How To Live as a Cyberpunk Solver

124. newcomer

Although Leonard is said to be a well-known (or just about to be out) troubleshooter, it was burdensome to recklessly hit an entertainment establishment where the high-ranking members of White Town gathered. However, he couldn’t keep knocking on the gang of Tiger Claw, the client, so he needed time to catch his breath.

“for a moment. for a moment. Do some tidying up.”

Max turned the terminal into a speaker and said.

“A place called ‘Kabuki’ in White Town is attacking the Tiger Claw gang under the guise of anti-corporate terrorism?”

“It’s not like that.”

Leonard sighed. I just made it a comfortable voice because the same voice was output through brain communication.

“Why would a rich business that earns good credit attack subcontractors? If you don’t like something, you can just cut the deal.”

“Then you have nothing to do with Kabuki?”

“We’ll have to check that out, but there will be a ‘relationship’ both in terms of timing and scale.”

Max worked hard with his left brain to come up with a new answer.

“A competitor?”

“You’re getting smarter now.”

When Leonard praised him, Max laughed bashfully. But it also required the imagination of the right brain.

“Then which competitor is it?”

“…uh?”

It could be a fake terrorism committed by a competitor of Kabuki to reduce the implants supplied to Kabuki, or a fake terrorism committed by a rival gang of Tiger Claw to intercept a business partner. No, it could have been a suspicion that Leonard and Sigma misunderstood in the first place.

‘If you look at the tail here, it may not be very wrong, but…’

Leonard murmured as he watched the children huddled together. At the end of the century, when the performance of implants was rapidly developed, the body of a child was of no use. If you have to transplant an organ, it will quickly become contaminated and ruined. Besides, it wasn’t even a 100% living body like Max’s. It means there aren’t many places to use. It was hard to think of other than the white town rich to collect such unusual bodies, which have little value compared to their rarity.

“Ugh… I guess I’ll have to investigate after all.”

I had no choice but to investigate kabuki establishments. However, the ‘how’ was still a problem.

“Twenty thousand credits worth of hard work.”

@Leonardchigo I came up with a pretty peaceful way.

The already smashed sorting plant’ gangs beat, smashed, hacked and broke some more, but didn’t kill them. They were also the subordinates of the client, and there were still roles to be played.

“Is this really the best?”

Max blushed and protested once more. It was hard to know if it was anger or shame.

“If there is a better way than that, tell me.”

“Mr. Leonard is a citizen. Can’t I just go in as a guest?”

“It’s a membership system.”

“How do you write after hacking? You can just cheat!”

“There is a safer way. What to do?”

Leonard suppressed a laugh and spoke as nonchalantly as possible. To be honest, there was a reason this one was more fun. Max trembled as he gripped the hem of his skirt.

“But this outfit is like that! Can’t I just wear it normally?”

“It’s just a patient suit. It’s the clothes you wear when you have an implant procedure.”

“Then it’s worse! When you open your eyes, don’t you change into a strange girl’s body?”

And Max’s real body would have been dismembered and turned into a rich man’s hobby pile. Thinking about it gave me goosebumps.

“I don’t want to get implants like this…”

“Are you going to leave it like that? Once you enter, you can move freely, so be patient. I have this.”

Leonard gave Max his favorite Rykov 9mm pistol. It was good to hide the gun because it was a patient’s uniform. Max was delighted and tied it tightly around his thigh. His expression brightened as if he felt relieved because he had a gun.

Leonard also wore a black suit and packed a Japanese blade. I twisted the tie around and threw it away because it didn’t work, but I managed to look like a Tiger Claw gang member.

“How are you?”

“No. No. It’s not hair. Change it to Mohican.”

“…They don’t speak as much as the Mohicans either.”

Gangster’s sense of hair was completely incomprehensible, so he rejected it. Max said, ‘I made it like this!’ I was angry but ignored it.

“Go, do you think you dare touch us and be safe? If my brother finds out about this…”

The gangster who had been robbed of his uniform and goods gnashed his teeth and growled. Even so, it was not scary because it was squeezed here and there.

“It’s because I’m borrowing it for a while. And, strictly speaking, this is what your brother ordered.”

I didn’t ask you to do it this way, but I’ll forgive you if you dig up the background properly. Leonard was so convinced that he copied the chip from the gangster’s socket and put it on the terminal. I encrypted it as a secret transaction, but it did not take 30 seconds. The location of the transaction, the time of the transaction, and the method of contact were revealed.

“Then shall we begin?”

@Whitetown 3-11th Street.

Even among businessmen, there was a gloomy back alley on 3rd Street, where only the rich lived. The only thing different from Junk Town’s alleys was the absence of stinky trash and breathing trash soaked in e-drugs.

“Then it’s not a back alley.”

“Shh. Be quiet.”

Leonard parked the SUV he had stolen from the gang on the corner. As Max said, it was different from the back alleys of Junk Town. It was quiet and clean except for the fact that it was dark because the lights did not reach the back door of the skyscraper building, where you could not see the top even if you tilted your head to the maximum. Nevertheless, what feels gloomy is probably not because of sight, smell, or hearing, but because of the sixth sense of crime.

