A New Step
Back on the streets looking for rumors about the anomaly. The mouse-head became an excuse for us to be lazy; Kei's spending time on sorting databases and Eta's seeing one of the women in Neon Quarters every week like it's her ritual. Marvin's readying himself to become a father. Reading books on fatherhood and how he should raise a child in Changye.
I'm in Lorenza, above the rooftop watching the streets. The streets are your eyes and ears and I’m always on my toes. It’s hard to understand Changye without living on it.
Unless you walked its street. You won’t understand what makes the City move. The city has a way of attracting the ones who got lost in the dark. If you go outside of Changye and climb a hill which overlooks Changye. You will find the city close to the large bodies of water. Changye was built from a landmass stretching 1800 kilometers north to south and 5000 kilometers east to west. It was the Bering land bridge resurfaced after certain earthquakes tore through Russia and Canada and made new land. With new land and a few mages alongside the technical prowess of the OB. They had the land renovated and it didn’t take long for the Bureau to take the land for themselves and make it theirs.
So you get a new massive land the size of Australia that bridged the Americas and the Russian continent. It was the immigrants from the US who started the new frontier, followed by the Chinese, Russians, and the rest of the Asians on the south. Didn’t take long for Changye to become a melting pot of culture and after Shanghai’s Risk Event. And recently the city had a large majority of newcomers just died to an undead plague.
I’m fortunate despite being a debt-slave once. Not many are able to get opportunities to become part of the workforce immediately and some have to make-do with working on mines and flesh pits to earn a living. Clerical jobs are a dime a dozen and although Artificial Intelligence has become advanced. There is work that needs the attention of humans and even the best-trained work A.I needs to be trained on data gathered from those who are working. Not to mention you can pay less if you hire a human than a machine. Electricity in Changye is ridiculous and even companies aren’t immune to the massive bills. Servers running 24/7 and computers who are overheating consuming more electricity. Not even counting the dual-platform itself constantly using HALF of the city’s power to prevent it from falling apart. The city’s dampeners and complex power systems are what keeps this city alive. You turn off the dampeners and make one strut loose? All of it goes down. The platform will be up there. It’ll hold for a week before the backup power goes down and flatten lower Changye into a pancake.
I’m in a shop selling real meat. I know they do because anyone who tried selling not real meat got their shit kicked and you better believe no one will flock to your restaurant once you get to their bad side. Citizens don’t care about what you do as long as you sell them what you asked for.
Fried chicken flavored with batter that made it so spicy. It’s one of the cheapest fried chickens in the city, but they sure are real and cheap. When I’m not chasing after rumors, risking my life against anomalies and monsters. I’m in this joint. Aldo’s chicken has been in this city ever since the first building was built.
Veterans prefer Aldo’s chicken. I don’t know why it’s popular with the Veterans and somehow it just is. Throughout the years, I never understood why Aldo’s place is the go-to place. So you understand now why the owner can’t be cheap. Once they do, they’ll anger their customers and believe me they’ll know. Somehow they always know if the meat is fake. Props to Aldo's staff for trying sixth times though. I ordered two pieces of chicken and ate on the sidewalk alongside the customers who can’t find a seat on the benches inside the shop. It came with a rice ball. I was able to eat the food while holding the wrapper. Nothing is quite like it. Smelling the salty and acrid air of Changye while you take a bite out of cheap rice balls and a chicken you start wondering why you liked it only to come back all the time. Why do I buy it in the first place when I know better tasting chicken has been my question. Even during my time as a debt-slave. I always find the time to just eat a piece or two like this and finish it with a cola.
I made eye contact with one of the vets. In an era where tooth implants and beauty are cheap. You still find people who are too lazy for implants. How the person could still eat while missing most of his teeth is always a wonder.
Once in a while I would find citizens who traveled from a district away buying a bucket of chicken and leaving with their friends and guarding them like their life depended on it.
Sometimes thugs who are ignorant of the affairs try to muscle the staff only for most of the customers in and outside of the shop to pull out their iron and double-dare them to try. Most of them don’t survive the beating and it’s usually the staff who gets a say if they survive or not. Aldo’s joint is probably the only place in Changye who nobody in their right mind would try to fuck over. Hell, it’s not even the most absurd thing to happen in this City. After finishing my meal. I got into the service train and sat on the seat while eyeballing the ad-placements playing on screen.
