minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
As soon as the EBM shut down the Deep Space Electromagnetic Pulse Array, Interpol was already hovering over Bren.
The situation here was shocking and completely different from what they had imagined:
The scene was comparable to a warzone. The building exteriors were riddled with bullet holes and breaches. The streets were sared with various liquids, with the wreckage of vehicles and human bodies mixed together, buried under the collapsed building debris...
Many people died at the scene, but the vast majority were EBM soldiers.
Or rather, not a single soldier sent by the EBM survived.
But this wasn’t the worst part. Workers clashing with the EBM was of no concern to them, and those hidden matters were for the higher authorities to handle. The worst issue was that the protective wall of the governnt building had been breached...
The concrete wall, capable of withstanding ground-penetrating bombs, was breached under the continuous output of a Jilafa Type 3—
Who would have thought that when designing such a thing, the walls would be attacked by construction machinery?!
The engineering modules used for boring tunnels could also penetrate bunkers.
They suddenly realized: things were really getting troubleso.
[International Police Officer: ...The governnt building has been breached.]
...
This ti, they were lucky. Blais left the site before Interpol arrived at the governnt building, avoiding a direct confrontation.
"...I’ve been trying to steal data from the European Union’s public network. Before they discover , I could use an identity a few tis. Now, basically, I have to change my identity each ti.
This ti, I went a bit big, but even if an identity is logged into a public place just once, it’s enough for until next year."
[Lille: What about your Golden Son?]
"Oh, right. Rember that cyber-psychopath in Bruges? His child was actually recomnded to be sent to Berlin. I checked the records, and it seems the child had so rare genetic defect, so a contract was signed with Biotechnology...
In theory, the child should have been sent to Ro. I’m not sure why there’s no news after Berlin.
According to the governnt data here, when the child arrived, soone in Berlin with a bit of power wanted the child sent to him."
[Lille: Human trafficking?]
"I guess so. The data here show that there’s an official charity organization in the European Union there, but I think sothing’s off, mainly with the applicant..."
Blais quickly scanned through his stored notes, which marked many people he believed were connected to the Golden Son, including company executives, EU parliant mbers, and civil servants in appointed or non-elected positions.
So how did Blais determine if they were Golden Sons?
This group was not actually mysterious. On the contrary, many figures existed in the public eye—
Nobility.
Almost all nobles with titles in their nas were Golden Sons, with those ennobled around the millennium being the most dense.
Most of these nobles had been knighted by the English king after overthrowing the Martial Law Bureau for their contributions. Before that, many had ambiguous connections with the Martial Law Bureau.
The nobles who appeared in public had endless exposure, posting high-minded opinions online, flaunting the conveniences brought by the Science and Technology Committee, and leading fashion trends.
"... Speaking of which, you’ve been revolving around industrial cities and haven’t visited a real tropolis. You’ll understand what I an when you get to Berlin.
But most of these clowns in the spotlight are... young Golden Sons or the children of Golden Sons.
Many of the first-generation Golden Sons might still be alive— you know, advanced biodical technology."
Digesting this information, Blais’s expression grew heavier: the term ’Golden Son’ was a privileged title. The aning of privilege was that their power and status were not written in the law, so naturally, there was no record in the European Barrier’s system.
However, by connecting undisclosed law enforcent information and communications, he was marking more and more people who might have such power.
This was his first ti accessing a city’s governnt building database. The contents inside were truly shocking. One could even say that if the European Union’s apparent harmony were separated and looked solely at the files within, the behavior of these people was entirely another Night City.
At first glance, it didn’t seem significant. However, when linked to the apparent orderliness of the European Union, it would seem absurd.
For instance, sothing like speeding and killing might indeed have a high accident rate in Night City, with minor collisions often leading to street gunfights.
But in the European Union, speeding and killing is considered a severe public order disturbance, warranting capital punishnt or expulsion—we found hundreds of cases in Bren where accidents occurred but faced no punishnt or even investigation.
This implies that while European Barrier’s regulations seed to equalize everyone’s behavior, in reality, there was a group of people enjoying unimaginable freedom...
From these records, so even behaved like spoiled children, frightening and terrifying in their actions, yet always receiving the forgiveness of ’broad-minded adults.’
Openly, the European Barrier was a strict maintainer of order, but in secrecy, it was... a system that was kind to so while cruel to others.
