Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Outrun Book 2, Neon Sprawl, is out!

Outrun’s really come a lone way since I started writing it way back then. And all of that is thanks to you guys. I really can’t thank you enough. I know I tell you how thankful I am every once in a while, but I figured I’d share why what you guys do matters, even if it’s just a little thing.

First and foremost, even just reading my stories is encouraging. I thought I’d cast my net out into the void when I first started writing, and that would be that. I thought about quitting several times in the beginning, to be honest. Every time I see someone read one of my chapters, though, it helped me decide to push on and keep creating. Some of what I’ve made since the start hasn’t been very good, but you guys have always been my motivation to improve and keep working to make something better than the last chapter.

Likes and favorites that you guys have left really does make a difference. Even just one person favoriting my book on RR is still massive to me. I actually have to force myself not to check my stats daily… which is rougher sometimes than others. I wouldn’t have even been seen by Mango if not for every single one of you lovely people helping me along the way. They tend to only publish stories with a certain follower amount.

Then there’s the ratings and review. As you might be able to tell, I get pretty nervous when it comes to writing. Every time I got a rating or review, it was like a flashing sign that what I made was better than I thought it was.

Then there’s the whole algorithm side of things. More engagement, even just checkout on KU without reading it, pushes Outrun harder. More algorithm = more readers, and it starts a positive spiral upward for everything above. So really, thank you.

Right, enough of me yapping. If you’re interested in reading Book 2 of Outrun, which as a bunch of stuff rewritten for better clarity, less plot holes, and just a better story overall, here’s the link:https://www.amazon.com/Outrun-Neon-Sprawl-Lost-Rain-ebook/dp/B0HHGD8NLY?ref_=saga_dp_bnx_dsk_dp

— — —

I peeked around the corner with my rifle raised and at the ready. The halls of the research base were all bleak, dark expanses of concrete and brutalist design. The darkness wasn’t much of an issue thanks to Luna’s night vision upgrade, but the sameness of everything was starting to wear on me.

”You see it?” I slowly shifted the sights of my rifle up to a broken apart turret hanging from the roof. Bullets marked the concrete all around the turret.

“I’m not sure how far he went in, but there’s automated defenses all across this place, Shiro.” Luna appeared beside me, and walked out into the hall. “If you can get us to a console, I can check what they have here.”

”Don’t suppose you’d know where a console is, then?” I moved out after her, and followed the netrunner down the hall.

“Um… here.” A light lit up on my HUD through the wall. A moment later, the light spider-webbed into dozens of other connection points spread across the research base. The lights continued branching out until a particularly bright one flashed somewhere ahead of me.

I adjusted my route. I didn’t have a blueprint to go off of this time around, but it wasn’t too much of a hassle to figure out where I was going. Everything was clearly labeled, and with the translation packet that Luna got me, I could tell exactly where everything was.

My footsteps were dead silent as I crossed the abandoned halls of the facility, and right on top of the target. “You see an elevator anywhere?”

”No? One sec.” Another ping went through the walls of the facility and device information for everything connected to the facility’s network popped up. It was far too much for me to get through, but Luna sifted through it all in a moment. A light on the opposite side of the facility popped up. “Here.

“… I’m not going that far.” I pulled my sword and flicked it several times. Thin lines cut through the heavy concrete into a square just beside our target.

“Shiro? It didn’t work.”

“Chek. Give it a second.” I flicked my sword back, and the ferrofluid sheath steadily covered the blade once more. Honestly, I needed to make something like this when I got back. I doubted I could pull off the monomolecular blade, but ferro fluid was kinda cool.

Once it was smoothly put away once more, I stomped on the ground. With a groan, the cement gave way and fell out from below me. I rode it down into the room below, and smoothly rolled off into a could of dust.

I popped up and flicked my winter coat back. “We’re in.”

I dropped down into some kind of security room. Weapon lockers along the walls held all sorts of rifles, and one entire wall was taken up by monitors and systems of various kinds. It was the largest security room I’d seen in my life by far. That was mainly thanks to the fact that it opened up into a massive chamber loaded with weird cylinders.

”Get me to the console.” A console on the far side of the room lit up blue. “I’ll try to find the good stuff.”

I jacked into the console. While Luna was busy with her thing, I took a look at the weapons lockers. My jack could pull out pretty far, so I easily reached the side of the security room and cracked the lock using some spare metal. Most of the rifles were Rustek AX-34s. It was the same rifle I had… though the versions here had some nice attachments.

“This’ll take me a few minutes, Shiro. Gah, it’s like I’m breaking into Raijin.” Luna sighed. “Sorry.”

”Take your time.” It just so happened I had something to keep my hands busy. I smoothly stripped the security armory’s AX-34s and swapped over the attachments. Most of them were stuff that would just weigh me down, but I couldn’t say no to the silence and scope.

By the time I got done, Luna was just finishing up behind me. I could tell because the lights across the large chamber behind me all lit up. I winced, at the sudden light. “Uh, Luna?”

“Good news is we’re in.” Luna backed away from the console and disappeared into pixels.

”Why do I get the feeling there’s bad news?” I ripped my jack out of the console, and it snapped back into place at my wrist.

”Bad news, I think I triggered a fail safe.”

The lights flashed, and the cylinders all around the big room popped open. White mist poured out, and lights inside the cylinders flashed on. Shadows appeared against the mist. Humanoid shadows, and slowly moving ones at that.

I grabbed my rifle, and leaned against the door frame. Mechanical whines broke out, and heavy turrets deployed from the roof. Maybe they wouldn’t see—

Pwing!

“Argh!’ A shot slammed into my arm, and I jerked back into cover. Hot blood poured out from my coat. My arm limply flopped to my side.

