Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Rescuing Someone from a Vat of Oil

It took John some time to figure out the whole story.

First, the goods weren’t his. This Shark Coin got greedy and stole raw materials from Owl Town, only to be unwittingly busted by Gino while smuggling and reselling.

Then he kidnapped the girl and tried to extort ransom from the Black Gold Gang, but the word got out.

Owl Town put a bounty on his head.

The guy got scared, wanted to escape, so he sold Gino to the Ghoul for travel money, but before he could leave the shop, he was blocked by Long Chuanze.

John listened, his brows furrowed tightly.

The situation had gotten complicated.

Long Chuanze was also a bit displeased.

Owl Town’s upper echelons have a top-down disdain chain, always thinking these petty thieves are insignificant, yet they turn a blind eye to the gang’s chaotic expansion, forever maintaining the dignity of the pyramid’s top.

“You all hear that? Get out, or stay and keep him company.”

Long Chuanze issued the eviction order once again.

The person on the chair was twitching constantly, drenched in cold sweat.

[Leave the casino, look for clues about Gino. (Optional)]

[Get information from the trader. (Optional)]

The mission offered choices.

Gino could become a corpse at any moment.

John frowned, asking sternly, “I need information about that girl, where she was sold, how do I contact her?”

Long Chuanze’s gaze turned lethal.

“Are you new to this or what? Hasn’t your employer told you about the relationship between the Black Gold Gang and Owl Town? So eager to die…”

The alloy dagger in his hand reflected the light, appearing wet and sharp.

“Is Owl Town ready for war?”

John wasn’t scared, but retorted.

“While you’re playing interrogation games here, the Godfather of the Black Gold Gang is still expecting the girl home… Let me make it clear, this could either be an underling transaction or a signal of gang wars in Eden City.”

Owl Town thugs had already blocked the exit.

Long Chuanze frowned, scrutinizing John seriously, remained silent for a few seconds, then turned and swung the alloy dagger directly at the unlucky guy on the chair.

The man let out a painful cry—his unmodified left arm immediately drenched in blood, seemingly severed, just bound and not falling off.

“Give him the information he wants.”

Long Chuanze folded his arms behind his back, returning to the corner sofa to rest.

John quickly stepped forward, hearing the faint voice, he tilted his head, bringing his ear close to the other’s face, memorizing the information firmly.

Just before leaving, Long Chuanze called after John.

“Hey, are you from the Black Gold Gang?”

“I work for myself.”

John had no time to waste, almost running as he left the casino, Silver Rider 577 had just come to a stop but roared the engine and sped away.

[Mission objectives updated]

[Find Gino’s whereabouts. (Incomplete)]

Eden City is rife with illegal activities, and within the underground world’s disdain chain, Ghouls are always the despised ones.

People in the Cyber Era are willing to invest their wealth in themselves, even for many street wanderers, their bodies are all they possess.

The Ghouls have targeted this way of making money.

They indiscriminately attack any citizen, as long as there’s an implant in their sight, they’ll find ways to ambush, kidnap, knock out, strip the victim of all prosthetics, remove any sellable organs.

Do you think that’s the end?

The Ghouls’ skills vary, and if you encounter a skilled scumbag, they might torture you to death, filming it to sell the raw footage to chip vendors. As for whether the remaining flesh pieces get further processed, it’s uncertain.

They have no limits, they literally squeeze every bit of value from you, doing the most despicable deeds scattered throughout the city.

Gino has been captured for some time now.

John could only pray she had the luck to survive.

Silver Rider stopped based on the clues along the bank of Sakura Cross Street, surrounded by cheap tin houses, convenient for hiding, their interiors resembling factories and workshops.

John didn’t even need an augmented eye scan, seeing several suspicious trucks parked on the vacant lot from far away, with three scowling thugs leaning against the bank’s railing, telling vulgar jokes.

He went around behind the tin box, immediately smelling the stench of decay.

