Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 818 - 673 Giant Ratman

Chapter 818: Chapter 673 Giant Ratman

When the three members of Countermeasure Unit Seven arrived, they saw that a crowd had already gathered around Haruto Pool Shop, which is located on a bustling commercial street, and now the flow of people was even denser.

"Who are all these people?" Saiguchi Ryuuken had seen them while on the shuttle machine.

"I couldn’t scan them," A40 used its ocular scanner to observe the crowd. Most of the people carried anti-scanning devices, not wanting their details to be detected, and the rest were civilians, some of whom had even traveled from other districts tens of kilometers away.

"It would be so much better if it were that era with massive surveillance. A case like this would be solved in no time. Look at that pole, that rooftop, they are perfect places for cameras." Ziyang Kui got off the vehicle first and readied the submachine gun in her hands.

"We’d better keep up too, let’s give the Bureau of Secrets some face. Let’s go, A soldier. Are you good at making nice with strangers?" Saiguchi Ryuuken took out his own credentials from under the console.

"No good at that." A40 was only good at chopping people up.

"That’s why we need to work together, each playing to our strengths, otherwise we’ll clash with the citizens here." Saiguchi Ryuuken attempted to bridge the gap with A40.

"That would be too cool," A40 thought about killing all these onlookers.

"You sound like a cyber psychotic... If you break the law, you’ll be upgraded on the wanted list, and stronger people will be sent after you. Don’t you get it, A soldier?" Saiguchi Ryuuken was anxious.

"Then I’ll just defeat and kill those who come after me, I’ll become stronger and stronger, and then I can become the world’s top master, awesome," A40 said.

Saiguchi Ryuuken realized that this "A soldier" was more frightening than he imagined.

He hurried off the shuttle machine, showing the Nestor Corporation’s Bureau of Secrets credentials to the citizens, signifying that his party was taking over the situation.

"Can you guys take care of the rats?"

"Ratmen are so scary..."

"Seven people died here!"

"We need to figure something out, we can’t have Ratmen burrowing into our place."

"Do something useful! Nestor Corporation!" the citizens were clamoring.

Ziyang Kui beckoned them into the pool shop. Since a murder had occurred, the business was interrupted. Still, the place was crowded, especially the private room where the dead were, now swarmed with internet celebrities, live streamers, and media personnel, almost shoving their cameras onto the bloodstains.

The staff of the pool shop sat behind the bar, doing nothing, not daring to interfere with the crime scene.

"Hello viewers, this is Blue Sky Fast Report, and as you can see, this is the place where the Ratmen launched their attack..."

"Ah, my family! Now we are at the place where the Ratmen killed people, I’m here personally, ah, this is Haruto Pool Shop, brothers who talked about sending planes to Haruto Pool Shop can come over now, look at this bloodstain, look at this pool cue..."

"...according to reports from nearby residents, last night there were groups of Ratmen roaming, and several of them snuck into Haruto Pool Shop and killed the seven people in this room, look at these scattered blood stains... how terrifying!"

The scene was dominated by a cacophony of noisy media and live event gatherers seeking novelty.

Ziyang Kui stood at a corner overlooking the scene, turned to look back at Saiguchi Ryuuken and A40, and showed a wry smile.

"We can’t find out anything like this," Ziyang Kui shook her head.

"Even if there was evidence, it’s been destroyed by so many people," Saiguchi Ryuuken planned to go find the pool shop staff to retrieve the surveillance footage first.

All other private rooms were closed, only the scene of the murder was left with the door open, as if even the shop owner could not stop these enthusiasts.

A40, with its metallic body, squeezed in forcibly into the room where the crime took place, others tried to confront it but couldn’t match the power of A40’s electric motor.

Upon entering the room, A40 saw a standard-sized green pool table in the center, an automatic pool table hanging overhead, and splatters of blood on the floor that had already been trampled beyond recognition by footprints, as if people found it amusing to step on bloodstains.

It looked around at the surging enthusiastic crowd; this was no major event, yet they came rushing with unexpected zeal. Was it for attracting attention, for earning funds? A40 did not quite understand their motivation, only knowing that they were a hindrance.

If not for Saiguchi Ryuuken shouting at it from a corridor away, A40 was ready to test its blade on a few relatively strong men inside. Now, hearing the commotion, it squeezed back to discuss with Saiguchi Ryuuken.

"Any clues?" A40 asked.

"The surveillance footage only captured the entrance. One hour before the incident, indeed three Black-Furred Ratmen forced their way in. They weren’t seen leaving, they might have taken another route," Saiguchi Ryuuken sent the files to A40.

A40 opened up its head for better cooling, then started to read the footage.

Indeed, it saw two Black-Furred Stout Rats that were very noticeable in the Rat Plague of Aizu City; they stood at 1.7 to 1.9 meters tall, much stronger than the average person, able to easily beat multiple humans to death in a one-on-one fight, even those who were minimally modified.

Behind these two Black-Furred Rats was an even larger Ratman, which had to bend its back to barely squeeze through the shop’s front door.

"I understand now," A40 nodded.

"What?" Saiguchi Ryuuken was curious. A soldier seemed to have a plan.

"Do you remember the Rat Witch from the Rat Plague of Aizu City?" A40 asked.

"I remember—she was mentioned in the news, she even climbed up to the top of Shenkong Tower to accept interviews from the media. I was just a police academy student back then, and this was specially used as internal material for our lessons," Saiguchi Ryuuken remembered clearly.

