How To Live as a Cyberpunk Solver

3. secret

Leonard Walker was a petit bourgeois with a strong law-abiding spirit.

No matter how busy he was, he never violated traffic lights, never threw out garbage when no one was watching, and never liked murder, violence, threats, or theft. In other words, when you live in an underground city where the ‘law’ is alive.

“I still obey the law. There are only a few laws in this damn surface city.”

“Aren’t you willing to uphold a social conscience or religious ethics?”

“Ah, if you don’t follow that, no one will say anything, right?”

As Leonard and Sigma whispered in the kitchen about three meters away, the polite customer glanced at him with a worried expression. It seems that it is something to discuss with Android.

Leonard opened the blinds slightly and pretended to look outside. Due to the fine dust that blows in 24 hours a day and the radioactive fallout that comes when you forget, ‘open the window and ventilate’ has become a dead sentence that can only be seen in pieces of old data. Even Leonard’s 11-1st Street Villa, which was built in the post-frontier era, obviously had no windows that opened. Still, I was able to look around the streets in the afternoon.

Neon signs shimmered faintly through the tan smog, and high-powered cargo drones flew by with a swarm of bees. The main roads were lined with luxury sedans owned by corporations, and the alleys were full of beggars, vagrants, and prostitutes. It’s been 7 years since I’ve been on the ground, but it’s still a sight I’m not used to.

“Not sick of it.”

“Shall I prepare the bath water?”

“It’s not dirty, it’s boring.”

Helping terrorists was dangerous. You may have to return the title of a law-abiding citizen you have been proud of. But 100,000 credits could do a lot. I made up my mind.

“A little bit. let’s do it.”

@

The request of the self-proclaimed revolutionary organization, the other-named terrorist organization ‘Liberation Front’, was to rescue factors. Although not common, it was a request that came in often.

“Jim Taylor. 44 years old. The outside looks like that too. Both arms, right leg, and below the left knee are prostheses, and 40% of organs are implants.”

“In the worst case, we can bring out only the head and torso.”

The funny thing is that he was not arrested on terrorism charges, but he was arrested by corporate security for not responding to an unannounced check in a bar. The place where he was imprisoned was not the Orange Prison where the heinous criminals were imprisoned, but the detention center in Junk Town. In this case, with a guarantor and a little bit of sincerity, he could be released on a whim, but it was impossible because all the people who would guarantee him were on the wanted list.

“If this is the case, why not hire a homeless person for 100 credits to guarantee and get them out?”

“I can’t. In the future, when we carry out our tasks, won’t we be at a disadvantage because we are involved as officials?”

“What are you, a humanist?”

I recognized them from the time they shouted for freedom, equality, and liberation. But it wasn’t just because of the safety of the homeless who didn’t know it.

“We also need to find the memory chips confiscated at the time of the arrest.”

“ha…”

It was naive and stupid to believe that corporate public security would return confiscated items from powerless citizens. This was especially true for items with high liquidity, such as chips. There was a 98% chance of secretly selling on the black market and pretending.

“Is that your purpose?”

“Of course Mr. Jim Taylor is important. I must say that both are important.”

Leonard said after looking through the downloaded material with his brain chip.

“I roughly understood. I still can’t see the 100,000 credits, so what are you hiding?”

“That is all I swear. If you think the cost of labor is excessive, you will consider it as important.”

It’s still suspicious, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be dug up. Leonard rolled his head the other way.

“I need about three days.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Get your credits ready.”

@

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Junk Town Detention Center was not the sleazy but neat facility seen in old movies. It was an era full of implant cyborgs who could arm wrestle with gorillas. The outer wall was built with concrete with a thickness of 30cm, and the bulkhead was installed with heavy metal every 15m, and more than 50 cyborgs armed with heavy weapons were on duty at all times.

“Three or four years ago, the Stonehead gang raided the detention center.”

“Not on my record.”

“Then it was four years ago.”

It was four years ago that the Sigma was repaired and restarted, so it’s probably right.

Leonard was looking for an empty spot in the parking lot, but gave up and ended up in a garbage dump. Half of the parking lot was trash, so we couldn’t help it. Even the 30-year-old used pickup truck he bought for a bargain looked like junk to Jake.

“I must have been confident because war materials were just pouring out on the streets. Looking at the weapons he actually used, he was confident. Did you bring the War Machine with a recoilless rifle?”

“That is amazing.”

He answered in a voice that was not at all surprised. It’s because he’s an old-generation android, so he’s not good at expressing emotions. Obviously it was.

“At that time, I was passing by 17th Street to meet the client and saw the situation in real time. It was great. Blowing up the main gate and rushing in with machine guns, they were braver than the federal troops during the war.”

“If you infer from the current situation, you have failed.”

“yes. I only got up for 3 minutes. War Machine was turned to charcoal by 12 rocket launchers, and the gang was disassembled in screw units by automatic turrets. Because of that, the Stonehead gang that dominated Junk Town died and was pushed back by the Wildkid and the Twins.”

It will be more interesting if you look for video materials. Because blood and fire and screams stimulate primal emotions. However, due to lack of time, it was postponed. It was time to work.

Leonard got out of the car and walked through the oily, stinking, dead, and broken trash. The city’s downtown was not called junk town for nothing. Fortunately, there were no homeless people in front of the detention center.

