Chapter 14: The Way Out

Chapter 14: The Way Out

Once I regained my balance, I quickly left the room. The way was clear as researchers scrambled back into rooms and the guards congregated by the entry points.

I carefully approached a group of guards from behind who were fortifying their position against the staircase I had entered from. There were six of them ‌divided into two groups to form a crossfire.

Once their sergeant finished giving out commands, their attention was entirely on the entry point. I took the opportunity to close in with two new toys in hand.

I grasped the tops of the toy and sprung them open like a childproof bottle, then threw the first one at the trio furthest away from me. I gently lobbed the second one without delay at the other group near me before taking cover behind the contours of the corridor.

As soon as I had gotten into cover, the sound of an explosion rang out, swiftly followed by another.

From behind the cover, I saw the six experience prompts.

+10 EXP

+10 EXP

+10 EXP

+10 EXP

+10 EXP

+10 EXP

That was a lot easier than I thought. I should definitely stock up on a few more explosives just in case, even if it doesn’t go well with stealth...

Searching the bodies, I found two usable submachine guns and strapped them to my back, along with the chest rigs that carried several spare mags. I double-timed it back to the head researcher’s office and issued the command to unlock all the rooms that held the test subjects.

I raced toward the room where Leo was. On the way, I saw several doors slightly opened with people peeking out who quickly hid when our eyes met.

It was the same at the door to room two, where Leo was located, though they thankfully didn’t slam the door on me.

The person at the door retreated further in and chatted with the residents of the room while I entered.Điscover new chapters at novelhall.coming.” The teenage red-haired girl closest to the door said.

“Calm down, Claire.” A voice from the back replied.

The room was only furnished with six beds, with three on each side of the room. There were four other people standing around the girl, and the last person in the back was still in bed. The man turned to face me as I entered.

“So Flo did call in another team for this shit hole.” He scanned me from top to bottom.

“I’m not much of a team by myself, but yes, Flo did send me. I’m Rollo.” I approached and offered my hand.

“The new guy she met?” He gave me a doubting gaze, though he still shook my hand.

“Leo, as I’m sure you already know. What’s the plan?”

“Flo and your team are upstairs—”

“Heh, so I’ve heard... go on.”

“They are upstairs fighting their way down, so we’re going to make our way up to meet them. You know how to use one of these?” I said and threw one of the submachine guns at him.

“As if anyone in this city doesn’t, proficiency, on the other hand...I’m more of the computer guy than a fighter.”

“Well, they shouldn’t be expecting us from behind, so just point and shoot.”

As I peeled my eyes away from the experience text, a sword poked out around the corner down the hallway. I brought my Suri up and aimed at the corner when a seven-foot-tall man came into view. From all the visible cybernetics, it was safe to say the man was a genuine cyborg, as all his limbs were cybernetic replacements.

I reflexively unloaded my entire clip at him, only to see it deflect off his armor and synthetic skin.

He grinned and dashed straight at me with inhuman speed. I threw myself back into the stairwell and closed the door behind me. I retreated down to create more space between us.

Just as I made it down the first flight of stairs, a loud impact rang out, and the walls around the door I just closed cracked.

Changing ammo as I made my way out of the stairway, I spotted Leo and Claire down the corridor with their guns at the ready. I double-checked that my connection with Lana was still good.

“Lana, I’m going to need your help really soon. Get ready for a new connection that’ll open up in a second. And you two, stay back!”

“What’s going on?” Claire said, confused, while Leo glared behind me cautiously.

I ignored them and continued, “Lana, you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah. Just busy getting the corpo nerds outta the security system, but sure, I definitely can help you out even with my hands full. I’ll just have to use my third hand.”

Standing at one end of the corridor, I aimed at the door to the stairwell on the other side. I took note of Leo and Claire, who hadn’t listened to me. They opted to remain, but I didn’t have time to care or rebuke them right now.

As I expected, the cyborg showed up behind me, ramming the entire door in my direction as he came into view. He once again dashed forward as soon as he saw us, the three of us unleashed a hail of bullets in response.

This time, he zig-zagged around despite our bullets simply dinging off his body even when they struck.

Once he was halfway toward us, I stopped shooting and tapped on both my ally’s shoulders.

“Move back. We need to buy some time.”

We sprinted away from the incoming cyborg while sending a text via my SAID to my hacker, *Lana! Did you get the connection?*

We dashed into an empty room because we would’ve led the threat to the rest of the group if we continued any further down the hallway.

The cyborg followed right behind us, ripping open the door from the hinges and holding it in one hand, like a makeshift shield.

“I’m working on it. It should just take a second. You’re lucky this baby corporation’s security sucks.”

Right when the cyborg started his dash, he seemed to suddenly lose steam before he tripped over himself and fell face-first into the ground.

“I locked his chrome. Hurry, before he restarts his soft.” Lana’s voice cried out.

Pushing down my instincts that told me to stay away from the menacing cyborg, I quickly unsheathed my dagger and plunged it into the back of his head.

There was some resistance when the vibroblade made contact with him, but it couldn’t stop it from piercing through.

+20 EXP

We collectively released a sigh of relief as we stepped over his body and exited the room.

Leo spat at the body as he walked by, “Cyborg fucker. Lucky I don’t have any of my gear on me right now.”

Thank the heavens I bought the EI rounds and had a hacker on the hotline, because I definitely didn’t have the skills or equipment to do any hacking in the middle of a fight.

I swapped my ammo back to my regular rounds and split off from the group again to check on the floor above, but as I was halfway up the stairs, Lana spoke out to me, “Flo’s team cleared the floor, I let her know you’re on the way.”

That was the kind of good news I liked to hear.

Now let’s hope the rest of this outing will be smooth sailing.