Chapter 5
A City Police Stop-and-Frisk... It's fine.
Calm down. Stay calm. There's no reason to panic. I repeated that to myself.
Right, I've been in this city for half a year now. The time for getting scared and trembling at routine checks like this is long past. Just act naturally. It's not like this is my first Stop-and-Frisk, is it?
Walking slowly, I glanced at the electronic display on the platform wall. The monorail would arrive in about five minutes... To avoid suspicion, it would be better to wait confidently inside the station for the train.
Standing before the turnstile, made of transparent lines of what might have been reinforced glass or plastic, I extended an arm.
Zzzzzzt.
A Laser Sensor on the wall extended a yellow beam, recognizing my wrist.
On my wrist was an old-model Watch Device, which helped me, a person with no cyberware modifications, survive in this harsh Cyberpunk world. It was a gift I received after begging earnestly before the Chairman; he said he'd never seen anyone like me and found it amusing.
Its appearance was similar to a Galaxy or Apple Watch. It was quite thick and large, a slight inconvenience when moving my hand, but its performance was exceptional. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this small watch device contained all the functions of a smartphone or computer.
What's even more surprising is that even this is considered outdated technology here. The era of external terminals ended more than ten years ago, after all.
The current trend is Body-Integrated Technology, utilizing Nanomachines, microchips, Neural Interfaces, Brain Implants, and so on.
In short, your body is your computer, and simultaneously your speaker and monitor.
With just a thought, a net window appears before your eyes; you can make calls, send messages, watch videos... when all that's possible, there's no reason to bother with a watch or phone.
There's a reason why cyberware and Nanotech are so popular. Tech Companies have good reason to rake in money. True to a Cyberpunk world, the technology is incredible, I suppose. It just pisses me off that I can't fully enjoy its benefits.
Anyway, for that reason, my monorail pass was registered on my Watch Device, so the Laser Sensor recognized the watch and scanned my body, and an announcement then played.
Kabuki Building Platform, lower level monorail pass confirmed. Access granted. Please enjoy your ride.
Soon, a green light blinked. It meant I could enter the platform. With trembling steps, I passed through the turnstile and looked ahead.
The waiting line was in front of the neatly white monorail tracks. Normally, I would have headed straight there without hesitation... but now, of all times, the City Police were stationed right in front of it.
Standing still, pretending to look at the information on the electronic display, I subtly glanced at the police officers positioned at the front.
They wore dark navy carbon-fiber police uniforms, and over them, Enhanced Exoskeleton Suits covering their limbs, spine, and head.
The mechanical gleam from their helmet lenses scanned the passing Citizens.
They were unmistakably DCPD Patrol Officers. However, unlike a usual Stop-and-Frisk, there were quite a few of them. Even one Patrol Officer is more than enough to manage an entire station, but now there were three of them. And the number of Regular Police Officers under their command was also considerable.
It didn't seem like a routine check.
There's no way they'd be doing this for no reason. Did something happen nearby? A chilling sensation ran down my spine. A premonition of getting caught up in something bad made me take a few steps back.
That's when it happened. A red laser flashed from the lens of one of the patrol officers conducting the check.
You there, stop.
As everyone around stopped in surprise, a man of small stature standing in a corner, startled, shouted, “Tch!” and lunged forward.
Thump! The smooth concrete floor dented with that recoil, and the assailant, without a proper running start, simply leaped over the line of Regular Police Officers. He then turned and seemed about to drop onto the monorail tracks below!
His movements were astonishingly fast. , a speed far exceeding Body Modification Level 4, which is forbidden for ordinary Citizens.
But the DCPD Patrol Officer guarding the rails was no less formidable.
As soon as he registered the movement, his activated exoskeleton moved like an arrow, extending its upper frame to firmly grab the assailant's leg and slam him onto the platform floor. At the same time, the other Patrol Officers, who had been strategically positioned, converged in the blink of an eye, completely surrounding the assailant.
All of this happened in less than a second. To my poor, natural eyes, everything seemed to flash by as if I were watching a YouTube video at 1.5x speed.
*What... what the hell is going on?*
Click. The Patrol Officers, who had thoroughly restrained the assailant, aimed their guns at his back and head, then tore off his face with their exoskeletons.
Crrunch—!
With a harsh noise, the man's face was ripped off.
The silicone Artificial Skin and the mechanical joints beneath it tore away, revealing the true face underneath, a truly shocking reality.
