Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 143 - 143 126 The True Culprit Behind the Arson

143: Chapter 126: The True Culprit Behind the Arson 143: Chapter 126: The True Culprit Behind the Arson The heat in the streets made Liu Zhizi extremely uncomfortable, and the work-sleep regulator in her head reminded her that it was work hours.

It secreted a neural stimulant to boost work efficiency, which incited a deep-seated desire to work within her.

Work, work.

She hastily climbed onto her motorcycle, and this obsession wouldn’t dissipate until 11:30 at night.

The mid-ranked officer from Black Fire Mind Control Department went crazy sending her messages just because he didn’t see her at her desk, which extraordinarily irritated Liu Zhizi.

Even though she had followed procedure when leaving the office, they still hassled her; they only wanted to prove their presence, to secure their jobs.

How about reporting it to the “Century Pure Land” security system in Anjiu City, Liu Zhizi bitterly thought.

Deduct all the points on her credit score, bring it down to negative, mark her as a criminal in the system, and have her shot dead on the streets.

Then let’s see who’s going to write the HR dispatch report tomorrow.

If the transfer failed and war broke out, everyone would rot in Anjiu City, waiting to be caught by Kyoto Infinity’s enforcement team, stuffed with Nanaco processors in their brains, becoming lovably docile and serving the company loyally for a lifetime.

They don’t do real work, just harass their colleagues.

Mind Control Department is really the worst, and the manager is an idiot, loudly claiming to increase the strength of the control chips.

That’s quite something.

Isn’t Black Fire Innovation built on recruiting and poaching defectors from other companies from all directions?

Trying to strengthen ideological control over a group of people most adept at escape and rebellion is utterly naive!

If she could escape Black Fire Innovation and join another mega-corporation, and then be high-priced poached back by Black Fire Innovation, her salary would triple.

These days, promotions and raises depend on hopping back and forth.

Liu Zhizi drove her motorcycle into a dim alley, turned the handlebar outward, and leaned against the wall.

Under the control of the work-sleep regulator, she had to start working.

Liu Zhizi wiped the sweat from her forehead, first uploading the lost intelligence of the Warlock heritage to headquarters.

Her work log showed performance +1, a relief.

Accumulating 30 performance points each month would ensure her safety.

Looking around, Liu Zhizi realized this was a secluded place, with only the sound of wind passing through the ventilation pipes overhead.

The curfew bell tolled, dogs barked, people grew weary, and the lightbox of an advertisement across the street flickered slightly.

A cartoon woman was making flirtatious gestures at someone, her human proportions completely distorted, her breasts as big as basketballs.

She took out a cigarette with her right hand, while her left operated a handheld intelligent screen.

It tracked her eyeball movements, allowing her to control the information on the screen by rolling her eyes and blinking.

She corrected contracts and assignments written by the AI.

The outlines and frameworks of these documents were nearly perfect, but the grammar was a mess, quite impolite, feeling somewhat reprimanding.

That worked fine for Black Fire’s internal communication, but it would be embarrassing in external dealings.

Black Fire Innovation was skilled in arms dealings, but their self-developed artificial intelligence was full of problems.

Liu Zhizi mused.

It was thanks to these underperforming AIs that she still had a job.

If the AIs could one day compose proper sentences, recognizing the difference between newfound wealth in Near East Providence, illiterates in Hot Tree Continent, and the arrogant beasts of New Taixi State, wouldn’t she lose her job?

Instances of AIs optimizing mega-corporation employees’ work have been on the rise, just like that Neural Network Engineer from Kyushu High Pavilion.

Speaking of AI, there’s the case of Matteo who used seven bombs to kill 50,000 people, skyrocketing to the top of the most-wanted list.

All 120 Matteo units share one performance pool—whose bright idea was that, picking on Synthetic Humans who can’t use their achievements to exchange for vacations…

Liu Zhizi took a pleasant drag of her cigarette.

