Chapter 71: Delivering Equipment

The surrounding thugs, seeing this scene, all raised their guns and aimed at Max. At the same time, Spider also drew his pistol and pressed it against Max’s waist.

Yet Max ignored the muzzles pointed at him, continuing to glare fiercely at Spider, whose neck he still held at knifepoint. “Is that barrel cold? Pull the trigger, then! Right now, I’m a walking radiation source, and I’d wager your body’s already feeling it.”

“You’re really trying to die!” Spider exclaimed in astonishment.

“I’m as good as dead right now, damn it!” Max spat back, furious.

Spider raised both hands and dropped his gun, then patted Max’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him. “It’s fine, see? It’s all good now!”

Before Max could react, Spider wriggled free of his grasp and shouted to his men, “Put the guns down! All of you, drop your weapons and get out!”

Then Spider turned back to Max and said quietly, “Listen, I’m looking for someone to do a job for me.”

He then yelled after his retreating henchmen, “But all I’ve got here are a bunch of cowards!”

With Max still looking confused, Spider asked, “Didn’t you just say you’d take any job, no matter what?”

At that moment, a voice came from outside the door. “That’s right, he did say so!” Both Spider and Max turned their heads to see Wang Jing and Alice step out from the shadows.

Seeing his wealthy patron arrive, Spider immediately forced a flattering smile. “You’re here! I was just picking the right man for the job for you!”

“I think he’s the perfect fit for my mission,” Wang Jing said, his tone that of a mastermind pulling the strings.

“Who are you?” Max frowned, looking at Wang Jing.

“Your boss,” Wang Jing replied, beckoning Alice over.

A large black case was placed before Wang Jing. When it opened, a brand-new powered exoskeleton suit was revealed to Spider and Max.

“I’ve come specifically to deliver your equipment. I don’t want my investment to go to waste.”

“And Alice will accompany you throughout the mission, until you bring back what I want,” Wang Jing finished. Alice then set the exoskeleton suit upright and gestured for Max to put it on.

Eyeing the exoskeleton—far superior to anything in his own collection—Spider suppressed his greed and looked at Wang Jing, grinning obsequiously as he asked, “Wang Jing, is there any chance I could purchase one of these exoskeletons?”

“Of course! But only after we’ve completed our first collaboration.”

“Ha, rest assured, your mission will be completed without fail!” Spider pounded his chest and laughed heartily.

“Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m., John Carlyle will board his private spacecraft and return to Elysium. I hope you won’t let me down.” With that, Wang Jing turned and left Spider’s den.

Watching Wang Jing depart, Spider looked curiously at Alice, who was standing beside him. “Aren’t you going to protect your boss? This isn’t Elysium, after all.”

“Relax. The boss is far stronger than I am,” Alice replied. She then patted Max—now clad in the exoskeleton. “Rookie, how does it feel?”

“It’s incredibly comfortable—like it was tailor-made for me,” Max replied in amazement after moving around a bit.

“This is your advance payment. If you complete the mission perfectly, this vial will let you reach the heights of your life,” Alice said, producing a spiral-loaded T-virus sample from her pocket.

“What is it?” Max asked.

“The T-virus. It’s an experimental serum that can make you superhuman. Of course, you can refuse it if you’d rather not,” Alice explained.

Meanwhile, in the CEO’s office at the robotics factory, John Carlyle—freshly returned from Elysium—was anxiously programming the reboot protocol for Elysium.

Once the code was finished, Carlyle took a deep breath and hit the execute key, setting the program to fatal mode before uploading it into his own cerebral cortex.

Just then, the AI butler spoke in a gentle tone. “Sir, your aircraft has arrived.”

“All right, I’ll be right there.” As he finished speaking, the upload completed.

Carlyle stood, and under the escort of two security robots, boarded his luxurious red private spacecraft.

Outside the factory, Max and his team were already primed and ready.

Inside an electric sports car, Alice glanced at Max, who was holding a shotgun. “Nervous?”

Max shook his head. “No, not at all!”

“Oh really?”

Under Alice’s skeptical gaze, Max immediately caved. “Okay, fine, I’m so scared I could wet myself!”

“Haha! Now that sounds about right!” Alice laughed heartily.

By this time, Carlyle’s ship had already ignited and lifted off. In another car, Spider’s henchman shouted into the comm, “Go! Go! The target is airborne!”

At the command, Max charged out with his shotgun and fired a remote-controlled explosive at the engine of the ascending private ship.

“Hurry, go, go!” urged the voice, and two electric sports cars roared after the ship through clouds of dust.

“Fifteen seconds to supersonic speed,” the spacecraft’s AI announced.

In the Elysium main control room, Security Chief Delacourt watched Carlyle’s flight path with mounting anxiety.

Just as Spider’s henchman triggered the remote explosive, a blast rocked the private ship, spewing black smoke as it nosedived to the ground—barely thirty seconds after takeoff.

“Prepare for crash landing. Impact imminent,” the AI warned.

Surrounded by flashing red lights, John Carlyle muttered nervously, “Oh, terrific!”

The main control room on Elysium was soon abuzz with the report of a citizen crashing to Earth. Delacourt immediately contacted the recently dismissed agent Kruger.

“We’ve got a situation here—Kruger, can you hear me?”

“Oh, it’s wonderful to hear your voice again, Ms. Delacourt!” Kruger replied, grinning beneath a tattered cloak.

“A citizen carrying vital brain data has left the city—thieves are after it!” Delacourt informed him.

“What kind of data?” Kruger asked.

“That’s classified,” Delacourt retorted.

“You can’t expect a recently discharged agent to retrieve stolen classified data for you!” Kruger shouted in frustration. “The government knows nothing about this, right? Then I can name my price, can’t I?”

Delacourt, caught out, could only sigh in exasperation.

At that moment, the wrecked ship slammed into the ground. Buckled into his seat, John Carlyle screamed in terror, but the ship soon came to a safe halt.

“Please remain calm; you have not been injured,” the ship’s AI reassured him.

“Oh, that’s comforting to hear,” Carlyle replied, watching as his diagnostic data uploaded on the screen.