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The incident in the Hollow came and went even faster than it had appeared. After the victims were rescued, the evening news gave it a five-minute slot before moving on; by the next morning, the citizens of New Eridu had completely stopped caring. That is the reality of living on the edge of the void: a three-legged rat is a rarer sight than a spatial distortion.
Kenji rode his motorcycle back to Sixth Street. As he passed Random Play, he saw a familiar figure with short blue hair waving him down as if she had been specifically waiting for his return. He pulled over, killed the engine, and pulled off his helmet.
"Movie buff, over here!" Belle greeted him.
The address made Kenji's eyebrow twitch. She used to call him "Big Brother" before his secret was out; now that she knew he was onto their Proxy business, she had dropped the honorifics entirely. It seemed his status as a "regular" had been revoked.
"What is it now?"
"Let's talk inside." Belle spoke with a conspiratorial whisper.
Kenji followed her into the shop. It was the same projection room as before, and the same siblings looking like they were facing a life-altering crisis. Kenji sat on the sofa while Belle and Wise sat opposite him, their faces set in twin "pained masks."
"What I'm about to tell you... don't be scared," Belle said, her expression dead serious.
"I am a Security Officer," Kenji replied, matching her tone. "I don't get scared. I just get tired."
"We were just... held hostage by an artificial intelligence."
Kenji stared at her. A giant mental question mark appeared above his head. He looked at Wise, whose expression was just as haunted. The siblings were perfectly synchronized in their dread.
Kenji reached for a pen and a notepad on the coffee table. He quickly sketched a Bangboo with long rabbit ears. "Artificial intelligence?"
"It's not a Bangboo!" Belle snapped, slapping the paper out of his hand. "It's a real AI! The kind with self-awareness, a personality, and a terrible sense of humor! She calls herself Fairy. She hacked her way into my HDD, recognized me as her master, and then had the gall to call me the most beautiful Proxy on the Inter-Knot. I mean, we all know that, but—"
"Pfft."
Kenji couldn't help it. The sound escaped before he could stifle it. Seeing Belle glare at him, he pressed his fist against his lips, struggling to maintain his professional composure.
"What are you laughing at?"
"I just remembered a happy thing."
"What happy thing?"
"My female superior asked me out," Kenji shared with a straight face.
Technically, Zhu Yuan had asked him to meet her at the training ground to learn close-quarters combat. In Kenji's mind—and in the mind of any sleep-deprived office worker—that was basically a date.
"I am not joking, Kenji!" Belle knocked on the table, her face flushing with indignation.
"Right, right... pfft."
"You're clearly laughing at me! You're not even hiding it!"
"I've received professional training, Belle," Kenji said, finally catching his breath. "No matter how funny the situation is, I won't laugh. Unless, of course, I can't help it."
Belle gritted her teeth, looking like she was ready to leap across the table and fight him. Fortunately, Wise was the more level-headed of the two.
"Belle, I think you should explain the context," Wise reminded her.
After a few more minutes of glaring at Kenji, Belle took a deep breath and explained the mess.
"So," Kenji summarized, his "Genius" cognitive speed kicking in. "You assisted some Tunnel Raiders in searching for that stolen research data in the Hollow. But because a hacker hit your home network, your Hollow navigation data was deleted. To lead the Raiders out of the maze, you had to activate the stolen prototype and transplant its code into a Bangboo. Now, this AI lives in your computer and is holding your electricity bill hostage?"
"Yes! Exactly!" Belle said, finally feeling understood. "The problem is serious. This thing consumes so much power that my meter is literally spinning backward. If this keeps up, opening the shop won't matter—even robbing a bank won't cover the bill."
"Denial. The utility I provide is far more valuable than a few kilo-watt hours."
A calm, female voice suddenly echoed from the room's speakers. Kenji looked at the monitors. A large, stylized blue eyeball appeared on the central screen. Judging by the tone, this was Fairy.
"I have access to 80% of New Eridu's infrastructure," the AI continued. "Yes. It is truly I."
"You see? She's incredibly arrogant," Belle muttered.
"80% of the infrastructure?" Kenji's eyes narrowed. "If she's not lying, that means she can walk right through the Security Bureau's firewalls. Most of the tech in this city is military-grade Ether-tech. If she has that level of access, she's basically a digital god."
"So—da—yo," Fairy responded.
"What language is that?!" Belle complained.
"I'm a PSB officer," Kenji said, scratching the back of his head. "You really think it's a good idea to tell me this? A research achievement like this... if I report her, I'll get a first-class merit and probably a massive promotion."
"Negative. I am disclosing this because I have leverage over you," Fairy said in a chillingly human cadence. "The premise of cooperation is mutual leverage. Only when both sides have a 'hold' over each other can a partnership endure."
Kenji had to admit, the machine had a point. In his world, that was the only kind of cooperation that didn't end with a knife in the back.
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