T-Bug shouted "Shit!" more times than Roqi had ever heard from her.
She wasn't someone who panicked easily. That could only mean one thing: the situation had become truly dire.
Kangtao… was attacking!?
Roqi felt his eyebrows and temples twitch involuntarily.
Today was too chaotic. Pacifica had become a magnet for every faction imaginable. You attack me, I retaliate, and the whole region was erupting in war games.
But Kangtao? Why?
"Rat-a-tat-tat—!"
Because T-Bug's comms were still picking up external sound, Roqi could hear the gunfire clearly from her side.
Faint screams, short and hopeless.
Bullets hit flesh and chrome, producing sharp blasts as subdermal armor and cyberlimbs exploded under impact.
Even though he could only hear it, Roqi could practically feel the sparks exploding in front of his own face.
Kangtao's smart weapons fired specialized rounds.
Compared to standard ammo, these bullets were bigger, but carried less kinetic energy—they were subsonic rounds.
A firing pin would ignite the primer, giving the bullet its initial thrust. Once the oversized round left the barrel, a tiny propulsion engine at its base kicked in, providing stable, continuous thrust while also correcting its flight path.
Early smart weapons, back in their prototype days, lacked onboard microcomputers or targeting systems. Instead, the firearm itself handled trajectory calculations, giving the bullet a fixed path.
That design, now obsolete, made it nearly impossible to hit fast-moving targets. The round would hit where the enemy was when the trigger was pulled—not where they'd be.
To overcome this flaw, the arms manufacturers behind smart weapons developed two solutions:
One—give the bullet wireless connectivity. With real-time targeting updates from the weapon, the bullet could adjust mid-air, twisting and curving like a firework to strike the locked-on target from any angle.
Two—equip every bullet with its own onboard processor, allowing it to independently track and hit the target, even if the weapon lost lock mid-combat. But that came with a cost: high production expenses, low impact force, poor shelf life, and bulky design.
For over thirty years, Arasaka had ruled the smart weapons market. But when Kangtao stepped in, everything changed. Arasaka had their "Yukimura," and Kangtao answered with the A-22B "Ultratech."
A cheap, low-entry weapon, both in terms of user-friendliness and price, caught Arasaka completely off guard.
And if you couldn't tell the difference between the two? That was normal.
Rumor had it Kangtao had poached the original Japanese engineer, and both weapons came from the same hand.
Whatever the case, the A-22B was brutally simple to operate and reload—practically idiot-proof.
Convenient. Practical…
Unless you happened to get smacked in the foot by an empty mag.
The sound of smart weapons was unmistakable—even through a PDA speaker.
But Roqi felt a cold sweat dripping down his back—
Mower was still there!!
T-Bug was his close friend. Pangolin, a dependable comrade. But in that moment, none of that compared to the white-hot panic he felt for Mower—the person he spent every day with.
Only now did he realize how deeply embedded she'd become in his heart.
"Mower!! Mower!! Are you okay!?"
He shouted into the PDA mic.
"I'm fine. We're organizing a retreat," Mower's voice came through, briefly interrupted by the crackling sound of continuous fire. "Kangtao's firepower is insane—they've even brought in an IFV."
Then he heard her yelling in the background:
"Move! Grab him! Suppressive fire!"
One of the La Sheng mercs had been hit multiple times and collapsed, losing too much blood to keep moving. Mower barked out orders, having others drag him to safety.
Subdermal armor helped absorb impacts, and smart weapon rounds weren't too deadly on their own. As long as the head wasn't hit, one could take multiple hits and still survive.
Pangolin was on the frontlines with a squad support machine gun, spraying lead and sending sparks flying off Kangtao's combat robots.
Kangtao's firepower was ferocious, but oddly, not a single human soldier was visible.
All robots and drones. They couldn't even tell if the IFV was being driven by a human or central AI.
T-Bug and the other netrunners had been the first to evacuate when the shooting started.
Valuable and combat-inept, they were top priority for protection. Most mobile server arrays had been destroyed on-site; only a few portable units were saved.
"Netrunners are all loaded!"
Pangolin, crouched behind a wall while reloading the heavy machine gun, got the update from a merc on evac duty.
Without another word, he turned around, braced the weapon, and lit up the room again.
"Thud-thud-thud-thud—!!"
Bullets clanged off robot armor—some ricocheted cleanly, others thudded as they punched through. The robots weren't easily toppled, but the black smoke erupting with every shot proved they weren't invincible.
These mercs weren't some cowardly mob. They didn't scatter at the first sign of trouble.
Their retreat was organized, with overlapping suppressive fire—more professional than some corporate troops or NCPD units.
Rogue's squad was filled with elite veterans, many ex-military. To be accepted into her core team, you needed more than combat skill. You had to be someone others could trust with their backs.
Even so, the final line of defense always suffered the worst losses. That was the rule of war.
As squad leader, Pangolin couldn't be the first to leave—or the last to stay. His job was to hold the line and minimize casualties.
No battle is bloodless.
When Roqi once asked how these mercs could talk about death so lightly, like it didn't matter, they just smiled and gave the most brutal answers.
"Smoke out! EMP mines—seal the exit!"
Pangolin stood in the truck bed, firing the mounted gun at the staircase entrance.
A few mercs dashed out from behind him—some tossing grenades by hand, others using launchers—laying down obstacles for the advancing enemy machines.
But Kangtao's heavy assault bots, armed with miniguns, unleashed relentless barrages, forcing the mercs into cover.
"It's too much! We can't break through!"
A merc shouted back.
