The auxiliary prosthetic bodies and active weapons they wore were all locked down, even the duty guards couldn't draw their guns.

John was still trapped in Sianweistan's time stop state.

In cyberspace, he watched the digitized world, and Black Light's information popped up in his view.

[Detected intrusion, authorizing user marking, multiple detections, verification, response failed, attempting reboot...]

[Update complete, intrusion rejected.]

Data streams flashed past John, his mind slightly numb.

After integrating Oulos's algorithm, Black Light had added a feature to counter remote hacking.

This indiscriminate prosthetic lockdown didn't affect John.

Agave Rope was the closest hacker, and he suffered significant neural damage.

He gritted his teeth through the pain and grabbed his satchel to escape, but as soon as he took a step, his tightened backpack yanked him back to the ground.

"Oh, shit!"

Agave Rope looked up in pain and was shocked to see:

The mercenary in front of him had already recovered from the Black Ice bomb, glaring at him menacingly.

"...What's going on? Bro, how did you..."

He was a bit confused about the situation.

In the next moment.

John's fist enlarged infinitely in his vision.

...

Police sirens came closer and faded away.

Electronic music and cartoon advertisements came near and disappeared.

Holographic projections slid quickly across the car window glass.

Agave Rope was tossed into the back seat in an awkward position, slowly opening his eyes, his lip ring lightly tapping the glass with each bump.

"Hiss, whew~"

He felt his left eye socket filled with bruises, the muscles and bones aching, trying to sit upright, but realized he couldn't fully open it.

"It hurts, doesn't it? Honestly, I kinda wished that punch came from me."

Gino sat in the passenger seat, turned to look at him.

"Finding you wasn't easy, ignoring my messages, stood me up, and you even had the time to go to a live stream and burn someone's reproductive organ!"

She said, flipping the middle finger.

"Such a familiar tone, Gino, right? Yeah, besides the Wanderer Alliance having a special backdoor, no one else could've tracked me down."

Agave Rope had already guessed who had abducted him.

"Seriously, even if you were pissed, there was no need to hire mercenaries to unbox me IRL, right? The Edwards cake was just a joke, back then..."

"Shut up! You, you perverted gay who loves Cat Girls!"

"Hey! I'm straight, okay? What's wrong with liking Cat Girls?"

"Whatever, if you mention the Edwards cake thing again..." Gino squinted, raising her middle finger again. "You'll definitely regret it."

"...Alright."

Agave Rope raised his hands, forcing a smile.

He's offended Internet Surveillance, Eden City Police Station, corporate network security departments, and countless gangster drug lords.

Compared to being caught by those guys, getting punched by friends from the Wanderer Alliance felt blissful.

Gino calmed her anger, took a deep breath, and spoke seriously.

"I need your help."

"Obviously."

"We need to see the boss."

"...Wow."

Agave Rope glanced out the window, taking two seconds before speaking.

"I already replied to you in cyberspace, the boss... uh, she's in quite a difficult situation now, it's extremely dangerous."

"I have something very important to discuss."

"NO, no, no, not you, Gino, it's him, right?"

Agave Rope's gaze shifted to the driver's seat, staring at John's back.

Inside the Silver Rider supercar, there wasn't a physical rear-view mirror; normally, the entire vehicle's visual system was transmitted into the driver's nerves.

John's cybernetic eye flickered, activating the vehicle's traditional mode.

A rectangular frame appeared in the middle of the windshield, canceling auxiliary images, selecting a normal mirror reflection and car interior environment.

John and Agave Rope finally locked eyes through this mirror.

"You know me?"

"Uh, yes, sir."

Agave Rope suddenly became at a loss for words.

He had that typical communication barrier common among traditional hackers, the contrast between the safety of the online environment and his real-life isolation was evident. With Gino, he was at least familiar from being hacker buddies for a long time, but facing the mercenary's scrutiny suddenly made him feel awkward.

"You are suspected of contacting roaming AI, words like 'major threat' and 'Darknet' appear in the wanted reports, Internet Surveillance will be watching you for life, got it?"

"Including now?"

"In a sense, yes, the surveillance methods in the city by Internet Surveillance are beyond your imagination. You might not feel it, but if issues arise, exposing weaknesses at critical moments, don't doubt for a second, the next moment Internet Surveillance's hovercar will smash right on your face!"

Agave Rope sat even lower, pulling down his velvet cap to cover the obvious cooling vents and network connection module around his temples, pretending to adjust hair tangled with his headphones.

"So you're the least suitable to see the boss, Internet Surveillance is also looking for her."

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