Despite having cleaved the man in half, Lin Mo did not let his guard down. As the lifeless half of the man's body collapsed to the ground, h
Despite having cleaved the man in half, Lin Mo did not let his guard down. As the lifeless half of the man's body collapsed to the ground, he struck again.
This time, the man's head flew through the air, blood and sparks erupting from his neck. His eyes slowly began to lose focus, and he fell to the ground, his vacant eyes staring at Lin Mo's feet.
Lin Mo swung his hand, shaking off the blood, and glanced at the severed head at his feet. The man's eyes, still open, were filled with unyielding hatred.
He stood silently for a moment, then showed the respect his opponent deserved by kicking the head against the wall.
After thoroughly checking the body to ensure it wouldn't come back to life, Lin Mo didn't waste any more time and quickly walked over to the woman.
Earlier, he had been cautious, intentionally aiming at her arms and thighs. He had even slightly tilted the gun to reduce the bullet's power after it curved from the smart weapon.
Whether she survived would depend on her fate.
Just then, Sasha rushed over from the control room and looked at the young boy crouching beside the woman, observing the situation. Her eyes still held an unspoken shock.
The image of the earlier battle still replayed in her mind.
Both combatants had Sandevistan implants—one was a ruthless, experienced Scav leader, and the other was a young boy with little combat experience but wielding his sword like a dragon.
The battle felt like a vicious wolf and a noble lion clashing on the plains, and in the end, the young lion dethroned the old wolf, biting off the greedy scavenger's head and clearing the path ahead.
Sasha slowed her pace and crouched down beside Lin Mo. She looked at the lifeless woman, her face like dry withered straw, devoid of any vitality. She softly comforted Lin Mo:
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Lin Mo. Many times, we can't save everyone. Compared to dying at that bastard's hands, maybe she'd rather die at yours."
In Sasha's view, Lin Mo's decision to shoot the poor woman had its reasons.
With smart firearms, there was no accidental misfire. If the bullets hit the woman, it was Lin Mo's deliberate choice.
Lin Mo didn't respond. Calmly, he took a pneumatic injector from his waist pouch, loaded it with a syringe, and said in a quiet voice:
"No, she's not dead yet."
Sasha was shocked, staring at the woman in disbelief.
"Huh?"
"Although those bullets caused her to lose a lot of blood and several organs have failed, bringing her to the brink of death, she's still hanging on to life," Lin Mo said softly as he pressed the injector into her chest.
This was the most expensive medicine he owned. A single vial cost nearly as much as its weight in gold, making this shot equivalent to throwing away a gold bar.
Even the instructions on the vial were brief:
Name: STAND UP "Dead? Use this. Inject into the chest."
The fewer the words, the stronger the effect.
Sasha was numb to such wasteful behavior. In her eyes, Lin Mo was almost like a miracle worker.
Except this miracle worker saved lives with raw cash.
"If she lives, it's up to her now. I've done all I can," Lin Mo said, putting the injector back into his pouch.
Sasha stared at his face, then suddenly asked:
"Did you anticipate this situation?"
Lin Mo shook his head and stood up, walking over to the corpse of the man he had decapitated earlier. Without turning around, he said:
"No. At that time, I was already prepared to kill. Whether she lived or died was none of my concern."
The boy squatted next to the two halves of the man's body, searching it for anything valuable.
"But you still saved her, didn't you?"
Sasha smiled slightly, her eyes curving as she watched the boy. The pink eyeshadow near her lashes softened, and deep down, she couldn't help but see Lin Mo's words as a form of tsundere pride.
After finding nothing of value, Lin Mo clapped his hands and stood up. He turned to face Sasha, meeting her eyes as he said calmly:
"I just gave her a sliver of hope. But when I pulled the trigger, she was already dead to me. That way, I wouldn't be distracted during the fight worrying about her safety... But despite everything, she clung to life until now. How could I not give her a chance to live?"
"That dose will only help her body stabilize. Whether she makes it or not is up to her. I've said it before, someone was going to die today. Luckily, it wasn't her."
"Maybe the only one who could save her was you... Lin Mo," Sasha said softly, eyes filled with a hint of curiosity. "Why do you always refuse to acknowledge your virtues?"
Lin Mo walked toward the room that had been blasted by a grenade. The place was scorched and blackened. Hearing Sasha's question, he paused, silently staring at the ground.
"If you kill, don't seek redemption. If you save, don't expect to be rewarded. That's just how I think, and how I act."
Is he really still a teenager?
Sasha's lips parted, as if she wanted to say something more, but Lin Mo, emerging from the room, cut her off.
"Let's not talk about this now. Maine and the others are waiting for our help."
He was fiddling with a fiery-red handgun, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Nearly everything in the room had been destroyed by the grenade, but this pistol remained intact.
It was strange. He had spent a lot of money on this mission—enough to buy a dozen of these guns—but finding this one felt like looting a legendary drop in a game.
Weird, indeed.
Sasha nodded. She could still hear Maine and the others over comms. It sounded like the battle was still locked in a stalemate.
She stood up, glanced down at the unconscious woman, about to speak, but froze when she looked toward the door.
Lin Mo was gone. All that remained was a gust of wind.
At that moment, his voice came through the communicator:
"I'm going to help. Stay here for now. Look after the woman."
Sasha's eyes widened. She hadn't expected Lin Mo to "flee" at a time like this. She looked at the unconscious woman, then around the room, as if still hoping to spot him.
With a quiet sigh, she bent down and lifted the woman, slinging one of her arms over her shoulder and struggling to get her upright.
"Annoying little brat... now I have to carry her," Sasha muttered as she trudged through the basement.
She could've activated her Sandevistan and been out of there in a flash.
But Lin Mo clearly didn't want to do the grunt work.
Maybe he just wanted to save time and get back to slashing more enemies?
Frustrated, Sasha was left to hobble through the basement alone.
...
...
PS: A long-overdue side note. Skip if uninterested.
In the world of 2077, medical technology has reached extraordinary levels. There is even a specific discipline called "Revival Clinical Medicine." As early as the 2020s, the Trauma Team International developed a 10-tier death scale. Only at Tier 10 can a person be considered officially dead.
The tiers increase by 2 for every minute after death, meaning that after 5 minutes, revival is nearly impossible.
(So in the anime, the Black Braindance director Jimmy looked like he was about to die, but it actually wasn't that serious. A Trauma Team could easily bring someone like that back.)
And that's just the 2020s.
By 2077, we have a notable example: Lizzi Wizzy, a famous celebrity fully covered in cyberware. She performed an on-stage suicide during a concert. Since she'd only been dead for an hour, the Trauma Team was able to revive her when they arrived.
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