How To Live as a Cyberpunk Solver

126. peace

Leonard rips off the candy wrapper and puts it in his mouth.

The other one was a top-notch cigar that cost 100 credits each, and this one was cheap candy for 1 credit for 10 pieces. No, it wasn’t just the luxury items that were different. The vehicles were also incomparable with a top-of-the-line limousine and a stolen SUV. Poverty is nothing to be ashamed of, but Max, who had reached puberty, couldn’t cheer up.

“What’s so great about the credits you’ve accumulated through bullying?”

Leonard sneered and got out of the driver’s seat. Even if the credits aren’t great, the guns pointed at from all sides are rather great, so I raised my hands high.

“Do you treat people who work hard this way?”

It wasn’t that he was seriously surrendering. Even if there is a gang that has not learned cancer, there is no possibility that it will be rampant, but if that was the purpose, the ‘Yakuza’ would not have appeared. As expected, the gangs were only vigilant and did not attack.

“I didn’t mean to work this way.”

The yakuza pulled out his left arm from the coat over his shoulder. Max was very nervous, but there was no great reaction. He grabbed the cigar, sucked it lightly, and threw it on the floor. I think I could smoke it for a while longer, but I didn’t burn more than half of it. He seemed to be an orthodox smoker in the 20th century.

“Some people are dissatisfied with the way you work.”

If the complaint was my own, I wouldn’t talk for such a long time, so what I aimed at was 100% performance. Leonard finished grasping the situation and quietly lowered his hand. The swordsman behind the yakuza took a step as if to check it, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t that he could run faster than a bullet, but he was overly self-conscious or loyal to show off.

“For taking care of your subordinate organization? Or are you a trader? If you’re not satisfied with the situation, you should come and find it yourself, right?”

“So I came directly.”

There was one more implant cyborg coming forward following the knife handle. This time, it was a spherical face, so I couldn’t ignore it.

“Kabuki’s…”

It was the manager in the white suit. It was an impressive military implant, so I couldn’t forget it. The Kabuki manager grinned.

“Seeing that you know that, you’re right.”

“What, what are you doing? I just know it because it’s so famous.”

Leonard realized his mistake and apologized, but of course it didn’t work.

“Since Mr. Enzo has agreed to compensate for the work at the store, I will not make it an issue. Lucky for you. If even one guest had seen blood, it wouldn’t have ended like this.”

Leonard glanced at the Yakuza. I don’t know if it’s Enzo or Enzo, but it’s not important, so I didn’t ask.

“I don’t know, but it means that there is no problem. Then what did you come for?”

“Why are you looking for a fixer? I have a request.”

“Then go find a broker. What are you doing rudely on the street? I can’t work.”

Leonard waved his hand and turned around. It seems that he didn’t like that uncooperative attitude. One of the manager’s men pulled the trigger. It was a threatening shot, but it didn’t end with a threat. The chrome head was blown off. I aimed at Leonard’s feet, but the point where the gun was aimed was under his chin.

“Implant Hacking!”

Knowing Leonard’s notoriety, the Tiger Claw gang freaked out and let go of the trigger. Even Leonard couldn’t hack all that many gangs, but he didn’t want to play Russian roulette with ‘maybe’.

Yakuza and the manager looked at the dead chrome skin indifferently. As befits the entrepreneurs on the ground at the end of the century, he did not raise an eyebrow.

“It is true that he is a former Hexagon.”

“If you know that, don’t do anything stupid.”

Despite Leonard’s warnings, the manager was unfazed.

“I saw that skill several times seven years ago. three? four? Isn’t it five at most?”

Leonard chewed on the candy and spat the stick aside. It looks like a soldier who participated in the War of Independence of the New People 7 years ago. I knew how many brains Leonard’s Ram could afford. It was a threat that if you fight, you will die because you can’t hack all the gangs here. Leonard took a step back after a brief conflict.

“That side tried to shoot first, so it’s not my fault.”

“I admit it.”

“My request is expensive. This kind of request is especially true.”

“Was Mr. Enzo’s request here 20,000 credits? Then I pay 20,000 credits.”

Leonard’s head spun. If you add an additional 20,000 to the advance payment of 20,000, the total is 40,000 credits. As it was a direct transaction, there were no taxes or commissions. There was a risk, but considering the balance of the hotel construction, it was not easy to give up.

“Mr. Leonard…?”

Max called out his name quietly. It seems to mean to make a careful decision, but on the contrary, a quick decision came out.

“Let’s hear what’s going on.”

@Leonard’s decision was temporarily correct.

If you fight gangs, Leonard is also Leonard, but Max, a living being, will surely die. This was unconditional in a situation where the only weapons he had were a 9mm pistol that had run out of bullets and a 10mm machine gun that did not even have a zero point.

“And for being entrusted with a threat, the request isn’t bad either, right?”

“That’s true, but…”

There was a reason why Kabuki Manager and Yakuza Enzo came together. The two requests were similar but slightly different. First of all, both wanted the identity of the terrorist promoter.

Leonard quickly rewinded the video the manager passed over to extract information. Kabuki’s CCTV only confirmed the voice and the back of the head, but with the help of the manager, I was able to see the whole picture.

