Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 80
Only Noblemtl
7 days after asking Kiri for information on the Corona Cartel.
[Put 7 million coins in the designated location as cash chips. Then my younger sibling will go and get them.]
“All right.”
Even though I knew where Kiri lived, it would be a nuisance to keep coming in and out of her house. Touhou Town was already unsafe, so I couldn’t spread the rumor that a diver lived there.
[The place they are now is… It’s awkward to explain in words, since it’s not about memory modification or data transfer. Oh, and there’s the old man next to you, right?]
“yes.”
[I forgot while talking to you.]
As Kiri finished speaking, Taylor’s eyes lit up blue. It meant that he was receiving information.
Vito, who was standing next to me, asked quietly.
“7 million? That’s a huge sum to pay for? 1 million coins a day is really expensive manpower.”
“Divers’ fees vary depending on their ability, but Kiri’s skill level is decent. His brain is overworked, so he needs to rest, so the fee is reasonable.”
“I should become a diver instead of a magic engineer. What do you think?”
The universe is a sea of information. However, just as water becomes dirty, information also becomes polluted and can have a fatal effect on the brain.
This is the hidden side of the convenience of brain extension devices. While ordinary people have little to worry about, divers always have to be careful as they tear off a layer of the well-decorated virtual world and dive deep into the ocean.
“In addition to information pollution, we also need to be careful of sharks targeting divers.”
“I know what a shark is. It’s a diver hunting people, right?”
“Yes. Divers have a lot of useful information, and because of the nature of their work, they are easy prey for accumulating cash chips. But if you complain to the police, you’ll be arrested right away.”
“Well, since divers also search through databases, it would be good for the police to improve their performance. I guess I should just become a magic engineer.”
[I hope it goes well. Please use it again next time.]
Kiri’s voice cut in, indicating that the information transmission was over. Taylor sat down on the sofa, rubbing her eyes lightly.
“Let’s get started right away.”
Blue light emanated from the artificial eyeball, and a flat screen appeared on the table in front of the sofa. Someone’s bust was drawn on it.
“Nobak···.”
Alan squinted his eyes. The place where all his gray hair had disappeared was covered with a thick metal plate. The area around his chin was also reinforced with metal, so the rough shape was still visible. Still, his face was the same as before, so it was easy to recognize him.
Vito swallowed hard, trying to hide his fear by joking in his own way.
“You’ve become a full-metal no-bac. It must have been hard to heal after being attacked by us, no, you. Mr. Taylor, do you have any information below your chest?”
“then.”
The screen stretched up and down, revealing Noh Bak’s entire body. The three-dimensional shape slowly rotated. The area below the chest was also filled with a metal frame.
If someone who didn’t know saw it, they would have thought it was just a human face attached to an automaton. That was how different it was from the past.
Shiva glanced at Taylor, and their eyes met.
“why?”
“It’s nothing, brother.”
“Your eyes are so arrogant. Do you think anyone would notice if you kept your mouth shut?”
“I did it because it felt similar.”
“Similar? Totally different. I’ve changed my body a lot, but not to that extent. And the artificial skin is properly attached.”
While Taylor was meowing with Shiva, Alan was talking to Vito.
“He clearly had a hole drilled into his head, so how did he survive?”
“If I knew that, I would be a doctor too.”
“If it had been a lead bullet, it would have completely stirred up his insides, but since it was a magic bullet, it must have disappeared on its own. Then how much of his memories do you think he has? There must have been brain damage.”
“Some people back up their memories in brain expansion devices, but they can’t store all of their memories.”
“Human memories are so vast. But seeing as they followed us here, their desire for revenge against us seems strong.”
Vito closed his eyes and crossed his arms. Even though he held his other arm tightly with his hand, it was difficult to hide the trembling of his shoulder. He thought he had been liberated by defeating Novak, but the fear that had been engraved in him since childhood still remained.
Alan placed a hand on Vito’s shoulder and remained still. The tremors slowly subsided.
“Please show me the following information.”
The statue of Nobak disappeared and an old factory appeared. It was a rectangular building with a semicircular roof on top.
“Even though it’s on the outskirts of the city, you did a great job finding a place like this.”
“It says that the Corona Cartel is a drug dealer. There’s a gang in Maze City that receives their stuff, and it says that they introduced me to them through those guys.”
“What about the police?”
“It’s hard to blame the police alone. There are a number of complex issues involved, such as the status of a special autonomous city, unbridled businesses, and people being driven into a maze. Let’s take a look at the warehouse first.”
“It may seem like an outdated facility, but security is tight.”
A prefabricated building was built next to the factory, with a machine gun turret on the roof. Cartel members patrolled the area in pairs.
“What does it look like inside?”
“They say they couldn’t get through there because there were divers on that side too. But don’t you think that’s strange?”
Alan had somewhat anticipated the meaning behind Taylor’s question. When he said that Novak had chased him, he had assumed so, but when he saw the warehouse’s facilities and personnel, he began to have doubts.
“That’s a lot of troops to come to capture two adult magic engineers.”
“That’s what I’m trying to say. Are those eyes that important?”
“A few assumptions come to mind.”
“What is it?”
“Either the old man is mad with rage, or he really cherishes his eyes, or his eyes are so expensive that he can’t give them up, or lastly, he has a separate owner.”
