"Thud..."
In a moment of urgency, Luo Qi knocked on the iron cabinet next to him, making a strange muffled sound.
"Huh? What was that noise?"
As expected, the two gang members who were about to leave were drawn by the sound, pulled back the curtain, and looked towards the room where Luo Qi was hiding.
Luo Qi was hiding behind the refrigerator, and they would see him if they took another step forward.
"Wha...! Gah—"
Just as he was about to be exposed, two hands reached out from behind and twisted the necks of the unsuspecting enemies.
"Taken care of, be more careful."
It was V.
Luo Qi breathed a sigh of relief and gave a thumbs up.
That was a damn thrilling experience.
"I found a path that avoids their line of sight, be quiet." T-Bug transmitted a highlighted shortcut on the minimap, which could be accessed through a hole in the side room, leading deeper inside.
However, Luo Qi didn't have any cyberware installed and couldn't see it, so he had to follow Jackie and V.
The three people were scattered around the hall, each doing their own thing, completely unaware that three of their comrades had gone missing.
They also didn't notice that three sneaky intruders had slipped into their base.
"No, not this one." Luo Qi pushed a door, but it didn't budge.
On the other side, V quickly retreated as if he had been electrocuted.
"There's someone outside," he said urgently, "he almost saw me. He's got a machine gun, hard to deal with."
"We have to find a way to get his attention," Luo Qi said, scanning the room.
The only way forward was blocked by someone, and they would be spotted as soon as they showed their faces. They had to think of something.
"Use that eye reboot to make him blind, and leave the rest to me."
Luo Qi said to V, his face full of "trust me."
"Alright, signal me, and I'll upload it. The upload time is three seconds." V was ready to act, planning to peek out and apply a quick hack to the enemy as soon as he got the signal.
Luo Qi lay on the ground, aiming through the hole at the door outside, and pulled out a grenade.
"Three, two, one, go!"
Luo Qi called out to V, and after a second, he threw the grenade.
"Fzzzzzz—!!"
The sound of the cyber-eye malfunction made the large gang member suddenly confused, but before he could shout, a huge explosion came from the front.
"Enemy spotted! Open fire!"
However, this shout came from Luo Qi.
The grenade had flipped a guy at the entrance, and the remaining people turned around in a panic, only to see a chaotic scene without spotting any enemies.
But the big guy with the malfunctioning cyber-eye thought differently, as he instinctively raised his weapon and pulled the trigger.
"Da-da-da-da-da-da—!!"
The large-caliber bullets from the machine gun tore through the walls and tables, with bullets flying all over the room.
It was total chaos.
"Counterattack!!"
Luo Qi continued to pretend and shout, pulling out his pistol and firing at the gang members who were being hit by their own, taking down several with a single shot.
Back when he played Cyberpunk 2077, there were only a few enemies in the hall, but the real situation was much more difficult than that, with several more people involved.
But now they all lay on the ground.
Once the time for the cyber-eye reboot hack was up, the big guy barely opened his eyes in a daze, only to be taken down by Jackie who rushed out wielding two pistols, shooting holes in his head.
"No movement detected on the sensors; looks like you guys took them all down. You can continue."
After Luo Qi and V finished checking with their guns, T-Bug confirmed the scene.
"Where's the person we're here to save?" V asked.
"Look around; she might be nearby."
Jackie touched his head and sighed, "Bro, you really outdid yourself. They didn't even know how they died."
"This is tactics, amigo (friend)." Luo Qi laughed, stuffing found cash into his pocket and opening an email on the computer, "Tsk tsk, looks like they've been stealing a lot of people's cyberware."
"Ugh, these kidney harvesters." Jackie sneered in disgust.
Organ trafficking is a universally despised and vile practice in any country or era.
V pushed open a door and walked in quickly, "This is just... unbelievable..."
"An ice bath, a summer favorite." Luo Qi whistled, "But they went overboard with the ice."
There were two unconscious naked men and women stuffed in the bathtub filled with ice cubes, a common practice among these "kidney harvesters" – a simple and crude way of preserving the human body, like stuffing two chunks of pork into the fridge to prepare for cooking later.
V pulled the woman out of the bathtub, "This should be her. Target confirmed."
"Are we too late? Is she still alive?" T-Bug asked anxiously, "V, connect to her biometric signals. Check her condition."
