"Seven drones—why are there so many? Find cover!"
Saul was frantic—Panam wasn't a rookie anymore, so how did she let the drones catch up?
But now wasn't the time to reprimand her; the priority was to take down the pursuing drones!
Military drones are extremely lethal, especially on flat terrain.
Their powerful mobility combined with rapid-fire machine guns make them a nightmare for most mercenaries—
Seven Griffin drones on the wasteland could wipe out most nomad convoys and mercenaries!
Bang!
Saul ducked behind cover. The sound of a Nekomata shot rang out, the bullet leaving an unnatural trajectory in the air, causing the sunlight to scatter in odd colors.
From several hundred meters away, a single shot took down one of the Griffins. Saul glanced at Jackie, who had fired the shot, and gave him a thumbs-up. "Impressive."
However, one morale-boosting shot wouldn't halt the assault. After all, these were drones, not humans, and a single hit wouldn't scare them.
The Griffins flew toward the camp at full speed, and Panam, in her vehicle, could only watch in despair as the drones swooped overhead. In desperation, she slammed on the brakes, letting go of the steering wheel before the car even stopped, flipping herself into the backseat to grab a rocket launcher!
Click!
The vehicle jolted as it hit the ground, nearly flipping over, but Panam quickly regained control of the steering wheel—
Then, with an RPG in hand, she leaned out the window.
"Take this!"
Boom!
The surface-to-air missile locked onto a target and hit it directly!
Jackie clicked his tongue in surprise—the Bright family was definitely richer than the Red Ocher family, being able to pull out a surface-to-air missile.
But it was a one-time shot.
With two drones down, the remaining five quickly dispersed, zigzagging in the air and making it hard to aim!
Someone in the nomad camp rushed to the machine gun turret, firing wildly, but with little effect.
Others with rifles and shotguns found it even harder to hit the fast-moving targets. They could only watch as the Griffin drones approached quickly and unleashed a hail of bullets!
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—
The bullets sprayed, not very accurate but in high density. The nomad manning the machine gun was hit on the spot!
The rain of bullets didn't just strike him; they also riddled the trailer behind him with holes!
Jackie's instincts flared—
Leo was still undergoing surgery!
Though the drones' fire was dense, it wasn't precise, and the nomad trailers didn't seem capable of withstanding the drones' light machine guns!
Jackie shouted to Saul, "Where's your netrunner?"
"They're on it! Hold on!"
Before Saul could respond, a sturdy woman in sunglasses was working feverishly with her display, trying to hack in—
But it was tough.
Hacking in this situation had many complications. In the city, networks were everywhere, wireless and wired, all intertwined and unified by the Igarashi-Glubb transformation algorithm.
But out here in the wasteland, it was different, especially with drones. They usually relied on fixed signal transmitters for wireless connection and remote control.
Without an access point, they'd need to use the same wireless transmitter, first attempting to connect to the same frequency, then comparing network protocols to find vulnerabilities.
But... it was incredibly difficult.
Another volley of fire from the drones, and Jackie shifted positions, firing a shot—yet the Griffins were fast and flying high!
The sun interfered with his vision, making it hard to aim at the swiftly moving drones.
Jackie narrowly dodged a bullet while trying to shoot back.
"Can you hurry it up?"
"She's got this!" Saul shouted back as he fired, "She's the best netrunner we have. She used to do tech support for Militech. If she can't do it, we're dead!"
The pressure on Carol was immense!
She was indeed an expert in hacking military tech, having served in the Militech forces during the Unification War.
But it was precisely because she had been in that war that she knew just how deadly these drones were!
And if the Griffins had managed to track Panam, it likely meant someone nearby was controlling them—
If they didn't deal with that, the tribe would remain in danger!
The wireless frequency used by the Griffins kept changing. Unless the user was also skilled in hacking and communication tech, the frequency shift would be automatic and follow a pattern—
But to figure out that pattern, her brain had to work faster.
Carol knew that every wasted second put the tribe in more danger!
Without hesitation, she downed a neuro-enhancer!
Her neurons fired up, her thoughts racing. Carol quickly input the captured frequency shift data into her monitoring system—
The shifts were completely visualized, requiring a fitting method to model the mathematical pattern.
There would always be parts that didn't fit—only if the error rate was within the drones' tolerance could they transmit stable commands and allow for hacking!
But fitting algorithms were highly complex, requiring not only computational power but a flash of insight!
Carol's body temperature spiked as she lay back on the netrunner's chair, her skin hooked up to a cooling system.
One attempt, two attempts, three attempts...
All failures!
Bang!
Jackie hit the side of one Griffin drone, the Nekomata's powerful shot piercing through, but it wasn't enough to stop the drone immediately!
The drone spun wildly as its engines lost control, and the machine plummeted toward the camp's central tower!
That tower housed the solar panels powering the camp!
Crack—
A solar panel was hit, and the massive battery began to wobble—then it collapsed!
It was falling straight toward Carol's workspace!
"Mierda!" Jackie cursed, dropping the Nekomata and charging straight for the workshop!
Crack!
The falling panel loomed over the Aldecaldo camp, hearts sinking.
Boom!
The panel crashed, sparking as it tore through tents and trailers, kicking up a cloud of dust!
"Es terrible (It's terrible)."
But the worst didn't happen—Carol wasn't crushed.
Jackie, like a modern Atlas holding up the world, had caught the massive solar panel.
His arms spread wide, holding up the nearly ten-meter-wide panel—
Though the panel itself wasn't dense, its massive size and the height of the fall had dealt a heavy blow to Jackie.
The panel nearly reached his chest, but Jackie's Gorilla Arms kept it suspended—
Though clearly, his legs were struggling, trembling violently as his joints started to deform.
The Aldecaldo tribe watched in shock, but the Griffin drones were not.
One drone locked onto Jackie, ready to fire—
Carol snapped back to reality from her shock, but she hadn't even completed the first stage of the hack!
Suddenly, errors flooded her network—it seemed someone had hijacked all the camp's systems while she was preoccupied with the drones.
Despair washed over Carol.
But the next second, she saw sparks and smoke coming from the drones in the sky.
Not just one drone—all of them.
Several drones burst into sparks and smoke, crashing down lifelessly—
Crash—
The surgical trailer door suddenly swung open, and Jackie, now relieved of the solar panel, set it down.
V stepped out briskly, shouldering the Nekomata and said to Jackie and the others, "There's someone controlling these drones nearby. If we hurry, we might catch them."
The Aldecaldos snapped out of their daze, and engines roared to life.
Carol, still stunned by the sudden power cut and the chaos, stared blankly at the surgical trailer—
Leo had just walked out, shaking his coat.
"Emergency situation. I hooked into the network for a bit, but you did well. If it weren't for you, those last few seconds would've been hard to pull off."
(