When I called the number I robbed from a gang member, it hung up immediately. But it wasn’t wrong. A few minutes later, three chrome-skinned men in bow-tie jackets appeared wandering around. It was the kind of gang you didn’t see in Junk Town. It was the same over there.

“A face I haven’t seen before?”

I didn’t like the way my hands moved behind my waist. Leonard, on the other hand, put his hands forward.

“Newcomer.”

“A rookie doing this alone?”

“This is the first time. There are more times than before.”

The chrome skins glanced at each other. It seems like they share their opinions, but I could have waited for that much. Among them, one of the friendly ones—who took on such a role—relaxed.

“What about Jackie?”

Leonard saw the other two with pistols behind their jackets. It was a clumsy trap. Even working in Whitetown, a gang was a gang.

“It must be Jackson, not Jackie. He can’t get his hands on this.”

“why?”

“I’d say it’s an inside job, but… just know that you touched something that shouldn’t be touched.”

Since there are not one or two ‘things you shouldn’t touch’ in these things, I left the rest to your imagination. The sudden death of Gang didn’t happen yesterday or today, so it was nothing new. Anyway, the trap was avoided by knowing the name of the former person in charge. The proof was that all chrome skins had guns.

“What about things?”

“It can be over here.”

Leonard opened the SUV bed and pulled out the cart. It was Max and an implant body with no memory installed. The chrome eyebrows of the chrome skin wriggled greatly.

“two?”

I checked Gangster Jackson’s chips and confirmed that this month’s quantity was five. However, there were many variables to bring a living human, so there was no choice.

“Because there was work. The items I couldn’t bring this time will be given next time.”

“That is not for us to decide. Wait for a moment.”

“Oh, wait. This guy is 100% biohuman. look at this It’s real soft skin. See the blood here? It’s a very rare item. If you are going to report to the upper level, please do that too.”

Leonard pokes Max’s arms and legs around as he pretends to be asleep. At first glance, it seems like a sincere attitude to make up for the breach of contract, but in reality it was intended to play with Max. Max’s nostrils widened violently. It seemed that if I squeezed more, I would get caught. Fortunately, the communication with Chrome’s skin ended before that.

“He said he would hear the explanation later. Leave your things first.”

“You want to just go?”

If that happened, I would leave. When Leonard was startled, the extinguished doubts slowly bloomed again. He hastily added an excuse.

“This is the first time, so shouldn’t I say hello? I also have to report to the upper line. Isn’t that right?”

Chrome skin’s communications continued. I was anxious that it would be easy to just knock them down and forcefully break through. Even now, when I was thinking about changing my method, my efforts bore fruit.

“Please follow me quietly.”

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Joy shone on not only Leonard’s face, but also on Max’s face as he lay stiff.

@ As a result, it was good not to forcefully break through.

Leonard was guided by the chrome skin and moved to the basement of the building. I only changed elevators three times to see how thorough the security was. There were several floors that couldn’t be reached with a regular elevator.

“Is this a place like this? How great?”

Where the proper number of floors didn’t come out, it just came out with a V, and it was pushed down by the chrome skin. My imagination was poor, so I thought of a place like a club, but the place I actually arrived was like a hotel lobby.

There were large windows on the left and right of the entrance, and the city scenery before the Great War was clearly overlooked. It was a high-definition video decorated like a landscape because there was no way a city like that could exist in the basement of a building. However, the five human senses were cunning. I forgot that this place is 30 meters underground with bright lighting, pleasant air, and real-time video. If you lose your mind for a moment, you will think that you have climbed to the top of a high-rise building.

“It’s different no matter where you deal with rich people.”

As Leonard looked around, the chrome skin blocked his way and pointed to one side. Thanks to “this way”, I remembered my duty that I had forgotten for a while.

Leonard passed through the iron gate with ‘No entry except for related persons’ written on it and tapped the chrome-skinned shoulder.

“Look at this.”

Chrome skin didn’t answer. It’s because the moment I turned my head, my consciousness was cut off. Since the brain chip has been initialized, the memories after the backup will disappear. This was not good if the implant ratio was high.

“What are you doing…!”

The chrome skin of Fumi, who was pulling the cart, reacted violently. But when Max drew his pistol and held it under his chin, he immediately became compliant. He would be rebelling on the other side, but it was useless in front of a veteran solver.

“Your communication function was cut off long ago. Don’t work in vain and focus on this side.”

“Hacker…?”

Leonard smiled and pulled out a Japanese blade. Even if he wasn’t used to cutting, he was able to intimidate.

“As you can see, I am an implant hacker. If you cooperate, I can save you from erasing your memory.”

The idiom ‘Even if a knife comes into my throat’ was just an idiom. When exposed to gunk and knives, there was only one real option. Leonard was pleased with the positive gesture.

“First, guide me to the server room. Just in case, if you act like a guest, your brain will melt first.”