Chapter 89: Kowloon's Blood Money

Reid had barely left the bridge for two minutes when he suddenly "heard" a voice in his ear.

It spoke with Kaname Chidori's vocal tone, yet carried an eerily calm and steady demeanor:

"Mr. Reid, I've rebooted Tir Na Nog's systems. AI Dana has been restored. I've ordered an emergency surfacing procedure - we'll breach the surface momentarily. Please brace for potential impact upon emergence."

Though Reid knew this version of Kaname Chidori would essentially become the ship's ghostly presence, merged with Teletha's consciousness, having this sudden auditory hallucination was downright terrifying.

While his mind complained, Reid's body reacted pragmatically. Without proper bracing during surfacing, even with protective gear, one could easily get knocked dizzy or suffer internal injuries from the impact - vomiting blood wouldn't be unusual.

So Reid immediately found a cabin, crawled under a bunk, and wedged himself tightly in the confined space.

Soon came the stomach-dropping sensation of a freefall ride, followed by the violent crash landing.

Even positioned near the ship's midsection, the upward shockwave from impact left Reid thoroughly rattled. No wonder half the Tir Na Nog crew stationed in the bow hangar had been bloodied or even killed by the impact in the original timeline.

But Reid had no time to sympathize with Tir Na Nog's crew. With systems restored, the high-oxygen environment Kowloon had created in the forward sections would dissipate, and the sealed bulkheads would reopen.

With the command crew already incapacitated by Reid, Kowloon could easily blend into the panicked crowd and return to Venom. The cyber-ghost Kaname Chidori wasn't someone just anyone could perceive.

Reid needed to reach the hangar immediately, or he might lose his chance to reboard Kapool.

Moreover, the secured documents would be truly safe once inside Kapool. As long as he avoided being shot down, he could deliver them successfully.

Following his tracker, Reid soon reached the hangar. Good news: Kowloon hadn't yet entered Venom.

Bad news: Kowloon had already opened Venom's cockpit and was now standing atop it, spraying machine gun fire into the crowd below.

Not wasting a second, Reid skirted along the perimeter to Kapool's rear, opened its cockpit hatch, and leaped inside.

Sagara Sousuke had the same idea - evidently his bond with Kaname Chidori allowed him to hear her warnings too.

Reid didn't know what Kaname Chidori had told Sousuke, but the sergeant moved faster. While Kapool was still booting up, ARX-7 had already begun rising to its feet, synchronizing almost perfectly with Venom's activation.

The surviving Tir Na Nog crew quickly recognized the hangar was about to become an Arm Slave battleground. Those still mobile mustered every ounce of strength to evacuate with wounded comrades - the entire process took under a minute. Truly, Mithril lived up to its reputation as an elite mercenary organization with top-tier soldier quality.

Seeing the evacuation nearly complete, Sousuke forcibly wrenched a High-Frequency Vibration Blade from a downed M9E nearby, preparing for close-quarters combat.

Meanwhile, Kowloon retrieved a machine gun from a storage container, arming Venom with the gun in its left hand and a blade in its right, squaring off against ARX-7.

Then Kowloon activated external speakers, his voice dripping with malice as he sneered:

"Ha ha ha, Kasim, looks like you're finally awake. But before our duel, we need to clear away some annoying pebbles."

With that, Venom raised its machine gun and unleashed a barrage at the Kapool positioned diagonally ahead.

However, without the Lambda Driver, the sub-40mm AS machine guns in Full Metal Panic stood no chance of penetrating Luna Titanium Alloy. The bullets ricocheted off the armor, sparking harmlessly against its surface.

Kowloon was momentarily stunned but quickly burst into maniacal laughter.

"Ha ha ha, such a tough shell—this is truly unexpected."

Inside the Kapool, Reid felt the bitter irony of the situation. After spending his days hunting eagles, he'd finally been pecked by one. Normally, he was the one ambushing others and seizing the initiative, yet today he'd been preemptively attacked while lying in wait.

No longer bothering with concealment, Reid deployed the Kapool's twin mechanical arms, smashing the two nearby M9Es aside before effortlessly tearing through the restraining cables with its claws. The mech slowly rose to its feet...

Well, "stood" was a generous term. The hangar ceiling was too low for the Kapool to fully straighten up, leaving it in a half-crouch with its head pressed against the roof.

This position made it a sitting duck. Not caring whether Kaname Chidori could hear him, Reid switched to Tir Na Nog's comm channel. Knowing no one in the command center would respond, he still barked out,

"Miss Chidori, open the flight deck and activate the lift platform! Sousuke and I will send Kowloon up personally!"

