The lights in the workshop suddenly began to flicker, unsettling River.
[River: Leo?]
[Leo: Damn it, run! I'll guide you—just bring the stuff out!]
[River: What's happening?!]
River was baffled. If Leo had been caught, his communication signal wouldn't be this clear and normal.
But why was Leo in such a hurry?
[Leo: Don't ask! No one knows you're here, and I haven't been exposed. Just move quickly!]
[Leo: Oh, and shut down the power on your way out!]
Since Leo insisted, River stopped asking questions. He got up and went to the power control room, following Leo's instructions to perform a massive power overclock.
Workshop 3 immediately lost power. Miraculously, no alarms went off in the police station.
The two quickly met up in the surveillance room and, pulling their hats low, casually walked past a few colleagues.
Every time they passed someone, their hearts pounded wildly.
But nothing happened—nothing at all—even as they got back into the car.
"Phew..."
Both let out a long sigh of relief.
[River: What the hell happened?]
[Leo: Well... uh... your station's storage servers burned up. I managed to suppress the alarms, but they'll start smoking soon, so it's better to let them go off.]
No sooner had Leo sent the message than the NCPD station's alarm blared!
[River: ?]
River's mind was a swirl of questions: You hacked our system. Shouldn't you be the one worried about equipment burning up? Why did our servers catch fire?!
[Leo: Long story short, it was a mistake caused by improper operation. But no worries—I've backed up some of the data that burned up.]
[Leo: You can even apply for funding to restore the data. I'll help. No real losses, right? Friendship discount.]
River let out another long sigh.
So you burn our equipment, and I still have to pay you to restore the stolen data?
[Leo: Don't worry, I've cleaned the traces. No one will figure it out.]
[Leo: I got the stuff. Come back.]
Leo emerged from the coolant pool—now warm water.
Jackie and V stood dumbfounded, each holding a water basin.
"What the hell are you guys doing?"
V spoke up:
"You were yelling 'damn it' earlier, and the pool water was bubbling. We thought you were getting fried and were ready to cool you down."
Leo waved dismissively.
"No way, I was just pulling off some high-level maneuvers."
Using his mechanical arms for support, Leo climbed out.
The coolant system, complete with heat exchangers and fans, circulated the liquid. Generally, a replacement wasn't needed unless the person inside was overcooked.
Leo walked to Evan's equipment room, registering the devices in his brain.
The dreamscape equipment wasn't overly complex; high-end braindance hardware could also retrieve memory data, though less comprehensively.
Still, as long as he could pinpoint the location of the people behind this operation, that was enough.
The top-tier equipment may prove useful in other neurological research.
On his way to Evan's workroom, Leo turned to find Jackie and V staring at him.
"What now?" he asked, puzzled.
"Your... prosthetics... look weird."
Leo glanced down to find his octopus-like mechanical arms twitching excitedly.
"It's nothing," he said, smacking the arms hard. They calmed down, resting obediently on the table.
V teased, "They look like sulking kids. Is it just me?"
"Never mind that. Bring in the Tyger Claws."
The two nodded, quickly placing their target—a gang member—onto the dream chair.
Leo's mechanical arms switched to specialist and medical tools, aiding him in implanting electrodes onto the gang member's brain cortex.
The man's exposed brain was soon covered in bioelectrodes.
As Leo powered on the dream device, it came to life:
[Dreamscape Device Assembled]
[Description: Reads unconscious brain activity to gather information. Using keyword stimulation, it retrieves data in specific directions.]
[Extremely detailed recordings of neural activity.]
[Tech Points Rewarded: 400]
[Current Tech Points: 3000]
In short, the dreamscape device allowed someone to experience another's dreams.
In a vegetative state, the target would respond instinctively, retrieving memories from the hippocampus.
It was like an interrogation.
Now came the decision: who would venture into the dream?
Leo glanced at Jackie and V lounging on the couch, then silently turned back.
He didn't doubt their guts, but a dream could mirror a target's physiological and psychological state.
Experiencing the mind of a murderer, rapist, or kidnapper was no pleasant task.
Luckily, Leo could handle the psychological effects—or delegate tasks to his prosthetic AI.