***
Matt was the guy who contacted me regarding a possible anomaly. He was a very uncanny guy who’s quite proud of his augments. Matt’s mostly metal. He’s one of those chrome-addicts who got rid of their original body for the artificial. Chrome, titanium, and brass. With electronic eyes with a full-dive capable body. Meaning he can abandon his current body and live on the net.
Matt is Tech-lich. Meaning until you shut down and destroy his phylactery aka the core where his brain is. It’s hard to kill him. You can if you make him suffer a brain shock strong enough to concuss the brain. Matt’s clearly not the usual and the serial of his chrome means he gets his tech on Upper Changye.
Gearheads like Matt earn a lot. And most of the time Gearhead goes through the procedure to become a cyborg and then become a Tech-Lich. Mind you a Tech-Lich like Matt here isn’t common even in Changye. So someone like Matt contacting an affiliate office is a surprise to me. I only want to gather a rumor, but meeting a Tech-Lich like this made me take the safety off my blades and revved up my castor just in case.
“Vaun recommended. I’ve seen the records of your office and I’ve concluded it’s worth meeting you here.”
Matt said, while moving his fingers on the flat of the table, tapping it in a binary rhythm. Tech-Lich uses artificial skin to customize the likeliness of their avatar body. It’s clear to me however that Matt cherishes this body so much because it’s fully armed. My gut is telling me he can vaporize anyone and he can take on an entire syndicate before keeling over and even after keeling he’ll come back and haunt them until he’s satisfied.
I asked Matt what he wanted from us. Matt didn’t answer immediately. He made small talk and prodded and pulled out many questions seemingly randomly. I was familiar with the method and after seeing it wasn’t working. He changed to a new strategy, and instead directly asked me if our office would sell him any data regarding tech-related anomalies first before anyone. Matt’s reason was simple. Anomalies are surprise boxes, and what you get from these boxes.
It was something I couldn’t decide for myself. I called Kei out while she’s sorting the database and one look at the client made her face switch to a more professional look, who'd scammed you if you didn’t try to do your best.
It was a duel to see how much more money she could negotiate. It’s quite simple really. Kei probably had an idea and was now selling our office twice the price it should be.
Matt’s clearly amused by Kei overselling us and yet my gut told me he’s also investing. You don’t get to become a Tech-Lich without the brains and the wits. You don’t own a million dollar body just by pure luck alone. Matt here wants to invest in us and I have a feeling the price he’s willing to waste is just pocket money.
“We will discuss monetary matters once an anomaly of sufficient quality is caught. I will contact your Superiors and discuss possible tasks as well.”
After Matt was done. He left without a word and I got on the service train quickly and hurried back to the office where I found Kei rubbing her chin while staring down the screen of her work computer.
Eta and Marv’s not around. Kei raises her head and tells me Matt is a rather nasty businessman. She got intel somewhere and the background history of our latest client made me wonder if we’re being played.
A tech-savant who was part of the original team who made developments to Changye’s Bagua System. He was already ninety-two when he got the Tech-Lich upgrade and now he was this curious and bored half-machine who satisfies his intellectual curiosity as a means of pleasure.
I met Graded Agents as of late. People who are called top dogs, but Matt here can be classified as EX Graded Agent. He might not be an owner of a company, but he makes a living on his investments, and the wealth he gathered throughout his human and machine lifespan.
“I’m glad we got someone like this trying to invest in us, but now the pressure’s building up. We haven't had many anomalies lately and now this guy wants to invest in us. Oh, the proposal he has isn’t something we can refuse and even Sato knows it’s best if we agree with this one rather than avoid it. He got the money and all we need to do is sell him any anomaly related information. He’s rich, but he’s not after the wealth, but what the tech can do to improve his machine body.”
The cautious part of Kei clearly wants to back out now she has time to think. But the 7S won’t allow her and Sato wouldn’t allow us to reject this either.
“Question is how we’ll get any anomaly. With Sato and co taking all the repeated cases. We’ll have no anomaly left to take.”
“Got nothing on the streets?”
“Nope. Got nothing on the streets other than the usual chaos. They aren’t exactly what you’d call common. Hell, I’d find a hellhound faster than we can find an anomaly.”
“And yet we found ourselves a Tech-lich who is willing to deal with us. Don’t know if we’re lucky or unlucky. Honestly, it feels like our stream of luck will one day just stop while we’re still crossing the middle of a hanging bridge. Maybe we’ll have to start looking at cases outside of Changye as well. But right now we’ll stay in the City and find as many as we can before we go down that route.”
Pressure is building up and the look on Kei’s face for a second her guard was down is enough for me to judge she’s now feeling some of the weight of owning an office in this city.