No reply came, but the hangar's lift platform immediately whirred to life.

Meanwhile, the ARX-7 and Venom were already locked in close combat.

The reason was simple: Kowloon, seeing his machine gun fire fail, had decided to activate the Lambda Driver. Sousuke, aware that the bulky Kapool would struggle to maneuver in the cramped hangar, had immediately moved to intercept.

Sousuke was already seething from being trapped earlier in the oxygen-flooded hangar. With no room for hesitation now, the ARX-7's Lambda Driver activated smoothly.

Kowloon, thrilled by his beloved Kasim's performance, instantly dismissed the Kapool as a threat. It was obvious—the massive mech could barely move in this confined space, let alone fight effectively. If it dared to fire missiles, the entire ship would go up in flames, which suited Kowloon just fine.

So he ignored the Kapool entirely, focusing instead on trading blows with Sousuke—a proper clash between men.

At this point, Kowloon, his Venom's left shoulder already damaged by Reid, was no match for Sousuke. Within a few exchanges, his mech was leaking fluids (Lambda Driver coolant) from multiple stab wounds.

Yet Kowloon fought on like a scorned lover, suddenly wrapping Venom around the ARX-7 in a crushing embrace. Over the open comms, he taunted:

"Kasim, the bomb weighs 300 kilos. Detonating here will ignite the adjacent ammunition stores and blow this entire ship to pieces. You've got two minutes! What will you do? Ha ha ha!"

Trapped in Venom's grip, the ARX-7 couldn't break free. Sousuke's experience with the Lambda Driver was still limited—he could only manage defensive shielding and enhanced ballistic attacks. Unlike Kowloon, he couldn't conjure vibration spheres to throw. Escape was impossible.

However, Reid, who had been ignored by Kowloon until now, finally took action. The Venom wanted to self-destruct? Reid thought, if you blow yourself up, where am I supposed to get another Lambda Driver-equipped unit?

So he tightened the safety harness, retracted Kapool's arms, and relying on the round shape of Kapool's MA Mode, rolled straight toward the ARX-7 and Venom. Fighting off the dizziness from the "spin cycle," he extended the arms again.

To avoid accidentally stabbing the ARX-7 while piercing the Venom, Reid didn't attack the Venom's cockpit from behind. Instead, he swept both units onto the rising elevator platform and climbed onto it himself.

Kaname Chidori, now fully transformed into a "ship girl," proved incredibly efficient, lifting all three to the open flight deck in less than half a minute.

Just like in the original story, a storm was raging over the sea. But this didn't hinder Reid's next move.

Free from height restrictions, Reid maneuvered Kapool to stand up and cleanly severed the Venom's right arm, which had been clinging to the ARX-7.

Now, with the Venom's Lambda Driver cooling tubes destroyed by the ARX-7, the Lambda Driver couldn't activate at all, leaving the Venom completely at Reid's mercy.

But Reid had another concern—if the Venom suddenly vanished, it might shatter Sagara Sousuke's worldview. After all, Kaname Chidori was unknowingly hosting Sophia within her body. If the system's power made the Venom disappear abruptly on the ship, it could alert the true mastermind behind the scenes, given the system's overwhelming power level.

If Sophia noticed, who knew if she might twist time itself and summon a horde of bosses to strike him down?

So after cutting off the Venom's right arm, Reid pried it off the ARX-7, grabbed it, and leaped into the sea, instantly putting distance between himself and the ship. Right now, he probably looked like a hero fleeing a fire while carrying a burning gas canister—no one would suspect him of any ulterior motives.

Reid pushed the engine to its limits, sacrificing its longevity for a burst of speed, reaching an astonishing 55 knots. In just one minute, he covered nearly a nautical mile.

At this distance, the Tir Na Nog could only track Kapool's status via radar—visual equipment could no longer make out the details.

Without hesitation, Reid used the mechanical claw to stab into the cockpit. As long as he retrieved the system before the self-destruction, the unit would remain in a completely locked state within the system. Even if it exploded the next second, retrieving it would only leave it in a damaged state—all internal motion halted. It wouldn't detonate unless reactivated.

But now, Kowloon no longer wanted to die. As he'd always said, he was willing to die if it meant dragging a ship full of people down with him. But in this situation, self-destructing might not even destroy the unusually durable machine in front of him.

