Chapter 166

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Imperial Mall.

Tang Yu returned to the temporary base's control room and inquired about the situation from Senior Cyber Surveillance Agent Mosley.

Mosley was intently staring at the electronic screen and tapping away on his keyboard, trying to locate the Voodoo Boys' server by tracking signal fluctuations. Several Voodoo Boys' digital consciousnesses were trapped in cyberspace, making it impossible for them to shut down their servers without causing brain death to the hackers still linked.

Mosley focused on the screen and said, "I've found some traces, but the Poseidon subnet's data firewall is too thick to breach, making it hard to pinpoint its exact location. I'm trying to bypass the firewall and search their BBS."

The cyber surveillance vs. Voodoo Boys' network war had officially begun, leaving the Voodoo Boys with no choice but to confront the cyber surveillance directly.

At this moment.

The Barbarian King walked through the security scanner and gate recognition, entering the control room with a booming voice, "Those Voodoo Boys are trying to force their way in. Our brothers are already fighting them outside. When do we launch the full attack?"

Clearly agitated and eager to teach the Voodoo Boys a lesson, the Barbarian King couldn't wait.

Mosley had to ask for patience, "I'm still locating their hideout; it might take a few more minutes..."

Hearing this, the Barbarian King's face tightened with displeasure, his powerful chest muscles bulging as he clenched his fists. "You better hurry."

Clearly, she was disappointed in the cyber surveillance techniques, feeling they were not as formidable as advertised after failing to locate the Voodoo Boys' hideout quickly. The Animals gang had gone all out for this operation, intending to take down the Voodoo Boys. It would be impossible to establish a foothold in Imperial Mall if they couldn't even find the enemy's base.

The Animals gang had helped cyber surveillance set up numerous servers and arranged substantial manpower to guard them. This had to succeed.

Mosley noticed the Barbarian King's frustration. Usually confident, he was now a bit anxious, the Poseidon subnet proving to be quite the challenge.

Tang Yu, observing the tense exchange, offered, "Try focusing your search on the southern areas. The newer, well-built abandoned structures there should have sufficient capacity to host servers."

Mosley followed Tang Yu's suggestion, adjusting his scanning focus southward to detect signal fluctuations in the building clusters. Tang Yu pointed at a specific building on the screen.

"Batti Hotel?" Mosley quickly pulled up the Batti Hotel's digital imagery, attempting an all-round scan. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

He had indeed found tiny signal fluctuations, and upon comparison with the Voodoo Boys' hacker signal types in cyberspace, he deduced a common pattern in the signal spectrum. "Got it!" Mosley exclaimed with a smile, "Found those rats' hideout!"

Pointing at the digital image of Batti Hotel, he confidently told the Barbarian King, "Their servers are at Batti Hotel. You can now strike the hotel and destroy the servers, effectively dismantling the Poseidon subnet. The Voodoo Boys will be left defenseless."

Relieved, the Barbarian King just needed to lead her gang toward Batti Hotel and crush the Voodoo Boys with sheer force. Her gaze at Tang Yu lost its initial arrogance; his earlier guidance showed he was competent.

"Alright, with a target in sight, let my fists do the talking." Mosley nodded, reminding her, "Don't forget our agreement. You take Imperial Mall; we need the Poseidon subnet data."

The Barbarian King huffed, "Rest assured, as long as you're right about the location, I'll get you the servers." With that, she left to rally her men for the assault.

Mosley sighed with relief once the Barbarian King left. "Dealing with the Animals gang is really something."

"Mr. Tang, thank you for your help earlier. Without your tip, finding their hideout would've been much more difficult. The Animals gang was getting impatient."

Mosley hadn't expected Tang Yu, an Arasaka Corp. executive, to have such a knack for network technology. Seeing Tang Yu still in his usual demeanor, Mosley felt it was a bit of wasted talent.

Tang Yu was concerned not about the Voodoo Boys but about Lucy. She had dived into cyberspace per Cyber Surveillance's request, frozen the Voodoo Boys' hackers, and located the Poseidon subnet servers. Mosley needed to keep his promise now.