A New Step
Back on the streets looking for rumors about the anomaly. The mouse-head became an excuse for us to be lazy; Kei's spending time on sorting databases and Eta's seeing one of the women in Neon Quarters every week like it's her ritual. Marvin's readying himself to become a father. Reading books on fatherhood and how he should raise a child in Changye.
I'm in Lorenza, above the rooftop watching the streets. The streets are your eyes and ears and I’m always on my toes. It’s hard to understand Changye without living on it.
Unless you walked its street. You won’t understand what makes the City move. The city has a way of attracting the ones who got lost in the dark. If you go outside of Changye and climb a hill which overlooks Changye. You will find the city close to the large bodies of water. Changye was built from a landmass stretching 1800 kilometers north to south and 5000 kilometers east to west. It was the Bering land bridge resurfaced after certain earthquakes tore through Russia and Canada and made new land. With new land and a few mages alongside the technical prowess of the OB. They had the land renovated and it didn’t take long for the Bureau to take the land for themselves and make it theirs.
So you get a new massive land the size of Australia that bridged the Americas and the Russian continent. It was the immigrants from the US who started the new frontier, followed by the Chinese, Russians, and the rest of the Asians on the south. Didn’t take long for Changye to become a melting pot of culture and after Shanghai’s Risk Event. And recently the city had a large majority of newcomers just died to an undead plague.
I’m fortunate despite being a debt-slave once. Not many are able to get opportunities to become part of the workforce immediately and some have to make-do with working on mines and flesh pits to earn a living. Clerical jobs are a dime a dozen and although Artificial Intelligence has become advanced. There is work that needs the attention of humans and even the best-trained work A.I needs to be trained on data gathered from those who are working. Not to mention you can pay less if you hire a human than a machine. Electricity in Changye is ridiculous and even companies aren’t immune to the massive bills. Servers running 24/7 and computers who are overheating consuming more electricity. Not even counting the dual-platform itself constantly using HALF of the city’s power to prevent it from falling apart. The city’s dampeners and complex power systems are what keeps this city alive. You turn off the dampeners and make one strut loose? All of it goes down. The platform will be up there. It’ll hold for a week before the backup power goes down and flatten lower Changye into a pancake.
I’m in a shop selling real meat. I know they do because anyone who tried selling not real meat got their shit kicked and you better believe no one will flock to your restaurant once you get to their bad side. Citizens don’t care about what you do as long as you sell them what you asked for.
Fried chicken flavored with batter that made it so spicy. It’s one of the cheapest fried chickens in the city, but they sure are real and cheap. When I’m not chasing after rumors, risking my life against anomalies and monsters. I’m in this joint. Aldo’s chicken has been in this city ever since the first building was built.
Veterans prefer Aldo’s chicken. I don’t know why it’s popular with the Veterans and somehow it just is. Throughout the years, I never understood why Aldo’s place is the go-to place. So you understand now why the owner can’t be cheap. Once they do, they’ll anger their customers and believe me they’ll know. Somehow they always know if the meat is fake. Props to Aldo's staff for trying sixth times though. I ordered two pieces of chicken and ate on the sidewalk alongside the customers who can’t find a seat on the benches inside the shop. It came with a rice ball. I was able to eat the food while holding the wrapper. Nothing is quite like it. Smelling the salty and acrid air of Changye while you take a bite out of cheap rice balls and a chicken you start wondering why you liked it only to come back all the time. Why do I buy it in the first place when I know better tasting chicken has been my question. Even during my time as a debt-slave. I always find the time to just eat a piece or two like this and finish it with a cola.
I made eye contact with one of the vets. In an era where tooth implants and beauty are cheap. You still find people who are too lazy for implants. How the person could still eat while missing most of his teeth is always a wonder.
Once in a while I would find citizens who traveled from a district away buying a bucket of chicken and leaving with their friends and guarding them like their life depended on it.
Sometimes thugs who are ignorant of the affairs try to muscle the staff only for most of the customers in and outside of the shop to pull out their iron and double-dare them to try. Most of them don’t survive the beating and it’s usually the staff who gets a say if they survive or not. Aldo’s joint is probably the only place in Changye who nobody in their right mind would try to fuck over. Hell, it’s not even the most absurd thing to happen in this City. After finishing my meal. I got into the service train and sat on the seat while eyeballing the ad-placements playing on screen.