So once Kapool stopped its sprint, Kowloon immediately triggered the emergency cockpit ejection (if this function didn't exist, the author couldn't explain how Kowloon survived in the original story).

Keep in mind, though Kapool was in shallow waters, the Venom's cockpit was already damaged. Ejecting here was barely different from suicide.

Still, it did save him from being impaled by Kapool's mechanical claw.

And by the time Reid realized the system could retrieve the Venom and did so, he hadn't yet noticed the escape pod.

To make the performance more convincing, Reid fired missiles on the spot and then detonated them with his metal claws, mimicking Venom's self-destruction. After all, with the dual protection of Phase Shift Armor and Luna Titanium Alloy, such an explosion couldn't harm him.

However, the blast directly knocked out the already injured Kowloon, worsening his condition and causing his spirits to plummet.

This allowed Reid's Newtype abilities to sense Kowloon's twisted emotions rapidly fading. As a result, Reid didn't even bother checking his surroundings, assuming the boss with nine lives had finally met his end. He immediately turned and headed back to Tir Na Nog.

Truthfully, Reid hadn't left earlier partly because he wanted to see if he could squeeze some resources or personnel out of Tir Na Nog. With nearly two days left on his stay, there was no rush.

Even if Teletha woke up and discovered he had copied Tir Na Nog's programs, given that Reid had effectively saved the entire crew, she would likely hear him out first before taking action. If things escalated, Reid could always make an emergency exit.

By then, he'd already be gone, and even if Sophia caught wind of it, so what? It wasn't like she could chase him across time and space.

Moreover, upon returning to Tir Na Nog, Reid was immensely relieved he hadn't rushed his departure.

Reid had a good habit—before leaving any location, he always checked his belongings. This time was no exception. Before disembarking from his unit, he inspected his bag, the condition of his protective suit, the positioning of his two guns, and the other small items he'd exchanged through the system.

Then, his radar picked up an anomaly—the nano-tracker he'd injected into Kowloon was moving laterally at an irregular, rhythmic pace.

Under normal circumstances, after being stabbed through the cockpit, Kowloon's body should have been reduced to pulp. Even if a chunk of flesh containing the nano-tracker had survived, it should have sunk to the ocean floor.

At the very least, if a carnivorous fish had swallowed it, the movement would either be a straight, high-speed trajectory or an erratic circling pattern. There was no way it would drift like floating debris, occasionally reversing direction.

There was only one explanation—Kowloon was still alive, floating on the ocean's surface. The unnatural backward movement was caused by the waves.

However, Reid couldn't very well announce he was going after Kowloon now. His surveillance period was three days, and given the major incident aboard Tir Na Nog, requesting to disembark a day early to report the situation wouldn't raise eyebrows.

In fact, he could even wait for Teletha to wake up before bidding farewell. By then, he could pursue Kowloon—even if all that remained was a corpse, he'd make sure to dismember it to prevent any chance of resurrection before returning. Otherwise, the embarrassment would be unbearable.

For now, though, Reid was greeted as a hero by the crew of Tir Na Nog the moment he stepped out of his unit.

Even Colonel Mardukas was no exception. Though he knew the command crew had been knocked out, he had no idea Reid was responsible.

The medics had already confirmed it was due to Isoflurane exposure, and the affected personnel would wake up in an hour or two with no lasting side effects. So, fulfilling his duties as acting captain, Mardukas came to welcome Reid back.

However, two hours later, Reid found himself summoned to the infirmary by a livid Colonel Mardukas.

At this moment, Teletha had already woken up and didn't seem to hold any ill will toward Reid. She even greeted him with a cheerful smile.

However, Colonel Mardukas, after witnessing Reid and Teletha exchange greetings, spoke coldly:

"Captain Reid, the reason we called you here is to have you explain why you used Isoflurane to knock out everyone in the command room."

Reid already had a prepared response. He looked at Colonel Mardukas with an expression that seemed to say, Are you stupid? and replied:

"Colonel Mardukas, does that question even need answering? Of course, it was to incapacitate Kowloon and rescue everyone at the lowest possible cost.

And even if it failed, with everyone unconscious, Kowloon wouldn't be able to escape with hostages—because unconscious people are nothing but dead weight.

Moreover, considering the worst-case scenario, knocking them out beforehand meant that if a firefight broke out later, they'd die without suffering.

Let me make one thing clear: at that moment, I was fully prepared to accept that we might not save a single person inside—as long as Kowloon was eliminated."

Hearing this, Colonel Mardukas was furious—not because Reid's methods were wrong, but because he had placed Teletha in danger.

