Although Sasha didn't know where these grenades came from, she didn't have time to dwell on such absurd things anymore.
She picked up the grenade, quickly tore it open, and threw it outside.
The electromagnetic grenade arced beautifully through the air, and the bright blue electric arc exploded on the ground, emitting a powerful electromagnetic pulse that only affected a three-meter radius, instantly incapacitating the electronic components of three robots.
In an instant, the gunfire stopped, and the three robots, as if deprived of their support, fell to the ground like lifeless metal statues. A smell of burnt metal slowly spread across the office.
The grenade's effect was clearly dramatic!
But before Sasha could feel any joy, she suddenly heard the sound of metal footsteps on the metal floor, the dense and crisp sound of metal clashing coming from outside the door, like the sound of a scythe scraping the ground—sharp and eerie.
The next wave of security robots was still charging towards the office, undeterred.
They didn't understand fear. Even if there was molten lava in front of them, these robots would jump right in without hesitation.
Sasha kept pulling out more electronic pulse grenades from her gear bag and tossed them outside without hesitation.
Well, they were indeed free of charge; as she threw these grenades, her mind remained completely blank.
Who had put all these electronic pulse grenades into her bag?
Who had taken her gear bag?
The answer became clear.
The boy who could get close enough to her bag without her noticing, and who had that curious child-like look... The images from not long ago began to surface in Sasha's mind.
But there was some confusion and perplexity in her heart.
Why did he do this?
The flashbangs and fragmentation grenades that had been prepped in her bag were now missing.
Not only the electromagnetic pulse grenades, but as she continued rummaging through the bag, Sasha found a pneumatic injector, several vials of expensive-looking healing liquids, and a light but sturdy bulletproof helmet...
No wonder her bag felt heavier than usual...
Not just her, even an ordinary edge-dweller, when holding the narrow doorway, could hold off for a considerable amount of time.
But, no matter how much equipment she had, it was still just lifeless objects. They couldn't change the outcome.
After disabling nearly ten robots in a row, the BioTech employees behind controlling the robots seemed to realize that charging in like this was futile, so they changed their offensive strategy.
Several robots formed a line outside the door, their gun barrels aimed at the office, and began intermittent heavy gunfire.
The bullets formed a dense web of fire, raining down from above the desk and hitting the glass windows behind.
If Sasha continued to throw grenades, the outcome would be that the grenades would be shot mid-air and explode, ending in disaster for her!
Such shameless tactics, but very effective—Sasha realized this, and slowly let go of the remaining pulse grenades.
In the end, nothing could change the preordained conclusion... cute little brother.
By now, she had to admit who had put these items into her bag.
It could only be that kid who had too much money to spend—who else would do such a thing?
This was exactly like a mother secretly packing warm clothes and all sorts of random things into her child's backpack before sending them off, regardless of whether the child would even use them, just stuffing it in there.
The personal data line slowly retracted. During that last time when she was holding on, she had already sent all the incriminating data.
Now, she had reconciled with her past self. The emotional knot was gone, leaving her with no attachments.
Perhaps there was still something—at least the gift from the boy had touched her heart.
Who could refuse such motherly care?
"I hope you'll grow from this, my little hero."
Sasha smiled softly, her smile blooming like a flower.
She drew her sidearm, an Omaha Handgun, filled with helpless despair, and prepared to meet her end.
...
Damn, I'm exhausted!
In the stairwell's safety passage, Lin Mo slumped like mud, leaning on the handrail.
"I admit, I miscalculated. I didn't expect climbing the stairs to be this tiring." The young man gasped for breath.
"Thinking about it, V in the game is basically Superman. Even when their stamina is exhausted, they just breathe a few times and are back to full strength in no time."
To avoid any accidents while climbing the stairs, he had North Kawara drive the hovercar near the building's top, observing the situation. Through the office windows, Kawara timely reported back to him on the conditions inside.
As for whether the hovercar would be exposed by flying around the building?
"I've got proper papers, certification, and official proof. This hovercar was purchased through legal channels. It's not some black market vehicle. Can't I just drive by to take in the scenery? No direct confrontation happened, and even if BioTech suspects it, they can't do anything."
Perhaps subconsciously, they didn't want the hovercar to get involved and escalate things.
