Chapter 154 – Episode 18 Nagumo Xian’s Request
After the sunglasses man fell down after being hit by my Ten Thousand Flowers, I took care of the remaining attackers. The man in sunglasses must have used the resistance that blocked Kiyo Na Mari’s flames and Sawa Yanagi Seari’s wind blade at that time, so he did not die even after being hit by ten thousand blooms. He should have brought along some ancient glasses to see the status window. I’m curious what characteristics it has.
“Shall I kill you?”
“It doesn’t seem to be Kurotsuki, so we’ll have to find out what force is behind it. The guns are not the Chinese guns that Kurotsuki uses, but the guns that are often used by Japanese PMCs.”
When I asked, Azuma Sawayanagi answered. The gun was definitely a Japanese-made gun. The attackers were all armed with Type 37 rifles and Type 29 M-5 submachine guns, which were mass-produced around World War III.
After the war, a large number of guns were produced in Japan, and it became a social problem that continues to this day. I will talk about this later, and when I looked at the gun, I realized that it was definitely not Kurotsuki-do. Kurotsukido used a Chinese gun that was a thousand times more powerful than a Japanese gun.
The reason people are afraid of the Tyra group is because they always take revenge when they are attacked. So in this mission, there was an order to capture several people alive, so I wanted to keep this sunglasses man, who had the most information, alive.
“Thank you, investor! “Thanks to you, I survived.”
“I really thought I was being strangled to death.”
Sawayanagi Seari and Kiyona Mari, who had just recovered from holding their necks and squeezing, came up to me and said. When I looked at my neck, I saw a red mark that resembled a handprint. Is this going to bruise later?
“Are you okay? “Can I not get treatment?”
“Yes, hehe. “At this rate, you will get better quickly.”
“An injury like this is nothing.”
I asked them if they were okay and they both said they were okay. It didn’t seem like it was worth going to the hospital. While me, Seari Sawayanagi, and Mari Kiyona were talking, Azuma Sawayanagi called somewhere and approached me.
“I contacted Tyra Food Headquarters, so people will be there soon to escort these raiders.”
“But since it’s coming from Daisen City, it’ll take a while, right?”
“Yes, they said it would take about 25 to 30 minutes.”
It took 15 minutes from Yurihonjo City to Kokujo Osan, where this research center is located, but it took about an hour from Daisen City, where Taira Foods is located. If you add the 20 minutes we fight in the lab to the 15 minutes it takes to get to the lab, it’s about 35 minutes, so if you subtract 35 minutes from an hour, you’ll arrive in 25 minutes.
“Excuse me…”
“Huh? Seari, what’s going on?”
As Azuma Sawayanagi was talking to me, Seari Sawayanagi spoke to Azuma Sawayanagi with a slightly nervous expression.
“There’s someone on the 5th floor.”
“Aren’t they researchers?”
In response to Seari Sawayanagi’s words, Azuma Sawayanagi said that she was a researcher since she must be in a lab on the 5th floor, but Seari Sawayanagi shook her head.
“Before the battle, there was no one there. But now it is.”
“Then let’s go. “I need to check.”
“I’m going to tie up that sunglasses guy.”
Me, Seari Sawayanagi, and Azuma Sawayanagi decided to check the 5th floor, and Mari Kiyona decided to tie up the sunglasses man. In fact, the inside would have been completely ruptured due to the 10,000 blooms, so there would be no need for such severe restraint. However, you have to be careful with your telekinetic abilities, so I need to give you some advice.
“For those with telekinetic abilities, vision is one of the conditions for activating the ability, so cover your eyes as well.”
“All right.”
Nodding her head to my advice, I went up the stairs to the 5th floor, leaving Kiyona Marie behind as she prepared ropes, etc. It was a fairly sturdy iron door, but it was not locked. Or maybe the raiders opened it before we arrived.
Slam!
When I climbed all the stairs and opened the door, I saw a huge computer. Is this the supercomputer or something? In front of the computer stood a blonde woman wearing a black cyber suit and covering her eyes with goggles that looked like a VR machine. Her tight cybersuit made it look like her body was long and elongated, like a model’s.
“Thank you for catching the bad guys.”
The blonde girl in the cyber suit smiled and opened her mouth. Her voice was a little awkward, perhaps because she had modulated it. She looks a little familiar, where have I seen her before? She may be vague, but she’s definitely someone you’ve seen.
“Here, take this.”
The blonde girl in the cyber suit threw a note at me. What? I caught the flying note and looked at it.
𝓙𝓮 𝓿𝓪𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓲𝓮𝓷 𝓵’𝓾𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓮𝓻 – 𝓥𝓸𝓽𝓻𝓮 𝓕𝓻𝓪𝓷 𝓬̧𝓸𝓲𝓼
Ah, I guess this woman is François the Phantom Thief. I was able to recognize this memo because I had seen it on the game screen. He was a phantom thief who occasionally appeared in the era of Megacorp’s youngest son, as well as in TMC, which was set in a later era.
This character occasionally appears when the protagonist leaves a valuable item in the warehouse without using it, and is a vicious NPC who steals the item if not prevented.
“What on earth are these raiders and you stealing from this laboratory?”
“I don’t know what the bad guys are after, but I just stole the most valuable thing in this room.”
After saying that, he takes out a small storage device from his pocket and shows it to me. It was a 9th generation USB. It seemed like they probably stole the research results from the computer. All data on the computer has probably been deleted. It seemed like the data had been deleted because all the computer screens were black card-like.
