One Strike, One Kill

[NetWatch Advanced Program List: "Black Dragon"]

[Type: Anti-Intrusion]

[Description: A specialized software designed to detect daemons and icebreakers. This classical program dates back to the Old Net era. In addition to its exceptional anti-intrusion capabilities, its effectiveness against daemon-based programs has made it a popular tool among AI hunters.]

[Bryce's Notes: An ancient program, but a damn good one.]

[Ever since the collapse of the Old Net, wild hackers have seen a sharp decline in technical prowess. While Old Net hackers used to push this program to its limits, few modern netrunners have had the opportunity to study it.]

[We've seeded versions of it across the net and monitor anyone who makes use of these programs.]

[Nowadays, if someone pulls this out, they're either already on our watchlist or a corporate netrunner trained through official channels.]

[Of course, there's one other possibility—

It came from beyond the Blackwall.]

Black Dragon!

However, It Wasn't That Impressive—

The little octopus immediately appeared in cyberspace and grabbed onto Black Dragon, which, as if drawn to it, lunged in for a bite.

This was why, in cyberspace, a program appearing lifelike didn't necessarily mean it was intelligent.

Because if it had intelligence, it would've had the sense to fear the octopus—something nearly ten times its size.

Black Dragon's flames slammed into the little octopus, barely leaving a scratch. Instead, the octopus simply enveloped the program, drowning it in an overwhelming data stream until it was completely erased.

[Little Octopus: Ugh! Gross!]

Once the job was done, the little octopus spread its tentacles and spat out a jumbled, mosaic-like block of red-and-black data.

In cyberspace, this data block was no longer aggressive.

But it was nearly impossible to hack into—like a stubborn spore. It wasn't dangerous on its own, but the moment someone touched it, they'd risk infection by Blackwall data.

Leo looked at the little octopus's data form.

There, on its tentacle, Black Dragon's flames had left a mark—an ugly, dark-red scar.

And that scar was spreading.

Leo could tell just how troublesome this program was. But unfortunately for it, the little octopus could handle attacks like these, which resembled Blackwall corruption.

First, the scale of the attack was too small—the program simply wasn't fast enough to outpace the octopus's processing power.

Second, the little octopus seemed to have experience with getting hit by Blackwall data.

[Little Octopus: Bro, I think…]

Suddenly, the little octopus twitched violently. Leo raised an eyebrow.

[Little Octopus: I think I'm about to evolve!]

Its tentacles stretched wide. The black scars began to shrink—fading faster and faster.

[Leo: Don't be so dramatic. Where'd you even learn that?]

[V: Holy shit, it's a military-grade drone mech! Leo, what the hell did you do?!]

[V: That thing's going nuts!]

The little octopus reallocated its excess computing power, shrinking down and perching itself on Leo's shoulder, blinking its big, bright eyes.

[Little Octopus: Boss, I'm heading back.]

And with that, it vanished—reappearing in cyberspace on the small ICE node representing V.

Leo's eye twitched. He logged out of cyberspace.

—

Inside the Behemoth APC, the drone mech moved.

Its design was reminiscent of an Arasaka combat bot—but instead of the usual high-caliber weapons, it had dual-linked quad-barrel chainguns.

The very moment the little octopus wiped out Black Dragon, the drone mech burst with electricity.

Its joints jerked unnaturally, forcing themselves far beyond their normal limits—until they snapped clean off!

A murky liquid oozed from the broken joints. The mech trembled violently.

Brick, watching nearby, felt a chill run down his spine.

He knew this phenomenon.

When netrunners get fried, it causes a burst of electrical discharge. And if a machine was involved, it would literally burn up.

Too bad Militech drone mechs were built with heat-resistant components.

Otherwise, that thing would be on fire right now.

In other words—

The mech barely moved twice, and a runner already fried it to hell.

But then—

The very next second, the "fried" mech suddenly switched into combat mode.

Its indicator lights flickered, flashing a dangerous, erratic red.

Ammunition began pouring out.

Bullets screamed through the air like laser beams, hammering into the Behemoth's armored cargo hold.

The rounds struck the plating, producing a deafening ding-ding-dang-dang—until the entire structure heated up, glowed red-hot, deformed, then burst apart!

BANG!

Bullets ricocheted wildly, flying in all directions.

Jackie and V scrambled behind a rock.

But the crazed mech—

It was adjusting its aim.

As if it had regained consciousness.

The bullets, forming a deadly stream of light, sliced through the Behemoth's cargo hold—step by step, sweeping toward Jackie and V's cover.

