Abyssal Wanderer

Jim Leiter believes that there are two main reasons why most vicious crimes occur late at night:

First, taking advantage of the cover of night, many things can be done more covertly and easily.

Second, the resettlement area government cannot require all prisoners in the resettlement area to commit crimes during the day on weekdays.

Because of these two helpless reasons, as a certified private detective, Jim Leiter accepted his fate and accepted clients in the middle of the night as part of his life.

Generally speaking, those customers who come late at night are often too excited to talk, talk incoherently, and dance around, and can't get to the point for a long time.

At this time, Jim, who calls himself the No. 1 private detective in the Nord Resettlement Area, will first invite the clients into the house, pour them an ounce of brandy and encourage them to drink it, so that they can calm down under the influence of alcohol. Then, patiently guide them to explain the details of the case in an organized manner.

But tonight the situation is a little different.

After hearing the knock on the door and just opening the door, Jim roughly knew what was going on.

"The latest news is inserted below. A horrific terrorist attack occurred on the fifth floor of the resettlement area fifteen minutes ago. Five masked men wearing the logo of the 'Icarus Liberation Front' attacked the smart office located at No. 13 Crescent Street. After the attack, five terrorists exchanged fire with the riot control task force who arrived shortly after the attack. Three of them were killed on the spot, and another one was killed. The two took hostages and fled, and the riot control troops are currently hunting..."

In the living room, the news is still playing. Jim Leiter and the masked uninvited guest in front of him just looked at each other silently amidst the sound of the news.

On the uninvited guest's sports tights, a blackened wound destroyed the complete logo of the "Icarus Liberation Front". The opponent was holding an old-fashioned revolver tightly in his lowered right hand.

"If citizens in the resettlement area find any clues about terrorists, please contact them immediately..."

After hearing this, Jim turned back and turned off the TV, and then said:

"The noise you made earlier was quite loud. I was just woken up by the explosion outside... Although it is a good thing to be willing to plead guilty and face the law, I have to remind you that a licensed private detective like me only has the power to handle cases. , if you want to surrender, you have to go to the Public Security Bureau.”

The masked man ignored the direction Jim pointed out for him, but still stood unmoved at the door. Heavy and painful breathing came from under the mask, spanning between the two of them.

After the two sides stared at each other for about half a minute, Jim finally called out the other person's name:

"So, where are the hostages you are holding, Huili?"

After speaking, he looked around to confirm that there was no second person in the corridor.

"You won't silence me, will you?"

After hearing the other party say his name, the masked man took off his mask as if he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Under the mask was a girl whose face was so pale that there was no blood. She has an East Asian youthful appearance and looks to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. She has clean, refreshing short ear-length hair, and her forehead bangs are neatly trimmed like a stereotypical top student.

"There are no hostages... Those in the news are all nonsense. They blame all the 'collateral damage' caused by the violent law enforcement by the riot control task force on us."

The girl named Eri replied.

Before Jim could continue asking questions, an angry expression immediately appeared on the face of the girl in front of him, who was more suitable for wearing a school uniform than a tactical tights:

"And our previous action was not a terrorist attack at all. It was just uploading a promotional video of Icarus to the smart city network. But those cyber lunatics used heavy weapons to bombard the smart control nodes without any reason... From the beginning to the end, we did not Injuring one person, all the casualties just reported in the news were actually caused by them..."

She said this, trying to get into the room from Jim with unsteady steps. But Jim held her head down without any mercy and blocked her from the door.

"Wait a minute, what does it mean to be wanted and come to my house?"

he asked with a serious look on his face.

Hearing Jim's question, a disappointed expression flashed across Huili's face, and then she whispered:

"I had nowhere to go... The car that came to pick us up was affected by the explosion, and half of the driver's head was cut off by a piece of iron. My teammates stayed behind to attract attention and I was able to run out. After that, I followed The evacuated crowd followed the crowd and arrived at Yuclan Street. I remembered that you were here. I didn't want to come, but for some reason..."

Having said this, Huili bit her pale lips and said in an almost pleading tone:

"I understand, it is really too abrupt to bring such a big trouble to you. But apart from you, I really can't think of anyone else who can help me right now... You saved my life in the past, so again Is it okay to save me once? Mr. Jimkun?”

Wheely's calling his behavior "big trouble" is not a unique courtesy of Neon people-if Jim is discovered hiding a suspect designated by the resettlement government as an Icarus terrorist, the best-case scenario will be It was his detective license that was permanently revoked. And if you think about it in a bad direction, it is not impossible to be regarded as an accomplice of Icarus and be dragged out to shoot targets.

