[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 150: Man Against Machine

Using the souped-up Privacy Shield, they exited the warehouse through the hole Lucky had cut at the beginning. They left the heavily-armed mercs behind as they spread out and tried to track their targets down. From their cussing and swearing, they hadn't expected Ves and his cousins to disappear in thin air.

During their clumsy flight to somewhere safe, Ves felt a chilling wind brush past his Sixth Sense. Every time, the feeling went away, but it still frightened him to no end. Could the sniper use his own senses to suss their bodies?

The wind suddenly spiked!

The streets suddenly boomed as a railgun projectile rocketed towards their previous location. The entire pavement cratered as the solid slug delivered an incredible amount of kinetic energy. Anyone hit by it directly would have no chance of survival.

The Larkinsons quickly dashed away!

Ves remembered the description of the stealth augment. Its open-ended description didn't explicitly say that the temporary upgrade could block someone's metaphysical senses. Ves always suspected the reason why the System steered him into studying the X-Factor was because it didn't have much of a clue how it worked as well.

It might be one of the reasons why the Skill Tree excluded any mention of the X-Factor. Even if others figured out some clues, no one had laid down a systemic path to understanding this nebulous field of study.

In fact, the Skill Tree actually lacked a couple of other skills that should have been there. Ves had noted that some of the more advanced specialties pioneered by many famous masters hadn't been included.

For now, he urged the group to continue running past some blocks. Melkor appeared to guide them all towards a security checkpoint of some sorts. The small one-story structure usually staffed by a handful of police officers.

Now, they only saw death and ruin. The place had been torn up with bullet and scorch marks. The bodies of the fallen police officers were left behind like discarded trash.

Ves looked down on his comm. They only had four minutes left before the stealth augment ran its course. After looking around, he spotted something interesting. Right across the street, a massive storage area took up an entire block.

It must have been the place where larger shuttles and transports deposited heavy containers before ground-based transports picked them up and delivered them to their final destinations.

He ignored the large stacks of containers and instead turned his gaze towards the half-dozen industrial loader mechs standing off to the side. Their operators probably parked them to the side once the alarms went off before running away to safety.

"Look over there." He said, but quickly remembered that the stealth field dampened his voice. Instead, he tapped their shoulders and pointed at the mechs.

They both understood his intentions. Raella looked skeptical but Melkor nodded in understanding. They crossed the street and stopped before the storage yard's sturdy gates. With another prompt, Ves got Lucky to slice a narrow opening. Once they entered the yard, Ves suddenly felt the cold wind return.

The sniper must have noticed the sudden cut as soon as his Privacy Shield moved away!

With its stealth charge about to run out, they all ran towards the industrial mechs. Compared to combat-oriented mechs, the industrial mechs emphasized cost savings and strength. They were mostly designed to be an affordable way to carry heavy loads of goods without relying on expensive heavy-duty lifter platforms.

An industrial mech might cost more upfront, but a lifter platform guzzled energy like an alcoholic stuck in a wine cellar. The limbs also offered very fine manipulation when needed.