Chapter 442 - 273: Instruction

Sora activated the Sianweistan in an instant, breaking the enemy’s timing flawlessly with a move John had gleaned long ago from a Chip read by Black Light.[Chip: Naked Strangulation Assassination]

Sora only used one of the combo moves within.

[How does it feel? This is fucking assassination. Stealth is a high-end art, not just creeping up on some lone soldier taking a leak.]

Tat-tat-tat.

A burst of bullets fired from downstairs.

The professionalism of corporate soldiers was on full display:

The death of their comrade didn’t disrupt their search rhythm, and they even raised the threat Level based on John’s performance.

The remaining soldiers no longer rushed the stairs but first provided suppressive fire.

Large corporations are indeed well-funded; they can afford bullets aplenty.

Two soldiers stood at the stair gap, tilting their heads while firing their rifles upward.

The ground beneath became littered with dense shell casings.

The bullets were premium Rongju Company products.

The cement stairs and metal handrails couldn’t withstand it and started crumbling like waste corroded by acid.

Debris fell.

Dust filled the air.

Sora crouched in the second-floor hallway, dodging the rain of bullets while bragging in John’s head.

The gunfire ceased.

John and Sora didn’t wait for a next move but saw a blue disc fly up from the smoke downstairs, sticking near the wall where they just stood.

Messiah’s Eye rapidly scanned.

[Weapon: Rongju B5 Indoor Fragmentation Grenade]

"Fuck!"

John exclaimed.

Sora reacted much faster, activating Sianweistan again.

He broke a rental room’s door lock with a joint, barged in, vaulted over a tenant with a Super Sensing Chip exposed below the waist, and crashed through the bathroom’s grid window...

There was an explosion in the hallway.

The fragmentation grenade primarily targets live forces.

Its flash and smoke weren’t significant, and it didn’t severely damage the building.

But countless metal shards sprayed out, leaving menacing cracks on the doors and walls.

Meanwhile.

Outside the apartment building.

Sora flew out the window, turned to grab the edge, and bounced down the wall, lightly landing on the ground like a drifting flyer.

John didn’t even feel the blunt pain of a fall from height.

"As much as I hate to admit it, this is crazy; it’s like this isn’t my body."

Rumble——

The explosion in the hallway sent debris spraying out from the windows above them.

Sora patted the dust off his hair.

[Impressive, isn’t it? Nothing much—before meeting you, I virtually explored every deep-diving virtual game on the market. Some accounts were bought, with all sorts of bizarre biological data, so I often had to control unfamiliar game characters honestly; most account’s initial attributes were way crappier than yours...]

"I’ll take it as a compliment on my Prosthetic Body."

John ignored the boastfulness in its tone.

[Not bad indeed. This spine is crucial, an endlessly potential platform. I couldn’t find a matching product on the market; where’d you get it?]

"Heh, you know it. This thing was prepped by Serum for another cyber psycho. I killed him, got this spine dirt cheap."

[Uh... alright, let’s chat about that later.]

Endlessly talkative, Sora instantly lost interest in chatting upon hearing the name Serum.

It couldn’t hide its thoughts, loved to show off, but now fell silent.

This wandering AI is more straightforward than people.

John could guess:

As fellow AIs roaming human society, Sora surely knows some Serum secrets; when the atmosphere is right, it can’t help but spill them on its own.

But not now...

"The pursuers are in the building; they’ll soon find out the target wasn’t blasted dead."

John proactively reminded.

Sure enough, footsteps echoed again from the apartment.

[Scan detected...]

At the same time.

A surveillance grid captured John.

Sora raised his head.

Messiah’s Eye linked to cyberspace, data grids sliced through the building before him, and a clear signal line stretched from John into the night sky.

Buzz——

A drone’s silhouette was highlighted.

Painted black with blue signal lights flashing, it zipped through the crevices of the warped building; its scanner had locked onto John’s biological heat source.

[Device: City Lightweight Recon Drone]

[Manufacturer: Rongju Military]

The company drone reacted faster than the police; it flew out from the nearest base in less than a minute and synced with the on-site soldiers and surveillance.

Buildings and urban roads disappeared in its view.

John was streaking in this informational grid, becoming a transparent humanoid data outline in the pursuer’s retinas.

[Corporate dogs have this much authority?]

"What did you think? Their small department’s annual tax surpasses my lifetime earnings; damn Eden City, corporate dogs are the law."

John and Sora bantered at the back door.

The three soldiers in the apartment had already activated Sianweistan—as an advanced tactical squad, time-stop Prosthetic Bodies and close-combat Chips were standard.

They were fast, incredibly robust, and aggressively broke through the back door, holding short sprays and tactical knives, searching for John’s location...

Sora stood waiting for them.

It even had the mind to continue "teaching" John.

[Where was I? Oh right, don’t be limited by the weapon written on the Chip; the seller marked it as Samurai Sword exclusive, but you can apply the movements with a crowbar or any long blade... Also, your Alloy Skeleton is high-quality, muscle bundles sturdy enough; you can adjust the burst speed yourself, do more... experiments...]

Sora’s voice grew fuzzy, then gradually stabilized.

It had activated Sianweistan, adjusting its speech speed to match neural reaction rates, ensuring John could hear its words clearly.

Bam!

The back door completely exploded.

A heavily armored soldier led, followed closely by two agile assassins, each clutching their gear, charging out the apartment in professional formation.

John could see them.

Clearly.

This indicated his Sianweistan Level was higher, which is the three elements of the time-stop system—slowdown rate, Operating State, duration.

It must be said.

This spine gifted by Serum is indeed formidable.

John immersed himself in his own rambling thoughts.

He didn’t have Sora’s computational capacity, and when enemies approached, he no longer bothered to listen to what the AI was saying.

Sora clearly noticed John’s "distraction."

It let out a sigh.

[Ah, alright, let’s switch to another teaching method.]

Sora took off on tiptoe, like a spring compressed to the extreme snapping free, disrupting the attackers’ formation.

As he moved, he wielded the Mantis Blade.

[Chip: Raqi Industry-Ranger]

This was an opening movement for the Samurai Sword Chip.

Sora deleted the preceding and following connecting moves, completed this stance with the Mantis Blade, using the strength of the Alloy Skeleton to increase the instant burst power.

By the time John realized, he already turned his body, standing amidst the three assailants.

The tactile sensation in his hand was distinct—it seemed to have severed something.

John subconsciously glanced at Sora in mid-air:

A severed arm holding a military knife was flying, closely followed by a head with a tactical helmet.

One dismembered.

One deceased.

Kenichi Sora’s actions didn’t pause.

He didn’t care that John turned his head or didn’t seize back control of his neck—he just crashed into the last person’s chest without visual guidance.

It plunged the Mantis Blade into the opponent’s chest cavity.

Time flow returned to normal.

All this took place in the blink of an eye.

The back door of the budget apartment looked doused in red paint; the graffiti of various colors on the walls got covered, the ceiling lamp stained crimson, paired with the surrounding screams, it appeared overwhelmingly terrifying.

Sora extracted the handgun from the person beneath.

It turned, fired.

Bam, bam!

The soldier with the severed hand leaned backward, blood gushing like a fountain.

Another bullet hit the head flying in the air.

Sora stood up.

The Mantis Blade instantly withdrew from the enemy’s chest, and as the gun barrel fell, he pulled the trigger toward the soldier at his feet.

Bam.

The moaning ceased.