And there was no doubt about it—

The rock wouldn't hold.

[Jackie: "Leo, think of something, quick!"]

[Leo: "Use the other gun."]

[Jackie: "The weak spot you marked is too small! I might miss!"]

[Leo: "Screw that, just hit it!"]

Jackie pulled out the golden La Chingona Dorada from under his clothes, now fitted with a long adapter sleeve, making it look more like a sawed-off shotgun.

He ran his fingers over the weapon before raising it, aiming at the drone mech about to break free from its shell.

After everything they'd been through, he'd learned to trust Leo without question.

But holding a short gun like this, his body instinctively aimed one-handed—after all, wasn't it just a handgun?

The custom-made round slid into the chamber. Jackie got to his feet and fired!

BOOM!

The sheer force contorted Jackie's expression in an instant—this wasn't a handgun, it was a damn hand cannon!

The moment the bullet left the barrel, the entire adapter sleeve was blasted off by the explosion, slightly altering the bullet's trajectory. But it was moving so fast that it barely mattered.

The recoil instantly wrecked Jackie's already unsteady wrist. His face shifted from shock to horror as he watched the shattered adapter sleeve and pistol fly straight at his face—

The bullet slammed into the yellowed armor plating. The combined impact from both inside and out punched through 150mm of reactive armor in an instant!

The kinetic force carried molten metal with it, splattering it everywhere. The bullet pierced straight through the drone mech's sensor array, grazed the central processor, and burst out the other side!

BANG!

Flames erupted!

To onlookers, it was just a flash of fire before the bullet exited the Behemoth APC, ricocheting off a distant rock with a faint puff of dust.

What remained was a fist-sized hole, cleanly penetrating both the vehicle's armor and the drone mech.

Meanwhile, the flying golden La Chingona Dorada smacked Jackie square in the nose. Reacting fast, he grabbed the out-of-control gun mid-air, clutching his nose as he took in the destruction.

The only sound left was the ruined mech hissing, the wind blowing, and flames crackling—not even the mangled Maelstrom grunts dared to make a sound.

Absurd.

Too damn absurd.

That APC wasn't some cheap-ass roadside Thorton Galena G240, and that drone wasn't some toy.

Brick stood frozen, one of his cybernetic arms limp at his side. His crew stared at him, unsure what to do.

After a long pause, Brick finally stepped forward. No matter what, he was still the boss.

"Hey!"

Jackie and V turned to him. Under their gaze, he flinched.

"You guys..."

He wanted to keep his pride intact in front of his gang.

But looking at Jackie—especially with blood and cyber-fluid still dripping off him—Brick couldn't fake confidence.

People said Maelstrom were psychos, but no one ever considered that madness was just their armor.

At least, for Brick, it was. When your life is in someone else's hands, you learn real quick what matters.

His hands trembled slightly.

Jackie's gaze alone was enough to make it clear: he could end Brick any second.

So, Brick avoided his eyes and looked at V instead.

"Want us to deliver this shipment for you?"

V chuckled, dusting herself off. "You boosting cars now?"

Brick nodded. "Boosting cars."

V's holo-display lit up—Leo's message came through.

[V: "So, what do we do? Kill them? This is Maelstrom's boss? Doesn't look like much."]

[Leo: "Let them go—make them bring out the goods we need."]

[V: "Let them go? You sure? This guy's got a 20k eddie bounty… Only 20k?"]

[Leo: "Let them go. Get the goods first, then we'll talk."]

Jackie clicked his tongue, exchanged a glance with V, then turned to follow where the out-of-control bike had gone.

He had nothing to say to Maelstrom.

"No problem, you guys keep looting—we're just taking what we need." V motioned with a flick of her hand. "You guys, bring some crates out. The rest is yours."

Brick swallowed hard.

Shit… ran into a goddamn saint.

"Alright! Brother, may I ask your name? From now on, Maelstrom's got your back—"

Then it hit him—Royce, that bastard, had betrayed him and bailed!

If he didn't get back soon, would Maelstrom even still be his gang?

His expression changed. "Hey, choom, any chance you'd take a job? I—"

V shook her head. "Move the cargo first."

"Shit, I—"

Brick was about to say he had no time, but the moment V raised an eyebrow, he instantly changed his tune. "I'll move it right now!"

He immediately turned and rushed over to pull Dum Dum out from under a wrecked vehicle.

Back in the day, Jackie and V would've praised how badass this cybernetic gang leader was.

But those days were over.

Now, it was Brick's turn to sigh—

"These Cyber-monsters rule the badlands now."