[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 465: Lugnuts

"Damn! I missed!"

Nyerson's quick reflexes caused him to jump and roll to the side, but Ves wasn't finished yet. He kept his finger on the trigger and raked his laser beam across the street until it hit the fleeing gang leader, instantly boiling his flesh and ended his life.

"Boss!"

"Kill him!"

"Run!"

Everything happened so fast that the Lugnuts could hardly process the blatant murder. Some of the men with quicker wits pulled out their guns and started to pepper Ves with badly-aimed shots, but he already dove into an alleyway between two workshops, thereby cutting everyone's line of sight.

"After him!"

"No wait! It's too dangerous!"

Around a third of the men looked like they wanted to take revenge, but inwardly the golden laser beam astonished them all. The Lugnuts generally used the cheapest laser weapons they could get their hands on, and the beams on those rifles and pistols only lasted a couple milliseconds or so.

A laser beam that kept burning at so much power that they could still feel the heat from their skin was worth a lot more than what they collectively earned in years.

"Who killed the boss?"

"No idea, but I'm out of here!"

Some panicked, some stood paralyzed while some scratched their heads, trying to figure out what to do next.

"The assassin's probably a rebel. He probably didn't like Boss Nyerson's plan of staying put on our turf."

"So you say that the rebels kill the boss because he isn't dancing to their tune?"

"Yeah."

A lot of Lugnuts still stuck around. As much as they feared the laser, the assassin already made a getaway.

"Hey, should we do what the rebels want?"

"Whadda ya mean?"

"You know, since Boss Nyerson got killed for doing nothing, shouldn't we do the opposite instead?"

A brain lit up in their minds as they contemplated the idea. "The Boss thought it was a bad idea. It'll attract attention from the Immies when they finally come and lay down the law."

"Those troops from Imodris won't bother with small fry like us. They'll have to butcher half the planet if they want to punish all the rioters. C'mon, this is our chance! There's no guarantee the Immies will reward us if we do nothing, but if we can make a quick score today, we'll be living like kings for the rest of our lives!"

This argument rapidly gained a lot of momentum. After a little bit of back-and-forth, the remnants of the Lugnuts quickly came to an agreement.

"LET'S SMASH THIS PLACE UP!"

It was as if they turned into barbarians. The Lugnuts might have acted meek in front of Boss Nyerson, but with nothing restraining them anymore, they didn't hesitate to let their inner beasts wild.

Laughter, screams and threats hung in the air as the occupants of the workshops tried and failed to resist the deluge of gang members. Word of their antics began to spread and all kinds of lowlives crawled out of the woodwork to join in the fun.

The sight of so many people throwing the workshops into chaos emboldened the cowards and the weak. They gained enough courage to join in on the looting, thereby throwing the entire territory of the Lugnuts into chaos.

Ves shook his head as he kept to the shadows. He stared emotionlessly as he saw the businesses being looted, set on fire or smashed in various conditions. As everyone busied themselves into taking what they wanted from the workshops that built all of those big mechs, Ves quietly snuck to Boss Nyerson's corpse, grabbed hold of the remnants and dragged it to the abandoned aircar.