Ch.41Work Record 008 – Case Files of Two Detectives (3)

If I don’t finish the job, I won’t have a chance to ask. After taking a quiet deep breath, I watched as Kay pulled the final refresh at 10:59:58. Work requests began pouring in.

Escort duty for a criminal transport convoy. It might be better than I thought. Not only was it helping Belwether’s security team, but the pay was quite substantial. After all, the criminals being transported were just gray matter with their bodies removed.

Belwether wasn’t a company that spent much on prisons. They didn’t deny the possibility of rehabilitation, but they weren’t exactly putting their full effort into it either. They merely provided an opportunity for rehabilitation and left it at that.

According to the security team’s corrections department, the brain prison operated quite simply.

If the sentence was less than five years, inmates stayed in what was essentially a virtual reality prison. Rehabilitation programs were provided, and surveillance programs served as guards. They could feel day and night, and even see clocks.

If the sentence was longer than that but under 20 years, no virtual reality was provided. They had to endure over ten years receiving electrical stimulation once every second while suspended in preservative fluid.

For those serving life sentences… they became the immortals of our era. They were simply stored in automated warehouses where the preservative fluid was perpetually replaced to maintain life, with no stimulation whatsoever.

Since these people would never leave their containers, their names weren’t even recorded. The automated warehouse rotated them, constantly changing the position of their brains. All they were given was an eternity without stimulation.

Therefore, the only concern during criminal transport was external attacks. The associates of prisoners serving life sentences in brain prisons didn’t try to rescue them. They only tried to kill them.

Since they couldn’t know which brain belonged to whom, they appeared whenever prisoner transport trucks were on the move and attempted to destroy all the brains in the vehicle. There were even specialists with the fitting name of “Undertakers.”

Several requests were pushed toward the boss, but the boss was looking at the request I had forwarded. It was also a direct collaboration with Belwether.

After a moment of consideration, Night Watch’s logo was stamped on the request I had forwarded. That settled it. The boss stood up and began displaying reports on the hologram screen.

The departure point was Belwether’s headquarters, and the destination was Changcheon Robotics’ headquarters built in the middle of Koreatown. It seemed there were some brains that needed to be handed over to them.

When a job involves another mega-corporation, the brains being transported tend to be more specifically targeted. So it’s one of two scenarios: either there will be many attacks, or very few.

“Today’s public work briefing begins. This is a transport escort mission. It seems Belwether and Changcheon have agreed to a technology sharing agreement in exchange for transferring the brains of criminals who have committed crimes against Changcheon. Our job is simple. Make sure those Undertaker bastards don’t touch those brains.”

Undertakers interfered with transports for various reasons. Attacking because a loved one was in a brain prison was commonplace, or attacking because they believed death was more appropriate than eternal life for these criminals’ crimes… or sometimes, there were those who simply enjoyed shooting at Belwether’s transport forces.

The second type was the most dangerous. While the first and last categories were mostly gangs… the second category was completely unpredictable. From Purists to retired soldiers packed with combat implants. There were countless of them.

“Belwether’s Mobile Division will be in the lead vehicle, and our Night Watch team will be in the rear vehicle. Once we get closer to Changcheon’s headquarters, drones will provide escort.”

The hologram window shifted, and images of numerous vehicles began to appear on the screen. Most were vans. Armored vans typically used by mercenary companies. There were no visible markings on the outside.

“This is the Undertakers’ command vehicle. It’s our primary target. As you know, about 80% of Undertakers are gang members. Without proper command, they can’t even mount a coordinated attack, but the problem is that there are ideological criminals mixed in with the Undertakers. When they take command, the Undertakers become dangerous.”

The second category I mentioned were precisely these ideological criminals. It seems that ideological criminals with command abilities focus on boarding command vehicles to direct other Undertakers rather than taking the front line themselves.

It’s an efficient tactic. Gangs emerge endlessly, but commanders don’t come by easily. For a moment, I wondered if those ideological Undertaker commanders might be former Belwether employees. That couldn’t be the case. Probably.

“So, one member from the Assault Division will accompany us. Arthur, you’ll be part of the infiltration team with that Assault Division member, and support will be provided by the security team’s IT specialist and Kay. In case the Undertakers mobilize too many forces…”

It would be either too many or too few. As the boss paused briefly, Mr. Enzo continued.

