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Chapter 552: Secret of Rex Kingsley
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Rex’s feet landed on a protruding 1m large rock with just a slight more angle to trip him. He spun to balance and used the Sniper Rifle as a counter weight, finishing into a circus-like act of the gun softly landing into his shoulders while he himself was on one foot, slowly twisting into a stop. But just at the last dregs of his spin’s momentum were vanishing, he was already facing the other side of the hill so he jumped off, going into a sprint while his left hand pulled the pen-tablet to summon the panel screen of his target sprinting towards his direction.
It all happened in just two seconds.
Rex smiled and stored the pen-tablet on the tube pocket on his left thigh before dashing towards his next target’s location.
*****
Chronos was frowning, “He’s just too good. This is just too abnormal. His instincts, his trap setup, his sniping stability and accuracy, even his style of executing someone he’s angry at…. it's all too oddly good it’s scary. Even given the scenario of changes he had been subjected into, all of those experiences, just for him to grow is just too fast.”
Goldwyn nodded,
“According to intel, he’d never actually had any proper military training in his life.” Chronos said as he turned to the old man beside him for opinion.
There was a pause between them before the old gangster gave a microscopic nod.
Although it was hardly enough to explain how Rex had some monstrous sniping skills, it was enough to make them consider it so the old men turned silent for a few seconds.
A while after, Chronos groaned and said, “When did you last have a video feed from his NLD?”
Goldwyn faced him,
Chronos remained silent and watched Rex ran in forest like a released panther. His mind, though, was clouded by thoughts on how to explain these skills that Rex was showing them right now.
The old gangster magically created a wine glass on his left hand and sipped on it, before speaking again,
Chronos replied, “It’s something to expect from a teenager who designed a mechanical framework for the independent side of the Android Project.”
The two old men exchanged a look. “It’s not that far offed to be excluded as a chance. Two weeks is a long enough time for a genius to learn a lot of things that could be of use to him… especially to a desperate genius such as him. We both know that ever since that update in the Janus Console, seeing through Terroa’s system processes has been a huge problem, even for its inventor.”
As he spoke about this, Rex had begun to slow his movements and set up a pair of SpyCams that oversaw two separate but panoramic-converting camera angles.
“Don’t forget that he’s undergone conditioning in the hands of the twins. They work for me and I’m perfectly aware of their capabilities. They said that Rex is a genius and my opinion of it hasn’t even changed one bit. I do not doubt him. Besides, it’s you who chose him, not me. Why are you starting to doubt your decision?”
Goldwyn grated again,
The two old men fell silent.
Rex, on the other hand, was on the run again.
“If someone hasn’t taught him all these skills in Terroa, then how do you explain it?”
This question stumped the old gangster.
He wanted to refute the claim but couldn’t find the proper words to debunk it.
Of course, none of the two could have imagined that their missing “item” was actually in the hands of Rex and that the “downloaded data” from the Panorama HQ was the one that uploaded all these combat information and data directly into Rex’s brain. In addition, Rex’s trillions upon trillions of years of battle experience made his instincts very sharp that he could at least maximize 50% of the uploaded skills and abilities Cortana implanted to his brain. Besides, even if Rex can’t master them at the interim, just his 50% instinctual mastery of it all was enough for him to overthrow every sound and logical explanation to his powerful display.
Since Goldwyn couldn’t refute the claim, he could only try to accept the face value of the argument.
“Who knows.” Chronos chuckled. “We pumped so many Fluctlights in the Janus Console during its inception and programed a separate Earth to exist there so it’s not impossible. We’ve even uploaded criminal Fluctlights in it so as to increase that tiny chance of further improving the Mefisto-AI. Who knows if this second experiment with lots of test subjects has produced an actual master of such skills in the NPC population? After all, wasn’t it Rex who also uncovered the main story line we’ve planned into the Terran Universe?”
“See? It’s that, or someone under AG’s thumb did indeed come to Terroa to teach Rex about Military Skills and Tactics in a span of six weeks inside all these time.”
