Chapter 6: Half Penny (6)

It was in the center of the incinerator.

After the clear sound of the gunshot, all the Scavs turned to look at Lee Do. Surprise, questioning, wariness – all these emotions were contained within the fifteen pairs of eyes. And, of course, some acted before asking questions.

Lee Do picked up his cigarette.

One Scav pulled a gun from his pocket. Lee Do aimed at his leg and pulled the trigger. Bang!

The Scav cried out and knelt as the bullet struck him. Lee Do shifted his aim.

Another Scav was already aiming his gun. Bang!

“Ugh!”

He screamed and collapsed. Lee Do aimed at another Scav’s leg, but the gun malfunctioned, the trigger jamming.

Lee Do threw the gun.

It flew a decent distance. The butt of the gun struck the Scav on the head, and he slumped to the ground, seemingly unconscious.

Lee Do exhaled smoke and turned to the Oni Mask.

“Let’s get started. You take care of the rest.”

“So this was your plan all along. You sure you’ll be alright alone?”

“Isn’t this faster?”

“Faster? You mean we can go fondle some toys’ breasts afterwards? With the time we save?”

“Maybe. Preferably furry ones.”

“yeah!”

At his enthusiastic response, Lee Do pulled the pistol the Oni Mask had given him earlier from his hip. He took a drag of his cigarette. He aimed to the side. He pulled the trigger. A cry echoed, and a Scav, who had been drawing his gun, fell.

“See you later.”

The moment the Oni Mask said goodbye, electricity coursed through his legs, and he shot out of the incinerator.

Lee Do was left alone in the garbage incinerator.

He clicked the safety on the pistol and looked around. About eight remained. Their questioning and bewilderment were gradually shifting into clear hostility.

He made the first move.

He turned the gun to the right and pulled the trigger. A grinding, clicking sound. The modules on the gun adjusted erratically, then Boom! It fired a powerful shot. The struck Scav screamed and collapsed. He fired at the next one. Boom! The Scav also fell.

The barrel spun with a click-click sound.

A Shifter-Gun. An expensive hand cannon.

A close-range hit could shatter bones.

He tried to shoot another Scav who was drawing his gun, but he missed. The recoil was intense. His arm trembled, and the barrel just spun uselessly.

This was how expensive guns in cyberpunk worked. Either they were old models, or you needed implanted parts to handle the recoil.

And Lee Do was unjacked, without any cybernetic enhancements.

‘Besides, it doesn’t fit my hand.’

Would a K2 have been any different?

Lee Do switched the safety on and holstered the gun.

He looked ahead.

The enemy had fully drawn his gun.

The barrel was already pointed at him. A 7.2mm N-Glow Krait, an old model from the Krait series, with a peculiar mix of green and dark blue. It wouldn’t hurt too much if he got hit, but he didn’t want to find out.

The enemy pulled the trigger.

Lee Do had already kicked off the ground.

The trajectory of the muzzle, the path – Great Daehyup’s instinctive senses weren’t limited to the martial arts world. It was like reading the path of an opponent’s fist as they drew it back. Strictly speaking, it was different, but two years of experience had blurred the lines between the Jianghu and the modern world.

In other words, it was the result of Great Daehyup’s natural talent combined with
experience.

Bang! The bullet flew past.

“…!”

He spun his staff. It flowed smoothly into his right hand, and by then, he was already right in front of his opponent. From his left hip, as if drawing a sword. The staff traced an arc towards the enemy’s head. Crack! A direct hit.

He staggered, and Lee Do swept his leg, striking the man’s side.

He collapsed. But five still remained.

“!”

One ran.

Four.

Lee Do chewed on his cigarette filter and turned sharply.

“D-die, you b@stard!”

One Scav charged at him with a knife.

Lee Do took a step back and raised his knee. Simultaneously, he hooked the Scav’s arm with his staff. He twisted and swung. He struck the Scav’s head. Clang! The knife clattered to the floor, and the Scav fell with a thud.

“…?”

Lee Do immediately kicked the knife away.

Because another Scav had drawn his gun. The knife skidded across the asphalt, drawing the Scav’s attention.

He was distracted.

By the time he realized his fatal mistake and hurriedly looked back, Lee Do was already standing over him, his jaw broken, staring up at the ceiling. His vision faded to black. Thump! His unconscious body hit the floor.

Lee Do looked around.

Silence. The remaining two Scavs had their hands raised in terror.

“Please spare me! I’m sorry! I’ll do anything! Please!”

Lee Do beckoned them closer.

“…B-boss.”

They cautiously approached him. Lee Do swung his staff at each of their heads. Crack, crack. The sound echoed, and they slumped to the ground as if falling into a deep sleep.

“Wh-who… who are you…!”

Lee Do then proceeded to knock out the Scavs who had been shot in the legs, one by one.

Only then did he have the leisure to flick his finished cigarette.

He took out a new cigarette, lit it, and looked up at the drone. It was still watching. It had been watching for a while, since before he started, probably assessing whether any of these people were worth the 100,000-credit bounty.

The kill system.

The only one who had utilized it was him.

He walked over to the old man’s corpse and knelt down. He searched the body and retrieved a cellphone. He placed an access tool on the relatively high-end phone, easily bypassing the simple security of a common criminal. Beep. The phone unlocked.

