Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 306 68. Another explosion?

It is not surprising that Mr. Kenichi Shiro is missing, as he is proficient in ninjutsu and can easily appear and disappear. Carl is not surprised, but it is very strange that Mr. Kenichi Shiro, a senior executive and person in charge of banquet security, is missing.

Mr. Kenichi Shiro is now the vice president of Night City Arasaka Tower. If a vice president does not attend the entire event in such a banquet hall and leaves halfway, it will more or less cause some people with ulterior motives to have unnecessary thoughts.

For example, I was wondering whether this vice president did not support Ms. Haruko, the current interim executive director of Night City.

In the eyes of most Arasaka personnel, Mr. Kenichi Shiro was, after all, the person sent by Mrs. Michiko to be with Miss Haruko, so the object of his loyalty should naturally be Mrs. Michiko. Miss Haruko only received the help of Mr. Kenichi Shiro because of the blood relationship.

But this is different from Kenichi Shiro's plan. His plan is to let people recognize Haruko's existence, slowly let Haruko stand out from Michiko, develop her own personnel and faction, and then find an opportunity to absorb Michiko's faction as an independent person. After all, in this era where life span can be extended continuously, even if there is a long-sitting emperor, the prince must have some power of his own, just like Saburo and his eldest son Jing in the past.
"If Kenichi Shiro didn't do this on purpose, then something must have happened and he needs to leave the banquet floor temporarily to deal with it personally."

Carl was waiting for information about Kenichi Shiro in the communication. He had to work hard after receiving the money. As a mercenary, he was very particular about this. He had already received 150,000 euros without a deposit and had to pay the full amount. Carl had to respond to this reward more or less.

But he waited and waited, but there was no message from Kenichi Shiro. Instead, he saw V taking some action.

V informed Carl of his movements in the team: "The man named Kenichi Shiro asked me to go downstairs to the banquet hall to handle something. I will go there as the captain."

After V sent this message on the communication, Oliver's message also popped up in the channel: "I was called down too. I have to go over there too. Oh, and Jack, it seems that we are the only two people who have been called down at the door."

No, are you all going?

Carl looked at V, who had already finished his dinner and midnight snack, and then wiped his mouth with a hot towel from the waiter beside him and walked out of the banquet hall. He felt a little dazed.

Mr. Kenichi Shiro asked you all to go downstairs to deal with things, and left me alone upstairs. What does that mean?
We've been paid, so we have to do the work. Although I'm happy to be lazy, who knows what might happen downstairs, so it's safer to have more people together, right?
While he was in a daze, Kenichi Shiro finally remembered Carl and sent him a message to dispel his doubts.

'You stay upstairs and take care of Miss Haruko's safety. There was an explosion downstairs. Among the middle-level employees at the banquet on the first floor, a section chief of the counterintelligence department was chatting with the person next to him. Suddenly, he exploded and took several colleagues with him. I have to deal with this urgent matter and find out who dared to cause trouble today and blocked the inspection of the banquet on the first floor and sent such a dangerous person in.'

Mr. Kenichi Shiro's anger could also be felt from the message room. It seemed that he was really annoyed by this sudden incident.

It's understandable if you think about it. Although the inspection procedure on the first floor is ordinary compared to the other three floors, it is already extremely rigorous compared to normal inspections. Even so, a person with dangerous factors can be allowed in. This not only shows that there must be loopholes in the inspection below, but also shows that this kind of inspection is no longer trustworthy.

By the time a cockroach is discovered, there is usually almost no room for the cockroaches in the house to hide. If they can send an explosives worker into the banquet hall on the first floor, does that mean they can also send someone into the banquet hall on the fourth floor?

Carl understood Kenichi Shiro's idea. If safety is not absolute, then it is absolutely unsafe. Now every banquet hall is not trustworthy. Now Kenichi Shiro thinks everyone inside is a traitor. He has to start from the floor where the explosion happened and investigate the explosion as soon as possible to find the mastermind and solve the matter. While dealing with the matter, he handed Haruko's safety to Carl.

"The reason why Jack, Oliver, and V were allowed to go down was because they were outsiders. The entire Arasaka Tower activity was under the surveillance of Mr. Kenichi Shiro. Are they more trustworthy now?"

Carl, who understood this, leaned slightly towards Haruko and Maki.

Although Haruko is protected by Chiyome, with her around, they can take Haruko away immediately even if an explosion really happens, but Maki may not get help. In other words, Chiyome, who puts Haruko first, will not be able to evacuate with Maki in a dangerous moment unless Haruko orders her to. If an explosion really happens, Haruko obviously won't be able to issue an emergency order quickly, and if that happens, Carl's friends will be in danger.

I'm watching him, I can't let my friend get involved in something inexplicable and die.

After moving a little distance to ensure that he could get close as soon as possible, Carl stopped.

Then he thought about the bombing.

The first time Carl saw a personnel explosion was when he broke into the Big Bird bar and faced the former ACPA trainee, but that explosion was at most a backup left by military technology, and in the end it only blew off a head;

According to Mr. Kenichi Shiro's information, the counterintelligence officer should have exploded all over his body. This kind of bomb placed in the body in advance will affect the surrounding things when it explodes.
Carl thought of what T-BUG had said.

'Rogue AI?'

At that time, I told you not to think too much and not to care if it wasn’t involved. But now it seems that it is involved.

So, if it is indeed a roaming AI, what is its purpose?
It seems that all the targets are company employees, but they basically self-destruct when the company employees are captured and about to reveal certain information. But now they are attending the banquet, why is this happening again?
Is there some inside story, or is this just something done by two parties? What made the chief of the counterintelligence department explode today was not the roving AI that was speculated, but simply the means of military technology companies.
But this doesn't make sense. It takes so much effort to kill a section chief of the counterintelligence department. Which section chief has such a big reputation?

Carl can ignore things that are not related to him, but if they are involved and his interest is aroused, Carl will care to the end.

As he was thinking, he fell into deep thought.

　ps. I forgot to say Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, so I quickly changed and added it, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)