"Regarding this mission target: this thing is Target One, the Golden Buddha, a monster the company wants to capture. Once it's located, contact HQ immediately, secure it in the Box, then retreat.
These two here are ACA collectors. They may interfere, but HQ will dispatch personnel to capture them. If you encounter them, just update their coordinates. Beyond that, don't get involved. Self-preservation first; assist only if conditions allow.
This is our Business Department staffer, Employee 0791036, Yamazaki Ayato. He was once gravely wounded, on the verge of death with consciousness fading. Fortunately, his formal suit protection auto-activated and preserved a breath of life. I helped him roll back just now; he should be out of danger, though possibly still unconscious. At least he was found and given first aid in time.
And this here is a secondary target for this operation: a sub-project of the Golden Buddha, suspected Apostle—Imai Shōichirō, codename: Cockroach.
According to 0791036's daily report, Cockroach ingested large doses of hallucinogens and stimulants during the banquet two nights ago. He left early, then at dawn abruptly went cyber-psycho, attacking the party crowd in a massacre.
Not only killing—he ate the corpses. Don't ask me why; Yamazaki reported it. The logic of a cyber-psycho is beyond me. What's certain is that Cockroach has fully lost control.
He's now conducting indiscriminate slaughter inside Sky City, clearing houses and devouring residents. The Sky City management activated local defense systems, but their ICE defenses are too advanced—no external access. Security Bureau is still stuck arguing with the cybersecurity contractors.
The Bureau doesn't know the situation inside. Sky City had an excellent security history, and its overall threat deviation rating was too low for Cerberus deployment. Division Three could only send in office agents and request assistance from the Night Knights.
But after a full day and night, their forces have failed every infiltration attempt. Local defense has triggered lockdown.
With the defense protocol engaged, mass civilian casualties reported, the deviation rating has spiked. The security system is now at maximum level. All intruders are attacked by automated guards.
But Cockroach himself possesses a Sky City platinum VIP membership card. The defense system will not attack him—in fact, it may even protect him under contract. Be mentally prepared.
Alright. Any questions so far? Right—don't bother bringing smart bullets. They'll curve away from Sky City residents."
No further questions. Liu Heitu, barely onboard, was suiting up in ballistic armor and SBS gear with A-Qi's help.
Spider-18, via manipulator arms, removed the smart-bullet pod and swapped in the heat-beam cannon, pulse gun, and capacitor packs.
Li Pan inspected his weapons, configuring his loadout as he spoke:
"Here's the assignment.
I've cleared it with the Security Bureau. Our company is going in under the cover of Special Advisors. Externally, we are Bureau field agents. We have one hour to settle this. If we fail, Night Corp will fire ship-mounted cannons and destroy Sky City.
Rama and Uncle Liu, you're Group One. Take the Box to the docks and locate the Golden Buddha. With the lockdown, ships can't depart, so the thing should still be in ACA's cabin, likely with that Husky kid. He's a psychic—be cautious. If you can't secure it, hand him the Box to prevent further loss of control. HQ will clean up afterward.
A-Qi and Spider, you're Group Two. You've got firepower. First break into Maze Garden Hotel to rescue Yamazaki, then link with the Night Corp special forces. Help them seize Sky City's central control and deactivate the red-alert lockdown.
I've requested IFF codes and unlocked all your weapon permits. Priority is preventing the city from falling. If it becomes unmanageable, retreat with them and let Night Corp bombard it.
I'll handle Cockroach.
Communications are jammed below. Group completion: fire a blue flare. Emergency retreat: red flare. Requesting aid: yellow flare.
No other questions? Sync time. Move out."
Li Pan led the charge, leaping from the company's optical-cloaked shuttle. He activated his cyber-eye's dynamic radar and ECM unlock. Precision rifle up, he burst apart incoming smart bullets and interceptors midair.
Touchdown—he tossed a string of EMP grenades. Pulses flared, scattering chaff and M-particles, building a jamming field. Temporary radar invisibility. Automated guards and smart bullets lost lock.
From his coat, he pulled a divination orb. "Imai Shōichirō."
A tingle in his forehead, like a mosquito bite—then he sensed the target's presence.
Straight-line sprint. EMP grenades tossed ahead—explosions blooming. He charged into the blast waves, radar-jammed invisibility carrying him through the automated defense grid.
It was an old soldier's trick he'd learned from veterans online: no stealth? No cyberwarfare? No fire support? Then chase the explosions. Drone AIs prioritize targets outside blast radii; run with the bombardment, and you slip through the net. Costly on gear and body, but better than being minced by grade-five smart-bullet streams.
His SBS soon failed under EMP, but Li Pan's bones were hard and body strong. Shrapnel filled his armor like nails on a board, yet he pushed on through the inferno. Only a hardened soldier could pull this off.
Following the orb's pull, Li Pan reached a private manor. The aura was clear—Cockroach was in the basement.
The pressure was immense. Almost at the level of the Red Bride and Flying Corpses. He must have devoured many. Nearing full descent.
Fortunately, since it was private property, the security bots here weren't bound by VIP protocols—and had already been smashed by Cockroach's rampage.
