Chapter 169

From a distance, the countless sounds of bustling activity incessantly prick at my nerves.

The soothing scent of flowers carried by the chairman calms the nerves, the fragrance of handsome men and beautiful women stirs the chest, and the scent of roasted meat fat, freshly pulled from the oven, is in sync with the opening ceremony.

The three smells blended together, but rather than being unpleasant, each one continuously stirred various primal desires.

However, in terms of stimulation, there were two senses left that easily overpowered the already overwhelmed olfactory senses.

Most of all, the tempting sights of men and women occasionally passing through the corridors in their undergarments, accompanied by laughter, and sometimes lascivious moans—this environment was far from ordinary.

While the guests could indulge themselves in this atmosphere, for some characters it was undoubtedly business hours, and they were supposed to be dedicated to their work. Even so, their grumbles of annoyance mingled with sighs were understood, albeit unpleasant—a permissible transgression within limits.

“Damn, anyway, I’m so envious. Ah~ I should’ve gotten an alcohol metabolism implant deferred and had the procedure done on my junior instead.”

“Quit shouting, idiot…!”

The men guarding a passageway of the mansion—a building far too grand and luxurious for any individual to own unless they were an executive of Mega Cop—were chatting idly.

To the whining coworker, one man remarked that “with your temper and sexual functionality implants, you’d probably whine like crazy if you got drunk anyway.” However, seeing the passing waitress’s look of disgust, this man clamped his mouth shut.

Even if their assigned role here was significant, disfavor from either Kasane, the president and employer’s staff, or Enema, their direct superior, would lead inevitably to no good outcomes.

“Setting aside whether anyone would roll around with you… You’d have to change your citizenship color to blue at least to barely be considered worthy of even brushing against someone here.”

“…Ah, that’s true too. What a shit life… someone’s dividends and interest alone exceed my salary…”

After their rather dull expressions exchanged a long stare, they burst into laughter without much ado and refocused their gaze on the hallway ahead.

Though watching wasn’t uplifting their mood, casual chit-chat could proceed simply by keeping their mouths and ears open.

Incongruous with the elegant decor and understated atmosphere, the sounds of revelry from the room behind, saturated with drugs and sex toys, could have been perceived as a bit too coarse. The brusque tone emanated from the private security guards, all members of a Security Guard Company.

The reason why these guards were employed in such a stressful and tempting environment is simple.

The business sites managed by the various Amagi branches varied not only in size and importance but significantly differed in other aspects, mainly the number and type of employees reporting to each executive.

Edamats, the permanent director in charge of mainly surveillance and occasionally covert violence, except for the professionals analyzing incoming data such as accountants and patent agents, mostly consisted of combat-ready elites familiar with firearms and blades.

Because of this, they had the opportunity to first use experimental models before mass-production began and could freely attempt somewhat risky trials—Kajun could engage in various adventures with little hindrance.

On the other hand, Kasane, the president responsible for research, development, and large production lines related to pharmaceuticals, had a very different situation.

She had under her continuous management numerous factories that required ongoing investment, as well as multiple flagship stores spread across the area.

The allocated headquarters budget, along with consistently increasing sales, resulted in an overwhelming number of employees. However, this didn’t operate itself. To sustain this, a thick layer of managers, technicians, and service industry workers remained essential.

Additionally, due to the many bases requiring protection from numerous external enemies, troops capable of armed deployment needed to be carefully and appropriately stationed everywhere to reinforce defenses.

In the end, all Kasane Amagi had left were her personal bodyguard unit for her own security, a hefty amount of credits, and universally beloved drugs.

Thus, she squeezed resources with all her might.

She reinforced her equipment through private deals with Heylong and aggressively expanded her network, upgrading all her privately-owned electronics with the latest software from Elysium.

Of course, it wasn’t smooth sailing with the Exatech machines that kept repeating, “This is an interesting chemical reaction, but do you have any other new materials or clinical medical technologies?” despite the massive doses of potent drugs she shoved down their systems… Regardless,

The leftover funds saw a hiring of high-rated professionals instead of direct employees, rewarding them with generous benefits and occasional special incentives while training them as mercenaries.

Rather than stoking conflict with her family, choosing to expand carefully by walking a fine line proved to be quite successful, so far.

As for this incident… it could simply be described as exceedingly bad luck. Indeed, their avoidance action of complex internal disputes appeared as an isolated island, ripe for exploitation to someone like Kajun, who sought a strong expansion base.

And the belief that a great war would never occur in the middle of a resort allowed a small number of infiltrators to sneak in unnoticed.