But even so, after hearing the other party's fatal request, Jim still nodded.

After confirming that there was no "tail" following her, Jim dragged the girl, who was two heads shorter than him, into the house and quickly locked the door.

He first asked Hui Li to rest on the sofa, and then he began to rummage through the cabinet for medicine.

"It seems to have been a year since we last met."

After a brief silence, Jim, who felt like he should say something, said while flipping through the cabinet.

Huili, who was leaning forward to place the revolver in his hand on the coffee table, immediately corrected him after hearing this:

"It's one year and two months."

Jim nodded, and then joked slightly sarcastically:

"I have no intention of commenting on your political stance...but I still remember that more than a year ago, you were just a passionate student who showed sympathy for the cause of Icarus. Unexpectedly, in just one year, you became a key member But would it be too cold-blooded for the Icarus Liberation Front to involve a student in such a dangerous mission?”

To this, Huili responded sternly:

"First of all, I am not a backbone member, just an ordinary person who wants to contribute to their just cause. And this year... no, you also know what happened in the Nord settlement area in the past month - More and more people are responding to Icarus's call, and naturally there are more things that I can participate in.

"As for sending a dangerous mission... I have said before that in the original estimate, this was not a dangerous mission. We just underestimated the extent of their madness - it is because the powerful are afraid of the voice from the people. , I’m afraid that everyone will become like Liao Qi, so this happens.”

Huili's answer was as fluent as reciting the standard answer, and it was clear at first glance that it was not her who summed up the words - it seemed that the Icarus underground organization lurking on the fifth floor had given students like them ideological lessons.

"Are they all going to be like Liao Qi?"

Jim couldn't help but sneered after repeating the other person's words, but he was too lazy to continue arguing with her on this topic, and instead asked about another thing:

"So, does your mother know about these things you do?"

The effect was immediate. After hearing the word "mother", Huili's previous momentum suddenly died down. She lowered her head and whispered:

"Of course... I don't know."

Jim nodded:

"Yeah, I can't even imagine how your mother would react when she heard this."

"What kind of reaction can you have? Can you still kill me?"

In response to this, Hui Li pouted and muttered, as if he was dissatisfied with his mother and did not dare to vent it.

That's really hard to say...

Jim thought.

Eri's full name is Hayashihara Eri, but she never likes others to call her by her last name.

The surname Lin Yuan is the surname of the Ji Dao family that controls the third floor of the resettlement area. This family, tied by family blood, controls one-third of the property on the seventh floor of the resettlement area, as well as almost all black products. On the third level, they even dared to challenge the resettlement area government. Of course, this is just an exaggeration. In fact, the Linyuan family is actually part of the government order of the entire Nord resettlement area - the Linyuan family sits on multiple seats on the "tenth floor" citizen representative committee.

Eri Hayashihara is the eldest daughter of Mrs. Hayashihara, the current head of the family.

I'm also glad that the violent law enforcement like the riot control task force didn't kill Huili, otherwise God knows how much trouble there would have been.

"Wait a minute, don't give me any bad ideas like sending me back to my mother... If she knew about it, she could really do anything to imprison me for the rest of my life."

Seeing that Jim didn't continue speaking, Wheely warned in a panic.

In response, Jim rolled his eyes and said:

"Don't worry. Thanks to you, your mother has already said that the next time I dare to appear in her sight, she will directly send someone to fill me with cement to sink the artificial lake... On the road, your father always sticks to his word. , I have no intention of getting into trouble with her.”

And to be honest, if the fact that she is taking in Huili is exposed, then maybe Ms. Lin Yuan will be more likely to kill herself than the Public Security Bureau... After all, she is not the only one who wants to kill herself. It's been two days.

Knowing that this was his past problem, Hui Li couldn't help but stick out his tongue in embarrassment.

"Hey...I'm sorry, my mother's temper is like this..."

Jim sighed, and then said:

"Do you remember the warning I gave you a year ago when we last met?"

The moment he heard this question, Huili's originally pale face suddenly turned red for some unknown reason. She nodded invisibly towards Jim's back, and then replied a little shyly:

"Of course I remember... you said that I am too emotional, and I will suffer big losses one day if I continue like this."

At this moment, Jim had already dug out the self-healing gel spray and scissors from the cabinet. When he turned around and saw the blush on Huili's face, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then he couldn't help but sigh:

"No, you have completely misremembered. What I said at the beginning was that you were too easily moved by the things that saved you, and you mistakenly mistook this feeling for your own feelings... I took you underground from the resettlement area back then. You were rescued, so you pestered me for more than half a year after that. The Icarus Liberation Front saved your life from the Lobotomy Gang, so now you dare to risk your life to send them leaflets."

