Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 258 20. Wood Block Content
"Thank you very much for your assistance this time. It is not our style to let you make a wasted trip. We will submit the relevant compensation to you later."

After being chased back to Night City by the storm, Meredith apologized to Carl before he left, but in response, Carl just nodded slightly, took off his combat uniform and left in the convoy.

The agreement was that Carl could take a few things away from this job. Carl actually took a few apples, but this obviously could not be considered as a commission for this wilderness mission. After all, there were too many accidents during this mission, which had exceeded the scope of an ordinary interception mission.

Carl didn't say whether he wanted it or not, but the client had to give it, as it was a sign of sincerity in the entrustment.

No one would conflict with a mercenary of Carl's level just for a little bit of profit. In the eyes of corporate dogs who are good at calculating, it is a very unprofitable business.

Carl returned home with a bag full of apples. He looked through his cell phone calls that had been interrupted by the hurricane and saw some new messages.

Ok.

There's nothing special to worry about, just ordinary small talk.

Perhaps the only thing to pay attention to is the message sent by Mr. Johnson. He said that a factional struggle broke out within the Tiger Claw Gang this morning. Andy found the whereabouts of a high-ranking member of the Tiger Claw Gang and has started tracking him.

Hope everything is OK.

Thinking of this, Carl put the seven apples he brought back into the refrigerator in the room. After thinking for a while, he took out another one, walked to the bathroom and started washing the apple.

Although the water in Watson District of Night City is not much better than the heavily polluted Santo Domingo District, it is still good for washing away the dust. Next,
I walked to the vending machine, bought a bottle of pure water, and went back to the sink to rinse it one last time.

After finally getting some fresh fruit, I'd better not eat it with the contaminated water droplets left on it.

Carl remembered reading in a book that there was a waxy protective film on the outside of apples, so polluted water couldn't penetrate it, but it was always better to be on the safe side.

Oh, and one final test before eating.

Carl walked over to the armory, rummaged around, and pulled out a chip from the compartment.

Food analysis chip, the same one that Chiyo used for poison testing. Carl bought it after getting Chiyo's recommendation.

After inserting the chip into a scanning platform with a flat bottom, Carl placed the apple on it, and then the scanning platform began scanning.

After a few breaths, the scan ended, and the four corners of the scanning head lit up. Then a palm-sized screen popped up from the bottom, displaying the relevant scanning data.

Carl took a quick look at the scan results and found no problems.

It seems that there is nothing wrong with this batch of apples themselves.

So, was this the reason why the group of attackers, who were also from Arasaka, attacked Arasaka?

Carl took out the diamond-shaped wooden block that he had brought back. He didn't think that this thing existed by chance. It was mixed in with the pile of apples and should have been stuck to the wooden box. Although Carl didn't know whether every wooden box had it, he was sure that it was definitely not ordinary.

The reason is simple.

When this diamond-shaped wooden block is placed inside the box, the apple will collide with it and a concave surface will appear. This should absolutely not happen for transportation.

Because apples with concave surfaces are more susceptible to bacterial attack and rot faster than intact apples, a rotten apple will emit more ethylene than ordinary apples, causing other apples around it to ripen faster. Over-ripe apples will also produce ethylene, which will cause a chain reaction and ruin a box of apples.

This is also why rotten fruit should be picked out as soon as possible when seen in a pile of fruits. Thanks to this little family knowledge known in the past, Carl was able to judge that this defect, which should not exist in the transportation industry, was intentional.

In the past, this could be explained as a miscommunication in design. But in this era when fresh fruit is quite precious, it is not a good idea to come up with a design that will damage the company's property.
If the company is really that stupid, it will not be able to survive in today's society.

Carl looked over and over at the extra design inside the box in his hand, searching the knowledge reserve in his brain, trying to find something that matched this diamond-shaped wooden block from everything he knew in the past, but he searched through all his memories and couldn't find anything that matched the thing in front of him. Because from the outside, it looked like a piece of wood that felt a bit thick and heavy.

Carl put the block of wood on the table, bit the sweet and sour apple, frowned and thought.

Hypothesis.

Assume first.

Assuming that the group of attackers, who were also from Arasaka, were targeting this piece of wood that had escaped military technology scanning because of its wooden shell, then what exactly was the significance of this piece of wood?

There is a different one in each box. Can they be assembled into a Gundam?

A wooden Gundam?
But even if there is one piece in each box, it would not be big enough when assembled. Even if I want to collect them all, I am not sure where the remaining pieces of wood that may exist in the bad land have flown away.

Then there is only one possibility.

Putting the bitten apple aside, Carl stretched out his hands and carefully pinched the two corners of the diamond-shaped wooden block.

Open it and see if there is anything inside.

"Click."

The texture of the wood was not hard. It began to break the moment Carl applied a little force.

hollow.

Carl watched as he opened the five-centimeter-thick diamond-shaped wooden block, revealing a layer of tinfoil.

Tin foil?
This unique handicraft product, originally produced in Shaoxing and used to worship ghosts and gods, is mostly used for sealing in today's world.

Carl remembered that this thing had pretty good insulation.

Are you afraid of the high temperatures that may exist in the bad land?
Carl continued to carefully pinch a corner of the tinfoil and tore the entire piece of tinfoil into pieces. Inside the tinfoil package, there was a small sculpture.

It was a small sculpture, and its specific appearance could not be seen. It just looked like a bird. It didn't even have claws, just two pairs of wings and a beak, and it was made of wood.

It's wood again, a Russian doll, right?

Carl took out the sculpture, crushed it with a shrewd touch, and then found that the last thing inside the broken wooden sculpture was a piece of paper.

note.

How rare.

Nowadays, most things are carried in chips. Reading paper books is something that only wanderers in the bad land would do.

Carl opened the mysterious note that had been hidden for a long time, and finally revealed its shape. Then he found that there was only one sentence written on it.

'The location has been found. This paper records part of the location. The location of the item is 142°10′ east longitude and 27°45′ north latitude.'

(End of this chapter)