After resting a while, Lin Mo barely recovered his strength and took out the pneumatic injector, stabbing it into his neck.
His strength and stamina recovered a little, not much, but enough.
Reaching the platform in the stairwell, Lin Mo looked at the iron door in front of him and unsheathed his Black Unicorn sword.
Behind that door was the floor where Sasha was.
Although he had been running through unnoticed corridors, he still noticed that the building's security robots were heading toward the top floor.
It was a branch building of a major corporation, and there were no fewer than a hundred security robots stationed throughout the building.
If they all rushed in together, even with three heads and six arms, he wouldn't be able to take them all down. But fortunately, the robots were scattered, giving him a little time to react.
With a few flashes of his sword, the metal in front of him was sliced open, and Lin Mo stepped inside.
He appeared in a wide, winding corridor, and just as he was unsure of where to go, a small robot squad turned a corner and entered his line of sight.
"Intruder detected, initiating forceful expulsion!"
Without hesitation, the robots raised their guns and began firing at Lin Mo.
Lin Mo temporarily retreated into the corridor, pulling out an electromagnetic pulse grenade and tossing it toward the robots.
A biting arc of electricity crackled loudly, followed by the sound of the robots collapsing to the ground. Lin Mo walked out of the corridor with ease.
Looking at the pile of scrap metal on the floor, he turned and walked in the opposite direction of where the robots had come from.
The spacious corridor occasionally had various product advertisements. BioTech seemed to treat its employees as potential customers, with products like perfume, nutritional supplements, and air-freshening plants glowing in bright colors.
This was Lin Mo's first time stepping into another company's office building.
BioTech, as its name suggested, even had greenery planted in the corridor, with the walls and ceiling decorated in shades of green.
When Lin Mo was a child, he had visited the Kangtao Corporation building with his sister, and he still remembered the place being full of traditional Chinese style.
Every company had its own culture and style, but no matter how they presented themselves, they couldn't change their nature of exploiting others. Just like Kangtao Corporation's seemingly wonderful benefits, they were only available to regular employees, while outsourced workers couldn't enjoy such perks.
Finally, he reached the glass door, and there it was—just as indicated in his mental map:
—a tree planted in the open exhibition hall.
The lush green tree was covered by a transparent glass insulation cap, with a thick and sturdy trunk. Its branches even reached up to the ceiling, standing out in the exhibition hall with a unique charm.
Referring to the mental map he had memorized, Lin Mo had finally shaken off his "lost" state, and he no longer had time to appreciate the scenery.
Stanis was activated again. Now, with his reaction attribute at 14, he had met the speed component's required attributes. Even if he activated it multiple times in a day, it wouldn't burden his body!
The principle was unclear to him, but he guessed that once his reaction speed surpassed human limits, his nervous system had been significantly enhanced.
This enhancement was unrelated to his physical attributes, so even if his physical attributes weren't high, he could fully adapt to the load of the speed component.
His body would still tire, but at least it wouldn't result in symptoms like dizziness or nosebleeds from overuse.
The top floor of the building was large, and the winding corridors slowed Lin Mo down. Along the way, he encountered more security robots, forcing him to retreat and use his electromagnetic pulse grenades to deal with them.
After cutting through a metal door with his Black Unicorn sword, Lin Mo finally arrived at his mental map's destination.
Entering this area, the atmosphere was completely different from where he had been before.
It seemed that the area he had just passed through was for plant biology research, while this place was filled with computers, server cabinets, and other electronic equipment.
The crimson glow flashed in the corridor, and rows of dense data servers were arranged in a matrix, standing on either side like ancient trees rooted in the ground. The hum of machines and the heat emitted by the servers raised the temperature of the entire floor.
This was the final stretch. Ahead, Lin Mo could hear gunfire behind a closed electronic door. It seemed that the hacker inside was still holding out.
But with so many security robots, according to their programmed instructions, they would undoubtedly storm the office, armed with assault rifles produced by the Arisaka Corporation. In such a situation, the hacker had no chance of survival.
The electromagnetic pulse grenades were no longer effective. Every second was now precious, and Sasha's life was slipping away like sand in an hourglass.
He pulled the pin, threw the grenade, and waited a few seconds before it exploded. The detonation time, under the influence of Stanis, had been extended to about ten seconds!
What to do next, Lin Mo had already decided.
