episode_0013

A glass, wiped clean with not a speck of dust, gleamed.

Looking at the transparent quartz artifact, polished with such care, Luna stood before the bartending table with a satisfied expression.

Though it was merely a bar operated to disguise their fixer office, losing money every month, Luna felt a certain affection for the place and managed it proudly every day.

“Doesn’t it get tiresome every day? No customers ever come anyway.”

“That’s my business. You’re always modifying the code you just fixed yesterday, aren’t you?”

“That’s~ because it’s absolutely necessary for work! Yesterday’s security and today’s security are different for the bastards I hate! Don’t you know that?”

“I have no idea.”

It was also the hideout where she and her teammates gathered.

After being busy with their own affairs for a while, the team members, reunited at Luna’s bar after their last mission, chatted away, creating a warm, friendly atmosphere befitting mercenaries.

There was a unique bond among them, forged through repeatedly risking their lives and overcoming crises.

“Hey, didn’t you call the new Oni-Chan?”

“He usually comes around this time, but he’s not here today. He must have some business to attend to.”

In Eclipse Point, where individualism was rampant and it was hard for anyone to make their own way, wondering about someone else’s well-being was a way to express intimacy. It showed how close the team members were, to the extent that they felt favorably even towards a newcomer who could die at any moment.

“Why don’t you try contacting him? He’ll definitely get sulky if he finds out we gathered without him, won’t he?”

*Whirr* — “…Incoming personal communication. High-resolution image link, no electronic warfare attack detected.”

“Hmm? Our newbie sent it.”

Just as they were exchanging such trivial chatter.

As if speaking of him, the message he sent arrived simultaneously for all four of them.

They all opened the incoming message, simultaneously spitting out the synthetic alcohol they had in their mouths and generating an optical dispersion refractive arc structure in the air.

“Wh-What in the world is this crazy bastard doing!!!”

Luna, standing at the bartending table, staggered in bewilderment, Jay Q burst into roaring laughter that echoed through the shop, Blake adjusted his slipping sunglasses, and Raleigh quietly wiped the synthetic alcohol dripping from his mouth.

The message that arrived on everyone’s comms network was a single image.

It was a photo of him, inside what appeared to be a corporate transport truck filled with brand-new cyberware, flashing a V-sign with his fingers.

“Jay Q!!! Track him down immediately!!!”

“Hahahahahahaha! Alright, alright. *Snort!* He really was a crazy bastard!”

***

“Alright. I’ve sent the verification photo, shall I start with the work now?”

Notifications of incoming messages rang wildly, but as he was currently on a mission, he had set his comms to silent mode.

One might say it was an act that perfectly demonstrated the etiquette of a civilized person, much like muting the sound when watching a movie.

“Anyway, it’s a complete mess, isn’t it?”

The interior of the transport vehicle, flipped over after hitting a landmine and somersaulting in the air, was such a mess that one would want to offer a silent prayer to the loading and unloading personnel who would have to sort and reload it.

Anyway, I was too stingy to bother with the corporate dogs, so I carefully stepped into the transport vehicle, where all the goods had collapsed and scattered across the floor with a clatter.

*Thump thump thump* *Bang!*

The vivid noise of the gunfight from outside echoed, making his ears ring.

Fortunately, it seemed the defense level was high, as bullets embedding themselves in the outer wall merely ricocheted off, with no penetration occurring.

Indeed, even after hitting an anti-tank landmine, though the transport vehicle’s engine was utterly destroyed and it flipped over, the interior remained relatively intact.

There would be no danger inside from ordinary attacks.

“A black case…”

It wasn’t quite like finding a needle in a haystack, but searching for an object of unknown shape amidst mountains of military-grade cyberware was incredibly difficult.

Pushing past cyberware sealed in sterile packs, shaped like spines, or resembling organs and limbs preserved in culture fluid, I moved further inside.

Thinking that these scraps of metal he was forced to step on because there was nowhere else to, were worth tens of thousands of credits, made his hands and feet tremble.

“But something feels a bit strange…”

As far as I know, K&H is a cyberware manufacturer.

