Cyberpunk: Nirvana of Shoko Toyokawa

Blood and flesh mixed with the smoke and dust were blown up.

Watanabe began to be dragged by the Kusanagi CT-3X.

But the speed of the motorcycle is also slowing down.

"Tsk——!"

If this continues, the car will soon overturn.

Hai Ling gritted her teeth, preparing to put more strength into her wrists——

at this time.

chapped.

Screeching brakes.

Xiangzi slowed down.

The deceleration performance of [ARCH Nazaré] is also excellent.

In an instant, it moved from the front of the Kusanagi CT-3X to its back.

Amidst the dust and smoke raised by the tires rubbing against the sand.

Miao Meng raised the pistol.

Snapped.

A ball of sparks exploded from the back of Watanabe's head, the most vulnerable part of the brain-computer interface.

Watanabe paused.

He let go.

Bang.

The middle-aged man with a cyber-psychopathic disorder fell heavily to the sand.

Then, deep yellow flames began to burn all over his body.

There were continuous explosions from where he fell.

After that...

I don’t know what happened after that.

Because afterwards, [ARCH Nazaré] and [Kusanagi CT-3X] drove forward, leaving the burning Watanabe far out of sight.

……

Dust was flying above the sand.

[ARCH Nazaré] and [Kusanagi CT-3X] slowly slowed down and slid forward.

In the distance, you can already see the service area of ​​the gas station where you came from.

Squeak...ah...

Ga.

[ARCH Nazaré] and [Kusanagi CT-3X] stopped.

"Whoo~"

After tidying up her hair that was messed up by the strong wind, Miao Meng let out a long sigh.

"I finally got out! But I was so scared - Oh my! This is unbelievable! I didn't expect that I would run into a cyber psychopath when I got out!"

"Hey, I finally figured it out. Avex messed with Watanabe's brain! He was just unlucky, and he was about to run away..."

As Miao Meng spoke, her voice became softer.

Because she found that no one answered the call.

"…What's going on?"

Miao Meng turned sideways and looked forward.

She saw Xiangzi and Hailing staring at each other.

Chapter 54: Peak

"[ARCH Nazaré] accelerates very quickly."

Hai Ling spoke first, she said.

"The G-force is too great. As the speed increases, the field of vision becomes narrower. People who are driving for the first time cannot drive and observe the rear at the same time."

"... unless there is no intention to increase the speed to normal driving speed."

Hailing looked at Xiangzi.

"You were planning to slow down from the beginning. Reduce it to a speed similar to that of the broken Kusanagi CT-3X."

"To protect me."

she says.

"Correct."

Xiangzi answered briefly.

Hai Ling raised her eyebrows.

"As far as I know, not many employers are willing to help mercenaries get out of trouble after completing the commission... They prefer to sell the mercenaries directly. You surprised me a little."

"I just looked at the danger," she said.

"Watanabe is a problem, and so is this half-dead [Kusanagi CT-3X]. However, I can solve these two problems."

"But thank you anyway."

"——When you say solve it, do you mean to [overclock] your hand prosthesis again?"

Xiangzi asked.

Xiangzi's words finally made Hailing's expression change a little.

“…You figured it out.”

"Stretch out your hand." Xiangzi said to Hailing.

Hai Ling didn't speak for a while.

But seeing that Xiangzi was still staring at her, she finally stretched out her right hand.

Hai Ling's right hand could not stay stable in the air.

It was trembling slightly under the leather jacket.

"Your left foot is in the same condition," Xiangzi said. "Your body is not your strong point. Even if you use the leverage technique to throw Watanabe away from the fighting state, the force required still exceeds your body's normal output level."

"You briefly overclocked the muscles in your implanted arms and legs. Just like Watanabe did to himself."

"It seems that I was more obvious than I thought."

"You must have been startled when you lifted the motorcycle," Xiangzi said. "I'm very good at observing people's expressions."

"..."

"When your muscles are overclocked, you will fall into a mildly uncontrollable state. You can't use your [Reaction: 13] points. Controlling a crashed [Kusanagi CT-3X] to shake off the pursuing cyberpsycho is easy for you when you are in good condition, but you can't do it now."

"..."

"Timoris, if we don't support you, you will have no choice but to overclock your muscles again and forcibly control the front of the car, or turn around and cut off Watanabe's head."

"Overclocking multiple times in a short period of time will completely destroy your muscle tissue. Your hands, feet and waist will be scrapped, and you will need new artificial muscles."

"Now you really amaze me, Oblivionis."

Hailing narrowed her green eyes.

She observed Xiangzi's expression.

"I originally thought you were just not used to the battlefield, so you couldn't bear to see your teammates fall into danger right in front of you."

"Or maybe it's prudence. No matter what stage the situation reaches, we want to preserve our own manpower as much as possible."

"But I didn't expect you to be neither."

"Are you helping me because you care about my physical condition?"

"Mercenaries are rented props. On the battlefield, they use every inch of their body to demonstrate their value. After the battle, they need to replace their prosthetics. It's very common."

"It seems that you are not even 'kind', but 'super kind'."

"In the City of Joy, the 'super nice' people either want to die themselves, or they want others to die for them."

"Oblivionis, which one are you?"

“I am both the former and the latter.”

Xiangzi looked into Hailing's eyes and said.

"Because I want to get to the 'top'."

"..."

Miao Meng, who was listening quietly in the back, said, "This guy said it out loud," and sighed exaggeratedly.

"It would take at least a month to replace a large area of ​​muscle groups and get used to them again. That's too long," Xiangzi said.

"Timoris, I don't want you to lose your ability to fight."

"Because I need your help."

she says.

"As you can see, the case I'm working on is related to Avex. This is a direct assignment from Pastel*Palettes."

"It's a big mission. The ultimate goal is to steal something from Avex. After the mission is completed, you can get funds, weapons, and the attention of Pastel*Palettes."

“For people who don’t plan to join Pastel*Palettes, it’s a terrible thing to get their attention.”

“But if you were in the same position as Pastel*Palettes, things would be different.”

"……'peak'."

Hai Ling said briefly.

Xiangzi nodded.

"Timoris, I once said that I wanted to maintain a long-term cooperation with you."

"The Avex case is not short, but I want to cooperate with you for a longer period of time."

Xiangzi said.

"I'm going to the top of Lagoon, to live the days when I can catch everything. I'm going to gamble my life on Lagoon's crazy roulette wheel, and either die or make this happen."

"Timoris, I admire the professionalism you bring to the table. I hope you can be a strength to me."

Xiangzi looked at Hailing and asked:

"What about you?"

"You wanna raise the stakes on me?"

"..."

Hai Ling didn't say anything.

She leaned on the back of the motorcycle and looked at the sky.

After a while.

"Oblivionis."

Hai Ling said.

"You didn't anticipate Watanabe's PTSD in this operation. He couldn't be induced to leave the house, which led to an additional risky operation for all of us."

"You didn't expect that the president of Avex would place a virus with the keyword 'leave the city' in Watanabe's brain device, forcing us to fight a dangerous cyberpsychopath."