10: Chapter 10 The Dock Trap

The Los Santos pier was forever steeped in the briny sea breeze. As night fell, the shadows of the giant cranes stretched across the ink-black sea like silent steel beasts.

Pale searchlights swept across the empty yard, carving sharp, contrasting angles into the densely stacked shipping containers. The sea breeze howled, carrying the sound of crashing waves and whipping up gravel from the ground, which clattered against the rusted metal sheets, creating a faint, rattling noise.

Lin Fan crouched low, following behind Franklin, stepping in the tracks left by forklift treads as he carefully wove through the gaps between the containers.

The waterproof suit he wore was soaked with mud and seawater, clinging to his skin and making his teeth chatter from the cold. The USB drive in his pocket, wrapped in three layers of plastic bags, still pressed painfully against his chest.

Michael De Santa followed at the rear. Dark red blood was seeping through the bandage on his left arm, yet his face showed no signs of fatigue. His hawk-like eyes scanned the surroundings vigilantly, and the submachine gun in his hands remained in a ready-to-fire stance.

The trio's figures flickered in and out of the shadows of the containers like three ghostly specters.

Ten minutes ago, they had rendezvoused at the sewer exit. When Lin Fan saw Michael De Santa appear in his field of vision, limping and covered in wounds, his tightly wound nerves snapped, and he almost cried out on the spot.

"Shut up." Michael De Santa merely glanced at him coldly and shoved a heavy magazine into his hand. "I drew away their main force, but a small squad of pursuers is still behind us. Move faster."

Franklin said nothing, only tossing a first-aid kit to Michael De Santa. His eyes held less of their previous mockery, replaced by a trace of subtle approval.

At this moment, a dull rumble of engines and the crisp clatter of metal on metal drifted from deep within the pier.

The three exchanged a glance, quickened their pace, and under the cover of the shipping containers, crept toward the source of the sound.

Passing through a rusted chain-link fence, the scene before him made Lin Fan gasp.

In the center of the open yard sat three massive cargo ships, their hulls emblazoned with the Snake Fang Gang's skull logo, which glimmered with an eerie light under the searchlights.

Dozens of Snake Fang Gang members in black tactical gear were busy loading half-human-sized black metal crates onto the ships.

The surfaces of those metal crates were smooth and bore no markings, save for a Red Scorpion pattern on the side that looked exceptionally glaring in the night.

"Data container." The system's prompt suddenly rang in Lin Fan's mind. He hurriedly pulled up the system interface and scanned the metal crates. The Hacker Intrusion skill remained in a grayed-out, locked state, but the system automatically popped up a line of analysis data: "Warning! High-purity code virus detected, concentration exceeding limits! Sufficient to paralyze the entire network system of Los Santos!"

A code virus?

Lin Fan's heart sank. He recalled Victor's words from the encrypted video on the USB drive and the "Reset Plan" Franklin had mentioned. A chill shot up his spine.

So, Victor's so-called "Reset" wasn't some simple gang purge at all; it was to use these code viruses to completely destroy Los Santos's network hub, and then use the tampered code to rebuild a world under his control!

"Damn lunatic." Franklin's voice was extremely low. He gripped the shotgun in his arms tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. "Once these things are shipped out of the pier, all of Los Santos is finished."

"We must destroy them." Michael De Santa's voice held a note of determination. He licked his dry lips and scanned the busy Snake Fang Gang members. "Not many of them, about thirty or so. The focus of the guards is on the cargo ship's deck."

Lin Fan took a deep breath and gripped his submachine gun tighter. He knew this would be a tough fight, but he had no way out.

He looked at the two men beside him—Franklin's face was etched with cold hardness, and Michael De Santa's eyes burned with the fires of battle. A strange sense of courage suddenly welled up in his heart.

Just as the three were preparing to make their move, a cold laugh suddenly drifted from the deck of the cargo ship, clearly piercing through the howling sea breeze and drilling into everyone's ears.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a touching alliance."

The voice sounded like metal grinding against metal—sharp, piercing, and carrying an indescribable eeriness.

Lin Fan looked up abruptly to see a tall figure standing by the railing of the cargo ship, wearing a dark red trench coat and a polished Red Scorpion mask. A ghostly green light flickered in the eye holes of the mask.