“We’ve, we’ve contracted a mercenary company specializing in drone operations. If you request air support, they’ll pour, pour in self-destructing drones. Their industry reputation and skills are solid, so you don’t need to… worry.”

Having access to what you need when you need it, and never running short on supplies, was the privilege of companies with excellent procurement departments. Mr. Enzo was unparalleled in that field.

That concluded the briefing. We would head to Belwether headquarters and learn more details after hearing from Belwether’s representative. Director Yoon clapped once.

“Criminal transport is not human trafficking. What Belwether wants is for those criminals to pay for all their crimes to the appropriate parties, and we’re just helping. As you know, we always react. They were the ones who acted. They committed crimes against the mega-corporations, and we’re just responding to those crimes.”

A neatly summarized statement. Though it would be a lie to say there wasn’t any retribution mixed in with the act of handing over criminals, now reduced to just brains, to another mega-corporation.

Having changed into combat gear, with a bulletproof mask and helmet on, I left the office and boarded the van. We were heading to a place I hadn’t been to in a while. Driving through the familiar streets of Pasadena, we arrived at Belwether headquarters.

The massive white curtain wall, the sprawling departmental buildings surrounding the central skyscraper in a circular formation… my cradle of efficiency. There was no reason to miss it, yet I missed it terribly. This was a moment of legal return.

No, that’s not right. I was merely here to handle a job, not returning to Belwether. After composing myself, I followed the employee entrance toward the security team’s conference room.

Belwether’s Mobile Division was already waiting, dressed in their exoskeletons. Among them, one Assault Division member in a closed exoskeleton saluted us as a representative. The boss returned the salute.

“Assault Division 3, ‘Bulldogs’ unit, Bullterrier Four reporting. It’s an honor to work with a partner company. You’ve already received the briefing, so let’s just confirm the operational details and depart immediately. The Mobile Division seems to be getting bored as they can’t move yet. Today’s expected distribution of Undertakers is…”

Stephanie displayed a hologram map with the expected figures. The route deliberately avoided skyscrapers to minimize the risk of snipers, making it quite winding.

The expected number of Undertakers wasn’t very high. Not many people would come all the way from across the rotten Pacific to rescue their comrades.

“Fortunately, very few. Still, the patrol unit will survey roads slightly separated from the transport route to search for the ideological criminals’ command vehicle. Do you have experience driving Belwether’s standard patrol bikes?”

I had to suppress a laugh. How much had I practiced driving to transfer to a division that paid better than the Security Division? And all the vehicles I practiced on were Belwether’s standard vehicles.

“Yes, I have experience. I’m a graduate of the Security Team Training College, so you can treat me almost like a Belwether employee.”

The Assault Division employee’s expression brightened visibly behind his transparent visor. He smiled kindly and said:

“Impressive. Our patrol route will be like this, and if the transport team needs to change routes for unavoidable reasons, we’ll join them. Understood?”

I memorized the route shown on the hologram map. It wasn’t difficult. I had no intention of becoming a burden. I nodded lightly. He nodded back, satisfied.

“Did you quit college? Or judging by your unnumbered Posthuman Type IV… are you actually a Special Operations Division member over sixty who once saved Belwether from a crisis?”

I burst out laughing at his words. Such cases probably existed, but at the very least, I was one of the returned children who had turned twenty-two.

“If that were the case, I would have barged into the conference room and started barking orders for no reason. Anyway, no. Any additional supplies?”

He handed me a helmet with a visor and a revolver. It looked similar to what the Market Keepers wore on their hips, but this was made exclusively with Belwether technology.

It would be much easier to use than the Market Keepers’ revolvers, but with correspondingly less power. It was the secondary weapon commonly used by the Assault Division, primarily for breaking hinges for breaching or neutralizing exoskeletons with explosive rounds.

The only reason revolvers were still used was because of the ammunition. Among weapons that could load and fire various types of ammunition as needed, none were more reliable and simple than revolvers. I took it. It was heavy.

I had handled this revolver a few times in my training programs. I comfortably holstered it at my waist, then removed my mask, bulletproof mask, and helmet to put on the helmet with the visor. It felt familiar.

Following Belwether habits, I tilted my head left and right to check if the helmet was properly secured. Since I had said I was a graduate of Belwether’s Security Team Training College, this much would be understandable.

“The loaded ammunition is six armor-piercing explosive rounds. Use them when neutralizing the command vehicle or dealing with Undertakers in exoskeletons. Now, let’s go.”