So, Leo donned the dream gear: a headband-like device with glowing electrodes stretching from his temples to his eyes, connecting via a neural interface at the back of his neck.
The machine began transferring brainwave and biofeedback data to Leo.
White light flared, and Leo sank into the gang member's dreamscape.
Keywords: Jotaro Kujo, human trafficking.
The electrode stimulation converted the keywords into biological signals, triggering the gang member's brain into dreaming.
Through the device, Leo entered his dream.
Leo found himself in a casino.
Dreams being what they are, things seemed off—while physically in a casino, his cybernetic eyes also displayed gambling logs, as though blending physical and digital gambling.
"Haha! You lost! You lost!"
A red-faced gambler pointed at the gang member.
"Lost it all... lost everything," the man mumbled before the scene abruptly shifted to a damp, dark home.
Slumped on a couch, he muttered incoherently until the door opened, and a younger boy walked in.
Suddenly, the man grabbed the boy's arm, shouting:
"Kenji, you've still got tuition money, right? Lend me some! I lost everything on a deal. Just a little more, and I can turn things around—"
"Idiot! Get lost! You ruined our parents with your gambling! I wish you'd die!"
Conflicting emotions surged within the man, but this wasn't their first argument.
The boy tried to enter, but the man's eyes turned to a nearby stick—
And he swung it at the boy's head.
"You don't have money? Fine. But you're worth money. You're worth money."
The man turned to face another figure in red and green clothing.
"How much is he worth?"
[TN: Wow this asshole tried to sell his brother]
Clap clap clap.
"Not bad. You've got some skill—hit him hard enough to kill him in one blow. But a dead person isn't worth anything."
The man continued, "But a living person, now that's different. They can be used as a sex doll. If that doesn't make enough, they can be filmed in intense black-market braindance recordings. If they die during filming, their organs can still be sold."
The man sneered. "But you went ahead and killed him with one strike. Now we even have to pay for the bullet."
"That… seems true."
"Fine. From now on, you work for me. Killing is still a talent, and I've got plenty of places that need people who can get the job done."
"I understand!"
The scene shifted. Hiroto was now in a speeding vehicle, hurtling down a road. He stood in the back of a van, admiring his newly upgraded cybernetic limbs, feeling powerful.
The van slowed down, and he leaped out. He grabbed a girl and dragged her into the van.
With his first successful capture, Hiroto was ecstatic, his mind racing with thoughts of all the ways the girl could be exploited, and how much money she could bring in.
But as these thoughts consumed him, his grip on her tightened—
Crack.
The girl was dead.
Hiroto collapsed onto the floor, only to be struck hard across the face.
The familiar voice spoke again, though now the man was dressed in a suit.
"You idiot! I told you to grab someone, not deliver me a corpse! Does this place look like a crematorium to you?"
"I'm sorry, boss."
"Sorry? You're not just stupid; you're useless! All you can do is kill people—and it's always the ones who aren't worth much."
After a moment of silence, the man sighed. "Forget it. You're done with this. We've got professional suppliers now. You just keep an eye on the delivery points in Kabuki."
"Got it, boss."
Hiroto stood up, turning away as the scene shifted again.
He looked up and saw the towering Arasaka Corporation building in the distance. Then he turned back to the current scene—an open, barren area littered with shipping containers.
The containers weren't holding goods. They were holding people.
"Brother Jae-Hyun, where do you even get all these people?"
Jae-Hyun Lee appeared, waving him off. "Don't ask questions you don't need answers to. Besides, this isn't your skillset. If it were, you'd be the one handling it, not me."
Jae-Hyun pointed toward the containers. "This batch is heading to Ho-oh. The red crates are for filming, the blue ones are for... let's say, 'rougher' purposes. I've already sorted it all out for the boss."
"What about the black crates?"
Jae-Hyun smirked, leaning in to slap Hiroto on the ear. "Don't ask things you shouldn't. Those are premium goods, meant for the upper class to enjoy."
"The Cloud Club?"
"I said, don't ask!"
Jae-Hyun slapped Hiroto again, the sting burning across his face.
The scene shifted once more.
Hiroto was now in a vehicle twisting and turning through narrow alleyways before pulling up to a club named Ho-oh.
The terrain, landmarks, lighting, and timing…
Everything was in place.