He was toying with a black USB drive in his hand. Under the light of the searchlight, the scratches on the surface of the USB drive were clearly visible—it was the very one Lin Fan had received from Razor!

Red Scorpion!

The expressions of the three changed instantly.

"Thanks for delivering the USB drive; it saved me the time of having to look for you." Red Scorpion's laughter rang out again. He gently shook the USB drive in his hand, his tone full of mockery. "I thought it would take some effort to get it from you. I didn't expect you to deliver it yourselves."

Lin Fan's mind went blank. The USB drive had clearly been kept close to his body; how could Red Scorpion have gotten it?

He subconsciously reached for his chest, but his pocket was empty—at some point, the USB drive had vanished!

"It was you!" Michael De Santa suddenly growled, his eyes locked onto Franklin. "When did you make your move?"

Franklin's expression changed, and just as he was about to defend himself, he heard Red Scorpion chuckle: "Don't misunderstand; it has nothing to do with him. It was your little smart aleck who accidentally dropped the USB drive on the ground when he got covered in the mutant NPC's slime in the sewer. My people have been following you the whole way."

Before the words had even faded, the sound of rhythmic footsteps suddenly erupted from behind the surrounding shipping containers, and countless black shadows surged out, surrounding the trio completely.

Dark gun barrels were aimed at them; the cold metallic sensation could be clearly felt even from dozens of meters away.

All the pier's searchlights lit up, their pale beams leaving the three with nowhere to hide.

"A trap." Franklin spat out the two words through gritted teeth, his hand quietly reaching for a black button at his waist. "We've been played."

Lin Fan's palms were slick with cold sweat. He looked at the dense crowd of Snake Fang Gang members and at the cold scorpion mask of Red Scorpion on the deck, and a sense of despair instantly engulfed him.

He thought of the doctor's words in the underground clinic, the look in Razor's eyes before he died, and Michael De Santa's words: "We have no choice."

So, from the very beginning, they had fallen into the inescapable net set by Red Scorpion.

"The game has begun." Red Scorpion's voice carried a cruel smile as he slowly raised his hand. "Kill them."

"Do it!"

Almost at the same instant Red Scorpion's words fell, Franklin slammed the button at his waist.

"Buzz—!"

A powerful electromagnetic pulse exploded, spreading outward from their position as the center.

The piercing hum made everyone's eardrums ache. The surrounding searchlights instantly went out, and the submachine guns in the hands of the Snake Fang Gang members let out a crackling sound of electricity, then began to smoke, turning into piles of scrap metal.

The cranes and engines on the cargo ships, and even the indicator lights on the surface of those data containers, all went dark.

An EMP device!

Lin Fan's eyes lit up. He had almost forgotten that Franklin was a black-market arms dealer; he would certainly carry such a device designed specifically to paralyze electronic equipment.

"Run!" Franklin roared, charging out first. His shotgun spat fire, blasting the two closest Snake Fang Gang members to the ground.

Michael De Santa followed closely behind, his movements astonishingly fast; his limping leg seemed not to affect his speed at all.

Although the submachine gun in his hand had become scrap metal, he drew two daggers from his boot sheaths, and with a flash of cold light, slit the throats of two enemies.

Lin Fan also reacted. He threw away his submachine gun and turned to dive into the gaps between the shipping containers. But he didn't run far; instead, he hid behind a container and pulled out the terminal from his pocket.

The EMP device could only paralyze electronic equipment for three minutes; he had to find a way out within those three minutes.

His gaze fell on a giant crane not far away. The control console for that crane was in a metal shack nearby. Although the EMP pulse had temporarily shut it down, if he could hack into its system and restart its power...

Lin Fan's heart pounded wildly. He remembered his locked Hacker Intrusion skill, gritted his teeth, and with the mindset of just trying it out, aimed the terminal toward the crane.

"Ding! External electronic device signal detected! Under EMP interference, system defense is weakened! Temporarily unlocking Hacker Intrusion skill! Duration: 120 seconds!"

The system's prompt was like a thunderclap, exploding in Lin Fan's mind.

He had no time to think; his fingers slid rapidly across the terminal screen. Data streams flashed wildly on the screen, and lines of code were forcibly cracked and rewritten by him.

"Connecting to crane control system..."

