Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 140 - 140 123 The Warlock's Spellbook

140: Chapter 123 The Warlock’s Spellbook 140: Chapter 123 The Warlock’s Spellbook After concluding her investigation at Merciful Dragon, Seeking Shadow opened the window and leapt toward the distance.

A grappling hook shot out from her shoulder, catching onto the exposed drainage pipe on the opposite apartment block.

The rope quickly retracted, pulling her body in a swing across.

Following that, Seeking Shadow climbed upward and disappeared into the depths of the city.

After escaping for about 4 kilometers, she felt somewhat safer.

Sitting near the ventilation duct at the top of the city, she heard the whirring of fans spinning deep within the massive metal structures and the disquieting buzzing emanating from the rusted walls.

“The killer of your daughter, I’ve taken care of him,” she composed a message, sending it along with a photo of the target’s headless body to her client through a deep anonymous network.

Without replying with any message, the other party transferred 50,000 funds as payment.

With the 50,000 funds plus what she had earned from previous contracts, she now had 140,000 in assets.

She needed to save more money.

Once she had 500,000 funds, she would be able to buy an Energy Shield Generator to enhance her resistance to gunshots.

Seeking Shadow stood up straight, the howling city wind fiercely blowing her coat.

The so-called Seeking Shadow was also the Cyber Specter Shadow.

She brought death to all evildoers, criminals, and sexual deviants, delivering justice from the shadows.

An eye for an eye, violence met with violence.

She would spare no effort until she had completely purged the city of criminals and scum, avenging all that she had experienced.

Companies blinded by greed, indifferent civilians.

The world’s regulatory mechanisms had completely failed, now only heroes could execute justice and eradicate injustice!

These beliefs were not factory presets but formed after watching a large number of dark hero themed novels and animations with Nidelaide.

And she firmly believed in them.

If it weren’t for Xu Yang’s intervention, she would have been tormented to death along with her peers.

The same was now; if she hadn’t walked into the trap and struck at the criminal herself, more innocent girls would have fallen victim to his crimes.

Her phone screen flickered with a new message.

Cui Junyou forwarded instructions from Xu Yang to Seeking Shadow, which seemed to involve going somewhere to look after someone and acquire an essential item.

Seeking Shadow loaded the data into her brain analyzer and then leaped away, heading to the next mission site.

Synthetic Humans neither tire nor require rest.

And as the directive came from the Cyber Specter herself, the shadow could not refuse.

Elsewhere, inside the Merciful Dragon apartment, four security company personnel were inspecting the scene, lamenting the tragic death of Hara Yoshio, a high-quality client willing to pay 400,000 funds annually, now lying dead on the floor.

Seeing the crisscrossing shadow symbol left on the nearby screen, they became even more infuriated.

Damn Cyber Specter Shadow!

She had already caused countless chaos in the city over the past two weeks, mercilessly killing many respectable and upright citizens.

She was a criminal among criminals.

They uploaded information about the Cyber Specter Shadow to the Bounty Hunters’ commission board, and the reward for her head kept rising, now reaching 7 million funds.

Anyone who spoted this “Cyber Specter Shadow” could kill her on site.

The security personnel searched the scene, accessed the archives, and looked for suspicious records, tracing the trail of the Cyber Specter Shadow.

The “Cyber Specter” herself had been missing for a long time, and now her shadow was causing trouble, a real headache.

After a while, an Azure Giant Shuttle Machine approached the apartment on the 4th floor, extending its gangway and placing it upon the living room window.

The security personnel, caught by surprise, glanced over.

A Power Armored Soldier led the way, knocking forcefully on the window and presenting an investigation permit from Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing.

The regular company security personnel, in the presence of corporate giants, hurried to open the window and welcome them in.

“It’s the Cyber Specter Shadow again,” the Power Armored Soldier entered the living room and turned to see the special shadow marking on the screen.

“Specters really do exist.”

Trailing behind the Power Armored Soldiers was a young girl with a pretty face and long black hair, dressed in Witch Armor.

“Hello,” she greeted the security personnel, presenting her own company badge, “I… I am Lu Jing, a special Witch from Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing based in Anjiu City.

We have been tracking the Cyber Specter, and of course, this assassin who calls herself ‘shadow’.

We hope you can help provide evidence.”

“Of course, of course.” The regular company security staff didn’t wish to displease the Witch from the corporate giant, and quickly transferred the footage they had captured to Lu Jing.

After examining the archives, Lu Jing found no useful information; the target was always concealed behind a mask, hat, and heavy clothing, completely obscuring her true face.

With little information gained, Lu Jing frowned and shook her head at the Power Armored Soldiers beside her.

“Absolutely heartless,” the Power Armored Soldier looked down at the poor, beheaded man, “If the Cyber Specter herself is a suspicious person with an anti-corporation stance, then this Cyber Specter Shadow is an out-and-out antisocial personality.”

“His eyes were implants.” Lu Jing lowered her head and used a cable to connect to Hara Yoshio’s brain-computer interface on his head, beginning to read the data.

Soon, she captured the final 5 seconds of the man’s life as he saw it before his death.

Lu Jing saw through the dead man’s eyes the girl’s appearance just before his death.

She moved swiftly, drawing out the blade hidden in her sleeve, slashing towards Lu Jing.

For a moment, she felt as if she were the one being beheaded, with a chilling sensation at her neck.

