory carrying briefcases. Just as they were concentrating on moving the Sun Ladder Flower and collecting the unknown liquid dripping from the instruments, a crisp sound, like the cracking of bones, rang out.

"Now is not the time to relax, you..."

He frowned, turned around, and saw:

"Ahhhh——!"

The technician who was hacking into the lab's control panel was tackled by the Arasaka soldier, whose heart had been ripped open and whose torso had several huge cavities. The sounds of gnawing and chewing filled the air.

"For...Lord Saburo..."

He raised his head, revealing bloodshot eyes, a bloodied and mangled face, and his open jaws with steel teeth covered in chunks of flesh and organs such as the bronchi.

He let out an inhuman howl, his whole body writhing unnaturally, and then he lunged at the one-armed 'Assault One'.

But, bang!!

Blood and flesh splattered, and the headless corpse fell.

"Holy crap, that scared the hell out of me! What the hell is that?!"

------

Chapter 057 Total Annihilation

The inhuman, shrill roar abruptly ceased, and the headless corpse collapsed heavily, making a dull thud.

"Is he insane? Damn, these Arasaka monkeys always do all sorts of weird things. Having a prosthetic body but not using their mouths? Typical uncivilized barbarians..."

With a single shot, the head of the "resurrected" Arasaka dog was blown off. The frontline combat commander of the soldiers infiltrated by military technology, codenamed "Assault 1," spat and fired a few more shots at the corpse before rushing to check on the technician who had been tackled.

"Cough... Pfft..."

The personal connection cable remained taut on the control panel. The technician covered his bleeding neck with his hand, coughing up blood, bile, and digestive fluids, making a series of gurgling sounds.

His throat was completely ripped open, and his esophagus and bronchi, reinforced with bio-plastic, were violently pulled out and exposed, mixed with flesh from his own body or from that Arasaka dog's face, all bloody.

The connector behind the ear was deformed due to the sudden and tremendous force of the hammering and pulling, and there were electric sparks flashing in the chip slot.

Clearly, he was no longer able to perform the tasks of cracking the console and repairing and extracting files.

"Damn it!" the one-armed strong man cursed angrily.

That bitch from Night City will be here in a few minutes; he doesn't have time to send someone else to crack the code.

"Medic, bandage him up! Everyone be careful, give those Arasaka dog corpses lying on the ground a few more shots! Seal off the Sun Ladder Flower, move it immediately. Demolition expert, plant the time bomb..."

Without hesitation or lingering attachments, 'Assault No. 1' made a swift decision.

What we can't get, we can let go of, but we must safeguard the gains we already have.

And just as he issued the command, *poof*!

"What's the movement?"

Following the sound, several shots were fired, but it was still the same Arasaka dog's corpse.

The ripped bulletproof vest burst open, revealing rags and bits of flesh with hard steel plates. The headless corpse seemed to be fermenting inside; the gap in its neck suddenly sprayed out a foul-smelling liquid and bits of flesh resembling internal organs, just like a soda eruption. Its anus also started spraying.

The pungent, complex odor was like a mixture of disinfectant, heated fresh blood plasma, stomach acid and bile, prosthetic fluid, coolant, hydrogen sulfide, food residue, alcohol, dental plaque, and other random fermented substances.

That tangy flavor is something only those who smell it can understand.

Da da da--

Another barrage of fire ensued, and the intact corpse was gone. However, the faces of the military soldiers present were all grim; the smell here was simply unbearable.

"Fuck, medics, take the wounded and samples and get out of here! The rest of you, keep looting with me. Demolitionists, keep planting the bombs."

Wow.

They stuffed the esophagus and trachea that had been torn out of the unfortunate technician back into his neck, then used biomedical foam to stop the bleeding and block it, followed by a temporary fixation with a splint. The first aid was completed, and a paramedic carried him on his back. He and the transfer personnel carrying sealed boxes of sunflower culture dishes ran quickly away from the laboratory and headed towards the collapsed gap in the research building that had been blown up.

"Poor Larry. I told you, apart from the implantation of the prosthetic body, your skin modification is definitely not enough. If you had subcutaneous armor implanted, do you think that Arasaka mad dog could bite through your neck... Don't worry, Larry, you're fine now. When you get back, you can get the Iron Throat."

"Haha... Larry, everyone else's nickname is 'Iron Jaw,' what about you? Is it 'Iron Neck' or 'Steel Throat'?"

During the rapid retreat, the paramedics cracked jokes to ease the tension and pressure, constantly comforting and reassuring the unfortunate injured technician.

"Cough...cough..."

"Alright, Larry, you should rest for a bit. The communication chip is damaged, and you can't speak right now..."

What they didn't see was that their comrade's face, leaning against the medic's back, was growing paler and paler. On his face, where the original flesh and blood had not been completely replaced, the capillaries and nerves from the neck wound upwards, from the cheeks to the temples, were gradually turning black.

His body began to tremble, and his half-open prosthetic eye gradually dimmed, with streaks of blood seeping from its socket...

"Chi..."

After evacuating through the breach in the industrial park's protective wall, turning left and right, and getting sheltered by piles of debris, rows of old-looking, ordinary Nissan vans were waiting there, with specially armored and reinforced backup vehicles inside.

They are playing away from home, so using a hovercraft would be too conspicuous.

hum...bum...

"Get in the car quickly! That monster is coming!" the driver's voice was urgent. "'Assault One,' has it retreated yet? She's here! Earlier than the analysts estimated!"

Looking up, they could clearly see several heavy 'Surveyor' levitation armored vehicles bearing the Arasaka logo flying through the air from the direction of the Arasaka Building in Johannesburg, already approaching the industrial park, and the terrifying figure standing on the roof of the first vehicle was almost within reach.

Whoosh!Whoosh!

Over there, the last interception team launched guided fire, leaving a curved trail, but it was directly destroyed and detonated by the figure standing on the roof of the vehicle. The 'surveyor's' hatch opened wide, machine guns slammed into the ground, and heavily armed Arasaka soldiers landed with a thud under his command. In an instant, the sound of gunfire intensified.

"Get in the car quickly!"

Everyone hurriedly boarded the vehicle, first placing the wounded and the boxes containing the Sun Step Flower and extract samples at the back. Then, click! The rear door closed, and the medic who had sat down placed the injured technician beside him, then bent down to check the equipment: RT-46 Storm, breech closed and ready to fire.

"Hey Larry, it's all over now..."

He said this. Just as he pulled out the short-barreled shotgun from his waist to check its condition, and with his other hand pulled out a Fulcon 1 pneumatic injector to hand to the other person, "...hiss...whoosh..."

"You..." Hearing the unusual noise, the paramedic turned around and saw Larry staring at him, his face pale with black veins, his prosthetic eye bleeding, his jaw wide open, and his mouth drooling and coughing up blood.

"Roar!"