Silence in the coffee shop

We didn't talk about anything particularly important after that.

At most, all I managed to obtain was the information that Dead Cell had attacked Militia's Secret Research Institute and stolen confidential research data, and that the DCPD was dedicating all its efforts to the retrieval of the data before it could leak.

The tight-lipped DCPD Patrol Officer didn't say a single word about the case after that.

She shifted the topic only toward talk of the coffee shop, the circumstances of the City police and the top brass, and the duties of an inspector, which only put me in a difficult spot since I knew so little.

So what kind of Rank is an inspector anyway?

Judging by the nuance, it seemed to be an elite Agent dispatched by Militia to secretly supervise the DCPD's work and provide support when necessary... or something roughly like that.

I still wasn't sure. If I carelessly pretended to know, I could get caught.

Because of that, I had a hard time making excuses, pretending I knew it well but found it difficult to speak about.

Fortunately, that effort seemed to pay off, and I didn't arouse any suspicion.

Whirrr—

It was unclear whether another accident had occurred nearby, or something else had happened.

Before she received a police alarm and left her seat with a sigh, the Patrol Officer had been asking if the black suit I was wearing—a high-end suit equipped with a bulletproof function—was an inspector's uniform.

She transmitted her electronic business card to me and said, “I will not inform anyone else about your Identity. Although we are in different lines of work, please contact me if you need help regarding this matter.” The way she moved her lower body exoskeleton to head out of the coffee shop looked somewhat pitiful.

Perhaps because I had heard about her difficult circumstances, those heavy footsteps that would have felt terrifying at any other time seemed drenched in a deep exhaustion today.

It was exactly when the rain started to drizzle, of all times.

The Patrol Officer let the pouring rain run off her helmet, skeleton gloves, and police uniform as she boarded a DCPD transport vehicle parked nearby.

Emitting a blue light, the vehicle rose into the air and disappeared from sight with surprising speed.

I remained seated in the coffee shop and looked at my Cyberwatch screen.

"DCPD Asian Town Branch, Patrol Officer Carla Daniel."

After swiping the cyber business card away with my hand, I stared at the scenery Outside the window and fell into thought.

The submerged surface of the road was distorted by a mixture of pale neon and rainwater.

“Now I understand a bit.”

Why those Dead Cell bastards were seen so often around here, and why encounters with the DCPD were so frequent.

It seemed Militia's Secret Research Institute was located in the East Monica District.

Because of that, as soon as the incident occurred, the DCPD sealed off the East Monica District and conducted stop-and-frisks at every Major traffic route, struggling to find the Dead Cell member carrying the confidential data.

Since I had no reason to go Outside the district, I hadn't even realized it was sealed off.

I had only heard rumors and experienced firsthand that incidents and accidents had become more frequent in East Monica compared to before.

It felt fascinating that all of this was actually connected.

“This might have been related to the Ronin flocking to the bar, and even the Luddite gang appearing as a Group.”

Something I was realizing anew: there is usually a reason for the things that happen.

Once I understood the movements and causes of massive organizations like the DCPD, Militia, and Dead Cell, the things that had seemed like coincidences now looked like glaringly obvious inevitabilities.

This wouldn't be the only thing. There were probably far more things I had passed by without knowing.

Since information is also a type of asset, the World is bound to be overflowing with things I simply cannot understand with only the foundational knowledge I Possess as one of the impoverished Lower-Class People.

My perspective could never be the same as that of high-ranking individuals like a Megacorp Chairman, a member of a Noble House, or a DCPD High-Ranking Official.

That is why I try to obtain information.

Because if I just get swept up in the current without knowing anything, I won't be able to survive and climb to a higher place.

I have to know. knowledge is power.

That is especially true if you are living in a barbaric Cyberpunk World where you can die as easily as a bug simply because you didn't know.

And in my current destitute situation, there was only one way to find out more than what I already had.

deduction.

It is to combine the information I currently have to figure out new information.

There were risk factors, and the DCPD Patrol Officer had completely barked up the wrong tree regarding my Identity, but even taking that into account, it was the most economical information acquisition method and the one best suited to my current situation.

And according to my deduction...

First.

“The Militia and the DCPD have not yet recovered the material. And it will probably not be easy to retrieve the data in the future either.”

In a way, it was an obvious conclusion.

In any incident or accident, the initial response is the most important.

With every hour and every day that passes after an incident occurs, the possibility of handling it cleanly steadily decreases.

But what was the current situation?

Assuming the incident occurred and the sealing off began around last Monday, it had already been over a week, even by a conservative estimate.

Yet, as could be seen just from the Patrol Officer's gloomy attitude, there seemed to be no significant progress in the Investigation.

At best, all they were doing was painstakingly Tracking down and arresting the Dead Cell minions hiding here and there, like at the monorail Platform last time and the game center today.

