Chapter 104: Chapter 80: Hunt_2
The scene was chaotic.
John was running through the passage between the buildings, suddenly feeling the windows around him vibrating, as if a hovercar had come to a complete stop mid-air.
He ducked his head and lunged forward.
Bam!
A hole immediately appeared in the concrete wall.
A bullet pierced through the building’s shell, passed through the corridor, and embedded itself in the wall opposite.
Sunlight and noise seeped in through the breach.
The gunfire kept repeating, like a countdown to doom.
John knew he was in the sniper’s sights, and at this moment, he heard the internal communications of Internet Surveillance again.
[Permission to kill granted, ensure the retrieval of T-1’s body.]
"F*ck, f*ck!"
John immediately left the airborne corridor and headed to another building.
The walls inside the building were thicker and less penetrable, but footsteps were also echoing in the walkway.
John gritted his teeth and retreated.
There was a sense of being at a dead end.
Panting heavily, John looked around, noticing that the elevator floor was very close to him.
"F*ck you!"
He yelled, pulled out his gun, shot, shattered the control panel, and then wrenched open the metal door with brute force.
A dark elevator shaft was revealed.
Rows of yellow bulbs were embedded at fixed intervals in the wall, with cables connecting to a car suspended two floors down.
It seemed a bit far at a glance.
A cold wind whistled up.
Industrial fumes made him dizzy.
[T-1 has entered the elevator in Building B, block the escape route, the special task force is heading to the corresponding hallway...]
Buzz.
Internet Surveillance had discovered John’s plan.
The elevator was activated and was plummeting into the abyss.
"You want to play with death, then come on!"
John leaped in, his body and wrists rubbing against the cables, tearing through some synthetic leather.
A dull pain shot up his leg bones as he landed.
John fell onto the top of the moving car, surprisingly finding a pack of brand-new drug materials by his feet.
It was likely an illegal transaction waypoint.
John couldn’t afford to delay, he lifted the top cover and fell into the swaying elevator car.
A small space, a brief respite.
The light strips flashed incessantly.
The view alternated between light and dark.
John stood up, enduring pain from various parts of his body.
[Device Maintenance [Warning]]
Bang, crash—
John used the gunstock to smash the glass of the control panel, tore off the metal plate, and plugged the data cable into the interface.
[Dan Street B21 Apartment Elevator (Hacked)]
Black Light glittered.
Screams echoed in the voice channel.
[2240 and 2241 offline, beware of ICE protection, the target has unknown hacking methods.]
[T-1 has seized control of the elevator.]
[No Black Wall fluctuations detected.]
....
John knelt at the elevator door, panting, just moments ago, the Black Light had killed two Internet Surveillance agents controlling the elevator system the moment the data link connected.
He could feel it.
In that instant, John seemed to switch perspectives, seeing:
A black glass shield, the view was filled with data streams, suddenly garbled, covering all information, and then everything began to distort, blood and electric arcs coated the helmet.
Internet Surveillance became highly nervous.
They began requesting ECPD support, even proposing to report to the City Hall for treatment as a terrorist attack.
A man’s voice came through the voice channel.
His tone was calm, methodical, immediately taking over the operation.
[This is ’State Police’, Event Code 00.]
[All agents involved in the operation immediately go silent, cease all physical hacking activities, repeat, no one is allowed to connect via data line.]
[All personnel withdraw from cyberspace, conduct a call check in one minute, those still deep diving will be immediately terminated.]
[Pause the pursuit, surround the target, await backup.]
[Last point.]
[Change voice channel.]
Blood trickled down his neck.
It felt a bit warm.
Yet John’s back was cold.
He was trapped in the elevator car, constantly changing floors, fearing being shot the moment the door opened.
But it could only delay for a few minutes at most.
He still didn’t know what crime he had committed.
He also didn’t know what to do.
Recalling the past few days, everything seemed to go smoothly, luck was always on his side.
Today, luck was locked in a cage.
[Mission Target Update]
[Destroy the Captain (Not Achieved)]
Text appeared before John.
He activated the Atlanta Virtual Network, used device management to find the transport plane flying over Eden City, then rerouted it, crashing directly into a burning barrel.
[Captain [Offline]]
[Device damage detected.]
And then?
No new task appeared.
He never figured out the principle of this Black Light.
John still sat in the elevator, paused in silence, then picked up the rifle in his hand and loaded a new clip.
He didn’t want to be captured alive.
[Contact - Jilead [Unread Message]]
[Can you reach the second floor?]
[Don’t go to the basement or the roof, the cops have blocked the way.]
[Damn, you caused a big mess, brother, ECPD and Internet Surveillance all came here. Mr. Vito hasn’t responded, but he’s acquiesced, you know? The gang can lend you a hand.]
John chose to trust.
He had no other way to go.
Ding—
The elevator doors opened.
This was a shared rental area, the hallway was long, filled with junk and junkies passed out from drugs.
At the end of the graffiti-filled corridor came shouting.
The Black Gold Gang was tangling with Internet Surveillance agents.
Security cameras locked onto John, and the commotion turned into conflict as both clothed and unclothed tenants opened doors to watch.
The smart ones were recording secretly.
There was an open door beside John.
The sound of glass breaking came from inside.
John, holding his gun, rushed inside, seeing a scrap metal shell rolling across the floor.
The window had been broken open.