As the Arasaka convoy arrived at the plaza, the pounding music cut off abruptly.
Everyone present fell silent by instinct.
In an instant, the whole plaza went quiet.
So quiet that a pin drop could be heard.
Every gaze shifted to the Arasaka convoy.
No one knew who Arasaka had come for at this hour, or what they wanted.
Dorio kept her eyes locked on the convoy and let out a cold snort.
"So they found us that fast?"
Since she had taken part in stealing the car of an Arasaka executive, her first thought was that they had come looking for trouble.
And Faraday had just emphasized that Arasaka absolutely knew something had happened and might already be taking action.
"Damn it. This just got worse..."
Kiwi, who had been watching everything coldly from the side, gradually sharpened her gaze, though her thoughts were different from Dorio's.
As the netrunner handling the operation from behind the scenes, she knew perfectly well how the car theft had gone.
The operation had not left behind any traces that would let Arasaka netrunners track them through the Net.
Loose ends like that were things she never left behind.
Could it be him?
The first person Kiwi thought of was Kai.
The only Arasaka higher-up they had crossed paths with was not just Tanaka, the owner of the wrecked car, but also Kai, the first one they had met.
The moment Dorio spoke, Rebecca became alert.
She rose from her seat, her black shorts digging into the tops of her thick thighs and leaving a shallow line in the flesh.
"No need to be scared of those corpo dogs. This is our turf. If they want to start something, I'll let them taste what bullets feel like!"
Rebecca glared at the Arasaka convoy and immediately pulled out the twin pistols from her pockets.
Dorio quickly stopped her.
"Don't be impulsive. Let's see what's going on first."
The disturbance behind her made Lucy turn around as well.
She had been sitting by herself at the stall, barely paying attention to what had been happening in the plaza behind her.
Now that Arasaka had suddenly shown up in force, a flood of thoughts flashed through her mind.
When the convoy appeared, the first person she thought of was almost instinctively him.
Those night runs over the past few evenings had given Lucy a better sense of Kai.
She knew he was not the kind of person who liked making a big scene.
For someone so high up in Arasaka, he still liked going on solitary night runs by the seawall to clear his head, and he would rather take the train to work than ride in a corporate car.
Habits like that already proved he was someone with his own way of thinking.
Lucy could not be sure who had come in that convoy, so she could only stay silent and watch.
If it was Kai, then what was coming was not trouble.
It might even be good news.
Faraday and Maine's conversation was interrupted by two harsh beams of light shining straight at them.
The two of them turned their heads almost at the same time.
An Arasaka-branded sedan was driving straight toward them.
"Arasaka?"
Both Faraday and Maine tensed immediately.
The commission they had just been discussing involved an Arasaka executive.
For Arasaka to show up at a moment like this made even Faraday feel somewhat guilty, and the arrogance on his face vanished, replaced by sharp caution.
"Could it be Tanaka?"
From the corner of his eye, Faraday carefully watched Maine's expression. His first suspicion was that Maine had sold him out.
But when he saw that Maine looked just as tense, half of that suspicion faded.
"Could it be that Maine's people made a mistake and Tanaka traced them?"
In this car theft, Faraday had only been the one financing it from behind the scenes. Maine had been the one directly carrying out the action.
If Arasaka executive Tanaka really wanted accountability, then Maine could easily be pushed forward to take the fall.
Faraday said nothing and simply waited for the person inside to step out.
The Arasaka convoy was black and severe, and the signature triple-circle logo on the sedans made the visitor's status and identity obvious.
This was not the kind of display an ordinary low-level Arasaka employee could have.
A strong sense of pressure settled over everyone present, and no one dared move recklessly.
This was Westbrook's Japantown. Arasaka Special Ops could reach the scene in three minutes and lock the whole area down.
The reach of Arasaka's power went farther and wider than even the NCPD's. That was the true intimidation wielded by Arasaka executives.
Better to offend an NCPD officer than try to provoke a high-ranking Arasaka corpo.
After a long moment of silence, the left-side door of the long sedan at the center of the convoy slowly opened.
A breathtaking red-haired woman stepped out in red heels.
Her whole body was wrapped in a dark black dress that set off her pale shoulders and neck, traced the curve of her full chest, and accentuated her perfect waist like a dark blood-red rose in full bloom.
The sharp, flamboyant force of her presence revealed itself completely the moment she stepped from the car.
The instant Dorio saw who had come out of the black executive sedan, her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Gloria?"
She had guessed all kinds of possibilities, but never in a million years had she imagined it would be her.
Dorio clearly remembered that when Maine had gone to Gloria's place asking for that implant, she had looked utterly ordinary, even poor.
But the Gloria standing here now looked like a brilliant ruby, dazzling in temperament and stunning in appearance.
Even Kiwi, who was always the most composed one, looked shocked.
What surprised her was not Gloria's change, but how she had gotten involved with Arasaka.
Could it be connected to Kai?
Or were they that kind of connected?
Kiwi did not dare think too deeply about it. Kai looked young and handsome, and yet he was already in upper management at Arasaka before even turning twenty.
It just sounded absurd.
A slight sheen of sweat appeared on Kiwi's forehead, hidden beneath her pink mask, and for once even she did not know what to say.
Lucy also remembered the woman in front of them, the one with the sharp, forceful air. That night, Maine had gone to her to get the military-grade implant.
Now she had shown up riding in a high-ranking Arasaka car, which meant she clearly had a close connection to someone high up in the corporation.
"Does this have something to do with you?"
Lucy's eyes turned cold as they swept across every window in the convoy. Under the light, her neon irises glimmered and shifted toward an icy blue hue.
The black privacy glass blocked every attempt to see or scan inside.
Maine, standing closest of all, was even more stunned. In an uncertain voice, he muttered,
"Gloria?"
Hearing the name from Maine's mouth, Faraday realized they actually knew this woman, while he himself had no memory of her at all.
His triple optics immediately started scanning her identity, only to find nothing useful. Clearly, Arasaka had put special protections in place.
Gloria stayed calm and walked forward steadily, drawing closer and closer to the two of them.
"Rules?"
"I'd love to hear what other rules there are in the fixer business."
Faraday did not respond. Until he understood what was going on, offending Arasaka was clearly not a smart move.
Maine, on the other hand, blurted out in shock,
"Gloria, why are you here? And with Arasaka..."
Gloria answered directly.
"I came to find you. I have a commission. Interested?"
"Though it looks like you still haven't finished the one you're on."
As she said that, her gaze shifted toward the damaged Arasaka executive car parked in the corner of the plaza.
Almost instantly, she understood why Maine and that man with the triple optics had both looked so tense the moment they saw her.
Whatever they had been discussing was obviously connected to Arasaka.
(End of Chapter)
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