***
Matt was the guy who contacted me regarding a possible anomaly. He was a very uncanny guy who’s quite proud of his augments. Matt’s mostly metal. He’s one of those chrome-addicts who got rid of their original body for the artificial. Chrome, titanium, and brass. With electronic eyes with a full-dive capable body. Meaning he can abandon his current body and live on the net.
Matt is Tech-lich. Meaning until you shut down and destroy his phylactery aka the core where his brain is. It’s hard to kill him. You can if you make him suffer a brain shock strong enough to concuss the brain. Matt’s clearly not the usual and the serial of his chrome means he gets his tech on Upper Changye.
Gearheads like Matt earn a lot. And most of the time Gearhead goes through the procedure to become a cyborg and then become a Tech-Lich. Mind you a Tech-Lich like Matt here isn’t common even in Changye. So someone like Matt contacting an affiliate office is a surprise to me. I only want to gather a rumor, but meeting a Tech-Lich like this made me take the safety off my blades and revved up my castor just in case.
“Vaun recommended. I’ve seen the records of your office and I’ve concluded it’s worth meeting you here.”
Matt said, while moving his fingers on the flat of the table, tapping it in a binary rhythm. Tech-Lich uses artificial skin to customize the likeliness of their avatar body. It’s clear to me however that Matt cherishes this body so much because it’s fully armed. My gut is telling me he can vaporize anyone and he can take on an entire syndicate before keeling over and even after keeling he’ll come back and haunt them until he’s satisfied.
I asked Matt what he wanted from us. Matt didn’t answer immediately. He made small talk and prodded and pulled out many questions seemingly randomly. I was familiar with the method and after seeing it wasn’t working. He changed to a new strategy, and instead directly asked me if our office would sell him any data regarding tech-related anomalies first before anyone. Matt’s reason was simple. Anomalies are surprise boxes, and what you get from these boxes.
It was something I couldn’t decide for myself. I called Kei out while she’s sorting the database and one look at the client made her face switch to a more professional look, who'd scammed you if you didn’t try to do your best.
It was a duel to see how much more money she could negotiate. It’s quite simple really. Kei probably had an idea and was now selling our office twice the price it should be.
Matt’s clearly amused by Kei overselling us and yet my gut told me he’s also investing. You don’t get to become a Tech-Lich without the brains and the wits. You don’t own a million dollar body just by pure luck alone. Matt here wants to invest in us and I have a feeling the price he’s willing to waste is just pocket money.
“We will discuss monetary matters once an anomaly of sufficient quality is caught. I will contact your Superiors and discuss possible tasks as well.”
After Matt was done. He left without a word and I got on the service train quickly and hurried back to the office where I found Kei rubbing her chin while staring down the screen of her work computer.
Eta and Marv’s not around. Kei raises her head and tells me Matt is a rather nasty businessman. She got intel somewhere and the background history of our latest client made me wonder if we’re being played.
A tech-savant who was part of the original team who made developments to Changye’s Bagua System. He was already ninety-two when he got the Tech-Lich upgrade and now he was this curious and bored half-machine who satisfies his intellectual curiosity as a means of pleasure.
I met Graded Agents as of late. People who are called top dogs, but Matt here can be classified as EX Graded Agent. He might not be an owner of a company, but he makes a living on his investments, and the wealth he gathered throughout his human and machine lifespan.
“I’m glad we got someone like this trying to invest in us, but now the pressure’s building up. We haven't had many anomalies lately and now this guy wants to invest in us. Oh, the proposal he has isn’t something we can refuse and even Sato knows it’s best if we agree with this one rather than avoid it. He got the money and all we need to do is sell him any anomaly related information. He’s rich, but he’s not after the wealth, but what the tech can do to improve his machine body.”
The cautious part of Kei clearly wants to back out now she has time to think. But the 7S won’t allow her and Sato wouldn’t allow us to reject this either.
“Question is how we’ll get any anomaly. With Sato and co taking all the repeated cases. We’ll have no anomaly left to take.”
“Got nothing on the streets?”
“Nope. Got nothing on the streets other than the usual chaos. They aren’t exactly what you’d call common. Hell, I’d find a hellhound faster than we can find an anomaly.”
“And yet we found ourselves a Tech-lich who is willing to deal with us. Don’t know if we’re lucky or unlucky. Honestly, it feels like our stream of luck will one day just stop while we’re still crossing the middle of a hanging bridge. Maybe we’ll have to start looking at cases outside of Changye as well. But right now we’ll stay in the City and find as many as we can before we go down that route.”
Pressure is building up and the look on Kei’s face for a second her guard was down is enough for me to judge she’s now feeling some of the weight of owning an office in this city.
