Chapter 148

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During the Cherry Blossom Festival in Westbrook, at a skyscraper.

Judy drove Gloria and the others to the base of the building, briefly explaining the situation at Cloudtop on the way.

Cloudtop Club's operation center is located on the 12th floor of the skyscraper.

The man in charge of Cloudtop's security, Oswald Forrester, is also known by his nickname, Woodman.

Furthermore.

The top floor of the skyscraper is the residence of the owner of Cloudtop, Hiromi Oto, also one of the high-ranking members of the Tyger Claws.

To take down Cloudtop, these two must be dealt with first.

At Cloudtop Club, working with Judy, were the housekeeper Maiko Maeda and a group of male and female staff, totaling about four or five people.

The Tyger Claws, given the Mox's recent victory in Watson's Kabuki district, had tightened security at Cloudtop.

They must find a way to hack into Cloudtop and disable the security for Hiromi Oto's apartment at the top.

Judy revealed that all this information and plans were currently confidential.

She said Maiko Maeda is a cautious person; if Judy couldn't persuade the Mox to cooperate, the assault on Cloudtop could not proceed.

After Judy's briefing, Gloria assessed that taking Cloudtop by surprise shouldn't pose too much of a challenge.

The Tyger Claws' main focus should be on Kabuki district—regaining the territory they lost is of utmost importance.

After a sudden stop, Judy parked the car steadily at the base of the skyscraper.

The group hastily got out and walked into the building.

Judy immediately contacted Maiko Maeda, the infiltrator within Cloudtop, and, after confirming each other's status, they began the lightning-fast operation to seize Cloudtop.

Gloria could tell from Judy's voice that she was nervous yet hopeful; she still held feelings for Cloudtop.

Back when Judy first started working at Cloudtop, she made many friends, and she still maintained good relationships with many of them.

She's that kind of person, ruled by emotion—reckless but personable.

In Night City these days, finding a friend willing to go through fire and water for you is no easy feat.

Judy had formulated a preliminary action plan.

Maiko Maeda would go to the top-floor apartment to keep Hiromi Oto busy in case he sensed something amiss.

The main server room for the entire skyscraper was on the third floor. Since the Tyger Claws' security was concentrated on Cloudtop Club on the twelfth floor, Judy would take on the task of hacking into the main server.

Once the main server was hacked, the common access control and surveillance systems would essentially become ineffective.

Sasha, Rita Wheeler, and Gloria would then continue to the twelfth floor and, alongside the Cloudtop's staff such as Roxanne, take down the Woodman, eliminate all of the Tyger Claws' henchmen, and seize Cloudtop Club completely.

After settling the twelfth-floor problem, everyone would regroup and head to the top floor to force Hiromi Oto to surrender Cloudtop.

No objections were raised regarding Judy's plan.

On this crazy night, for them, nothing seemed impossible.

The group entered the skyscraper's public elevator and reached the third floor, where Judy left to locate the server.

Gloria and the others continued by elevator to the twelfth floor, where they would commence their action once Judy hacked into the server.

Gloria estimated that the Tyger Claws were amassing their forces, ready to move to Watson's Kabuki district.

After such a significant loss, they couldn't just stand by and had to retaliate, which could lead them to overlook Cloudtop on their own turf.

As long as they acted quickly and decisively, taking Cloudtop and immediately evacuating, whatever happened next with the Tyger Claws returning was beyond their control.

Soon.

Judy sent good news; she had located the main server equipment and hacked into the system, signaling the trio to begin their operation.

Ding-dong.

The elevator reached the twelfth floor.

Each floor of the skyscraper was like a commercial plaza, with stores, shops, residential apartments, and more.

Exiting the elevator, they headed straight for Cloudtop Club, passing through glass doors and turning corridors until they reached the main entrance of the club.

After a scan of blue light, they arrived at the Cloudtop Club's reception.

The receptionist was surprised to see the trio, but still greeted them with a soft smile: "Welcome to Cloudtop, a place that understands your heart's desires."

However, she quickly recognized Rita Wheeler's tattoos and dress as being one of the Mox and asked somewhat puzzled.

"Is this your first time at Cloudtop?"

Rita Wheeler placed her baseball bat on the counter and asked coldly, "Where's the Tyger Claws' Woodman?"

The receptionist hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm sorry, but Woodman doesn't handle guests. We have better VIP services available here."

The Mox Rita Wheeler replied with discontent, "He has to meet us today. Just tell me where he is, and we won't bother you further."

After hesitating for a moment, the receptionist gestured towards the interior and then explained, "Woodman is Cloudtop's head of security, his office is on the second floor in the VIP area. If this is your first visit and you're not a VIP member, you won't be able to enter the second floor; it's exclusive to Cloudtop's VIP members."

The Mox Rita Wheeler confidently responded, "Don't worry, we'll be VIPs soon enough."

With that said, the group continued inside Cloudtop Club.

They passed through the dimly lit corridors of the club; some patrons whistled at Rita Wheeler, only to be cursed at fiercely.

"What kind of dumb schmuck are you? Bloody hell!", leaving them speechless and averting their gaze.

Sasha kept an eye on the ceiling-mounted surveillance cameras, hacking into and taking control of the monitoring system remotely.

Soon.

They arrived at the VIP section's glass turnstiles, where three Tyger Claw enforcers were turning away customers trying to enter.

Upon noticing Rita Wheeler's attire, they realized something was amiss and prepared to draw their guns, but Rita Wheeler, ready for a fight, struck an enforcer on the head with her bat, killing him instantly, while Sasha easily handled the other two.

This scene stunned the other patrons who began to panic and scattered.

Sasha pulled out the biometric data cable from her wrist and hacked into the Cloudtop subnet controls, breaking through the access barriers.

