Chapter 258 - 239 Honey Trap (Thanks to Forzen, my silver sponsor, for the continued support)

Honey pot, a cybersecurity term, simply refers to a deliberately set trap.

Usually, a honey pot system is a target that appears real and purposefully has some vulnerabilities left open, waiting for intrusion.

However, these vulnerabilities and the target situation are controlled, and once breached, they can trigger a variety of chain reactions.

Why is it called a honey pot? Because it’s irresistibly sweet, luring people in.

But once inside, the invaders tasting the honey will find themselves steeped in it.

[Blais: Bro, do you suspect this is a honey pot system? But you’ve already physically breached it.]

[Lille: No... I suspect the whole event was designed, and Cloud Peak is the real honey pot.]

[Blais: That doesn’t make sense, bro. The interceptions you faced on the road are not something a normal person could get through.]

[Lille: But what if the person laying the trap knows us very well, or rather, what if they want to catch someone who can do these things? What if they are aiming to catch someone abnormal?]

[Blais: Bro, that’s someone with way too deep of a scheme, there’s no such person.]

Lille looked at the database silently for a while.

[Lille: To be honest, my goal has actually been achieved. I just wanted to smash Jotaro, that pervert, but what about yours?]

[Lille: Or do you think I’m the kind of idiot who would overlook the threat of Arasaka?]

The sensation of time in Cyberspace feels somewhat different from the outside world.

Blais went silent, and about 10 seconds passed in the real world before he replied again.

[Blais: You’re smart, so let’s be frank—this is indeed likely a honey pot, and I hope you’ll step into it.]

[Blais: This is a very dangerous job. I’m 60% confident I can get you out, whereas for other hackers, the odds are less than 10%, you’re the best choice I could find.]

[Blais: The reward will be double, and I can tell, you don’t just want to take out Jotaro. I’ve conducted an external scan, I can guarantee the Cloud Peak data is intact, whatever you want to do with it is up to you.]

[Lille: Double?]

[Blais: How much do you want?]

[Lille: Overtime typically pays triple... So at least thirty times, I guess?]

[Blais: ...At most ten times, take it or leave it.]

Lille looked out into the vast Cyberspace.

The gap left by the decline of the Tiger Claw Gang could indeed be handled partially by Lille—he had quite a few industries in his hands.

But there was an unavoidable fact: how many people were involved in this sinful business, and after taking out Jotaro, how many could continue to support such a pervert?

Systemic corruption is indeed a difficult problem to solve, but direct and systematic eradication of these people can, directly and systematically, solve the problem for a while.

He knew now, or maybe he had known from the start that he was a target, but now he had sorted out the details—

So, does he still step in?

[Lille: Twenty times.]

[Blais: No way, but I can offer you some good stuff that you can’t find on the market, and I can transfer the money to you now.]

[Blais: I promise not to trip you up, I’m serious, I guarantee it.]

[Lille: Honestly, corporate dog promises are cheap.]

[Blais: Now that hurts a bit.]

Lille remained connected but suddenly opened his eyes—Jack and V were both taken aback.

"Jotaro has someone backing him, and Arasaka is involved too. If we stop here or dive deeper, the risk will be very high, but the reward will increase too. What do you think?"

The two looked at each other and then shrugged.

Jack said, "If you ask me... since we’ve been working together, I think the job has been getting more and more meaningful. Taking out scum and raking in stacks of cash, I choose to go for it."

V also nodded: "That’s the point—we’re mercenaries, we get paid to do jobs. If we can do it without a guilty conscience or even clean it up a bit, then the job is even more worth doing."

Lille smiled: "Good, that’s what I’m thinking—you guys know what it would be like if word of this got out, right?"

V stroked his chin: "Night City legend breaks into a den of iniquity, annihilates the Tiger Claw Gang’s Crime Empire in one fell swoop?"

Jack: "Uh... badass, buddy?"

Lille: "If the details were to get out, it’d definitely get said that three idiots, knowing they were being used as pawns, still charged headlong into the fray!"

But what legend hasn’t made a name for themselves by doing foolish things?

Lille plunged back into Cyberspace, touching Little Octopus.

[Lille: This job is a bit dangerous, I’ll treat you to something satisfying later.]

Little Octopus scratched its head with a tentacle, not quite understanding what danger meant. The young creature didn’t understand: what could be dangerous to it in Cyberspace?