There was a pause between the two while the old gangster turned to look at Chronos with a serious expression.
Chronos met his gaze and understood the hidden meaning to his words. His face was also serious when he replied: “Who knows.” It wasn’t even an inquiry but a statement. “Without the Janus Console, we can never know what actually happened inside it during the Mefisto Extraction Experiment. It’s not as if it will change the result though so why’re you worried?” Chronos paused and shrugged. “Well, in my part, at least, I’m not that worried since I’ve already done my part in our deal. Regardless of whether this would affect Rex or not, it won’t affect our plans at all. So why are you still worried? Can’t let go of worldly matters?”
Goldwyn felt the teasing contempt in the old man when he spoke. It made his pride wanted to shoot him right now. Too bad, both of them were not in their real selves or he would have.
“Because of AG? Well, I don’t blame you though.”
<…>
“…”
“My impression of you, actually, if you haven’t admitted it I would have doubted you pouring all your life’s work into creating that Database.”
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After a slight pause, the two old men chuckled slyly at each other’s exchange. For them, such a talk was nothing more than an extension of their primary experiment.
The two of them stared at the multiple video feed of the event but in the middle of it was Rex who was now sniping the nearest squad in his location.
The squad in question had now erupted into a big chaotic mess as they, just like what happened to Angus’ squad, ran off in every direction like a flock of startled chickens high in marijuana.
It only took him a minute or two to eliminate every member of that squad and it was also the same amount of time that the two old men were silently watching his every action. Even the angle of his expressions, his mannerisms, and his pulse, all of it was recorded and displayed on a separate holo panel screen.
Chronos became silent, staring intently at the last scene of Rex releasing a volley of three bullets in one breath to snipe three people hiding behind a couple of trees.
Goldwyn went on,
Goldwyn was serious. He swiped the air, going back to the moment when Rex jumped off the cliff to snipe two people while in midair.
He grumbled,
Chronos remained silent and only watched every event that happened in the panel screens.
This silence made Goldwyn sigh.
Rex was now setting up a trap and just finished installing a SpyCam into a tree before he took a run towards the two squads that’s in the middle of their skirmish.
“Let’s see how he’ll handle it.” Chronos finally said after a while. “Gibson isn’t an easy opponent to handle.”
Goldwyn was silent.
“But just in case,” Chronos eyed the other, “Can you conduct a scan on Rex’s home. Since he’s here, no one should be defending it, right?”
“What? Why did you only tell this to me now? This was an important Intel.”
Goldwyn snorted,
“…”
“…”
After listening to the ranting gangster, Chronos, in the middle of his watching, looked at him. “Do you mean to say that, by some miraculous event, Rex Kingsley bypassed my family’s NanoMech Technology… is that it?”
There was an angry tone in his voice. Chronos is a proud man and his Abraxas Family was ahead of every family in the Five Great Clans when it came to their Military Technology. The [NanoMech] was a weapon technology, the “NanoTech” feature in RPG: Terroa was a part of their clan’s technology and in the front of its “overseers” was Christiana Monarchy —a World Noble under their thumb.
In a way, NanoTech was a downgraded version of the human-compatible NanoMech. NanoTech was an external weaponry technology whereas the NanoMech was also like that, in addition to the fact that it can also be installed inside your body.
This was a technology ahead of its peers and the Abraxas Family Head was proud of its capabilities.
Chronos was confident in the reliability of their family’s technology’s security features so being questioned like this made him annoyed that he had to put pressure to the old gangster.
But alas, he momentarily forgot that this old man was his equal and wasn’t someone intimidated by his family’s background or by his stare.
As a result, he was met with a beaming smile from the old undying bastard,
A weird laugh escaped his lips and Chronos could not help blaming his temper. He lost his cool and now he was being teased by his partner.
He made a sigh, letting go of his fury. He was old and being angry wouldn’t help the two of them.
Besides, now that he had cooled down, he began to ponder over the dying old gangster’s words. It did indeed have some substance to it.
What if Rex found a way to bypass the security of the NanoMechs installed in his body and so led to his expanded learning ability?
