Kivotos, D.U. White Bird District, outskirts of the Black Market, 1:00 PM.
“Communication alert, communication alert. Our aerial units are entering the area. Our aerial units are entering the area. Identification codes have been sent to personal terminals. Ground officers, please provide tactical cover.”
“Communication alert, communication alert. Artillery positions, attention. Artillery positions, attention. Reconnaissance drones have determined the source of enemy artillery fire. Specific coordinates have been sent. Immediately begin counter-battery suppression to ensure our aerial units can enter.”
“Communication alert, communication alert. All aerial units, attention. We have entered the combat zone. Immediately execute split reconnaissance. Attack all active robots indiscriminately. If a suspected command area is found, immediately bomb and air-drop officers for decapitation.”
The golden-haired girl with dog ears in the passenger seat was giving orders into her headset, her voice calm but slightly weary.
Her shark-like teeth glinted coldly, contrasting with her pale gray eyes that occasionally flashed with brutality, making her look agitated and dangerous.
—Weiren Yezhu, the “Discipline Mad Dog,” direct subordinate of Buzhihuo Huaye, director of the Kivotos Police Department and head of the Defense Office.
Yezhu turned her head and looked at Buzhihuo Huaye, who was gripping her pistol tightly in the rear cabin, with slight confusion.
“Director Huaye, what’s wrong?”
Half an hour ago, Huaye, who had been picked up here by the only available Black Hawk helicopter at the police station, had remained silent the entire time.
Weiren Yezhu seemed to misunderstand something and began explaining the legality of this operation to Huaye.
“The Black Market has approved our legitimate suppression operation. The Kaiser Corporation stated that this riot has nothing to do with them, but as an apology, they said they will not hold us responsible for any fire or explosions within the Black Market.”
The ominous roar of the Black Hawk formation swept over the fiercely battling officers and delinquents.
In the center of the formation, in the cockpit, Buzhihuo Huaye’s face was grim as she stared fixedly at the battlefield outside the window.
The roar of gunfire drowned out all pale illusions.
The collapse of buildings outpaced the update of perception. The girls weaving through the ruins, fighting and suppressing enemies from cover, dealt a heavy blow to her consciousness.
—This was a battlefield, just like the battlefield of her previous life, regardless of the participants’ gender or age.
The only difference was that the girls holding guns were not only facing students with halos like themselves, but also a large group of machine thugs in uniforms and suits who were unafraid of death.
Stray bullets and explosions were everywhere.
‘Unbelievable…’
Huaye repeatedly chewed over Qishen Lin’s words, “Halos can protect students.”
When she saw the actual scene, she understood why Qishen Lin thought an unprotected outsider would die more easily—
The stray bullets flying across the battlefield, constantly chipping the concrete ground and buildings, were mostly ricochets from the students’ bodies.
Only a few were from officers and delinquents missing their shots.
Yes, it was that terrifying and absurd.
On the ground, a stream of students advanced forcefully through alleys and streets like a great river.
Whether they were officers or those strangely dressed delinquents—
Either wearing black masks with an X drawn on them or motorcycle helmets—
They all charged through the hail of bullets as if unafraid of death.
Even if they were hit in the head, eyes, temples, or suppressed by fire, they just fell over as if knocked unconscious and slept.
On their bodies, aside from bruises and swelling, there wasn’t a single bullet hole.
Only the occasional grenade, or a lucky missile or shell that managed to slip through the interception of their own artillery positions, would make these halo monsters shout and dodge, resulting in larger wounds on their bodies from the explosions.
However, both sides seemed very restrained.
Once the enemy fell asleep, they stopped shooting at those whose halos were still glowing but who were already “asleep,” and instead politely howled as they charged toward the next standing person.
“They’re all crazy…”
Huaye furrowed her brow and murmured involuntarily.
In this unconventional battlefield, not having a halo was the greatest disadvantage.
The Black Hawk formation was currently flying low to better engage in combat.
Through the window, Huaye had just seen a robot, after being shot by an officer until battery fluid leaked everywhere, still trying to shoot back.
