My Cyber Psychosis is Task Prompt-Chapter 274 - 158: Silent

No response was received.

He sensed something was wrong and prepared to report to the monitoring room to call for reinforcements, completely oblivious to John emerging from the darkness behind him.

The guard's mouth was covered, his eyes widened, and immediately a bullet penetrated the back of his head.

The silenced pistol emitted a slight tremor.

Blood splattered half a meter away, spreading little, landing on the concrete floor where dirty deals often occurred, almost inconspicuous.

John gently cradled the other person and dragged them behind cover.

There were already five bodies in the parking lot corner.

John pulled up a program and estimated a time frame for himself to resolve the issue before the security noticed the monitoring anomalies.

The steam room was in the corner.

There were many large washing and drying machines here, humming loudly, with ventilation pipes and dehumidifiers operating twenty hours a day.

John used the noise cover to dash into the corridor, and activated Sianweistan to quickly execute two guards, dragging the bodies into dirty laundry bins, covered with sheets reeking of stench.

He swiped the room key card obtained from them to open the door.

The narrow storage room was lit by a dim yellow ceiling lamp, assaulting senses with stench and a metallic scent of blood.

As John walked in, it triggered slight screams and sobbing.

"F*ck, shut up!"

He stormed in fiercely, reloaded his gun, and the room indeed fell silent, with only the clank of chains and whimpering sounds.

John had been through tough times.

He had to ensure the scene was under control, he was safe enough, and the hostages wouldn't cause trouble before making more decisions.

The kidnapped girls curled up in a line against the wall.

The Owl Town gang and Ghoul had chained them together, their mental states hazy, with signs of beating, answering John's inquiries in the cramped room.

This "cargo" was only delivered yesterday, the same batch as Xia Li, coerced and drug-addicted into joining the club, awaiting further adjustments and distribution, possibly undergoing implant modifications to meet various club standards.

Xia Li was not among them.

She was reportedly in a regular room providing services with other girls, while the mole stayed in a themed suite near the top floor, causing a girl who had been there to almost break down when recalling the situation inside.

[Mission Objective Updated]

[Find Xia Li. (Not Achieved)]

[Release Other Hostages. (Optional)]

The keys might be in the control center, usually managed by the security chief responsible for the new sex dolls, and the elevator control card for floor access was also there.

John raised his hand to note the time, signaling them to stay quiet.

He made no promises or revealed his identity, as if chaos broke out later, taking care of the hostages would be impossible, better not to give hope for uncertain things.

[Floating Life Kyoto Club - Control Center]

John tracked back through the Atlanta Virtual Network, reaching the source where all signals converged and were emitted.

The control center was near the club's back door close to the parking lot, adjacent to an alley, frequently trafficked by a large number of guards, necessitating fast, decisive action.

The club's security system was under John's control.

He leaned against the metal sliding door, ready to breach but first needed to assess the situation and plan accordingly.

Messiah's Eye flashed a data stream.

A red light blinked on the control center's camera, showing two armed security, one patrolling soldier, and a recently added hacker lying in the cooling pool.

John squatted at the door corner, seeing through the alley camera the patrolling soldier outside the room passing by, instantly switching views, stealthily tailing and locking their throat to death.

[Chip: Naked Choke Assassination]

Next was dealing with the hacker.

He lay in the cooling pool, on standby, ready to notify Raqi Industry on detecting anomalies or physical attacks, especially after an AI attack and amid gang warfare intensity, sensitivity was high.

John dragged the patrol guard's body into the alley, tossing it into an open dumpster, then dodged Owl Town gangsters lurking outside to find a spot hidden behind vending machine equipment zones.

He hand-broke a rusty grate, huddled in a corner, covertly lifting the cover plate—though Black Light had hacked the security system, taking over CCTV, so the hacker noticed no anomaly, to remotely fry their brain needed a physical connection.

John unplugged the data cable from his arm and plugged it in.

The very next second.

His vision spun, luminous streams surfaced on his pupils, his consciousness roamed within the data channel as if entering a person's body in first-person perspective.

John saw "himself" struggle out of the cooling pool, surrounded by arcs and smoke flashes, hands desperately pulling at wires to get out of the pool, finally covered in crimson.

It was a silent, high-definition picture.

John severed the connection, withdrawing the data cable, then rushed back to the control center door at full speed.

During this, Black Light received several security access requests.

The control room guards were stunned by the hacker's sudden death, frantically pulling the alarm to remotely call for reinforcements, discovering the system's nonresponse, they considered calling or running to the hallway to shout.

John pulled out his silenced pistol, abruptly turning as the metal sliding door just opened.

A guard dashed out in panic, not having time to shout, exploding from a headshot by the silenced pistol, blood splattering on the doorframe, eyes wide in stunned death.

John kept moving, activating Sianweistan, crossing the threshold under a deep green time-freeze filter, raising his weapon to kill the last guard who had his mouth open and was lifting his rifle.

BIU—

The bullet pierced the eye.

Poof—

The metal sliding door behind closed, snagging on the body, bouncing back while flashing yellow.

John stripped the coat from the freshly killed body, immediately dragged it from the doorway, quickly cleaned the bloodstains.

The metal sliding door attempted to close multiple times, finally impatiently sounding an alert.

Beep beep beep, beep—

In the club's outside alley.

A few gangsters sharing contraband simultaneously turned, confirming each other's looks before putting cigarettes in their mouths, cocking guns, all crossing the hallway to the control center.

The metal sliding door remained quietly still.

A rusty stain pooled at their feet, blood inconspicuous amid gaps.

The gangsters didn't observe closely, hearing moans from inside as they approached.

[Bastards, watching porn? (Japanese)]

[Ah, I'm really envious, lazing in an air-conditioned room, damn it, well, shifts rotate anyway. (Japanese)]

Two gangsters began murmuring.

Across the metal door.

John stood pressed against the wall in the darkness, holding his breath, clutching the silenced pistol.

Near the cooling pool, the hacker smoked.

Two armed guards sat slumped over the console, a mobile device on the table fitted with a chip, playing a dirty film directed by Owl Nameless — both the equipment and film were stowed in the drawer, found during a site check.

The gang's gangsters and company soldiers were hugely different in discipline.

Bam, bam bam!

John's thoughts snapped back at the loud knocks on the door.

He pondered how to open, quickly kill, and store the bodies inside—yet more kills increased uncontrollable factors, shrunk free action time, easily drawing attention; triggering an alarm marked mission failure, hundreds and hovercars would respond fast, needing a way to escape.

[Hey! What's going on here! (Japanese)]

Owl Town gangsters raised hands knocking, tilting heads as if cracking a bad joke.

Receiving no answers, they were puzzled...

The bodies before John stiffened, losing balance, collapsing intertwined, subtle collision noises emitted.

A moment of silence outside, laughter erupted.

Two gang members laughed wildly, assuming chaos with pants being pulled, satisfied by the imagined response, leaving happily, not forgetting to kick the door before departing.

[...Work well, bastards, hahaha. (Japanese)]

Footsteps faded away.

John slowly lowered his gun in the darkness.