Riku parked his car, originally planning to hightail it out of Night City to lay low until the heat from the NCPD (Night City Police Department) died down.
But seeing the NCPD's half-hearted response, it was all thunder and no rain. They didn't seem too eager to chase him down on behalf of Biotechnica.
"No need to skip town then," Riku muttered to himself.
He stepped out of the car and began checking it for any tracking devices, his eyes flicking to the pop-up notifications from his Kyokugen System (Extreme System).
Ding! +550 EXP.
Ding! EXP bar full. Level up to Lv6. Current EXP: 169/700.
Gained 1 Attribute Point.
"Huh? Just one attribute point?" Riku frowned, puzzled for a moment before it clicked. "Right, it's two levels for a skill point, three for a skill optimization point."
If his math was right, hitting Lv7 would be a jackpot, like Lv1—grabbing one point each for attributes, skills, and optimization.
"The EXP needed jumped by 200. What's that about? Newbie phase over? Is Lv5 the start of a new stage?" Riku mused, drawing on his years of gaming experience to make sense of it. He wasn't sure if earning EXP would get tougher from here.
As he pondered, the shrill wail of NCPD sirens cut through the air. Riku whipped his head around, spotting a fleet of fukūsha (hovercars) closing in from the sky.
"Damn it! I knew it!" Riku cursed under his breath.
Among the NCPD markings, he spotted the telltale skull emblem—a dead giveaway for Bōkyō Kidōtai (MaxTac), Night City's elite unit. These guys weren't your average cops. MaxTac handled saibō seishinbyō (cyberpsycho) incidents and threats too big for regular NCPD grunts.
"Figures!" Riku spat, realizing why he hadn't seen any patrol cars. The NCPD had skipped straight to calling in MaxTac.
His car must've been rigged with a tracking virus in its system. No physical trackers, just some sneaky hakkā (hacker) tech.
"In this day and age, you're screwed without some hakkā skills," Riku grumbled. Without them, he was a sitting duck in situations like this.
Whoosh!
A salvo of rockets with long, glowing tails screamed toward him. Riku activated his Sandevistan, his body blurring into motion as he ditched the car. No time to worry about equipment now.
BOOM!
His Thorton took the brunt of the barrage, holding out briefly before exploding in a fiery blast. It wasn't a heavy-armored tank, after all.
MaxTac's firepower was no joke. Unlike the underpaid NCPD regulars, these guys were kitted out with top-tier gitai (cyberware) and gear—Night City's trump card for maintaining order.
Riku dove into a nearby apartment building, his vision going dark as his gigan (cybernetic eyes) got hacked. The enemy was also trying to infiltrate his Sandevistan and neural chip, but his Majin (Demon Puppet) system, integrated with his bio-enhanced gitai, shut them down cold. Even a legendary hakkā like Bartmoss would've been stumped by Riku's unique setup.
"Trying to fry my brain? Keep dreaming!" Riku smirked.
Inside the apartment, he opened the third eye on his forehead. It was evening, but the night hadn't fully fallen yet. Fighting outside would be a disadvantage, so he'd stall here until yomaku (nightfall)—his prime hunting time.
From the shadows, Riku watched as several MaxTac operatives disembarked from their hovercars. They were decked out in full combat gear, their faces hidden behind high-tech visors with insect-like secondary lenses glowing an eerie blue.
MaxTac moved deliberately, unhurried, like they already had Riku in the bag.
"Four of them," Riku muttered, his forehead eye narrowing. His gigan were still offline despite his attempts to reboot them, so he relied entirely on his third eye now.
From the second floor, Riku could sense the operatives entering the building. Their human scent was faint—too much gitai, too little flesh. The entire apartment was deathly silent. Residents, spotting the MaxTac hovercars outside, were probably praying to Kami-sama to survive the clash between a cyberpsycho and Night City's deadliest squad.
MaxTac reached the second floor. Riku didn't run. He wanted to test their mettle. Besides, in this sunless building, they couldn't kill him no matter how hard they tried.
Voom!
His Sandevistan kicked in, the world tinting like an anime filter. Riku launched himself at the lead MaxTac operative, his netsu-bushidō (thermal katana) flashing in a perfected Mizumen-zan (Water Surface Slash).
Clang!
The strike was blocked. The lead operative, a totsugeki-shu (assault specialist), wielded a Kenli dōryoku-ken (power sword). He didn't budge an inch, his legs rooted to the ground. In raw strength, he was nearly Riku's equal.
"Tech this insane…" Riku marveled. This guy probably had more synthetic muscle than human flesh, explaining the faint human scent. MaxTac's gitai were on another level.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunfire erupted. Riku ducked back as the other MaxTac operatives opened fire without hesitation, clearly unbothered about friendly fire. Their confidence was unnerving, and their weapons packed a punch Riku's subdermal armor might not withstand.
The assault specialist, unfazed by the hail of bullets, charged Riku with his power sword. His subdermal armor was tough enough to shrug off his own team's shots—talk about reckless confidence.
Clang!
Riku parried the sword, but the operative pressed the attack, swinging his blade with relentless force. Even with Sandevistan active, Riku was shocked by the guy's speed. This wasn't just skill—it was superior tech. MaxTac's gear outclassed his by a mile.
"Tech crushes all, huh?" Riku thought. In anime, you'd need years of training to master kenjutsu or mystical powers, but in Night City, tech was the ultimate shortcut. It didn't matter who you were—plug in the right gitai, and you'd hit a baseline of terrifying strength.
"How long can you keep this up?" the operative taunted, his voice raspy like a blade had torn through his throat. His exposed mouth curled into a manic grin, looking more like a saibō seishinbyō than Riku ever could.
"Longer than you, buddy," Riku shot back, deflecting another strike. "You wanna play endurance? I'll outlast you any day."
If they were using the same gear, Riku would've ended this guy in seconds. But for now, he'd bide his time, trading blows and waiting for the perfect moment to turn the tables.
(End of Chapter)