Chapter 232 - 214: The Beginner’s Checklist for Network Supervision

Blais was actually quite impressive; one could tell by how silently he took down a hacker.

However, ordinary people simply can’t grasp the complexity of cybercrime, especially in Night City.

"First, I’ll ask the first question. The major blackout at Company Square wasn’t your doing, was it?"

"No."

Lille shook his head in denial following Blais’s words.

At this point, what the network monitor thought didn’t matter anymore, Lille still remembered what Blais had said before: not to discuss cybercrime in front of him.

Perhaps the network monitor suspected him, maybe it was a test, or perhaps the network monitor thought the hacker responsible for the blackout was someone else.

There was also a possibility: the network monitor was operating with all three attitudes simultaneously.

The network monitor wasn’t one person; a mature organization could operate multithreading, even holding several different ideas and advancing work in different directions concurrently.

Of course, this depended on the abundance of their resources.

It seemed Blais was encountering troubles due to insufficient resources.

The agent glanced at Lille, "Since we’re going to cooperate, let’s also share our background. The hacker who supported you at Company Square, what do you know about them?"

"I don’t know; Faraday doesn’t like people asking around."

Thank you, Faraday.

Thank you for your contribution to the secrecy of Burger King’s operations.

Thinking this, Lille also started munching on his burger.

Blais continued, "It seems he screwed Faraday over with him. Anyway, this is a cunning cybercriminal."

And the blackout he caused at Company Square also led to extensive damage and loss of Cyberspace data, in the 6 hours following the blackout, the number of crimes in Night City...

It wasn’t just cybercrime; the number of all kinds of criminal cases surged, disrupting our original work plans.

Now we have more incidents requiring verification of clues and evidence, reorganizing our work schedule."

"Like the Lizard Man?"

Blais gave Lille a sidelong glance, "Military Technology also buys data from network surveillance sometimes; your dealings at the border could also be part of the transaction."

"But these days, data trading isn’t guaranteed to be authentic," Lille reminded as a friend.

"You don’t need to remind me—back to your business, I have a few cybercrime incidents on my hands that need verification.

You can choose: the first task, investigate Cloud Peak: I need the work records of several high-class sex dolls."

Lille raised an eyebrow, "Sex doll chips aren’t supposed to record anything during operation."

"That’s the issue. I suspect that some high-class sex dolls recorded information while servicing their clients, which might not be uncommon in Night City, but I want to know what exactly they recorded."

As Blais spoke, he pointed at Lille with the leftover chicken bone—

This guy could really eat.

Lille brushed his hand aside, "I have a question; I also want to get some sex doll chips, can we mix business with personal..."

"No! I told you not to mention this in front of me, are you deaf!"

"Alright, alright, my bad—what else?"

"The second thing... I actually wouldn’t recommend you take this job. Someone is stealing personal information from Deputy Mayor Hot, but he hasn’t reported it to us, probably hired Arasaka for cyber security."

"Why would you get involved then?"

"That ties back to the hacker you hired." Blais wiped his mouth, "On the night of the blackout, we were enforcing in Cyberspace and discovered something interesting...

Arasaka might have used a top-tier Cyberspace weapon tailored to exterminate. We want to know what this small fry has that warranted them deploying such weaponry.

As for why I wouldn’t recommend this job to you: It involves Arasaka and the deputy mayor, but your point of entry is investigating gang-related cybercrime activities.

Low clearance, limited operational space, big trouble, and the upfront payment... won’t be much."

It sounded dangerous—yet the payment was actually pretty tempting.

The upfront payment wasn’t much, but they hadn’t mentioned anything on the side.

"Anything else?"

"The last thing, I actually hope you choose this one: help me break into the Voodoo Gang’s subnet. Although there’s no solid evidence, I’m almost certain the attacks on the Black Wall come from this bunch of lunatics!"

As he spoke, Blais somewhat gritted his teeth, "These lunatics are poking holes in the Black Wall 24/7, I don’t even know what they’re up to!

If you choose this, you do whatever you want, NCPD, network surveillance, they’ll all turn a blind eye to your actions.

It’s best to physically break in!"

"You’re joking, buddy, I choose the first one."

Blais stared at Lille’s smiling face, lost in thought—it wasn’t quite what he had expected.

"...I thought you’d lean towards the third, especially since it’s the kind of tough job you’re best at."