Beneath the artificial mask were hair covered in optical fibers, a grotesque Mechanical Face crushing and distorting where human biological skin tissue should have been, and bright red LED Prosthetic Eyes completely replacing both eyeballs. It looked less like a human face and more like a half-destroyed Terminator's.
The Patrol Officer who seemed to be of the highest rank glared directly at the man's exposed face through his helmet and growled.
What kind of trick is a Dead Cell minion pulling in Asian Town, huh?
Even as he was being threatened, as if a gun would be fired to blow his head off at any moment, a sneering laugh escaped the assailant's chrome-plated lips. A shiver ran down my spine. That was the laugh of madness. It was a lunatic's cackle, like something out of a Joker movie.
That was Dead Cell. As the man's appearance clearly showed, they were a gang of lunatics.
They were a gang of lunatics, but in a way, they were the antithesis of the Luddite Gang.
If the Luddite Gang was an alliance of Machine Destroyers, Dead Cell was, conversely, a league of Machine Fetishists.
Tech Mafia covered their entire bodies with Mechanized Implants and High-Risk Combat Cyberware, and even dabbled in forbidden Inhumane Genetic Modification Technology.
In short, you could think of them as an organization swarming with people like that. That's why the Patrol Officer recognized him as a Dead Cell member as soon as he saw his true form.
I'd only heard rumors of them being extreme and dangerous psychos, with bounties in the hundreds of billions plastered on the entire organization, but this was my first time seeing one in person.
That's because Dead Cell's stronghold is further north from the East Monica district where Asian Town is located... towards Sprawlfield and the Derelict Zone.
Yes, that Lawless Zone, Sprawlfield. It wasn't for nothing that I freaked out when I heard my new workplace was located near Sprawlfield. It's a place where lunatics like that, who look even more horrific than the rumors suggest, run wild day after day. How could I not be scared?
“Three Patrol Officers, no less! The corporation's capable hounds have arrived, huh? Khuhuhuhu. I can guess why you caught me... but unfortunately, I have nothing to do with it. I'm an innocent Citizen. I just wanted to ride the train, the train. I quite like monorails... Hehe!”
His words came out with a lisp, his face crushed in the Patrol Officer's brutal steel grip. The Patrol Officer seemed enraged at his laughter-filled voice, slamming the assailant's face into the concrete floor and shouting.
Shut up. You bastards crossed a major line this time. “Line? Liiiine?! Since when has there been a 'line' in this city! You say we crossed a line just for plucking a stray pubic hair from a great Megacorp, typical of you corporate ass-licking cops... Khak!”
Thwack, crunch, crack, bang, bang—snap.
The Dead Cell gang member couldn't say another word because the enraged Patrol Officer squeezed his neck and mercilessly punched his chrome-plated face until it shattered.
The man, his face a mangled mess, hung limp, covered in blood and electrolyte fluid.
The Patrol Officer snarled, throwing the half-dead, tattered body towards the Regular Police Officers.
Restrain him and transport him to headquarters. He knew something. The information wasn't entirely wrong.
The entire platform had long fallen silent at the scene of such one-sided and brutal violence. Everyone carefully watched the Patrol Officer, even hesitating to swallow.
I realized anew: this was Dusk City, a city of gangs.
And the most powerful gang ruling the city's streets wasn't the Yakuza, nor the Luddite Gang, nor Dead Cell... it was the Dusk City Police Department.
They were a violent organization spread throughout the entire city, rife with corruption and malfeasance, extremely aggressive and dangerous, and absolutely not to be crossed.
There's a good reason why I'm wary of the DCPD. Damn it. Even an ordinary person with nothing to hide would be scared stiff seeing that, so how much worse for someone with a shady past like me? Just seeing those dark blue uniforms makes my heart sink.
Still, it was fortunate that the culprit was caught quickly and it was over. I'd been quite anxious, but now there wouldn't be any further problems... or so I thought.
It's not over yet, so stay sharp. His accomplice might still be here somewhere. Conduct thorough checks. Especially on anyone who looks... suspicious.
I froze instantly.
The Patrol Officer's gaze, mentioning 'suspicious' individuals, the cold trajectory of his mechanical lens, were clearly directed at me.
Soon, he approached me, clad in an Enhanced Exoskeleton Suit splattered with blood and oil.
*Ah... damn it.*
*Save me.*