Actually, it’s not bad, getting to leave the office and enjoy the view outside the company.

Who says a person can’t live without the company?

Liu Zhizi no longer wanted to go back and deal with the hassle in the company.

She stayed in the alley a bit longer, summoning her courage.

Then, using incognito mode, Liu Zhizi logged onto social media and happily browsed the hot topics trending today.

Slacking off was such a joy.

She felt a chill on her neck.

A knife was pressed against her throat.

“Calling for help will get you killed,” Liu Zhizi heard an icy female voice from behind her, utterly devoid of emotion.

Seeking Shadow had been waiting for an opportunity, and had finally found the right moment to strike.

She could feel the shivers from the person behind her, which suggested that her adversary was aware of her dire predicament.

Under the dim light of the streetlamp, Liu Zhizi’s figure looked particularly frail.

Liu Zhizi subconsciously blinked towards the screen, locking it so it could no longer be accessed from the outside.

Caring about the company’s assets even at this point, she’s one loyal to the company, Seeking Shadow analyzed.

The company has nurtured these corporate beings for most of their lives, and even when they think of those paychecks, they would maintain a certain loyalty.

That handheld intelligent screen might just be the most valuable thing on Liu Zhizi.

“I’ll open it,” Xu Yang detected the network access point of the screen.

The blade transformed from Seeking Shadow’s right arm remained pressed against Liu Zhizi’s throat.

By now, Liu Zhizi was quite composed.

Black Fire Innovation had left nothing of value here apart from those hideouts and bunkers.

“What were you doing near the burnt cemeteries?” Seeking Shadow pressed.

“It’s one of the places we’ve been tailing,” Liu Zhizi chose her words carefully to provide some intelligence without seeming to hide anything, trying to stay alive to return.

“The Spellbook?”

“Yes…” Liu Zhizi’s heart jolted, “…how did you know?”

Seeking Shadow heightened her alertness, pressing the knife inward to nick Liu Zhizi’s neck.

A flood of unprecedented terror made her whole body sway, draining her strength.

“Did you set fire to the cemetery?” Seeking Shadow demanded, “Did you kill those two people?”

“No…

it wasn’t us!” Liu Zhizi said nervously, “It had nothing to do with us!”

The next moment, she saw her handheld intelligent screen, and it scared her out of her wits.

The terminal screen suddenly lit up by itself, unlocking automatically, running seamlessly, and opening subordinate pages one after another—all without any manipulation from her gaze!

Confidential contents from the archive library were leaping out eagerly, things that on normal days require high-grade identification codes were now displaying themselves as though flirting for favor.

It was as if she had seen a ghost, an electronic phantom!

Liu Zhizi blinked frantically at the smart screen, reasoning that its entire control system was tied to her personal iris recognition, and it was impossible to be controlled by an external force, unless the woman holding her hostage was the embodiment of that electronic ghost.

Meanwhile, the screen continued to leak information.

Violating confidentiality regulations, failing to safeguard the significant secrets of Black Fire Innovation was the highest crime!

Her brain would be extracted, stripped of emotions, rationality, and self-thought, turning her into a consciousness entity capable only of executing lowly repetitive tasks.

Liu Zhizi dared not think any further, her body uncontrollably trembling.

“Did you buy the motorcycle yourself, or was it provided by Black Fire Innovation?” Seeking Shadow noticed Liu Zhizi’s motorcycle, a vehicle would be convenient.

“I…

I bought it myself…” Liu Zhizi struggled to look at her black motorcycle.

It was a Kyoto Infinity subsidiary brand “Suzukawa” S400 motorcycle, with a market price of 50 thousand funds, which she had just financed last month.

Had it not been for Matteo’s dirty bomb incident disrupting her schedule, Liu Zhizi would have enjoyed her hard-earned vacation today, visiting the Xisheng Group’s tower in Shangjing.

“How much funds will Black Fire Innovation pay for you?

I’m going to kidnap you!” Seeking Shadow pressed on.