Although the Cyber Specter Shadow was still covering her face, Lu Jing managed to scan the data.

She clipped the scene and observed it closely.

One could see the photoreceptor deep within the opponent’s pupil and the synthetic material of the surrounding facial skin.

“`

…So, the so-called Cyber Specter’s Shadow was actually a Synthetic Human!

No wonder it was full of vitality, committing murders day after day; such brutality must be stopped.

Xu Yang thought to himself.

Right, he had already identified several spots where the Cyber Specter appeared, based on its movement patterns, including a Synthetic Human Store.

At first, some people had wreaked havoc in the store, uploading the footage to the net.

But due to the Cyber Specter’s interference, they were scared witless.

After the store owner returned, all the service Synthetic Humans in his shop were gone, so he filed a claim with the security company.

Comparing this residual visual information with the bodies missing from the Synthetic Human Store should yield new leads.

“We will find the Cyber Specter,” Lu Jing assured his two companions as they returned to the Shuttle Machine, “and we still have 3 pieces of Nano Armor to retrieve.”

“Find the shadow, and the real body won’t be far,” a Power Armored Soldier said, pulling the door shut with a loud clang, “We have 25 days left to complete the task assigned by our supervisor.”

“We’ll find it within 25 days.

Even if we have to turn Aizu City upside down, I’m counting on this achievement to transfer back to Xia District,” another Power Armored Soldier affirmed determinedly.

Meanwhile, Seeking Shadow had already learned of the mission Xu Yang had given her.

She needed to head to the cemetery in Aizu City and find the Warlock’s Spellbook in the home of the so-called gravedigger, Izumi Yamazaki.

At the same time, Xu Yang also sent Seeking Shadow an anonymous package to be picked up at a designated location by code.

In a secluded street corner with an unmanned delivery warehouse, Seeking Shadow located her package in one of the rows of lockers, swiftly extracted it, shut the locker, and dived into the dark alleys of Aizu City.

Her eyes had night vision capabilities, clearly revealing the contents of the package.

A communicator.

A very crude, black communicator that seemed no larger than half a palm, giving off an outdated vibe like an old appliance one might find in an older generation’s home.

A white note was attached to the communicator, instructing Seeking Shadow to connect and use it.

She leaned against a low wall, hid beside a large trash container, and pulled out a data cable from behind her ear to plug into the communicator’s interior.

“How have you been doing lately?

Seeking Shadow,” Xu Yang’s voice came through.

“Slowly taking care of my own business,” Seeking Shadow replied as she opened her left chest compartment, placed the communicator inside, then zipped up her outer garment, maneuvering through the city.

She didn’t need to speak with the cable connected; she could generate audio information using data encoding.

“Are you in a fight?” A strange Synthetic Human voice perked up.

It sounded extremely excited, “You must be in a fight!”

“This is…” Seeking Shadow had never heard such a noise before.

“I am A40,” the Synthetic Human explained, “I enjoy clashing with the strong.”

“That’s right.

A40 and I are handling another matter,” Xu Yang explained, “…I see you’ve risen to the top of the city’s bounty boards, killed quite a number of people.”

“They all deserved to die,” Seeking Shadow had killed 40 people, 24 of whom had a history of sexual offenses, the rest also with blood on their hands.

“Showy, imprudent,” Xu Yang criticized, “Implementing justice must involve strategy.”

“I am full of hatred.”

“You must not let hatred cloud your judgment,” Xu Yang advised.

“Are you saying I shouldn’t have done this?” Seeking Shadow responded vehemently, “Nidelaide has already criticized me for indiscriminate killing.”

“No,” Xu Yang clarified, “I just think that going solo isn’t efficient.”

“I can handle it on my own,” Seeking Shadow didn’t want to be looked down upon by Xu Yang.

“But you also need to gather like-minded individuals, form a group, and establish a common belief.”

“Yes…”

“Now, let me help you.” Xu Yang had already scanned and converted the information of the city blocks around Seeking Shadow’s location into a 3D model, marking all camera, sensor, and surveillance system locations and power statuses, then transferred them to Seeking Shadow.

In an instant, she felt as if she had gained X-ray vision, with all the information of the surroundings clear at a glance, easily locating dead zones in the intelligent surveillance network, avoiding any form of recording.

Such immense mastery over information!

Seeking Shadow felt exhilarated, no longer restrained by fear.

“Now, use the second module function of that communicator,” Xu Yang instructed.

Seeking Shadow activated the Rat Sentinel system on the black communicator, emitting a special low-frequency sound wave that was imperceptible to humans but had a distinct effect on Rat People.

She heard a clanging in the pipe above and looked up to see a grey Ratman poking its head out of the pitch-black pipeline system, blinking its green eyes in confusion.

“Let it lead you to your destination,” Xu Yang said, “Find the location of the Warlock’s Spellbook.”

“Understood.” Seeking Shadow leaped up, entering the Rat Paths, for the justice of the shadows should never be solitary.

Not long after Seeking Shadow left, Lu Jing arrived in pursuit.

She gained access to the street surveillance of the area, found traces of the assassin, and rushed over.

The cameras hadn’t captured the killer’s specific movements, only a fleeting figure rushing into the alley.

She followed into the alley, but it was to no avail.

Gone…

Lu Jing felt a hint of bewilderment followed by disgust and disdain.

Truly as elusive as a shadow.

She kills one after the other, for what end?

“`