Chapter 298
Code Black.
There is only one thing that the Surveillants of the Net, Dusk Watch, refer to as Code Black.
The most evil and terrifying enemy of humanity is the autonomous behavioral artificial intelligence of the Outer Net that rules the world.
“Are you saying the Meredith Family is connected to an autonomous artificial intelligence?”
Are you saying that Enatomia Corporation’s high-tech prototype limited artificial intelligence, and the rumored core technique, are the products of a contract with a Net Demon?
And that is exactly why the Meredith Family has been able to achieve such growth up until now?
If so, it is indeed a net issue worth Dusk Watch caring about, and one that could be considered a double crime.
Could it be that the Meredith Family, unlike Dead Cell, Luddite, and the Communist Ninja who only make a loud fuss on the surface, was actually a genuine devil-worshipping terrorist group?
“That is still unknown. I am merely a single agent. Has there ever been a case where hands and feet make the judgment instead of the head? I have always been one to act rather than think.”
I thought he was taking a really long time just to say he didn’t know… but as if reading my mind, Eres Shore suddenly raised his head and spoke.
Whoa, that startled me.
“However, there are two things I do know. Watch does not issue missions without reason. And, if signs of Code Black exist, they can definitely be found in this innermost part.”
Eres Shore’s conclusion was the same as ours.
He had to carry out his mission, but he had not yet grasped any clear signs of Code Black to do so.
He too had to go to the secret vault in the innermost part to get what he wanted.
Our opinions aligned on that point, and if our opinions aligned, we could join hands.
* * *
It didn’t take long to cooperate.
The given time was short, and as a secret agent of Dusk Watch, Eres Shore was a sharp man who could be reasoned with.
If the Meredith Family had joined hands with an autonomous artificial intelligence of the Outer Net, that wasn’t just Dusk Watch’s problem.
They aren’t called Net Demons for nothing.
If Prezen Meredith were to summon an autonomous artificial intelligence to Mirror Castle, there would be no telling what would happen. It wouldn’t be strange at all even if everyone in Mirror Castle was annihilated.
There was no need to help Dusk Watch out of a sense of duty, thereby throwing away my life like a piece of straw, but for the sake of our safety and Alexandra’s, it seemed best to at least help with Eres Shore’s investigation.
Anyway, as long as he discovered signs of Code Black, what happened after that wasn’t our business.
Could the extermination of the Merediths be accomplished with just three people?
As Eres Shore said, his role was a sort of canary in a coal mine.
If he discovered nothing, both he and Mirror Castle would be safe, but if he discovered something, Dusk Watch would definitely step in even if he died. They would absolutely intervene and shut down the toxic coal mine where the canary died.
The moment he observed the signs, the extermination of the Merediths would be confirmed. Dusk Watch was an armed group with the capability to erase a single family from the city easily.
“Alright, let’s join forces.”
From Eres Shore’s perspective, he was a secret agent but an escort for Schneider at the same time.
Watch’s mission was his top priority, but there was no reason to completely ignore his duty under his disguise identity, the rescue of Alexandra Schneider.
Even more so if it meant he could join forces with two competent(?) helpers. It wasn’t as if the missions were of a conflicting nature.
Although he had hidden his identity as he said, he wasn’t a magnate criminal like someone else, so for us as well, there was no hesitation in working together.
When we were already moving together with Phantom Thief Zodiac, what was a secret agent of Watch to us?
'Of course, between Alexandra’s safety and Dusk Watch’s mission… if he had to choose one, Eres Shore would definitely choose the latter.'
That was a risk we had to bear.
It wasn’t like we could just suddenly make an enemy of a Dusk Watch agent right here anyway.
I told Eres Shore about the current situation, Prezen Meredith’s abnormal behavior, and his suspiciousness, with us sharing information with each other as we advanced further into the innermost part.
The further we advanced, the darker the surroundings gradually became. My state of mind was the same.
Did the Meredith Family really join hands with an autonomous Artificial Intelligence? Was the conspiracy Prezen Meredith was plotting really connected to the Demons of the Net?
They were questions that naturally had to arise.
In my opinion… the possibility was quite high.
I remembered the last words of the previous family head, Elaine Meredith.
The conversation he had with Prezen.
“In the end… has it come to this.”
“If it is a family destined to decline anyway, this side would at least have a possibility.”
“Hah… fine. I will see how far you can go. Congratulations, you are now… the family head of the Merediths. Prezen de Se Meredith.”