“Tiger Claw will try to kill you as soon as you find it. Their gangs have been attacked, so they must avenge themselves.”

“Was it an organization full of loyalty?”

“It has been confirmed that you are a competitor.”

In fact, from the point of view of the gang, the death of a few low-level members was not a big deal. Even if left alone, dying every day is a gangster. However, it was a very big deal that the business was threatened. If left alone, it would disguise itself as corporate terrorism, disrupt the supply and demand of ‘raw materials’ in Junk Town, and steal customers metallurgically, so it had to be eliminated unconditionally.

“You might be wondering if Kabuki has a real supply line. If possible, he would think of gulp it himself.”

“Your goal is to save Kabuki, right?”

“right.”

“Then, Yakuza-san, why did you accept the request?”

“Because I don’t accept contract requests. You have to kill them yourself anyway, but there’s no reason to stop an additional request to find a ‘puppet’ business.”

The first Yakuza request was to find out the terrorist’s background and purpose, so the request was completed in three days. Now I had to make a new request, but since someone else paid for it, there was no reason to stop it. Max understood the outline and went into the text.

“Did you say Puppet?”

“It must be a pseudonym. Or a business name.”

The name was so explicit that it was easy to understand its purpose.

“Even if it is packaged luxuriously, it is an illegal implant business after all. It’s not profitable to sell authentic products from companies, so they grind people and drink them.”

“Wow, are they really bad guys?”

When the word ‘bad’ came out of the mouth of the native of Junk Town, he was a real bad guy.

“To do business that suits the taste of rich people, you need to find an expensive body or a body with a distinctive feature, and this is the first clue.”

Leonard got into reasoning before he knew it. Sitting in the driver’s seat, there was nothing to do except roll your head.

“The only place in Junk Town where you can get a body like that is number 13, which is run by the Tigerclaw gang.”

So I could beat the Twins Gang or the Blast Gang and trade with Kabuki. Puppets won’t get premium materials from other districts either.

“They say they can’t supply it in Junk Town.”

“At least you won’t be able to save the body from the Tiger Claw gang.”

“Then is it White Town?”

“97% of White Town residents are citizens. When a missing person is reported, the public security goes out of their way to find her, but how can they kidnap her and take out her implant?”

So White Town didn’t come close to criminal gangs. Max, who gained momentum from Leonard’s reasoning power, worked hard on his left and right brain.

“Then there is only one place. It is brought from outside the city.”

“If you say it like that, it’s dumb. Please be more specific.”

“There is no way that out-of-towners and bandits have expensive implant bodies, and it is definitely a corporate product.”

“Do you only supply corporate products to entertainment establishments?”

“It makes no sense if it is genuine. Even if you sell it as a used item on the black market, it’s 20,000 or 30,000 credits.”

Leonard smiled. It was the so-called father’s smile. But Max, lost in reasoning, didn’t notice.

“It’s a corporate product, but it’s a defective product that is hard to get a fair price for. So, products that cannot be officially sold and are secretly disposed of. To put it simply, it would be a defective product.”

“Hoo.”

“It’s not an implant that can be implanted normally, but what is it, it can be used as a dummy after slightly remodeling it for that purpose. All you need is a basic sensory function. Well, if you’re unlucky, there could be an accident during transmission, but if you die while doing it, you won’t be able to reveal it because you’re ashamed, so it doesn’t matter, right?”

If it was in the old days, it would have been embarrassing to go anywhere to complain if the inspiration of the age of the grandchild Jae-rong Ball died of brain death while enjoying a promiscuous private life in the body of a teenage boy or girl.

“How do you import corporate goods?”

“There must be a connection there. You may not know if you are involved. Anyway, that’s not the point.”

Max shook his finger and said, ‘Tsk tsk!’ made a noise When I said I was good at it, I reached the point of being arrogant.

“Such high-end implants are like living things, so we can’t just leave them alone. Leonard has suffered losses in the past. It has to be transplanted into a human body or stored in a low-temperature device, but it won’t be cumbersome to use people, and there are probably facilities. Assuming that it is a defective product from the factory, it must be remodeled to suit its purpose.”

The location will be outside the city as mentioned earlier. This is because downtown attracts attention no matter which town you hide in.

“It’s quite good. If you can even hit the puppet warehouse, I’ll recognize you as a worthy solver.”

“Hee hee hee! It can be easily solved!”

“Five? really?”

Max’s reasoning was easily guessed by Leonard, but the location was not known due to lack of information. I was honestly surprised at how confident Max was. Max stood up and put what he learned from his mentor to good use.

“You can do difficult things by subcontracting them. Mr. Leonard, come quickly.”

Leonard found Max’s crown first. right! I hit it loudly and gave up my expectations.

“I am the original. Let’s cover the top and bottom.”

Still, it was worth working as a subcontractor if Max Co., Ltd. was this big. Leonard turned the steering wheel to 11-1 Street. There were preparations before the full-scale investigation.

“Preparations? What are you ready for?”

“I need to get a gun.”

Publius says, if you want peace, prepare for war. Even now, after nearly 2,000 years, peaceful encounters have not been achieved without guns.