Chapter 889 - 168: The Crime Hidden in Hatred

minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

As soon as the EBM shut down the Deep Space Electromagnetic Pulse Array, Interpol was already hovering over Bremen.

The situation here was shocking and completely different from what they had imagined:

The scene was comparable to a warzone. The building exteriors were riddled with bullet holes and breaches. The streets were smeared with various liquids, with the wreckage of vehicles and human bodies mixed together, buried under the collapsed building debris...

Many people died at the scene, but the vast majority were EBM soldiers.

Or rather, not a single soldier sent by the EBM survived.

But this wasn’t the worst part. Workers clashing with the EBM was of no concern to them, and those hidden matters were for the higher authorities to handle. The worst issue was that the protective wall of the government building had been breached...

The concrete wall, capable of withstanding ground-penetrating bombs, was breached under the continuous output of a Jilafa Type 3—

Who would have thought that when designing such a thing, the walls would be attacked by construction machinery?!

The engineering modules used for boring tunnels could also penetrate bunkers.

They suddenly realized: things were really getting troublesome.

[International Police Officer: ...The government building has been breached.]

...

This time, they were lucky. Blais left the site before Interpol arrived at the government building, avoiding a direct confrontation.

"...I’ve been trying to steal data from the European Union’s public network. Before they discover me, I could use an identity a few times. Now, basically, I have to change my identity each time.

This time, I went a bit big, but even if an identity is logged into a public place just once, it’s enough for me until next year."

[Lille: What about your Golden Son?]

"Oh, right. Remember that cyber-psychopath in Bruges? His child was actually recommended to be sent to Berlin. I checked the records, and it seems the child had some rare genetic defect, so a contract was signed with Biotechnology...

In theory, the child should have been sent to Rome. I’m not sure why there’s no news after Berlin.

According to the government data here, when the child arrived, someone in Berlin with a bit of power wanted the child sent to him."

[Lille: Human trafficking?]

"I guess so. The data here show that there’s an official charity organization in the European Union there, but I think something’s off, mainly with the applicant..."

Blais quickly scanned through his stored notes, which marked many people he believed were connected to the Golden Son, including company executives, EU parliament members, and civil servants in appointed or non-elected positions.

So how did Blais determine if they were Golden Sons?

This group was not actually mysterious. On the contrary, many figures existed in the public eye—

Nobility.

Almost all nobles with titles in their names were Golden Sons, with those ennobled around the millennium being the most dense.

Most of these nobles had been knighted by the English king after overthrowing the Martial Law Bureau for their contributions. Before that, many had ambiguous connections with the Martial Law Bureau.

The nobles who appeared in public had endless exposure, posting high-minded opinions online, flaunting the conveniences brought by the Science and Technology Committee, and leading fashion trends.

"... Speaking of which, you’ve been revolving around industrial cities and haven’t visited a real metropolis. You’ll understand what I mean when you get to Berlin.

But most of these clowns in the spotlight are... young Golden Sons or the children of Golden Sons.

Many of the first-generation Golden Sons might still be alive— you know, advanced biomedical technology."

Digesting this information, Blais’s expression grew heavier: the term ’Golden Son’ was a privileged title. The meaning of privilege was that their power and status were not written in the law, so naturally, there was no record in the European Barrier’s system.

However, by connecting undisclosed law enforcement information and communications, he was marking more and more people who might have such power.

This was his first time accessing a city’s government building database. The contents inside were truly shocking. One could even say that if the European Union’s apparent harmony were separated and looked solely at the files within, the behavior of these people was entirely another Night City.

At first glance, it didn’t seem significant. However, when linked to the apparent orderliness of the European Union, it would seem absurd.

For instance, something like speeding and killing might indeed have a high accident rate in Night City, with minor collisions often leading to street gunfights.

But in the European Union, speeding and killing is considered a severe public order disturbance, warranting capital punishment or expulsion—we found hundreds of cases in Bremen where accidents occurred but faced no punishment or even investigation.

This implies that while European Barrier’s regulations seemed to equalize everyone’s behavior, in reality, there was a group of people enjoying unimaginable freedom...

From these records, some even behaved like spoiled children, frightening and terrifying in their actions, yet always receiving the forgiveness of ’broad-minded adults.’

Openly, the European Barrier was a strict maintainer of order, but in secrecy, it was... a system that was kind to some while cruel to others.