”Shiro!”

”That hurts.” I pulled a Medstim out and slammed it into my arm. Why’d they have to make the pain senses so accurate? The miracle fluid started its work immediately while I cowered. “Since when do they hit the first shot?!”

Luna appeared back by the console. She was invisible to everyone but me, so nothing bothered to shoot at her. ”Just… Just by us some time. I’ll get this fixed.”

“Easier said than done.” I peeked out to check on the situation.

There were about twelve turrets spread across the roof, and robots were stepping out of the cryo tanks—no, not robots. Some kind of cyborg? There was still flesh and skin clinging in between metal plates. Cyborg also didn’t feel like it fit though. They moved too mechanically. A biotech robot, maybe?

“Damnit.” I pulled back as concrete shrapnel shot off from the side of the doorframe I was using as cover. My arm was already starting to heal. “You didn’t warn me this was booby trapped!”

”I didn’t know!”

“Why’d they have to make this thing so realistic?! Automated defenses, really?” I took a breath, and my grip tightened on my rifle. There was no way I was getting down through the room with so many guns on me—at least, not without a few fresh bullet holes.

Okay, okay, okay. Think this through, Shiro. There’s a way out of this, right? I mean, dying in a battle royal to the automated defenses and not even another Operator would be incredibly embarrassing. What did I have—“Spider tank?”

”Yeah, ‘cause I can get that down here in time.” Luna shot down my idea.

”Don’t have to be so mean.” I pulled a grenade out and tossed it around the corner. It bounced off one of the cryo tanks and dropped down between a mass of cyborgs. None of them even tried to dodge, and just brokenly continued to march toward me.

Boom!

The frag grenade exploded, and tore apart the several cyborgs with sprays of shrapnel. I rapidly poked out with Dexterity and sprinted across the doorway with the ThunderGod Greaves. My rifle snapped up, and I sprayed into the crowd as I crossed. Bullets trailed after me the entire way.

I slid into cover, and dropped my magazine for a new one. A moment later, I shot out a turret just before it could lock onto me. “Luna?”

”Halfway there.” A blue bar popped into my HUD.

"Can't you go any quicker?!” I ducked back as a bullet whizzed right by my face. The cyborgs were starting to move around to get a better lock on my location. It was only a matter of time till I was pinned in.

I winced, and pulled out a claymore I’d been saving for a defensive formation. I needed an area attack, and claymores were basically explosive powered shotguns with 700 slugs.

I eyed the room, and lined up a throw. Just as the gunfire cut and the machines started to reload, I poked out and threw the claymore out into the room. It sailed through the air, and landed right in front of the lead cyborg.

The laser-primed claymore went off with a bang, and a blast wiped out the front group of cyborgs. Metal screeched across metal, and parts shot off into the room. The metal balls blasted through the cyborgs, and wiped out the front line.

A turret pod deployed out of the roof behind me—and was immediately jammed as I tossed a knife at it. The gears lit up a pale purple thanks to Weakness Wrangler, and that was exactly where I planted my knife. All at once, it ground to a stop with a sharp metal screech.

I slid the charging handle back, and fired away into its internals. The bullets ricocheted around and shredded the internals. Its barrel drooped before it could do much of anything. I snapped back out toward the biotech cyborgs and blindly fired out toward them.

“Almost there…”

A cyborg sprinted into the room. I ducked under its initial aim, and Burst Stepped into a slide right past it. My sword flicked out and sliced it into four neat chunks. Before it could even get hit the ground, I was back in cover.

The robots all around the room suddenly froze where they were. The hail of bullets slamming into the walls all around me cut off, and an eerie silence stretched around the place. ”Um… Luna?”

The moment I said something, the gunfire erupted back to life. Only, the targets of said gunfire shifted. Instead of all of the defenses targeting me, they started to target each other. The sound of metal striking metal filled the air, and the battle started back up with a renewed vigor.

”I rewrote their targeting algorithms,” Luna said.

“I can see that.” I poked my head out, and didn’t immediately get it shot off. With a bit more confidence, I rested my rifle on the wall and started to fire away. My primary targets were the heavy turrets scattered around the place. Once they were scraped, I started to work on the cyborgs. “These things not human?”

”More bot than flesh. Looks like they used bodies as a binders for new gen robotics back when this place was in use.” Luna flicked her head to one just as it had its head shot off by its neighbor. “‘Sides, this isn’t real to begin with.”

“Chek…” The stuff here was based off of real world things, though, right? What twisted individuals would make abominations of flesh and metal like this?

I shifted my sights and squeezed the trigger one final time. A burst of bullets slammed into the sensitive parts at its neck, and the thing collapsed with a metallic groan. Well, that was one way to deal with everything. “Too bad we couldn’t have kept them. An army roving through the battle royal would’ve been great.”

”I couldn’t have fought off the ICE that long. Maybe ten minutes at best.” She appeared beside me, and circled a bot. “Monarch wired them with some heavy stuff.”

“‘Course they did.” I dropped my rifle into its sling and checked the robot. It really was an amalgamation. The cyborgs had veins instead of wires and tubes. It was like they were trying to make a bio robot, and half-assed the attempt.

”Think you could make something like this?” Luna pawed at the robot.

”I wouldn’t want to.” I could see why they’d want to use biological material rather than traditional metal. I’d rather just advance tech more than going for some weird biotech like this stuff.

”Fair.” Luna faded, and disappeared once more.

I shook my head, and backed away from the biotech bot. Hopefully there’d be more stuff that was actually usable down here. It’d be a massive waste if all I got out of this was a few attachments for my rifle.