How To Live as a Cyberpunk Solver

105. ask

Leonard and Max went to 25-9th Street, the official garbage dump in A-044 City.

As much as it is called a scavenger’s paradise, all kinds of scavengers wandered around, giving a new feeling every time they came.

“Leonard, look at that guy. That person is very small.”

“Is this your first time seeing implants for children?”

“You have a very big head?”

“Even if a person’s head is big… is it really big?”

Giant-headed scavengers that would appear in classic cartoons, ragged scavengers with different limbs and parts, and skeleton scavengers with thin skeletons and artificial organs below the chest were rummaging through the dump.

“Once upon a time, there was a festival called Halloween.”

“Hello Warner?”

“yes. Well, similar.”

I thought for a moment that people at that time might like it when they saw it. In fact, it would be frightening to see the end of the century.

Leonard knocked on the railing of the cargo and jumped off as he slowed down. The busy transporter waved his hand out the window and left straight away. If I had called a taxi, I would have broken 30 credits, but I was lucky.

Leonard and Max found the sewers that could be called King Schultz’s home, dodging dangerous filth and dirty waste. It was not a very pleasant road.

I had to exaggerate a bit and meet a begging scavenger every 10 steps and beat a pickpocket scavenger every 20 steps. It was not good when expensive clothes and bodies were like this.

Max looked around to see if there was an idiot scavenger who had shown him the way before. However, it was not a class where scavengers enjoyed a comfortable life, nor was it a small town where 25th Street would come and go. I won’t be seeing it again in the near future.

“There are no people on this side.”

As King’s sewer approached, it became less crowded. The scavengers around here were aware of King’s existence. He did not want to set foot in a place inhabited by mutant humans who commanded thousands or tens of thousands of rats.

“He’s actually a good person.”

“Because we met before we were prejudiced.”

King was an urban legend in Junktown. There is a rat man living in a sewer that was closed long ago? It was an absurd sound that even the snoring would not believe. Even if that was the truth, those who accepted it and those who couldn’t accept it were half and half. The more clever they thought they were, the more it was usually the latter.

“That is fortunate. If the company knew, they could kidnap it and dissect it piece by piece. It’s good to remain half truth half legend like now.”

“As the king of scavengers?”

“Your name is King.”

King Schultz happily welcomed the party, unlike the desolate environment. No matter how many small friends you have, it seems you need a big friend with whom you can talk with reason and logic.

“It is not easy.”

But the pleasure did not lead to acceptance. King Schultz bowed his head as if to apologize.

“Even animals have a territory. The only place my little friend can go is this dump on 25th Street.”

Leonard, who has a naturally good memory, did not forget. So, like a solver, I prepared a few solutions.

“Are the only rats here that can be manipulated?”

“It’s not, but…”

“Then, are there any other conditions for controlling the rats?”

“First, you need to be close enough to communicate.”

“Then no problem. Let’s go explore the sewers with us.”

It is a scene that is beautifully expressed in classic literature with ‘Let’s work together’, ‘I need someone to take care of’, ‘Be my colleague’, etc., but it was very shabby because the sewer was attached.

“You mean with me?”

King’s long, thin beard swayed. It’s harder to read emotions than normal people, but he wasn’t angry.

“I don’t want to go out…”

“Don’t worry about that! We have everything ready!”

Max pulled a large swaddling bag from his bag. I checked to see if he had packed anything, but it was just swaddling.

“Ahem! It is the wisdom of the ancestors!”

It means to cover it up and cover it up. As someone said, it was unclear whether to call it wisdom.

“I will hack the camera and implant eyes to hide your identity. If you don’t do anything conspicuous, you won’t even know you’re there.”

Leonard also added the skills of his descendants. If you cover your appearance first and put cognitive impairment on the second, you can go undetected as a mutation. But what mattered was King’s heart. If you didn’t want to get out of your cozy routine, you couldn’t force it. King’s beard trembled even louder.

“Outside…if I could walk on the ground again…”

The beast’s expression was still hard to understand, but it didn’t seem to dislike it either.

@

Leonard and Max have a powerful informant in their hands.

No place in Junk Town is free of rats, so it was like they had all of Junk Town’s best kept secrets in their hands.

“The drone listens to daytime words and the rats listen to nighttime words.”

“Eh? What are you talking about?”

“It’s a famous proverb in the Far East.”

It was just right. During the day, Leonard gathered information, and at night, King gathered rats to search the city. King, who moved out of the house after almost 10 years, was very happy, even though he went to and from the sewer to establish a base in a place that was not easily seen by people and where there were a lot of rats.

“Oh oh!”

“Five? Oh what? Did you find anything?”

“The former e-book store has turned into a hardware store. What a pity. It seems that no one writes a book anymore, and no one reads it.”

“…Can’t you just concentrate?”

Leonard and King searched 25th Street, then 24th, 23rd, and 22nd Streets. However, it was not easy to find the hidden car without a single clue in this big city.

“Did you leave the city too?”

“Then we investigate the checkpoint, right? There will be no records.”

“We don’t know which checkpoint it is, so we have to hack the public security headquarters, but it’s not an easy task.”

Leonard lifted his head and looked up at the sewer wire. The morning of the third day was dawning. By reducing the sensitivity of the olfactory sensor, the pain of odor is less, but it was not good to walk around the place where rat poop was rolling. It was quickly downgraded from a ‘whopping’ 5,000 credits request to a ‘only’ 5,000 credits request. At that moment, King let out a small exclamation.

“ah…”

“What else this time? Did the yoga academy disappear?”