However, before the colonel could explode, Teletha spoke up:

"I see. A reasonable judgment. Also, Captain Reid, thank you for saving Tir Na Nog. Actually, I only called you here to express my gratitude."

Reid glanced at the friendly Teletha, then at Colonel Mardukas, whose veins were practically bulging on his forehead. He could only smile and say:

"No need for thanks. I just did what I had to. If I came to inspect the ship and ended up losing it, I'd be in deep trouble when I got back.

That said, Captain Teletha, I'll be taking my leave now. After such a major incident on Tir Na Nog, staying any longer might raise suspicions of collusion. So, I formally request disembarkation."

Hearing that Reid intended to leave, Teletha showed a hint of regret but nodded.

"Understood. Permission granted. However, Captain Reid, I hope you'll contact me once your duties are concluded. I'm quite curious about your abilities and would like to learn more."

With that, she took the medical clipboard from her bedside, tore off a sheet of paper, wrote down her personal contact number, and handed it to Reid.

After he accepted it, Teletha twirled one of her braids with a sly expression and added:

"Captain Reid, if you don't contact me later, I'll be very upset. Don't blame me if I have to track you down through headquarters."

Reid's Newtype instincts warned him that Teletha was thinking something mischievous—giving him the same vibe he'd gotten from Lacus before.

But by then, he wouldn't even be in this world anymore. Even if Teletha tried to find him, she'd have no luck. So he smiled and agreed:

"No problem—as long as it's not Colonel Mardukas answering when I call. Oh, and Colonel, don't forget to issue my disembarkation permit. I'll take my leave now."

Without waiting for the colonel to erupt, Reid saluted and turned to leave.

Once outside the infirmary, he returned directly to the Kapool and had the command room eject him.

Colonel Mardukas was probably eager to see him gone before he could "corrupt their precious flower." So the disembarkation permit had already been approved.

After leaving Tir Na Nog, Reid departed from his mobile suit and hurried toward Kowloon's location. The signal emitter was currently moving toward the nearest large island at a speed of approximately 20 knots.

It was clear that Kowloon had been rescued. Reid guessed that the ones who picked him up must be a large cargo ship or cruise liner—only those vessels would travel at such a speed. If he didn't want to deal with a siege, it was best to intercept them before the ship reached the shore.

Fortunately, the Kapool was fast enough, and he managed to cut off the ship about ten nautical miles from the coast.

Just as Reid had suspected, it was a massive container cargo ship flying the flag of the Lighthouse Country. However, its draft seemed off—it likely wasn't carrying much cargo.

But since Kowloon's presence on board was confirmed, Reid immediately fired a barrage of missiles, intending to sink the ship right then and there to avoid complications.

However, as the cargo ship was blown in half and began to sink, a speedboat suddenly burst out from above, and a Zy-99 Shadow leaped off it, attempting to intercept the Kapool.

This was like an egg striking a rock. The Shadow wasn't designed for underwater combat, and this unit didn't even have a Lambda Driver. Even if its underwater torpedoes hit the Kapool, they wouldn't do any damage.

And Reid wasn't so easy to hit. Naturally, the outcome was that the Shadow was swiftly approached by Reid and defeated in an instant.

Still, Reid didn't kill the Shadow's pilot. Instead, he severed all four limbs of the Shadow, then grabbed its torso and surfaced in front of the speedboat, thrusting the Shadow's body out of the water—forcing the speedboat to crash into it.

Admittedly, the person piloting the speedboat had incredible skill. The boat managed to perform a 90-degree drift and brake on the water, colliding with the Shadow's torso from the side rather than head-on, avoiding a catastrophic explosion.

But that was as far as it went. Reid maneuvered the Kapool to surface, preparing to deliver the final blow to Kowloon.

Then, Reid saw the person who had rescued Kowloon on the speedboat. This person should be Xia Yufang, one of the twin girls Kowloon had adopted (note: in the novel, they were male, but the anime's setting is used here). That meant the one piloting the Shadow to intercept him was none other than Xia Yufang's sister, Xia Yulan.

Now that his path forward was blocked and his retreat cut off, Kowloon, unwilling to die just yet, forced himself up despite his heavily bandaged body and shouted through a loudspeaker:

"Hey, kid from Mithril, let's talk. I'll make you a deal—I can give you intel more valuable than killing me!"

Reid looked at Kowloon and replied, manipulating the Kapool's mechanical arm, "Hah, I know Amalgam