Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 938, 148. Please, God?
"Mr. Carl, the exterior has been cleared."

Shortly after Carl finished inspecting the remaining items, members of the special operations team walked through the now-cleared passage and came to Carl's side.

Their reputation in Night City is indeed formidable. While they may not be as infamous as the Terrorist Mobile Unit, they are more than capable of persuading a group of Vortex Gang members to temporarily leave their territory.

Especially after the news spread that 'KK is inside'.

Those usually lawless members of the Vortex Gang were now displaying astonishing efficiency and pragmatism.

They didn't even need the special operations team to say a word before they scattered like birds and beasts with their most valuable possessions.

If you lose territory, you can come back after KK leaves. But if you don't run away when KK comes, then what you need is not courage, but a cyberpsychotic diagnosis.

They are closer to cyberpsychosis, but they haven't shown symptoms yet.

Of course, it wasn't that the Vortex Gang didn't pay attention to the other group of eccentric Vortex Gang members left in the factory. After all, the two sides had been cooperating smoothly these days because they were both Vortex Gang members, but at most they only paid a little attention to them.

They were not under the jurisdiction of the same leader. The structure of the Vortex Gang has always been loose, with groups of ten to thirty people each having their own leader. In fact, they only obeyed the Vortex Gang leader at the very top.

The fact that they usually cooperate well shows that they recognize each other's combat capabilities, and that taking on guard duties together is mutually beneficial. But now that the other party has even brought in KK, this fearsome figure, it's already a sign of loyalty that they didn't immediately distance themselves from each other. If they can still care about each other afterward, then their friendship is truly deep.

Even within the Valentino gang, this would be considered a display of loyalty.

After the Vortex Gang members left, the Special Operations Team took over the area, and the rest of the NCPD from the surrounding area also arrived.

This time it wasn't to protect Karl. Karl said that the special operations team was enough, and the other NCPD members came mainly because the area was in such a terrible state.

The special operations team member who came to Karl's side looked at the blood-soaked sacrificial site and his throat bobbed.

As a member of the special operations team, he was naturally an elite among elites. He could usually handle even ordinary cyberpsychotics, but the scene in front of him was just too tragic.

If this were handed over to the medical center technicians and body collectors in the city who cooperate with the NCPD, they might be shocked. If someone were recording Mewtwo while it was on a mission, then this Mewtwo could be considered a "black Mewtwo," which would have a very bad impact. To avoid escalating the situation, it's better for our own people to handle it first.

"Let the professionals handle it, not the newcomers."

Karl nodded slightly and gave a special instruction.

He frowned the moment he saw the scene. It was not something that new officers who had just joined the NCPD could handle. It might even cause them psychological trauma.

Just as only professional police officers are allowed to participate in large-scale homicide cases, this does not mean that new police officers are not capable enough. Lack of professional skills is only one of the secondary reasons. The bigger reason is to avoid them being exposed to extreme things too early.

“I understand, Mr. Carl.”

The special operations team took a breath, feeling their airways filled with the pungent smell of blood. After saluting, they asked, "Should we proceed with the treatment now?"

"Let me help you."

After dragging his coat to a relatively clean spot in front of him, Carl helped clean up the scene.

Carl had always delegated the follow-up work to the NCPD because the NCPD always managed to get a lot out of the cleanup. But this time, Carl decided to take matters into his own hands, cleaning up while seeing if he could find anything else.

Who knows, there might be something buried under that pile of corpses. As Carl took notes, he moved the bodies aside, barely clearing a scene for the next team to investigate. It was during this process that he made an unexpected discovery.

The corpses were completely undetectable until they were moved away—and only when they were dragged away did the blood-painted sacrificial patterns on the ground, which had been covered up, become fully visible.

When these seemingly randomly discarded corpses are combined with the patterns on the ground, the entire structure resembles a giant circuit diagram, with all the lines appearing to have a connection point when they bend.

Upon closer inspection, Karl noticed several unnatural breaks in the blood-stained image. He initially assumed it was caused by the corpse rubbing against it, given the obvious drag marks nearby. It was likely that the priest's body was killed and then drawn into a pattern and dragged aside.

But what if there were two living people standing at these broken points, instead of just one?
One living person killed another living person and then dragged the body aside.

If that's the case, it will also leave traces of dragging.

But what's the point?
No, we can't think like that. It's meaningful, and that's something we should think about. But if it were them, those who believe in the roaming AI as a god, from their perspective, their actions might be seen as a sacrifice.

But if we consider this as a sacrifice...
Two people, one kills the other, and the blood flowing from the other becomes a ring in the pattern, with only the place where they stood being blank. Does that mean that the person who survived is the active connection point in this 'circuit'?

Carl quickly counted the vacant positions—five, a number that did not match the number of cyberpsychotics he had encountered before.

Is there another node that I haven't discovered yet? But if we only consider these five nodes...
Carl recalled the blood on the cyberpsychotics when he first saw them.

If that blood was from killing another human at close range, then it makes sense, since the amount of blood was extraordinary.

"Mr. Carl, there's a bathtub here!"

Just then, Carl heard the voices of the special operations team beside him. They seemed to have found something in the pile of corpses and were calling Carl over.

Carl quickly stepped forward to investigate, and after moving some of the bodies aside, a bathtub filled with dark red blood came into view.

The wounds on the pile of corpses above mostly faced the bathtub, clearly indicating that their blood had been deliberately directed and collected there. Carl immediately connected this discovery with the viscous dripping sound he had heard earlier.

So that's it. This is the last point he was looking for.

This seemingly chaotic pile of corpses is actually the core of the sacrificial ritual. Without a doubt, Zalia Hughes crawled out of this blood-soaked bathtub; she is the end of this massive 'circuit'.

These madmen from the Vortex Gang are using blood as electricity; what are they trying to instill?

If we consider cyberpsychosis as a node, and this place as the terminal.
Carl suddenly remembered the equipment that street hackers with little money used before infiltrating.

To avoid raising their body temperature when diving, they would choose bathtubs filled with ice.

If we consider this bathtub filled with blood as a similar device, and this as a means of infiltration...
No, according to the priests' idea, they wanted to guide the spirits.

If this is a referral...
That's the last part of the line connection.
Carl understood.

These cyber psychopaths are trying to use a sacrificial method to attract stray AIs into their bodies!
They want to bring the 'god' in their hearts into themselves!

(End of this chapter)