Chapter 93: Ascending Floor by Floor
Night City never had truly foolish people—those who were, are long gone.
This is a city that devours its own. It drains your blood dry, then grinds your bones to dust.
The unlucky bastard rolled across the floor a few times. Stepping over his dust-covered corpse, the group pressed deeper into the building.
Arthur frowned at the stiff, terror-stricken face beneath his boots but still followed the others forward.
He was indeed a ruthless outlaw, burning, looting, and killing, but he rarely pulled the trigger on those who couldn’t fight back.
Crossing the body, Arthur’s expression hardened.
The staircase was still unfinished, its floor and surrounding walls bare with the sheen of raw concrete.
The railings hadn’t been installed yet, though fortunately it was wide enough to hold dozens of strong men side by side.
Heavy, dense footsteps echoed as sunlight poured back in.
The moment they emerged from the underground, a squad of security guards in unfamiliar corporate uniforms was already waiting.
Dozens of rifles snapped up, and the instant they spotted the charging group, gunfire thundered.
Leading the charge was Sasquatch
.
Hearing the shots, she simply raised her arms—broad as door panels—to shield herself.
Bullets rained down, sparking yellow light as they bounced off her skin.
Her legs were short and thick like a rhinoceros, hot breath hissing from her nostrils. With a deep, guttural roar, she barreled straight into the muzzles of the enemy rifles.
“Hahaha... corpo dogs, you’re trash.”
Nobody could tell what that gun strapped to her back was supposed to be for.
The corpos’ weapons weren’t weak—these weren’t the rusted junk pieces street gangs used in alley fights. Even if not top grade, company-issue gear was still deadly.
Under Sasquatch’s lead, the rest of the Animals—more than a dozen of them—charged headlong.
Unlike her, their subdermal armor wasn’t nearly as thick. Some had none at all. In the storm of orange-yellow tracer fire, several were torn apart instantly, collapsing in bloody heaps.
Night City wasn’t wrong about these guys—they really weren’t the brightest.
Those in the middle were luckier—the bullets meant for them were all stopped by Sasquatch’s massive frame at the front.
Seeing their comrades fall, rage overtook them. They finally remembered the light machine guns hanging at their waists.
Roaring, they hefted the weapons and unleashed torrents of fire forward, bullets even shredding into their own leader.
At the very back, Arthur and Jackie finally peeked out from the stairwell.
“Trying to command this pack of animals? Harder than herding sheep.
Yelling doesn’t work... yesterday I should’ve brought a whip.”
Glancing at the downed Animals, Arthur cursed under his breath as he drew the Revolver from his waist.
It wasn’t that Night City lacked fools—just that all of them were already marching to their deaths.
Up ahead, Sasquatch had already smashed into the security line.
Her arms swung like oncoming locomotives, sending corpo guards who hadn’t managed to retreat flying in every direction.
Once she, the savage king of the Animals, broke into their ranks, their fate was sealed.
Whether it was the Animals spraying machine guns or Arthur quietly picking off a few from afar, none of it mattered anymore.
After crushing the last man’s neck in her grip, Sasquatch exhaled and turned back toward the group.
Apart from the few Animals who fell at the start, none of their side had suffered casualties once she had charged in.
She didn’t spare the fallen a glance. Swinging her arms, she bolted up the stairs toward the higher floors.
The first floor—just above the underground—was where the resistance had been strongest.
Above that, most were engineers, with only a few scattered armed guards, all of whom the Animals strangled with ease.
“Pretty simple.”
Sasquatch’s face was smeared with blood, her bared teeth streaked red.
She cracked her neck with an eerie pop, then kicked open the door ahead.
This was the top floor. Beyond this final door, Arthur and Jackie’s gig—one they had barely needed to lift a finger for—would be done.
With a deafening clang, the double iron doors slammed against the walls.
But instead of rifles waiting in ambush, what loomed before them was a massive mechanical arm.
Nearly two meters wide, three steel claws sat mounted over a monstrous grinder at its base.
The metal wheel, millstone-sized, spun between hydraulic cylinders as thick as a person’s arm.
The cylinders hissed as they drove the winch, pulling the claws shut.
The claws moved slowly, but their sudden appearance stunned everyone.
And what good was a reaction anyway? Arthur and Jackie stood at the very back.
At that deceptively slow pace, the claws snapped shut, clamping Sasquatch in their grip.
With a grinding hum, the arm lifted her into the doorway.
Flesh and blood...
No matter how massive the body, how could it fight machinery of this scale?
“Shit!!
What the hell is this thing?!
Put me down!”
She thrashed, but only her head stuck out, leaving no room to exert force.
Thankfully, her bellowing finally snapped her hulking subordinates out of their daze.
With a roar, they rushed forward.
The shopping mall sprawled across a massive floorplan. Its very center opened straight up to the top level.
Above, a ring of seamless glass encased the highest floor.
This space housed a miniature ecological island—a colossal project filled with towering tropical plants.
They were fully grown, clearly brought here instead of grown on-site.
“You murderous bastards!”
A disheveled middle-aged man stood at the distant control console.
His loose blue work suit hung awkwardly on him, splattered with black stains.
“Who the hell are you?! Why did you come here to kill?!”
His shrill voice cut through the hall as his weak arms worked the controls with venom.
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