Drunks, junkies, none of them reliable.
He still dreams of making a fortune and turning things around at the casino...
If they were a reliable smuggling second-rate gang, they wouldn't be stuck in such a sorry state.
Bang! Bang!
In the quiet junkyard, suddenly there were gunshots along with someone's scream.
"Ah!!! Huang Xudong! You bastard, you set me up!"
With the help of a voice package, even if it was in Chinese, the four of them could understand. However, the AI's simultaneous translation was a bit stiff, so the slightly exaggerated tone didn't raise any suspicions.
With the large piles of trash obstructing their view, Eisis could only shout to the person still drinking below, "Something's up, go out and check."
The gunfire wasn't fierce, and it was from a handgun. Judging by the sound, it might be a botched deal or an assassination and betrayal.
Josh, who also heard the scream, was the first to put down his bottle and walked outside with his gun, followed reluctantly by Russell. Meanwhile, Eisis ran toward another distant trash hill to find a suitable vantage point.
Only Jensen, when he opened the car door and stepped out, looked excited with bloodshot eyes, his crotch bulging.
Feeling full of energy needing a release, he picked up a watermelon knife and followed the two.
The drug's effect would last for at least a dozen minutes, with chemical agents continuously stimulating his nerves during that time, causing hallucinations, excitement, and irritability.
Eisis was the first to spot the corpse. Using the magnifying function of his prosthetic eye, he immediately saw the person lying motionless on the highway, face to the ground, seemingly dead. He directed his crew via the communication channel,
"Over there, on the highway."
Unbeknownst to him, a figure was bending low, quickly heading toward the trash hill beneath his feet. This figure also startled Lin Miao, who was observing the battlefield from the trash heap a hundred meters away.
Because it was Brother Ni, who according to plan should be ambushing with Potato at the highway junction, ready to assist and support.
Shit, he knew this group of players wouldn't stick to the plan, but Lin Miao couldn't do anything about it. None of them had installed cybernetic gear yet, so communication wasn't possible, leaving them to improvise.
Brother Ni darted forward, spotting the sniper who had climbed to a high vantage point. The sniper focused entirely on the corpse and the highway, oblivious to Brother Ni getting closer.
Woohoo...
At that moment, Brother Ni's heart raced. With a physical score of 3, he felt his breathing was getting labored, but he steadied his breath, slowing down near the trash hill. With a knife held in his mouth, he cautiously climbed toward the gunman, treading lightly to avoid making any noise.
Lin Miao was amazed by Brother Ni's movements—he climbed halfway up the hill without making a sound audible to the gunman atop the trash.
Whoa... this guy's something else, definitely the one with the highest total attributes among the four players, although just barely.
He suddenly wondered if he had underestimated these players.
Even as Brother Ni reached the top of the trash hill, Eisis didn't notice anything amiss. He scanned the area around the corpse but found no abnormalities, as if the killer had long fled.
Josh reached the 'corpse' and prodded it roughly with the gun barrel. No reaction. Then he holstered his gun and tried to flip the body over to see who it was.
Just as he bent over, the body suddenly flipped. The hand hidden underneath swung out a plastic bag, dusting Josh's face with a grayish-white powder.
His vision suddenly became obstructed, and his ocular implants saw nothing, coupled with a mild burning sensation.
"The hell... what is this?"
In panic, Josh tried to pull off his gun to blindly fire, but his lower half suddenly throbbed in pain, as if pierced by something deep, amid a gleeful shout in his ear.
"Haha, serves you right for jabbing at me! How's your downstairs feeling now?"
In agony, Josh's legs gave out, mouth agape, unable to speak, gasping like a stranded fish, eyes streaming with tears, only intensifying the burning in his ocular implants.
He gritted his teeth to choke out a few words, "Russell!"
Russell, while tipsy, hadn't completely lost it and was about to shoot the 'dead-come-alive' man.
Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out from behind him in the trash pile. Hidden among the garbage, Wildman sprang forth, firing madly at Russell. Though only the second of 14 shots hit, the rest missed, the shot that connected pierced Russell's shoulder, pain and distraction preventing immediate counterfire.
He remembered to dodge only after the third gunshot sounded behind him.
Then he was faced with a gunshot directly to his face from the giant who had drawn from his crotch.
Eisis, who should have been the first to react and kill both the giant and Wildman, was now clutching his blood-gushing throat, collapsed atop the trash hill. He looked incredulously at the figure who somehow crept up on him. His throat was slashed, rendering him speechless, air mixing with blood hastening his demise.
He felt no sensation at all...
Wildman regrettably eyed his empty gun, having impulsively emptied the clip, landing just one, non-lethal hit, leaving the giant to close the scene.