Ch.168Work Record #025 – The Outcome of a Coin Toss (1)

Noah was gaining more and more things in his life. Things that would scatter and disappear like sand through his fingers if he pursued revenge were beginning to accumulate.

With the help of a freelancer, Kanun Company was thriving even without Jimon, and it seemed he was also making steady progress in his love life. If he sought revenge, all of those things would vanish.

Moreover, it seemed he had begun to doubt the target of his revenge… He wouldn’t recklessly charge into the Fitz & Morrison building anymore. For now, I considered the matter settled.

I didn’t remove Noah Verami’s name from the list of dangerous individuals. Still, at the very least… having his name written alongside Forsythe and Prometheus now seemed a bit excessive.

So, I decided to downgrade him to low-risk for the time being. There was no need to worry about him immediately. I had earned Noah’s trust. If anything happened regarding the truth about his mother, he would certainly contact me.

I could deal with it then. Kanun Company would need more training, but the burden on my back would be somewhat lighter. After having lunch together, I said goodbye to Kanun Company and got on the bike with Mila.

Mila didn’t seem to feel any post-meal drowsiness. She appeared to function perfectly during all waking hours. I had definitely seen her wake up from sleep before, so she wasn’t sleepless.

Perhaps her entire lifestyle was synchronized with machines. After visiting her home, or what might be called that, next week, if there were no issues, I should introduce her to Lone Star Rangers Company.

It was obvious how much those self-proclaimed cowboys would adore Mila with her two pistols. Add to that her accuracy level beyond what one would expect from handguns, and they’d practically adopt her as their daughter.

We left the slums behind. As we passed through the city area where the air was somewhat cleaner thanks to air purifiers standing like streetlights instead of roadside trees, a warning message appeared in my field of vision.

“Agent Arthur Murphy, someone is attempting to break into your home. Someone wearing a Half & Half Company security team uniform. Transmitting apartment CCTV footage now.”

Breaking into my home? And from Half & Half Company? I tilted my head in confusion and allowed the video to transmit. In my view, I could clearly see someone wearing a Half & Half Company security team uniform, complete with helmet.

Small build. They were picking the front door lock with a mechanical lockpick, impatiently tapping their foot. Despite my continued trust in metal keys, if I was going to work as a freelancer, it would be better to take precautions.

“There’s only a household drone inside anyway, right? Just watch what they’re trying to steal, Chance. If they try to touch the grenade rifle or something similar, contact Belvedere immediately. Otherwise, I’ll handle it when I get there.”

The records of my infiltration into Half & Half Company should be gone by now, right? They might have been suspicious about the disappearance of the security staff member I killed… but even so, they couldn’t have found any leads after several months.

Chance’s household drone hid in the indoor drone pod and surveyed the apartment. The intruder wearing the Half & Half Company security team uniform began searching through my home. This would help deduce their purpose.

If they knew I was a freelancer, they would have searched the trash first, looking for documents from megacorporations. In that case, I could simply report them to Belvedere and be done with it. The intruder passed by.

The intruder, with their computational assist device activated, entered my bedroom. They scanned the server computer containing Chance, then cursed. At least now I was certain their target was me.

Another thing I could determine was… that the intruder was female. She was larger than the Bella model but definitely smaller in build than me, and her voice was that of an ordinary woman. I still couldn’t guess her identity.

“Administrator name, administrator name… Yeah, fuck! Stephanet was lying after all. Arthur Murphy. That’s certain. Just need to find out whose stuff this bastard stole. Yeah. Calm down, calm down…”

I stole something? Making these incomprehensible statements, she quietly moved around. She pulled back the bedding, checking that she wasn’t leaving footprints, and bundled it into a long shape.

Then, she removed the straps securing her Half & Half Company uniform and used them to fix the bedding bundle into a human shape. She hid it behind the living room curtain visible from the entrance.

Now the living room curtain visible from the entrance appeared to have someone hiding behind it. After setting this up, she concealed herself in an area not easily visible when entering through the front door.

Her goal seemed to be ambushing me, but the informational advantage was mine. I spoke aloud while connected to Chance. There was no need to worry about information security at this point.

“Pretty clever thinking. As soon as I enter, I’ll see that bulge, draw my gun and approach… then bang from where she’s really hiding. Argh. I guess that’s the simulation she’s set up?”