And such manufacturers even equip their own soldiers with their products for promotional purposes, so what about the goods in a transport vehicle being shipped for sale?

Logically, all the products inside should have been K&H’s.

I picked up one of the scattered packs that caught my eye and read the tag.

“…Ayakashi CRC-05 Reactive Neural Enhancement Auxiliary Implant. And a civilian model at that?”

Ayakashi. One of the Japanese corporations… no, a megacorp that could be called Neo-Japan itself, a terrifying entity exerting immense influence even in Eclipse Point.

The fact that among the companies it acquired and integrated as subsidiaries, there were even former megacorps, showed just how vast its power was.

Anyway, the performance of products manufactured by such a super-powerful megacorp was indeed tremendous, but these were still civilian models with limited performance.

And they weren’t the kind of items one would expect to find in a K&H transport vehicle.

Especially not in a transport that had fought its way through Rossboard, engaging in battles with countless Rossboard gangs.

*Sigh*… Something smells fishy… Could it be these too?”

Looking at the other cyberware, they were indeed military-grade, but they were either used items worn out to the point of not working, damaged goods, or new but low-end civilian models.

There were few items from entirely different corporations, like the Ayakashi one just now, and these items were certainly valuable, but they were enough to shatter the illusion of a golden goblin loaded with military-grade cyberware.

More like a trash heap…

“Could this be a smokescreen…?”

He had heard of it.

If there was something that needed to be delivered safely, they would create a sacrificial lamb to draw attention, leak information so everyone would rush there, and then casually deliver the actual goods via another, unremarkable route.

This meant that Hellstream, the Rossboard gang alliance, and even the corporate soldiers risking their lives protecting outside, were all just sacrifices for a smokescreen.

‘Fuck. No way. First, find the case.’

Of course, it was too early to judge, so he decided to look for the black case as per the contract.

This was just his own conjecture, wasn’t it?

He felt uneasy, but certainty was forbidden until he confirmed it himself.

*Rumble!*

His search grew rougher, just as the battlefield outside intensified.

Just moments ago, he had been careful, worried about even scratching the cyberware, but now they were less than mere pebbles.

Tossing the cyberware aside, he searched for the case that must be buried somewhere.

“—Aargh!”

“—Fuck! They’re finally all dead! Get in! Break through!”

About three minutes passed.

Perhaps it was too much for even three corporate soldiers to hold back hundreds of gang members, as the sound of gunshots around them ceased, replaced by painful screams and the thudding of something striking the door.

“Ah, fuck…!”

*Sizzle and grind!* Plasma oxygen flames shot up from the door, and it began to melt in a circular shape.

The speed was so fast that in about thirty seconds, they would break through the door and enter.

He fumbled with the shotgun, which had five shells left, and moved his hands even faster.

Thrown metal scraps clanged and thudded as they rolled, hitting the walls and other cyberware.

The menacing sound of the oxygen cutter pursued him closely from behind.

Profusely sweating in the air, which was heated by the intense warmth inside the transport vehicle, his hand finally touched the floor.

A black, cube-shaped box.

“Oh, I found it.”

Honestly, he hadn’t expected it to be there, so instead of cheering, he was stunned, blinking his eyes as he held it.

A peculiar cube that he had no idea how to open.

Having finally found the box, which was said to be heavily secured, he turned his head at the *thud!* of a large metal disc hitting the floor.

There, a Mohawk-wearing figure, backlit, stood with a gas mask on and an oxygen cutter in hand.

“What the hell is this guy?”

“Could you turn down the flame? It’s blinding.”

*Clack* He quickly tucked the cube into his embrace and raised the shotgun.

The figure also opened the valve of the oxygen cutter, spewing a jet of flame longer than a katana, and faced him.

A tense standoff.

Even if he killed this guy, there were countless other gang members behind him.

A desperate situation!

And then, between the two of them in their standoff, the outer wall of the transport vehicle was pierced, and a large warhead thrust its head through.

“Well, goddamn it.”

At the absurd sight, as time seemed to accelerate, the warhead spewed flames, disassembling the transport vehicle, and his vision faded to black.