Both Hans and David wore federal-style tuxedos, which were the go-to sartorial option for most men at important occasions. Except for some differences in fabric and design due to the difference in affluence between individuals, they were very similar.
Bersha, who was holding onto Hans' arm, was clad in a long, body-hugging dress and had draped a sparkling necklace around her neck. She exuded an opulent and noble aura.
Eddie was too young to attend a reception of such a level yet.
The New Year Eve reception was held at the Strat Hotel, where the Pelan City government had booked an entire floor. They clearly valued the reception greatly.
David alighted the hovercar, and as soon as he saw Strat Hotel, the first thing that came to his mind was Amos, the head of the hotel's security team. Although Amos was dead, the fact that the other party had been spying on him meant that they were involved in the operation to kill him to some extent.
So was this hotel also involved, and if so, is the boss who instigated Amos an important figure in the hotel?
The questions popped up in his head, one after the other, as he observed the Shadow Servant hovering a few meters above his head. Since he had the Shadow Servant's perception of danger, and the reception was a high-level event, he didn't need to worry about his safety.
It had been nearly ten days since he got the Shadow Servant and during that period of time, he had gone from not being able to control himself when sharing the Shadow Servant's vision and hearing, to being able to easily look around with the Shadow Servant's eyes without affecting any of his own actions.
He walked straight into the Strat Hotel, as there was no need for him to go through checks. The multiple scanning devices there had automatically received the necessary information through the identity bracelets of the people entering the hotel. Those who did not have permission to go near the venue of the reception would immediately be removed from the premises by the guards.
"David, why don't you go play with your friends? I'll look for you later," Hans turned around and suggested to David after entering the venue of the reception.
David nodded, able to tell that Hans' status was much higher than what his predecessor remembered. Everyone in this reception hall took the initiative to bow to Hans whenever they saw him, some of them even proceeding with the Confederate salute.
Hans had to socialize with those people, but he understood that David didn't like that sort of thing. Hence, he was planning to only introduce David to some important people.
David parted ways with Hans and Bertha but did not head to the area where the other young people gathered. He was not friends with any of them anyway.
His predecessor was rather extreme when it came to socializing, and due to his hostile relationship with his father, his predecessor had never engaged in any social activities. It was as if the young men who were about his age and were living in the same city had no interaction with him at all.
That was rather reassuring for David. He had the memories of his predecessor, but the world was still unfamiliar to him, and with the presence of the powerful enemy, he always felt insecure. Whenever he saw a stranger, he could not help but wonder if the stranger was someone sent by the enemy to approach him.
He grabbed a cup of fruit juice from a waiter walking past him and took a gentle sip before walking towards a corner where no one seemed to be gathered.
As David slowly sipped on the natural fruit juice, he connected to the Shadow Servant and made it fly downwards and through the ground beneath him.
After a while, he unknowingly moved about ten meters to the side, while the Shadow Servant seemed to be looking for something in one of the rooms on the underground floor.
Before arriving at the reception, he had found a map of the Strat Hotel through Skynet. He had learned that only the most luxurious hall on the second floor would be used for the New Year Eve reception held by the city government, while there was a security room on the first floor.
'What's in the security room?' he wondered, pondering upon the thought.
It could contain the security optical computer of the entire Strat Hotel. David intended to find the location of the security optical computer and then use some special means to get information about the Strat Hotel.
"Hi, nice to meet you! Why haven't I seen you before?" a person with an enthusiastic voice asked, distracting David.
David looked up to see that a burly young man was looking at him, a glass of red wine in hand.
Although that young man was also wearing a Federal-style tuxedo similar to David's, it actually looked suave, like armor molded to the young man's body.
"Hello! My name is David Karl," David answered with a smile as he sipped on the glass of juice in his hand.
"I'm Maron," the stranger introduced himself while raising his wine glass. However, he suddenly seemed to have a thought and asked in surprise, "Oh my God! Your last name is Karl, so you must be the eldest son of the legendary Hans Karl… Is that right?"
"I don't remember being introduced to another David Karl, so yes, I am," David started with a shrug of his shoulders, feeling helpless about having become a legend.
"I saw you staying away from those raucous guys. I reckoned you probably weren't into socializing. We're the same!" Maron exclaimed as he pointed his finger towards a bunch of young men, who were all chatting merrily with some young ladies.
David gave Maron a sweeping glance, noting that he was rather enthusiastic and friendly for a stranger. Maron didn't seem to dislike socializing, so he felt that Maron was specifically looking to chat with him.
"David, I'm being serious! The only reason I'm at this reception is because I heard that a big shot would be coming over today!" Maron continued after he saw the disbelief on David's face.
"Big shot?" David asked as he looked at Myron, wondering what kind of big shot he was referring to.
The guests of the New Year's Eve reception were no ordinary people, all the high-ranking officials in the entire Pelan City attending the event. The rest of the guests would also feel honored to be invited. Hence, it could be said that all the elites of Pelan City would be gathered here at the reception.
While David and Maron were talking to each other, the hall suddenly fell quiet.
Turning their heads, they looked at the podium of the reception. At that moment, a few officials, whom David was somewhat familiar with, walked out.
"Wow!" All the guests applauded to welcome the arrival of the officials.
"Thank you all for attending the New Year's Eve Reception today!" an official exclaimed with a smile and a wave of his hand. His voice was automatically transmitted to the loudspeakers in the grand hall through his identity bracelet, reaching even the furthest corners.
Although David's predecessor was rather introverted and rarely exposed himself to the outside world, even he knew who the official who spoke was: the mayor of Pelan City, Bernard.
"Maron, where's the big shot you were talking about?" David asked Maron softly as he listened to Mayor Bernard's speech.
"The big shots often keep a low profile!" Maron whispered back, eyes darting around in an attempt to find his target.
David didn't bother with him, shifting his attention to the Shadow Servant once again, which couldn't move more than ten meters away from him. This made it harder for him to conduct his search.
Moreover, the picture he had obtained from Skynet did not come with size annotations, thus making it impossible for him to stand exactly above the security room.
He quietly moved a few more steps to the side. At this moment, the Shadow Servant passed through another wall and a surveillance wall appeared in the Shadow Servant's eyes.
There were nearly a hundred small windows on the surveillance wall, each of which displayed the corresponding surveillance content.
There were only two security personnel seated in front of the surveillance wall, but with the help of the smart system, the security personnel only needed to pay attention when the security system sent out an alarm. They did not have to scrutinize each and every one of the guests.
David's target was not the surveillance wall, but the cabinet next to it, which was locked with a security lock.
Even if the Electronic Warfare Retaliation Master, Edna, was still alive, she would not be able to hack into the security optical computer without being detected.
If the Electronic Warfare Retaliation masters were to do so in the city, they would be courting death. A forceful attack would inevitably trigger Skynet's tracking.
The signals of a hotel of such a large size was unlike David's residence, which could be blocked using a signal blocker.
However, David himself was different. The Shadow Servant's stealth and penetrative abilities allowed him to put his Electronic Warfare Retaliation abilities to good use, which was why he had dared to attend the New Year's Eve reception while still intending to hack into the security optical computer of the hotel.
Mayor Bernard continued on with his speech, and David's Shadow Servant silently passed through the cabinet of Strat Hotel, which required a high-level clearance to unlock.
An optical computer that was as tall as a human then appeared in front of the Shadow Servant. When David saw its model number, he couldn't help but think, 'They're really generous!"
The security optical computer was a small, server-level optical computer which could be used as the main optical computer of a starship. It was worth millions of credit points, meaning that the Strat Hotel placed a strong emphasis on their security.