…And, worst of all, these intruders happened to be two monsters particularly incompatible with each other.

“…? What’s the matter?”

“Whaaaaaat? Why so sudden? Out of nowhere.”

The voice of the man sharing a joke with the deputy leader suddenly dropped in volume.

He thought he saw a dark blob-like figure momentarily moving at the far end of the long straight corridor… It was gone in an instant.

However, in a one-liner corridor where the only cover consisted of small tables with flower pots and statues, where could anything that briefly entered the line of sight possibly go?

“Hey, didn’t you see it? Around the corner back there just now, didn’t you see a shadow flitting by?”

Asked for agreement, the other furrowed his brows and momentarily searched his memory.

Just now… what exact time window were we talking about? There was nothing out of the ordinary in the recent ambiance…

Therefore, upon carefully considering it, only one conclusion stood clear.

This colleague must have been toying with him, and he decided to get back to their unfinished, raunchy gossip.

“Oy! You totally saw it, right? Talking about that waiter with the bouncy ass… If you’re interested, I’ve got both his name and number!”

“Haaah… This dog of an idiot again… Just…”

The utterly disappointing and uncouth response delivered clearly, with intent to ignore further. Hence… The next plausible consideration would be equipment malfunction.

Tap tap…!!

With a wide-open palm, the man drummed on his temple a few times.

Even if something was truly malfunctioning, it wouldn’t be fixed this way, but it was an attempt to refocus his slackened mind.

Recently, his vision became hazy, so he had replaced his lenses and generously requested additional employee subsidies to supplement a visual assistance enhancement implant. He thought he’d improved accuracy and tracking with it… He thought.

‘That damn quack, puffing on some vape while working…!’

He mentally cursed the reckless back-alley surgeon who conducted the surgery.

Cheap things turn out expensive, as they say. Knowing this might happen, he should’ve gone to an official implant shop, collected points, and avoided all the tricks with the receipts.

Frankly, he should’ve consulted a skilled professional…

By this point, he was half-resigned, believing the malfunction to be definite. He had one last check to confirm.

One of the few advantages of this illegal reseller where insurance wasn’t available was this—occasionally, they’d slip in some unlicensed software free of charge when purchasing high-value products or treatments.

For instance, a temporary overclock protocol or a hacking tool that secretly recorded and saved your most recent sights and sounds in a temporary memory.

While keeping one eye focused ahead, he popped up a cyberware interface on the other side.

He swiftly closed extraneous windows and checked the files along the preset route. As he viewed footage from fifteen seconds ago, a ghost-like figure stretched out, seemingly distorted by acceleration.

“Intruder sighted at the annex kitchen corridor! Initiating defensive measures—!!”

Click… Clank!

Without a moment’s hesitation, the man tightened the anti-suffocation strap over his chest, unslung his rifle, flipped a setting, and pointed it forward. The fluid motion wasted not a bit and, thankfully, his coworker responded swiftly too this time, leaving no room for meaningless chatter, instead doing his duty.

But is it enough?

Given that we’ve inferred the intruder zips around at incredible speed, the crucial first step is to actually “see” them. Therefore, utilizing gear seems more advantageous.

“…Don’t try searching with naked eyes! Switch the security lines and check through infrared detection!”

“Oooh…? Impressive timing!”

The green glow enveloping their pupils resembled wearing night vision goggles as the camera feed from the corridor recorded onto their retinas, fully replacing their direct vision.

Given that they couldn’t spot the enemy with bare eyes, depending on them wouldn’t help much. Their inferior visual aids were obvious compared to the intruder’s abilities.

So, relying on the much higher sampling rate of the Heylong recording device would be wiser.

“……Glulp.”

The two guarding the passage between the auxiliary building and Kasane’s personal space waited with crossed fields of fire.

How much time had passed, a minute… two? The strain tightened every muscle—eyes, the shoulders, the calves holding their posture stiff.

No one anticipating a long battle would expect one here… Was it a false alarm? Did they overreact to a mere optical illusion?

Technically, if the recorded footage was merely a copy of the original sight stored on the retina, blindly trusting the files might’ve been a major mistake.

Their focus waned slightly as doubt crept in, but even users may relax, but machines don’t lie. They just need mindful trigger fingers. Both held on with the suffocating tension.

However, fixating on one thing makes you neglect others.

As long as the subject you rely on is accurate, there’s no issue… What the two overlooked was this: While borrowing the eyes of the surveillance cameras on the ceiling, managing them fell to another employee. And… Machines sometimes lie too.

“…Ah?”

Recognizing the lurking threat behind the screen was too late.