If so, then this could explain how he could defeat Kanzu and his platoon back in Lausanne during his rescue of Amanda. This could explain how he was this monstrously adept in sniping, his skills in setting traps fluent and perfect, his instincts very sharp, and his logic-processes faster than normal people.
Even more so, if Rex had indeed managed to take control of even just a small part of the NanoMechs in his body, then there might actually be some complications that will appear in their plans.
When he landed on this conclusion, Chronos was shocked that he stared at the old gangster.
Chronos, of course, shook his head. “It’s basically impossible unless he had a microprocessor insert in his brain along with a [Core] of a NanoMech.”
“I at least trusted it to be this much capable.”
Goldwyn raised a brow in the jabbing comment but chose not to say anything. After a while, he asked after pondering over the matter, Chronos didn’t even pause to think over what his answer was: “At least double.” “Perhaps. There’s no logical explanation to it than him actually being able to control a part of it. Even just 1% of them were already enough to make any man exceed any mortal limitations set in humanity that we’ve been trying to hack into.” The smiling godfather became serious. He himself couldn’t find any way to berate the old man in front of him when he’s also aware of the implications if his joke was actually the fact of the entire matter. “I’ll send the twins. They’re familiar with each other so Rex might not become hostile.” “If it really turns into a fight, then let’s keep him in a cell and do the rest of his conditioning inside a secure facility.” <…> “What?” Chronos was taken aback and blinked, then he shook his head and answered, “If we had found out about his skills earlier, we would have indeed landed on this decision but we only realized it all now so there’s no helping it. Besides, I only even learned about [Mitra] earlier so there was nothing we could have done then.” As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of light erupted in one of the panel screens in the other candidates. The two old men’s eyes then turned to Rex’s live video feed and learned that he had just sniped the candidates’ CP’s vehicle’s gas tank parked just beside their command hub. Although it was a norm for E-Vehicles in the 22nd Century, Diesel-reliant torque-centered vehicles such as majority of the Military Vehicles were all in need of Diesel Fuel. Diesel Fuel has low volatility rate than gasoline. It won’t easily “burn” unless from high pressure or really strong fires. But an Anti-Tank bullet’s slug-to-metal capacity is all but a strong enough of a source to burn Diesel Fuel upon impact. As a result, the entire HQ Tent blew up, killing everyone inside it. The best part of all, Rex... was still four kilometers away from his target. “…” Not even five seconds later, Rex was already on the move. He didn’t tarry and didn’t even disassemble his rifle and just replaced the battery of his exoskeleton before running away again. The two old men could only shake their heads. “165” “Many squads have capable members.” “Gibson won’t. Maybe when he’s 400+ meters, he may decide to shoot Rex while running but in that distance, he won’t. His personality won’t allow him to shoot Rex on that uncertain distance.” “Well, that is, if Rex wasn’t aware of Gibson at all.” ***** Rex tucked the pen-tablet back into its thigh slot while he listened to Cortana reporting about the location and distance of Gibson. [Enemy’s 450 meters at your five, sir.] ‘Does he have a visual on my actions?’ [From the video feed from the Office, he still has no visual of you but he knows your general location because of the earlier scan he conducted with his team.] Rex smiled but still kept running. He was looking for a large tree or rock ledge to hide and set up a welcoming trap to his pursuer. After all, nobody is fond of having a stalker. Right now, he was descending the slop towards a valley where four six were about to meet. Rex wanted to set up a trap for them or shoot them so as to hasten this assessment event, but because he had a hunter hot on his track, he didn’t have any choice but to slow down his progress and be cautious of his back. ‘I think confronting him would be the best course of action. But… I don’t want to reveal to Chronos all my cards this early. By now, they had probably seen my skills and are questioning it. But that was a compromise I had to make because I had no other choice if I want to survive in this event.’ [There is an area at your 10 that fulfills the criteria for an ambush, sir.] ‘Great! Mark the location with a location beacon!’ . . ================================ Danger is approaching his base!!! ================================ . . . . . Next Chapter: Showdown!