The two climbed back into the rattling old car and drove off.
“What’s next?”
Rebecca asked eagerly.
“Grab your big gun, then we storm straight in.”
Even after staying up all night, she still looked full of energy.
“Wrong! First, we go ho and get so sleep.”
“Aaah~~”
Hearing Arthur’s plan, Rebecca pulled her two braids over her face in protest.
“But it’s still morning!”
“And we haven’t slept at all!”
In the end, Arthur forced Rebecca to go ho.
...
The next morning, Arthur was woken by a flood of comm alerts. He already knew who it was.
“You brat, et at Vik’s clinic.”
Arthur always left his Giant—his Nekomata sniper rifle—with Vik. Security in cheap apartnts in gabuildings was never reliable.”
It wasn’t far, and Arthur got there quickly.
Rebecca was sitting on Pilar’s hospital bed, fiddling endlessly with her hands while Pilar complained and scread.
Both patients were recovering well. Maine, now free of his cyberware, was noticeably slimr. He and Dorio sat to the side, watching the siblings squabble.
“Hey, Maine, how you feeling?”
Arthur greeted him as he walked up.
“Better than ever. It’s like a huge weight’s been lifted. All that static in my head… gone.”
Seeing Arthur, Maine relaxed. It was clear he had let go of far more than just the cyberware.
“Brother.”
Arthur patted his shoulder, speaking from the heart.
“Staying alive—that’s what counts. Money, fa—all bullshit.”
The two shared a knowing smile.
“Hey! Arthur, let’s go already!”
Rebecca’s voice echoed from below, breaking the mont.
“You actually enjoy talking with the old man? You’re strange.”
Arthur shot her a glare, muttering as he turned away.
“I’ll grab the gun.”
When Arthur stepped out, he carried a silver-white tal case over two ters long on his shoulder, cold vapor seeping from its surface.
The Giant’s components had to be kept cold to stay stable.
Seeing this, the light atmosphere in the clinic turned heavy.
Yesterday morning, when facing that cyberpsycho, they had witnessed Arthur’s strength firsthand—his instantaneous reaction speed had even surpassed David’s Sandevistan.
What kind of job needed a weapon like that?
“Looks like this is a big one.”
Arthur said simply.
“It’s not big—just helping a hero find peace.”
He then briefly told them the father’s story.
Rebecca followed close behind, like a shadow, as the two left the clinic.
From the hospital bed, Pilar shouted after her.
“Hey, brat! Don’t let so random thug take you out out there!”
Rebecca turned back, raised both middle fingers, and shouted.
“Trash brother, get yourself a leg before you talk big!”
Arthur set the Giant—the sniper rifle—securely in the backseat, and his beat-up car followed Regina’s route.
The Scavs that father had slaughtered were holed up east of Northside’s Industrial District, in an abandoned CHOOH2 ferntation plant.
After wiping them all out, he had stayed there.
The factories in the eastern part of the district were massive in scale.
This CHOOH2 plant had six colossal ferntation tanks arranged around its periter.
Each was over a hundred ters in diater, supported by thick steel fraworks that made them look like giant artificial satellites suspended in the air.
One such tank lood directly above the factory’s front gate, flanked by hollow steel columns as wide as cars.
Driving under them, the car was swallowed by shadow, as if the sky itself had collapsed onto their heads.
Inside the factory, clusters of five- and six-story buildings looked like toy blocks compared to the massive tank supports.
Arthur parked at the gate and warned Rebecca before getting out.
“Stick to my orders. If you ss around, I’ll deal with you.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
Rebecca replied carelessly, then kicked open the car door.
Arthur sighed, tugged her ear, and added,
“First order—stay quiet.”
He had brought the sniper rifle for a reason—this was to be settled with a single shot.
Finding the target’s position and setting up the vantage point all had to be done silently.
Until the shot was fired, the enemy must not be alerted.
The two moved carefully, avoiding the nearby buildings. The interior was complex, and the danger only grew deeper inside.
It was still morning, but the eastern tanks cast vast shadows that covered nearly the entire compound.
The concrete ground had been split open by rampant plant growth, dense vegetation spreading through the ruins and creating even darker shade.
On the ground, they spotted bloodstains—blackened with age, crawling with insects, reeking of rot.
The trails stretched on, disappearing beneath the overgrowth in the distance.
Arthur thought of the pencils he used for sketching. Those poor bastards had been dragged across the ground like pencils, reduced to broken lines of shavings.
But rembering who they were, he felt no pity.
So this is what a heavy cybernetic body can do, huh? Arthur grew even more cautious.
Further in, the damage worsened. Huge holes marked the factory walls, their edges sared black where flies sward.
Among the rubble, withered limbs and severed arms jutted out.
Suddenly, Arthur felt a tug at his sleeve.
Rebecca pulled him, stiffly pointing ahead and upward.
Arthur followed her gesture and saw a figure standing on the roof, head bowed, as if surveying the entire compound.
His limbs were no longer human, replaced with thick tal constructs. Two massive propulsion units jutted from his back. Except for his chest and head, nothing of his human form remained.
Arthur’s sharp eyes caught his face even from fifty ters away.
The man’s eyes were shut tight, as if his awareness of the world had dulled.
Arthur shot Rebecca a look, signaling her to fall back. The two turned and headed the way they had co.
But just as they did, the man on the roof opened his eyes.
Veins and cracks spread across his clouded eyeballs as his gaze locked onto the retreating figures.
His limbs trembled, blood spilling from his mouth with the effort, eyes bulging like they might burst from their sockets.
At last, his body stilled, and with great effort, he shut his eyes again.
“He saw us.”
Rebecca whispered suddenly once they had moved away.
“He definitely saw us.”
Arthur didn’t argue—she had noticed first.
A man like that… what a waste.
Most legends are never known to the world.
Arthur chose the ferntation tank above the main gate as his sniper nest. The closer ones were buried under vegetation and hard to reach.
And every tank towered far above the buildings below—perfect for a sniper’s perch.
He wrestled the rifle case from the backseat, while Rebecca carried the black ammo box. Together, they headed for the iron ladder nearby.
Each tank had ladders circling upward, fixed to the support columns, wide enough for two people.
They didn’t climb all the way to the top.
The tanks and supports rose over a hundred ters, with maintenance platforms at each level. One of those platforms would do for Arthur’s setup.
Once above the surrounding buildings, Arthur felt as though he had locked eyes with the man in the distance.
Though over fifteen hundred ters apart—impossible in truth—Arthur still tipped his hat toward him, paying his respects to that father.
Opening the case, a faint chill escaped. The Giant rested inside its custom casing, perfectly fitted.
Victor had built it for him—the Giant’s ho.
Arthur gripped the handle with one hand and the barrel with the other, lifting it halfway out.
The weapon was clearly ant for cyberware-enhanced soldiers. Its two-ter-long fra lacked any front support.
Thankfully, Vik had designed an extra attachnt—without it, Arthur could never have wielded it.
...
(70 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser
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