“Affirmative. Not bad, except for the fact that she’s being completely observed. Will you terminate her?”

“No, I’ll just subdue her non-lethally and then find out why she’s here. I don’t have a habit of stealing from people.”

She seemed completely uninterested in the items in my home. If I had stolen something from her, wouldn’t she search the apartment first? Killing me wouldn’t return whatever I supposedly stole, if such a thing existed.

I needed to explain the situation to Mila as well. This was just one armed intruder with a pistol and tactical knife, so I probably wouldn’t need her help, but an extra gun is always useful.

“Ah, Mila. Someone’s broken into my home. We’ll go straight there instead of stopping by the office. Could you watch my back? If I can handle it alone, stay back, but if not, just help subdue them.”

Mila, who had been resting her face sideways against my back while looking at the scenery, nodded after a half-second delay, perking up. Her voice seemed full of joy again.

“Oh, yes! That should be simple! What’s the intruder’s armament?”

“Judging from the Half & Half Company security team uniform, and based on what Chance’s household drone saw… probably just one tactical knife and one pistol? Doesn’t seem to have a submachine gun.”

I could subdue her barehanded. It would be strange for someone returning home to be heavily armed, so wearing just a helmet would be better. Besides, this body won’t be penetrated by ordinary pistol rounds.

“Then it’s simple! I’ll definitely watch your back if anything happens! I’m good at waiting quietly!”

“And you’re good at pulling the trigger when needed. Oh, this time, don’t aim for the head like in training—aim for the limbs to subdue. I want to interrogate her about why she’s here.”

Mila, happy to be praised, giggled and nodded with her helmeted head against my back. Then, an unexpected variable appeared. A call came in from Eve. I connected.

“Ah, Arthur? Which floor was your apartment again?”

“Tenth floor, right? Are you at my apartment building now?”

If she’s asking this… No, I won’t say “surely not.” Since being dishonorably discharged from Belvedere, I’ve been betrayed countless times when I thought “surely not.” There’s no reason to use that phrase again.

“Yes. I came by thinking we could have lunch… but I saw a woman in a Half & Half Company uniform looking around nervously, then entering the apartment building and going up to the tenth floor, so I’ve been waiting outside the entrance.”

Given how we parted yesterday, it wouldn’t be strange for Eve to make a surprise visit. Still, she seemed to have confirmed her destination before concealing herself, which was somewhat reassuring.

“Chance is also alarmed about an intruder. I’m on my way back with Kanun Company now… Please wait in front of the apartment building. I don’t know what’s going on, but I plan to subdue her non-lethally and interrogate her.”

“Never a dull moment with you. I’ll wait here. If you’re working with Kanun Company, you must be with Mila now? Three of you should be able to subdue her safely. Anything unusual?”

“She’s a clever woman. There’ll be a bulge in the curtain to the left as you enter the front door, but that’s just bedding wrapped with straps. She’s hiding on the right.”

Why would a woman like that be in Half & Half Company’s security team? I thought that company was full of trash who cursed at customers.

After finishing my explanation, I increased my speed. The headlight’s afterimage remained above the smog. Arriving much earlier than scheduled, I met Eve in the apartment parking lot.

She was holding hemostatic spray for first aid and several drug ampules for the neck implant injector, looking at my face with concern.

“There’s a drug injector implanted in the back of your neck. What’s in it?”

“Painkillers, adrenal stimulants, and blood modifiers. The ones that turn blood into preservative fluid. What did you bring?”

She stroked the fully embedded drug injector in the back of my neck. I allowed her to connect and check the remaining amount of medication. Eve gently caressed the back of my neck before removing her hand.

“I brought painkillers, but what you already have is better than what I brought. Non-lethal subduing often puts the subduer at greater risk. So I was… worried.”

Whether I’m a freelancer, a Post-Human Type IV, or a modified version of that, it means nothing to Eve. Her concern is always welcome. I reached out and gently stroked her.

Eve, who habitually tried to nuzzle her head against my palm, realized Mila was present and quietly restrained herself. Mila just stared with wide eyes, but knowing the reason, I almost laughed.

“I’ll tuck the helmet under my arm when I go in and put it on as soon as I see the bedding dummy she set up. Just make sure you watch my back, okay?”

