The situation was too eerie, as if an invisible hand had pushed all the piled-up bodies outwards, creating a clean vacuum zone. It was as if there were an invisible barrier completely separating the store from everyone else, anyone who touched it ended up with a broken head and bleeding profusely.
"Aaaah—"
"Help!" The refugees were startled by the sight of the mountain of corpses and sea of blood in front of them, but when they looked back at the crazed Ratmen chasing them, they decided to sprint forward.
Xu Yang had to help them, so he took out his gun, aiming to shoot the two Rats.
Bang, bang!
From the windows of the Robot Megastore, a barrage of bullets suddenly shot out, instantly killing the fleeing refugees and the Ratmen behind them, blasting their intestines and spraying blood everywhere.
Xu Yang furrowed his brows. Were these even humans anymore?
"Many people around here have paid 'protection money' and bought their services. Now, it's time to distinguish between customers and ordinary people," said Asa Katsuragi.
Luckily, they had encountered the Suzuki Group first. If they had carelessly entered the Toshiaki Family Group's territory, they would probably be dead by now.
Xu Yang carefully observed.
He could vaguely see the brightly lit interior of the store, panicked faces behind the windows, many refugees hiding inside. In the midst of the massive blackout, they had also chosen to trust the Toshiaki Family Group, seeking sanctuary in their core territory.
The Toshiaki Family Group's gunmen and mechanics emerged from the rooftops, looking around for signs of the enemy. They also wore suits, but theirs were brightly colored, unlike the black suits of the Suzuki Group.
Because of the blackout, Asa Katsuragi and her group remained hidden in the dark streets, temporarily unnoticed.
"For the glory of the Suzuki Group! The Toshiaki Family Group must be annihilated!" Asa Katsuragi turned back to the gang and announced, "Our previous raid was thwarted, but this time is different from the last!"
"Fight!"
"Your previous raid... seems to have been ineffective," Xu Yang noted upon seeing some bodies in black suits.
"The grudge between the two families has lasted for generations. This is the only chance to settle the score with our archenemies," Asa Katsuragi pulled out a crowbar hidden inside her suit, a pistol in the other hand, "I was fighting with their people on the streets when I was ten. We rushed in and killed a bunch when their power hadn't been restored, but as soon as it came back on, we were beaten bloody."
"Aoooh!"
"The Suzuki Group is powerful!"
"The Toshiaki Family Group is weak!" The gang robots repeated their programmed lines, ready to charge.
"According to you, there are civilians inside," Xu Yang said, "Take it slow, I don't want to cause a massacre."
"What are you waiting for?" Asa Katsuragi inquired, "You can't even carry out a massacre right now, just standing there like an idiot."
"Patience."
Throughout their conversation, Xu Yang had been slowly hacking into the network.
Using Digital Mind, he attempted to break into the united network within the Robot Megastore, to gain control of the security system.
The megastore used ODC keys, a standard encryption program that came with the united network technology and was equipped with advanced security software. In case of hacking, it would issue an alert, lock the control platform, and block external signals.
It was fine but... too conventional.
This security standard was part of nearly every united network, without any variation.
When Xu Yang was testing for Kyushu High Pavilion, he had repeatedly reverse-attacked his own united network. For such a common and standardized system, he handled it with ease.
Unfortunately, due to severe damage to his implants, he could only proceed with a slow and meticulous approach, which was painfully slow.
"Hurry, we've got to..." Asa Katsuragi was about to speak when gunfire erupted from the building.
It attracted everyone's attention.
"Yeah!"
"Who's shooting inside?"
"What happened?" Several members of the Toshiaki Family Group quickly hurried down from the roof to investigate.
"Hm?" Asa Katsuragi asked curiously, "What did you do?"
"I just cracked it a few seconds ago." Xu Yang pointed at the automated machine guns by the window, all of which had turned around to fire inside, "That's my work, the work of a neural hacker."
The sound of gunfire and screams continued to come from inside.
Asa Katsuragi was almost speechless; no need for a breakthrough, no need for close combat, no need to fire a shot. The Toshiaki Family Group's impregnable fortress started to collapse from within as the smart security system began slaughtering their own people.
"Neural hacker... very strong!" she concluded, "Now we can charge."
Just then, Asa Katsuragi's mobile phone rang.
She took it out, glanced at the screen, and her expression immediately became serious.
Xu Yang noticed Asa Katsuragi's unease.
"Who?"
"The boss," Asa Katsuragi pressed the answer button and quickly walked away from Xu Yang.