48: Chapter 34 Blood Flow 48: Chapter 34 Blood Flow In the fierce collision that toppled the Giant Rat, the Shuttle Machine itself was also greatly affected.
The Shuttle Machine emitted a buzzing sound, which was extremely piercing—a clear indication of insufficient engine power.
The engine idled wildly, and the intense reaction force caused the machine to shake violently, tilting severely in an instant before swinging back upright in mid-air.
“Ah—” Farosa was startled, nearly thrown out of her seat by the collision, and only by gripping the armrest with all her might did she avoid disaster.
Nidelaide activated the magnetic device implanted in his body to adhere himself to the wall of the Shuttle Machine, continuing to look at his mobile phone, oblivious to the chaos outside.
Kanako was well-prepared, holding her breath and bracing for the impact.
With her back against the wall and feet apart, she stayed away from the solid metal, but still, when the collision occurred, she couldn’t help but scream and nearly toppled to the ground from the sharp tilt.
Inside the automatic doctor, Cui Junyou secured Xu Yang firmly in place to prevent his freshly cut-open skull from hitting the machinery, and he himself crashed against the wall, nearly falling before staggering to his feet.
“Quite the ride…” Cui Junyou felt something inside him might have been damaged.
He took a deep breath and had the automatic doctor’s mechanical arm inject him with a rapid-response compound and applied hemostatic spray to the bruised areas.
He looked at Xu Yang’s opened skull, the metal parts of the brain implant distinctly visible.
He had to stay conscious until the surgery was complete…
The slightest mistake could mean Xu Yang may never awaken again.
Outside the automatic doctor, at the control station, Lila’s head flew backward from the collision.
Farosa did not initially realize it was Lila’s head and caught it quickly and instinctively, only to throw it down to the ground immediately after.
“Disgusting.” She looked at Lila’s head.
“Is there still blood flowing under that tin can?”
The half-metal face remained expressionless.
“Please give it back to me.” Lila turned to pick up her own head.
Farosa watched Lila caress her severed head and felt deeply uneasy.
“Thank you,” said Lila.
“…” Farosa, unable to bear the thought of having actually touched such a thing, held back her disgust.
“Let’s continue on,” said Kanako.
“That was some nice work just now!” Farosa found an excuse to distract herself.
“Did you learn that in a racing game?
Xu Yang was right; you really are good…”
“Hmm…” Kanako smiled, feeling her nose turn sour.
With her back to Farosa, Kanako secretly wiped her tears.
Damn Xu Yang, entrusting me with such a heavy responsibility, how can I bear it!
The Shuttle Machine reset its power and set off again, roaring away from the darkness, racing toward Katagi District, leaving behind the wailing rats in the shadows.
During the surgery, Cui Junyou focused on replacing the burnt wires for Xu Yang.
Xu Yang’s brain was not like that of an average person.
Cui Junyou was almost tempted to take a photo to share with his peers.
As a Neural Network Engineer, he could tell from the automatic doctor’s scans that certain areas of Xu Yang’s brain were especially developed.
Yet such an outstanding individual had ended up in a place as insignificant as Aizu City.
Looking at the intricate implants in Xu Yang’s brain, Cui Junyou’s thoughts buzzed with activity.
Cui Junyou had dealt with all sorts of implants his whole life and believed that implants were an art; they enhanced human power but were exploited by corporations to squeeze their employees.
In many places, happiness chips were popular.
Inserted into the brain, they kept people’s moods perpetually cheerful, used by corporations to equip their workers en masse making them numb to the daily pain of work.
What kind of practice was that?
He removed a charred chip from the back of Xu Yang’s head, a “Grand Master” processor with the private mark of a giant corporation’s technician engraved on it, signifying the creator’s identity, recognizable only to their own corporate personnel.
This tiny chip cost over 1 million.
Without a doubt, this guy came from a giant corporation, most likely a member of the powerful Kyushu High Pavilion from the corporate giant of Xia District.
Thus, his allegiance was suspect.
Eager to find out, Cui Junyou desperately wanted to know if Xu Yang was a firm anti-corporate activist.
Perhaps Xu Yang was only driven by circumstances, ready to return to the corporation or start his own at the next opportunity, rather than remain a wanderer as he was now.
Maybe he was willing to pursue a new path, to deal a heavy blow to the increasingly rigid corporate system, to awaken the numb and oppressed people worldwide.
Cui Junyou concentrated on the task at hand.
He inserted the replacement “Flying God 4” processor into the chip set on Xu Yang’s cerebral cortex and connected it to the pre-fabricated interfacing within Xu Yang’s brain with circuit #7, allowing the bioelectrical signals from the neural center to be converted.
Xu Yang, still anesthetized, made vague moaning sounds, and the neural signal monitor beside him showed extremely active brain waves, indicating his was a mind full of changing ideas.
Cui Junyou then fine-tuned the interface, arranged the heat dissipation, and reset the firmware.
He believed that when Xu Yang woke up, he would experience an unprecedented level of clarity and intelligence.
Twenty minutes remained until the surgery was complete.
The Shuttle Machine, carrying Xu Yang and his party, approached Suzuki Springs.
By then, Suzuki Springs had plunged into chaos.
Leader Suzuki had already led the majority of combatants to evacuate, leaving only one last motorcycle, which could only carry two people.
“Asa Katsuragi, get out of here!” Nakano Osamu yelled into the house.
“The Ratmen are about to break through!”
Asa Katsuragi had just taken two steps outside when many people came running toward her, mostly the underground city dwellers who had been brought back from the Toshiaki Family Group, their faces panic-stricken and fearful.
