There was no roar of gunfire.
Only the wailing of agents and staff clutching their heads.
Their cybereyes flickered with the blue glow of data overload.
Their cyberdecks erupted in flas.
They strained to open their eyes but could see no trace of their companions.
They scread at the top of their lungs, but the sound couldn’t reach ears already shattered by sonic shocks.
Since the entire first floor of the base housed the largest concentration of security personnel, Arasaka agents, rcer simply compiled a virus package from his stored quickhacks and unleashed it.
This package contained multiple viruses: Cyberware Malfunction, Overheat, Synapse Burnout, Sonic Shock, and more.
Leveraging the server’s imnse computing power, and because these unlucky souls were all connected to the server-provided subnet, their ICE was erased by "Deathwish" at a speed almost imperceptible to humans. The virus package then slipped silently directly into their brains.
They were defenseless, helpless. Their wills were shattered and destroyed in the data stream, before the sparks igniting on their heads turned their brains into cooked mush.
Even the Arasaka team leader equipped with military-grade ICE held out for only a second before his entire body contorted like a twisted rope. With a final scream, he clutched his burning head and died in the flas.
The reason he twisted like that was his desperate attempt to activate his Sandevistan in his final monts, hoping to slow ti and find a sliver of hope. Instead, because of Cyberware Malfunction, the incorrectly activated cyberware started moving at different speeds in different directions, resulting in his body resembling a pretzel.
Fortunately, the sturdy Sandevistan implant remained intact, preventing him from snapping his own spine.
This horrifying, hellish scene made the children, the oldest no more than fourteen, swallow hard, montarily frozen and forgetting to step out of the elevator.
But then, rcer’s figure appeared beside them.
"Move. According to the signals, the aerodyne vehicle should arrive in about ten minutes. Seems we have plenty of ti. I’ll continue spoofing the signals to appear normal.
After they land, wait for the robots I control to take out the driver and agents on board before you move in to secure the vehicle.
Hmm... Now’s a good ti for to go have a chat with our director, see if she has any more... generous gifts for .
Oh, and later, just strip that agent’s Sandevistan. The other cyberware isn’t worth taking; don’t worry about damaging it during removal.
I suspect that thing is already partially broken. I’ll take it for research, see if it can be repaired...
I didn’t expect the attack, amplified by the computing power, to be this potent. Maybe I packed too many viruses into that package? Should’ve included fewer when compiling it."
rcer still appeared utterly calm, his expression as serene as if he were admiring a campfire as he gazed upon the field of corpses. "Are you okay, rcer?" Lucy fought back the urge to vomit. The air was thick with a foul stench, a mix of scorched smoke and the bizarre, nauseating aroma of burnt flesh.
"Huh? Oh, don’t worry. It wasn’t much trouble. They were all connected to the sa subnet. Infecting them through the server was as easy as pulling the trigger on an automatic weapon; just press a button, and they all dropped dead."
rcer comnted casually before adding:
"Gotta go, see you soon. Right now, I’m multitasking, monitoring the caras, deploying software, trying to chat with our director, and digging useful data out of Arasaka’s servers.
These idiots even stored the data we mined in their servers. I’m working on saving it all, packing it up, and then seeing if there’s anything interesting.
Besides that, there’s plenty of other useful intel I need to extract. These guys stored all sorts of random junk in here."
Lucy could tell he was speaking to them purely on instinct, or maybe stream-of-consciousness; his brain was just too occupied to engage in proper conversation.
Multitasking. How is his brain wired? Is he actually a rogue AI, or did that accident turn him into so kind of strange data consciousness?
Only legendary genius netrunners like the fabled Bartmoss or Alt could pull off sothing like this! Is rcer on their level?
Lost in her thoughts, Lucy followed his directions as she moved forward.
She then noticed that her cybereye had been thoughtfully marked by rcer with a route overlay, and he’d even pixelated the faces of agents who’d t particularly grueso ends.
He really is...
Lucy didn’t know how to describe it, but just seeing those pixelated patches put her sowhat at ease.
No matter what, soone who still bothers to pixelate things for their comrades in a situation like this is definitely soone she can trust right now.