And its last shot directly hitting an officer’s forehead only resulted in the officer yelping in pain and covering a slightly swollen patch of skin on his forehead.
She felt inexplicably uncomfortable in her heart.
She averted her eyes, not wanting to look at those children holding guns and charging with adult-like postures.
Yezhu in the passenger seat also nodded in agreement and responded with a slightly hoarse, complaining tone.
“That’s right. Damn it, this is terrible. These damned metal blocks are everywhere like maggots. Impossible to clean out completely. These guys must be relying on the company enabling free consciousness uploads for them and providing enough replacement bodies. Now they’re just dying to buy time.”
Huaye said nothing, silently pondering the information her subordinate had just revealed—
Kivotos’ technology was advanced enough to allow consciousness uploads, even mass-producing machine bodies for consciousness download like making sausages.
She increasingly felt that Kivotos being able to let a group of minors govern was entirely dependent on that president, not the Federal Student Council.
With this level of productivity and technology, how could it be entrusted to a bunch of immature kids?
BOOM!
From the rear of the Black Hawk formation, countless missiles flew straight toward a certain direction inside the Black Market.
In an instant, many interceptor missiles surged from that corner to intercept, but unfortunately, the police’s missiles were too numerous.
Many still crashed into unknown territory, causing a wave of explosions.
“Artillery positions have completed the fourth salvo. Suspected destruction of an important command center inside the Black Market.”
“Ground forces report, ground forces report. Enemy robots show signs of combat reluctance. Suspected command center damage.”
The communications from the ground forces and artillery positions came through the headset.
Weiren Yezhu, upon hearing them, seemed to have removed a major worry and showed a relieved expression.
—Relying on technology, these damned company dogs, who were originally being stomped on by well-trained officers and forced to tighten their lines, stubbornly dragged the battle outside the Black Market, constantly spewing out large numbers of robots like diarrhea, repeatedly assaulting the blockade line, cooperating with the hired delinquent girls to resist tenaciously…
Huaye gripped her pistol and squinted at the devastated battlefield—
The once tall buildings were now tilted and crumbling, all the windows shattered.
The concrete roads on the ground were riddled with holes from grenades and stray bullets, like the scars on a leper’s face.
Concrete fragments were everywhere.
Now, having lost the possibility of resurrection, these robots would probably be pushed back soon.
Now, her heart was filled only with worry and prayers for that advisor—
In a battlefield of this intensity, she hoped that advisor could stay far, far away…
not be caught up in the fighting here…
A person without a halo would be torn apart by stray bullets and missiles in an instant…
“Command, please respond. Command, please respond. Unknown aerial unit group with no identification codes ahead. Unknown aerial unit group with no identification codes ahead. Suspected suicide bomb units attached. Suspected suicide bomb units attached. We are currently confronting them.”
The alert tone from the reconnaissance drone at the front of the formation came through the communicator.
The pilot nervously glanced at Yezhu in the passenger seat.
Just as Yezhu was about to ask Huaye for instructions, the radio emitted a crackling sound of a forced connection.
“Crackle… Director of Defense Office, Buzhihuo Huaye… crackle… and… crackle… Mad Dog, Weiren Yezhu… crack… do you… crack… have to force this to the bitter end?!”
A synthesized machine voice roared through the radio with a hint of fury.
Weiren Yezhu let out a cold laugh, intending to respond, but hesitated for a moment and glanced at Buzhihuo Huaye in the back seat.
Buzhihuo Huaye stared coldly at her, or rather, at the radio in front of her.
Her jade-green horizontal pupils glinted with cold light.
Weiren Yezhu took a deep breath and replied in as clear and steady a voice as possible.
“Sir, you have violated Article 3 of the Kivotos Public Security Management Law: corporations shall not interfere in school management. You have unilaterally incited students in the White Bird District to riot, which in fact constitutes unauthorized interference in the management of the White Bird District. Our side’s legitimate counter-suppression is a legal act.”
Weiren Yezhu frowned deeply and recited this passage like a script, skillfully but with an unfriendly tone, looking very reluctant.
The machine voice in the radio seemed to laugh in anger, letting out a fragmented roar.
