"What's your situation exactly?"
Saul and Cedric sat at the table.
Cedric gave a bitter smile: "Actually... things might have started with me, but I always thought you guys were so tense because of me."
"Explain."
"Sigh, Hector signed a contract with Biotechnica for human experiments. The contract included a clause that forbade revealing the details of the experiment, so Hector just stopped contacting you guys.
Then people started dying. I was furious, so I brought Andrey's body to confront Biotechnica.
Which lead to me having an episode of cyberpsychosis."
Saul was stunned and slowly turned his head toward Cedric. "You..."
"Yeah, cyberpsychosis. Then the three of them took me down. I don't remember how exactly; honestly, I don't even remember what I was doing. Everything I know, the doctors told me after I woke up."
"They can treat cyberpsychosis?"
Cedric glanced at Saul. "Do I look like I still have cyberpsychosis?"
"You kinda do, wrapped up like this. If someone didn't know better, they'd think you were strapped with explosives."
"F*** off." Cedric raised his cane as if to strike but quickly lowered it, unable to keep it raised. "Sigh, but they couldn't resolve the issues with Biotechnica's experiments. They had to do nerve removal, and they used some other techniques—I don't know exactly.
"But now, except for basic functional implants, I can't install any other cyberware. And the illness isn't completely gone."
"No wonder. You even got rid of those stolen eyes—you look much more normal."
The two clinked their beers and took a sip.
After a brief silence, Cedric spoke: "You should've listened to the Burger King. Cooperating with the corporations is a dead end."
"And what about going against them?"
"At least you'd die like a man—don't tell me you're still thinking of being their dog after everything you've seen?"
"It's just... when I think about how they died..."
"F*** that!" Cedric angrily smashed his bottle. "You think living is better? Look at me. I'd rather be dead right now!"
Saul lowered his head. "That's not what I meant... but Burger King—what he said really hit me hard.
"Funny name, but it's a good one. The corporations must be furious."
"Hah, you should get a name too. From now on, we'll call you Dumb Monkey. You already look like an ape anyway."
Saul chuckled and gave Cedric the middle finger. "I may look like an ape, but don't you think you're the real monkey here?"
"What about the others? Scorpion, Mitch—why haven't I seen them?"
Instead of answering, Saul stood up and looked into the distance.
A car appeared on the horizon.
"They're back."
Through the shimmering heat, dust trailed behind the vehicle as it rapidly approached.
But... there were supposed to be three cars heading to the border.
Before Saul could ask, someone spoke up first.
Panam: "Saul, something's wrong—we were spotted by Wraiths near the border station. They might be tracking us!"
Panam: "Scorpion and Mitch are leading them away—"
Saul: "Damn it... there's a drone behind you!"
In the medical room—or rather, the trailer—Leo was fully focused on treating the injuries of Jackie and V.
Jackie's problems were mainly physical—internal injuries.
He had multiple bone fractures, and for the short term, Leo could only remove the shattered bone fragments and replace them with compensatory skeletal implants.
Regina had not only returned Cedric but had also provided Leo with some low-grade civilian implants, including skeletal reinforcements.
As for Jackie's deformed subdermal armor, it had to be removed. Since they couldn't find any replacement material, Leo had no choice but to strip away the armor extensively, leaving only a few undamaged sections under his scalp and face.
This would significantly weaken Jackie, but there was no other option.
Leo then placed the fragments of bone into a suitable container—he intended to run some experiments.
V's condition was more complicated—part of her spinal implant's neural wiring had fused with her actual nerves.
This was a serious problem. Nerve cells don't naturally regenerate, meaning that any issues caused by cyberpsychosis were permanent.
However, if the fused cables weren't deactivated, reactivating the implant could cause severe stimulation, with a high risk of triggering cyberpsychosis.
Even with the implants deactivated, there was no guarantee the malfunction wouldn't recur...
To truly treat cyberpsychosis, those fused parts needed to be cut out—this might be one of the reasons Cedric couldn't install combat-grade implants anymore.
V had only briefly experienced cyberpsychosis before Leo stopped it, but her condition was still dire.