Gloria also held her Shikon Jewel tightly, ready for combat. Although she was not new to battle and had two skilled fighters by her side, she still felt some nerves, betrayed by the sweat beading in her palms.

As she held the Shikon Jewel, projectile holographs of bullets appeared.

"Okay, wet... okay, hot..."

"The user's heart rate is accelerating, adrenaline is spiking, a cooldown is recommended."

Gloria quickly hugged her gun, Skippy, trying to muffle its voice, as it always liked making weird announcements.

The trio had just reached the upper floor when they saw the Tyger Claws gang members already in action, rushing out with guns blazing.

Sasha shoved Gloria behind a wall for cover and leapt into the fray, battling the Tyger Claws gangsters.

A young punk girl also charged in with her baseball bat, giving the Tyger Claws no chance to shoot.

As the fight broke out, Gloria immediately contacted Judy to check on the inside help.

Judy informed her that the doll *from Clouds was cooperating with the attack.

Instantly, the entire Clouds nightclub erupted in gunfire and flames.

Many customers, indulging in the club's services, were startled by the sudden gunshots and fled, scrambling to pull up their pants without bothering to dress.

Some of the dolls, still in service mode, finally realized the chaos that had enveloped Clouds.

Skippy, nestled in Gloria's arms, buzzed with a suggestion: "Threat detected to user, bullet tracking activated."

"Kind reminder, you can pull the trigger without aiming."

It dawned on the tense Gloria that Skippy was a smart gun, so she asked, "Can it automatically target Tyger Claws?"

Confidently adjusting his black sunglasses, Skippy replied, "Targets' legs associated with the Tyger Claws have been locked on."

Gloria cautiously extended the gun from behind cover and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A bullet shot out, curving around uninvolved bystanders, hitting the crotch of a Tyger Claws bald member, who immediately crumpled to the ground, crying out in pain.

Skippy: "Target successfully hit, ah... lovely, don't, stop."

A blush crept onto Gloria's cheeks, and she peeked around the corner, seeing Skippy's victim writhing on the ground, screaming; excitement flashed in her eyes.

Who knew Skippy could be so accurate!

She fired off several more shots with Skippy.

Bang, bang, bang...

Skippy howled as it fired tracer bullets trailing flames, taunting.

"You've messed with the wrong woman!"

"Eat my big-[silenced]."

"I am going to riddle you with holes, you waste of space!"

To Gloria's amazement, although Skippy's words were filthy, its bullet-tracking was incredibly precise; every shot hit the enemies' weak spots without fail.

Soon, the Tyger Claws gangsters guarding Clouds were completely taken out.

As the gunfire subsided, a frightened working doll *peeked out, trying to stealthily gather information about the situation outside.

But the punk girl spotted him, pointing her bat and ordering,

"Come here!"

The working doll *trembled as it approached, pleading weakly, "Please spare me, I only work at Clouds, I'm not related to Tyger Claws..."

The punk girl asked coldly, "What's your name?"

Working doll *: "I'm Angel... if you want to place an order, you can do so at the front desk..."

Running out of patience, the punk girl demanded, "Where's the puppet, take us to him, and you'll be free to go."

Angel carefully pointed to a bald man on the floor and explained, "He's Woodman..."

Seeing Woodman clutching his crotch in agony, Gloria realized something and looked at Skippy, then took decisive action.

Without a word, the punk girl stepped forward and clubbed Woodman's head in, completing the Clouds nightclub mission.

Gloria promptly informed Judy about the situation, and they planned to continue upwards to meet with Maiko on the top floor.

Soon after.

Gloria and company evacuated Clouds and reunited with Judy in the public elevator, then took it straight to the penthouse.

In the elevator.

Judy solemnly explained, "The Tyger Claws have noticed what's going on in Clouds. Maiko says we should withdraw from the rooftop; she's arranged an aerodyne to pick us up."

Gloria inquired, "Is the Clouds boss taken care of?"

Judy clarified, "Michiko has Hiroto left under control; we'll meet on the rooftop."

The elevator swiftly arrived at the top floor, and the four of them broke through several doors, reaching the skyscraper's rooftop.

Hundreds of meters high, the fierce wind and rain lashed out, with the city's neon lights sprawling below.

But they had no time to appreciate the view, as they reached the rooftop and saw a woman in a uniform skirt forcing a man to kneel at knife-point - Hiroto, the Clouds boss, without a doubt.

Judy hurriedly approached, saying, "Michiko, it's a success."

She looked at the kneeling Hiroto and asked coldly, "Has he agreed to relinquish Clouds? Can Clouds be independent now, has the aerodyne arrived?"

Maiko turned to Judy with a slight smile, "Judy, be patient, first join me in meeting someone."

Realizing something was amiss, as this wasn't the plan they agreed upon, Judy pressed on.

"Meet who?"

Maiko solemnly replied, "Naturally, Mr. Sato, the Tyger Claws' boss. I need him to see for himself how incompetent Hiroto is."

Judy's eyes widened in disbelief and fury, staring at Maiko, exclaiming, "You're using us!"

Unperturbed, Maiko smiled, "Judy, you didn't really think Clouds could be independent, did you? This is Cherry Blossom Market, the heart of the Tyger Claws' territory. Killing a few of their gangsters, they have thousands more."

"So, I need you to stay a bit longer to convince Mr. Sato. Once he is persuaded, Hiroto will be useless, and you can leave."

Judy was shocked, not expecting Maiko to deceive her, but before she could say more,

In the rainy night.

Numerous Tyger Claws gang members emerged, each brandishing guns and surrounding the rooftop, trapping them.

A man in a burgundy suit stepped out, flanked by bodyguards, from the darkness.

Maiko immediately lowered her katana and bowed deeply to the newcomer.

"Mr. Sato..."