Chapter 79: The Situation Spirals Out of Control!

Chapter 79: The Situation Spirals Out of Control!

When Adam Smasher reported everything he witnessed to Arasaka Raisuke, Raisuke's face turned pale with fear. He angrily smashed his phone to the ground.

"You idiot! How the hell could you not tell me about this earlier?"

Raisuke could never have imagined that someone had witnessed the entire process of him murdering his father. If these two nobodies leaked the truth, he would be utterly finished.

"Damn it!"

"Go back immediately and capture those two for me—alive or dead, I don't care. Now go!"

Faced with Raisuke's near-hysterical roar, even the battle-hardened Adam Smasher felt a chill run down his spine. He nodded mechanically and replied, "Understood."

---

Little Chinatown, LA Corporation

After nearly half an hour of work, Li Ang finally felt a bit of relief.

He had just received word from Mayor Lucius that Night City was now under heightened alert, with the NCPD's counter-terrorism tactical teams en route to the Cantao GroupPlaza.

However, it would still take time for the municipal forces to arrive in the Watson District. In the meantime, the LA Corporation would have to handle the situation independently.

To prevent further interference from Militech agents, Li Ang specifically ordered Morgan Blackhand to lead 50 elite mercenaries equipped with AST power armor to gather near Cantao GroupPlaza.

Taking on the Metacorp's elite power armor squad required more than ordinary mercenaries—it demanded elite operatives.

This was also a perfect opportunity for Li Ang to test the practicality of the AST power armor system.

Just as Li Ang was considering whether to deploy 2B to pilot the Ronin Titan and oversee the situation at Cantao GroupPlaza, he suddenly received a holographic call from Arasaka Raisuke.

"Mr. Li Ang, Cantao GroupPlaza is in complete chaos! My father, Saburo, has been murdered, and the Relic chip I promised to deliver to you has been stolen!"

"There's currently an armed squad equipped with power armor exchanging fire with my people at Cantao GroupPlaza. The Arasaka elite forces are on their way, but please, send your people to support us first!"

"I'm begging you!"

…

Upon learning that Saburo Arasaka had been killed, the Relic chip stolen, and Militech agents were engaged in combat with Arasaka forces, Li Ang felt an unprecedented sense of disorientation.

The situation had spiraled completely out of his control.

What the hell was going on?!

Countless possibilities intertwined in Li Ang's mind. He suspected that Raisuke might have been the one to kill Saburo, but he was unsure who had stolen the Relic chip.

Could it be that President Rosalind Myers, that conniving woman, knew about his need for the Relic chip and specifically sent agents to steal it?

The thought of this possibility made Li Ang instantly aware of the severity of the issue. He had to help Raisuke recover both the power armor and the Relic chip immediately!

"Rosalind, you wretched witch, always causing me trouble. One day, I'll have you removed from the presidency."

Without delay, Li Ang ordered the entire Maine Squad to mobilize, along with 200 mercenaries, armed helicopters, power armor, and military hovercraft for an emergency deployment.

Li Ang's plan was simple: secure all suspicious individuals at Cantao GroupPlaza and interrogate them one by one.

He refused to believe he couldn't find the mastermind who stole the Relic chip!

"Rosalind Myers... just you wait. This isn't over between us," Li Ang seethed, a blaze of fury igniting within him.

If anything happened to the Relic chip because of Myers' people, preventing Johnny Silverhand from coming back, Li Ang would never let her off so easily!

---

Azure Tower.

Under the commands of Takemura Goro and Adam Smasher, Arasaka's guards had temporarily split into two groups.

One group was tasked with fending off the NUSA agents, while the other was focused on searching for V and Jackie Welles.

Just five minutes ago, V and Jackie had embarked on a harrowing death-defying escape along the edge of a balcony. On a skyscraper over a hundred meters tall, they leapt back and forth like characters in a Hollywood action thriller.

But there were no safety wires to keep them in check—one misstep would mean certain death. Even so, they took the risk, as Arasaka's guards had already picked up their trail.

"Jackie, the helicopter isn't chasing us anymore. We've got a chance to get out of here!"

V pressed on Jackie's stomach, which had been hit during the helicopter's gunfire, speaking urgently.

Moments earlier, the Arasaka helicopter had unleashed a barrage of bullets at them. Fortunately, it had not lasted long; the chopper seemed to receive an order and flew toward the building's rooftop.

V had luck on his side, narrowly avoiding the helicopter's onslaught. Jackie, however, wasn't as fortunate—he'd taken two shots and was now bleeding profusely! Worse, the safe they carried had been damaged.

To protect the integrity of the chip, Jackie had no choice but to temporarily insert it into his neural port and continue escaping with V.

"Cough... V, I'm seeing some kind of alert message in my head. Something about a Trauma Team en route... Am I dying? Or is this just my imagination?"

Jackie felt weak and powerless, his excessive blood loss making him cold all over. All he wanted now was to sleep, hoping everything would be better when he woke up.

"Shit! Jackie! Keep your damn eyes open! Don't you dare fall asleep here!"

V grabbed Jackie's face and pinched it hard, causing him to cry out in pain, "Stop, stop, stop! Quit pinching me, man. I'm feeling a lot better now!"

Strangely, just as Jackie had been about to pass out, he suddenly felt his bleeding slow significantly, and his body temperature began to stabilize.

Even so, Jackie was still teetering on the brink of death, any movement risking his wound reopening and rendering him unconscious once more.

"You really don't hold back, do you? If you ruin my handsome face, how am I supposed to take Misty out on a date?" Jackie quipped weakly, forcing a grin.

Seeing Jackie—who was so close to death—suddenly come back to life and joke around, V finally breathed a sigh of relief. He knew they wouldn't go down that easily.

"Jackie, we've just got to sneak down a little further. We're only eight floors from the ground—it won't take us long!"

"Just hang in there. I promise we'll make it out safe, okay?" V said, his voice strained, holding back tears.

Before she was killed by Arasaka's netrunners, their hacker T-Bug had used her last moments to send V a map of escape routes within Azure Tower.

The entire building was now sealed off, with Arasaka guards swarming the floors. For V and Jackie, a head-on escape was impossible.

Their only choice was to sneak out, avoiding patrols as much as possible. Once they reached the lower floors, they'd call an AI-driven Delamain cab to get them out of there.