It seemed they still hadn't found any clues regarding the most important confidential research data and the culprit who stole it.

And a week was more than enough time to perfectly hide oneself and Finish applying Shielding Treatment to make the data untraceable.

What did that mean? It meant it was safe to say they had practically already lost them.

The only fortunate thing was that because they had sealed off the district and the net Surveillance network was dense, there was no way the data and the culprit had already leaked Outside the search net.

Conversely, it also meant they had no other clues besides the fact that they were still within the district.

And while East Monica was called a district, in reality, it was a mega-district comparable in size to an entire city.

If someone made up their mind to hide, they could never be found.

That was especially true considering the outstanding Stealth ability of the culprit, who was still successfully hiding from the Megacorp's search.

Furthermore, the DCPD couldn't continue sealing off the area indefinitely.

Not only did they lack the justification, but the losses were also immense.

What would they even explain to the people?

They couldn't properly disclose the parts about the Secret Research Institute or the data theft because it was a matter related to the Megacorp's prestige and security.

Even if they did disclose it, they would just be called the Megacorp's hounds like always, and the backlash would be fierce.

In the end, the only reason they could put forward was the eradication of the wanted Dead Cell members.

There was no way they could convince the citizens, or the corporations that had to endure the inconvenience of the sealing off, that they were conducting a search only in the relatively safe East Monica while leaving the Lawless Zone of Sprawlfield completely untouched.

If East Monica were a district where Militia's influence was dominant, they might have been able to suppress it by Force somehow, but that wasn't the case either.

True to the district's name, it was an area where East Asian megacorps like Isiho and Shin Alibaba were strong, and therefore, they couldn't maintain the search net for long.

And the DCPD's overwhelming combat capability was meaningless if they couldn't narrow down their target, because they couldn't deploy an elite unit like Mili-Tech for a mere district search without proper information.

It had to be a difficult situation for them in many ways. That was probably why they were just squeezing the City police on the Ground without any Clever Solution.

That was likely why the Patrol Officer had looked so exhausted as well.

Militia would also take quite a heavy Strike.

Even if it was hard to call it a failure... it could certainly be described as staggering.

I didn't know how the situation would unfold in the future, but it was clear that the movements of the World's second-largest Megacorp, which had been growing with irresistible Force, had been somewhat braked.

“If I may offer some advice, make sure you don”t Miss the news.'

Suddenly, that detestable, grease-laced voice spitting out pretentious words came to mind.

“There will be some Interesting news about Militia published soon. Mwahahaha!”

It was what the Troublemaker Detective had left me as a supposed light gift on my First Day of Work.

It hadn't appeared on the news yet, but... had he said that with this incident in mind?

He might have just stumbled into the right Answer by sheer luck, but it was far more likely that he had managed to acquire related information through some method.

“Even when we talked that day, he spoke in a tone that suggested he had been conducting an Investigation into megacorps and Militia for a long time.”

If that were true, Yangban, the self-proclaimed Holmes, was definitely not ordinary either.

He was a private Detective digging into the background of a Megacorp. Did he have about nine lives or something?

Well, it wasn't an important issue right now.

I would run into him again while working at the bar anyway. I decided to think about the Troublemaker Detective's Identity again later.

I swallowed the last sip of the watery coffee and bit my lip. Outside the window, the rain was gradually dying down.

The sky was smudged in pastel tones, the dull signboards were reflected on the wet Ground, and the holographic leaves were swaying on the artificial tree.

I stood up from my seat while watching the leaves fall.

Second.

According to my deduction, even if I didn't know what this Secret Research data was...

“It must be fucking important, and dangerous too.”

Absolutely.

Tearing through an entire district so loudly, and for a whole week at that, was a burdensome act even for the DCPD and Militia.

Conversely, it meant that the retrieval of the data was important enough to risk such a burden. It meant that the classified material was worth that much.

There were two possibilities.

It was a shameful secret of the Megacorp that could deal a massive Strike to Militia if the data spread.

Or it was data of immense value that absolutely had to be protected, containing Militia's new Technology that must never be leaked—the Over-Technology of their latest research that could Lead the future.

The former case had little to do with me.

But if it was the latter case...

I had one too.

A crystallization of Militia-made Over-Technology that would cause a massive shock just by being revealed to the World.

“...”

Feeling a tingling sensation in a corner of my mind, I transmitted a tip to the Robot Barista and stepped out of the coffee shop.

This was a guess that was hard to even call a deduction, nothing more than a simple premonition, but.

“Secret Research Institute, High-tech, confidential data, leak...”

Just listing the keywords made my heart sink.

Perhaps this incident was connected to the experiments I had endured, the Research Institute I had escaped from, and the Microchip switch embedded in my prefrontal cortex.