The moment they loosened the vision synchronized with the camera, they found themselves face to face with Enema’s elite commando, who gazed at them as if observing a harmless child.

‘What the hell! Feet…!’

With a whoosh and a slash, the pursuer’s arm whipped like a whip. Even though they’d witnessed how strong the pursuers were in hand-to-hand combat countless times, it’s fine. He still had barely enough time to pull that trigger.

Apparently, the human eye, seeing movement, unconsciously predicts about 0.1 seconds into the future to compensate and keep up.

Therefore, the attack flying towards him now must be an afterimage of something yet to happen!

So, by shooting while skipping the process of adjusting the weapon’s aim, the victory is secure…

Crunch!

‘Ah, mom.’

Caught by an unexpectedly fierce blow, the floor suddenly seemed closer. Reality was crumbling around him, but the result was all the same.

Somewhere else, the other man had fallen unconscious, eyes rolling back, and hit the ground.

“Hmm… Indeed, this is fascinating. Distorting visual information… I thought I had shed such feelings of superiority long ago, but this is a unique experience, indeed.”

“No, these guys are just serious victims of sight… It’s merely disrupting the information being transmitted, not disappearing from reality… And, breaking necks every time they see something out of the corner of their eye, is that really necessary…?”

One was the distinct sound of a modulated, raspy metallic voice, the other, a rather young-sounding female voice.

…Well, it’s pointless to stay calm and analyze at this point. They couldn’t even defend themselves, after all. Embarrassing, to say the least.

“In fact, with the spread of neural implant technology, effectively cutting off the airways is best… But exposing to too much blood might risk discovery, so I’ve taken a compromise.”

“Still… Isn’t this verging on unnecessary civilian casualties? Their equipment is flashy, but their skills are too clumsy…”

In the midst of trying to accept it quietly.

Anyone would pale comparing against a pursuer, but being treated like a scarecrow by them really stung. Unfortunately, cut off from any sensory input, the scream remained trapped inside.

What absurdity! No matter how bizarre the world’s technology or its gifted individuals might be, who would expect to walk around wide-eyed and get their noses cut this way?

And come to think of it, wasn’t it the fault of those other cyber-engineers sitting in the security room, who hadn’t even noticed the intruder manipulating internal lines? These useless wage-thieves.

It’s painfully unfair. But there’s still something we can do.

‘So, keep acting all high and mighty there…’

Even if speaking is impossible because of a paralyzed throat, he could still send a message just before losing consciousness.

It’s futile to fight these two with such numbers, but if I manage to cause enough chaos, I can deliver a blow to them. …That was the plan.

[‘Attention: High-risk intruders inside the main building. Personnel count…’. The message transmission failed due to an unidentified error. Server upload unsuccessful.]

‘What? Damn it.’

The implant isn’t damaged from the shock. If it were, it shouldn’t be working at all.

Is the network connection unstable? But the cyberware is indicating everything’s functioning fine…

‘…Oh, I get it.’

The question didn’t persist long; partly due to the dimming vision but mainly because he directly caught her cold glare just before his eyelids fell.

It wasn’t the pursuer who physically subdued but rather she who silently tied them down with some trickery.

The signal was intercepted mid-transmission and crumbled.

Are there hacking tools like that, or could it be that the main server itself had been fully compromised?

Upon thinking about it, hadn’t the earlier radio signals gone unanswered while no one came to check the situation despite it all?

Piercing the weakness of the security system that prioritized position conservation and organic communication… Wow, so utterly embarrassing.

Still, if next time they simply dismissed me for being an ordinary civilian, I’ll make sure to keep up with the latest trends better. Please…

With those thoughts, the unfortunate security team leader’s mind faded into darkness.

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★

“Keh.”

“….”

It was supposed to be an undercover mission.

Hence, I naturally envisioned slipping through corners carefully, engaging in nerve-wracking psychological warfare at every turn while stealthily approaching the target… something fundamental.

Apparently, these modern folks can’t conjure up the image of that womanizing English agent with a license to kill upon hearing ‘secret mission’. Is this a generation gap, or something like that?

“Kkheuk.”

Ah, one more person fell. This time, a waiter carrying a tray brimming with champagne glasses stumbled due to Masanari’s edge strike.

There are so many servants traversing this main thoroughfare leading to the annex… how pitiable.

“And yet… you ignore incapacitated people but somehow take care of these little things?”

I questioned him sarcastically as he gently received the tray and set it down after his mercilessly wiping out eyewitnesses but yet carefully handling the tray with champagne glasses.