—--
And indeed, rcer was swamped. He continued ensuring no signals were escaping the base while simultaneously accessing the devices in Tano Ena’s top-floor office.
He quickly scanned and identified the hidden turrets, auto-alarms, and ergency buttons installed in her room.
Unexpectedly, though, Tano Ena’s office network wasn’t directly linked to the server, instead, it connected to another subnet.
Only the surveillance caras were hardwired, likely to make it easier for base personnel to protect her.
As for Tano Ena’s own room, there were no caras at all, just so detectable network signal fluctuations suggesting other connected devices, possibly defensive systems, were present.
rcer guessed this subnet belonged to a dedicated Arasaka security server in Vancouver, perhaps even handling exclusive communication channels for certain executives.
This prompted a brief mont of reflection from rcer, but he quickly mapped out his next moves.
First, he began programming through the server.
Countless lines of code surged rapidly as the specialized software he needed was woven together at breakneck speed. First, signal isolation: he had to imdiately block Tano Ena’s ability to transmit ssages to the outside world after hacking in.
Next, signal takeover: he had to seize control of the communication software in her neural link right after the intrusion.
Finally, cyberware paralysis: he couldn’t cause significant cyberware damage to avoid triggering any automatic alarm systems that might be integrated into certain implants.
Hmm, he also needed to write a life-sign spoofing program.
This was designed to counter the life-detection cyberware on her body, preventing any trauma teams from being dispatched if her vital signs showed anomalies, or in case the program had an automatic alert function.
He had to ensure he wouldn’t trigger any alarm devices connected to this subnet or be detected by any potential AI on the subnet’s server.
Otherwise, if exposed, his window for a safe escape would shrink drastically.
As rcer wrote the code, he pondered whether this was worth it for so possibly existing intel and resources. But then he thought, even if he did nothing, Tano Ena could wake up at any mont.
Since he was scheduled to have cyberware installed today, she might even wake up to sign for the aerodyne vehicle upon its arrival, she definitely knew the exact ti it was coming.
And most importantly...
Damn it, trying to screw over?
Though he didn’t know what trap she’d planted in the cyberware, such a top-tier implant being given away for free was absolutely impossible with Arasaka.
She also wouldn’t kindly turn him into a netrunner version of Adam Smasher for free, just to owe her a favor.
So, old grudges and new, it was ti to settle accounts!
Once the programs were ready, rcer sprang into action.
Step one: leveraging his processing power, he imdiately used a cracking program to breach the subnet signal of his target.
After connecting himself, he used Deathwish to shatter the ICE of the combat robots hidden in the office.
Then, using Take Control, he turned one of the Arasaka robots into his proxy.
Step two: while taking over all detectable devices in the room, rcer used the robot’s vision to locate Tano Ena’s bedroom.
As the robot approached the password lock on the bedroom door, rcer used its built-in cyberdeck to hack into the lock at close range and begin cracking it.
In just one second, the automatic door slid open with a swish. In the spacious bedroom, Tano Ena’s eyes snapped open, only to see a guard robot with glowing red eyes.
"What..." she began, but before she could finish, she suddenly realized in horror that her cybereye was flooding with bright red warning text.
[ICE]
[ICE failure detec...]
[You are under]
[Alert]
The text on her cybereye nearly overwheld the screen, each line failing to display completely before turning into garbled code. The entire sequence, from appearance to corruption, took less than a second.
A netrunner! A very powerful hack!
Tano Ena instinctively activated the alarm function built into her cyberware and swiftly reached out to slap the vase on her bedside table.
The vase was sent flying, shattering on the floor, but it was all in vain.
The vase was connected to the base’s ergency alarm system; moving it would trigger the optical sensor beneath. But now, rcer was in charge of the Arasaka base. Her alarm signal reached the monitoring room only to vanish without a trace, as all alerts had long been disabled and required a manual restart from the control room.
As for the alarm function in her cyberware.
"Ah, that was close. Just a little more, and you would have gotten the ssage out."
rcer’s half-body image appeared in her cybereye, as if he had made a voice call, but just seeing rcer lying in the Netrunner chair on the screen made Tano Ena despairingly realize the situation.
"Impossible, how did you bypass the server’s AI?"