Lille’s cooling fins all spread out as he lay in the ice water, no longer using magnetic electrodes but directly connecting the access cable into that uncommon Si Anweisitan line.

[Lille: Go catch the data.]

Little Octopus slowly became bloated and solid, crawling towards the Cloud Peak data vault—

Just as its tentacles crept onto the database, the shield-like ICE suddenly disassembled, becoming more substantial, and the whole Cyberspace began to tremble!

The change in computing power seemed to be forming some sort of superweapon beyond Lille’s imagination. Just being in the construction phase, it was already causing him neural pain!

The massive octopus suddenly lifted its head, finding something similar among the surging digits—

Something that made it feel threatened!

The entire building’s announcements immediately ceased, wires began to inexplicably burst, and every device connected to the circuit, such as light bulbs and indicator lights, started to riot!

...

Arasaka Tower, Divine Chariot.

Hacker A: "Target has entered the honeypot, Soul Killer activation, efficiency... a bit low?"

Hacker B: "Attempting an over-frequency electricity intrusion on H8 Skyscraper... No, we are under attack!"

Hacker C: "It’s the honeypot! The target is the honeypot!"

...

Taiping State, Blais’s data barriers.

[Blais: Code name: Emperor suspected of using restricted AI weapons, matches the data remnants captured the other day.]

[Blais: Launching a cyberattack using H8 Skyscraper as a stepping stone, signal strong.]

[Blais: Requesting support.]

[Blais: Situation critical, requesting support!]

The situation wasn’t actually that critical— in cyberspace battles, the one who strikes first gains an enormously strong advantage.

But Blais still played the role of the alarmist— he wasn’t in much danger, but Lille inside the H8 Skyscraper was.

It would be bad if the Voodoo Gang launched an attack when he shifted his own attention.

After all, he had given his word.

[Network Surveillance Central Coordination: Your ticket has been accepted.]

[Ticket Number: CP-2076-XX09b]

[Date: 2076-02]

[Time: 03:42:17 GMT]

[Response: Ticket data confirms crow information]

[New ticket: CP-AIC-XX562c assigned to Dragon Hunter]

[Task Level: Ω]

[Task Description]

[Target Address: 23.45.67.89:8080]

[Target Identification: Class AI Weapon]

[Operation Type: Data Reconnaissance and Interception]

[Risk Level: ██████░░░ (4/10)]

[Cable access granted, long-distance data migration ready.]

...

In Night City, several members of the Voodoo Gang were standing guard outside a dilapidated building, while upstairs, were the hackers sent by their boss to investigate the network monitor’s aide.

The hackers were searching through cyberspace for clues about H10 Skyscraper...

Whirr—

As they were still picking through the complex urban data map for data remnants, a colossal warship appeared above the cyberspace city!

The crew aboard the ship rushed towards their seemingly unproblematic sky, pulling out an extremely covert data stream from the dark noise of cyberspace!

Suddenly, cyberspace became extremely unstable!

Quick-reacting hackers immediately logged off and fled; those unlucky enough to be near the battle zone were met with cyberspace tremors that translated to a highly unstable power environment in reality. Those with slightly inferior equipment started to feel their nerves tingle!

The battle was quickly concealed, the data stream hidden in the cyber clouds, and hackers on the ground could only glimpse occasional distortions...

This usually indicated that unstable electric signals were starting to damage their visual nerves!

Two hackers from the Voodoo Gang, navigating through a collapsing data rain, hurriedly began tracing the actual coordinates of the battlefield—

H8 Skyscraper!

Bang!

A crumbling data spore, as if guided, slammed directly onto one of the hackers’ cyber personae!

"Argh aah aaah asdasdw—gioxbnfg"

Thump!

The other hacker urgently disconnected, still shaken as he turned to pull his companion out of cyberspace...

His friend wasn’t dead, just rolling his eyes back and drooling from the mouth.

The hacker swallowed nervously... They were there to find the guy who was taken under the wing by the network monitor.

Now they knew who that guy was—

The hacker turned his head towards the half-flickering TV screen, the sound was a bit distorted but he could still make out what was being said.

"According to the latest news, the group attacking H8 Skyscraper has slaughtered all the residents inside, this is a horrific act of terrorism..."

The person they were ordered by their boss to track down might be a newbie in cyberspace...

But he certainly wasn’t in the real world.