Red Fruit City. Liu's Heavy Industries. Mid-Level Employee Dormitories.
"Xiaoai, shut down the house-wide network," Lin Qi commanded.
"Non-essential networks have been disabled."
Xiaoai responded. The "essential network" was the crime detection network connected to the Red Fruit City Government. If a crime occurred in a monitored area, the Red Fruit Anti-Riot Mobile Team would arrive at a moment's notice to issue a fine.
There was no crime that couldn't be settled with a fine—it was just a matter of how much.
Those who couldn't pay the fine were hauled off to Red Fruit Prison for at least twenty years of unpaid labor, nineteen hours a day.
The cost of crime in this city was steep—a policy enacted by the Liu Group to maintain public order.
The policy was effective and profitable; Red Fruit City had the lowest crime rate in the Asian Administrative Region.
For this reason, the crime detection network was beyond Xiaoai's control. Even after nineteen years since transmigrating to this world, Lin Qi had yet to master the technology needed to breach Red Fruit City's firewall.
He entered the bathroom, where an offline timer in the corner of the mirror displayed February 31, 2089, 23:58.
Lin Qi adjusted his collar, lightly brushing the spot behind his earlobe.
A micro-electrode transmitted a signal, displaying an image on his retina.
The time ticked over to 00:00, February 32, 2089.
Text appeared on the display before his eyes:
[Xiaoai Reminder: Invitation to "Highest Level Security Meeting" received. Connect?]
There was no network in the house, and Lin Qi's Intelligent Brain had no signal, yet the meeting invitation appeared right on schedule.
Lin Qi hadn't shut down the network to block the meeting, but rather to avoid any of his own irregularities being detected by a standard network intrusion.
"Connect."
[Connection to meeting complete.]
"Engage immersive mode."
[Engaged.]
The Intelligent Brain completed the brain-computer interface via the electrodes, and Lin Qi entered the meeting from a first-person perspective.
This was a completely sealed conference room. No Door, no windows, and almost no lighting.
Lin Qi stretched out a hand but could only see its outline; the mechanical parts of his arm were hidden in the shadows.
Lin Qi was seated on the side of a long conference table, in the second seat.
In front of Lin Qi was a faintly glowing nameplate.
The number was the Roman numeral "5"—a "V." This was Lin Qi's codename in the meeting.
To his left, directly opposite him, diagonally to his left, and at the head of the table, sat one person each. Their codenames ranged from "1" to "4," marked in Roman numerals.
It was a secret gathering. 'Unfortunately, I'm not the one who organized it,' Lin Qi thought. 'That kind of treatment seems reserved for protagonists.'
"Glad you're still alive."
"Wizard, has the Witch Hunt caught up to you yet?"
"Wizard" was Lin Qi's other codename, besides "V."
Through the shadows, Lin Qi could still feel the gazes of the four other attendees.
Lin Qi shook his head, a movement large enough to be seen through the shadows.
Lin Qi cleared his throat and spoke in the voice of a mature woman, "I'm planning to leave the Mercenary Corps."
"You think we would betray you?" The voice of "4," who sat directly across from Lin Qi, was cold, his reaction somewhat intense.
"2" and "3" said nothing, but they looked toward "1."
"1," or Guang Ling, had his left forearm on the table, his right hand resting on his bicep, fingers tapping lightly.
A steady, middle-aged man's voice spoke up. "Wizard Professionals have been facing a Witch Hunt of unprecedented scale recently. On the Black Market, detailed intel on a single Wizard Professional is worth a million Credit Points. It's understandable that Wizard has lost trust in us."
"4," or King Arthur, said nothing, leaning back in his chair in a silent huff.
He had always believed Knights and Wizards were loyal partners, but today, that belief was being questioned.
The conference room fell silent for a long time.
Guang Ling broke the silence. "Wizard will temporarily withdraw from Mercenary Corps operations, but you can still attend the weekly meetings. I'll just mute you when we discuss mission plans. If you run into trouble in reality, you can ask the members for help. I think we'd all be willing to help you."
Guang Ling was extending an olive branch to Lin Qi, who nodded slightly.
If his safety could be guaranteed, he didn't want to leave the platform the Mercenary Corps provided, either.
Participating in Mercenary Corps operations earned good money, but his life was his own, and the recent scale of the Witch Hunt was simply too outrageous.
What the hell had Wizard Professionals done to deserve this?
Anyone with the Wizard Profession was a target. Fortunately, Lin Qi had long been prepared.
The meeting continued. When the members started discussing the latest mission, the audio feed to Lin Qi went silent.
No participation in the mission meant no risk, and no hearing things he wasn't supposed to.
At the end of the meeting, all four attendees offered words of comfort to Lin Qi.
Guang Ling maintained his steady composure. "If you run into trouble, send an email to the 'Highest Level' inbox. I'll convene a meeting ahead of schedule."
Although King Arthur was clearly unhappy with Lin Qi's methods, he still promised, "If you get into trouble, I'm willing to help you once, no charge. But only once."
"2," or Master Ma, spoke in a somewhat aged voice. "A bounty of one million... any Mercenary Corps that would target you for that won't be very high-level. With your skills, escaping or even turning the tables and killing them shouldn't be difficult. Of course, it's more likely they won't even find you."
Master Ma was quite familiar with Lin Qi's way of doing things. They had cooperated on over twenty Mercenary Corps missions, yet no member had ever had the good fortune to see Lin Qi's real face—they hadn't even seen him from behind.
Finally, "3," or "Capitalist," spoke. Her voice was clear, like that of a young girl. "I suggest Wizard continue to keep his identity well hidden. As far as I know, the Witch Hunt is related to a certain plan in the European Administrative Region. The intensity of the Witch Hunting is likely to increase in the future."
All eyes turned to Capitalist. The intensity was going to increase even further?
Seriously, what had the Wizard profession ever done to anyone?
The European Administrative Region?
The way Wizard Professionals were being treated was a throwback to the Middle Ages.
Were Wizards meant to be tied to a stake and burned to death?
"Thank you."
Still using his disguised, mature female voice, Lin Qi offered his thanks and then hurriedly logged off.
The Intelligent Brain exited immersive mode. Lin Qi had been in the private bathroom of his personal apartment the entire time.
Walking over to the sink, he lightly touched a mechanical device on his arm, and the sound of a mechanism unlocking was heard.
He hesitated for two seconds, then abandoned the action.
He touched it again, and the mechanism relocked.
As everyone knew, Lin Qi, an L-level Researcher at the weapons design institute of Liu's Heavy Industries' Red Fruit City branch, was a pure Mechanician.
A man with moderate Prosthetic Body modifications.
All four of his limbs had been converted to prosthetics, and his Intelligent Brain was internally integrated.
'I, Lin Qi, am absolutely not one of those Wizard Professionals, the kind who have a puritanical obsession with the flesh and refuse all forms of Prosthetic Body modification.'
Lin Qi resolved that until this damned Witch Hunt was over, even if his arms and legs rotted and stank inside his detachable Exoskeleton Armor, he absolutely would not remove a single piece of his Exoskeleton disguise!