Ch.132

The next day after spending the evening that way, I had to wear the Gardner outfit again. There were secret entrances to the Heroism & Hope Company headquarters throughout the city, so there was no worry about being tracked.

I pick up the Gardner costume, now a bit more familiar. What Serena symbolizes is the certainty of justice. What does Gardner symbolize? This was just a disposable, placeholder character.

I put on the heavy, form-fitting bulletproof fabric tights and tactical pants over them. But the Heroism & Hope representative saw something in me. They saw a character who would symbolize that justice would be stern.

Am I really such a person? I can’t know. I wished for the world to be merciful. Merciful enough not to kill Noah Verami’s mother, and to tell Simon Verami why his sister died.

Not to everyone, though. I wanted to tear the cult leader of Hallowd Creek apart with my bare hands, and I didn’t care much about criminals’ deaths. Good is always ambiguous. Perhaps that’s just how people are.

Am I a stern person? I wasn’t. I didn’t report Ms. Nadia, and I tried my best to prevent Noah from making stupid choices… If I were to count all the times I’ve been soft, there would be no end.

At least none of them crossed the line. All Noah did was make one distasteful prank call. I secured the bulletproof mask and sniper veil over the bulletproof tights. Now I’m Gardner.

What if Noah Verami crosses the line? I decided to imagine something I didn’t want to imagine. I tucked two high-frequency blades into my waistband. I’m ready to work. I can be stern… probably.

With a feeling of escape, I strap on a pistol and walk out of the waiting room to the helipad outside the penthouse, into the rainy Detroit exterior. It wasn’t rain. In the cold weather, crystals had formed and snow was falling.

I was quite familiar with it in virtual reality, but this was my first time seeing it in reality. This was still outside the camera angle. The camera drones were quiet too. I pull my vision closer to look at a single snowflake.

Snow doesn’t fall in Los Angeles. Perhaps it’s excessive to wish for snow in a city where the winter minimum temperature is around fifteen degrees.

After briefly holding a snowflake on my fingertip, I brush it off without much sentiment. As long as it’s not excessive snowfall, any amount is fine. The representative’s voice began to be heard.

“Is this your first time seeing snow? It falls quite often in Detroit. Be careful not to slip. Gardner isn’t a character who shows such human aspects.”

“Yes. I know. More importantly, please provide today’s episode guidelines.”

“There are none. Today is an improvised episode. In the last episode meeting, you mentioned wanting to film an episode tracking defectors, but defectors aren’t variables we can control.”

The bureaucratic organization of nationalists evading Heroism & Hope’s watchful eye… No, that’s prejudice. They must have adapted to the new environment somehow. I just don’t know how.

“So, I’ll give you access to Heroism & Hope’s cameras overlooking most of the city. Will that be enough for you to make meaningful progress in tracking defectors?”

It seems they can’t do much themselves but can provide support. I wonder if it’s fortunate that before starting this job, I was told detective work suits me. I still don’t know.

“Not right away. All I know is that defectors exist and that they want to ruin H-Enter broadcasts. Oh, what about Serena’s episode…?”

“It’s in progress. An episode about eliminating a gang created by extra criminals for their extra survival rights. They are a public safety threat openly expressing dissatisfaction with the company.”

“That’s where defectors are most likely to appear, right? My path will overlap with Serena’s… but wouldn’t contrasting duties in the same location create a good contrast effect?”

While she’s dealing with public safety threats, I could be opening up a defector’s head and taking it to Heroism & Hope’s information processing team.

“That doesn’t seem like such a good idea. Gardner and Serena need to establish a rivalry, and that would make it look like Gardner is helping Serena.”

“What kind of person does the Gardner character think Serena is?”

“That’s… outside the guidelines we can provide. As you know, we are somewhat… ignorant about human aspects. What we can offer are only inductively verified things.”

Originally, I was just a disposable character. I probably didn’t need much of an emotional arc. Meanwhile, seeing an opportunity in the entertainment industry, my authority began to increase. There might be a lack of preparation.

