Chapter 1816 – [Cyberpunk: Dimension Runner]

With Chairman Naomoto’s help, it was easy to schedule a visit to the Shanghai group headquarters. Chairman Wang Chen must have been looking forward to it, so he set the date quite tightly for two days later.

There may be various problems, but since the location is the headquarters of the Shanghai Group, which is no different from Yongdam Tiger’s Blood, there is no need to worry about security issues or anything like that, so it seemed like it was quick to set a schedule. In addition, if you look at the fact that they only ask you to bring the ingredients and cook, it means that they will prepare the rest themselves, so there is no room for problems.

First, apart from that, we prepare ingredients that Chairman Wang Chen would like and plan a dish. He is from China, so his favorite meats would be pork, duck, and chicken. So he had to focus on that aspect.

“Do you have any beef?”

“China is not an environment where beef dishes are delicious… It’s not like they don’t exist, but compared to pork or other things, it’s less.”

“Well, if you think about it, even in Chinese restaurants, there were no dishes containing beef, except for chadol jjamppong.”

“Most of them use pork. Otherwise, they use chicken or duck. Well, if you’re a Chinese restaurant that uses duck, it’s expensive, but they don’t have any.”

“I want to eat Peking duck!!!!!!”

“Then let’s try making it this time. It takes a bit of work, but it’s easy to make if Cherubim does the basic processing.”

“Oh!!!!!”

In the meantime, we rested for a while. I had work and was busy running around after that, so I need to get some rest.

In the meantime, we weren’t the only ones having fun and invited John to party with us. Aside from Keter, this was his first time seeing Eden and Eve, so he was shocked to see them when he came to the penthouse where we were staying.

“I heard she had a daughter… But were they twins?!”

“They’re not twins, they just look alike.”

“No, if your daughter is like that, what kind of mother is she? Did you take such a beautiful woman and make her lover?”

“I really have nothing to say about that.”

“Ladies, honestly, what do you think about your father leaving your mother to be her lover?”

“Wow!!!! The family has grown!!!!!”

“I’m glad I have multiple mothers.”

“This damned city is even starting to ruin home education. I knew it would come to this one day.”

Don’t think that my family’s upbringing was caused by the city’s atmosphere of desperation… No, isn’t it better for your mental health to think that way than to be unaffected? Hmm, I’m not sure.

Anyway, guests have arrived, so let’s cook. It’s a penthouse with everything you need, but the kitchen facilities are a bit poor, so cooking was a bit inconvenient, but I was able to cook quite well.

“Oooh, is this real meat and not similar meat made from cultured meat or synthetic proteins? Even the smell is different!!!!!”

“I did a lot, so I ate a lot. If I join the Shanghai group, I won’t be able to join the party or eat the food. Later, when the request is over, I’ll treat you to bluefin tuna, but meat and fish are different.”

“Just one meal would cost millions of dollars. It would be nice to have it as a last supper.”

“Don’t say things like that.”

Look at this guy talking like that because it’s the last minute.

As you may have noticed by now, John was terminally ill. Because humanity was disappearing from his eyes.

The human body is replaced by a machine, and the result is ultimately a loss of humanity. The only difference was whether it changed actively or passively.

If you actively lose your humanity, you will just become a crazy person going crazy, and if you passively lose your humanity… You will become a machine. It will look no different from a newly born android.

Well, I don’t plan on leaving it that way. He’s a pretty nice guy, so I’m thinking of helping him. It’s not like there’s no way to restore the humanity that’s been lost.

“There are good snacks, so we should have a drink together. Would you like to have a drink?”

“No, it’s okay to drink. It’s an unwritten rule among freelancers not to drink until the request is completed.”

“Oh, that’s why the bartender told you to come and have a drink after the request was over.”

“There are things like that, but there must be one or two people who drink alcohol during a request and then get shot and stabbed while drunk. So, unless they are quite a gangster, they don’t drink during a request.”

It’s similar to not drinking when driving. If you do it wrong, you may fall behind. No, drunk driving is better if you only drive yourself, so isn’t it a bit different?

