Chapter 910 - 189 Identity Swap

"So that’s the whale? Impressive, I can’t even handle being on a boat without getting seasick..."

"Exactly, I remember when I worked on an offshore drilling platform a couple of years ago, there was nothing there but work, riding this thing across a storm would be godlike."

"It’s certainly godlike! Ura!"

In the Old East Germany, the whale was being transported from the residential area, surrounded by a crowd.

"Keep your distance—hey, yes, thank you for cooperating, it’s a bit skittish, you’d be too if you got dragged into the sea suddenly... thanks for cooperating."

The container holding the whale was dragged behind the truck, thanks to the roads connecting the residential area directly to the industrial zone in the Old East Germany, allowing this massive contraption to move down the street unimpeded, as if the street was designed just for the whale transport.

Carl stood beside the container hittingched up to the truck, constantly waving at the people pressing against the blockade, signaling them to step back, feeling much like he was tending to children.

Not far away, Elliot and Sevens sat in the truck, with Alina driving. Her other two companions stood by Carl, the three of them handling the other side of the operation.

One could imagine if anything went wrong, Network Surveillance agents and Interpol had already blended into the crowd, seeping across the entire Old East Germany.

Cyber psychosis styles vary across regions; in Night City, they mainly comprised super-soldiers with an abundance of military-grade prosthetics. Here, there weren’t as many military-grade prosthetics to drive people crazy—

But the level of carnage isn’t any less compared to Night City; in fact, it’s even greater:

A highly-skilled cyber psychosis individual in Night City taking out a dozen NCPD officers is already a top-tier killer, but if a factory here has an incident, a random explosion could kill or injure dozens of workers, with far more significant economic loss and a tougher public opinion control...

Moreover, this is Berlin.

Sevens glanced at some records and said, "IEC provided us with a list of personnel on duty at the factory that day, Interpol and Network Surveillance have sent people in, we’re selecting a name to follow up on."

The list was extensive. Despite Berlin’s industry relying heavily on automation, the number of engineers needed to support such a massive city was still enormous.

However, Lille has records of the spokesperson’s names. These records exist on servers in another world, so Elliot just needed to pretend to pick, while actually selecting the name on the list:

That guy’s name was Harlin Ake.

"We’re going to look into some... why is this list divided into low and medium risk? What does this mean?"

"This is... a rating system for network sentiment control. If you’ve interfaced with Network Surveillance, you’ll see this assessment. The assessment standards are set by them; I don’t know, but according to my experience, those with this label are at lower risk: harmonious family, excellent intelligence, stable job, job competence..."

Simply put, only people living well would want to uphold the current order, so the risk is lower."

"Network Surveillance would tell you this?"

"Of course not." Sevens shrugged, "It’s my own conclusion, I think we should investigate the high-risk list, but... it makes no difference, it’s up to you."

The truck slowly entered the neighborhood of the target list: In Berlin, workers didn’t just have their jobs planned out, their residences were also divided into different communities based on a hidden rating system.

They didn’t own their houses, and if they wanted cheaper housing, they had to obey company and EU arrangements.

This matches with what Lille observed in cyberspace: the EU was using a covert social management system that deliberately gathered people into different communities.

The whale needed to be transported to the main entrance of the IEC industrial park. As the group walked from the residential area, the further they walked, the fewer workers and engineers they saw on the streets—

As they strolled, Elliot sniffed: There was a smell on the street like dust being inhaled into the lungs.

"Cough, cough... why does it feel like this smell is a bit irritating..."

Sevens looked surprised: "Irritating? This smell is exactly like Foxstone’s, are you out of your mind?"

Elliot froze for a moment.

He looked up, took another breath, and realized it did indeed smell just like Foxstone—

Between the Old East Germany and the New Berlin District was a massive green plant curtain, which was said to be capable of completely isolating industrial pollution and smog, allowing the New Berlin District to enjoy the convenience of large-scale industry as well as a perfect ecological environment at such a close distance.

Perhaps because he had been to the New Berlin District yesterday, his lungs had been thoroughly cleansed.

[Lille: Up ahead is the skyscraper where Harlin Ake lives.]

"...perhaps really something, with new lungs, a new place... Let’s start with this building, I’ll check the list...

Harlin Ake, Senior Mechanical Dynamics Engineer, graduated from Berlin University’s Adult Education Academy, outstanding graduate, model worker, has a daughter at home—

Definitely a successful life, would someone like that really become a terrorist?"

Elliot’s question was directed at both Sevens and Lille, as he truly couldn’t comprehend why someone whose life was going so well would become a terrorist?

Sevens shook his head: "I don’t know, but it’s said that the Hamburg Criminal Group’s head, Burger King, graduated from Arasaka Academy with ’achievements beyond human capability.’

Arasaka even disclosed that they issued a high-paying offer to this genius with astonishing achievements, but unfortunately, he declined it."

This was unanimously filed by the company as evidence of "Burger King possessing congenital antisocial personality traits or being a masquerading AI fugitive."

So Harlin Ake might be a natural antisocial personality or a fugitive AI, it all fits.

Sevens’ reasoning provided a solid cause to suspect Harlin Ake; it was very convincing;

But Elliot gulped: The truth could be that "Burger King is not only a natural antisocial personality but also a fugitive AI"...

If that’s how it goes, should they just run?!

An antisocial personality fugitive AI already infiltrated Berlin!

[Elliot: Bro, what do you think of this...?]

Lille replied dismissively:

[Lille: I think you should focus on gathering clues at the moment!]

Elliot quickly reined in his thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand—

At that moment, he suddenly recognized a very familiar scene:

Despite Harlin Ake having good conditions, he did not choose to live in a better-conditioned skyscraper. The corridors of this building were narrow and cramped...

Just like the worker’s apartment he once lived in.

Even the workers he encountered on the street were remarkably similar to his former self: either as muscular as a bull or as fat as a pig, wearing work clothes whose scent was so ingrained it couldn’t be washed out.

This scent he was once very familiar with, albeit slightly different from the outside smog, since he walked out of Foxstone, he never smelled it on himself again.

Seeing the workers’ gazes and hearing their murmurs, he suddenly realized...

He now seemed to have become those two people who were asking him questions back at the apartment, those two network surveillance agents:

Now, he had a tall and healthy physique, with prosthetics only EU officials could afford, and a clean suit.

At that time, through Lille’s technology, he could see what those agents looked like from the surveillance...

Elliot unknowingly adjusted his stride and posture.

Knock, knock.

He stepped forward and knocked on the door, while Sevens inserted a personal link into the search interface at the door.

"Who are you...?"

The person who opened the door was a chubby man, appearing to not have slept for days, with a certain special... emotion towards upper-class people visible in his eyebrows.

Although Elliot had never seen it, he was sure he once looked at those network surveillance agents the same way.

He froze for a moment until Sevens’ puzzled voice came from behind:

"You’re not Harlin Ake?"