"She’s stirring up trouble again, using her Power to enhance an extremely brutal Giant Ratman. How could a normal Ratman grow to that size?" A40 understood.

"And the boss is very odd," Saiguchi Ryuuken nodded. "The owner of the pool shop hasn’t shown up and said he would come back in the afternoon. He would ride a motorcycle when he returns."

"I have another clue," A40 told Saiguchi Ryuuken. "—There was no fight in that room just now."

"What do you mean?" Saiguchi Ryuuken was puzzled.

"There were no signs of resistance left behind. Those seven people were killed without any defense."

"How do you know that? Can you scan for it? It was so chaotic there..." Saiguchi Ryuuken was confused.

"Intuition."

"How can a Synthetic Human have intuition?" Saiguchi Ryuuken said subconsciously.

"I just do." A40, not good at explaining things, raised its Alloy Warblade, "They didn’t have a chance to fight to the death. They just died, probably ambushed. The fight ended very quickly, within a few seconds they were killed. Or maybe there was no fight at all."

Ziyang Kui wandered outside the Haruto Pool Shop and took photos of each area.

"The back door indeed had a series of huge Rat footprints." The pictures taken by Ziyang Kui confirmed the news.

As they talked, other media personnel also approached to ask questions.

"Is this incident really the work of the Ratmen?" one newspaper reporter asked.

"Everything is inconclusive." Saiguchi Ryuuken made a gesture that conveyed no information, and then took A40 and Ziyang Kui back to the Shuttle Machine to wait for the pool shop owner to return.

Ziyang Kui ordered takeout for them; they consumed two large boxes of rolls and a piece of energy battery.

"Eliminate the Ratmen!"

"We need to catch all the Ratmen and drive them away!"

"They are too brazen!" The outraged citizens around them pointed and commented. They lived in this community and were very indignant.

The local Committee of the Nestor Community also sent a notice to the Countermeasure Section Seven, asking them to resolve the situation as soon as possible. The pressure was enormous, and Seeking Shadow gave Countermeasure Section Seven three days to investigate.

"I used to be on equal footing with Seeking Shadow, but now I am under her orders." A40 clearly resented the newly added time limit in the mission brief.

"Look— the pool shop owner is back. The staff told me about him." Saiguchi Ryuuken saw a stylish black motorcycle arrive at the door of the pool shop, and a man flipped over and dismounted.

The owner of the Haruto Pool Shop, Nakai Jouichi, was a skinny, tall, bald man with black-framed glasses and a sullen look.

"The owner of the Haruto Pool Shop? We are from Countermeasure Section Seven. Let’s talk over there." Saiguchi Ryuuken stopped him and took him onto the Shuttle Machine.

The owner did not resist, looking resigned to his fate as he sat down in his original spot on the Shuttle Machine.

"Everything you say will be recorded." Saiguchi Ryuuken started the recording device.

"I’ve already explained to the media, people from TV stations, overseas media, and some detective agencies, news agencies, I’ve said it many times, you’ll know if you see this. I won’t change what I’ve said." The shop owner Nakai Jouichi’s expression was somber as he took out a Separation Chip from behind his ear and handed it to Saiguchi Ryuuken.

Saiguchi Ryuuken checked the chip.

According to the manager’s report, Ratmen had been sighted in the nearby area often, with the earliest being spotted crawling in the snow last November, frequently leaving behind a large number of footprints.

Their presence threatened the safety of the shop owner and occasionally scared the nearby idle residents. It seemed they had a grudge with one of them, and just two days ago, they directly sneaked into the shop to kill, using extremely cruel methods.

"The seven people who died, they were long-time billiards friends, not very legitimate in their work, who frequently took day-laborer’s physical jobs nearby, that kind of garbage picking jobs, doing sneaky things, the kind who scandalize and intimidate people, small-time hustlers... from the past to the present it’s the same, five of them have even spent some time in Nestor Prison. They also complained to me about seeing Ratmen; maybe they threw stones at the Ratmen, maybe they were overheard cursing the Ratmen, and then the Ratmen sent revenge, killing people in my shop," manager Nakai Jouichi explained to them.

"Have you seen those particularly tall Ratmen? So tall it’s terrifying?" A40 asked.

"Yes, I have seen those especially tall ones, tall as a truck, roaming around at night. They weren’t murdering people back then." Manager Nakai Jouichi explained.

"When?"

"Two or three weeks ago, it hasn’t been long since it came here."

"What about the bodies of the deceased?" Saiguchi Ryuuken asked.

"..." Manager Nakai Jouichi frowned.

"What? Did you hide them? We’ve always been wondering, seven people died, but the bodies are gone." Saiguchi Ryuuken pressed.

"Don’t you know?" Manager Nakai Jouichi smiled wryly, "Aren’t the departments of Nestor Corporation very familiar with each other? Like giving each other a heads-up about things?"

"What do you mean?" Saiguchi Ryuuken didn’t understand his implication.

"I just went to take care of this, to collect the final payment. Then listen to them, not to make a big deal out of it, resolve it quietly, and then you guys came along, it turns out you don’t communicate, huh?" Manager Nakai Jouichi sighed.

"You sold the bodies? To whom? How dare you do such a thing? For organs?" Ziyang Kui was shocked.

"The Nestor Research Department bought all seven bodies," Nakai Jouichi said.