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Adavance chapter in PATREON
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Alex, the Basilisk is ready. Do you want to come and test it out?"
Hearing Panam's voice, Alex Carter, who had been dozing off, suddenly perked up!
"Hell yeah, I'll be right there!"
After hanging up the call, he quickly washed up and headed straight for the North Oak teleportation point.
As for V, she had a small contract today, so she had taken Shockwave to The Afterlife at dawn to discuss some business.
---
Arriving at the Aldecaldo camp, Alex saw Mitch fine-tuning the Basilisk's parameters.
Scorpion, Panam, and the others stood nearby, chatting and laughing.
"Hey, Alex! You got here fast! Can't wait to take it for a spin, huh?" Mitch grinned, patting the Basilisk.
"You know it! I've been waiting for this forever." Alex replied with a smirk.
What exactly he couldn't wait for, only he knew.
"No matter how eager you are, you still have to wait for a full system check."
Carroll walked out, holding a laptop.
Mitch explained, "Carroll's checking to make sure Militech didn't leave any ICE in the system."
Alex nodded, then glanced around with a grin. "By the way, I didn't see those two Militech transport vehicles when I got here. What happened to them? Whose doorstep did you dump that mess on?"
---
Cassidy, one of the nomads, chuckled.
"We dropped them off near the remnants of the Maelstrom gang."
"It's like leaving a pile of shit in front of their houseājust to attract some flies."
At that moment, Johnny Silverhand's figure materialized beside the Basilisk, lighting a cigarette with his usual nonchalant attitude.
Hearing how the Aldecaldos had handled the situation, he let out a low whistle.
"Damn. Feels like I just walked out of a corporate war. Nice work."
---
Just then, Carroll unplugged the cable from her laptop.
"All clearāno security threats. It's clean."
Panam's face lit up with excitement. She turned and waved to Alex.
"Everything's ready! Let's go, Alex!"
"Then I won't hold back." Alex grinned, rubbing his hands together before climbing into the Basilisk. He lifted the hatch and slid into the pilot's seat.
At the same time, the co-pilot's seat lit up, and Panam climbed in beside him.
---
Click.
The hatch sealed shut, and the cockpitāalready snugāwas suddenly engulfed in darkness.
Only the glow from the instrument panels provided any illumination.
But the darkness didn't last long.
As Panam activated the Basilisk, the top hatch lit up, projecting a real-time 360-degree external view.
"Now that's more like it."
Panam quickly pulled out a neural link cable from the back of her seat, plugged it into her socket, and said:
"It's not the newest model, but Mitch and the others have done their best."
With that, under Panam's control, the Basilisk began to move forward smoothly.
---
"How does it feel?"
Alex glanced at the array of holographic screens around him and smirked.
"It's a completely new experience."
"You can drive it manually from the seat, or you can fully link in," Panam explained.
"Once connected, the Basilisk directly stimulates your cerebral cortex. In a sense, it becomes an extension of your own body."
---
"Oh? Some kind of mysterious fusion experience?"
Alex shot her a playful, knowing smile.
Panam's cheeks flushed slightly.
But this time, instead of looking away, she met his gaze head-on.
"That's right."
She smirked before shifting her focus back to the Basilisk, guiding it toward the open Badlands.
At the same time, she began explaining the finer details to Alex.