That presence makes all AI feel uneasy.
Back to reality, Blue Eyes finds his body already back at the high-end private club in the company square under his control.
After receiving a brief memory, he contacts the retrieval team.
"Did you bring the corpse back?"
The person on the other end of the phone swallows nervously and says
"By the time we arrived, there was nothing left at the scene. The cyborg’s corpse might have been taken by those people."
"..." Blue Eyes says calmly, "I see. Bring your people back."
He presses another contact on his phone.
"Prepare five million euros, transfer it to the account I give you, make sure everything is clean with no trails."
He is an advanced AI.
He doesn’t get angry, nor should he have any passionate emotions.
After returning, Lucy takes three showers in the bathroom, wishing she could scrub a layer of skin off.
She never thought Lin Miao’s coordinates would be deep in the sewer; she had never been to such a filthy place.
It stank, filthy, and full of sewage, not to mention she had to direct players to fish out five cadavers stuck with excrement from the sewage. Just thinking about it gives Lucy goosebumps, wanting to take another shower.
Despite the disgusting operation, they still had a substantial gain, considering the worth of the four players wasn’t much. The most valuable was the cyborg burned by the firewall.
Lucy comes out of the bathroom, changes into clean clothes, and heads to the office basement where Gloria is dismantling the cyborg’s prosthetics, the body rinsed multiple times.
This guy was thoroughly modified, a whopping 77%, his whole body equipped with combat prosthetics of high quality, estimating market value close to a million. These AIs really pull out all the stops just to kill a few players.
"What’s up with this guy? Why would he appear in the sewer to attack our people?"
Even Lucy is secretly shocked at this level of modification; it’s reckless.
"Is it cyber psychosis?"
"Even if not, it’s almost the same."
Gloria takes off her mask, her expression very serious.
"Even if not cyber psychosis, it’s nearly indistinguishable. This person didn’t consider coordination or bodily limits at all during modification; their entire bloodstream uses modification fluid... Is this person crazy?"
"Miss Lucy, did you kill this person?"
"No, by the time I got there, he was already dead."
"Then he must’ve been neural burnt by ICE, but it’s the least likely thing to happen. How did a cyber psychotic connect to the operatives’ backend interface?"
"I think this matter is connected to Lin; otherwise, how did he know what happened in the sewer?"
Lucy shows an unconcerned attitude.
Gloria nods, not really questioning how Lucy got the corpse back.
At this time, Lin Miao also rushes from Stone Ridge Mountain to the city.
"Gloria, how’s the disassembly going for that cyborg?"
Gloria quickly steps aside, "Everything is here."
Lin Miao looks at the disassembled corpse and nods.
"Clean it thoroughly, then let W wipe the system and store it. Lucy, try accessing its information terminal to see if you can retrieve any useful information, but be cautious, and retreat immediately if you encounter ICE. Don’t attempt forceful hacking."
Upon hearing about linking to the information terminal, Lucy reveals a disgusted expression. Yet she grits her teeth and places the hollowed-out skull dismantled by Gloria next to the hacker chair.
While Lucy starts probing the deceased’s information, Lin Miao speaks with Gloria again.
"From now on, I grant you the authority to assign tasks to the office’s external operatives. Your job is just one thing: ensure ERO’s ambulance is protected or initiate attacks against specific targets, regardless of whom the opposing side might be."
"Further, I’ll provide you and Mann a roster; it includes most Gold Tier and some Platinum Tier members of the Trauma Team. In the near future, these members will face severe risks. I hope ERO can prioritize rescuing these endangered ones."
Lin Miao specially emphasizes, "You must, absolutely must be ahead of the Trauma Team."
"But..." Gloria’s heart pounds. "Wouldn’t this provoke a retaliatory strike from the Trauma Team against us? If discovered, ERO and we would face harsh assaults."
The previous confrontation where they spirited away a company shareholder and director from the Trauma Team already cost two doctors. Launching a mass extraction operation, who knows how many people they’d kill to settle things.
"Aim for that effect," Lin Miao snaps his fingers. "From now, don’t come to the office again, nor actively contact the office operatives. Tasks will be issued via our intranet; all missions execute by the residents, even if he dies, it doesn’t matter."
Normally, the greatest risk in this matter is someone letting it slip, or hackers extracting intel, exposing the plan and Horizon Corporation.
But the executors are players; their silence is assured, withstanding all tortures and drug interrogations. If anyone dares hacker tactics, ICE will burn them to mutual destruction.
During this process, no one can trace the matters back to an emerging company dealing in arms sales.
The players previously linked with Gloria are ’dead’ due to various reasons, shielded from implicating her.
The Trauma Team’s forthcoming retaliation will heavily damage ERO. Lin Miao just needs Mann to ensure only Gloria’s safety is guaranteed.
Finally, spread rumors.
A Trauma Team going against their enemy won’t refute rumors—A Trauma Team achieved a breakthrough in medical technology, considering sinking the market, launching a new type of low-end membership, the clash with ERO proving the best evidence.
This kind of rumor spreads easily amid fierce market competition.
Under these conditions, ERO’s stock price will only further plummet.