IMAO Chapter 96

I have been down with the flu the past few days huhu. Anyways, thank you for all the kofi. Here’s a bonus chapter for you all.

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Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong ran together along the empty streets. All vehicles had been looted right after the explosion, and now barely any hover cars could be seen in the sky.

The two could only rely on their legs as they kept running. After what felt like an endless sprint, they suddenly heard gunshots and screams in the distance. The gunfire didn’t sound like it came from mechas or warships. It was much quieter, likely from handheld weapons.

Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong exchanged a glance before quickly heading toward the source of the sounds.

“Wait!”

Ji Rong called out before darting across to the opposite side of the street.

There stood a half-destroyed police robot in the middle of the road. Without hesitation, Ji Rong yanked the gun from its holster and tossed it to Jiang Yuan.

“Catch!”

Jiang Yuan caught the gun Ji Rong threw and glanced down at it. It was a laser gun with a full charge. It was unused and should be good to go for a while.

Jiang Yuan didn’t bother to be polite with Ji Rong and took it directly.

As they were about to reach their destination, Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong instinctively slowed down, carefully scanning their surroundings.

The two crouched at a corner and peered around it. Not far from them lay several bodies on the ground. There was also a car with someone inside. It was obvious that the man was dead as he sat slumped over, completely unresponsive to the armed men.

Following their gaze, two men could be seen firing wildly at the ground in rage after their companions were killed.

“Ah!”

During the spray of bullets, a scream rang out from one of the corners they hit.

The two men exchanged looks. They watched the car’s direction carefully while searching for the source of the scream.

“It’s just a kid!” The man in the suit dragged out a child from the corner.

“Tch… let him go…” The man wearing glasses glanced over impatiently, but halfway through speaking, he suddenly stopped. “Wait, bring him here.”

Hearing this, the man in the suit immediately brought the child over. The man with glasses sneered, pressing his gun against the child’s temple. “Come out, you bitch, or I’ll kill him.”

“Go ahead and kill him then. What’s it got to do with me?”

A cold female voice came from behind the car.

“Really?” The man with glasses let out a cold laugh. “Then I’ll kill him first, and you next.”

“You’re heartless! You don’t even spare children!” the woman cursed.

The man with glasses gave another cold laugh. “Says the one who abandoned her own kid for a car!”

Realizing she couldn’t hide her relationship with the child any longer, a woman with chestnut-colored curls stood up from behind the car, her gun aimed at the hovercar’s energy core. “If you kill my son, I’ll use my last bullet to destroy the car’s core. If we’re going to die, we’ll all die together!”

“Fuck!” Seeing the woman’s crazed expression, the man with glasses moved the gun away from the child’s forehead, clearly afraid she might follow through. “Calm down.”

“The car is useless if you’re dead,” the man with glasses said coldly. “Besides, we found this car first and killed these people. You’re the one who killed our men and tried to steal it from us.”

“Why don’t you take the kid and leave? We’ll take the car. Even if you destroy it and we kill you both, we still have a chance of escaping safely. But if you destroy the car, I promise you’ll regret it!”

“I trust you know how to choose. This is better for all of us.”

The woman looked at her crying child, then at the car, her eyes red. Finally, she gritted her teeth, seeming to reach a decision, and took a step back. “You can have the car, but you must let my son go.”

The man with glasses glanced at the bodies on the ground and said coldly, “Of course. We’re not bad people. You’re the one who killed our men first.”

…

An agreement was reached, and both parties slowly moved away from the car. Once they were at a safe distance, the man with glasses released the child, who immediately broke into a run.

“Mommy!” he cried as he ran.

From Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong’s position, they could clearly see everyone’s movements. The woman gritted her teeth, trembling all over, while on the other side…

Jiang Yuan’s eyebrows shot up.

“Die!”

By the time the woman realized what was happening, it was too late.

With those words, a laser shot out from behind, aimed straight at the little boy’s back!

BOOM.

An explosion rang out.

A laser beam shot from the left side, colliding with the bespectacled man’s laser in mid-air, creating a burst of scorching light.

The woman froze when she saw her son was unharmed.

The two men instinctively looked toward where the laser had come from and fired, but their shots either missed or collided with another laser, exploding directly mid-air.

“Run!” The two men took off without a second thought.

After all, they were just ordinary people who could only use guns to intimidate other civilians. But judging from what just happened, whoever was hiding must be an expert who could kill them effortlessly!

They even abandoned the idea of stealing the car. Staying any longer would only get them killed faster.

As the two men ran away like scared rats, the woman clutched her child, trembling as she stared at where the lasers had come from.

After a moment, two young men slowly walked toward them, but they weren’t pointing their guns.

“The car… is yours… please don’t hurt us!” the woman cried out while holding her still-crying child.

Jiang Yuan hesitated, then glanced at the car. They really needed it, which was why they’d watched for so long. Seeing their fear, he explained, “Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you. Please stay calm.”

“…” The woman glanced at Jiang Yuan, her eyes red, tears falling down her cheeks like broken strings of pearls.

Jiang Yuan inspected the car. It was almost undamaged, with the magnetic levitation system fully intact. The person inside had no shrapnel wounds, only bullet holes. So they didn’t die from an explosion.

If the car had been airborne, they wouldn’t have been killed so easily.

“The car works.”

Jiang Yuan noticed a toy and a bouquet of flowers in the backseat, and suddenly understood.

He took out the items and walked over to the woman and boy, handing them over. “I think this car was originally yours…”

The woman took the items, tears streaming down uncontrollably as she clutched the flowers, crying like a child.

Fires burned along the street, scattered but filling the area with thick smoke that created a thin haze around them.

Jiang Yuan said softly, “I’m sorry for your loss. If you’re willing, I’d like your permission to borrow this car to reach the northern district…”

The woman shot Jiang Yuan a look and sneered, “Borrow? As if you wouldn’t take it if I said no! Just take the car and get lost, you hypocrite!”

Jiang Yuan: “…”
Ji Rong: “…”

They exchanged glances and took a deep breath. Jiang Yuan said, “Sorry to have bothered you.”

Neither of them could bring themselves to steal a car from a mother and child.

After they left, the woman stared at the car in disbelief.

They really didn’t take it…

Those two…

The woman took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and helped her child into the car.

The little boy instinctively grabbed the corpse’s arm, crying, “Daddy… Daddy…”

The woman opened the driver’s door. She gave the body in the driver’s seat one last embrace before removing it from the car. Tears streaming down her face as she drove, she caught up with Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong.

“Wait… what are you going to do in the northern district?” She sniffled, eyeing them warily. “The fighting is so intense there. You’ll just get yourselves killed.”

“Get mechas.” Jiang Yuan briefly explained their plan to use mechas to escort people to the slums.

Hearing this, and having witnessed Jiang Yuan’s shooting skills, she gritted her teeth. “You don’t need to go to North Rio. I know where to find mechas, but you have to promise to get me and my son safely to the slums. I’ll take you there!”

Jiang Yuan and Ji Rong’s eyes lit up, and they agreed without hesitation: “Deal!”

Going to the northern district had been their last resort. If they could find any usable fighters along the way, they’d much prefer that to risking going deep into the northern zone!

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