"Mm~ That was a nice sleep nya."
Cipher sat up groggily and let out a long stretch. She pulled her personal terminal from her system inventory and glanced at the screen.
"Ten o'clock, huh... No wonder I feel so well-rested."
Setting the terminal aside, she got dressed and tidied her slightly messy hair. Once finished, she pushed open the door and stepped out.
In the living room, Cipher looked around to find the place empty. She couldn't hear any movement either; it seemed everyone was out. However, a piece of bread and a bottle of water sat on the table, with a small note tucked under the bottle.
Cipher walked over, picked up the note, and read the contents.
"Big Boss Cipher, Luo Lin and the others went to pick up a commission. They should be back around noon. They wanted to take you along, but since I saw you only got back in the early hours of the morning, I told them to let you sleep in.
Right now, I'm heading to the basement to interrogate Shen Yan. If there's anything you need to ask him, go to the study and pull out the second book from the bottom and the second book from the end on the left bookshelf. That's the mechanism for the basement.
Also, remember to eat your breakfast."
— Lu Zhaoran.
"So they went out."
After reading the note, Cipher understood why the house was so quiet. She set the paper aside and began eating the bread.
Once finished, Cipher headed to the study and moved the books exactly as instructed. Immediately, accompanied by a faint mechanical whir, she watched as the desk at the back of the room slowly slid aside, revealing a pitch-black opening.
She descended the stairs and soon reached the basement. It wasn't the damp, dirty dungeon she had imagined; instead, it was remarkably clean. The space was filled with various experimental apparatuses and materials she didn't recognize.
Cipher quickly spotted Lu Zhaoran and Shen Yan. They were sitting face-to-face inside a transparent glass room. Lu Zhaoran appeared to be in the middle of questioning him. Since the room was soundproof, Cipher could only hear faint, muffled murmurs.
Before Cipher could knock, Lu Zhaoran seemed to sense something. She stood up, grabbed a notebook from the table, and opened the glass door.
"Big Boss Cipher, you're awake."
Cipher nodded. "Did you get anything out of him?"
"I asked quite a bit about the Backcurrent Alliance. You can take a look, Big Boss."
Lu Zhaoran handed over the notebook. Cipher took it, looking over the intel with curiosity.
'Backcurrent Alliance: An anti-corporate organization active in the Pit District. Internal members number approximately five hundred. Outer members are too numerous and scattered to count.'
'Core combat power consists primarily of five Vice-Leaders with A+ rank strength and one Leader with S- rank (suspected S) strength. As for the rest, C-rank members are the most common, though they are mostly cannon fodder types equipped with firearms. The backbone of the force consists of about fifty members ranging from B- to B+ rank.'
'Objective: To overthrow the monopoly of the major corporations. However, in the ten years since its founding, their greatest achievement was the destruction of an Apex Entertainment branch in the Hive District eight years ago (Note: Apex Entertainment is the weakest in terms of combat power, security, and information). Following that, the AMA uprooted all their infiltration forces in the Hive District and issued a bounty. Currently, they have been forced to retreat back to the Pit District.'
"I thought that since they wanted to overthrow corporations, their combat power would be incredible. But looking at this, it doesn't seem like much. Their strongest leader is only an S-rank at most..."
After a quick scan, Cipher had a general grasp of this so-called Backcurrent Alliance. From the videos she'd scrolled through on her terminal, she knew the corporations had several S-rank fighters, and she'd even heard rumors of S+ ranks.
Furthermore, they only had five hundred members. According to the videos, a single corporate branch was guarded by hundreds of ability users—not to mention the AMA, which had countless users and could send reinforcements anywhere at a moment's notice.
'In the end, isn't it just an organization using "overthrowing corporations" as an excuse to trick people into throwing their lives away? Otherwise, they wouldn't have stayed quiet for eight years after being chased out by the AMA.'
"I think I get the gist of it. So, when we go to trade with them, what kind of force are they likely to bring?" Cipher asked Lu Zhaoran.
Compared to whether the alliance was actually serious about revolution, she cared more about when she could get her hands on those million-plus Credits.
Lu Zhaoran rubbed her chin for a moment before offering her deduction.
"They can definitely conclude that you have A+ rank combat power, Big Boss. If they want a normal trade, they'll likely send a few A-rank or A- members to prevent us from double-crossing them. Chu Qingyu will definitely show up, since Chu Ke is his son."
"If they plan to turn on us, they'll send at least two Vice-Leaders to ambush us. After all, two A+ ranks along with several A- to A-rankers should be enough to take us down."
Lu Zhaoran flipped to another page in the notebook and read aloud:
"Li Jun: Gravity-type ability. Feng Wuya: Protection-type ability; can create a powerful barrier capable of blocking high-intensity attacks like missiles. Jin Chuan: Energy-type ability; can release immensely powerful energy pulses with high lethality and destructive power. As for the last two, Mo Zhishu and Guan Lan, their abilities are unknown because no one has seen them in action yet. Preliminary suspicion is that they are related to the Mental-type."
"That's all the intel on the five Vice-Leaders. As for the Leader, they are very mysterious. It's said very few people have actually seen them."
"They sound pretty strong..."
Cipher fell into thought. To be honest, she wasn't entirely sure where her own combat power landed on this scale. While she was a demigod, her power system wasn't the same as Amphoreus'.
However, after a moment's reflection, she figured if things went south, she could just run. With Chrono Surge, she truly didn't believe anyone could catch her.
Even if they could, they likely couldn't beat her. She wasn't like a normal ability user, and she still had the Dwelling Princess's wisp of breath in reserve.
"It's not a big deal." At that thought, Cipher tilted her head back confidently. "Trust me. As long as I'm there, even if they deploy two A+ rankers, there's no way they can catch us!"