“Crackle… you… bunch of… lunatics!… All we did was blow up a few of your buildings… crack… your so-called law is a knife in our flesh… crackle… and you sent artillery to bomb our consciousness data center… If you show no mercy, don’t blame us, who just want to survive, for fighting to the bitter end!…”
The radio suddenly cut off, and Weiren Yezhu’s face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
But faster than her expression changed, the ground forces’ communication came in.
“Chief! No, Commander! The enemy has multiple main battle tank units in combat! The enemy has multiple main battle tank units in combat! Requesting fire support! Requesting fire support!”
Weiren Yezhu was stunned for a moment and murmured as if in disbelief.
“That can’t be… What we sold didn’t include… No… Currently all main battle tanks are manufactured and managed by the academies… How could they have fallen into the hands of corporations and delinquents…”
Moments later, the ground forces sent another communication, their tone anxious and bewildered, as if completely unable to understand what they were seeing.
“Enemy main battle tanks identified… They… they are old models from Abydos Academy!?”
Buzhihuo Huaye, who had been listening all along, had a dangerously dark face since hearing the robot’s almost formal declaration of war.
Her halo rotated steadily above her head.
Upon hearing about the enemy tanks, she even smiled gently and radiantly.
She murmured with a smile.
“They actually dared to steal and purchase the public property of the academies… And on top of that, they chose to fight back instead of surrendering… Hehe… It seems these guys still don’t understand their place… This is no ordinary corporate riot. We must strike hard!”
And Abydos Academy…
They actually dared to sell main battle tanks to a corporation?!
After this riot is suppressed, it seems she needs to visit those damned guys at Abydos…
So, Buzhihuo Huaye narrowed her eyes and said with a gentle smile to Weiren Yezhu, who suddenly felt her hair stand on end and her dog ears perk up alertly.
“Have the Airborne Forces immediately drop in and attack!”
Weiren Yezhu’s halo flickered above her head, and her expression turned grim.
“Director… The enemy has deployed main battle tanks. In terms of armor and group combat capability, even if we dispatch the Airborne Forces, we might still end up in a tough battle under fire suppression… And the enemy’s suicide unit swarm is still confronting us…”
No, or rather, they were already in a tough battle.
The gunfire on the ground, which had been steadily weakening, intensified again, interspersed with roaring explosions and the sounds of buildings collapsing.
Buzhihuo Huaye’s face gradually darkened.
This intensity had exceeded her expectations.
It was already excessive that the enemy had missiles, but having main battle tanks was completely unexpected…
Was she going to be branded as incompetent on her first mission?
She said nothing.
The battle on the ground was still at a stalemate.
Although the defensive and group combat capabilities of main battle tanks, generally considered part of the academies’ deterrent power, far exceeded what these officers could handle, fortunately the Valkyrie Police Department’s blockade line was large enough and they had deployed enough personnel, so these main battle tanks couldn’t break through the line immediately.
“Damn it… I should have applied to the president for SRT Academy intervention!…”
Buzhihuo Huaye gritted her teeth and stared coldly at the officers below, who were starting to suffer injuries and fall unconscious quickly—
If this continued, they might have to deploy more Valkyrie Academy students…
The police side and the riot side were thus deadlocked outside the Black Market.
It seemed both sides were determined to fight to the end.
But change came faster than the stalemate.
“Reconnaissance drone communication! Reconnaissance drone communication! The enemy… the enemy is fighting among themselves!? A group of delinquent girls is rallying troops and advancing from inside the Black Market to outside?! And there’s even a new main battle tank involved!?”
“Ground forces communication! Ground forces communication! We have received a communication from the delinquent group ‘Wagawaga’ Helmet Gang. They expressed willingness to cooperate with us to break through the corporate defense line together!”
What happened?
Both Buzhihuo Huaye and Weiren Yezhu showed bewildered expressions.
“They said… they said… a halo-less male individual called ‘teacher’ persuaded them, making them realize their mistakes. So they decided to atone for their crimes by joining the police to fight for all that is good in Kivotos!?”
What?!!
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