Pinned behind stairway barricades, they couldn't move forward—and now even their escape route was within Kangtao's firing arc.
Smoke bombs began to fill the air, but the wild gunfire didn't care about visibility. Bullets ripped through the haze with a constant hissing roar.
"Blow the wall! Get them out of there!"
Pangolin made a snap decision. He ordered the wall beside them blasted open, hoping to carve out a new path to rescue the team trapped in the Seaview villas.
But time wasn't on their side. Kangtao's bots knew no fear, no hesitation. They didn't retreat. They only advanced.
"BOOM—zzzzz—CRACK!!"
Suddenly, an explosion caught everyone's attention.
A burst of black smoke shot into the sky with flaming debris—then rained back down on the beach.
Before the first fragment even landed, a second blast lit up the battlefield.
Kangtao's robots were blowing up.
In the smoke, a dark blur moved at high speed, followed by thunderous gunshots and blood-chilling blade strikes. The machines howled with damage warnings before detonating along with their ammo and power cores.
"BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!!"
The IFV opened fire.
Its heavy autocannon shredded the fragile buildings in the Seaview zone, tearing massive holes in the support platforms.
Then—something flew out of the smoke, slamming straight into the cannon.
The turret immediately tracked the new threat and opened fire.
"BOOM!!"
It exploded in midair.
It was one of Kangtao's own robots.
Before the turret could reacquire a target, more robots came flying, all aimed at the gun.
Some were blown up midair. Others slammed into the barrel itself, detonating and shaking the entire vehicle violently.
"BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—KRAK!!"
The grenade launcher, which had been firing rhythmically, suddenly ruptured—twisting into a mangled mess. One round spun off erratically and splashed into the sea.
Even now, Kangtao hadn't located the attacker.
"Lucky!? Is that you!? Lucky!?"
Pangolin was stunned. Then, while providing cover, he shouted into the mic.
"…"
No response.
He could hear static, signaling that the line was still open—but the signal was garbled.
"Go."
Just as Pangolin considered sending someone to look for Roqi, Mower spoke.
He turned and saw her sitting calmly in her seat.
Those two—blatantly throwing around their mushy couple vibes—he remembered them clearly.
"Go?" Pangolin thought he misheard.
"Go."
Her tone left no room for argument.
And to make things clear, she added:
"He can handle it."
Just as Pangolin nodded, Mower yanked the truck door open and jumped out.
You call that "letting him handle it"!? You're literally running into the fight!
Those two—no discipline, no hierarchy—were a perfect match.
"Drive."
Mower pulled out a launcher from the trunk, slammed the door shut, and banged on the truck's rear to signal the driver.
Then she marched toward the shore, launcher slung over her shoulder.
Meanwhile, on the beach—
The IFV's wheels dug into the sand as the engine roared.
Fighting an unpredictable, non-standard enemy from a stationary position was a bad idea.
Sand flew as the vehicle rocked backward, lifting its rear and trying to reverse.
But just then—a white smoke trail slammed into a weak spot on the IFV's front armor: a small, flat panel with no angle for deflection.
The IFV lurched like a toy punched in the face—its nose dipped, then sprang up, sliding back several meters.
"Old-school weapons really don't work well against modern alloys, huh?"
Far off on the highway, Mower knelt on one knee, tossed aside her spent unguided launcher, and spoke flatly.
Still, the attack had some effect—the front armor was dented deep and scorched black, leaking smoke.
If this were a proper warzone, Kangtao would've equipped the vehicle with RPG cages.
But not every enemy had someone like Rogue behind them—smuggling in war-grade weapons that violated Night City safety ordinances.
The engine died. The IFV was immobilized. No explosion, but it was a sitting duck now.
Its only functioning weapons—rapid-fire turrets—had already been destroyed in the blasts. The remaining auto-turrets struggled to track Roqi, unable to get a clean lock.
"BOOM!!"
Another blast. The back hatch flew off the IFV. Roqi leapt in, katana in hand, like a whirlwind.
But—
"No one!?"
He froze, staring at the empty interior.
No cockpit. No gunner's seat. No soldier seating.
Just rows of launch racks.
The ones that had held all those robots and drones he'd been demolishing like soccer balls.
He jumped out, blew up a drone mid-air, and watched it crash onto the beach in flames.
"Kangtao…"
Roqi looked around—just wreckage and bloodstains.
Not a single Kangtao operative in sight.
"A wheeled death machine carrying nothing but murder bots, huh?"
He felt a quiet, creeping sense of helplessness.
In modern warfare, you didn't even need living soldiers.
And the ones who killed your teammates… weren't alive at all.
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💘 MY GIRLFRIEND'S A CYBERPSYCHO—WHO KNEW?
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💘 LOVE IS COMPLICATED.
Especially when your girlfriend could probably tear a squad of heavily armed mercs apart.
Welcome to Night City romance.
My Girlfriend's a Cyberpsycho—Who Knew? has 100+ chapters ahead waiting for you.
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💀❤️ ROMANCE, CHROME... AND QUESTIONABLE LIFE EXPECTANCY
💘 Romance
🤖 Cyberware
🧠 Cyberpsychosis
🔫 Night City action
😂 Chaos & dark humor
🌃 Dangerous relationships
🔥 Very bad situations getting much worse
People say relationships require patience.
Communication.
Trust.
Nobody mentioned surviving cyberpsychos.
🔥 100+ CHAPTERS AHEAD.
👉 Keep reading if you're brave enough.
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🌐 SrMagnusCorp: https://srmagnuscorp.com/
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⚠️ Power Stones help decide release priority!
💘 Love hurts. In Night City, sometimes literally.