As if there was no rational flaw in his action, he calmly replied.

“Preventing unnecessary property damage for Enema is fundamental. Moreover, we can also eliminate the noise of shattering glass, making it a double benefit, would you not agree?”

“…You say that as if it’s compassion.”

After briefly squatting down and ensuring that the unconscious person would be at peace—”Rest well, my friend. Things will likely be over by the time you awaken.”

Anyhow, the progress was smooth.

What posed an issue was that the mode wasn’t covert; it was excessively fast, and rather than ‘hit and run’, I was just strolling while Masanari indiscriminately knocked out anyone nearby—closer to ‘hit and walk’. It felt like sauntering with drones intercepting targets automatically.

I was told that once the data falls into my hands, this ‘forceful evidence retrieval’ becomes a moot point. But hoping for a bit of common sense from my side was foolish.

To add insult, the combat uniform I specially donned seemed pointless, and now that we’ve avoided detection, I regret not scavenging those rifles the fallen guards dropped. Would the peacekeeping ammo suffice…?

“Grgh!”

“Eh, ouch… That must hurt.”

While I was thinking, another one just got taken down.

Intercepting all communications between them, deflecting routine calls with calm, casual responses such as “All clear, no issues,” they had successfully shredded the security system entirely. That said, Masanari’s movement wasn’t typical.

…In both encounters against Nan and Zero, his complete uselessness was now being showcased, making me slightly irritated.

Whizzing past and effortlessly dealing with a security guard who had just come out of the restroom, his return stirred the air significantly enough to lightly sway my hair.

Regardless of his slight physique—an undeniable evidence of his immense power was confirmed, recalling the scene of him bending the gun’s barrel effortlessly.

His reflexes and senses responded sharply, leaving no room for criticism.

What stood out, compared to the pursuers I’d seen long ago, was certainly the speed, or the quality of the muscles composing his body. It’s no longer about how fast one can sprint fifty meters but reaching a state where acceleration is measured in zero-to-hundred time.

Honestly, I might strain myself trying to tackle him head-on later; it seems more practical to find a way to trick him instead.

…Should I contact Helena again?

You know, “Sorry, are you busy? Could you drop by and lend a hand…?”

“Ah, there’s at least three people ahead. They were just exchanging file transmissions. How about… some help?”

“…Considering the proximity based on sound, I do not foresee a problem. Carry on.”

With no reply to this ceremonial offer, he charged forward, soon followed by the sound of bodies falling and leather tearing.

If he has this sort of capability, he wouldn’t need assistance, would he? Yeah.

A superhuman’s life enviable? A superhuman’s life unfair. Reflecting on the potential to have once been as magnificent in the front lines, a wave of regret washed over me.

Still, regardless of the enormity of the main building,

there was no way the defenses standing in our path would last, and indeed, less than ten minutes passed before we reached the decisive point.

“…Good.”

So far, riding like a passenger on a free ride, but ultimately, the crux of this operation relied on me.

Isolating it from the central system due to its potential to serve as both a means of surveillance and a vulnerability was indeed a smart choice… Though, with defenses as lax as this, it hardly mattered.

Since I must enter before Kasane potentially returns for an appointment, let’s hurry…

“…? Oh. Is there any security left?”

“…”

With a light movement brimming with significant force, Thud.

Just as Masanari’s hand quietly held my shoulder firmly just before rounding the last corner.

I couldn’t hear even the faintest breathing; the system and structural diagrams revealed no obvious traps. What’s the matter?

“This might take a while… Would it be possible to request you liaise with superiors? I anticipate my focus might be scattered.”

“Take a while? …Are you saying you can lack the energy too?”

Clearly, the important matter concluded abruptly, he didn’t provide me with any further answers and silently began his actions.

…Could it be that he somehow noticed and is toying with me due to jealousy?

Nonetheless, there was indeed an undetectable threat, so I slightly peeked out to scout.

“Huh.”

In front of the extravagantly distinct door that separated the main quarters stood a group of immobile forms—Enema pursuers, fully cloaked from head to toe in the same striking black-and-white uniforms and gear, one, two, three… four? Truly??

What. Is Going On.

“……?”

“…”

A pressing silence weighed down the air, the tension crackling as gazes crossed.

Upon recognizing the implications of the ‘liaison with superiors’ request, I immediately established a communication channel and commenced barking orders at the Kajun guy.

Hey! Request immediate backup with at least three more trackers, now! You asshole…!!

Even so, the movements were light, yet laden with gravity; the other shoulder was quietly restrained.

What’s left in the room now was merely an air of mutual standoff.