Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Spider

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Wang Jing donned his modified and upgraded powered exoskeleton armor and initiated his crossing. Even at night, the streets were crowded with people. His sudden appearance in the middle of the road startled the pedestrians, but before they could react, Wang Jing soared into the air and shot skyward. As he climbed higher and higher, he quickly became a faint, glowing speck in the sky.

Upon reaching thirty thousand meters above ground, Wang Jing brought Optimus Prime with him. Optimus, also refitted for radar stealth, had two engines blazing with dazzling light as he continued to ascend, not stopping until he burst through the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Wang Jing turned back toward the earth. After evading some pursuing robots, he brought Alice along as well.

"Where are we going now?" Alice asked.

"Los Angeles!"

Riding in Bumblebee, Wang Jing and Alice arrived in Los Angeles before dawn. Along the way, slums stretched endlessly on both sides of the road, the land yellowed and cracked from severe erosion. Everywhere, idle people wandered aimlessly along the roadside.

Pulling up in the flashy Bumblebee before their destination, Wang Jing instantly drew countless stares. When Alice stepped out of the car, the gazes grew heated, filled with both desire and envy.

As the crowd pressed in, Wang Jing simply stood his ground, waiting for Alice to clear a path for him.

Observing this, many in the crowd wore sneers of contempt. A few impatient punks shoved their way forward, eyeing Alice maliciously as she attempted to disperse the crowd.

But as one of them reached out his hand, Alice seized his wrist in a flash, catching the sinister hand before it could touch her.

"Hey, babe, you’d better let go if you know what’s good for you. Otherwise, my boys and I will have to take real good care of you," the punk leered, oblivious to the disaster about to befall him. The crowd egged him on with raucous shouts.

Alice turned back to look at Wang Jing.

Wang Jing could see the fury in Alice’s eyes was on the verge of erupting, so he nodded slightly.

With his permission, Alice turned back to the punk with a bright smile. "I believe you’ll regret saying that for the rest of your life."

The punk snorted disdainfully, about to retort, when a bone-chilling scream tore from his throat. With a single twist of her hand, Alice wrenched his wicked wrist into a grotesque knot.

She released him and, without mercy, kicked him hard into the crowd behind. "Anyone else want to try their luck?" Alice shouted to the onlookers, her gaze fierce as a blade.

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Seeing the vicious glint in Alice’s eyes, the group of burly men surrounding them shrank back, their expressions shifting from gloating to fearful.

Noting the change, Alice spat contemptuously, "Cowards, the lot of you!"

Provoked by her taunt, several muscular men shoved through the crowd, glowering as one jabbed a finger at Alice’s nose and growled, "Bitch, do you even know whose turf this is?"

"I warn you, point that finger at me again and I’ll twist it off," Alice replied coldly, eyes fixed on the man before her.

"Fuck, you must have a death wish!"

Before the brute could make a move, the crack and grind of breaking bone cut through the air, followed by his anguished howl.

A mere two seconds earlier, as the man prepared to attack, Alice had seized his finger and, with a swift sideways spin, twisted it a full three hundred sixty degrees.

Howling in pain, the man, driven by willpower stronger than most, tried to swing his left fist at Alice. But she drove her knee into his chin with brutal force, sending his teeth flying and knocking him unconscious. His arm, halfway raised, dropped limply to his side as his body collapsed into the dust.

The ferocity of Alice’s moves made the crowd retreat even farther, but in the next instant, a bullet struck the ground at Alice’s feet.

She looked up to see a thug on higher ground aiming a gun at her, but as she reached for her own weapon, a lazy voice drifted from the crowd.

"Put those guns away, you worthless fools!"

The crowd parted, making way for a limping man with a cane.

"My apologies, you two," he said, "I haven’t been strict enough with my men. But you understand how it is—times are hard these days. If I’m too harsh, everyone leaves."

"Enough talk, Spider. Let’s get to the point," Wang Jing interrupted.

Spider grinned. "May I have your name, sir?"

"I’m Wang Jing. She’s Alice," Wang Jing replied coldly.

Spider feigned a cough, then asked, "So what business brings you to me, Mr. Wang?"

"Are you sure you want to discuss this here?" Wang Jing asked, glancing around.

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"Oh, my mistake, please, follow me," Spider said, turning to lead them inside, with Wang Jing and Alice close behind.

In Spider’s operations room, he settled behind his desk and gestured for Wang Jing to speak.

"I want you to extract the organic data from someone’s brain," Wang Jing said.

"No problem. As long as you can pay the price, I can get anyone’s," Spider replied with a grin.

"John Carlisle," Wang Jing said coolly.

At the name, Spider chuckled. "Brother, what do you want with him?"

"Not your concern. Just tell me if you can do it or not," Wang Jing cut him off.

"That depends on how much you’re offering," Spider said, leaning forward and rubbing his hands together.

Wang Jing let out a soft laugh and pulled a large gold bar from his pocket.

At the sight of gleaming gold, everyone in the room went wide-eyed. In a world where resources were nearly exhausted, precious metals like gold held immense value.

Spider swallowed hard. "Deal. I’ll do it." He reached for the gold, but in a flash, Wang Jing drew a dagger and sliced the bar in two, the blade grazing Spider’s fingers.

The sudden movement made Spider break into a cold sweat as he looked up at Wang Jing, who calmly sheathed his knife.

"Half as a deposit," Wang Jing said, his gaze icy. "If you try to double-cross me, I’ll use the other half to put a bounty on your head."

Spider, unfazed, pocketed the gold and replied obsequiously, "Rest assured, I’m a man of my word. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have lasted this long in charge."

"I hope so," Wang Jing said coldly, turning to leave. At the door, he tossed Spider a communicator. "Let me know when the plan begins."

"Of course, you’ll be the first to hear," Spider replied, grinning from ear to ear.