Chapter 38

The morning of the combat police, one of the few quasi-public servant positions remaining in this era, is fast-paced.

To be more precise, the lights of Metropolis never turn off for 24 hours, and citizens live their lives freely according to their professions or jobs.

Moreover, since visitors from the external wasteland or other cities do not kindly notify the police in advance of their visits, the police are inevitably burdened with maintaining a two-shift or three-shift work system.

In that context, it is natural that visitors with something to hide would prefer a time when the police could be merciful and lenient. Even if individuals could not be specified, it was very natural to wish for moments when more flexible figures were on duty.

Kugung…!

“Yikes…!”

As the front wall of the gate, which had been temporarily closed for the internal personnel transfer, rose with a rough noise, the man who had been waiting hurriedly set down the cigarette he had been fiddling with.

Even if they undermine it by calling it a guard dog when out of sight, it is hard to ignore the public power backed by corporations in a civilized society maintained by corporate power.

…Especially in a gate where military forces are constantly stationed, as much as the police station within the city, it would be much better for one’s well-being to refrain from actions that could be caught.

– Next vehicle, you may proceed inside. –

Hearing the announcement echoing throughout the car, the man slowly moved the cargo trailer forward until he reached the marked line on the floor.

Upon arriving at the designated location, the extended locking mechanism seized the vehicle’s wheels.

Now, the escape route was blocked, and it was too late to run away. He had no choice but to hope that the information purchased with a premium price was correct.

He tried to maintain a natural expression, but upon seeing his grotesquely distorted face reflected in the rearview mirror, he simply stiffened his facial muscles.

Rather than giving off the impression of a somewhat lacking criminal, he held on to a simple belief that it would be better to pretend to be a nervous civilian caught up in a checkpoint.

Before long, a police officer approached, gestured for him to exit the vehicle, and recited the usual procedures… Hearing that, the man secretly rejoiced.

“I will proceed with the citizen identification and cargo inspection. If you cooperate adequately according to my instructions, there should be no problems.”

“…Understood.”

‘Thank God! This is such a relief……!!’

You could think it strange to be so pleased with a stiff tone and polite demeanor clear as a manual, but what if the average combat police officer he had met until now had said, “Knock, if you don’t present your ID quickly, I’ll smash your head with my baton. 3… 2… 1… crack!”?

If he didn’t want to be picked on for something strange while entering Harvest Planet, the information to go to the gate near the desert at sunrise was not wrong. He felt a little less burdened.

“…You are Green Level citizen Arno Kruger, correct?”

“Yes, yes… that’s right….”

With a sense of wonder at how the police’s altered mechanical voice sounded smoother than the announcements from his regular restaurant’s robot, Arno nodded his head repeatedly.

Describing himself as cooperative had begun to verge on looking servile, but considering his secret and small side job, whether intentionally or not, it was a pretty clever response.

“What you have loaded on the trailer is stated to be… displays and circuit boards for delivery, as well as large-capacity storage devices and new memory cards. …Do you have any items that would violate the data distribution law? If there are any materials within the devices, they must be censored.”

“Oh… I’m just a middleman, so I don’t know anything…!”

“Um… is that so…?”

Even though the large scanner installed at the gate had scanned the entire vehicle, Arno glanced at the busy police who were investigating whether there was a secret space made of electronic wave-blocking materials.

The officers who were checking the underside of the trailer or the walls with their batons, poking at the seized wheels, knew that they could not carelessly touch cargo labeled for delivery.

…Deliberate damage to products not purchased is an affront to corporations. Compensation for any credit loss is enforced even against the police.

It might be similar in any city, but in this place, where the credit supremacy is particularly strong in Paradise, his expectation that they would be more cautious proved correct.

He thought he would pass the inspection safely. Now all that remained was to close the trailer’s door and enter the city when a thunderous procedure suddenly added to the anticipation.

“Then… fortunately, there are two excellent cyber engineers on duty, so we will confirm this as quickly as possible in a simplified manner.”

“…Yes? …No, yes! Of course, you should. Yes…!”

‘……What the hell?’

Upon reflection, the person who had provided the information only said they wouldn’t be unreasonable without a thorough inspection, but they never mentioned that the inspection would be careless.

So far, he reassured himself that it was fine. No one would pass through this checkpoint today if a team of engineers or hackers attached themselves and examined every single item loaded.

They’d probably just check a few samples….

As soon as a police officer who had been speaking with Arno entered the office located inside the gate, two people presumed to be cyber engineers came out as if to take over.

“……”

…Among the combat police who looked exactly the same, there was at least one officer who stood out due to his unusually small and diminutive stature, giving no sense of intimidation.

Could they even pay a boy soldier less for the same work…? As he thought of this reasonable conjecture, he entered the cargo compartment with the two engineers to observe the inspection.

Click….

The relatively larger engineer connected terminals to the storage devices one after the other and checked the data read by the pad he had brought. However, the result was purely unblemished white; he didn’t have the guts to be so mischievous.

Unless it was a little shallow and trivial method.

“Is this the box that contains the memory cards?”

“…Yes, that’s correct…?!”

Buuuuuk!!

In fact, Arno had no right to stop it, but before he could even try, the tape sealing the box was ripped off by the small officer.

As the gloves were removed, the cute little white hand plunged into the box filled with memory cards and began to rummage around.

“Th-that… what is…?”

“It won’t take long since it’s a simplified inspection. You can rest assured.”

Though this was said in a mode of questioning whether playing with one’s hands was part of the inspection… he shook his head, concentrated, and firmly closed his mouth. …There was no need to stir up trouble unnecessarily.

For how long would this heartwarming scene, reminiscent of a child playing in a pool, last if seen by someone holding the ancient knowledge and memories of a bygone era?

The actively moving body suddenly stopped, and a shrill scream escaped from the small officer.

“Ugh…?!”

““……?””

The bewilderment that could not be fully concealed even through the altered mechanical voice was conveyed to everyone around.

However, the one who made the sound seemed even more flustered; after a momentary hesitation, the arm that had been fully submerged to the shoulder was pulled out, and at the end of it was a single memory card.

“…Oh?”

With a foreboding premonition, Arno’s jaw dropped.

No, no, no… there are enough empty memory cards in that box to exceed a thousand; how could it be that they randomly picked one that happened to be the one responsible for his little side income?

Whether he rationalized fiercely or not, the extracted storage device was handed over to the other engineer. Finally, as the problematic item was inserted into the pad… various data was displayed to the world.

[ About the deep ideology of democracy. ]

[ Social Contract Theory, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. ]

[ Before mega-corporations, there existed a time of nations. ]

…

Documentaries, eBooks, theses.

Only one person in this place understood the meanings and values of these items. But if the others were to acknowledge anything clearly based on common sense, it is that this document could never pass censorship and that they had just caught a data distribution law violator.

“……Mr. Arno Kruger, I am arresting you for data smuggling. If you have enough credits to pay the fine, you can leave with just a criminal record without separate detention or trial…”

“……Damn.”

He weakly extended his barcode, and the engineer, who had been anxiously anticipating a punishment akin to execution, felt a little relieved.

“Haaah….”

Using the excuse of needing to use the restroom, she escaped the uncomfortable scene and removed her visor, clutching her head.

Anastasia Valentine had come to a recent realization. Protecting someone from a threat or incident that could occur at any moment was unimaginably burdensome and laborious.

To find a metaphor… she felt like she had become the whistleblower who incriminates a martyr.

“…Is this how it gets resolved…? No… just for something like this…? Then what the hell…!”

…This was the torment of her first salary arriving just a day after a month of undercover employment.