In the end, Placid compromised in the face of Peter's overwhelming strength. Although he didn't know much about this mercenary, he recognized that they needed someone with Peter's capabilities for this mission.
After explaining the details of the Empire Mall and the task at hand, Peter set off immediately. However, even after compromising, Placid handed him a chip, stating that it would assist him during the mission.
"If I don't use this chip, you won't let me take on the assignment, is that it?" Peter sneered, eyeing Placid with suspicion.
"It doesn't matter how you see it. If you don't plug in this chip, you're out. Don't even think about using Ubridget or the subnet Poseidon." Placid's tone was unwavering.
Peter shrugged. "Fine, give me the chip."
Seeing Peter insert the chip into his nerve slot, Placid smirked inwardly. Mercenaries, in his opinion, lacked intelligence. As one of the top hacker gangs, they had countless ways to plant viruses in someone's brain, and this chip was one of those methods.
With everything set, Placid ordered his men to escort Peter to the Imperial Mall.
Ignoring the instructions from his handlers and Placid's warnings through the earpiece, Peter strode up to the entrance of Empire Mall and kicked open the gate.
"What the hell are you doing? Do you have any idea how many Animal Gang members are inside?!" Placid shouted in fury as he watched through the surveillance feed.
Despite Placid's careful plan to infiltrate the building undetected, Peter had blown his cover in the most spectacular way possible.
"That idiot," Placid muttered, realizing there was no choice but to engage. "Fine. Attack directly. I'll hack some of the Animal Gang's members remotely to give you an advantage."
Peter's voice crackled over the channel. "Don't worry. Just sit back and watch how I crush these fools."
With that, he cut off communication with Placid.
"Damn it! Network surveillance! That mercenary bastard!" Placid cursed, thinking the system had hacked into their channel and severed the link.
Meanwhile, inside the mall, a gang member sneered. "You've got guts showing up here, but now you're dead!"
"You look like a scrawny little thing. Let's see how long you last."
Peter didn't bother exchanging words. Instead, his eyes flashed blue as his brain overloaded and infected the surrounding gang members with a virus. Within seconds, over twenty Animal Gang members collapsed, their heads burning from the inside out.
Despite their enhanced muscle prosthetics, they still had organic brains, which made them vulnerable to Peter's attack. Eliminating them in one fell swoop saved him considerable effort.
"Peter, you seem to have a particular grudge against this Voodoo Gang fool," Johnny remarked, sensing his intense hostility.
"The Voodoo Gang is at the top of my hit list, right after the Tiger Claw Gang," Peter replied coldly.
Johnny frowned. "Didn't I hear you talking to Judy about them?"
"Yeah, but this isn't just personal. The Voodoo Gang's methods are disgusting."
Peter explained their modus operandi while continuing his assault.
"Damn, these guys are worse than I thought," Johnny admitted after hearing Peter's explanation. "No wonder you hate them so much."
"They're just another pile of trash," Peter muttered. "If they weren't of some use to me, I would've wiped them out already."
As Peter made his way through the mall, he left a trail of bodies in his wake. He had already taken down at least a hundred members of the Animal Gang. Some were blasted apart by his heat vision, others torn apart by his fists. The sheer brutality of his methods was unsettling even for Johnny.
"Peter, I've been with you for a while now, but I'll never get used to your methods," Johnny admitted. "I've seen some horrible stuff in war, but you take things to another level."
Peter smirked. "Maybe if you got used to it, I'd consider letting you out."
Johnny scoffed. "And what the hell is up with you shooting lasers out of your eyes? Weren't your eyes supposed to be original?"
Peter chuckled. "I don't know, maybe I just have really hot vision."
"Yeah, whatever."
Upon reaching a truck, Peter unlocked his communication channel with Placid again. By then, he had already cracked the truck's system. Allowing Placid to reconnect was just a courtesy to keep him informed.
Placid's surprised voice came through. "You cracked it already?"
"This thing was never going to be a problem for me. Now, how about you tell me the real reason you sent me here? Don't insult my intelligence by pretending the Animal Gang's presence was the real issue."
Placid sighed. "Fine. It's the network monitors. They've been messing with our subnet Poseidon."
He didn't know how Peter had survived the onslaught of the Animal Gang, but at this point, he wasn't going to question it. If Peter had made it this far, he might as well eliminate the network monitors too.
"There's a specific target you need to kill. His data is in the truck's system," Placid explained.
Before Peter could respond, the communication channel was interrupted by static. Then, a deep voice came through.
"Back off. This isn't your business."
Placid cursed. "Damn it! It's the network supervisor! Peter, kill that bastard!"
His voice cut off as the network monitor forcibly severed the connection between them.
A moment later, the network monitor spoke again. "Mercenary, leave now. We'll pay you twice whatever the Voodoo Gang offered."
Peter ignored him.
These so-called network monitors were just another group of lapdogs, no better than the Voodoo Gang.
As he moved forward, he reached a location separated by just one wall from the cinema. There, standing before him, was a massive figure—nearly 2.5 meters tall, with bulging muscles and a menacing presence.
The boss of the Animal Gang: the Savage King.