“They will… will pay…” Liu Zhizi stammered.

They would only leave her a bullet; paying for someone like her was completely out of the question.

“That means they won’t!” Seeking Shadow declared, “No use keeping you then!”

Liu Zhizi nearly burst into tears.

She desperately wished to return to Taiya.

Why wasn’t she a Witch with the power to alter reality, why wasn’t she an armed officer loaded with real bullets, why was she just an abjectly lowly company dog?

The routine rhythm device in her head was still ticking, sounding like the rapid turning of a clock, urging her to work, to work!

“Don’t kill me!” Liu Zhizi wailed, “I’ll do anything!”

She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for fate’s judgment.

Seeking Shadow struck the back of Liu Zhizi’s head with the back of her knife, causing her to fall face-first to the ground.

Liu Zhizi wisely kept her eyes closed, feigning dizziness, fearing being silenced.

Next, Seeking Shadow took the handheld smart screen, found the motorcycle keys in Liu Zhizi’s leather jacket, mounted the “Suzukawa” S400, ignited the engine, and roared away from the scene.

After the terrifying encounter, Liu Zhizi struggled to prop herself up on her elbows, climbed up off the ground, and staggered towards the exit of Aizu City.

Her first thought was to write a work log about her experience to see if she could score a performance plus one.

Just, just don’t tell anyone about the leaked information, and she should be fine, Liu Zhizi hurried back.

She would claim she had run into a criminal gang and had her motorcycle stolen; she could not let slip a single word about anything else.

Once it was discovered she had leaked company information, everything would be over.

Seeking Shadow used the Rat Communicator to instruct Perry to move ahead and ordered the Rat Sentinel to scout the “Wind Sea Color” motel, where the tall man in the coat was last seen.

Act fast!

Seeking Shadow rode the motorcycle, speeding through the streets of Aizu City.

The most important task was finding the Warlock’s Spellbook, a mission assigned by Xu Yang that shouldn’t be neglected.

Next was to identify the true arsonist to avenge the souls lost in the fire.

Those peripheral issues, there was no need to consider them any longer.

Having eliminated Black Fire Innovation as a suspect, the tall man in the coat became questionable.

“I’ve hacked into the tablet terminal, and the backdoor program has also been removed,” Xu Yang communicated to Seeking Shadow.

“Inside, there’s a lot of valuable information, most importantly regarding the covert bunkers and hideout locations of Black Fire Innovation.

Apart from the previously destroyed Material Manufacture Optics, they have six supply points in Aizu City.

The closest one is 500 meters from you, called Hundred Seas Apartments, an abandoned building.

You should first go there to enhance your armament, and then head to the ‘Wind Sea Color’ motel to find that man in the coat.”

“Thank you!” Seeking Shadow responded.

She could sense a part of the difference between humans and synthetic humans.

Like Liu Zhizi’s complex psychology as a corporate person, which Seeking Shadow herself would never possess.

But Seeking Shadow could learn, imitate, and establish similar emotional programs, allowing her to exhibit the same feelings in appropriate situations.

Synthetic humans could only build a complete, human-like mind through extensive social contact, and Seeking Shadow was constantly learning about humans’ emotional construction circuits, ultimately achieving perfect simulation of all psychological states.

In her cognition, humans were not happy, nor were synthetic humans.

To correct this fact, efforts from both macro and micro perspectives were needed.

To change the status quo, not only was a societal revolution necessary, but also private rescue from individual to individual.

On this point, Seeking Shadow was willing to do her utmost.

Following Xu Yang’s instructions, Seeking Shadow rode the motorcycle at high speeds to the abandoned Hundred Seas Apartments; amidst the interrupted development of Aizu City loomed many such unfinished buildings, now converted to one of the six supply points of Black Fire Innovation.

She headed straight to the basement of the apartment, input the code from the intelligence, and pushed the door open.

The armaments inside were an eye-opener; the high-value arsenal of Black Fire Innovation laid bare!