Once again, I had to separate from my colleagues. They boarded the van again, while I climbed onto Belwether Mobile Division’s standard patrol bike, which had a rather high chassis. As always, the seat wasn’t particularly comfortable.

The Mobile Division’s lead vehicle departed first. It was a tactical vehicle with a mounted unmanned turret. Though called a tactical vehicle, it didn’t look much different from an angular truck. The turret rotated.

The transport vehicle followed in the middle, with Night Watch’s armored van behind it. It didn’t have an unmanned turret, but it had a small attached turret for intercepting thrown objects. They had different purposes.

And if the van had to stop, Volla would step out with a machine gun. With Volla able to accurately rake the Undertakers with armor-piercing rounds, there was nothing to worry about.

Shortly after they departed, the Assault Division member and I set off as well. Though I didn’t have a computational assist implant, the simple UI on my visor provided much more information from my field of vision than usual.

With each additional mission, I miss the computational assist implant a little more. I start to dream a bit about becoming a fully implanted Posthuman Type IV.

That dream faded as the lights of Belwether headquarters dimmed behind us. As we left what could be called the vicinity of a mega-corporation’s headquarters, ordinary shops disappeared, and only alleyways and billboards became more vibrant.

Half & Half Company still advertising “Both human rights and prices halved,” billboards advertising android hostess personality chips with slogans like “Change your personality, change your night’s pleasure” – all these flashed by quickly.

No matter how fast we rode, my terrifyingly good body vision could make out the content of advertisements and even the faces of passersby. We rode through alleys different from the transport team’s route. It was still quiet.

Right after leaving Belwether headquarters was when everyone would be most vigilant. Not attacking during that time was something even gangs knew to do. We sped through the city streets.

From the moment I boarded this bike, speeding warnings disappeared, and instead, signals went out to nearby vehicles to slow down when we sped up. If Belwether’s Mobile Division was moving fast, there was a reason.

“Offliner, any Undertakers detected in your vicinity? None on my end.”

Even after scanning with Posthuman Type IV vision, nothing caught my eye. All I could see were people heading home through alleyways, keeping their distance from the main roads upon hearing about a transport operation.

“None, Bullterrier Four. No potential threats detected either. In my opinion, the attack will likely begin when we’re almost at Changcheon Robotics headquarters.”

“I disagree, Offliner. Belwether might be short-staffed, but Changcheon isn’t. If there’s a transport operation, they would have deployed drones all around. We should be careful at the midpoint.”

I was right that the immediate aftermath of leaving Belwether headquarters wasn’t dangerous, but apparently wrong about the rest. I bit my lip. This seemed like another point to discuss during the review and increase training for.

“Understood, Bullterrier Four. How about contacting the transport team and scouting the midpoint area first?”

“Agreed. The transport team also reports no Undertakers detected by drone reconnaissance. Turn left and take the shortest route to the midpoint. Follow me. And your inference was good. Keep thinking rationally. You’ll get better and more efficient, Offliner.”

I didn’t feel the sense of speed. Everything looked too slow. It felt less like we were fast and more like everyone around us was walking too slowly. I turned the handlebar left and took a different route.

The transport team would still be taking the long way around. We rode diagonally to where the transport team would arrive only after making two more turns, and scanned the surroundings without revealing ourselves from the alleyway.

The positions of detected Undertakers began to be briefly displayed on my visor. These were just people detected with weapons, so not all of them would be Undertakers, but most likely were.

Bullterrier Four quietly examined the detection results and then signaled to turn back. Having detected them in advance, it was more efficient to warn the transport team not to use this route rather than killing them all.

“More than the expected number, Offliner. I believe there’s a command vehicle nearby. I’ve alerted the transport team, so let’s secure the command vehicle first. We’ll circle around to avoid a full-scale confrontation with the Undertakers. Understood?”

I responded with a dry “Understood” and turned the bike around. The Assault Division member went ahead, detecting the surroundings, while I followed. At the moment, I had no means of detection.

That frustrating feeling didn’t last long. A CCTV feed appeared on my visor. It showed an armored van with its door open, and through the gap, half the face of someone wearing a visored helmet was visible.

According to the information on my visor, this was one of the ideological Undertakers. There was only one reason an ideological Undertaker would park a vehicle in a location that wasn’t on the transport route or any expected route. It was the command vehicle.