Signs of madness were obvious: he didn't even use implants, just ripped people apart with bare hands.
Li Pan ditched his ruined SBS armor, keeping only sword and rifle, and slipped quietly into the villa under cover of the ongoing explosions outside.
Yamazaki's report said Cockroach ate people. Li Pan now understood—he ate their gallbladders.
Roughly, crudely—punching open bodies, ripping out liver and gallbladder together.
Why gall? Wouldn't it be bitter?
Li Pan shook his head. Psychos had strange tastes.
Med-orbs lay scattered, spasming. The villa owner, smashed into the wall with his chest hollowed, was still faintly alive—body repaired by med-orb tendrils, blood clotted, brain oxygenated. Functionally brain-dead. His "qi" had already been siphoned by whatever clung to Cockroach.
Perhaps devouring gallbladders was some kind of ritual to seize life force. Stones included? Li Pan snorted.
Deeper underground, he found him.
Imai Shōichirō floated midair, naked in his custom grade-six body. Ivory-white skin, golden hair, sculpted marble muscles. Even his groin was enlarged and inlaid with golden beads. Priceless craftsmanship.
Now he sat cross-legged, levitating, spine glowing with halos, anti-gravity spine exuding ozone, air shimmering blue like divinity descending.
Li Pan leveled his assault rifle and sprayed a burst straight at his balls. Armor-piercing rounds cracked—Cockroach yelped, shot upward, and whirled with furious eyes.
"Stare at this!" Li Pan barked, firing another volley. Black Kite-91 rounds slammed into Cockroach's forehead, blasting it open.
Useless. His white eyes were lifeless, mouth stuffed with half-chewed gallbladders, bile dripping down his chin. Already dead—just a vessel.
Worse—the med-orb kicked in, spewing nanobots that sealed his face, leaving only two empty bloody sockets. A regenerating corpse puppet of some hidden god.
Li Pan holstered the rifle, drew his sword, and tapped his leg with its flat, walking toward him.
"ROAR!"
Cockroach howled, hurling a black-qi claw at Li Pan's vitals.
"True Dragon Break!"
Li Pan stabbed, Nine Yin qi coalescing into a dragon, shredding the claw and coiling at Cockroach.
Cockroach dodged, anti-gravity spine sending him darting through the air. His palms clapped together—Buddha's golden hand smacked the dragon apart.
Li Pan shrugged, stabbed again, unleashing another dragon.
So it went, dragon and hand clashing, the fight looking like two lunatics breakdancing in midair.
Li Pan soon realized: the black claws were restrained by Nine Yin qi, but the golden hands matched his power—and grew stronger with time. Cockroach's cultivation soared as he devoured more. Li Pan's qi drained with each attack. The gap widened.
No choice. He sprinted, weaving, dragon-breaking a path through, sword aimed at Cockroach's core. Break the vessel, stop the descent!
Cockroach realized it, shot upward through the roof, spraying bile and hurling claws and hands together. Golden radiance, black corruption. Cyborg bodies around them shattered at a touch.
Li Pan slithered through, dodging claws, parrying hands, closing the distance.
Then—boom! A distant EMP blast shook Sky City. Cockroach's anti-grav spine hiccupped, dropping him midair.
"Now!" Li Pan charged, blade thrust straight at his face.
"Nine Yin True Dragon Break!"
Cornered, Cockroach bellowed, palms striking together—Buddha and demon united—double golden hands smashing forward!
Explosion. Shockwave hurled Li Pan away. His sword flew from his grasp, body battered and dislocated, armor spiderwebbed with cracks.
Cockroach pursued, claws for his gut, palms for his skull.
But mid-spin, Li Pan's eyes snapped open. From his waist he flicked a silver spike.
"Stellar Finger!"
Like a shooting star, the spike flashed past Cockroach's face and sank into darkness. Missed!
Still, startled, Cockroach recoiled, breaking his combo.
Li Pan hit the ground rolling, half-crippled but alive. Armor cracked, shoulder dislocated, only a thin veil of Nine Yin qi left.
Above, Cockroach blazed. Golden aura burned, hair streaming, a halo crowning him. From his empty sockets shone fire. Hands formed mudras—fearlessness and granting. A Buddha descending.
Li Pan smirked.
"Heh. You think you're the only one who can transform?"
As the colossal golden palm descended, Li Pan raised a white kerchief, wiped his bloody nose, and spat a silver key.
He draped the cloth over his head. The Faceless Knight's transformation completed.
Time slowed. The Buddha-hand froze in glue.
Li Pan vanished—reappeared behind Cockroach.
His silver spike was nailed in a wall—through the skull of a female android.
ACA's collector—Beria.
.
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⚠️ 30 CHAPTERS AHEAD — I'm Not a Cyberpsycho ⚠️
The system says: Kill.Mercs obey. Corporates obey. Monsters obey.One man didn't.
🧠💀 "I'm not a cyberpsycho. I just think... differently."
💥 High-voltage cyberpunk. Urban warfare. AI paranoia.Read 30 chapters ahead, only on Patreon.
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