"We are tough, but who isn’t afraid of Voodoo Gang’s tactics?"

"I can provide you with network support."

"I’m scared too—I hope you don’t mind me saying this?"

Since it’s our first collaboration, it’s better to keep a certain distance, let’s start with the first assignment.

As for the other two, we can discuss them later. You might change your mind once the results are out, right?"

"Okay," Blais wiped his mouth and transferred the meal money to the owner, "It’s best to keep the Cloud Peak matter as covert as possible so no one realizes we’re investigating the sex doll chips.

I don’t frequent brothels, and I’m not familiar with these places. Got any good ideas?"

"Easy, with so many gangs in Night City, we can find a reason and a cover to turn Cloud Peak upside down."

"Gang conflicts? No, that’d never end—and Tiger Claw Gang covers Cloud Peak, where would you find a gang willing to fight to the death over sex dolls?

And don’t mention the Mox Gang—we both know they’re not on the same level."

Lille stroked his chin, "How about law enforcement? Start with some perverted criminals from Tiger Claw Gang, maybe accidentally brush against Cloud Peak? Could even do some good for Night City."

"That works." Blais’s prosthetic eye flickered with data light, quickly finding what he needed.

"There’s a psychopath in the NCPD database called Jotaro, involved in drugs, gambling, prostitution... might have some connections with Cloud Peak, you can try that.

If you need NCPD support, I can pull some strings for you."

"Let’s see— you’re not expecting me to start tonight, are you? I’m a freelancer, and I don’t take kindly to being micromanaged."

Blais sighed in resignation, "Why do I feel like I’ve been too nice to you, making you think you’re the boss?"

"Really, it’s not that. I respect the frontline of human defense against dangerous AI, but you gotta give me some time to prepare, right?"

Blais internally mocked Lille’s flattery: If it weren’t for your sarcasm about my work hours just now, I might have believed you.

He stood up and patted his coat, "I’ll give you 24 hours at most, the Black Wall is under attack every second, our work is important and there’s no room for delay.

Next is your network access permit—use this new permit number as long as you’re working for us, and it will allow access to Cyberspace.

But if you use another code to enter Cyberspace..."

"I know—it’s illegal tampering to enter Cyberspace, a severe felony. I promise not to commit it, officer!"

Lille saluted, his prosthetic eye flashing a series of reconnection prompts:

[Network Access Permit Issued: NIGHTCITY-NETWATCH-D-GOI66523]

[You have reconnected to the network.]

Reconnected to the network.

"Good that you understand."

As the agent was about to leave, Lille asked another question, "By the way, buddy, why don’t you suspect I’m the hacker who caused the major blackout?"

"Simple—your techniques are solid but neither clever nor sophisticated. Using such outdated methods to create an EMP of that scale..."

Blais pointed to his head, "Your neural circuits aren’t nearly tough enough. Even with a whole room of servers, you couldn’t withstand the impact.

And such trails, they can’t escape our eyes."

Lille got it—

In fact, the Netwatch guess was correct; that night, at least twenty rounds sizzled through his brain, and a whole room full of servers got fried—just not in this world.

"But..." Blais changed his tone, sounding a bit colder, "if you did create that EMP, Netwatch would use all its power to destroy you."

This guy always seemed very friendly—unexpectedly so, making people almost forget he was a Netwatch agent.

Only the world’s top hackers can serve in Netwatch, and accordingly, these agents are equipped with the most advanced hacking tools.

After the collapse of the old network... no wild hackers could compete with them.

If Netwatch sets its sights on someone...

The hacker lying dead in the nearby gutter was the consequence, as insignificant as squashing a bug.

"By the way, I saw you were eyeing that hacker attire; consider it a subcontractor benefit. I’ve put in a request for gear from logistics.

Make sure to enter your custom data in your mailbox when you get back—see you in Cyberspace."

Blais then left the food stand.

Lille sat in the chair, pondering his next move.

...

[Netwatch Agent Report]

[Target: Burger King]

[Data Update]

[Human Psychology Assessment: A street-smart kid with excellent logical capabilities, sufficiently sober when dealing with network disruptions, possesses a rudimentary sense of street justice.]

[Computer Psychology Assessment: No AI logic seen]

[Network Access Permit Issued, Continuous Observation.]

[Possibility of Roaming AI still not ruled out.]