When the Ghostfire Syndicate vanguard captain saw that using their trump card had only made the Taixu Gang resist even more fiercely, he could not help frowning.
Originally, he had assumed the Taixu Gang was nothing more than a minor group that had existed for less than a month. A couple of casual stomps should have crushed it to death.
Yet unexpectedly, in just one short month, the gang had already developed such powerful cohesion and combat strength.
"What barefoot immortal? Blast her to pieces! Let's see whether guns and cannons are mightier than some immortal!"
The Ghostfire Syndicate's motorcycles began transforming, combining into all manner of gaudy cannon barrels.
As elite members of the Ghostfire Syndicate, the Special Assault Team naturally possessed extraordinary motorcycles. Every one of their vehicles had been custom-built by the "companies."
Through self-transforming technology, their armed motorcycles could convert into antitank cannons equipped with forty-five-millimeter electromagnetic barrels.
Originally measuring 2.5 meters long and 1.2 meters wide, each motorcycle expanded after transformation to a length of 5.5 meters and a width of 3.2 meters.
Given the opportunity, they could even combine with one another to form a high-voltage rail-pulse electromagnetic cannon. The Ghostfire Syndicate had once used it to storm numerous heavily defended urban districts.
The "companies" secretly manufacturing weapons for the Ghostfire Syndicate used this very method to circumvent Heliopolis Life Sciences' weapons restrictions and openly sell military hardware to the syndicate.
"Be careful. They're about to use prohibited weapons."
Bronya's warning came through Hua's earpiece.
Even without her warning, Hua's reaction training at St. Freya Academy allowed her to sense the danger.
Those prohibited weapons might include nuclear or biochemical weapons.
They might even be Honkai energy weapons!
Of course, because Hua had spent so much time around MOTH and the Mad Hatter organization, she had overestimated these criminal gangs. Honkai energy weapons were hardly so easy to manufacture.
Even so, these gangs truly possessed more than conventional military hardware.
They even had radioactive munitions such as depleted-uranium rounds, as well as internationally prohibited ammunition like white-phosphorus shells!
Burning depleted uranium produced radioactive toxicity as well as the chemical toxicity of a heavy metal, contaminating the entire surrounding land.
Yet the Ghostfire Syndicate did not care in the slightest about the consequences of using such prohibited ammunition. That was why every place they had visited before had become a desolate dead zone.
Hua rushed toward the Ghostfire Syndicate members handling the cannon barrels, hoping to stop them.
But motorcycles were still motorcycles. No matter how agile Hua was, she could not match the speed of cold machinery. Otherwise, the Ghostfire Syndicate would never have been so troublesome.
What was ghostfire?
It appeared and vanished unpredictably like a phantom, while the blue netherflame of its autocannons filled people with terror.
That was the true origin of the Ghostfire Syndicate's name.
It was not that Hua had no way to deal with them. The Taixuan Divine Sword could naturally be controlled remotely like a drone and swiftly defeat the enemy, but that presented another problem.
If she directly used the Taixuan Divine Sword to slice apart their shells, the radioactive ammunition might still explode.
More importantly, behind Hua stood a group of Taixu Gang followers.
If I dodge here, all of them will die beneath the bombardment.
Just as Hua found herself trapped in a dilemma, Bronya's calm voice came through her earpiece.
"Miss Hua, following Teacher Vill-V's instructions, Bronya has uploaded the hacking module's executable program to the local network transmission tower..."
The instant Hua received Bronya's signal, she immediately widened the distance between herself and the Ghostfire Syndicate members.
"Come chase me! What, can't catch up?"
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be good with motorcycles? Running away already?"
"Perfect! Turtle Immortal, have a taste of my depleted-uranium cannon!"
The Ghostfire Syndicate members assumed Azure Empyrea had lost her nerve and was preparing to flee. Laughing wildly, they aimed their ice-cold cannon muzzles at the slender red-haired girl.
No one could escape the range of such overwhelming heavy firepower.
Not even an immortal!
Azure Empyrea creating distance was exactly what they wanted. They did not dare use prohibited ammunition at close range either. Although some of them possessed minds bordering on cyberpsychosis, they still valued their own lives greatly.
The antitank cannons had harsh, angular contours and radiated a chilling presence. Their targeting reticles had already locked firmly onto Hua's figure.
Like the gaze of the Grim Reaper.
With computer assistance, they would unleash a precise and utterly inhumane saturation bombardment upon Hua in the next second.
Depleted-uranium rounds possessed tremendous armor-piercing ability. If several struck her, even the defensive device Vill-V had given her would not allow her to escape unscathed.
In the distance, atop the storyteller's platform...
Before the ancient storytelling table, the young Bronya sat leisurely on the platform's edge.
The hem of her pure-white dress fluttered gently in the wind.
Bronya's gaze passed through the gaps between the five spread fingers of her right hand.
There, motorcycles roared as their polished bodies gleamed coldly beneath the high beams. The riders were burly and savage-faced, their expressions filled with arrogance.
But to Bronya, their behavior perfectly matched that of disposable enemies who existed solely to provide experience points.
"Force-terminate process!"
She softly recited the incantation.
A three-dimensional depleted-battery symbol appeared on Bronya's AR glasses.
Within her field of vision, row after row of modified motorcycles, antitank cannons, and mechanical hounds began crackling with electrical sparks before shutting down one after another.
They collapsed to the ground, completely paralyzed, looking as though every last drop of fuel and power had been drained from them.
Even the fully modified mechanical bosozoku toppled to the ground one after another.
The Ghostfire Syndicate's motorcycles were indeed advanced black technology, but black technology had weaknesses of its own—namely, the hacker Bronya.
Not everyone could operate black technology. To make their equipment easier to use, the Ghostfire Syndicate's motorcycles and artillery were all equipped with intelligent terminals.
And reliance on intelligent terminals meant network connectivity.
Offline intelligent terminals certainly existed, but the "companies" would never agree to that.
Just like online and single-player games, requiring a network connection not only prevented pirated systems but also allowed the companies to squeeze a constant stream of profit from their users.
The Ghostfire Syndicate members did not possess the technical ability to create an independent pirated system.
The rival companies certainly had that capability and would even personally sabotage their competitors, but obtaining their assistance required paying more credits than the technology itself was worth.
Would the Ghostfire Syndicate willingly become such fools and serve as someone else's blade?
Of course not.
That suited Bronya perfectly.
Thus, every system they used had already been breached through backdoors by Bronya's hacking program. Their processes were terminated and their power supplies cut off.
Anything whose processes could not be terminated or whose power could not be severed was forcibly short-circuited by cyberpunk pulses released from surrounding systems.
As a result, the Ghostfire Syndicate, which had been advancing unstoppably moments earlier... collapsed at the slightest touch in the very next second.
After all, just moments ago, the Ghostfire Syndicate had been supported by equipment and mechanical hounds from various "companies." Even if they had not been carrying out a one-sided massacre, the battle had still been going overwhelmingly in their favor.
Now they had no motorcycles, no hounds, and could not even use their high-tech weapons. The bosozoku, who had long grown accustomed to high-speed combat, were completely at a loss.
At present, they moved even more slowly than crawling turtles.
They resembled rows of wilted chives, all their earlier arrogance completely gone.
Pop.
The girl calmly blew a bubble of gum.
As silence returned to the ruins, she spoke indifferently. "Your balance is insufficient. Time to pay the electricity bill."