Nevertheless, the Heroism & Hope representative was certainly narrow-minded. Not narrow-minded in the sense of having a limited perspective despite being able to see more broadly, but as if this industry was truly their entire world.

So in the end, I have to think for myself. Gardner is a madman. He tries to protect the garden, and all his emotions are related to the garden. And now, he is in the garden called Detroit.

That garden is quite livable. Thanks to the money Heroism & Hope earned by receiving criminals. I was confused, but Gardner would think it’s a well-functioning garden.

Serena was another gardener of that garden. The fact that the garden is running well means the gardener is doing her best. It’s excellent work, worthy of applause from Gardner.

But the gardener’s skills are clearly lacking. The fact that they had to bring him in as a substitute is evidence of that lack of ability. Despite such complexity, it might be right to at least show some respect.

“From Gardner’s perspective… Serena is someone who tries hard but is lacking. She maintains the ‘garden’ beautifully by dealing with ordinary criminals, but she can’t handle all criminals.”

“Not handling all criminals would refer to the defectors. That doesn’t seem too different from the mindset we want for the Gardner character.”

Perhaps the employees of Heroism & Hope are trying to create their own version of hope? People who have lived their entire lives in this industry might be going through trial and error.

This high-speed era distorts everything. And there are people like Serena who create something beautiful even with such twisted limbs. They might have been impressed.

“Still, she helps enough in tending the ‘garden.’ Even if not helping directly, at least preventing Serena from being attacked is something Gardner can do.”

“Do you have appropriate dialogue?”

“As always.”

I leaned on the thin trust formed with the entertainment industry person. His voice faded back to a supporting role. Success.

“Go to the underground parking lot. It’s a prop that was meant for another show but fell through, but there’s something that would suit a gardener.”

The elevator I took went down to the underground parking lot without responding to any input. Camera screens began to appear in my vision. They were views from cameras filming Serena.

While Gardner was followed by two cameras, Serena was followed by nearly eight. Besides that, cameras were flying on every street, and one was stationed on the roof of each tall building.

A surveillance city? That thought didn’t really occur to me. Cameras don’t film bad people; they film interesting events. Filming the image of an ordinary employee-citizen who wasn’t even an extra would be wasteful.

In the underground parking lot, a few people wearing prop team logos and fluorescent yellow suits decorated with lights for visibility in the dark were taking a bike out of storage.

It was the now-tiresome matte black, with two pairs of parallel wheels to prevent balance loss and rollover accidents… It felt as inhuman as the costume I was wearing.

Despite not using an old-fashioned gasoline engine. One of the prop team members approached me in a heavy power suit and began to speak.

“Good morning, callsign Gardner! It was originally a prototype for another project, but it seems the higher-ups decided to give it to you! The bike doesn’t have weapon functions, but it does have a weapon storage system!”

Ah. Finally. It was starting to feel unreasonable to just carry a pistol and two knives. I activate the computational assist device to overlay a HUD on my vision. A message appears: New device detected.

The device name was Smogpiercer. Detroit doesn’t have much smog, so it might have been rejected for that reason. I open one of the weapon compartments to check.

Finally, there was something that could be called a submachine gun. It even had a drum magazine… At least it would be more useful than a thirteen-round pistol. They still refuse to give me a rifle, I see.

After closing the weapon compartment, I lightly mount the bike. Thanks to being much larger and heavier than the bike I usually ride from Mr. Gunter, the stability was on a completely different level. It gives a strangely satisfying sense of security.

Despite that heaviness, it takes less than 2 seconds to reach zero to sixty. If I hadn’t controlled the speed, I would have jumped into the air when leaving Heroism & Hope’s underground parking lot, given its acceleration.

I cross the city riding such a machine. Even though it’s daytime, the gray sky has only brightened a little, with not much else changed in this dim city. I speak only to myself.

‘Chance, I’ll give you access to the cameras around Serena and the road surveillance cameras. Can you help me find the defectors? Even from the nationalists’ perspective, defectors are criminals.’

