"Nobody move!"

The lead nurse warned all the doctors

"Otherwise, I'll... kill you."

Her trembling voice was void of any threat; anyone could hear the fear beneath it.

"Anne, you better calm down, don't do anything stupid. You're destroying your future, and there's no way you can escape."

The experiment director tried to remain calm and persuade the nurse to back down, despite his own pain.

Though he couldn't quite grasp her motives.

"Put down the knife, and I can pretend nothing happened. I can explain it to the higher-ups."

He was sincere; he had high hopes for his assistant. She was talented, hardworking, and destined for success.

"And then?"

Anne's blade broke the skin of the director's neck. Somehow finding the courage, she harshly questioned them all.

"Continue experimenting on these children, cramming their brains into machines? Aren't you lunatics afraid of divine punishment?"

She had struggled, questioning herself if it was worth this near-suicidal defiance for a group of strangers.

Escaping with ten children from the 38th floor of Zeta Technology was almost a daydream.

"God?"

The director sneered.

"If God really existed, why have I never seen Him? Thousands die every year in Night City, and He hasn't saved a single one."

"Shut up!!!"

Anne's trembling hand edged closer, and the director dared not speak anymore, unsure if she was truly capable of murder.

"Connor, let's take the children and escape."

Hassan wasn't the only one grappling with moral dilemmas and a tormented conscience in this cold building.

The nurse called upon quickly unfastened the restraints on the operating tables with a few others, placing the sedated children on stretchers, and escorted the doctors toward the door.

As the stretchers passed by Hassan, he looked incredulously at the frail nurses. Clearly without combat experience or combat-ready prosthetics, they didn't even know the children's names.

Yet at this moment, they chose to stand defiantly, risking their lives.

Hassan could see the fear in their eyes, their legs shaking, but the stretchers steadfastly rolled towards the elevator.

The commotion soon caught the attention of the security personnel, who sounded the alarms and quickly converged on the medical area.

Anne knew that once surrounded by security, their chances of escape would plummet. She relied on her familiarity with the building's layout to keep leading the group.

The main elevator was locked, but there was still a freight elevator. Even if that was locked too, she'd been to the Rebirth Bar before and hired Rogers to find a team of mercenaries for rescue.

Despite all these factors, their success rate was still below 5%, and they'd likely be hunted by the company afterward, but at least she could appease her conscience. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Stop! Or we have the right to shoot you."

A team of security suddenly appeared at the corner, aiming their guns at the nurses and doctors.

"Don't come any closer, or I'll kill him!"

Anne pushed her teacher forward.

The security team leader frowned; losing an experimental director—a mid-high level in the company—would not bode well for him.

But the director wasn't being cooperative, subtly signaling the leader to look at the children on the carts.

The security team leader understood immediately.

An experimental director was untouchable, but a bunch of test subjects was nothing.

He immediately activated his authority, attempting to trigger the disguised explosive collars around their necks.

Beep—

Following a piercing screech

Click

The straps didn't explode; instead, they automatically detached and fell.

"What?"

Not only the security leader but also the nurses and doctors were taken aback. The former didn't even know what they were.

But they had little time to think as a fierce gunfire erupted quickly.

Bang bang bang bang!

The heads of the blocking security soldiers burst open one by one, the sound of large-caliber armor-piercing rounds echoing in the corridor.

Another sudden change.

The director was dumbfounded, and so was Anne.

Even Hassan was stunned.

He looked in disbelief at the tech handgun in his hand.

When?

When did he bring a gun to work?

Why was he shooting at Zeta Technology's security?

Why was he here?

Had he gone mad?

Maybe... when he came to this floor, he had already made his decision.

The answer was there even before he noticed the problem.

Yes, I'm crazy, or maybe the world has gone mad, and I am just going with the flow!

His hands stopped shaking

The fear in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a resolute gaze

His weakened legs stood firm again, and his stooping back straightened.

His heart had never beat so powerfully, and he could even feel the life force coursing through him.

This was his day of rebirth!

Hassan gripped the gun tightly, as if finally making the long-overdue decision.

Screw the company

Screw the job

It's just one life

Let them have it!

He shouted to the nurses,

"Follow me, this way. I know a way out."

The nurses, startled by the sudden change, hesitated, as they didn't know this man.

But Anne remembered him—they often saw him hovering around the lab entrance these past few days before disappearing into the bathroom for long stretches, once even emerging with unwashed tear streaks on his face.

Things couldn't get any worse, anyway.

"Follow him."