"You're welcome. Without Lucy diving into cyberspace, we couldn't have found their location."

Mosley agreed, nodding. "According to our agreement, if you don't back out, Cyber Surveillance can proceed with hiring Lucy."

Hackers with deep dive experience and systemic training like Lucy were rare. More importantly, Lucy had no allegiance to Arasaka, making it unlikely she was a spy planted by them. It made no sense for Cyber Surveillance not to take her in. Mosley even worried Arasaka might regret it and force Lucy back to work for them. Though Lucy was no longer loyal to Arasaka, it didn't prevent them from exploiting her remaining value.

As they discussed, Lucy, who had just redressed, emerged from the dive room, looking pale. Tang Yu turned to her, saying, "Cyber Surveillance agreed to hire you. What's your opinion?"

Lucy glanced at Tang Yu and nodded in agreement. Joining Cyber Surveillance was her best option to ensure her safety. She knew too many of Tang Yu's secrets; going anywhere else would be dangerous and pose a severe threat to him.

Perhaps, the dream had already forewarned the conclusion. Leaving Night City, distancing from Tang Yu, would only bring her endless disaster.

…

Batti Hotel.

A blonde-haired man rushed desperately into the main lobby, shouting, "Placide! Placide!"

"The Cyber Surveillance's ICE has frozen our hackers, and we've lost contact with Brigitte!"

"They are searching for our server signals everywhere. If we don't shut down soon, they'll find us!"

Placide, an elite hacker and enforcer, was a Voodoo Boys' higher-up. With Brigitte diving into cyberspace to probe the Cyber Surveillance servers but suddenly losing contact, the Voodoo Boys' leadership fell to Placide.

Placide reprimanded him sternly, "Stop panicking!"

The blonde-haired Voodoo Boys member, responsible for monitoring the diving hackers, urgently explained the situation's gravity. If Cyber Surveillance found their server, it would be all over for them.

"The servers cannot be shut down!"

"We must wait for Brigitte's return!"

Anxious, the blonde pleaded. If they waited too long, not just the divers but they themselves would be doomed. Placide frowned. If they didn't shut down the servers, they'd be risking an all-out battle with the Animals gang.

He instructed the blonde to continue monitoring the situation while he went to rally their forces. Just then, another Voodoo scout quickly ran in.

The scout urgently reported, "Placide, it seems the Animals gang is advancing on us!"

Placide's eyes widened in anger, "How can that be? The Poseidon subnet hasn't been breached, and the BBS isn't leaked. How did they find us?"

The scout, clueless, couldn't answer.

The blonde Voodoo member, still there, explained, "It's said Cyber Surveillance partnered with Arasaka. Maybe they stepped in!"

Cursing, Placide muttered, "Damn it."

"Do we have any more mercenaries?"

"They need to move now!"

None of the Voodoo Boys responded.

Their reputation across Night City was so bad that almost no one took on their jobs willingly. Even those who did were referred to as 'disposable,' used and discarded. Consequently, no fixer was willing to work with the Voodoo Boys, and even cyberpunks avoided them.

Faced with the Animals' onslaught, they couldn't find anyone to help. Placide realized this battle was for their survival. The discovery of their Poseidon subnet server meant their adversaries held a technological advantage. If the Animals overran the Batti Hotel, the Voodoo Boys were finished. With Brigitte frozen in cyberspace, likely by Cyber Surveillance's ICE, Placide had to lead the Voodoo Boys in the fight.

He wasted no time in mobilizing the Haitians.

…

Nearby, V had just finished a convenient meal and felt a bit hungry still, so she rose to get some snacks from a nearby vendor. She stood by the window, ordering two bags of snacks. The vendor grabbed the bags and tossed them on the counter. As V reached into her back pocket to pay, the vendor suddenly stood and dashed out the door.

The convenience store owner didn't even have time to close the door. He abandoned his business and ran straight to the hotel, looking hurried as if something big had happened.