“Huh, don’t do this in front of your junior, Arthur. Do you want to act like this while we’re on our way to catch an intruder who risked their life breaking into a freelancer’s home?”

Her cold, sharp words were neither cold nor sharp at all, more like a dull kitchen knife. I gave the obvious response.

“It’s not me risking my life here, it’s the intruder, right? Let’s go in.”

If gunshots rang out in double digits inside the apartment, wouldn’t I be reported for noise disturbance even if I caught the intruder? If I explained there was an intruder, the neighbors I’ve never seen would probably understand.

Believing this, I took the elevator to the tenth floor. I prepared to play the role of the naive mercenary again. At the very least, I wanted to avoid spending money on home repairs. I needed to minimize bullet holes in the walls.

I removed the magazine with armor-piercing rounds that would likely go through the intruder and the wall, inserted a standard ammunition magazine, and set Little Mischief to single-shot mode before exiting the elevator and heading to the locked door.

Despite the automatic lockpick having worked on the lock, there were no marks left. Security upgrades would definitely be necessary. I inserted the non-lightweight metal key and turned it. The door opened. I could hear a heartbeat.

The intruder was tense. I entered the door normally, pretending to just notice the silhouette in the curtain to the left, and quietly put on my helmet. I considered what line would make me seem most foolish.

“Looks like someone had the nerve to break into a freelancer’s home. A burglar who didn’t time their escape well?”

Making a confidently incorrect deduction, I approached with my gun aimed at the silhouette. Then, as I entered her line of fire, I held Little Mischief with one hand and turned the muzzle.

My vision was already secured by Chance’s household drone, so I just moved my hand to aim at the intruder’s leg height and pulled the trigger. The gunshot was loud enough to potentially shatter windows indoors.

The silhouette collapsed. Still aiming the gun with one hand, I approached. I kicked away the dropped pistol. She still had the tactical knife, so she would be looking for one chance to turn the tables.

If so, I needed to give her that opportunity. Opening the curtain with its hem soaking in blood, I asked. I hoped she would reveal her identity while landing a blow.

“Why don’t you reveal your identity? That was just a stupid line, but I’m genuinely curious about who the intruder is.”

The moment I pulled back the curtain, a tactical knife shot up in a clean straight line, just like when I aimed for Walter’s neck as he crouched. And then, she said something even more absurd than her movement.

“I am Arthur Murphy, you fucking body-stealing bastard!”

A blade that wasn’t even high-frequency couldn’t penetrate the skin of my neck. And I don’t swear that much either. I lightly grabbed the helmet of the woman making futile efforts to cut my neck.

I gathered strength in the tendons replaced with metal coils and tore apart the cheap helmet. What was inside wasn’t my face, which would have caused a strange identity crisis. It was an ordinary woman’s face.

Short brown hair hanging down after the helmet was torn off, dark-colored artificial eyes according to Belvedere regulations, marks on her head where computational assist devices had been inserted… and two hands with modified backs.

Somehow, she seemed to be wearing a body more like Belvedere security team’s rather than Half & Half Company’s. I took the tactical knife from her hand. This was indeed a Half & Half Company item.

What was going on here? I dragged the woman, who was struggling to grab the fallen pistol, toward the entrance. Eve sprayed hemostatic spray on her leg wound to stop the bleeding.

Only then did the pain of having two bullets lodged precisely in her leg bone seem to hit her, making her eyes tear up, but after Eve injected a painkiller, her condition improved somewhat. I asked leisurely.

“Good. Your condition is stable now. But I haven’t decided whether to take you to a hospital or just put a bullet in your head and throw you in the organic waste bin. Answer properly. Who are you?”

“Arthur, fucking Murphy, you son of a bitch! I remember stuffing a grenade into the mouth of that monster, that inhuman thing made from a person, and then when I came to my senses, it was three months later…”

Do I have a brain scan record somewhere? No, I didn’t. There was no personality adjustment device implanted in the back of her neck either, so she wasn’t a Half & Half Company prostitute with my personality chip.

And she knew too much to be fake. Belvedere had determined that my sacrifice wasn’t the truth. I needed to verify, so I asked again.

“First of all, I don’t swear that much. Second, if you’re Arthur Murphy, what’s your Belvedere employee number?”

She ground her teeth but recited my employee number correctly. A number that had been deleted and was impossible to find out.