Anyway, although there was no alcohol, I enjoyed the meal with John. To us, it was nothing special and just delicious, but to him at least, it was so delicious that he got emotional.

“Ah, it’s sweet…”

“I don’t know why you guys make exclamations like that.”

“That’s true, but what’s the problem? There are many different flavors, but the sweetness is the strongest. This dish… So what kind of meat is it?”

“Duck.”

“Yes, there’s sugar and sweets in the duck dish too, right? Then there’s nothing we can do about it.”

I can’t deny that there is a process of applying maltose to make the skin when making Peking duck.

In this way, John enjoyed the dish made with natural ingredients very deliciously. Perhaps thanks to the implant, I didn’t feel full even after eating like that, but I had enough calories to move around for at least a few days.

“I guess I won’t have to eat for a while. It’s been quite a while since I’ve eaten this much…”

“Ugh yum yum yum!!!!!”

“… That aside, why is your daughter still eating? She looks like she’s just a mortal, but how is it that she eats more than me, who has had her digestive system replaced with an implant?!”4

“My daughter eats a lot. It’s just her nature, so I’ll just ignore it and move on.”

“I guess I underestimated human limitations.”

Even though it is a human limitation, Eden is now a transcendent person. She has two abilities, so for now, she’s a dick that surpasses Rod’s level. Regardless of her level of power.

After finishing his meal, John decided to go back. It looks like there is quite a lot to prepare for the next Shanghai Group infiltration operation.

“I’ll have to hit all the implants I need. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the mega-corporations. So, let’s see then.”

“Okay, get ready to eat bluefin tuna.”

“Haha!!!! That’s good too. I’m looking forward to it.”

As soon as John returned, Eden noticed it and started talking to me.

From John’s attitude and mood, he knew that death was near. The following article is being said implicitly, so all is said and done. In the first place, what fool would accept a request to infiltrate a mega-corporation and steal information? I do it because my life is not a waste.

“Dad, is that guy okay?”

“You can help me later. All you have to do is feed me some spirit tears after work.”

“Oh, I guess that’s true.”

Spirit tears were an item that restored the humanity of even undead lich wizards who had become undead and lived for hundreds of years. How much worse would it be if it were someone else.

There is a way to help, so there is no problem. So, of course, what we need to worry about now are issues related to the Shanghai Group.

“If I rob you, you will know right away.”

“I’m going to go and rob it anyway, and then I’ll destroy the culprit, so there’s no need to go through the trouble. If the plan fails, it’s okay to go and do it then.”

“Then I will just prepare. But who do you think is the culprit in this incident? Chairman Wang Chen?”

“No, not him. He’s probably someone else… Or at least close to him.”

Since he has that much power, he must have killed people, destroyed evidence, and kidnapped or killed important personnel of other mega-corporations. If you don’t think you can cover such behavior, you won’t do it in the first place.

… There are people who have a rough guess. Since I haven’t looked closely, I’m just not sure with my intuition.

Anyway, the day of the party arrived. We use a separate person to send the ingredients to the Shanghai Group and all we have to do is go physically. I went a little early because I had to cook, but regardless, Eve and Keter also went together.

[Us too?]

“It’s just to attract attention. Our department still has a lot of secrets, and if you, who are not well-known even in the Naomoto Company, come out, attention will be drawn, and it will make things easier for John.”

“If that’s the case, why don’t we cause an accident and do a diversionary operation?”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea, but have you thought about it?”

“You can disguise it as a cyber-terrorism caused by people who are dissatisfied with the Shanghai Group because they are the only ones who eat dishes made with natural ingredients. At least with the technology here, I won’t be caught saying I did it, so there’s no problem.”

“If possible, don’t hurt anyone.”

“All you have to do is lightly touch the party facilities. Then no one will get hurt, and even if the security is inadequate, no one will be fired.”

“Why is that?”

“If you look at it anyway, at least one person will die because of your father. Is such cyberterrorism a problem when people die?”

“That’s true.”

