Malfunctioning Utopia

Chapter 44: Confrontation

Faced with the close-quarters attack, Sun Jack rolled desperately, narrowly avoiding being smashed into paste. He had just dodged the massive figure when he realized that his prosthetics couldn’t fire the projectile weapon he had planned to use.

“Trying to use combat prosthetics in front of me? Dream on!” Hai Chao shouted, kicking off the ground with his massive legs. His several-ton frame leaped into the air, crashing down towards Sun Jack.

Sun Jack scrambled out of the way, hurling his last grenade as he rolled. But it didn’t explode.

“Sorry to break it to you, but as long as it’s electrically triggered, I can hack it. You’re completely—”

Before Hai Chao could finish, another grenade flew through the air and struck him square in the mouth, cutting him off. The impact split his lip and left his mouth bruised and swollen.

Sun Jack didn’t stop. Using the grenades as makeshift rocks, he kept pelting Hai Chao’s head with them.

Hai Chao was completely thrown off by the primitiveness of the attack. His exoskeleton armor didn’t protect his head, and soon his face was battered and bruised. Even his protruding cybernetic eye was knocked askew.

“Throwing rocks? Are you a f***ing monkey?!” Hai Chao roared, flipping his hands. Two machine guns extended from his exoskeleton and began firing wildly at Sun Jack.

Sun Jack quickly ducked behind Tapai, the bullets pinging loudly off Tapai’s body. But the situation was dire—the force of the bullets was pushing Tapai back steadily towards the wall.

Suddenly, a figure charged in, slamming into Hai Chao’s left leg in an attempt to trip him. It was the Father.

“You’re f***ing dead, you piece of garbage!” Hai Chao bellowed, swinging his machine guns towards the Father. The bullets shredded his metallic skin, revealing the titanium alloy bones underneath.

Even so, the Father held on tightly, refusing to let go.

At that moment, following Sun Jack’s earlier instructions, Tapai grabbed one of Hai Chao’s legs with both hands. Using his immense strength, he twisted and overloaded the joint, flinging Hai Chao into the air.

Sun Jack launched himself forward at full speed, aiming straight for Hai Chao’s head.

Hai Chao raised his gun to fire, but Sun Jack pulled a gold card from his pocket mid-flight. “I! HAVE! MONEY!!”

Hai Chao hesitated for just a split second in disbelief. It was all the time Sun Jack needed to close the gap. He smashed his fist into Hai Chao’s face, roaring, “Like h*** I’d give it to you!”

Hai Chao’s head dented under the blow. Teeth flew everywhere as he crashed to the ground in a deafening impact, his massive exoskeleton armor crumpling beneath him.

Sun Jack bent over, hands on his knees, panting heavily. Glancing down at himself, he confirmed there were no bullet wounds and spat out a mouthful of blood. “D***, didn’t even need my insurance this time.”

Catching his breath, Sun Jack delivered a final slash to Hai Chao’s neck to finish the job. He then turned to the Father, who was barely standing. “You okay?”

The Father, his upper body almost entirely shredded, shook his head. “Not dead yet.”

Sun Jack pulled him up, and the Father staggered into the garage. He began tearing the data cables off the human mines trapped inside.

“Wake up! Wake up!!” the Father shouted, trying to rouse them from their stupor.

The human mines slowly regained consciousness. As soon as they realized what had happened, many started yelling angrily at the Father.

“What did you do?! I was here willingly!”

“What’s the point of keeping my brain? If I can use it as a mining rig, why not?!”

Their complaints grew increasingly venomous until they saw Sun Jack approaching with his cannon. His furious expression was enough to silence most of them.

The Father, however, said nothing. He silently continued pulling cables from the human mines.

Watching the people shuffle out, Sun Jack felt a deep sense of defeat. These people didn’t need saving—they had already given up on themselves.

“Did we do the wrong thing?” he asked quietly.

“No. We can’t save everyone. But some lives are still worth fighting for,” the Father replied, opening one of the cages. He carefully cradled a baby whose limbs had been replaced with metal prosthetics. ꞦἁΝŎ𐌱Еᶊ

“I don’t know about the others, but this child definitely didn’t sign any contracts with the Graffiti Gang. And neither did that stillborn premature baby.”

At that moment, a few human mines approached and thanked them quietly, explaining they had been captured and forced into their conditions.

The Father remained expressionless, treating them no differently than the ones who had cursed him earlier.

“Jack! We have to go! Someone’s coming!” Tapai ran up to warn them.

Before they could leave, the exit was blocked. A gang of Graffiti Gang reinforcements poured in, riding motorcycles and driving cars. Seeing the massacre and the destruction of their hideout, their eyes burned with fury.

“D***, we’re cornered,” Sun Jack muttered, setting Tapai up as a cannon mount, preparing to fight to the death.

But then came the piercing sound of sirens. Hover vehicles glowing blue streaked into the parking lot, their sides emblazoned with a large gold-trimmed badge and the unmistakable lettering: BCPD.

“This is BCPD 6th Unit! Drop your weapons! Shut down all combat prosthetics!” blared the announcement from the hover vehicles. The barrels of mounted cannons on some of the vehicles were already spinning menacingly.

Under the overwhelming pressure, the Graffiti Gang reinforcements reluctantly lowered their weapons. Seeing this, Sun Jack also stowed his cannon.

A group of officers in blue uniforms swarmed out of the vehicles, armed and ready. Their leader, a grizzled man in plain clothes, had both legs replaced with prosthetics and cybernetic compound eyes.

He surveyed the scene grimly before barking, “Everyone here, open your neural system’s Port 25! Submit to a network inspection immediately! I want all system logs from the last two hours. No tricks! This is an order, not a request!”

“Sir! It’s me, sir!” Song 6PUS suddenly popped up with a big grin, waving at the officer.

“You? Who the f*** are you? What turf are you from? Do I need to know you?” The officer put his hands on his hips and tilted his head aggressively.

“Heh, heh, doesn’t matter if you know me, sir! But I’ve got a record—D, to be exact. I took on the H41 assignment, tracking cyber psychotics, which led us here!” Song 6 explained, beaming.

“And when we uncovered this den of criminals, we, as upstanding citizens, couldn’t stand by! Despite the odds, we took them down, completing the BCPD’s mission perfectly!”