Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 326 - 296: The Sword of the End

Chapter 326: Chapter 296: The Sword of the End

Another public tender was underway.

The general security plan of Anjiu City, which is a security contractor covering the entire city.

Oohara Nobuhiko looked at the bids from various foreign security companies and city mercenaries. At the mention of this, Lila realized the opportunity was rare.

"If Nestor Corporation were to take on the role of security contractor," Lila discussed with Xu Yang, "then we could openly recruit and expand our armed forces at a faster pace."

Yes. Xu Yang thought to himself. If the goal was to have the world in their hands, a particularly large force was necessary.

And this would require the financial scale of a city to support, so they must secure the position of the overall security contractor and get funds from Oohara Nobuhiko.

What was more critical was the complex external environment they faced, such as the impending transaction with Honma Noriko. What if Honma Noriko wanted to threaten them?

As long as they secured the position of the city’s security contractor, they could transform into official personnel, legitimately reviewing and controlling the various risks within the city. If Honma Noriko’s people wanted to enter Anjiu City, they would have to get past Nestor Corporation’s official security forces. Then it would be Xu Yang and his team’s turn to set up checkpoints and check identities.

Control over security was the power to establish a quasi-military force, something that couldn’t fall into the hands of foreign security companies and mercenaries. One was a lackey for intercontinental capital groups, and the other was solely profit-driven.

"Do you have confidence in controlling the safety of the entire city?" Xu Yang asked.

"Lila is very wise," she said.

"Then we need to talk to the old man and secure this meaty contract," Xu Yang decided.

"Mr. Oohara Nobuhiko." Lila sent her bid to the mayor, "My company is willing to undertake the security responsibility for the entire city."

Oohara Nobuhiko looked at the many virtual tender proposals in his hand, a wry smile on his face.

The mayor was also very uneasy; he really needed a local enterprise to be responsible for the city’s security. All kinds of chaotic forces were not as reliable as a local company.

If Anjiu City were really attacked, foreign companies might feign resistance but ultimately preserve their strength, then leave without looking back. Only those with their family business in Anjiu City would have a strong enough vested interest to defend the city’s safety.

Yet, he knew the security problems of the city were enormous, almost beyond imagination.

"Miss Lila," Oohara Nobuhiko spoke gravely, "you do understand that the security of Anjiu City is very different from that of any other city."

"You mean..."

"In our city, Cyber Specters and their shadows are active."

"Indeed. I deal with this kind of information almost every day."

"The Cyber Specter, which blindly hates corporatism," Oohara Nobuhiko said, "you see, the Century Pure Land System, originally of excellent quality and powerful performance, defended the entire city’s safety and protected people from various threats. The system had perfectly completed its task. However, with the entire information bank erased, our entire informational defense became... a colossal loophole occurred."

"Information security..."

"Yes, although there is no evidence to prove that it was done by the Cyber Specter, the information security of citizens has been completely breached. In this situation, I hope that the security contractor must have outstanding information work capabilities, strong enough to block potential digital attacks at any moment."

"I see."

"There are also the shadows of the Cyber Specter, who commit murders day and night without stopping and are difficult to capture, utterly lawless. Without eliminating these two security threats, it’s hard to trust your company’s strength."

After hearing the mayor’s concerns, Lila communicated secretly with Xu Yang.

"Hey, master. What should we do?"

"I’ll just go off to other places with Seeking Shadow and stay active. If we’re going to turn Anjiu City into our backyard, we don’t need to create a stir here."

"Rest assured," Lila explained to Oohara Nobuhiko, "we will certainly resolve these two threats. Why not give my company a 30-day trial period? Within this trial period, we’ll ensure the Cyber Specter and its shadow are eradicated from Anjiu City."

Oohara Nobuhiko analyzed Lila Nestor carefully.

She hailed from the illustrious mega-corporation Thousand Lakes Electronics, whose cell phones were symbols of quality, leading the industry for decades, until they were defeated by newcomers like Star Ring Technology. Oohara Nobuhiko grew up playing with Thousand Lakes cell phones and held a certain nostalgia for them.

Background checks revealed that she was a Battle Witch, an outstanding member of a reconnaissance squad, who, along with other casualty witches of her period, received prosthetic transformations. Limbs, heart, and brain were replaced with synthetic parts in succession. Eventually, as the first batch of test subjects pushed to their limits and scheduled for retirement, she was disassembled, sold off in parts to recoup funds.

The investigation got no further; Lila’s components were purchased by anonymous buyers all over the world. Now, for reasons unknown, she’s somehow come back to life here, which was somewhat odd.

But perhaps only a surprising move could permanently take down the Cyber Specters.

"Maybe we could try..." Oohara Nobuhiko agreed, "If we can’t drive out the Cyber Specter and its shadows within 30 days, we’ll seek another company to take over the city’s defense. Also, you should submit a more detailed security plan."

