Players Invade Cyberpunk

The plains aren't like the mountains; they aren't as easy to conceal within, nor do they have as much variation in terrain.

Even in the dead of night, any disturbance in the distance is easily noticed.

Not to mention the Chaotic Blade Association's outpost perimeter, which includes mobile sentries, vehicle-mounted searchlight towers, and patrol teams. Trying to approach the camp under their night vision eyes is incredibly difficult, and if they add thermal imaging to the mix, it's nearly impossible to hide.

The players could only crawl on the ground, waiting for each patrolling vehicle to leave before advancing a short distance. They moved back and forth in the low-lying areas, progressing at a painfully slow pace. It took them a full two hours to cover just a few hundred meters, and even then, they still remained quite far from the camp's outer perimeter.

The Chaotic Blade Association's searchlight towers were quite interesting. They set up a temporary four or five-meter high tower using steel structures on a truck, ready to use anytime, and the searchlights were programmatically machine-controlled, sweeping back and forth in an area.

Two Chaotic Blade sentries stood atop the tower, lazily watching the desolate Evil Land, bored stiff as the night wore on. To combat the physiological fatigue of the deep night, they had to find topics to chat about to stave off boredom.

"What did I say back then? Not a single company is worth a damn. If they give you a dollar, they're definitely plotting to take all of your money."

One sentry complained while eating from a can.

"The lunatics on the mountain, Huang Ban themselves can't even handle them, yet they pay us to get killed. They're like dogs that eat shit. In my opinion, we should just take Huang Ban's stuff and run. What's the point of risking our lives? Just sneak east, what's Huang Ban gonna do to us?"

The Chaotic Blade Association didn't think twice about biting the hand that feeds them, and talking about this kind of thing didn't stress them out at all.

"You clearly haven't dealt with those corporate dogs enough to know how much crap they're hiding."

The older companion scoffed at his words.

"Those smart weapons, as long as Huang Ban doesn't want to, a single command can lock the programs. You wouldn't even be able to pull the trigger. Holding onto their stuff would be better off sold as scrap. Trying to take the perks without doing the work, it's not that easy."

"Is it really that serious?"

The young sentry was somewhat incredulous.

"If that's the case, who would still buy Huang Ban's stuff? I see plenty of mercenaries using Huang Ban's gear against Huang Ban Corporation dogs, yet they're still killed."

"Heh, killing one or two corporate dogs is nothing. Back in the day, Johnny Silverhand blew up the Huang Ban Tower, and yet Huang Ban is still Huang Ban."

The older fellow, with a look of superiority like the young one hadn't seen it all, spoke with a deliberately profound tone.

"There's only one irreplaceable person in Huang Ban, and that's Huang Ban Sanlang. Besides him, everything else is expendable. Just like in Neon Land, what's it called... um... their Emperor or something."

"You mean the Emperor of Neon? I think that's the name."

"Yes, yes, that's it."

The older man blushed, quickly adding,

"I also heard it from a hacker. He said it's not just Huang Ban; other companies are doing the same. They set up backdoor programs in cybernetic enhancements and smart weapons to steal all your privacy and ownership."

"By that time, your hands, your feet, your brain, and all your organs, everything won't be yours, they'll belong to the companies. Just by their will, you'd be forcibly shut down like a robot."

"When that happens, the whole world will become their company's property. Isn't that terrifying?"

He spoke earnestly about these urban horror legends, causing the young one to feel a chill down his spine, especially with the December night on the Evil Land Plain dropping temperatures to freezing. The cold wind blew into his collar, making him shiver.

"What should we do then? When the world is all owned by corporations, where could we escape to?"

"You?"

The older man chuckled, enjoying teasing the newcomers; it was one of the few amusements of the night watch.

"Talk to me if you live to see that day; how many in our line of work live long anyway?"

After speaking, he habitually glanced at the spot where the searchlight beam had just swept over. In the dark green vision, something seemed to move in the dim corner, but it wasn't very clear due to the distance.

He stood up, enlarging his cybernetic eye's view.

"What's that?"

Anything could be on the Evil Land now, but animals were certainly extinct. If something was moving in the night, it either had to be a machine or a human.

As if knowing they had been discovered, the people chose not to hide anymore. They stood up from the low ground and rushed towards the Chaotic Blade Association camp.

The players who exploded into action took the initiative. One steadied the recoilless launcher, while another loaded it. With a few swooshes, they blasted straight at the sentry tower.

The two sentries didn't even have time to react with machine-gun fire before they were blown up, like fireworks.

The two regiments of the Super Earth War Division, in their rush march, practically abandoned all heavy weaponry, not even wearing exoskeletons. They had sprinted a large loop around the mountain with just their own legs, arriving at a vantage point outside the direct view of the Chaotic Blade Association.

The most powerful weapons they brought were small-caliber mortars and recoilless cannons, and even the ammunition was severely limited, just enough for this single battle.

Almost simultaneously, the two regiments attacked the Chaotic Blade Association from both sides, reminiscent of the instant a cupboard door swings open and over a hundred cockroaches fly out towards your face (causing a heart attack).

"Brothers! Charge with me! For Super Earth!"