He checked a chat room titled [11-A-D-class-SR].

He’d seen it once when q134.2e was hacking. A hidden backroom where the broker posted announcements.

[@Admin]

Redvine Alley [09-C-13]
113x / 51y
01:00
→ Pinging. Fast and clean only.

[@Admin]

Eva’s Rift [11-B-77]
5x / 12y
23:00
→ Many eyes. Bring D-tap.

[@Admin]

Sector K-17 [10-D-8]
56x / 55y
17:00
→ Good Scrap value. Only those who are willing to move, come.

---

Numerous announcements with work locations, detailed coordinates, times, and additional instructions.

A considerable number of chats were also logged.

[@Y3llow.dust__]
fast lol Already up?

[-0xRift77]
09C13 was my pick. I worked my ass off, so back off, losers.

[[email protected]!]
Did the guys who went to K-17 get ZeroShotted? It’s so disgusting I can’t even look.

[!F8tal.S0ulcore]

Lol,  F*ck off, loser.

And then, at the very bottom—an ongoing conversation.

[!Backdoor.H3ll]

!

[!Backdoor.H3ll]

!!!

Messages were appearing in real time.

[!Backdoor.H3ll]

ed…

[!Backdoor.H3ll]

admin

[@W1reless.Sin__]

insane unjack—tore apart the whole incinerator, holy sh*t

[@W1reless.Sin__]

almost died lol

Lee Do exhaled a puff of smoke and sat down on the old man’s body.

He decided to join the real-time conversation. He typed a message.

[!ExoByte__666]
When do I get my 100,000 credits?

[!ExoByte__666]
I got a kill

He looked up.

At the drone. When he looked back at his phone, the chat had gone silent. As if !ExoByte__666 was someone significant. Even the admin, who usually only posted announcements, was silent.

So, Lee Do sent another message.

[!ExoByte__666]
You’re watching, you b@strad. When are you going to give me my 100,000 credits?

The drone’s light blinked. The admin.

[@Admin]
Funny guy

The “…” icon appeared next to the admin’s name, indicating they were typing.

[@Admin]
Who are you? Are you guys suicidal or something?

[!ExoByte__666]
yep

[!ExoByte__666]
So, we’re looking for something, can you help us?

[@Admin]
LOL

[!ExoByte__666]
putting on a show. You think this is the end? You could disappear without a trace, you idiots
Pfft
[q134.2e]
I don’t think so

Someone new joined the chat. Unlike the randomly generated IDs like !ExoByte__666, this one was different. q134.2e. A deliberate ID.

[q134.2e]
How are you rats going to make us disappear?

The admin stopped typing.

[@Admin]

The individual chat rooms were unique session instances with various tokens and logs. The accumulated data streams intersected to form their own packet hub.

The moment the broker responded, the drone was accessed.

She had latched onto the device relaying the messenger’s packet communication in a split second. The poorly managed D-Class security program IDE (Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics) was easily crippled with a few exploits.

[@Admin]
You know Scavengers are everywhere, right?
You’re provoking us?
Are you insane?

[q134.2e]
If you want to make money, you have to sell your soul too. Don’t you know that better than anyone?

[@Admin]
You guys are crazy.

[@Admin]
F*ck off idiots
You think you can strut around just because you got one node?

Then another person joined the conversation.

[!Backdoor.H3ll]
Hey, let’s be reasonable here.

[!Backdoor.H3ll]
We’re fixers and solos too, shouldn’t we help each other out?

It was the Oni Mask.

He had probably picked up a cellphone from one of the unconscious Scavs.

[!Backdoor.H3ll]
Seeing the bodies in the incinerator, I’m 100% sure the cops are involved.
Do you think they’ll be happy if you leave Scav traces here?

Then he sent a photo.

Seven Scavs lying on the ground, shot in the legs.

[!Backdoor.H3ll]
I haven’t killed them yet, but I can blow their heads off if you want

[@Admin]
Yeah, go ahead,

[!Backdoor.H3ll]
Not their lives, idiot. You should be worried about what your superiors will say,

[@Admin]
Don’t talk
Are you stupid?

[q134.2e]
Stop with the pride and listen up.

[q134.2e]
We want one thing. There’s a guy who stole a NIM from a Core Works related scene, right?

The admin stopped typing.

[q134.2e]
Where is he?

D-Class, the lowest rank, accessible even to newly registered members. They lacked organization, were mere tools to their superiors, and knew it. Leaking a single piece of information wouldn’t pose any threat to the Scavengers as a whole.

The solo and fixer, who had infiltrated as members and cleared the scene in less than ten minutes, were far beyond D-Class level. They had read the drone and messenger relay in an instant and even hacked the packet node.

Above all, they weren’t driven by personal feelings, but by money.

Fixer, solo.

And Scavengers.

The broker. He too, was just a middleman, or an employee, in a massive business system.

The admin typed.

[@Admin]
Is that all?

[@Admin]
I’ll give you all the information then, is that okay?

[@Admin]
Should’ve said so earlier
lol

Then Lee Do typed.

[!ExoByte__666]
Nope, my 100,000 credits.

[!ExoByte__666]
Pay up,

Again, the admin didn’t reply.