“Judgment. Considering whether this can be judged as an attempt to resist a corporate state occupying the rightful territory of the federal government. Negative. Attacks on citizens cannot be justified under any circumstances.”

Chance’s operational purpose was to protect civilians in the Greater Los Angeles area. Chance is an AI smart enough not to be limited to just Los Angeles. These people weren’t even worth Chance’s defense.

Not long after, Chance’s voice returns. It was still a flat voice.

“I think I’ve confirmed a location. Switching the Smogpiercer to automatic driving. Please review this image.”

What Chance showed in my vision was a road surveillance camera screen and a screen from one of the cameras following Serena. More precisely… it was a zoomed-in corner of one camera’s screen.

In the corner of the camera screen, a gray vehicle was highlighted. Chance’s voice is heard.

“That vehicle was a command vehicle for the DPD before Detroit was acquired by Heroism & Hope Entertainment. It’s been repainted and the lights have been modified, but the original form remains.”

Even if they’re not excellent guerrillas, with sufficient equipment and capital, becoming a nuisance to H-Enter isn’t difficult. I nod leisurely and look at the road surveillance camera screen.

The road surveillance camera showed people moving in pairs. Their clothes were casual, but their behavior indicated they were trained individuals. What looked like instrument cases probably weren’t instrument cases.

“Based on the bag volume, I’ve determined it could be a sniper rifle. Which way would you like to go?”

‘Toward the snipers. It seems like they want to ask Serena how someone who can’t protect herself can protect others.’

It probably won’t be the same sniper who cut Serena’s body in half. These people are just going to their assigned positions; they don’t seem as filled with malice toward Serena as that sniper.

There’s still too much I don’t know about this city. When a house is dirty, the best method is to clean the visible stains first. I start riding toward the coordinates Chance has marked.

Four unmanned cameras follow me. They gather like flies around a corpse and begin to watch me with thirsty eyes. The episode begins.

The number of cameras seems to have doubled since last time. I hope that means I’ve gained that much recognition from the first broadcast. I connected to those cameras as well.

Basically, Heroism & Hope’s filming team will do the filming, but I had ways to direct them where I wanted. I select one, mark coordinates, and send a request for long-distance filming.

Soon, one unmanned camera detaches from around me. It flies silently and begins to capture the image of someone assembling a sniper rifle on the roof of a low building. It should be showing on screen now.

Having heard the sound of the Smogpiercer, a lookout who was waiting inside the low building comes out with a gun. He was holding a rifle with perfectly attached accessories.

He didn’t seem to have found the Heroism & Hope unmanned camera floating silently and filming. That’s why enhanced sensory organs are important.

‘Chance, I’ll give you automatic driving authority. Can you ram him from the side to force him out of cover? You know how annoying it is when a properly covered human has a rifle.’

“Confirmed. Opening weapon compartment. Take the submachine gun at least… agent.”

Is he contributing to the broadcast atmosphere? It seems he censored my name in case the communication was accidentally leaked. Still… communication security might not be enough.

I should consider buying an electronic warfare module. If that wartime AI had an electronic warfare module, it would definitely reduce the burden on Kei or other IT staff.

I draw the heavy submachine gun from the opened weapon storage. After lightly jumping off the moving bike, I withstand the inertia with my enhanced body’s performance and start running. The Smogpiercer takes a detour.

Even in a gray city, an enhanced human in black running down the road is not something to be casually overlooked. The covered defector looks in my direction and begins to return fire. I run without taking cover.

Taking cover would give them leisure and drag out time. One rifle bullet hit my shoulder, but it couldn’t penetrate the double layer of bulletproof fabric over the additional armor plate. It stung a bit. That was all.

And while the defector’s eyes were focused only on me… Chance’s Smogpiercer, which had taken a small detour around the surrounding roads, rammed him from the side and smashed him through the building window. A clean partner play.

Now. Time for another line. After taking a deep breath so it wouldn’t be visible outside the bulletproof mask and sniper veil, I spoke. I used Gardner’s voice.

“Call the information processing team. We need to open up some heads and find out where these weeds are coming from. I’ll secure more gray matter to examine.”