The crowd was growing, including survivors who had stayed at Suzuki Springs previously.
Asa Katsuragi saw countless familiar faces from the nearby streets; each was a part of her memory, yet she seemed helpless as they faced their doom at the hands of the rats.
“What’s the situation now?
With so many Ratmen outside, is it safe here?”
“They’ve all run off, does the Suzuki Group really have any credibility!”
“Who’s going to protect us?”
Asa Katsuragi stood frozen for a few seconds.
The boss’s order was to stay…
“I—I will protect you,” she said.
Leave its defense to me.
This is also what Leader Suzuki wants!”
“You fool!” Nakano Osamu swung onto his motorcycle, and due to his short stature, his steps were somewhat clumsy.
“Why do you always do things unilaterally!”
Asa Katsuragi stood at the door, unsure how to respond.
“Unilaterally wanting to protect me,” Nakano Osamu yelled, “unilaterally joining the gang, unilaterally adhering to your own creed, and now deciding to stay here unilaterally.
Have you ever made a correct decision in your life!”
“Go then!” Asa Katsuragi nodded.
“Osamu, go and see the world on the ground for me!
Take a ride on a roller coaster!”
“Fool!” Nakano Osamu stepped on the gas and sped away, catching up with the previous group from the Suzuki Group.
Asa Katsuragi looked back at the entrance signboard; the “Suzuki Springs” sign was still so beautiful.
Did everyone just leave ?
Wasn’t there a single person willing to stay and protect it?
To just leave and give up on the place that they had lived in for so long.
This era no longer has a place for me.
The things I know are of no use at all.
Death is the only fair thing, and I think I’m ready to face it.
At least I have been true to myself from the beginning to the end.
Asa Katsuragi took a deep breath, while the survivors around her were still nagging ceaselessly, urging her to go find a weapon to fight.
She turned back and entered the inner room, ready to make a final stand defending Suzuki Springs.
But the Ratmen had arrived!
The frenzied, irritable Ratmen, under the rallying of giant rats, were performing the final sweep over Katagi District.
When Kanako and the others arrived at the entrance to Suzuki Springs, it was nearly overrun by the Ratmen!
Countless Ratmen surged out from all areas, scrambling over the walls one after another, bursting in to hack and slash, with continuous screams coming from inside, and people were being killed every second.
“The gang of the Suzuki Group is finished too,” Kanako looked at the scene outside.
“We must find the God!” Farosa was desperate.
“God—Oh great God, you are the pillar of my life—only in the presence of God can I recover all my powers!”
If Magic Power can’t be used and one can only use crude healing miracles and oaths, restoring the ability to cast spells once or twice with some magic potion, then that person does not deserve to be called a Witch!
Farosa clenched her fists.
Even that leading undead woman over there was better than her!
At least she knew how to pilot this huge flying chariot!
“Without the Shuttle Machine, we are too vulnerable,” Kanako yelled.
“I must go down, I have to,” Farosa harbored an extreme gambler’s notion, believing that as long as she reached that place and saw God, and recovered her powers from God, she was confident she could reverse the situation in an instant.
“Ratmen everywhere, weapons…
weapons…” Kanako looked around.
“I have weapons,” Lila stood up, pulling out a submachine gun.
“There are also some guns on the Shuttle Machine, but I will not give them to you, because leaving the Shuttle Machine now means a high chance of death.
I must force you to stay in your places, we will depart immediately.”
“Kanako, please,” Farosa grabbed Kanako’s wrist, her voice sorrowful.
“Kanako, I must visit the shrine at Suzuki Springs, please.”
“I…” Kanako softened.
Lila, you must listen to me, this is also Xu Yang’s attitude.”
“Then I can only comply,” Lila acknowledged Xu Yang’s opinion.
“Farosa, what exactly is your Witch’s Power?” Kanako asked.
“Instant killing and revival,” Farosa whispered.
now I can only use it once or twice, I don’t know, very little left.”
“Let’s go.” Kanako led Farosa to open the hatch and rushed down.
“That way!” Farosa took the lead, heading straight for the Suzuki Family’s ancestral shrine.
The shrine was at the deepest part of Suzuki Springs.
By the courtyard pond, the survivors were shivering, while Asa Katsuragi, like a door god, guarded the narrow entrance to the central courtyard.
She stood tall and fit, with a crowbar in one hand and a gun in the other, desperately blocking the vicious Ratmen.
One after another, the Ratmen roared as they charged.
Several Black-Furred Stout Rats mixed within the swarm shot at her with dark guns in the narrow terrain, making it hard for her to evade, and her torso was hit by a volley from several Black-Furred Ratmen.
Without implants to aid her, her ordinary body was extremely vulnerable.
“She can’t hold on much longer—” The people were panic-stricken.
Asa Katsuragi gasped for breath, and though resilient, she was greatly weakened due to blood loss, her wrist could hardly lift from repeatedly swinging the weapon, feeling both sore and numb.
Pain like thousands of needles spread throughout her limbs and occupied all the content of her sensory nerves, with sharp pain attacking again and again like a tidal wave drowning her spirit, reminding her how severe her wounds were at the moment.
She could no longer feel many parts of her body as if they had all lost sensation; she did not know when she might fall, only that once she did, the Ratmen would tear her apart and devour her, along with the 30 or so survivors behind her.
More rats approached, and she aimed at them and pulled the trigger, but only the crisp sound of the hammer striking echoed, no bullets fired.
Asa Katsuragi reached instinctively for the magazine at her waist, but all she felt was wet blood.