I also told John the news separately. Although it was a sudden plan, I nodded and agreed as if I thought it would be a good idea.

“It’s not a bad strategy. If attention is focused on that, it will be easier for me to move. But is it possible? The Shanghai Group’s security must be pretty strong, right?”

“Our second daughter is a computer expert.”

“I don’t know what you mean by Taoist, but I guess it means he’s an excellent net rider. Well, fine. Leave the rest to me.”

Eventually, we arrived at the Shanghai Group and were faced with a tall building as large and majestic as the Naomoto Company headquarters. Even though the design is a little different, you can tell that a lot of money was spent, which is proof that the Shanghai Group is one of the largest companies.

The atmosphere is similar but different. Perhaps due to Chairman Wang Chen’s taste, the interior decorations were mostly red. I think that could be the case since red is a color with all kinds of good meanings in China. Even Chairman Naomoto’s headquarters has some parts decorated in a Japanese style.

However, apart from that… There is something that attracts attention. I look closely at the Shanghai Group security guard.

“… Cyber ​​Pass.”

“Cyberpass?”

“It’s an abbreviation for cyber psychopath. A person who replaces his body with an implant eventually loses his humanity and becomes a machine… It’s one of the common phrases in this city. To put it nicely, you could say he listens well to orders. To put it worst, they are nothing more than killing machines with no mercy or compassion.”

Oh, is that what we call a cyber pass here?

As I said before, it is one of those words where humans have lost their humanity. If Kristoff, the undead lich wizard who visits an extradimensional restaurant, goes as he was meant to and goes on the run as a true undead who hates the living, that is an active loss of humanity, then that is a passive loss of humanity.

It has become just a blunt machine with no self-assertion or individuality. Human emotions also originated from electrical signals, so even those were replaced by machines and emotions were lost.

“They say it’s easy to use… But there are quite a lot of them.”

“Are they troublemakers?”

“If they don’t follow the manual, they are easy to fool. However, since the manual was created by the company, it is difficult to fool them.”

“Then we get a free pass.”

When we proved to the security guards that we were guests from Naomoto Company, they cleared the way. There was a problem with John, who was a freelancer, but he was worried, so he talked to Chairman Naomoto and transferred him to our staff so that his status would not be a problem.

However, if you dig deeper, there is a possibility that it could become a problem, but I was able to pass it anyway because they were Cyberpass security agents.

First, I had to go up to the party hall, cook and do other things, and take care of various things. Eden and I will take care of that, and Eve, Keter, and John will be left alone. Next to Eve, to be exact. At least the weakest among them is Eve.

“John, you are Eve’s bodyguard, so stay by her side. Later, when we carry out the diversionary operation, you will leave under the pretext of going to see what happened.”

“At least you won’t fail, so don’t worry.”

The chefs and staff provided by the Shanghai Group prepare the party. As I worked, time started to pass quickly, and it was time for the party to begin.

However, what was a bit surprising was that people flocked in before the party even started properly, so we had a hard time serving the guests when we were not prepared, but as time gave us, we were able to understand why. This is because as soon as the party time came, Chairman Wang Chen entered the party hall on time.

“Oh!!!! There’s already a delicious smell wafting through the party!!!! Is this smell… Duck?”

“I prepared Peking duck. You can look forward to it because the skin will be crispy and delicious.”

“Ducks are good too!!!! Haha, it was a good job to create a place like this!!!”

Chairman Wang Chen, the highest ranking person in the Shanghai Group, came right on time, but he didn’t want to be seen late for no reason, so people gathered before the scheduled time.

For now, I left Chairman Wang Chen, who showed interest in cooking, for a moment… I turned my attention to Ana, the android who was quietly working behind him. The atmosphere is similar to Kana, but it feels completely different. And unlike when I didn’t pay much attention, I was able to say it clearly now that I was face to face.

“The culprit is in here…!!!”

“What are you doing when you already noticed?”

If I were to leave Eden playing the drip for a moment and continue what I was saying…

The person behind this attack is that bitch.