Chapter 421: Shadowlaw's Four Heavenly Kings Raid the Laboratory at Night
In the original plot, Maxim appeared officially only in The King of Fighters '99, defecting with K' and fighting against NESTS.
But it was 1997 at this time, and NESTS had not yet obtained the comatose Kyo Kusanagi as material. K', who was already in the organization, naturally had not yet received the Kusanagi gene transplant to gain the Kusanagi flames.
And Maxima was still a cyborg warrior working for NESTS.
The invasion in the early hours of the morning indeed made NESTS mistakenly believe that Hammond's laboratory was one of Shadowlaw's shell companies, but Maxima's act of bringing gifts and getting straight to the point made it clear that he had a spy in the SIN department.
In fact, it was common for these evil organizations with overt industries to have spies infiltrating each other, but generally, they couldn't penetrate key positions. More often, they would exchange a mix of true and false information to probe and guide.
However, Cheng Tian's rampage in the SIN department and the incident where he gouged out Juri Han's eye on the spot were directly transmitted at the fastest speed by a spy, at the cost of revealing their identity. The importance of this information was worth NESTS losing one or even several hidden agents.
And Cheng Tian's stand-in had never concealed his identity from beginning to end, so his identity was quickly confirmed.
He was most likely unrelated to Shadowlaw but should belong to some unassuming, low-profile technical powerhouse organization.
The NESTS cadre in charge of this area immediately reacted faster than the internally chaotic Shadowlaw and SIN. Not only did he generously offer compensation, using real gold and silver to make up for their invasion, but he was also determined to obtain Juri's left eye!
Although he didn't know who was currently directing Maxima, Cheng Tian could feel a sense of decisiveness from it.
It's just a pity... "Since you came here in the early hours of the morning, it means you know what I'm doing here. Then you should also know that eye is useful to us, right?
If you really want to trade, it's not impossible, but money is the most useless thing. Only a technical exchange is possible, and you need to be prepared to pay a heavy price."
The other party was direct, and Cheng Tian didn't hide anything. He pushed aside the box of gold bricks offered as compensation and gave a straightforward answer.
"What technology do you wish to exchange?"
Facing Cheng Tian's reply, Maxima was silent for a moment. He pressed one hand to his temple, as if communicating with someone for a while, before speaking again.
It seemed that Maxima, whose modification degree had exceeded 50%, was already in a state of not being easily swayed by emotions, but rather acting professionally according to programs and commands. What he did just now wasn't anything particularly high-tech; it was just that Maxima had a built-in mobile phone for communication.
"Do you really want me to say it? I'm not asking for an exorbitant price. Once I say it, there won't be much room for negotiation."
"Please, just say it."
"Cloning technology and reinforced combat suit technology."
Maxima paused slightly, evidently receiving some communication, then stood up directly and extended his hand towards Cheng Tian.
"Your superior agreed?"
Cheng Tian asked curiously.
"No, my superior refused."
Maxima shook his head.
"Although it's a pity, my superior sincerely hopes that you can withstand the retaliatory strikes from the Shadowlaw organization."
With that, Maxim left without looking back, taking the other two with him.
The concept of 'if the deal fails, goodwill remains' is based on the premise that the other party is also strong enough.
If NESTS didn't know who Cheng Tian was, and hadn't witnessed the stand-in and summoned vehicles smashing people and self-destructing, they would definitely have launched a strong assault to forcibly enter and seize the Feng Shui Engine when the deal fell through.
Fortunately, the NESTS cadre, who was accustomed to recording all fighter combat data, not only observed and recorded all sixteen live channels but also had dedicated personnel and equipment for frame-by-frame analysis and research.
And the current assessment of Cheng Tian, this unconventional fighter, was "extremely dangerous."
Combat suits could analyze human fighters, but Cheng Tian was somewhat humanoid and non-human, making him truly difficult to deal with. So, they ultimately abandoned the plan to have Maxim create chaos and steal the eyeball—
But NESTS overlooked one thing: Cheng was not only aware of NESTS's exact composition but was also a true player capable of orchestrating anything!
Just as Maxima turned to leave, Cheng Tian's brow glowed faintly, and then he saw Maxima's body make a very unnatural pause, so much so that one might mistakenly think he had merely slipped a little.
After a slight pause, Maxima did not look back but continued forward. However, neither his accompanying personnel nor the NESTS junior cadre on the other end of the communication knew that Maxima's core program's sole loyalty target had been quietly replaced with "Aoko"!
Maxima, who also only had a Champion-level template, already had the "Dominated Puppet" debuff hanging over his head.
For living humans, it's enslavement; for humanoid machines, it's a puppet. The heavily modified Maxima could now sit at the same table with "Azrael" and "Jack-6."
With Maxima as an insider, Cheng Tian now had a chance to go on a zero-cost shopping spree at NESTS!
However, according to NESTS, the internal chaos at Shadowlaw and SIN had probably ended, and retaliatory strikes should already be on their way.
Who would lead the team?
...Night is the city's camouflage, and also an accomplice in concealing evil.
Because of the prior warning, Cheng Tian, who was temporarily free from invitation restrictions, chose to sleep soundly during the day to conserve energy for dealing with the attack as a night owl, seizing a loophole.
The restrictions of the fighting tournament on contestants, to some extent, also limited the means of dangerous organizations, indirectly sealing away their hot weapons. To retaliate against Cheng Tian, they would have to resort to fighting methods.
Of course, if it really came down to hot weapons, Cheng, who came with his own arsenal, was actually much more terrifying than them.
The one truly sealed yet not completely sealed was Cheng. He didn't need to be afraid.
The silhouettes of three of the Four Heavenly Kings—Bison, Balrog, and F.A.N.G—still didn't escape Cheng Tian's scan. They approached the laboratory from different directions in the cover of night.
There were also some members, most likely of the Shadowlaw Royal Guard, mixed in, apparently having realized the fact that non-elites were equivalent to cannon fodder.
But, unexpectedly yet logically, Juri Han's croissant-like hairstyle also appeared on the master radar.
"Well then, let's begin too."
At Cheng Tian's command, the crowd dispersed, heading in different directions.
One white, one black—the arrows of Aileen and Mina, master and servant, landed respectively at the feet of the bullfighter Balrog and the poison master F.A.N.G, who believed they wouldn't be easily discovered.
Looking at Bazett's small arms and legs before him, the boxer Bison revealed a mocking smile.
Juri Han, her left eye now covered by a black eye patch, looked with a twisted expression at December, who appeared before her.
And Cheng Tian, who was stationed in the laboratory, manipulated the World to patrol and deal with the Shadowlaw Royal Guard, while waiting for the completely red-clad City Guard to arrive at any moment.