“If you give it back, I won’t catch you.”
“Nope? “Close your eyes for a moment.”
When I stretch out her hand, François the Phantom Thief sticks out her tongue and drops something that looks like a round metal bead. The round bead rolled towards us, and the top part opened and started spouting smoke with great force. It was a smoke bomb.
The lab was instantly filled with smoke. How come so much smoke comes out of those little beads?
“À plus tard (see you next time)!”
It was François, the phantom thief who said something and then became increasingly distant. Of course, he could have caught as many as he wanted before throwing the smoke bomb, but for some reason, I thought he was someone I knew, so I only verbally asked for the item.
I didn’t overdo it because I could get my stuff back quickly if I realized who it was. And since I could have it all to myself the next time I get it back, I didn’t bother trying to grab it now. If François the Phantom Thief knows who he is, he can make the items and data he stole into his own, so I’ll just let him go this time. Please continue to steal as many treasures as you can, François.
It seemed as though François the Phantom Thief had noticed my not-so-active attitude and leisurely ran away.
The smoke cleared and the phantom thief François disappeared. Seeing that there was a hole in the ceiling large enough for a person to pass through, it seemed like he had run away to the rooftop out of comfort. He truly deserved to be called a phantom thief. It was said that Lyanna Holden breaking into the rooftop was a stretch, but she seemed to have done it with ease.
“It can’t be helped that the data has already been taken away. Let’s go down and rest and wait for the main unit.”
“Yes, investor.”
I stopped Seari Sawayanagi, who was trying to chase me until the end, and returned to the stairs connecting the 4th and 5th floors. With this, the attack was prevented, so does the mission succeed? Or did he fail because the phantom thief François ended up stealing his data? It’s ambiguous.
###
“Don’t hesitate, everyone get in the car!”
A PMC soldier named Taira Food Guard sent by Taira Foods was in the raiders’ convoy. The Taira Food Guard is the second army of the PMC owned by Taira Food. Due to the fierce fight with Kurotsuki, there was no time to withdraw troops, so the second army, the Taira Food Guard, came. And only a small portion of them had come to the laboratory. Still, if it was just a convoy, it would be enough to do it.
In the fight against Seryu Military Company, about two-thirds of the attackers were killed, but the remaining third was enough to obtain information.
“I told my superiors about the current situation, so they will contact me to tell them what to do.”
Hayata Kido, head of the support unit of the Taira Food Guard, spoke to Azuma Sawayanagi, president of Seryu Military Company. Azuma Sawayanagi also nodded his head and answered that he understood.
“Okay then, let’s go. Let’s go!”
The building was quite damaged, but there were no dead researchers, so the Seryu Military Company Taira Food Guard had nothing better to do, so Hayata Kido got into his car and drove off with his men and the tied up raiders.
After going a while, we entered a road with a wide reed bed on the right. Hayata Kido was looking at a field of reeds swaying back and forth in the wind. Hayata Kido could see the reeds moving in one direction, as if there were wild animals.
“Commander, aren’t all the women at Seryu Military Company okay?”
“If it’s okay, what are you going to do, you guy?”
When the soldier who was driving broke the silence for a moment and opened his mouth, Kido Hayata smiled slightly and asked. Actually, Hayata Kido liked the blue-haired president of Seryu Military Company. A purple-haired Westerner wearing an unconventional outfit called an operator was also okay.
“Anyway, I have to ask. How about having a meal after this is over? Or why don’t we have a company dinner once this is over? Let’s try our best then.”
“Have you already thought that far?”
“I don’t think we’ll end there. “I already have three children, kekeke.”
Hehe, crazy guy.”
Kido Hayata, who was looking at the reeds outside the window, smiled and looked at the driver. What? There was a red laser light on the driver’s forehead. It’s a sniper! But it was too late to notice.
Bang!!!
At the sound of a gunshot, the driver was shot between the eyes and fell down, and the vehicle sped off in various directions and came to a stop against the guardrail.
“Everyone, come to your senses! “It’s an attack!!”
At Hayata Kido’s shout, the Taira Food Guard staggered out of her car. However, the Taira food guards who disembarked were all killed by bullets flying from the reed field next to the road. About ten troops walked out of the reed field.
“Who are you?”
“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t know… ? “Well, I’ll answer your questions before you die.”
A black man wearing a yellow military uniform that matched the color of the reed field opened his mouth as if he were a captain.
“We are from this university.”
“Where in the world can you find a name like that…”
Bang!
It was Hayata Key who was shot and died before he could finish what he was trying to say. The black captain glanced at the stopped car with inorganic eyes.
“Take care of your first team. There were private houses nearby, so gunshots may have been reported. “We have to take him before then.”
At the words of the black captain, each member of this unit ran, searched the vehicle, and took the first unit and came out. The sunglasses man was also coming with support from one person.
“You idiot.”
Hehe, it’s still half a success. I couldn’t get the data, but the phantom thief François stole it. “The next best solution is to destroy the data if it is impossible to steal.”
The sunglasses man said as he untied the rope and stretched here and there. But he soon became discouraged and opened his mouth again.
“… You’ll get scolded by the captain, right?”
“I’m going to be very scolded.”
The sunglasses man cursed and walked back to the reed field where this unit had appeared. The rest followed suit and entered the reed field. Before we knew it, the first and second teams had disappeared between the reeds.