The gap between the building’s back and the bank was filled, the scan results showed a pile of hastily packed body parts.

Roaches crawled freely.

There were armed guards standing in the distance, under the tarp was powerful fuel—the Ghouls probably planned to use a big fire to clean the crime scene when leaving.

The tin houses along the street are all cheap constructions, no matter the size, they all share the same utility box and signal tower.

The ghouls gathered here are simple-minded scum, they wouldn’t even think to post guards for their signal circuits.

John skillfully inserted the data line.

Most of the surveillance systems inside the factory had been dismantled, but there was a blood-splattered operating room in the back, preserved with a camera and emotion sensors because Super Sensing Chips were being recorded.

The lens hacked in, revealing everything at a glance.

The good news was there were fewer ghouls than imagined, probably busy mugging people in the city center.

The bad news was there were several bodies visible, and there was an open-chest person on the operating table.

After scanning the enemy information, John immediately moved into the tin house, using the line of sight dead angle.

He had already scanned the surrounding building materials—ghouls often tortured hostages in workspaces, and the surrounding walls were soundproofed, obviously not wanting to be found by gangs or bored cops.

“Hey, you!”

A burly man carrying a body noticed John and was about to shout a warning, but a rifle bullet blew through his rotting teeth.

The simultaneous fall of two bodies drew attention.

John set up his rifle on the box, using his information advantage to pre-aim, and the next second, several heads popped out from inside the room, gunfire rang out, and they were immediately torn to pieces.

Rapid footsteps echoed from the steel staircase.

John adjusted his direction, charged his electromagnetic high-penetration bullets and aimed, shooting right through the thin metal door at the scumbag about to open it.

Ratatatatat.

The ghouls on guard started to retaliate.

Outside the window, some gun flames were visible, several panes of glass shattered, bullets landing amid the piles of debris and bodies.

John dodged a round of gunfire.

He was just about to get up and retaliate when the opponent, after firing, immediately ran away.

[Take Gino away before reinforcements arrive. (Not achieved)]

“Damn, they can call for backup.”

John cursed as he got up.

He pulled the white cloth off the trolley nearby, but none of the bodies’ scan results matched.

John kicked open the operating room door.

Two ghouls holding knives tried to ambush him, only to be mercilessly turned into sieves by bullets.

The corpse on the table died with eyes wide open, vital signs completely gone, fortunately, it wasn’t Gino.

John could only continue searching along the path he came, unintentionally scanning a half-open cold storage in the corner.

He immediately ran in.

Cold air was seeping out constantly, the metal cabin inside had no ice; the floor was covered in water, and several stripped clean corpses hung like meat on hooks.

John followed the cable to the depths of the building.

There was a bathing pool-like immersion pool, white floating ice and several naked corpses drifted around.

“Damn, you bastards.”

John had heard some stories:

They loaded excessive software into living people’s heads until the nerve endings were scorched, and the ghouls would record the entire process to sell to other perverts.

[Name: Gino]

The best and worst thing happened.

John found the weak-breathing Gino in the pool, he embraced her and ran towards the operating room, first finding emergency pharmaceuticals to numb her nerves, then pulling out the trash chip in her neck.

Gino’s life signs were continuously declining.

John was about to do something when the sound of distant brakes came from the shattered window outside.

“Shit!”

John wrapped Gino up with a white cloth, slung her over his shoulder, and at the moment he climbed out of the blood-soaked factory, dense footsteps were heard from the steel staircase.

Without looking back, he dove into the car, slammed the pedal to the floor, the roar of the engine echoed through the street.

[Mission objective updated]

[Bring Gino’s body back to the Black Gold Gang. (Optional)]

[Save Gino’s life. (Optional)]

The face of John was briefly illuminated by high beams.

Through the rearview mirror, he saw several modified cars speeding towards him—beside him was the near-death Gino, and behind him was the relentless pursuit of the ghouls.

This was truly an adrenaline-fueled race against time.

“`

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