This caught V's attention. She watched the man rush into the hotel and muttered, "Looks like something big is going down..."

No sooner had she spoken.

Dozens of off-road vehicles stopped not far from the street. The cars were flamboyantly painted—pink, blue, red—the entire convoy looked colorful. The only common feature was the tiger emblem on the hoods, a typical Animals gang symbol.

V knew the show was about to start. She crumpled an eddy bill and tossed it into the store, landing it in a plastic jar. She couldn't help but smile proudly, then tore open a snack pack, popping a piece into her mouth.

In her line of sight, a group of muscular brutes was unloading weapons from the trunks and setting them up on the street, aiming at the Batty Hotel. The Animals gang was preparing their usual firepower barrage: heavy machine guns, RPGs, and incendiary bombs.

To avoid getting caught in the crossfire, V moved farther away. She planned to wait until both sides engaged before taking action.

The scattered pedestrians who saw this scene were sensible enough to hide. In an instant, the surrounding streets and small plaza were empty.

A fierce firefight began.

V stood in a safe spot, munching on snacks, watching as flames erupted everywhere, smoke billowed, and the sounds of bullets and explosions filled the air.

The Voodoo Boys weren't just idle either. They brought out their signature weapons and started clashing with the Animals.

V dug at her ear with her pinky; the deafening noise made her ear canal itch.

Both sides exchanged heavy fire for half an hour. The Animals lost several vehicles and some men, and the façade of the Batty Hotel had its walls torn down, revealing parts of the building's structure. The hotel's main entrance was obliterated, and after the firepower was exhausted, the Animals charged into the hotel.

The person leading the Animals' charge caught V's attention. The figure was as sturdy as a mountain of meat, intimidating, and wielding a giant hammer.

Under this leader's command, the entire Animals gang, as if on a berserk steroid, surged into the Batty Hotel. The battle inside became brutal.

Having finished two bags of snacks, V saw the opportunity and found another route to enter the Batty Hotel.

Inside the hotel, she saw the Animals and the Voodoo Boys fighting to the death, every move lethal and ruthless. The leader of the Animals, the Wild King, charged into the Voodoo Boys, smashing them into pulp with the giant hammer.

Even though she was hit by bullets, the Wild King's advance seemed unstoppable.

On the Voodoo Boys' side, a man in a cloak weaved flexibly among the Animals, wielding a submachine gun. His speed was so fast that even trying to catch sight of him was difficult.

Sandevistan?

V recognized the cloaked man's ability—it must be a high-end Sandevistan model. She had always wanted one of these top-grade enhancements herself.

There were many street vendors selling Sandevistan, but usually, they were of low quality, unworthy in her eyes.

Seeing the Voodoo Boys engaged in a vicious battle, too occupied to notice her, V continued deeper into the hotel, looking for the entrance to the underground levels.

Using various cover spots, V soon found a passageway. Seeing no one guarding it, she slipped inside.

In the basement, she saw a dense array of server facilities, confirming she was in the right place.

V carefully searched the basement server room to avoid detection while looking for a port to steal the Poseidon data from the servers.

Moving further in, she saw several hacker chairs with a dozen Voodoo Boys hackers lying motionless in them.

She figured they were still deep-diving and wouldn't wake up anytime soon, so she stealthily approached the control desk and took out a black card from her pocket.

Gloria had given her the card, saying that once inserted into the data port, the automatic copy would take care of the rest.

After a quick glance around, ensuring no one was around, she inserted the card into the port. 

To her surprise, the card triggered a system alarm. The surrounding screens lit up with red warnings.

"Shit!" 

"I didn't expect an anti-theft alarm."

White smoke suddenly billowed from the black card, burning it out immediately.

This stumped V. Without the card, she couldn't steal the data, and this mission would be a complete failure.

Wasting no time, she discarded the burnt card and directly pulled out her right wrist's data cable, plugging it into the control desk to forcibly extract the data, enduring the alarm system's attacks.

V felt like her head was splitting. A torrent of data uncontrollably flooded into her brain, the pain almost making her pass out.