He and Prezen spoke as if they had already predicted the ruin of the Merediths.
Perhaps that ruin was something they had directly brought about with their own hands long ago.
The words left by the communist High-ranking Ninja also weighed on my mind: the advice to be careful because something unusual was happening in the innermost part.
He is a member of the New Mecha Communist who serves a superhuman artificial intelligence as its leader.
Wouldn’t it be quite plausible to hypothesize that he told me that because he knew the Merediths' secret to some extent?
The disposition of Prezen Meredith that I had seen was also like that.
If it was something a metaphysical and self-destructive artist would do, throwing away both money and family…
Damn it. Perhaps I might end up witnessing the birth of the worst terrorist in history, incomparable even to the Chrome Monster or the High-ranking Ninja.
[Welcome to the Exhibition Hall.]
Such a phrase was written at the end of the dark corridor. It was obvious whose doing it was.
Thanks to that, I gained the certainty that we were heading in the right direction. Prezen Meredith would be up ahead. Alexandra would be too.
“Let’s go.”
Saying that, I took a large stride forward.
Woooong-
I hadn’t walked many steps.
A momentary dizziness occurred, and although I couldn’t see it clearly, I felt that something around me had changed.
When I hurriedly turned my head, the two people who had definitely come here with me were nowhere to be seen.
“…!”
Panicking, I reached out my arm, but my hand was blocked and bent by an invisible wall. A transparent wall, without even a speck visible to the naked eye, was trapping me.
Since when, and how? Were the other two in a similar situation?
Looking back, the guiding phrase was still the same.
[Welcome to the Exhibition Hall.]
With a chilling feeling, I recalled the time I visited Prezen Meredith’s Exhibition Hall.
The entrance was one that caused an optical illusion as if the entire space was torn and split apart. On the surface, it looked like a place one should absolutely never enter.
However, an Exhibition Hall exists for the visitors.
“If so, there must be a way to enter this time too.”
I stretched out both arms and felt the invisible surface. Tracing the transparent grooves, I grasped the internal space as much as possible within my narrow activation range.
It felt like being trapped in a transparent glass bead, but there was a gap. It was upward. It was a thin gap that a human body could just barely squeeze through.
Grabbing the smooth empty air, I forcefully pulled and contorted my body to climb up through the gap.
If I had been a brute or had even a little more flesh on my body, I would have gotten stuck and wouldn’t have been able to pass through.
“Was it deliberately designed to fit my body perfectly?”
I thought that might be the case.
Sitting with my butt stuck to the empty air, I groped the floor like a blind person and gradually moved forward. Soon, I was able to find a ledge leading upwards.
It was a staircase going up.
'…I do feel like I’m being drawn into something, though.'
Still, it couldn’t be helped.
Prezen Meredith could have already attacked me if he wished to.
Seeing as he kindly made a path and invited me like this, there might be room to resolve things through conversation. Furthermore, hadn’t he shown me inexplicable favor several times before?
'Whatever he does in there, whether he fries or boils, as long as he hands over Alexandra and doesn’t prevent my companions' escape, I don’t really need to care…'
The story would be different for Eres Shore, who belonged to Dusk Watch, or Kali Zodiac, who couldn’t quite hide her desire for the core technique, though.
Perhaps because of that, he separated the other two using unknown means and was trying to call only me like this.
“…Or not?”
As I continued to climb the transparent stairs by feel as if walking in the sky, I suddenly felt my foot slip through and almost fell, but I barely managed to get back onto the stairs with my agile exercise skills.
The middle of the stairs was empty in places. Not a lot, but just enough that one could slip and fall if one let one’s guard down.
Before I knew it, I had climbed very high from the floor. If I fell from here, my body wouldn’t remain intact.
'It’s at a level I can avoid as much as I want if I use concentration, but…'
I trembled and my hands grew sweaty. It felt like a warning sign that it would be best not to let go of my tension.
The higher I climbed, the more empty spots there were. I had to climb through the air as if crossing stepping stones.
Damn it, there were also transparent floors that looked perfectly fine but would cause you to fall if you put your weight on them.
Fortunately, as I went on, I gradually got the hang of it.
With Cognitive Ability superior to that of an ordinary person, I carefully and surely climbed the heights, as if tapping on a stone bridge before crossing.
And finally, at that summit, I faced Prezen Meredith.