"The city’s public security issues require the support of public city ordinances," Lila said. "Let’s start with a crowdfunding campaign for legislation, Mr. Mayor. For now, I can only maintain military control with patrols on the streets."

"Yes, yes," Oohara Nobuhiko was somewhat afraid of Lila; she was a dominant military figure, and the mayor felt he could be executed by her after just a few words. Thankfully, this was a virtual space.

Afterwards, Lila also logged out of the virtual meeting. Most of the people in the real meeting room were still connected online, seemingly playing golf. She left the room, beginning to organize and plan the public governance system of Anjiu City.

"Next year is the 150th year," Xu Yang said. "I hope by that time I can introduce to everyone that my city has been rated the safest region in the Archipelago Continent."

"Lila will do everything possible to help people survive," Lila had her own ideas; during a boring five-year solitary period, she came up with all sorts of crazy stuff.

Xu Yang had started contacting other hospitals and social institutions yesterday about taking in Young Witches, having already brought back over a hundred to Shijin Mansion. Today he was to pick up another 50 kids. It felt almost like human trafficking, driving up to the designated spot to see a few almost-grown Young Witches sitting on the ground with wide eyes, clad in tattered hospital gowns or altered restraints, with ferocious security personnel and sellers present. Sometimes, a gun had to be drawn just to ensure the Young Witches could be safely loaded onto the Shuttle Machine.

After cruising around the city for 2 hours, he had "kidnapped" 37 Young Witches. There were another 5 on Seeking Shadow’s turf, so Xu Yang placed the 37 one by one on the seats and floor of the Shuttle Machine, like little radishes. Many could only crawl and needed to be placed in baby carriages.

"Where are we going?" A Young Witch asked with hopeful, wide eyes.

"To study well and grow up healthy..." Xu Yang was about to explain what would happen to them in the future.

"I’m hungry!"

"I need to pee!" The Young Witches were making a racket, preventing Xu Yang from answering and forcing him to hurriedly hand a piece of bread to one who was crying out in hunger.

A single loaf of bread now cost 20, and who knew how long it would take for prices to stabilize. Xu Yang planned to chop down a large amount of branches and leaves from the Golden Tree he had been cultivating underground for Rat Village, to create the myth of agricultural science, combined with modern greenhouses and irrigation systems, wondering if it could yield two thousand pounds per acre.

He drove the Shuttle Machine back to the entrance of Shijin Mansion, and as the Young Witches ran out, he saw a warning on the control panel. Looking back at the seats, he noticed that one of the Young Witches’ magic power seemed to be related to acid, which had corroded a large hole in the shuttle’s floor. He watched the Young Witches flee like rabbits, feeling rather helpless.

"Come with me, don’t be afraid!" 102 stood at the door, holding several Young Witches at once against her chest, able to hold 5 of the most mischievous ones, who couldn’t escape no matter how much they squirmed and babbled.

"Identify their magic power carefully and keep watch," Xu Yang said. "I’m heading to the outskirts to bring back a few more Young Witches."

He drove the Purple Wind far away, reaching the territory of the Self Help Society which was growing day by day, expanding its reach.

The Poison Master-led Self Help Society held several distinct principles: firmly avoid the erosion of corporatism, refuse cash transactions and any form of hired labor; the society’s entire output and gains belonged to the computer, with artificial intelligence managing the distribution, calculating each individual’s daily food consumption and other needs.

There was an even larger society nearby, the Scavengers Society, which originally numbered around 120,000 people, living off the garbage hills discarded by the citizens of Anjiu City.

They had their own conflicts with corporations, as no company’s ethical standards were high enough to impose environmental regulations on themselves voluntarily, leading to relentless production expansion and waste disposal, forcing these former suburban residents into becoming thorough garbage people, struggling against toxic waste to purify water sources and find recyclable products within the garbage hills.

The rate of cancer and deformities increased among the Scavengers, sometimes with patronizing questions from others about why they didn’t move into the city, which only widened the gap between them and the urbanites. For them, corporatism was absolute torture and a nightmare.

The Scavengers Society refused transactions with corporations, and thus the Witches born amongst them were hidden away. Xu Yang had heard that there were 5 newly born Witches here, all under a hundred days old, living without any medical or sanitary conditions, barely clinging to life and likely to die young. It had reached the point where they had to seek the care of city institutions, which was why he made this trip.

Otherwise, they would die...

Based on the previous location given by Seeking Shadow, he parked the Purple Wind on a landing platform pieced together from scrap metal. Seeking Shadow and A40 were arguing downstairs.

"It led the enemy here!" Seeking Shadow was furious, "Does it think it’s safe?"

"I would fight them off, why are you being so harsh on me?" A40 felt aggrieved.

Xu Yang gestured for them to calm down a bit, and personally checked the cameras. The surveillance system showed that a group of about 10 from the Colosseum Warrior Party was approaching, led by Han Shishan, ready to apprehend A40 to settle the bounty.