Chapter 124: Chapter 87: Bone Shards
When John walked in, he saw a glamorous star arching her waist and hips on the table.
Her cheeks and faux leather were incredibly attractive, as if he’d seen her photos in a hovercar ad.
He noticed the man behind the table.
[Name: Ethan Ratliff (Bone Shards)]
[Faction: Black Gold Gang]
[Scan: Sianweistan, Neuroregulator, subcutaneous embedded exoskeleton, etc.]
[Bounty: Extortion, Murder of Company Representative, Production of Military-grade Drugs, etc.]
[File: Floridian, Eden City terrorist, one of the high-level managers of the Black Gold Gang, responsible for some illegal trades and cross-city transportation business...]
Bone Shards was shorter than expected, and lacked the explosive muscle common among the Black Gold Gang.
He was the typical white image, shirtless, with tattoos mainly concentrated on his chest and two arms.
What intrigued John was:
Bone Shards was characterized by Jilead as a tyrant but wore external glasses, had a strong jawline, high nose bridge, and the glasses’ arms were connected to black sockets on the sides of his head, giving a vibe of a high-class scamp.
[Negotiate with Bone Shards. (Optional)]
The private room was full of fierce gang assassins.
They stopped Jilead, motioned him aside, allowing only John to go in and negotiate with the boss.
The female star picked up scattered clothes and left.
John sat down opposite.
Bone Shards’ pupils flickered in the dark.
Upon close inspection, his glasses turned out to be a micro terminal processor, similar to the external system in Damascus Camp dealing with transport business.
Snap, clatter——
Bone Shards tossed a gold watch onto the table.
"John, what are you doing here?"
"Network surveillance didn’t kill me; someone is quite disappointed."
John taunted, all the while watching his expressions to probe for more intel.
"No matter how you guess, I haven’t worked with network surveillance; you’re barging in suddenly, that’s quite rude."
Bone Shards’ tone was always indifferent.
John noticed his two arms—entirely alloy skeleton, equipped with retractable melee weapons.
But the exterior was hidden with gold and loaded with ICE firmware for scan shielding.
Just visually scanning, it was hard to tell if it was monofilament or mantis blade... or something else.
"I’m here to rescue someone."
"When goods are lost, someone’s got to take responsibility."
Bone Shards grinned, smiling malevolently.
"Hoffman was originally mine to deal with; it’s surprising Vito got you to help. I checked the scene... you’re lucky, not getting shot dead on the spot."
"You could try me directly."
John retorted directly.
The nearby killer, Jilead, Bone Shards... all locked their eyes on him hearing this.
John had been gambling with fate for several days.
Currently troubled, mentally sensitive, in a stage prone to explosive anger.
John wasn’t in the mood to indulge anyone anymore.
"You’re quite gutsy; you aren’t even part of the Black Gold Gang, why step up unnecessarily?"
"I checked the elevator shaft."
John squinted. "The stuff has been found, right? Hiding and tattling—a cowardly move... I feared speaking too harshly, someone among you might cry."
He pushed the gold watch over.
"The words are yours; I don’t want to hear them, just assume the stuff is lost; take this gold watch, and give me the man."
Bone Shards suddenly laughed.
John felt a slight fracture in time.
His prosthetic eye blurred briefly during rapid focus; when it recovered, he was holding the grip of a revolver but couldn’t draw the gun.
Bone Shards stood on the glass table.
He pressed John’s gun with one hand, while spinning a SOCP Butterfly Knife on his fingers with the other.
"Do you think this position is easy to sit in?"
Bone Shards said indifferently.
He sheathed the dagger, patted John on the shoulder like a party guest, and strolled from the glass table to the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking wealthy patrons in and out of the casino.
"Vito’s going to be replaced; do you want to be friends with me? There’s an independent villa on Dan Street, keys on the table. We can keep in touch; West District and Black Gold Gang welcome you; nothing will change..."
John felt a chill down his spine.
He had seen this near-time-stop advanced prosthetic outside the city when fighting with Electric Eel.
Bone Shards was equipped with a full set.
Each component complemented the other; if he intended to kill John, there’d be no time to react.
"I’m stronger than Vito in many ways, able to offer you more resources and help; better consider carefully."
[Task objective update]
[Take the room key. (Optional)]
[Take the golden watch. (Optional)]
"Where’s the unfortunate scapegoat?"
John asked, tilting his head.
"Give him a locator."
Bone Shards waved dismissively, seemingly sighing.
John didn’t waste words either, grabbed the watch, rose, and accepted the vehicle locator from the underling.
They exited the casino and returned to the garage.
Jilead couldn’t help but say after stepping outside:
"Thanks, brother, you’ve done enough; just stop here; I’ll find a crew to fight Owl Town Gang."
"There will be consequences, right."
John had become wiser now.
Black Gold Gang’s underlings attacking could be seen as a personal move, essentially robbing others’ goods, legally culpable if shot dead, with gangs punishing offenders this way.
But Jilead leading a rescue would trigger large-scale conflict, possibly escalating into gang warfare.
Bone Shards seemed genuinely set on being reelected Speaker.
He wanted to weaken Vito, letting Jilead target Owl Town Gang—a fair choice.
[Task objective update]
[Go to the coordinate location. (Not achieved)]
"I’ll go."
John proactively stopped the work.
"Here’s an interesting bit, I’m quite skilled at rescuing people at Sakura Cross Street."
He reminded Jilead not to forget to send the kidneys, giving no chance for further fuss, then vroomed the engine and took off.
Crossing the familiar urban district bridge.
John drove single-handedly, with the city map displayed in his view, approaching a moving coordinate.
Morning dawned hazily.
The skyscrapers of Sakura Cross Street began to awaken; the depraved entertainment district replaced by an indescribable oppression and silence, hovercars and subways full of expressionless zombies.
Floor scrubbers with cleaning company logos buzzed.
High-pressure water guns washed away last night’s dreams and scattered trash; brawny men curled in corners and corpses loaded into garbage trucks looked alike.
Many endure Eden City’s daytime to briefly live when night falls.
But some stayed conscious.
John gradually approached the target, also hearing gunfire, accompanied by continuous braking and ongoing shooting.
He drifted into a curve, sliding into an underground tunnel.
The walls on either side embedded with yellow lights, overhead displays every tens of meters providing electronic signals with speed limit and traffic light alerts.
The few kilometers of tunnel echoed with intense gunfire.
Eden City Police Station had already issued incident reports, dispatching officers to the scene for support.
Silver Rider 577 whizzed past.
Vehicles on adjacent lanes almost stuck to the walls.
Commuters felt shivers hearing the engine, gripping their steering wheels, fearing being rammed by the speeding car.
John’s prosthetic eye constantly focused.
The coordinates finally overlapped with a real object.
It was a cash transport vehicle with thick reinforced armor.
Under heavy assault, sizzling with bullets, like metal being welded to the ground.
Casings rolled in the tunnel.
Several motorcycles scattered nearby, flashy Owl Town Gang underlings forming a pincered position, trailing an open-top off-road vehicle loaded with a machine gun, aggressively shooting.
At most, another five minutes.
The cash transport vehicle ahead would be blown up completely.
John phoned Jilead, relayed the scene, heard a string of swearing from the other end.
[Damn it!]
[He’s in that damn car!]