“Huff… huff…”
In the shadows, Theodore, finally clear-headed from the hallucination-like effects of the painkillers, bit down hard on his lip. In the past, he would already have started cursing at the top of his lungs, but now he even kept his breathing quiet.
“How the shit did this bastard do it? There was only a door between us. Are the people outside all dumb【beep—】? How could they get wiped out by a swarm of drones without making a sound?!”
Theodore cursed inwardly, but when he saw the corpse of a Skeletal Iron Society member not far away, dead with eyes still open, he forcibly steadied himself and avoided breathing too hard and drawing attention.
Beside him, the two bodyguards wore deep frowns. The instant they had stepped out the door earlier, the group had been caught in concentrated fire from dozens of drones. If one teammate had not sacrificed himself to block the attack, they would never have had time to escape. But judging from the corpses strewn all over the ground, the Skeletal Iron Society members guarding outside had probably been completely annihilated.
“Looking, looking, looking for a friend~ Looking, looking, looking for a friend~~”
The crisp voice of a child drew closer from afar. The bodyguards’ faces turned deathly pale, and Theodore immediately held his breath, waiting for the drone singing that damned nursery rhyme to leave.
“Oh-ho! Still playing hide-and-seek, huh? Not bad, not bad!”
The grating voice came from the direction of Wildfire Bar. Fire nearly shot from Theodore’s eyes, but his mouth was clamped firmly shut by a bodyguard.
Even without the bodyguard’s action, he understood.
Right now, opening his mouth meant death!
“Did you think you’d be safe once you got out of the bar? Heh. Why don’t you think about it—why would an assassin famous for shooting drag things out with you in a cramped space like a tavern?”
“I didn’t know before, but I do now!” Theodore cursed inwardly. Without a doubt, the reason the other party had confined them inside the bar earlier was to wait for the drones to wipe out everyone outside. Add to that how easily the armored vehicle had been dealt with, and that earlier opening had probably been intentional too!
And now, they had voluntarily stepped into the other party’s comfort zone!
“Damn it, why did the intel never say this guy was good at using drones?”
“Drop the handkerchief~ Drop the handkerchief~”
“That sounds different from the nursery rhyme earlier?”
Theodore abruptly curled in on himself, repeatedly checking his concealment device, but the nursery rhymes reaching his ears only grew more numerous—
“Looking, looking, looking for a friend~”
“Drop the handkerchief~ Drop the handkerchief~”
“Found myself a good friend~ Found myself a good friend~”
“Gently place it behind the little friend~ Everyone, don’t tell him~~”
“Not good!” A bodyguard who happened to understand the language of Yan reacted faster than his colleague and Theodore. He did not even look back to confirm whether his guess was right. While activating his protection at full power, he grabbed Theodore and hurled him forward—
“Boom!”
An explosion swelled without warning in the narrow space. The bodyguard only felt a shove against his back before his entire body was sent flying.
“Heh!”
Watching Theodore get blasted upward, John immediately raised his hand. His arm, which had finished charging once more, unfolded ring after ring, and the orange-red bullet was about to pierce through this hatred. However…
Feng Xue’s left arm suddenly lifted out of control. As the trajectory shifted, a short sword stabbed out from his palm and began spinning on its own. Only then did John hear the burst of gunfire!
“Fuck!”
Though his first instinct was to think his arm had been controlled by the enemy, he quickly realized that [Protect the Master] had been triggered. Going with the motion, he unleashed the Eclipse Sword Form and swept down those silent bullets, while two tongues of flame jetted from beneath his feet, propelling him toward cover.
It was at that moment that the seemingly eternally dark sky was suddenly torn apart by blinding white light.
It was not lightning, but searchlights. A white, boxy aircraft descended like an elevator car “falling” from the sky. The mechanical arms and firearms protruding from its side stood out sharply in the glow of the muzzle flames.
“Trauma Team intervention! Cease fire immediately, or you will be deemed a threat and eliminated!”
Although they said “or,” bullet after bullet was already precisely eliminating John’s drones. Several combatants fast-roped down from the aircraft, and after landing, whether they saw anyone or not, they immediately pulled their triggers, weaving a defensive line with a net of firepower.
Though John was surprised that Carlos was actually willing to buy Trauma Team membership for this thing, he had no intention of stopping. The image inside his AR glasses switched rapidly, and for a time, the clear, childish nursery rhyme began to ring out from every direction—
“Found myself a good friend~”
“Found myself a good friend~”
“Found myself a good friend~”
The song that should have been full of innocent childish fun, under constant repetition, took on an icy mechanical quality that made one’s hair stand on end.
The medical team transferring Theodore immediately sensed something was wrong. The combatants weaving the net of fire instantly turned their muzzles and swept fire repeatedly toward the sources of the sound!
“Boom!”
With Maitreya Flesh’s highly efficient energy conversion ratio, even after two conversions, it could still guarantee at least forty-nine percent efficiency. The instant the drones converted all their high-energy fat into chemical energy and detonated, the violent impact directly sent two Trauma Team combatants flying. But they were well-trained and immediately adjusted formation, using their bodies and mobile shields to cover Theodore on the stretcher.
“Abandon target elimination. Prioritize client evacuation! Abandon redundancies!”
“Tch. Now that’s professionalism.”
John narrowed his eyes and suddenly raised his gun to begin charging. Theodore was finally sent onto the aircraft. In order to evacuate the client as quickly as possible, they did not take Theodore’s bodyguards with them—never mind that, they did not even take the combatants. Freed from the burden of the client, the combatants immediately launched an attack on John to cover the aircraft’s departure.
“You lost… assassin! Just you wait, I’ll make sure you…” Theodore’s weak voice came through the aircraft’s loudspeaker. What met his stubborn attempt to preserve his dignity was a beam of orange light!
The beam, as though piercing heaven and earth, tore through the night sky and struck the aircraft carrying Theodore with pinpoint accuracy. The aircraft’s shield trembled violently. The entire craft began to shake wildly, but in the end, this was a service that even the gentlemen of the Tower District would purchase. Without the defense-ignoring bonus of a strike from stealth, that shot ultimately failed to achieve anything.
Although if he used EX enhancement, John was confident he could shoot the thing down, considering the ceiling that had been shattered back then, he felt there was no need to perish together with something he could kill sooner or later.
The aircraft staggered forward for some distance before finally regaining balance. John merely narrowed his eyes and summoned the last few drones. Amid the nursery rhyme of “Looking, looking, looking for a friend~,” he gazed at the Trauma Team combatants who had been left behind—
“Still want to continue?”
“As long as you don’t attack.” The leading combatant gave a calm reply. “Our mission is only to rescue the member. Aside from that, we will not open fire first for any reason.”
“OK. Then could I ask you to immediately move away from my spoils?”