“I found what you said.”

It wasn’t a happy tone. So I understood a few seconds late.

“You found Blue Bee?”

“Really? really? where are you?”

King took out a piece of paper and a pen with his big hand. It was a torn piece of paper box and a piece of stone smeared with soot, but I managed to draw a picture. The 22nd century is right around the corner, and I wonder what kind of primitive thing this is, but all of them except for Leonard are pure humans, so the imitation of primitive people was delivered quickly.

“If you go into the 3rd alley from this 9th street, there is a warehouse made of slate.”

“Did you hide it there?”

“The cost is outrageous. There are 11 implant cyborgs.”

Leonard and Max looked at each other bewildered.

“What kind of car thieves are 11? Do you pay for the meal?”

“It doesn’t seem like everything is in one hand, but there are limits to what a mouse can see. sorry.”

“Ah, are you sorry? It was really helpful! Mr. Leonard will give you a big reward. Right, Mr. Leonard?”

“Yes, but… why do you promise that?”

Leonard, like last time, promised a box of potatoes. But King shook his head.

“If this goes well, I will often help you in the future. In return, could you please do one small favor of mine?”

“It’s my job to take requests. I usually get it on credit, but there’s no reason why I can’t get it on information as well.”

When Leonard readily agreed, King smiled. Maybe a smile is right.

“Not right now. i’ll contact you soon Don’t you have something to do first?”

I was wondering how to contact him since I don’t have a cell phone, let alone a brain chip, but I didn’t bother to ask. As King said, there was work to be done now.

“Should we go punish the bad thieves?”

“I am going to work. work.”

@

70% of a fixer’s job is to find the target, and 20% is to clean up. Killing, stealing, and threatening were less than 10% of the commission rate. In fact, the job could have been done simply by hiring a few back alley gangsters.

– If you say that, it doesn’t seem like it.

“why?”

-People say they dream of a solver like Mr. Ryan.

Like life, dramatic things were concentrated in the 10% without weight. Open the door-! The part where you kick in and fire a machine gun or slash the carotid artery with a sharp dagger.

“If you work so ignorantly, you won’t be able to work for long.”

For that matter, Ryan Bourne is living a fine life, but it wasn’t something Leonard would imitate anyway. As an elite hacker in the underground city, he preferred a smart and elegant method.

-…Elegance?

“Shh.”

Leonard climbed the shed roof from the east at sunrise. If only the shadows were deceived with the thermo-optical module, the possibility of being caught due to the backlight was infinitely low. The gunman guarding the entrance to the warehouse also yawned carelessly. Except for the poor posture, it was a good choice.

“Looks like the real thing.”

Through the hole in the slate, I could see the dark interior. As King said, there were 11 people in total, including one outside the warehouse.

‘I’ll be a good source of information.’

It was a pity to use such a good talent to rummage through trash cans. It would be better than revealing one’s talent and becoming a guinea pig, though.

“This is the promised credit.”

Leonard looked at the staffing and updated the information. There were 4 and 6 people. Looking at the atmosphere, 4 people were car thieves, and 7 people, including 1 person guarding the outside of the warehouse, were new customers.

“Is it the Blast Gang?”

– Huh? Are you touching the gang?

“Looks like you’re going to leave the real city this time.”

I was worried that he would have left right away, but he seems to have stayed because he had nothing to fear from a used car dealer. Knowing that the gang-twins and brokers in District 20 were a mess, he might have decided he could play another round. There was no luck on their part. It was because he didn’t know Leonard Walker, who came to work on his own.

“Looks like the deal is over.”

– Then what should I do? Should I fight the Blast?

If they erroneously intervened here, it could have been Leonard, not the car thief, who stole the car. When Leonard takes the car that disappeared without his will, there is no choice but to misunderstand.

“Let’s steal it now.”

– Are you serious?

Leonard saw ‘Blue Bee’, the final target of this request.

The grill and bumper reminiscent of a bee’s head, an openable trunk, and a sharp protruding exhaust vent are worthy of the name. The quaint and antique design, which cannot be felt in cars these days, deserves to be called a classic car.

“It’s hard to imagine that a car like that would have Auto Drive.”

Leonard wasn’t just an ignorant gunning Ryan Bourne. There was a specialty that was appropriate for the current situation. Both eyes dilated hexagonally.

“I will show you that auto function is a double-edged sword.”

A big man who appears to be an executive of the Blast gang received the key and approached ‘Blue Bee’. Just then, BlueB’s headlights turned on in unison.

“Mmm, what is it? You didn’t start?”

It wasn’t just the start-up. Even the most basic ‘personal damage blocking’ function was deleted from the artificial intelligence that was encroached on by the hacking program. I shifted up and stepped on the accelerator. It was literally a sudden rush, so the gang leader couldn’t even pretend to avoid it. pop-! The sound of the sacks exploding was slightly pleasant.

“Oops! boss!”

“These bastards are now my older brother…!”

“Wait a minute! It’s not what we did!”

Blueby broke the warehouse door and ran into town. One of the car thieves panicked and tried to chase them, but was blocked at gunpoint.

Things turned interesting. If you’re smart, you’ll think the car thieves are ambush, if you’re smart, you’ll find out that they tried to scam you with Auto Drive, but either way, they won’t be safe. All that remains is to retrieve that speeding car safely.

“Max, follow me.”

-Am I?

“Don’t you want Black Guardian to have it?”

-…I’m the Black Storm Legend Hawk Guardian.

For reference, Leonard’s pickup truck was light gray. That’s just how it is.