Chapter 116: Mission

Red and blue ran parallel, sharply divided, stretching endlessly to the pure black horizon beyond sight.

She simply walked straight along this path, silently watching the glassy characters floating in the four directions.

Perhaps a long time passed, or perhaps only a blink.

Unknowingly, she arrived in a narrow black space.

"You have come..."

A flat male voice rose from all directions, yet did not seem noisy.

"Where is this month's salary?" Mimicking a similar tone, she asked.

"Haiji..." The male voice grew helpless.

As the words fell, the entire black space turned pure white.

Haiji squinted slightly, waiting with accustomed patience for the dazzling light to slowly fade.

"I did not summon you to discuss such clichés..."

"I only like clichés, Samuel." Haiji opened her eyes, gazing coldly at the man who suddenly appeared before her.

"... Forget it..." Samuel sighed, not lingering on this topic. "A big shot is coming to Night City soon; pay close attention..."

"What level?"

"Uh... about the same as mine."

"In the name of the Net Watch, or in my personal name?" Haiji glanced at the man's pale blue pupils.

"In the name of the Net Watch, but you must act personally..."

Haiji heard his implication. "Strictly confidential?"

"Strictly confidential." Samuel thought for a moment, then added, "Including your little shadow, Mu Lin. You cannot tell him about this."

"You must promote me so I can exile him to some remote backwater..." Haiji curled her lips, her smile icy. "Otherwise, even for me, completely escaping his attention is very difficult."

"Forget it, just the two of you together then."

"So rash? Looks like it isn't a difficult task, then I won't participate..."

"Haiji..." Samuel rubbed his brow. "I know you are in a bad mood because of your friend's death..."

"Good that you know." Haiji nodded, concealing nothing of the surging anger in her heart.

"The culprit is already dead; can you stop fixating on this?"

"Beros is dead, but that does not mean my anger will extinguish..."

"So you want to wipe them out completely?"

"Not quite; his death has nothing to do with me..." Haiji shook her head. "I am not so base as to deploy an uncontrollable Electronic Virus."

Samuel's smile vanished; he stared straight at her.

"I gave you authorization, not to investigate these things..."

He spoke word by word, as if chewing zero-degree ice between his lips and teeth.

"Fine, fine, fine... Rest assured, I will not involve myself in your big shots' games..." Haiji shrugged, raising three fingers toward the ceiling.

"Sigh... This is a critical time... You had better not act recklessly, or if you die one day, I won't be responsible." Seeing Haiji's attitude, Samuel's tone softened.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing..." Samuel shook his head. "At least, you shouldn't know."

As if seeing through Haiji's thoughts, he added, "Even using all your current authorization, you won't find it... So don't waste time; focus more on the mission I gave you..."

"Oh." Haiji replied perfunctorily, clearly not listening.

"Time is up; you can go back now." Samuel said no more, merely waving his hand.

Thus the white space took on twilight hues, turning black once more.

Haiji closed her eyes as well.

When she opened her eyes again, a semi-transparent glass canopy lay before her.

She rubbed her eyes, pushed open the crescent-shaped glass layer, and slowly sat upright.

"You're awake?"

A male voice asked softly.

"Obviously." Haiji replied coldly, taking the warm coffee the man handed her.

"What did the boss want again?" Mu Lin leaned his head close, almost pressing against her.

"First, stay away from me," Haiji shook the coffee in her hand, finally abandoning the idea of pouring it over someone's head. "Second, don't call him 'boss'... It sounds too strange."

"Finally, we have work to do."

"Work? What? Overtime again? Is there overtime pay?" Mu Lin seemed to hear only the last sentence, firing questions one after another.

A string of annoying questions made her head buzz, as irritating as summer cicada songs.

"Shut up." Haiji frowned and slammed the empty coffee cup onto Mu Lin's head.

"Okay, okay..." Mu Lin nodded repeatedly, smiling sheepishly as he removed the porcelain cup from his head, then touched his hair, feeling no wetness or heat.

"The coffee tasted good, but that doesn't mean you can act without restraint, understand?" Facing Mu Lin's confused gaze, Haiji's brow throbbed; she had no choice but to explain.

"I understand! Did you get promoted? You're getting more fond of giving orders." Mu Lin, unchanging in nature, still had a chattering mouth.

"Just shut up." Haiji helplessly rolled her eyes and turned to walk out of the room.

"By the way..." Mu Lin stopped his giggling and handed Haiji a Data Chip with a serious expression. "I found some information recently; take a look."

"That's more like it..." Haiji nodded and took the Crystal Yuan.

"Are you sure you didn't grab the wrong one?" She pointed to the etched words on the Crystal Yuan, speaking with rare hesitation. "What does 'Ten Year Collection' on here mean?"

"Damn!" Mu Lin panicked; before Haiji could react, he snatched the Crystal Yuan back from her hand. "Wrong one, wrong one..."

"Having some personal hobbies is one thing, but the principle of separating public and private matters shouldn't need me to tell you... Don't look at these during work hours..." Haiji muttered a complaint, took the second Crystal Yuan he handed her, and only after careful confirmation inserted it into the interface behind her neck.

"How was it?" Mu Lin panted heavily, clearly still shaken.

"Some parts overlap with what I have here, but there are a few new details added. For your abilities, it's passable." Haiji pulled out the Crystal Yuan and handed it back to Mu Lin.

"Before you arrived, I was one of the few experts in existence!" Mu Lin puffed out his chest, looking extremely proud.

"There are only a handful of people total? Counting from the bottom still makes you one of the few." Haiji flipped him off and walked to the elevator door.

"Our relationship... don't expose me..."

"Sigh..." Haiji shook her head. While Mu Lin was still lost in fantasy, she silently slipped into the descending elevator.