There were even some records about refugees outside the European Barrier.

"... Refugees... Damn, I always thought the European Barrier’s resistance to refugees was a difficult but necessary decision given the current situation...

But... they are organizing capture teams and periodically distributing supplies and drugs with different effects to achieve certain goals...

This is utterly inhumane..."

Blais’ eyebrows twisted into a knot: Before, he just thought these privileged classes needed to be responsible for the bloodshed and many accidents happening in the shadows. Now it seems they are maintaining the European Union while engaging in many inhumane acts...

After reading these things, Blais muttered to himself:

"You know, when I first joined Network Supervision, I was assigned to investigate a home invasion murder case. The incident happened in the city center, and the victims’ bodies were dismembered...

The scene looked like it was done by a Scavenger, but the European Union doesn’t allow Scavengers because organ trading is seriously dealt with, so I swore to find the real culprit at the time.

Two days later, we found a filthy madman in the industrial zone. My captain told me the case was solved and asked me to manage public opinion on various forums, but there were doubts everywhere about this case.

I went to check the madman’s immigration record, which stated his registration was two years ago, and my superiors told me he was one of those ungrateful and violent refugees, easy to cause trouble once let in.

But the doubts were everywhere; how could a newly arrived refugee, a registered worker severely restricted from learning network technology, shut down the surveillance network that day?"

[Lille: Do you think he was a refugee caught to take the blame?]

"No." Blais shook his head, "I can now confirm he was indeed a refugee dragged in for blame. Immigration records can be falsified, but the timestamp for data entry on the server is hard to modify.

In Bremen, the local law enforcement’s entries for foreign residents, which don’t align with the timeline, correspond with the occurrence times of many similar incidents.

After being packaged, malicious events get guided onto those foreign refugees. People begin to attack the policy of regular refugee reception, while simultaneously targeting some front-stage immigration bureau Managers...

Almost every Manager of the immigration bureau is unlikely to be a Golden Son.

They are shaping and guiding public opinion, exonerating some people, making these events ’every grievance has its perpetrator,’ and I’ve done this before.

It’s because of this I was transferred to Night City; it’s an undocumented standard procedure, something is controlling everything."

European Union’s aversion to refugees is extremely radical, and this extremism formed not in a day—

Even Blais only viewed the slaughter zone policy of the European Union as a cruel but necessary act. After all, the refugees didn’t contribute to the European Union’s construction, yet they expect the EU to pay for their misfortune?

But what if someone inside buried their sins in their attitude towards these outside refugees?

The more hatred they have for the refugees, the more it can obscure a criminal inside committing equally horrific acts—

The greater and deeper the hatred, the more it can let a larger crime go unnoticed.

Even after the European Union resolves the refugee problem, the severity of these crimes may have long surpassed the refugee threat, yet these criminals’ sins remain hidden in this hatred, escaping judgment.

Upon discovering these issues, Blais sighed and sat down on the nearby chair:

"But I really don’t know what to do, evidence appears on the internet for barely a second before it’s sealed off and might even get me taken away by the enforcement department."

[Lille: Since the rules originated from Berlin, then go to Berlin.]

[Lille: Shut down the root servers of the European Barrier, paralyze this network supervision.]

Blais was taken aback and said incredulously, "Your initial goal was this... you madman."

[Lille: Only by solving the problem from the source, will more people stand by your side.]

Bremen was a mess—

The civil office building was utterly silent, the International Police had locked down the entire Inner City, but they were powerless in the Outer City—

Compared to the core area, the industrial zone was just too large, and there were too many workers.

In the past, the core area thrived in a sea of lights, its residents enjoying life’s vitality while those in the industrial zone burned their lives in the Melting Furnace;

Today the core area’s residents trembled in fear, while the industrial zone was bustling with heat, everyone celebrating a victory.

He had seen the same scene in Night City, and because of his experience there, he firmly believed: One day the world will gain freedom.

The prerequisite is for him to take action first—freedom is an ability, not a granted permission.

Blais smiled, brushed the dust off himself, and stood up:

"Just to be clear, I’m not your fan, I just find watching those people quite distasteful..."

As he spoke, he suddenly realized those dark red flickering lights had long vanished from his sight...

Lille had already left.

"... Damn it, this is so awkward."