"She's lying in a bathtub filled with ice... and there's someone else in there. Damn... chilling them alive..."
"Don't panic, V. Even if she survives, she won't remember what happened. Only minor subconscious damage, that's all."
V spoke in a tone that wanted to curse, "I heard that people who survive such situations can suddenly have panic attacks... their hands start shaking uncontrollably, like they fell into icy water."
The woman V was holding was shivering.
As he spoke, he pulled out a data cable from his wrist and plugged it into the woman's ear interface.
Luo Qi then saw V begin to read the extracted data.
"Sandra Dorsett, NC570442, Platinum Member of Trauma Team."
Jackie burst out laughing, "Platinum member?! One hair falls out and the Trauma Team would come running."
"They might have intercepted the signal transmission, her biometrics were hacked, perhaps the firmware was updated or there's a neural virus..." T-Bug speculated.
"Save it for later, T-Bug!" Jackie wasn't in the mood to listen to the hacker's ramblings, "Look at this place, the bathtub, ice cubes, hooks, and kitchen knives."
"An entire cyberpunk slaughterhouse," Luo Qi added.
He sat outside the room, searching for useful information on the computer.
He wasn't interested in taking advantage of others' nakedness, rather he wanted to see how these gang members called "Scavengers" managed to capture such a target.
"Hmph, must be the work of those protein bar munchers," T-Bug sneered, "Got it, check her neural port. Is there a chip? Remove it, and the signal should be restored."
"Is this safe? Can't we just get her out of here first?" Seeing the target in his arms convulsing non-stop, V asked urgently.
"We've gone through so much effort; we can't afford any mishaps. Fix the biometric signal quickly, check if she has internal bleeding... Anyway! Find the chip, pull it out!" T-Bug insisted.
V found a chip slot at the back of her head and pulled it out, "Found it."
"Now check the biometric signal again..."
Before T-Bug finished speaking, Sandra's biometric monitoring began to resume.
"Hello, Sandra. If you are conscious, please adjust to the recovery position immediately. The emergency evacuation team has been dispatched and is expected to arrive at your location within 180 seconds."
V looked up, "Biometric signal says Trauma Team will be here in three minutes."
"Ah..." Jackie sighed deeply, "Pobrecita (poor thing), get her out of the ice."
V had just lifted her out when he cursed, "Shit! She's not breathing!"
"Lucky, where's the pneumatic injector I gave you earlier?!"
"Quick! Connect it!"
Luo Qi heard a sprint, tossed the little gadget in his hand, and V caught it and jabbed it into the center of Sandra's chest.
"Ah—"
The woman, who had already begun to convulse, let out a painful groan and regained her calm.
"Let's go, take her out to the terrace," Jackie led the way.
Soon, a massive floating armored vehicle arrived, hovering steadily at the terrace's height, and a team of people swiftly descended from below.
"Docking in progress, please stand clear! Security protocol initiating, follow all instructions."
A stern warning sounded, and Luo Qi and the others, carrying Sandra, squinted against the wind.
Trauma Team's assault members aimed their guns at them, and after confirming there was no threat, pulled out a folding stretcher.
"Quick! Put the patient down on the ground!"
V stepped forward and placed Sandra on the stretcher, but before he could straighten up, he was hit with the butt of a gun and staggered.
"Step back five paces."
Immediately, a team member pulled out a pneumatic rescue device and shot it at Sandra's chest.
"TT-133 calling control center, patient NC570442 is secure..."
"Cardiac stimulant injected, dopamine 70mg, norepinephrine 110, fibrinogen 800..."
Sandra was quickly lifted onto the high-tech floating armored vehicle, but the team members were still cautious, slowly pointing their guns at Luo Qi and the others before finally leaving.
As everyone left, the Trauma Team's airship snapped shut its hatch, pulled up its nose, and quickly accelerated away.
"Shit, are you okay, V?" Luo Qi patted V, who shook his head and touched the spot where he had just been hit.
"Let's get going, we can take the elevator straight to the garage," Jackie sighed, "Rich people..."
"Ah, finally got this crappy job done," T-Bug also lamented, "I'm going offline now, see you in the future."
Walking through the chaotic scene, Jackie, feeling relieved, said, "Listen, mano (brother), I've got something to take care of, can I borrow your car?"