Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 428 - 385: Certain Death

Chapter 428: Chapter 385: Certain Death

The mayor’s speech had begun.

Oohara Nobuhiko delivered his address in an inspiring tone, congratulating the citizens on their brilliant achievements over the past half-year. Despite numerous troubles, natural disasters, and mysterious incidents, Anjiu City had survived, and now it was to become a truly autonomous city, establishing its first City Council!

"Oh!"

"That’s wonderful!" The people couldn’t help cheering, proud to be citizens of Anjiu City.

While the mayor spoke, Pan Ruiyi couldn’t help but stand up and walk to the side, sweeping her gaze across the entire square from a distance to locate the anti-witch assassins that Lila had mentioned.

To her, everyone seemed like an assassin.

The enemy must have infiltrated. Pan Ruiyi thought. With so many citizens present, it was impossible to thoroughly investigate. They no longer had the convenient control system of Century Pure Land.

The Continental Alliance Duty personnel were also worried about assassination attempts, so they actively protected the square. High-speed cameras and surveillance probes were everywhere, and sniper drones filled the sky. Any irregular movements would be rapidly subdued.

Lila watched the proceedings carefully. Mayor Oohara Nobuhiko sat at a spot slightly to the rear-center of the square, along with some of his confidants, watching the candidates deliver their speeches.

After the first five candidates had made their declarations, it was Lila’s turn to take the stage.

"Are you ready?" Asa Katsuragi turned her head to look at Lila, giving her an encouraging look, "Good luck!"

"Yes." Lila lifted her gaze to the mayor. Oohara Nobuhiko looked at her disapprovingly; he did not want Nestor Corporation to become the actual controller of Anjiu City.

Who would have the last laugh? Lila wondered.

Lila went on stage, greeted the citizens, and then introduced her philosophy. She announced that, upon becoming a councilor, she would continue to promote fairness and justice in the city.

Her cold yet just voice left a deep impression, nothing like the exaggerated speech of the other candidates.

"...thus," Lila concluded, "I believe that some things should not be surrendered to purely profit-driven corporate systems and must be supported by the public power, built by the people, and shared with the people. Law, military, education, healthcare, food, housing, environmental protection... Public undertakings like these underpin the basic life of the people. In the future, Nestor Corporation will boldly venture into these areas, bearing all significant social responsibilities..."

"A new arms dealer!"

"Cold-blooded enforcer!"

"Female robot!"

"We don’t want trash like that!" Sharp voices of dissent rose from among the citizens, likely professional dissenters hired by competitors, using high-pitched sound-enhancing augments, armed with highly targeted words.

Under the provocation of these high-pitched, loud voices, a distaste arose in the hearts of the people.

When faced with negative sentiment about Nestor Corporation, the public’s attitude towards Lila plummeted rapidly. Even though they did not understand the details, they were influenced by the emotions of the masses and began to boo.

Seeing the tumult among the crowd, Mayor Oohara Nobuhiko quickly stepped forward.

"Please calm down, fellow citizens," Oohara Nobuhiko raised his hand in an attempt to pacify the crowd, "Nestor Corporation has ensured four months of peace for our city so far. This quarter, our criminal case rate has decreased by 70%. This is all thanks to Mrs. Lila Nestor."

"Thank you for your support." Lila nodded to Oohara Nobuhiko and then reached out to shake his hand.

"Ah, thank you..." Oohara Nobuhiko also shook hands with Lila.

Bang! Bang!

Several gunshots ring out, bullets whizzing past.

"The world belongs to humans!"

"Eradicate witch rule!"

"We don’t want a witch councilor!" The long-hidden anti-witch assassins leaped out from the crowd, starting to attack Lila. The mayor at her side was caught in the gunfire as well.

Mayor Oohara Nobuhiko screamed a few times as bullets rained down, his shield belt activated, illuminating a blue protective shield around him. However, the shield was quickly shattered, and then he was hit by several shots.

Lila immediately stepped back as bullets struck her metallic body, producing a sound of shattering metal.

The enemy!

The citizens on site started yelling and became chaotic. The Intercontinental United Special Service Company’s security personnel acted instantly, capturing seven assassins in total, most of whom were modified humans or synthetic humans. None could escape; all were subdued and arrested.

"Eradicate witches!"

"Wake up, everyone! We don’t want witches!"

"Kill the witch! Arrest the witch! We’re not the ones who should be caught!" The captured assassins continued to shout out loud, promoting their ideology. Their greatest fear was the erosion of human civilization by witches.

Seeing Lila shot and retreating, Pan Ruiyi quickly flew to her side and helped her up.

Oohara Nobuhiko lay on the ground, with holes seeping blood all over his body. His head and neck had been punctured, with only a patch of skin connecting them to his body, lying helplessly on the ground.

Emergency rescue drones floated over, scanned him, and quickly acknowledged his death.

The Mayor of Anjiu City, Oohara Nobuhiko, was dead.

Oohara Risa and her husband Kamibayashi Kurou ran out from the city government center rapidly. Oohara Risa looked at her father’s corpse in horror and couldn’t help but wail. It was she who had personally bought her father’s shield belt, and she hadn’t anticipated it to be so fragile, or perhaps the assassins’ firepower was too intense.

Kamibayashi Kurou was furious, swiftly grabbing the Continental Alliance Duty personnel beside him to demand accountability.

Lila stood in place, allowing Pan Ruiyi to leave under the cover of Asa Katsuragi to avoid any extraneous complications. She herself stayed at the scene, flawlessly answering all necessary inquiries, facing the aggressive subordinates of Oohara Nobuhiko with a stern demeanor.

"My body needs repairs," Lila pointed to the places on her body where she had been shot.

