Brace frantically pounded the keyboard, beginning his hacking attempt on Arachne.
“Damn it, need to go faster…”
‘Even with his considerable hacking skill, his body was still holding him back too much.’
‘If only he had an implant and a cyber-eye…’
Brace bit down hard on his tongue, using the pain to dispel those thoughts.
He had to focus now.
Interface… found.
Connection request, sent.
The firewall was an old Titan Company version…
Trojan, implant…
Dozens of seconds later, Brace pressed the confirm button—even a dozen seconds faster than he had expected.
“Now!”
The moment Brace’s shout rang out, Arachne’s movements stopped, its claws suspended in midair as if a pause button had been pressed.
“Wh-What?”
Belmont Forrest flailed his arms in a panic, trying to drive the Arachne on his back in this ridiculous manner, but Arachne remained motionless.
He looked at Joanne in front of him, his face drained of all color.
“Wait!”
Joanne ignored the shout.
Her fist slammed into Belmont like a cannonball.
With that force, and the relatively sturdy Arachne at his back, Belmont’s body crashed into the warehouse’s outer wall like a battering ram.
Blood flowed from Belmont’s mouth.
“Wait—”
Before he could finish, Joanne grabbed Arachne’s claw and then slammed it hard into the joint.
Crack.
Arachne’s claw broke off.
“Ahh…”
Crack.
Crack.
Joanne repeated the same motion, breaking off all eight of Arachne’s claws one by one.
The last claw fell to the ground.
At this point, Belmont was less like the Forest Gang’s leader, a spider-like monster, and more like a plucked rooster.
He shuddered, as if sensing what was about to happen.
“Hey! What’s wrong with you?”
Joanne’s eyes seemed to have turned bloodshot red.
Boom!
With a punch, Belmont’s head turned into a mess of pulp.
At the same time, Brace grabbed Joanne’s hand that was still trying to punch.
“Snap out of it!”
The red light in Joanne’s eyes disappeared.
She let out a long sigh and shot Brace a smug grin.
Then, she collapsed face-first to the ground.
“Joanne!”
Joanne didn’t respond.
She curled up on the ground, clutching her head with both hands, breathing heavily.
“Oh no…”
Brace rushed over.
He laid Joanne flat on the ground and took out the prepared inhibitor.
Brace turned Joanne’s head to the side, pulled down her collar, revealing her smooth neck and that collar.
When he saw that collar, for some reason his heart tightened.
Quickly, Brace found the vein.
He held his breath and inserted the needle under the skin.
The medicine slowly flowed into Joanne’s body.
Dozens of seconds later, Joanne’s breathing gradually steadied.
Only then did Brace let out a sigh of relief and slump to the floor.
A soft sensation came from the back of her head.
Joanne groggily opened her eyes.
“Awake?”
Brace turned his head, and Joanne saw his face.
He was leaning against the warehouse wall, and Joanne was resting her head on his lap.
“?”
As her thinking ability gradually returned, Joanne recalled what had just happened.
“Did I pass out again?”
She looked toward the entrance.
There were several more Forest Gang member corpses there, probably stragglers that Brace had just cleaned up.
“About five minutes,” Brace said flatly.
Joanne scrambled to her feet.
She moved her limbs, as if checking her condition.
“Seems… no problem?”
Joanne swung her arm like a windmill, making a whoosh sound.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Brace nodded.
“…No major problems.”
“I see…”
Crackle, crackle.
The earlier fight had caused some voltage issues in the warehouse.
Under the flickering lights, Joanne couldn’t make out Brace’s expression.
A few minutes later, everything seemed back to normal.
Joanne had also regained her usual energy.
“So, it’s over? Time to go get paid?”
“Hard to say.”
“Huh?”
Brace wore a look of extreme exasperation.
“Did you forget? We need to bring back all of the client’s combat prosthetics. Some damage is one thing, but look at that.”
He pointed to a corner of the warehouse.
Belmont’s corpse lay twisted and crumpled there, his flesh almost merged with Arachne.
“Ugh, that’s a bit gross…”
“You’re the one who did it, and now you say that…”
Brace sighed.
“Anyway, you tore it apart. Now we have to answer to the client. What do you suggest we do, huh?”
“Uh… well…”
Joanne was a bit embarrassed.
Truth be told, she had completely forgotten about these things after the fight started.
“Then—Then you should have reminded me!”
Joanne tried to argue.
“I did remind you?”
Brace looked at Joanne like she was an idiot.
“You didn’t listen.”
“When did you say—”
‘Thinking back, there was indeed a voice telling her to stop at that time…’
‘But at the time, she must have mixed it up with Belmont’s pleas for mercy.’
“…”
She picked up one of the “spider legs” and handed it to Brace.
“Can we put it back together and still use it?”
Looking at Joanne’s awkward smile, Brace roughly rubbed his hair.
“Damn it… Let’s just pick it all up first.”
A certain parking lot in District 1.
The parking lot, originally located in the bustling city center, was now empty, not a single car in sight.
Only a group of men and women in black clothes were gathered there.
They made no noise, no conversation, just quietly surrounded an elderly woman with graying hair.
She seemed to be the leader of this group.
The elderly woman was over sixty, yet she wore a suit.
On her wrinkled face, a pair of sharp eyes sparkled.
Without any other movement, the old woman simply stood there, staring at the entrance of the parking lot.
Soon after, a black jeep covered in dirt and scratches slowly drove in.
Its engine wheezed like an elderly man on his deathbed, as if about to breathe its last.
Then, the jeep lurched violently, slid forward a few more meters before coming to a complete stop.
The door opened with a creaking sound.
Then, a man stepped out of the vehicle.
“Ms. Sabrina?” the man approached and asked tentatively.
The old woman nodded.
“I assume you are Brace Enfield.”
“A pleasure.”
Brace made a tipping-hat gesture—even though he wasn’t wearing a hat.
Sabrina waved a hand.
“Spare me the pleasantries. Let me inspect your results.”
Brace showed a knowing expression, then pushed out a cart loaded full from behind the vehicle.
Brace opened the cargo boxes on the cart one by one, displaying the spoils.
Sabrina looked at the combat prosthetics lying intact in the boxes and showed a satisfied expression.
“Hmm, not bad.”
But soon, her gaze stopped at the last tightly closed box.
“Why isn’t this one open?” she asked Brace with confusion.
Brace coughed nervously, then opened the box.
A pungent smell of blood wafted from the box.
Everyone present couldn’t help but frown.
Sabrina fanned the air in front of her nose.
“What the hell is this?”
“This is… the Arachne?”
“You’re telling me this is Arachne?”
The box contained nothing but a pile of scrap metal stained with blood and bits of flesh.
“It’s like this, there was a little situation during retrieval…”
Brace smiled awkwardly.
“When we arrived, Arachne had already been installed on the Forest Gang member. And during retrieval, because of fierce resistance, we had to be a bit… rough.”
Sabrina lifted one of Arachne’s legs.
A few drops of blood dripped down, with a few shreds of cloth hanging from it.
“So, about the payment…”
“Hmph…”
Looking at the Arachne with multiple dents and damages, Sabrina showed a thoughtful expression.