Then, Tano Ena discovered in horror that she couldn’t even open her mouth to speak. Her entire body was stiff, like a vegetable, with all her cyberware locked and even her neural pathways seemingly hijacked.
"Don’t panic. The reason you can’t speak is that after I took over your neural link, your biological signals are being interfered with. You can’t precisely control your body.
But it’s fine, I can hear you. Right from your mind."
rcer spoke in a relaxed tone:
"It’s truly fascinating. Human consciousness, the brain, the signals it emits can actually turn into data.
And as a netrunner, while deep diving, I can observe, analyze, and even interfere with these brainwaves by taking over your neural link.
How does that Soulkiller protocol you developed, the one embedded in a cyberdeck, directly hunt and capture human data in the real world?
Maybe it slips through your neural link, forcibly digitizing your consciousness in so form before erasing and plundering it?
Hmm... an incredible program, exquisitely designed.
Oh, it seems similar brainwashing techniques use this principle too, condensing certain data into invisible signal waves that seep into the human brain through the neural link.
I’m a genius, unraveling the secret of brainwashing just like that. Heh, done."
Tano Ena could only watch in terror as rcer logged into the subnet she was connected to, the internal network for Arasaka executives, using her identity.
He imdiately began reading the text in her emails and work logs at a rate of three to four pages per second.
Just seeing this, she scread despairingly in her mind, You’re not human! You’re a rogue AI!
"Bullshit! I’m a standard human, the kind of healthy guy who can’t hold back when watching BD featuring energetic girls!" rcer was always sensitive about this topic.
"Nonsense! No human could possibly do what you’re doing right now. How much has ti slowed down for you in Cyberspace?
50%? 70%? Or 500%, 700%?
That’s the difference between humans and AI! No human brain can process and absorb this much information in an instant like an AI!"
"Hmm... now that you ntion it, no wonder I felt like you were all moving a bit slow, taking forever to reply. Must be because I’m processing so much information at once that I’ve lost my sense of ti.
Damn, I’m amazing.
Looks like I have really high compatibility with cyberware like the Sandevistan and Synaptic Accelerator. How long do you think I can overclock using that set you gave ?"
Tano Ena was utterly exasperated, but it was precisely this that finally convinced her rcer was undeniably human. No rogue AI, no matter how absurd, would take pride in sothing like this; only a human would.
Yet this realization only deepened her fear, because a netrunner of such caliber was soone she had only heard of in legends.
Had his consciousness been hijacked or resurrected by so legendary netrunner’s ghost?
As for the idea that rcer himself was a prodigy netrunner...
If he had this kind of skill, what had he been doing all this ti?
The netrunners assigned here were typical, run-of-the-mill geniuses, but soone like rcer, a genius among geniuses, could never have stayed hidden during Arasaka’s training!
No, no, no... Could he really be one of those super-prodigies like Bartmoss, who was online by age four?
Is that why he tampered with the evaluation system right when he entered Arasaka’s training, deliberately hiding his identity just to wait for the right mont to escape?
Damn it, these netrunners are all fucking insane. What’s so bad about Arasaka? Why can’t they just work honestly and climb the corporate ladder like proper elites?
She couldn’t make sense of it. She really couldn’t!
Please, don’t kill . I can help you with whatever you want!
At this point, killing won’t do you any good. I can help you... no, cover for you so you can get far away!
I’ll pin the losses here on rogue AIs, and I’ll bla the previous director for the rogue AI incident.
I can help you install and calibrate that cyberware. I was in charge of overseeing its design! Please, I’m really useful!
It was the forr director who forced you all into suicide missions. Haven’t I always treated you well? I even tried to help you move up within the company!
With skills like yours, why do this? After the cyberware procedure, you could beco Arasaka’s top netrunner, the Adam Smasher of netrunners!
Do you have any idea what his salary...
"Shut the hell up!"
rcer’s voice amplified fivefold, making Tano Ena scream in agony inside her mind.
"You idiot, you think this is all I installed? Rember the lie detector chip? Rember that thing you shoved into my brain when we first t?
The mont you plugged it in, I cracked its program. Want to guess if you’ve got that sa program in your head now?