"Connection successful!"

"Restarting power core..."

"Power core restart successful!"

Accompanied by a dull roar, the boom of the giant crane slowly lifted, carving a menacing arc through the night.

"Red Scorpion! Look over here!" Lin Fan stood up abruptly and roared toward the cargo ship.

Red Scorpion's gaze locked onto him instantly, and a flash of astonishment flickered in the eyes behind the mask.

Lin Fan sneered and slammed his finger on the Enter key.

"Crane boom move! Target: Cargo ship deck!"

"Container release! Target: Snake Fang Gang encirclement!"

The giant crane boom swung violently, grabbing a twenty-ton shipping container and smashing it down into the center of the encirclement.

"Boom—!"

The container landed heavily on the ground with a deafening crash. Gravel splattered and dust filled the air; a huge gap was smashed into the Snake Fang Gang's encirclement.

Several Snake Fang Gang members who couldn't dodge in time were crushed into pulp, their screams echoing through the night sky.

"Nice work!" Michael De Santa's roar came from the dust. He had already rushed to an armed jeep parked on the side of the road and was prying the door open with his dagger. "Get in the car!"

Lin Fan didn't dare to delay; he turned off the terminal, turned, and sprinted toward the jeep. Franklin followed behind him, his shotgun firing continuously, forcing back the pursuing enemies.

Just as the three were about to reach the jeep, a dark red shadow suddenly descended from the sky, landing in front of them.

It was Red Scorpion!

His speed was incredibly fast, like a bolt of red lightning. He held a slender military dagger, its tip shimmering with a ghostly green light—clearly coated in a potent poison.

"Want to leave?" Red Scorpion's voice was ice-cold. His military dagger thrust violently toward Lin Fan's chest.

"Look out!" Franklin roared, lunging forward and pushing Lin Fan aside. The military dagger grazed Lin Fan's shoulder, tearing through his waterproof suit and leaving a wound deep enough to see the bone.

Franklin seized the opportunity to raise his shotgun and pulled the trigger, aiming at Red Scorpion's chest.

"Bang!"

The bullet struck Red Scorpion's trench coat but was deflected away. Beneath his trench coat, Red Scorpion was actually wearing a layer of alloy body armor!

"Useless." Red Scorpion sneered and backhanded Franklin in the face. Franklin grunted, flew backward, slammed into a shipping container, and passed out.

Red Scorpion's gaze turned back to Lin Fan, and he slowly raised the military dagger.

Lin Fan's heart was in his throat. He watched the military dagger drawing closer and looked into the cold eyes behind Red Scorpion's mask; despair surged in his heart once again.

Just then, Michael De Santa suddenly rushed over, holding a grenade in his hand, and smashed it hard into Red Scorpion's face.

"Boom—!"

The grenade exploded on Red Scorpion's mask, sending flames into the sky. Red Scorpion screamed and stumbled back a few steps. The mask was shattered, revealing a face covered in mechanical parts—his left eye was a mechanical prosthetic, glowing with red light; half of his cheek was covered in alloy, revealing hideous circuitry.

"Lunatic!" Michael De Santa roared, pulling Lin Fan up. "Let's go!"

The two dragged the unconscious Franklin and scrambled into the armed jeep. Michael De Santa floored the accelerator, and the jeep let out a roar, breaking through the smoke and dust as it sped toward the exit of the pier.

Lin Fan looked back and saw Red Scorpion standing in place, slowly raising his hand to wipe the blood from his face. A twisted smile curled on his lips as he made a "goodbye" gesture toward the jeep.

"The game has only just begun."

The cold voice drifted into Lin Fan's ears, carried by the sea breeze.

The moment the jeep sped out of the pier, Lin Fan saw that the black data containers on the cargo ship's deck were being loaded back onto the ship.

His heart turned cold.

They had escaped, but they hadn't managed to destroy those code viruses.

Victor's Reset Plan was still continuing.

And they were merely three pawns who had luckily escaped in this massive conspiracy.

The sea breeze howled as the jeep raced through the night. Lin Fan looked at the unconscious Franklin beside him, at the pale-faced Michael De Santa in the driver's seat, and at the bleeding wound on his own shoulder, suddenly feeling that this war had only just begun.

And they had no way out.