Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 823 - 677: Mouse Trap

Chapter 823: Chapter 677: Mouse Trap

Seeking Shadow took down her Ion Sword "Shadow Kill" from the wall of the director’s office.

"The director is going to take action personally..." Ziyang Kui couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in excitement at the sight of the gleaming Ion Sword.

The immensely powerful ion weapon, with only ten in the entire Nestor Corporation, and Seeking Shadow held one of them, the "Shadow Kill."

It’s hard to imagine how many wrongdoers have had their heads crushed and spines severed by this Ion Sword.

"This is the first time since the Bureau of Secrets was established that we have encountered such a tricky situation, and it is not against mystic creatures, but against vermin within the company. Our current clues are not enough to reveal the truth, and more importantly, we were forced to use a very young, very, very young spy. I think she must be in trouble, there’s no reason not to rescue her," Seeking Shadow said.

"Wow, we must save the little baby," A40 said in a hurry.

Most of the time, A40 thought about how to hack at people. Now, reminded by Seeking Shadow, it recalibrated its action priority, placing the rescue of Agent Xu Cheng at the top.

Xu Cheng perfectly smuggled the message out of the lab, which made A40 respect her even more – worthy of being the boss’s daughter, indeed very reliable.

Only 8 years old and so capable, won’t she be invincible at 80? A40 was very optimistic about Xu Cheng.

It reorganized the character entries stored in its file unit’s memory, moving Xu Cheng from "harmless" to "rivals to be observed."

Once Xu Cheng grew up a bit, A40 would duel her, and that would surely be an exciting contest.

Afterward, Seeking Shadow personally led the three members of the Counteraction Seventh Section and selected four of the Bureau of Secrets’ agents adept at stealth to form an eight-person team.

"Stealth is of the utmost importance," Seeking Shadow emphasized to them. "The enemy is inside Nestor Corporation, and we have preliminary evidence of their guilt, but we have to approach them circuitously as if nothing is wrong, then eliminate this gang altogether and purify Nestor Corporation with justice."

"Understood!"

"We will not fail the mission!" the other agents solemnly accepted the orders.

Just then, a visitor came looking for Seeking Shadow.

Seeking Shadow checked the entrance camera, and a Witch with huge spider limbs attached to her back was crossing the street, looking particularly worried.

"Her information... Mishima Naomi, a resident of Aizu City, she had no trace of activity for 5 years and only returned to the Northern Archipelago about a month ago," Saiguchi Ryuuken identified her using facial recognition to check the files.

"Did she come to report something?" Ziyang Kui asked in confusion.

A40 went straight out to greet her.

"Are you strong?" A40 questioned.

"Don’t speak nonsense. I am called Tsuchigumo, Xu Cheng’s Ninjutsu teacher, and she..." Tsuchigumo frowned, "she is in danger now."

"How did you come by this information?" A40 pressed.

It wasn’t used to act with strangers, having only just accepted the new recruits from the Counteraction Seventh Section, and now there was this strange woman with giant spider legs.

"I can’t say. But you will definitely need me, and I will certainly be of use. My appearance at your doorstep at this moment says a lot," Tsuchigumo said cautiously, feeling the phone in her pocket heating up slightly.

"What does Xu Cheng like to eat the most?" A40 asked.

"Bubble tea," Tsuchigumo replied.

"You’re not her Ninjutsu teacher, leave," A40 checked and found it did not match the profile data.

"I know Mizuiro Yoshioka, does that count?" Tsuchigumo quickly said.

"What’s Mizuiro Yoshioka’s original name?" A40 persisted.

"Bax," Tsuchigumo answered without hesitation.

"Good brother, I’ll cover you," A40 took Tsuchigumo onto the Shuttle Machine.

"Never thought that the first commission Renwang Security got on this island would be to save a child..." Tsuchigumo sighed.

"I hope you can help us get in touch with Mizuiro Yoshioka; I have important information to convey to her," Seeking Shadow said.

"Is Mizuiro Yoshioka that important?" Tsuchigumo remembered Mizuiro Yoshioka never dealt with company affairs.

"She is now the highest-ranking officer of the Witch Division. She might help us turn the most unfavorable situation around, so that all the villains are punished," Seeking Shadow said with hope for Mizuiro Yoshioka.

"...Not really, she’s just the deputy chief, the Witch Division has a chief, doesn’t it," Tsuchigumo said somberly.

"If you can meet the Chief of the Witch Division in person, you are either the luckiest witch in the world or the most unfortunate, most miserable witch," Seeking Shadow said calmly.

A40 observed Seeking Shadow. Curious, Seeking Shadow really seemed like a living person now, not like before, at least before the battle at Jialong Slope she used to be a bit stiff, but after that fight at Jialong Slope, it’s as if Seeking Shadow developed a more complete personality.

She has even established a department like the Bureau of Secrets from scratch, managing thousands of personnel, suppressing the mystic situations all over the Northern Archipelago. A40 itself could never do such a thing; Seeking Shadow was indeed more delicate, with a more complete and advanced emotional unit.

Using justice as a bond, she had brought together such a group of partners with a basic consensus – outstanding!

A40 walked up and patted Seeking Shadow on the shoulder.

"I acknowledge you!" A40 said.

"...Idiot," Seeking Shadow began to pack A40 into a box and put it under the luggage rack of the Shuttle Machine, "I’ll turn you on when it’s time to fight."

"Alright!" A40 said.

Saiguchi Ryuuken couldn’t help but turn back to talk to Seeking Shadow while flying the Shuttle Machine.