"It's time, Black Unicorn." The young man gripped his sword and stepped into the crimson-lit domain. The mental whisper in his mind triggered Stanis again.
Nothing escapes!
In the sealed building, a strong gust of wind blew as security robots, like ancient soldiers, rushed to break down the door. Their attention was focused on the enemy in the office, not realizing the deadly attack coming from behind.
With a powerful slash, slash, reverse slash, left cut, and right cut!
In the slow-motion field, the young man wielded his sword recklessly, and the robots' hard outer shells were as brittle as soft bones under the blade of the Black Unicorn.
A sword capable of cutting gold could not fail to cut bone and flesh!
The security robots' defense was formidable, as tough as iron and bone. Ordinary bullets would only cause sparks and leave slight dents.
But under the boy's blade, that defense was nothing. He swung his sword without any form, like an electric drill wildly digging into the heart. The sound of metal grinding filled the air.
With a single strike, he disabled several robots.
In two seconds, he reached the door.
In three seconds, he charged into the office.
"Lin! The target is about to fall off the building! The situation is critical. Do you need me to pilot the hovercar to catch her?"
"No need, I'm here."
...
Inside the cramped office, two robots had fallen. At the entrance, over ten robots had been destroyed. The robots outside hadn't yet rushed in.
In the office, only one robot remained, aiming its rifle at the target.
It seemed like a good situation, a one-on-one standoff, but in Sasha's eyes, everything was over.
Unable to use her electromagnetic pulse grenades, she had only managed to take down two robots with all her effort. Now, only one remained, and she desperately jumped and dodged bullets.
Finally, she landed on the desk.
Sasha leapt into the air, twisting 180° mid-flight, her posture graceful like a diver's, even in this critical moment, her charm still shining. Her delicate face was full of coldness, yet not a trace of fierceness—calm to the very end as she awaited the final outcome.
She held both guns in mid-air, shooting at the robot in front of her. The robot raised its assault rifle to fire back. Bullets flew in all directions.
Time seemed to slow down. The bullets hit the robot's body, bouncing off, everything like a drowning person's final struggles.
Though she still put up a fight, Sasha had already accepted in her heart that this brief moment would be her end.
The data had been sent, and the timed bomb would explode in a few seconds. Her shots had no effect on the robot, and behind her, the glass window shattered.
Her hacking brain was pushed to its limits, and Sasha could even predict what would happen next.
If she wasn't shot by the robot, when the bomb exploded, the shockwave would break the glass, and she would fall like a feather from the high building.
At this height, she'd likely die in a horrible way...
She only hoped that Lin Mo and Mann wouldn't witness it.
After she died, Mann would definitely be sad, but he'd probably move on quickly. He was a capable edge-dweller with strong mental resilience.
It was the clueless boy she worried about. Even though he had impressed her that night, at best, he was just a fledgling who had done only two or three jobs. He still needed to grow and understand that the edge-dweller's world wasn't as nice as it seemed.
If she died, the steady boy would understand the harsh reality, and this tragedy would be just one of many in Night City.
But... it wouldn't concern her anymore.
A bullet hit her stomach, and blood started to spill. With that blow, she could no longer hold the Omaha Handgun. The pain surged through her mind, and she was thrown further by the impact.
The glass behind her shattered as the robot's bullets ripped through it, creating a circular hole. Sasha, about to be thrown out, looked like an angel falling without wings. The scene was heartbreakingly beautiful, like the shattering of the most beautiful things in the world, turning into a tragedy that made those who witnessed it mourn in silence.
What was that?
Suddenly, Sasha felt like she was hallucinating. She saw a fleeting black shadow dashing down the corridor outside the door, sparks flying, and iron shrapnel scattering everywhere.
The robot that had been shooting at her was suddenly turned into scrap metal, the clash of knife against metal scattering sparks, and a ghostly figure emerged from another world.
The boy's black hair swirled with his rapid pace, and his cold, stone-like face had a hint of urgency. He held a sword in one hand, while the other reached out to catch Sasha's body, flying back.
"I've finally caught you!"
The young voice was clear and bright, with a sense of relief in it.
After that, Sasha didn't know what happened.
She could only feel herself being gently placed on the ground, the broken window beside her shattering. A black dot was kicked out of the window, bursting in mid-air.
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