“That all makes sense. Oh, I almost forgot this one.”
Taylor blinked and the warehouse disappeared, replaced by a green mass wearing a bird’s beak mask like a plague doctor.
“Are you a cartel executive or boss? Are you an orc?”
“Kiri’s information says he’s an executive. I don’t know if his real name is, but he’s called Kaka.”
“It kind of sounds like a goblin name.”
“Your guess is correct.”
In the place of the mask, a goblin-like face appeared. With its pointed, long nose, greedy eyes, and natural bald head, it was the very image of a goblin.
“Why is the goblin so big? It’s two meters tall.”
“I don’t know about that. Did you drink protein instead of powdered milk?”
Taylor got up from his seat after finishing the briefing. He knew where the enemy was, so there was no need to hesitate.
It was best to avoid combat, but if you had to fight, it had to be in the enemy’s camp. Even if you won on your own land, all that would be left were ruins.
“Let’s go today. Let’s finish it before the diver over there finds out where this is.”
“I am?”
“Vito, stay here. If you press the button under the rune print, a panic room will appear. If you feel uneasy, you can stay there.”
Vito nodded immediately. After all, if he followed, there would be one more person to protect. It may have been different when he escaped from the Novak Clinic, but the difference was too great now.
Alan left Vito in the warehouse, fearful, and went outside. The solution to what was causing Vito fear and Alan irritation was simple: eliminate the cause.
‘There’s so much to study, but why did you come all the way here…’
*
The shabby interior of the building, with rusty machinery scattered here and there, clearly indicated that it was a warehouse.
There was no discipline at all among the people walking around, but they were all armed with firearms or cold weapons. Even a quick glance at them suggested that they would have a rough life.
Even those who seemed uninhibited had a place they were reluctant to go: a second-floor office designed to look down.
“Fuck!”
A swearing erupted from inside the office. The startled cartel members frowned at each other. But for a moment, they went back to their work as if nothing had happened.
Inside the office, an old man was sitting on an old sofa. Only his face was old, and his body was full of metal. As if to prove it, the part of the sofa where he was sitting was sunken.
The old man took a syringe out of a nearby container and held it upside down. With his other hand, he opened the chest armor, revealing a small area that could be called flesh. The needle stabbed him without hesitation.
The old man, who had thrown away the empty syringe, was breathing heavily. Thanks to the effects of the drug, his breathing was gradually becoming more stable.
“Nobak.”
Nobak turned his eyes at someone’s call. There was Kaka, muscular and full of muscle.
“···.”
“Are you administering painkillers, tranquilizers, and side effect relievers in the proportions I told you?”
“I’ll take care of that.”
“Do as you wish. I came all the way here to this dirty air because of someone. How would I feel if someone got into an accident and collapsed before I could finish my work?”
“···.”
“If something like that had happened, you should have come with us. No, if you had the confidence to handle it on your own, you should have done it. But you got beat up by two kids and have been struggling for months?”
“stop.”
“Who cares?”
The twisted judge bit his lips hard. He got up from his seat, bleeding, and stood in front of Kaka, glaring at him with bloodshot eyes. Of course, he couldn’t get his face close because of his pointed nose.
“Do you know who you are talking to?”
“Of course I know. I was acting like a guest···”
Kroong! Kwaang!
Suddenly, a loud noise was heard. Both of their heads turned at the same time. Although their feelings were hurt, they knew what would come first when something like this happened.
Kaka looked down through his office window. He saw a red light outside the warehouse, and, being used to such things, he immediately knew it was a fire.
“what’s the matter?”
“I’m checking now.”
At that moment, a large spider fell on the head of the member of the organization who was answering Kaka. The spider’s body wrapped around the man’s face with its legs and turned red.
Boom!
The only indication that someone had been there before was the shoes that remained. The member of the organization next to the missing man had hit his head on the corner of the machine, which was dented.
“What kid…. Did he use us in his war against another gang?”
It was a sufficiently credible inference. Where could there be any loyalty to the gang? For a time, I couldn’t help but think that way.
Kaka, wearing a mask, ran out of the office, followed by Novak, whose eyes were glowing blue.
“I didn’t know what kind of kids they were and I searched through them all.”
“I just got a report. It’s not a gang.”
“then.”
“This is the guy we were looking for.”
“That kid barged in here?”
Kaka had seen Alan before. The body of a typical scholar, the eyes that seemed to have seen everything in the world.
“You little shit that looks like an anchovy? How easy are you to strike first?”
“Shut up.”
Even after they had completely left the warehouse, the two could see the situation around them. Flames were rising from the building next door, and machine gun turrets placed here and there had their muzzles sunk.
And Alan, whom Kaka had called a lover, was firing magic bullets, or rather, shells if you look at their size, with the thick gloves on his arms.
“That’s the same person?”
“That’s right. If you keep shooting like that, your magic will run out quickly, so tell him to hide for now!”
The order was relayed to all members of the organization. They took cover under any cover they could find – concrete, trucks, abandoned machinery – and fired back.
But the shells never stopped firing. Only after a third of his men had been blown away did Kaka look at Novak.
“How long must I hold out? Don’t keep your mouth shut like a mute, speak up!”
“Ha···. Excessive magical power···.”
It was good when I was experimenting with it, but when I met it in a firefight, it was disgusting.
End