The fierce shoulder slam almost caused V to lose his grip on the protruding part of the rocket—the man lunged at him, propelled by the sudden pressure loss in the cabin, with considerable speed.
V felt as if he had collided with a wall, with a dull ache spreading through his internal organs.
But force is mutual, and even V, a tough individual, felt uncomfortable. At this moment, Agent Yamamoto, who lunged at V, almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
His spacesuit visibly dented, but with astonishing willpower, Yamamoto managed to grab hold of one of V's legs before being flung away.
V reacted swiftly, raising his other foot to kick Yamamoto away. However, Yamamoto was equally quick, immediately changing his posture, letting go of the rib catch with one hand and grabbing onto the rocket's protrusion with the other, hanging onto the rocket and avoiding a mishap.
With a blank expression, V extended his arm as the gun barrel of his mech flashed with electromagnetic charging light. Yet, within his helmet, Agent Yamamoto roared angrily, pulling out an electromagnetic grenade, pulling the pin, and hurling it at V.
Previously, he dared not use it for fear of damaging the rocket and causing Saburo's demise in space. But now, Yamamoto had no choice but to gamble!
V had to immediately switch his aim, shooting the grenade flung by Yamamoto.
The moment the grenade exploded, electromagnetic energy surged out, causing Yamamoto's entire body to convulse with almost no resistance. He was then thrown off by the rapidly ascending rocket, directly plummeting from high altitude—a fortunate event for him.
For they hadn't yet exited the Moon, so gravity still existed. If he had been flung off in space, he would end up as a floating skeleton in the universe.
Yet even so, at this moment, Yamamoto's life was already in countdown before hitting the ground because his spacesuit malfunctioned due to the electromagnetic impact. When the oxygen supply equipment stopped functioning, the slight damage in the suit also led to pressure imbalance.
His body entered a vacuum state, where all the air in him was drawn out by the vacuum, his lungs' air escaping, unable to make a sound, unable to halt death.
Helplessly, Yamamoto could only watch as V clung to the rocket, arcs still flickering around him, yet he resolutely climbed into the rocket's manned cabin.
Sorry, Lord Saburo...
Yamamoto's consciousness ended there.
While V gritted his teeth, moving inch by inch, squeezing into the manned cabin with the open hatch.
He had to thank Mercer for the briefing and the survival tutorial clips that played on loop during his previous rocket rides.
At this moment, V only needed a quick glance to locate Saburo's only possible hiding spot inside the cabin.
It was within the manned cabin, a safety door that required manual twisting to open.
Without hesitation, V approached the hatch, twisting the valve with force while sending out a voice message through the squad's communication.
"Mercer! I'm almost there! How's your situation?"
A slightly unclear voice came through the channel.
"V, listen to me... I'm about to fix the Moon Material Pusher. In a while, I will launch an orbital weapon directly toward Tokyo.
After you deal with Saburo, stay on the rocket and return directly to Earth."
"What?" V was stunned.
"I'll leave you a tutorial. By following it, you can modify the program in the emergency escape pod, perform an emergency ejection for survival after entering Earth's orbit, and I will coordinate a pickup on Earth..."
Mercer's voice remained indistinct.
But at this moment, V suddenly raised her voice: "Don't you dare! I knew you'd get yourself into trouble, you bastard! Wait, I'll finish off Arasaka Saburo and come for you!"
"Might not make it in time..." Mercer's voice cut off abruptly.
"Hey!? Hey!!?" V's shouts went unanswered.
Damn cosmic net, how can it lose signal at a time like this!
Her eyes inexplicably heated up, her limbs felt a bit weak, but still, gritting her teeth, she forced the hatch open.
The next moment, another occurrence of pressure imbalance did not throw V into a panic; she simply gritted her teeth to withstand the first wave of air and then squeezed into the cabin.
Inside the safe room, Arasaka Saburo, wearing his space suit strapped tightly to a seat, was lying weakly on his side, looking extremely disheveled.
Clearly, had it not been for the safety belt, he would have been blown away by the air released due to pressure loss—but even without being blown away, he was not feeling any better; the enormous thrust from the pressure difference at that instant broke many old bones throughout his body.
Yet, even so, Arasaka Saburo remained impressively calm, coldly staring at V's armor, saying nothing, emitting doomed heavy breaths within his spacesuit.
V pondered for a moment, suppressing the urge to kill, flipping around to pull the wide-open hatch back with terrifying strength.
Fortunately, the safety cabin was designed for self-rescue under pressure loss, and the hatch's mechanical hydraulic assistant allowed V to forcibly close it again.
Then, oxygen was reintroduced into the cabin, and the pressure gradually restored.
Yet V merely pinched the helmet of Arasaka Saburo's spacesuit, forcing him to look at her.
"How do I stop the base explosion!"
V's words seemed to make Saburo realize something. He smiled under his spacesuit helmet, then, in a weak voice, calmly said, "How about a deal?"
"Deal my ass!" V cursed angrily, then, after a quick glance, she suddenly noticed a tablet fixed beside Saburo's seat.
In a flash of inspiration, she abruptly picked up the tablet without a second word.
"You don't look like a hacker... and this thing's access rights are not something an average hacker can crack."
Arasaka Saburo remained calm and composed.
But at this moment, V wore a radiant smile, not sparing Arasaka Saburo a glance, and swiftly retrieved a chip from the slot in her armor.
When Mercer designed the armor, he included a quick-hack program chip in each team member's armor for remote assistance whenever needed.
Even without internet access, this program chip was an incredibly powerful hacking program, as Mercer put it, capable of cracking any security system and gaining top-level access.
V inserted the chip, and it began to work automatically. It took only about five seconds for the program to load completely.
When the decryption completion notification sounded, V immediately clumsily inspected the programs within.
Arasaka Saburo's expression changed slightly, then he changed his tone, saying, "It's futile. We're too far from the base; this tablet can't connect to the base's equipment network from such a distance."
"Then what are you holding it for?" V retorted, and astonishingly, she found the program to control the Moon Base, eagerly pressing the option to deactivate the bomb.
Did it succeed?
"Hey? Mercer? Is the bomb defused? Mercer!?"
She urgently called Mercer's name through the squad's comm.
Mercer's voice came after a delay, "No... what did you do?"
"I got Arasaka Saburo's tablet!" V shouted, "How do I help you, Mercer!?"
"Hold on... no need; I'll take over the program from the net, you've already helped." Mercer's tone was smiling, after which the tablet's interface suddenly started automatically popping up strings of unknown data codes.
V exhaled with relief—fortunately! Her reaction was fast enough!
Damn, he owes me a life for this!
Finally having a moment to spare, V turned to glance at the struggling Arasaka Saburo beside her, revealing a cold smile.
Next... it's your turn, old rat!