Leo carefully examined the fused points and compared them to all the information he had...
He noticed something interesting.
The hormone and neural changes that Peter had undergone during his final, frenzied phase as the Lizardman in another world were strikingly similar to what was happening in the synapse areas where V's nerves had fused.
However, after Peter reverted from his lizard form, those nerves were restored.
Leo pondered for a while and decided to cut away the fused parts and recalibrate the spinal implant.
This "trimming" would cause the Sandevistan chip to fail as well—which meant he'd need to consult the manufacturer since Leo didn't fully understand all of the mechanics behind the Sandevistan.
As for the broken Mantis Blades, they would have to be removed, and skeletal supports would be used to restore basic functionality.
After this round of repairs, neither of them would be crippled anymore, but their combat abilities would be greatly diminished.
Jackie and V tested their bodies and were both a bit disappointed.
Still, after such an intense battle, surviving was fortunate enough—cyberware could be replaced.
Once everything was done, Leo lay down on the operating table himself.
"One last thing, my neural interface and cyber modulator in my head are broken and need replacing. V, open your neural bridge interface—I need to use your hand."
As V connected her personal link to Leo's interface, she remarked, "This sounds strange—are you sure this will work? I've heard that controlling a human body is pretty difficult..."
The nomad cybernetic doctor standing nearby was stunned—
Leo's skill was impressive; he could see that.
He could understand Jackie's case—it was just broken bones. But when Leo started handling V's melted nerves and directly recalibrating the spinal implant, the nomad doctor admitted it was beyond his expertise.
V's spinal implant was highly advanced, with many more neural cables and extensions than standard models. The bio-conductors, plastics, and metals used were obviously rare and expensive—stuff a poor man couldn't afford.
It wasn't just that the recalibration was difficult; even installing such an implant would likely take the doctor an entire day, and whether he could follow the manual properly was uncertain.
But even so—this just meant city doctors were more skilled than he was. There was nothing shameful or shocking about that.
However, using a neural bridge to perform surgery on yourself was a different story—
Controlling a human body through a cybernetic interface was incredibly complex, far beyond simple sabotage like causing cyberware malfunctions or locking cyberware.
Destruction was always easier than precision control.
Moreover—surgery is a real-time process! Which meant Leo would have to stay conscious, using a combination of real-time and near-real-time commands through V's eyes and body to perform cyberware surgery on himself! The circuits of the cyber modulator and neural interface would be connected to nerve-dense areas!
How painful would that be? And performing surgery on yourself at the same time...?
The nomad doctor raised his hand uncertainly: "I can help you—you don't have to do it this way."
"Thanks, but my surgery is a bit special. I need to oversee it myself."
This type of surgery could only be done by someone you fully trusted.
Because Leo wasn't just installing cyberware; he was also modifying his secondary heart to inject lizard serum into it.
Just as he was about to send the doctor away, a warning came through the nomad camp's comms—
"Prepare for battle!"
The cybernetic doctor couldn't care less about Leo's situation now. He grabbed the rifle from the corner and ran outside.
Leo frowned: "Continue the surgery. Jackie—there's still two mags for the Nekomata, use them sparingly."
"Got it."
Jackie stretched his arms, the sound of servos humming, then jumped out of the trailer and slammed the door behind him.
In the distance, a swarm of combat drones hovered in the sky—clearly Militech.
Navi jogged over and handed a rifle to Jackie before taking cover behind a barricade.
"Where's Burger King and the others?"
"Surgery's not finished—just aim for the targets. You still remember how to shoot, right?"
"Yeah." Navi took a deep breath. "But... I heard military drones are extremely dangerous. The old-timers haven't dealt with them many times, but why do I always end up fighting them?"
"You know what that means—it means you're rolling with the big boss now."
Jackie mounted the Nekomata, aiming at the vehicles speeding toward the camp, followed by the incoming drones.
He muttered softly, "Yeah, they're dangerous, dangerous and relentless... Nekomata versus drones, really not a fair fight."
Bang! In the chaos of the Aldecaldo camp, an electromagnetic round shot out!
TN:Sorry for the late chapter forgot to set the timer last night lol