17. Goodbye

After Carl rounded the corner at the end of the corridor, he found himself facing a vast storage room filled with various mechanical devices. It resembled a canned food production workshop. In the distance, Oliver and Jack had already taken cover behind a steel manufacturing table. Seeing Carl approach, they frantically waved him over.

Oliver gripped his New Star pistol tightly, while Jack held the Copper Viper, which originally belonged to Oliver. Both had their guns aimed at the corner behind Carl, waiting for the Spiral Gang member to show his head so they could strike. Yet, despite their preparations, neither Jack nor Oliver knew what Carl had just encountered.

“That guy has subdermal armor; my Lexington is useless against her,” Carl shouted from a distance, explaining why he hadn't taken down the Spiral Gang member behind him.

“I told you to switch guns,” Jack responded firmly.

“Now I’m regretting it!” Carl admitted.

This was a hard lesson learned firsthand. The Copper Viper packed more power than the Lexington, but in certain situations, a handgun was irreplaceable. Pure accuracy couldn’t make up for the firepower gap, and today, Carl felt that difference keenly.

Carl had only taken a few steps toward Oliver and Jack when heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor behind him—the Spiral Gang member was closing in.

“Damn, does she have to be this fast? I had a two-second head start!” Carl cursed.

Realizing it would take time to reach Oliver and Jack, Carl abandoned the plan to share their cover. Scanning his surroundings, he quickly spotted a hiding spot: a trash bin piled high with discarded steel and machinery.

He truly had a knack for trash.

As the demon burst from the corridor, she saw Carl slip behind the two-meter-high trash bin. At that same moment, Oliver and Jack fired simultaneously toward the corridor’s entrance.

The dense crossfire of Copper Viper and New Star rounds failed to faze the demon. She charged straight at Oliver, relying on her subdermal armor to absorb the hail of bullets from both guns.

“Son of a bitch, she’s not planning to live through this. She wants to take us down with her. That gun is the Crusher; our cover might not even stop its bullets,” Jack cursed under his breath. Though the bullets struck the demon’s body, they only pierced flesh before lodging firmly in the subdermal armor. He kept pulling the trigger, hoping to kill her before she closed the gap with her shotgun.

“This subdermal armor is crazier than I thought. How much did she spend? Is this the latest model?” Oliver groaned. The Spiral Gang lunatic was reckless enough, but she even raised a pistol in her left hand and shot at him while charging. He didn’t even know her—did he deserve such merciless treatment?

The kinetic force from the weapons impacted the armor, most of the shock absorbed. A small portion still affected the demon’s body, but it wasn’t enough to slow her down. In less than a second, she reached the optimal range for her shotgun.

Dropping her empty pistol with a clatter, the demon raised her Crusher kinetic shotgun with both hands and aimed at Oliver and Jack. In a second, she would blast them and their cover to pieces.

But Carl wouldn’t let that happen.

He hadn’t hidden behind the trash bin to escape but to vanish from the demon’s six cybernetic eyes, which had a wide field of vision.

Now, as the demon’s six glowing eyes focused forward, ready to watch her enemies shredded by gunfire, Carl leapt down from the trash bin and lunged at her.

The demon’s ears caught the rush of air, but her raised weapon was difficult to reposition quickly.

An adult male’s body weighed around seventy kilograms by Carl’s estimate. Combined with the downward momentum, his tackle was unstoppable, even against the demon’s heavy subdermal prosthetics. She was inevitably knocked to the ground.

But that was all Carl could do.

As he felt the impact of the ground through the body beneath him, a clenched fist struck his cheek. That punch, reinforced by subdermal armor that was like an iron gauntlet, sent Carl sprawling backward, blood pouring uncontrollably from his shattered nose.

“Get off me!” the demon snarled.

Carl’s thigh pinned down the demon’s other hand, but she responded with another punch from the same fist. The second blow nearly overwhelmed Carl—his head felt like a struck bell, his consciousness fading. Yet, in this desperate moment, he found a sliver of resistance.

Oliver and Jack had rushed out from cover, dropping their guns to avoid friendly fire, intending to help physically subdue the Spiral Gang demon. Carl, however, had already grabbed his gun again.

Only he and the demon were locked in combat now—he wasn’t worried about hitting anyone else.

The Lexington’s gunfire rang out again. Simultaneously, another punch hit Carl’s face, nearly denting it inward. But despite the brutal assault that left Oliver and Jack barely recognizing him, Carl managed a grim smile.

He had fired—and hit her finger.

From the punishment he’d taken, Carl deduced that the subdermal armor covered only the back of the demon’s hand. Her fingers were unprotected and could be shattered by bullets.

Carl wasn’t targeting the powerful fist that could still strike him even with missing fingers. Instead, he aimed for the demon’s other hand pinned beneath his thigh—the one clutching the Crusher, unwilling to let go even if she fell.

The bullets shattered her fingers, and the gun slipped from her grasp. The next moment, it was in new hands.

“Nice to meet you, lively miss,” Carl said.

Before the demon could strike again, her six red-glowing cybernetic eyes locked onto something else—the massive body of the Crusher shotgun.

“See you next time,” Carl said.

“Bang!”