“The Iron Duck...,” hissed Madame Sheng, and her artificial hand clenched into a fist so tightly that the metal creaked. “These tasteless amateurs! They can’t even make a proper broth, but of course, they’re right at the forefront when it comes to extortion.”
The neon green drones of the enemy syndicate buzzed threateningly closer. Their undercarriages unfolded and revealed heavy EMP launchers that could fry every circuit in Lu’s workshop and on the terrace with a single pulse. The bodyguards of the Sheng family opened fire, but the shields of the opposing drones absorbed the laser beams as if they were harmless fireflies.
“Mei! Lu! Get your asses behind the counter!” shouted the grandmother as she deflected an approaching cyber-net with her vibrating rolling pin.
Lu lay flat on the ground, clutching his data pad tightly. The blockade in Bao’s system was insidious. “They’re trying to delete Bao’s memory remotely after copying the data!” he shouted to Mei over the noise. “If I don’t crack the firewall within the next two minutes, Bao will be nothing more than a glorified paperweight!”
Mei fired a targeted shot from her electromagnetic wrist sling that briefly confused the optics of an enemy drone. “Then do what you do best, Lu! Hack your way in! I’ve got your back!”
Meanwhile, Bao sat completely unfazed in the epicenter of the chaos. His blue lenses fixed on the attacking drones as he made calculations internally. “Foreign data stream detected. Aggressive takeover procedure in progress. Recommend injecting a digital countercomponent. Szechuan Pepper Protocol is being prepared.”
“Szechuan Pepper Protocol?!” Lu shouted in panic as his fingers flew over the holographic keyboard. He felt the terrace shields weaken under the EMP strikes of the Iron Duck. The air smelled of ozone and melted plastic. If he didn’t crack the code immediately, it was over for all of them.