Jim said, placing the self-healing gel spray and scissors on the coffee table in front of the sofa, and asked her to briefly treat the abdominal wound first.

In a sense, the profession of private detective is somewhat similar to that of a prostitute - because it provides secretive and customized services, it is easy to create sparks with customers. Because of this, both professions are very taboo about having feelings for their customers.

In this regard, Jim Leiter can be considered to be professionally ethical. More than a year ago, he single-handedly went underground in the crisis-ridden resettlement area. Under heavy pursuit, he rescued the underworld daughter of the Lin Yuan family, Quan Xuquanwei, and received a large reward.

But it was also because of the time the two spent together day and night in a crisis-ridden environment. After returning to the upper level of the resettlement area, the girl began to pursue him for half a year regardless of her age enough to become her father.

She has no idea how much trouble her behavior has caused herself...

"Here are 200,000 Orei. Please Mr. Jim, please let my daughter go."

After the geisha handed the tray with the cash card under her nose, the middle-aged woman wearing twelve singles behind the screen spoke calmly.

In response, Jim picked up the cash card, transferred two hundred Ore into it, and then threw the card back into the tray.

"No, I'll give you two hundred and ask your daughter to let me go."

After saying that, Jim turned around and left angrily.

It was just after he left the guest room that Mrs. Lin Yuan made harsh words that if Jim Leiter appeared in her sight again, he would sink into the lake directly.

Looking back now, it's a miracle that the other party didn't kill me on the spot in the room.

"That's not the case!"

Wheely's sullen voice suddenly pulled Jim out of his memories.

"I pursued you before, not to repay a favor, but because I really liked you; and now that I am participating in Icarus's propaganda campaign, it is also not to repay a favor, but because I sincerely support their ideal of liberating the resettlement area."

She looked at Jim and said every word seriously.

Jim sighed vaguely.

That's all... Today is just an opportunity to explain the truth to this child clearly.

After all, it would be fine if he just pestered himself. As long as he kept his bottom line, the child would eventually grow up one day. But now, as the eldest lady of the Yakuza family, she actually plans to participate in the revolutionary activities of the Icarus Liberation Front with just her passion without sufficient consciousness and ambition...

Does she really know what she's doing?

Jim could almost imagine what kind of hell would be waiting for this child if this continued.

Quickly organizing the words in his mind, Jim educated the sullen Huili in the tone of an elder:

"I know you won't like to hear these words, but I still have to say them. In the past, you said you liked me, but in fact you didn't know what kind of person I was; but now you say you really support Icarus liberation cause, but in fact you don’t know what their cause actually means—and what impact it will have on today’s society, yourself and your family.

"I don't deny that the emotions you put into this process are real. But from a more realistic perspective, the reasons you like are actually just beautiful appearances. And these appearances make you mistaken for a moment. Taking the hormone shock as real, and then going further and further down the wrong path.

"But the reality is - I tried my best to save you back then because your mother paid me a large sum of money afterwards. You should really be grateful to your mother for the money; and the people of Icarus saved you, It was because they were competing with the Lobe Gang for dominance of the underground in the resettlement area. If they had known your identity, they would have detained you in the dungeon and then asked your mother for help. A large ransom is required, and Icarus has done this kind of thing in the past... Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Perhaps it was Jim's serious expression at the moment that temporarily shocked Hui Li. After listening to his words, the extremely powerful daughter actually lowered her head and began to think deeply. After a long time, she raised her head again.

"I still don't understand..."

Wheely looked at Jim, confused.

"Isn't that what everyone is like?"

"Only children who have not grown up can regard subjective feelings as objective reality!"

Jim said what someone had said to him in the past, and gave Wheely a chestnut.

"It's almost time for you to grow up, you know..."

He wanted to say something more, but suddenly a rapid siren interrupted his next train of thought.

[High-energy prosthetic body reaction detected within a range of two hundred meters]

As soon as the AI ​​assistant finished reminding him, the sensor Jim placed outside the building instantly picked up the image.

They were four adjusters wearing the same style of black power armor, with different heights, fatness, and thinness, and carrying different weapons. At this moment, they were walking towards Jim's apartment building with great strides. On each of their left breastplates, there is the coat of arms of the Public Security Bureau.

Huili, who was sitting on the sofa to treat his wounds, suddenly stood up.

"Is this the riot control team that attacked us before?!"

As soon as she finished speaking, among the four people, a guy with messy data cables tied behind his head like dreadlocks suddenly stopped and slowly turned his head to look at the camera.

The next second, the image transmitted by the sensor turned into a sheet of rolling snowflakes. (End of chapter)