I climbed the open-air stairs a little and knocked on an ambiguous place, whether it was a checkpoint or a quarantine station.

“I came to visit you.”

Through the security window, the face of a corporate public security officer appeared, clearly a cyborg. It smelled like cheap chemical cigarettes. The corporate public security officer said with a polite expression and a condescending attitude.

“Take out your ID and take three steps back.”

“That’s tough.”

Leonard put the Sodom City, to be exact, A-044 City social security certificate he had printed out in advance through the hole in the paperwork.

In an era where faces, voices, fingerprints, and even irises can be replaced with machines, there were two cases of possessing a ‘number’ that was not erased. A business man with a stable life or a poor man without credit to implant. Corporate public security was paying close attention to which category Leonard belonged to. What he looked like was the former, but his clothes were the latter.

“Isn’t it counterfeit?”

“At Junk Tower? Am I stupid?”

garbage tower. It was a kind of slang for a corporate-owned building. The high-ranking people in the company hate it, but the public security and workers who work in the field like it. Because you can feel the awe, fear, and defeatism of the poor. As if this corporate public security was no different, he smiled and returned his ID.

“Go inside and register.”

@

Unlike the messy exterior, the inside of the building was clean. A snazzy robot was running around, and a public security agent armed with a heavy weapon was chatting in an awkward manner, but it didn’t look too dangerous. The office android, who was sitting on a chair with only his upper body, asked.

“welcome. Are you a visitor?”

“yes. It will be held here as ‘Tenor Bond’.”

There was nothing to be ashamed of. He had no intention of meeting Jim Taylor, who was clearly a terrorist from the Liberation Front. As Soldier B said, it was dangerous. The office android’s eyes twinkled. It wasn’t an idiom, it really sparkled.

“Tenor Bond. From A-039. Murder and Injury. Gujiman is detained until trial under the authority of the judge. Is that correct?”

“As long as there is no other bond, yes.”

“How is your relationship going?”

“I was the one who caught him.”

Leonard shrugged and said. To be honest, I was proud that I had done in six days what a public security agent had been unable to do for years. The office Android started conducting background checks as it should be for office use.

“Leonard Walker. from Lenox City. private investigator. 1 corporate hacking. 2 times driving without a license. Assault, threats, fraud, vandalism…”

“Hey, it’s not about digging into other people’s personal information.”

Despite talking about being a law-abiding citizen, his criminal record was brilliant. The number of crimes committed against ‘citizens’ with social security numbers is so high that it must be many times more against gangsters and scavengers who are not recognized as human beings.

“Search results. Level 3 dangerous person. Only general visits are allowed.”

A company’s risk rating is based on its actual criminal record. It is an objective and realistic method, but if you have not committed a crime ‘yet’ like this time or have not been caught, the rating is very low. In other words, Leonard’s risk was not level 3.

“That’s fine.”

Leonard chuckled. The Android, which only carries out the given mission, did not save the fact that the pupils of the third-class dangerous person were hexagons from a while ago.

@

There are several advantages of a machine body over a physical body, the most important of which is convenience.

Leonard made the call using his brain chip without taking his phone out of his back pocket. A member of the Liberation Front who had no profile received it immediately.

– Leonard Walker, how are you?

“I got it.”

-Could you be specific?

He was a very annoying client. Leonard checked the call time and explained briefly.

“The executive order is for the release of Jim Taylor, but the record has been handled as tenor bond transfer. I’m on my way to see Jim Taylor.”

Liberation Front B was greatly surprised.

-You mean you hacked the Ministry of Public Security?

“What? If that’s possible, get rid of the fixer and enter the company. Or rob a bank and live happily ever after.”

-Ah, that’s right.

I didn’t have enough friendship yet to hear the words ‘Mr. Leonard isn’t that kind of person’.

“I tampered with the office android. As a bonus, I deleted the video and entry records of my face. I’m telling you first because I seem to have forgotten, but thank you for worrying about me.”

Even that was not an ordinary thing. ‘As expected of Hexagon…’ I heard a mixture of noise.

-What happened to the memory chip?

“Let’s do it one by one. singly.”

It would have been nice to be able to handle it with hacking, but I couldn’t. It is unlikely that the public security officer who stole the memory chip faithfully reported to the superiors and left data. Unlike Android, Cyborg’s main frame is a biological brain, so 100% control is impossible. In other words, some physical force was required.

“Stop there. Outsiders are prohibited from entering here.”

When I opened the door, a public security agent blocked my way. There was no problem with three, but there was only one. One submachine gun. one handgun. Both had safety catches on. Leonard said skillfully.

“Oh, wasn’t this the meeting room?”

“The meeting room is on the other side.”

“this way? Or over there?”

As Leonard pointed left and right, the security guard frowned. It was suspicious, but he was an outsider who passed through the checkpoint and the main gate. He was considered more of an idiot than a dangerous person.

“Is it difficult to say the other side? Go back the way you came…”

Returning immediately was the world the public security agent saw. The ceiling was visible once, the floor was visible once, and a dark night came.

“Well, after a good night’s sleep, punishment will wait.”

Leonard shook his fist, which had been stripped of his living skin. It’s a secret not yet known to the world, but 70% of Leonard’s body was implants.