There were even so records about refugees outside the European Barrier.
"... Refugees... Damn, I always thought the European Barrier’s resistance to refugees was a difficult but necessary decision given the current situation...
But... they are organizing capture teams and periodically distributing supplies and drugs with different effects to achieve certain goals...
This is utterly inhumane..."
Blais’ eyebrows twisted into a knot: Before, he just thought these privileged classes needed to be responsible for the bloodshed and many accidents happening in the shadows. Now it seems they are maintaining the European Union while engaging in many inhumane acts...
After reading these things, Blais muttered to himself:
"You know, when I first joined Network Supervision, I was assigned to investigate a ho invasion murder case. The incident happened in the city center, and the victims’ bodies were dismbered...
The scene looked like it was done by a Scavenger, but the European Union doesn’t allow Scavengers because organ trading is seriously dealt with, so I swore to find the real culprit at the ti.
Two days later, we found a filthy madman in the industrial zone. My captain told the case was solved and asked to manage public opinion on various forums, but there were doubts everywhere about this case.
I went to check the madman’s immigration record, which stated his registration was two years ago, and my superiors told he was one of those ungrateful and violent refugees, easy to cause trouble once let in.
But the doubts were everywhere; how could a newly arrived refugee, a registered worker severely restricted from learning network technology, shut down the surveillance network that day?"
[Lille: Do you think he was a refugee caught to take the bla?]
"No." Blais shook his head, "I can now confirm he was indeed a refugee dragged in for bla. Immigration records can be falsified, but the tistamp for data entry on the server is hard to modify.
In Bren, the local law enforcent’s entries for foreign residents, which don’t align with the tiline, correspond with the occurrence tis of many similar incidents.
After being packaged, malicious events get guided onto those foreign refugees. People begin to attack the policy of regular refugee reception, while simultaneously targeting so front-stage immigration bureau Managers...
Almost every Manager of the immigration bureau is unlikely to be a Golden Son.
They are shaping and guiding public opinion, exonerating so people, making these events ’every grievance has its perpetrator,’ and I’ve done this before.
It’s because of this I was transferred to Night City; it’s an undocunted standard procedure, sothing is controlling everything."
European Union’s aversion to refugees is extrely radical, and this extremism ford not in a day—
Even Blais only viewed the slaughter zone policy of the European Union as a cruel but necessary act. After all, the refugees didn’t contribute to the European Union’s construction, yet they expect the EU to pay for their misfortune?
But what if soone inside buried their sins in their attitude towards these outside refugees?
The more hatred they have for the refugees, the more it can obscure a criminal inside committing equally horrific acts—
The greater and deeper the hatred, the more it can let a larger cri go unnoticed.
Even after the European Union resolves the refugee problem, the severity of these cris may have long surpassed the refugee threat, yet these criminals’ sins remain hidden in this hatred, escaping judgnt.
Upon discovering these issues, Blais sighed and sat down on the nearby chair:
"But I really don’t know what to do, evidence appears on the internet for barely a second before it’s sealed off and might even get taken away by the enforcent departnt."
[Lille: Since the rules originated from Berlin, then go to Berlin.]
[Lille: Shut down the root servers of the European Barrier, paralyze this network supervision.]
Blais was taken aback and said incredulously, "Your initial goal was this... you madman."
[Lille: Only by solving the problem from the source, will more people stand by your side.]
Bren was a ss—
The civil office building was utterly silent, the International Police had locked down the entire Inner City, but they were powerless in the Outer City—
Compared to the core area, the industrial zone was just too large, and there were too many workers.
In the past, the core area thrived in a sea of lights, its residents enjoying life’s vitality while those in the industrial zone burned their lives in the lting Furnace;
Today the core area’s residents trembled in fear, while the industrial zone was bustling with heat, everyone celebrating a victory.
He had seen the sa scene in Night City, and because of his experience there, he firmly believed: One day the world will gain freedom.
The prerequisite is for him to take action first—freedom is an ability, not a granted permission.
Blais smiled, brushed the dust off himself, and stood up:
"Just to be clear, I’m not your fan, I just find watching those people quite distasteful..."
As he spoke, he suddenly realized those dark red flickering lights had long vanished from his sight...
Lille had already left.
"... Damn it, this is so awkward."
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