"Quick, call the maintenance personnel," Kamibayashi Kurou urged, then his assistant brought him a stack of the attacker’s files. He couldn’t help but look through them carefully, wanting to know their background. Upon finding that they were members of an online anti-witch organization, his anger was uncontrollable. "These thugs! Those who shoot recklessly, are all witches evil? Why attack like this? Where is their line? Innocent people have been wronged!"

The death of his father-in-law had caused Kamibayashi Kurou great pain. Ever since the children of Xisheng had split, Kamibayashi Kurou had felt increasingly uneasy, growing more afraid of such sudden incidents.

Such attacks also reminded him of Hosoda Yoshiyuki’s surprise attack on him. Security work could never be completely foolproof.

"Humans hold such deep hostility towards witches, you’ve seen those declarations by the anti-witch groups online," Lila said. "From now on, I’ll have my adjutant make public appearances in my stead."

Oohara Risa looked at Lila Nestor with surprise and concern, watching her leave the scene step by step.

"It was Lila who killed him," Oohara Risa muttered. "It was her, she hired people to kill my father, she’s the only beneficiary."

"Don’t talk nonsense! Lila was also shot, wasn’t she? It’s just that it didn’t matter to her because she has a cybernetic body," Kamibayashi Kurou was very uneasy. "Let’s get out of here, Risa. The city center is not safe, and the Continental Alliance Duty people are just sitting ducks."

"Chips," Oohara Risa turned her head. "Extract the memory chips from the assassins, and we’ll know how Lila bribed them. Quick! Before she tampers with them!"

The operatives of the Intercontinental United Special Service Company, following the emergency response procedures, removed the brains and chips from all seven attackers and examined them carefully.

"We will find out who is behind this," they promised. "The culprit will not escape justice."

Lila sat in the riot-control shuttle machine, leaving with Aledy and Pan Ruiyi.

Seeing Mayor Oohara Nobuhiko die in a hail of bullets, Pan Ruiyi was very pleased.

"It was your arrangement," Pan Ruiyi couldn’t help but say. "A great kill."

"You’re wrong," Lila said. "It wasn’t arranged by me. I don’t even know them. Didn’t you see I was shot too? They are just a group of like-minded anti-witch ’vigilantes.’ It’s quite simple, they acted entirely out of a sense of justice, to prevent Anjiu City from falling into the hands of witches. They didn’t want me to become a council member."

"But they shot at the mayor!" Pan Ruiyi lowered her voice.

"It’s good that you think so," Lila nodded. "They used silencers, homemade pistols, and gunpowder hidden within their bodies. It was those stray bullets and the dense, chaotic gunfire that killed the mayor."

"What if the mayor was fake? A double?" Pan Ruiyi grew more troubled. "What about a consciousness copy?"

"The real person was present," Lila said. "I would have known if it was a fake. As for consciousness copying, there aren’t adequate facilities locally, and he never left the city his entire life."

"That’s true..." Pan Ruiyi nodded.

Lila turned her head, looking towards the bustling Anjiu City. The mayor was dead, but the establishment of the council was a universal desire; people wouldn’t stop trying. Representatives from all walks of life needed legislative members to enact laws, to rebuild the order of an independent city-state.

"Let’s go back," Lila said. "Oohara Risa will inherit her father’s resources, but she doesn’t have the powerful network her father had, and she is too young. To avoid becoming a puppet, she urgently needs the support of Nestor Corporation."

"So, you’ll definitely become a council member?" Pan Ruiyi’s eyes sparkled.

"Whether I get elected was irrelevant from the start." Lila said. "Do you remember what I told you? Asa Katsuragi is definitely going to be a council member, all three hundred thousand residents of Aizu City will vote for her. Her being there or me, it doesn’t make much difference, Anjiu City has always been ours."

"I see!" Pan Ruiyi nodded repeatedly. "So, from now on, Anjiu City will be peaceful and prosperous?"

"There are two sides to everything," Lila spoke in a neutral tone, as if viewing everything from a higher perspective, "ousting the corporate executives to give way to corrupt politicians, it’s hard to say. Even the most optimistic people must admit that due to education, external forces, supernatural mysteries, and various historical factors, there’s only so much that can be done at each stage. So we’re also just using this platform to do our own thing, research, trade, recruiting talent."

"Not bad at all!" Pan Ruiyi listened with surging excitement, suddenly understanding, and couldn’t help but wonder: Why was Farosa, so fickle and unpredictable, the Witch Goddess instead of the smart and reasonable Lila?

Only one question remained for Pan Ruiyi...

The people from the Intercontinental United Special Service Company reacted quickly, the attack was controlled in the blink of an eye, tipping the scales within four or five seconds. But why did the mayor get shot more than Lila, how did they rain down firepower on the mayor?

However, she knew that Lila wouldn’t answer this question, and with the situation set in stone, it wasn’t worth dwelling upon it.

"Now even the Intercontinental United Special Service Company is not favored," Lila said. "More orders will be transferred to us. Work hard, you’ve taken too many days off."

"All right," Pan Ruiyi nodded. "Back to work."

Lila closed her eyes, her mind calm as still water.

Meanwhile, at the scene of the homicide...

A worker from the Intercontinental United Special Service Company completed the cleanup of the scene and then went to the restroom at the city center.

When he came out, he had disguised himself as a janitor, nodding and bowing to the busy officials, and then left through the back door, getting on a garbage truck bound for the suburbs.

Upon reaching the suburbs, he quietly transformed into a tattooed street youth and walked back towards the city.

"I suppose you’re ready to head to Silla now," Lila’s voice came through his earpiece. "Nice shooting."

"Hmm," Du Qianqian smiled.

Farosa had given her a unique magical item, a gun with no sound and no appearance but lethal effectiveness.

Du Qianqian called it "King of Illusions."