But her tenacity allowed her to withstand it. After holding off the initial data onslaught, it became smoother, and the pain gradually lessened.

Apparently, the Voodoo Boys were too busy fighting the Animals to stop her despite the triggered alarm.

V silently breathed a sigh of relief.

Following Gloria's instructions strictly paid off. Had she acted recklessly, a squad of Voodoo Boys would have already restrained her when the alarm went off.

While extracting the data, she noticed some of the hackers' heads were smoking, their bodies twitching uncontrollably, with foam bubbling from their mouths—a terrifying sight.

"Shit, what's happening?"

The gruesome deaths of the Voodoo Boys hackers made V forget her own pain.

"Damn, I'll never be a hacker!"

"Just lying there and this happens? You wouldn't even know how you died."

As she reflected on this, someone suddenly yelled.

"What are you doing? Stop immediately!"

V turned towards the voice and saw a blond man with two others rushing over, aiming their guns at her.

She glanced at the ongoing data copy, realizing it wasn't complete yet. She needed to buy some time.

So, V raised her hands, indicating she was unarmed.

"Their deaths have nothing to do with me. I'm just here to copy some data; I didn't do anything else."

Hearing the word 'deaths,' the blond man became even more tense. He approached the hacker chairs, keeping his gun trained on her while checking their condition.

Sure enough, each hacker was burnt out, bleeding from all orifices, undeniably dead—including their leader, Brigitte.

The blond man panicked, seeing their leader perished in cyberspace, unsure of what to do.

His gun hand began trembling, eyes filled with fear, muttering, "It's over... everything's over..."

V knew the Voodoo Boys were bound to suffer a severe blow, possibly facing annihilation. But if they could retreat now and preserve some strength, they might still have a chance later. She advised.

"The situation is critical. Take the core secrets and retreat. Preserve your strength for the future."

V tried to stall for time, thinking from his perspective, while continuing to copy the Poseidon subnet data.

The blond man, merely a guarding member of the Voodoo Boys, was clueless without higher orders. 

His strong survival instinct kicked in after hearing V's advice. He murmured, "You're right. I must safeguard Poseidon."

Suddenly, he noticed V's data cable connected to the desk, she was stealing the subnet Poseidon data.

"You!"

"You're here to steal Poseidon!"

Furious, the blond man aimed his gun at V, but a deafening crash from above interrupted him.

Bang!

A massive steel entity crashed through the entire Batty Hotel into the basement.

Strewn steel and debris fell, grey-white dust engulfing the surroundings.

The battle at the Batty Hotel ceased instantly.

Everyone was unsure what happened. It felt like an earthquake, with two-thirds of the building collapsing, the remaining structure teetering.

*Cough, cough*

Choking on the dense dust, V wiped her mouth and nose, only to find her left arm gone, sensing only severe pain.

Alarmed, she checked and saw her forearm and hand were missing—only half bone and flesh remained.

"Shit..."

"Today is seriously screwed..."

Pale-faced, V endured the pain and complained.

She realized she was trapped under rubble, a concrete slab pressing her down.

V tried to move her right hand, glad it still had sensation. She clenched her fist, relieved her right hand was intact.

Forcing a weak smile, she thought, "At least I still have one..."

The data cable from her right wrist remained connected to the desk but no longer reading data, frustrating V.

Feeling her efforts were in vain, she simmered with anger. Severely injured and weakened, she wanted to curse, but there was no target.

Her surroundings fell silent. The Batty Hotel was almost leveled.

As the smoke cleared, V vaguely saw a black figure nearby, standing in a crater with radiating cracks, debris scattered around.

"Shit!"

"What kind of monstrosity..."

V couldn't make out what the shadow was; her injuries blurred her vision.

Feeling dizzy, she heard someone approach and coldly say,

"Adam Smasher."

"The Poseidon data is in her head. Bring her back to Takemura-sama."

"The mission will be complete."

Adam Smasher?

V etched the name in her heart.

"Adam Smasher."

"I'll remember you..."