CHAPTER 152: CHAPTER 100: CYBER FUGITIVE

The afternoon mist enveloped Eden City.

Pale sunlight reflected off the skyscrapers’ glass facades, penetrating the low-quality air and the industrial zone’s perpetual heavy smoke, leaving the residents looking ashen.

[Mission Objective Update]

[Meet with Kuang Xin. (Not Achieved)]

The Jurassic ZT15 raised its hood and drove out of the basement.

The black, hard curves outlined the unique texture of the armored vehicle.

The driver’s seat was cool and comfortable, with soft lighting, and various data flashed across the bulletproof glass.

The gun bag was placed on the passenger seat.

John crossed through the hot air and picked up Kuang Xin a few kilometers away from the city’s center at the Tiebang Logistics factory.

Bang.

The rear car door was closed.

Kuang Xin let out a comfortable hum, ripped off his tie, and kept cursing the factory office manager, saying their shipment sequence was stupid as hell and their QA was like a sieve, leading to a PR crisis.

"Brother, outside villa district, coordinates are sent to you."

He patted the driver’s seat and smiled, asking John to set off, like a playboy ready to carouse with a friend.

"F*cking squid, MAN."

John calmly started the vehicle. "I must remind you, Oulos asked you to get hacker information for me. Usually, it doesn’t matter, but now I don’t have time to accompany you on pleasure seeking."

"I know, brother."

Kuang Xin spoke confidently, sending the coordinates into the navigation system.

"Relax, relax, buddy, we’re all thinking about it. Our job this time isn’t for some ordinary hacker but a former Internet Surveillance agent."

"Internet Surveillance?"

John’s expression grew more serious. "I won’t cooperate with Internet Surveillance in any way, those idiots are trying to get themselves killed..."

"Ah, alright, alright, listen up."

Kuang Xin calmed the agitated John.

He sent over a dossier.

[Name: Hugo Pa]

The information was of a middle-aged hacker with lifeless eyes, wearing an old Internet Surveillance coat, slightly overweight with stubble all over his chin, looking utterly decadent and oppressed.

The photo was stamped with a "DECEASED" mark.

He was the squad leader of the Eden City Internet Surveillance Operations Department, ranked just one level below the state police. Whether it’s technology or cyberspace enforcement experience, he’s quite capable.

"So he’s a guy who can handle the Black Ice Program, right?"

John couldn’t care less about reading the records. For a novice who didn’t even have a network access pod, understanding those data regarding AI confrontations was impossible.

Kuang Xin started to elaborate.

The Black Ice Program is a common attack method in cyberspace, much like how mercenaries use guns in real life.

The state police program John used was an experimental product that converted cyberspace algorithms into tangible programs, with core technology sourced from a legendary hacker who once destroyed the old network.

Internet Surveillance usually conducted internal testing and combat.

Hugo’s position wasn’t low, and he’d been on the job for over five years. If there weren’t any mishaps, he’d also compete with the state police and definitely had access to these internal technologies.

Kuang Xin had already removed his high-end suit jacket, even losing a couple of buttons on the shirt underneath.

John looked at him through the rearview mirror.

"So how exactly do we find this guy, release a missing person report at a news station?"

"First, help me resolve a problem for a client, then we’ll get the lead on Hugo from her."

That’s what Kuang Xin said.

John grumbled with a frown. "This scheme, why do I feel like I’ve been through it before?"

"Aha, buddy, comparing me to a tie clip is a bit insulting, come on!"

Ouros had never appeared, all intelligence and arrangements were left to Kuang Xin.

He suddenly brought up an incident from a few years ago that was particularly sensational.

AI malfunctioned in the Raqi Industry’s smart arms lab.

Back then, it caused widespread panic throughout the city, stock prices plummeted, and the then-branch CEO, Shimamoto Katsutoshi, committed suicide. Several new leaders were sent from Tokyo but couldn’t stabilize the situation.

Users who purchased that weapon were controlled by built-in programs to move their prosthetic bodies, publicly committing suicide, or going on a shooting spree in the busy downtown area.

The Special Actions Team imposed martial law on half the city.

Raqi Industry’s market share in the city plummeted, later spending astronomical figures, almost at the cost of cutting off an arm, to package the whole incident as rumors manufactured by rival companies.

John had already heard about it from Tinfoil and Baseball Bat.

Eventually, Serum stepped in to detain the rogue AI.

"The specifics are complex. While Serum provided the tools, the actual operation of incarcerating the AI deep within cyberspace was really conducted by those Internet Surveillance agents, and leading the task was Hugo, the then-operational team leader."

Kuang Xin shared the information.

"Shortly after the event, Hugo announced his death, actually making a deal with Raqi Industry. It’s said he even applied for the Tokyo headquarters’ witness protection program and officially announced his death."

"Why didn’t he seek help from Internet Surveillance and instead let Eastern Enterprises fake his death?"

"Who the hell knows."

Kuang Xin didn’t care much about Hugo’s exact predicament.

[Mission Objective Update]

[Acquire mission coordinates. (Not Achieved)]

The muscle-armored vehicle drove out into the outskirts.

After passing several security scans and information confirmations in the villa district, they parked inside a highly private underground garage.

As John got out of the car, he smelled a whiff of antiseptic.

They walked through a dim corridor, swiped an access card, and after undergoing full-body spray disinfection, arrived before bulletproof glass.

The client Kuang Xin mentioned lay on the bed.

It was a man with white hair, tubes inserted all over his body, saliva dripping from the edge of the breathing tube into a mask, and his lower body was a gruesome wreck from an explosion...