"By the way, what about the Ratmen, Chief? What should we do with the news about the Ratmen? Now that the truth is out, it has nothing to do with Ratmen at all," Saiguchi Ryuuken hastily asked.

"No, no, isn’t this the most suitable situation?" Ziyang Kui spoke up from the side.

"What’s suitable?" Saiguchi Ryuuken was puzzled.

Ziyang Kui glanced at Tsuchigumo who was meditating in the far end of the cabin and quietly walked over to Saiguchi Ryuuken.

"Do you want Nestor Corporation’s reputation to be completely destroyed?" Ziyang Kui asked.

"... The Nestor Corporation that changed our lives... The company that did so many good things... indeed..." Saiguchi Ryuuken sighed.

"Chief! You heard it too... Why don’t we just say that the Ratmen did it... This point doesn’t need to be ’corrected’, everyone tacitly agrees, everyone is satisfied. We’ll take out the mastermind behind the lab, stick to the original story for the public, and say that Ratmen killed these seven people. The public doesn’t need to know the truth. Is there anyone more suitable to frame for the crime than the Ratmen? Everyone will believe it was them," Ziyang Kui urged with a rushed tone.

Seeking Shadow remained silent.

"Chief, for the sake of Nestor Corporation’s reputation, let the Ratmen die. For justice, this is a necessary sacrifice," Ziyang Kui said with a bitter smile, looking toward Seeking Shadow.

...

On the other hand, in Asakusa District.

The news of the seven people from Haruto Pool Shop getting killed by Ratmen spread, and the residents, already frightened by the already chaotic and barely livable environment, became increasingly fearful. Now with the murderous Ratmen lurking, it was enough to terrify anyone, making it necessary to lock doors tightly at night, not daring to leave the slightest vulnerability.

The Nestor Community Committee in Asakusa District also held meetings to discuss how to resolve the worsening Ratmen problem.

In a meeting room transformed from an old shrine, 20 local representative residents discussed matters. They were all prominent locals with complex backgrounds, including large landowners, small shop owners, retired baseball players, intellectuals, gang leaders, local security forces, and respected elders with the energy and time to participate in general management.

"The Ratmen have been lurking in our district for many months, but since they didn’t dare to disturb us, we let them be. We never expected them to start killing people."

"Listen to me, the local property prices have been falling for 20 consecutive months. With this Ratmen incident, it really has no appeal at all."

"People moved away, schools moved away, hospitals moved away, we exhausted ourselves trying to attract businesses, hoping to get some factories to operate locally, but they said they ran out of money before winter even ended, and they are reluctant to come set up. With the Ratmen causing trouble, they’re even less likely to come."

"Is Asakusa District just going to perish like this? Today, another 100 households listed their properties for sale on the website."

"There are also a ton of petitions and disturbances, with banners demanding the extermination of Ratmen, insisting on rooting out and destroying their lairs. If we can’t do it, they want us to get lost, saying it’s our incompetence!"

"Damn it... We must kill some Ratmen."

"Aren’t Ratmen just rats that can walk upright? Aren’t they just humans with a lot of rat-like features?" said Kanemura, the experienced community administrator. "We can handle the Ratmen problem the same way we deal with rats. We can have mouse traps, except these are specially designed for catching Ratmen."

"Ratmen like to eat, we could buy some food..."

"That’s too inefficient, gentlemen, all you need to give me is a piece of land near the Ratmen’s hangout area, and then get ready with cameras, media personnel, and security forces," Kanemura said with a smile.

Hearing this, everyone became curious and wanted to know what method Kanemura had come up with to lure the Ratmen.

At dusk, as the sunset faded, Kanemura found the right piece of land.

This piece of land was about 500 meters away from the scene at Haruto Pool Shop, surrounded by dense trees and grass, except for the sparsely vegetated center caused by soil issues.

Scattered among the trees were piles of human industrial waste, old factories, and old houses, in fact, remnants of the city covered by rewilded grassland.

It was here that Kanemura set down an old large projection machine, preloaded with videos, and started a livestream replay of the idol "Saint Sally," especially the loop of mouse squeaks selected by her fans, basically a chorus of mouse sounds.

Then Kanemura called for people to ambush nearby, waiting for the Ratmen to be lured in one by one.

"Wow... It’s no wonder you’re the one."

"Indeed, ’Ghost Kanemura’ who dominated the school department in his student days, you certainly have strategies!"

"Now we get to see Ratmen."

"Those guys... can only be lured out this way."

"If this method works, it will be popularized around the world, and all Ratmen will be netted in one fell swoop."

"Isn’t today the first day of the extermination of Ratmen?" whispered the other security personnel with each other.

At first, it was very quiet, with only the voice of Saint Sally and her imitation of cute mouse squeaks on the wasteland.

After about 30 minutes, the first Ratman appeared.

The onlookers were extremely excited, secretly setting up camera lenses, capturing this thrilling moment.

The Ratman, curious, crawled up to Saint Sally’s replay machine, with deep brown eyes, dirty fur, skin and bones, seeming particularly thin from hunger.

It sat about a meter in front of the device, hugging its knees, swaying its body to the music played with the livestream replay.

Soon after, the second Ratman also appeared, initially standing at a distance, squeaking to its companion to back off, but its eyes were gradually captivated by the image of Saint Sally on the smart screen, involuntarily walking toward the center.

Then came the third, fourth...

The onlookers were more and more thrilled, their faces blooming with joy, this method of luring Ratmen was superb, ready to catch all the gutter rats in the community.

The others were even more overjoyed, for many of them, it was the first time in their lives to witness the existence of Ratmen first-hand.