All that talk, and the only true thing you said was ’don’t kill .’ Really sothing, you old hag."
Tano Ena fell silent. Then, she watched helplessly as rcer used her credentials to pull data from the server. A faint glimr of hope lit in her eyes.
You’re interested in these design schematics?
Who are you with? Militech? The NUSA? An independent state? Or NetWatch?
How about this—we work together. I’ll even play spy if it ans staying alive. Spare , and I’ll let you keep evidence that could get killed.
After this, whatever intel you need, I’ll get it for you. How does that sound?
Just arrange an escape route for afterward!
Look up my record. When it cos to cyberware developnt for netrunners, I’m easily top three at Arasaka!
Militech, or whoever you’re with, just check, and you’ll see!
What good is a dead person to you?!
Please, you installed the lie detector program, you know everything I’m saying is true, right? I can pin this on a rogue AI and fake your death.
rcer was genuinely tempted, planting a spy within Arasaka, especially one who was a master in netrunner cyberware developnt.
But then he reconsidered. This woman only cared about survival now. Even if the rogue AI took the bla, she would still be held accountable.
The destruction of the base didn’t matter much, and losing one set of cyberware was acceptable. But losing seven Relic chips loaded with Soulkiller.
She was as good as dead.
Still, she had given rcer a valuable idea.
Why not make her the spy after all?
Hmm... Which option to choose?
After a mont of thought, rcer had an idea.
Why not make both of them take the fall?
He imdiately began searching her contacts for anyone connected to Militech or the New United States. Failing to find a suitable candidate, he settled on framing her secretary instead.
He located the secretary’s room using the sa thod as before and took control of all his systems with the sa routine.
Under the secretary’s horrified yet helpless gaze, rcer manipulated their chat interface, fabricating a conversation between the two.
[Secretary Inoue: Where are you? Sothing’s wrong! Our servers have been hacked! Those novice netrunners are taking advantage of the chaos to escape!]
[Tano Ena: What? Are you joking!? How could they possibly hack our servers? Mobilize a response team imdiately!]
[Secretary Inoue: No, no, we need to et first. I suspect soone’s already inside. Where are you?]
[Tano Ena: Useless! I’m in my room. Hurry! Damn it, I need to send a...]
rcer simulated a network disconnection, then used the security bot in Inoue’s room to retrieve his gun and escorted the secretary upstairs.
Both Tano Ena and Secretary Inoue had realized what was happening, pleading desperately through their neural links, but rcer felt nothing.
He had already filtered their consciousness as junk data. When Inoue entered the office, rcer used the bot to guide his hand, aiming the pistol at Tano Ena.
"Alright, the data transfer from the subnet is complete. Quite a bit of useful stuff here. Damn, I need to figure out how to take it all with ."
After saying this, rcer began erasing traces of his activity.
Tano Ena’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed weakly onto the bed.
This wasn’t even a Quickhack, it was simply the overwhelming volu of data stream rcer had extracted through her neural link, knocking her unconscious.
He had deliberately slowed the process, afraid that frying her brain would render the interface useless.
Once the data was temporarily stored on the server, rcer sighed in relief. Through the bot’s perspective, he looked at Tano Ena lying helplessly on the bed, disheveled in her pajamas, and shook his head.
Forgive , auntie. This is the last ti I’ll take advantage of you.
With a thought, Secretary Inoue could only watch as the bot guided his hand to pull the trigger, firing shot after shot.
rcer felt he had been rather rciful, being shot while unconscious; she probably felt no pain. However, watching her corpse twitch repeatedly with each pull of the trigger by Secretary Inoue, rcer felt that she probably wasn’t suffering anyway.
rcer was kind-hearted and couldn’t bear to watch such scenes.
So he decisively switched the main perspective, simultaneously flooding Secretary Inoue’s mind with massive amounts of junk data to knock her unconscious before having a robot carry her away, while keeping an eye on Lucy and the others’ progress.
--------
Bonus Chapter @ 200 power stones and when the story gets 10 reviews.
If you’re a fan of Hunter × Hunter, you might enjoy my other translation. HxH: Dying Makes Stronger. It’s a hidden gem fr.
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