The train plunged into the tunnel once again.

Darkness enveloped the carriage, with only neon streams outside the window, and the emotionless sound of advertisements surrounding them.

John received a black rectangular box.

The flickering button detected bioelectricity, automatically unlocked, and spit out a half-complex Chip.

John was a bit lost in thought.

Why does it look so much like a Special Inhibitor?

He pulled it out completely and immediately identified the difference; at least hardware-wise, it was slightly different.

[Mission Objective Updated]

[Use decryption program. (Not achieved)]

John took a deep breath.

He inserted the Chip into the back of his head.

The intercity train emerged from the tunnel, and the sunlight and fleeting cityscape reappeared outside the window.

The rapid change in pressure caused temporary deafness.

John heard his own heartbeat, bizarrely recalling the first time he used a Special Inhibitor.

[System Restarting...]

[...Parsing Failed...Attempting Secondary Calibration...Successful Response to Data Fragment, Logical Loop Value Abnormal...Jump, Jump Operation Successful...]

Black Light was boiling.

John felt a ringing in his ears, followed by a familiar nausea, as if something inside him was awakening.

He couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Ah, damn it, my mind hasn't felt this clear in a long time."

The dazed feeling from cyber psychosis faded.

John stretched with a refreshed spirit.

The Atlanta Virtual Network was docking with the city's local network, and all sorts of equipment, including Black Spider, were remotely receiving commands to reboot.

[Threshold: 67%↑]

John noticed that his cyber psychosis index was rising.

But he didn't feel any discomfort at all; there was even a vague premonition that all he needed to do was return to his apartment and a piece of Special Inhibitor would clear the side effects.

"I'll get off at the next stop, thanks, buddy."

John leaned his head against the glass and whistled, the long-standing pressure gradually dissipating.

[System Restart Complete.]

[Searching...Emergency Procedure Nine...Device...]

The text suddenly disappeared.

John frowned—he seemed to have seen some unsettling prompt message just now.

"No need to thank me."

Hugo picked up on John's words.

He said tiredly.

"This is a transaction, we're square now. Once I reach the Plato Cybersecurity Department, I imagine there'll hardly be any contact left apart from corporate assassinations since you're a mercenary, right? You're like a different class from corporate hackers."

"Pretty heartless, you corporate dog."

John mocked Hugo with a laugh.

He currently felt no discomfort.

The Black Ice Program should have been disabled, and the rest of the information would be investigated when alone; there was no need to expose privacy to the person beside him.

The train was speeding along.

The station information flickered.

John estimated there were a few minutes left to chat, so he continued to speak to avoid awkward silences.

"Why are you going to Plato, do you know anyone there?"

"A coincidence really, I've talked to several companies, but the terms were more or less the same, they all thought I was a prisoner, trying to control me in a more cost-effective way."

Hugo said with a mocking shake of his head.

"But only Plato responded to me, it was a personnel manager, doesn't matter if I tell you, named Pacific Connor."

The air inside the train seemed blocked for a moment.

John widened his eyes and turned to look at Hugo, who seemed startled by his expression as well.

"Pacifica... are you sure that's the name?"

John felt a surge of electricity crawling from his scalp to his tailbone.

Hugo frowned, asking what's wrong with that name?

During the witness protection program, it was hard for him to obtain external information, had a bad relationship with Internet Surveillance, and it was impossible to get detailed information from state police...

John took a breath.

"Pacific Connor is the name of a serum, she has been missing for over half a year, Plato Laboratory has been turning the place upside down to find her whereabouts, how could she be chatting with you online?"

The more he spoke, the more alarmed he felt.

Hugo squinted his eyes in suspicion, soon felt relieved, and then his expression became increasingly grave.

"No wonder, there has been a sense of discord everywhere... John, how much do you know about the Serum, you must tell me, this..."

Hugo grabbed John's arm eagerly and said.

John's attention was drawn to the car's announcement, so much so that he didn't even look at the anxious Hugo, but instead stared at the LCD screen on the door directly in front of him.

[Speed: UN/△]

"I haven't taken an intercity train in a long time. I was just about to say, don't you think this train's a bit fast today?"

John slowly turned his head.

Time, sound, and color seemed to freeze in that moment.

The scenery in the car stretched and elongated within his vision.

The Messiah's Eye was operating rapidly but couldn't focus, and the immense inertia and centrifugal force almost ripped John's heart out of his chest.

John had just turned his head...

The next second.

His body collided with the carriage, a brief pause before he could make out the surroundings.

Hugo flew past him.

He had been leaning against the railing, and an invisible force silently ripped his neck apart, easier than tearing paper, as blood bizarrely suspended in mid-air.

Other passengers in the carriage also shifted positions.

Tempered glass, black electronic components, various fragmented and chaotic items all crushed and broke in the air.

Crack, bang.

John's vision flipped again.

He even suspected that those frames he saw moments ago were hallucinations, but the intense pain from all over his body in the darkness reminded him that it was all truly happening.

Deafening noise swallowed the world.

John crashed through the central door of the compartment, scraped past handrails, and broke two vertical poles.

Fortunately, his alloy arm absorbed the impact, otherwise it would have been torn apart by the various obstacles in the carriage.

Even so.

John still felt difficulty breathing and even lost control of his prosthetic, while his left hand bent outward awkwardly, and he continued to roll wildly in the chaotic space.

Bang.

John was thrown into the corner.

He coughed up blood violently, unsure of how many carriages he had passed through, the terrifying feeling of weightlessness followed.

Glass scraped his cheek.

John suddenly awoke and looked out the window.

The tempered glass that once displayed advertisements had vanished, turning into flying shards of blades, leaving only a twisted rectangular frame that let in the howling wind.

The train, suspended on the city's tracks, was losing control.

Concrete and metal bridge frames spewed smoke, as the snake-like carriages detached, each bursting into flames and arcs of electricity, crashing toward the ground at deadly angles.

John's body floated within the carriage.

He clawed wildly in the air but couldn't find a stable point of leverage.

The few seconds he was airborne were crystal clear.

John's brain cells desperately tried to memorize every detail, adrenaline pumping madly, yet unable to stop any of it from happening.

Shadows engulfed the surroundings.

Through the rectangular framework, John saw several crossed thick lines and various moving block objects.

It took him a fraction of a second, perhaps even shorter, but after a momentary daze, he realized:

The road outside was in Eden City.

The ground and citizens were in a fearful stance, ready to greet a massive impact, screams and wind noises rudely drilled into his ears.

Fear overwhelmed all scattered thoughts.

The steel serpent emitted a sharp explosion.

John bounced erratically like a billiard ball inside the carriage, finally flung out through a gap.

He was inconspicuous amidst the explosions and flames.

The billboard under the municipal overpass was pierced through, and the dusty, debris-laden shrubs caught John.

He sank into the soil.

His consciousness became blurred.

John lost his sense of time.

He seemed to see the mangled, burning train carriage collapse once or twice more, hitting the bridge, while hot air and metal scraps tore past his body.

More things fell into the grass.

When John came to again, the sky around had turned dark, sirens and broadcasts echoed from all directions, and emergency teams and ECPD hovercars crisscrossed overhead.

Who knows how long had passed.

John regained consciousness again, tried to lift his head, failed, and drowsily moved his head, seeing his severed arm stuck in the ground not far away.

The last time he awoke was startled by the mechanical sound.

[Emergency Procedure [Activated]]

Clack, clack, clack, clack.

Black Spider cut through wood and moved away from metal sheets.

Its dense red lights covered John's unfocused eyes, then retrieved a special inhibitor, and slowly inserted it into his slot.

Mechanical noises sounded in the grass.

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