Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 819 - 674: Gathering the Wreckage

Chapter 819: Chapter 674: Gathering the Wreckage

Saiguchi Ryuuken watched as the store manager left.

"Let’s wrap up our investigation here," he said, turning to his two teammates from Countermeasure Division Seven.

"Interdepartmental investigations can be quite troublesome; it’s no longer something us newcomers can handle," Ziyang Kui attempted to explain.

"Besides, those seven bodies were sent to the N-003 Laboratory, located in the suburbs, a new high-tech research institute established by the Research Department, right in the wilds," Saiguchi Ryuuken sighed.

"I want to investigate this to the end," A40 stated.

"Why? You? A Rookie?" Saiguchi Ryuuken frowned, "You... this guy..."

"Are not quite normal," Ziyang Kui interjected, saying the words Saiguchi Ryuuken had left unsaid.

"Countermeasure Division Seven moves together; I’m truly afraid you’d run around committing murder. I propose we end our investigation here, follow the rules, relay the message to our superiors, and then decide on further action. You are now a member of the Bureau of Secrets; you cannot do as you please," Saiguchi Ryuuken earnestly advised A40.

A40’s Mind Core Chip went through a cycle.

What to do next? Go solo? Leave on my own? Work with my friends?

In its emotional module, the prevalent feeling was anger.

A40 was angry that its work partners were not cooperating, because they were obviously weaker than A40, and the stronger should dominate the weaker. Yet now, they were spouting all this stuff about rules and reasoning.

Confronting this "anger" code was the rational module, which tended to acknowledge the logic matrix composed of these information entries, continuously adding higher priority instructions to the action logic tree to prevent A40 from taking rash action.

The rational and emotional modules interacted, generating new patches amidst the conflict and friction, overlaying the original processing program.

Thus, A40 was suddenly not so "angry" anymore. Its intelligence had leveled up, receiving a new experience from self-repair.

Previously, the other two had seen the color of A40’s eyes change from a pale white to a warm red, and then to a pure red. They were ready to draw their weapons for self-defense, but in an instant, the color of A40’s eyes returned to a harmless pale white.

"You’re right," A40 agreed with them, "But we should go directly to ’Director’ Seeking Shadow of the Bureau and have a good talk about this. I believe this is not just a common Rat killing issue, we can pull out a long string of clues from it."

The matter was elevated to Director Seeking Shadow of the Bureau of Secrets, who, upon receiving the firsthand information, expedited the handling of the case.

"I believe they are engaging in some unjust deeds, and this tumor is inside Nestor Corporation," declared Seeking Shadow definitively setting the tone for the entire case.

"What should we do?" A40 asked.

The backup plan in A40’s chip was to challenge Seeking Shadow to a duel if her answer was unsatisfactory.

"I’ll first check with the Research Department to see why they took those seven bodies," Seeking Shadow said, sitting upright, with the communication unit on her forehead constantly emitting blue light, signaling ongoing communication with Nestor Corporation’s headquarters.

In the director’s office, members of Countermeasure Division Seven waited for results from Seeking Shadow.

"It doesn’t seem to be going smoothly," observed Ziyang Kui.

"It’s tough to conduct interdepartmental actions. The Bureau of Secrets is the Bureau of Secrets, and the Research Department is the Research Department. Although the Bureau of Secrets reports directly to President Lila, the Research Department and the Witch Division are entwined," Saiguchi Ryuuken whispered.

"So, this is a dispute between the President and the Witch Division? Is the Witch Division stronger than the President?" Ziyang Kui asked curiously.

"That is a topic we should not discuss," emphasized Saiguchi Ryuuken.

A40 placed its knife on its knee, repeatedly simulating the fight with that gigantic Black Ratman in its combat model.

To kill alone, to enter the Rat Tide, to annihilate all the Rats, and then to kill the Rat Witch - that would also count as a satisfying sacrifice for the blade.

Although the mysteries were manifold, the one certain thing was that seven people in Haruto Pool Shop were killed by Ratmen, just like the initial Rat Tide; some Rats must pay the price.

Whether with blood or fire, the murderer must pay with their life.

"People from the Research Department are giving me the runaround, saying the headquarters has no relevant intelligence stored and advising us to go directly to the N-003 Nestor Advanced Laboratory. Let’s go; it’s 60 kilometers from here," Seeking Shadow promptly got ready, unlocking a heavy-duty Shuttle Machine on the landing pad, preparing to personally investigate the laboratory.

With such high information technology, it was impossible to be so disconnected. The personnel of the Bureau of Secrets couldn’t help but ponder deeply over this matter.

Initially thought to be a Rat cannibalism case, now it had swelled in scope.

Upon arriving at the N-003 Laboratory, they left the Shuttle Machine on the external landing pad and entered the laboratory lobby.

A Synthetic Human clothed in a white dust-proof suit came to greet them.

"Welcome," she said, leading the formidable team from the Bureau of Secrets into the reception room, inviting them to sit down, and even brewed tea for them as if there were no sense of crisis at all.

"We’ve come regarding the seven missing corpses from Haruto Pool Shop. According to the store manager, they were purchased by the N-003 Laboratory of the Research Department," Seeking Shadow got straight to the point.

"Yes," the Synthetic Human replied succinctly.

"Why would you do that?" Seeking Shadow pressed further.

"To collect fresh organs."

When she answered so matter-of-factly, everyone from the Bureau of Secrets got angry.

"How dare you!" Saiguchi Ryuuken couldn’t help but exclaim, the issue violating his long-held beliefs in justice.

"They were people too!" exclaimed Ziyang Kui.

"You better give me an explanation," Seeking Shadow demanded coldly, while A40 was already poised to erupt.

"They volunteered," said the Research Department’s Synthetic Human.

"Are you joking? How can ’corpses’ volunteer for body donations? Are you taking us for fools?" Saiguchi Ryuuken clenched his teeth.