Cyberpunk, but urban

Shan suddenly grabbed Isadora's hand that was not holding anything, shook her hand excitedly and apologized to her.

"Well, I, I, I was just doing my routine work, gathering the appropriate information and handing it over to my superiors according to procedures. This also includes information about other agencies and gangs that met with disasters in the library, although most of them are insignificant."

As soon as he held her hand, Isadora lost her composure. She stammered that she didn't contribute much, but in Julia's view, this was just a humble remark.

"But this is all thanks to the accurate analysis and quick processing of intelligence by the lovely Isadora, the head of our Section 6 Intelligence Processing Group, right? Hehe, Isadora is indeed worthy of her name!"

"Whatever you think! So, do you have the invitation?"

Isadora blushed and took the invitation from Shan, turned around and left the department.

Chapter 136. Zwei Association Advance Team (Part )

That afternoon, in the Sixth Department of the Southern Section of the Second Association.

"The person we sent out first to finish the job has been confirmed dead in the library. The association's top brass has decided to send a formal advance team into the library to investigate. You and Julia will also be included in this team."

Isadora took the information handed to her by the team members, and said to Shan and Julia while looking at it.

"I can finally... go back to that place."

At this time, Shan had taken care of his personal hygiene during the waiting time, and even spent almost all the money in the office account to buy himself a more high-end workshop weapon.

He was fully prepared and straightened his back, ready to take back Mas and Lulu's books from Ye Lan.

"Well, we will recover Mas and Lulu's books together and return safely together."

Julia was packing her own gear while encouraging Shi, and agreed to return from the library together with him. Isadora watched their conversation and said to them seriously:

“Don’t forget, the reason we set Mas and Lulu’s books as our primary targets is simply because Shan and the Association happen to have the same interests. While carrying out your mission, you still need to collect as many other books and intelligence as possible.”

"Yes, I will keep it in mind."

Julia replied, and Shan also cast a clear look at Isadora. However, at this time, he was so focused on rushing into the library to take back the books that he seemed to have forgotten something very important.

He asked Isadora while chatting during the preparation time, "Well, maybe it's funny for me to ask this question, but why would Zwei, who is in charge of law and order, officially invest manpower in the library?"

Isadora rolled her eyes at him, then said, "Since you know we are responsible for law and order, why did you come to us for help in the first place?"

"Because... well... this is the only place where I can draw on the power."

"What about your brother?"

Shan's words caused Isadora to be puzzled. His younger brother Bada was the second-level finisher of the Cane Office. If he asked for help, his younger brother could actually help more and could help him more freely.

"My brother... No, anyway, sorry, thank you very much for your help."

Shan was vague about this topic and didn't tell Isadora and Julia in detail why he didn't go to find his brother. But they could hear from his words that something must have happened between him and Bada, and even hurt their brotherly feelings.

"Shirt..."

Julia said his name worriedly, and got a smile from Shan, a bitter smile that was extremely ugly and had no smile at all.

About half an hour later, the association's superior sent a clerk to inform the three of them to attend the pre-war meeting. At the same time, the meeting will also be hosted by Isadora, who will provide them with all the intelligence she thinks may be useful.

"Ahem, since you are an affiliated agency of Zwei, there's no harm in listening. Even if you haven't seen it with your own eyes, you must have heard of the distortion phenomenon classified as "Urban Nightmare" by the association, right?"

"This is an abnormal phenomenon that has spread throughout the city following the "White Night and Black Day". Under the influence of the distortion phenomenon, random human individuals are gradually transforming into monsters. Although the frequency is extremely low, each individual is difficult to deal with."

Out of selfish motives, Isadora chose an opening that was a little too far off, in order to introduce as much information as possible to Shan during the meeting.

"I know that. The first time the distortion occurred... nearly 9% of the residents in District 8 died because of the 'pianist'."

Shan nodded and told the information he could get from his perspective.

"It is said that due to the suddenness of the incident, the association immediately sent a 'special' to deal with it after realizing the seriousness of the situation."

Julia, on the other hand, told a widely circulated rumor that was actually completely wrong. The association was struggling with many issues at the time, and the inexplicably increasing number of commissions made them exhausted. It is now impossible to verify whether any department commissioned a color-level finisher. But at least we all know one thing: the pianist was eventually broken into pieces by the angry Roland.

Seeing that no one in the advance team had any more information to provide, Isadora continued to tell them, "That's right, but up to now we still haven't found the exact clues that caused the distortion phenomenon. Our investigation only stopped at the sudden disappearance of L Company and the occurrence of 'day and night' starting from the nest in the area. Zwei suspects that the library may be an important clue to investigate the distortion phenomenon."

"One of my colleagues told a similar story. Originally, there was no danger in the peacekeeping area he was responsible for. But in the blink of an eye, the body of a resident began to twist and turned into a four-legged monster."

"Luckily, they managed to take out the monster before the casualties reached double digits. And the waiter at a certain restaurant suddenly turned into... a sandwich that ate people? Also a monster like the one mentioned earlier."

After hearing this, Julia provided Shan with two cases that were personally handled by her colleagues as examples to explain to him why the two associations should investigate the distortion phenomenon.

"I understand. The distortion phenomenon has posed a clear threat to Zwei's peacekeeping area and work. You plan to go to the library to look for clues to eliminate the threat."

If Shan still doesn’t understand after hearing this, he would not be considered a sixth-level finisher and the representative of the firm.

"That's right. Fortunately, apart from the pianist observed in Area 9, no second individual capable of causing serious damage has appeared so far. In short, Zwei will continue to focus on the library case in the near future. Since there are many high-priority targets worthy of investigation besides the library, it is impossible to arrange high-level closers to assist you in this operation."

Shan excitedly held Isadora's hand in front of the advance team, looked at her gratefully and said, "These reinforcements are enough, Isadora, thank you very much!"

"Say, I've said it so many times, I'm just doing my job, don't make it sound like I'm going out of my way to help you."

This proud girl with twin ponytails lost the courage to speak at that moment, and began to atone for her behavior stumblingly, not daring to let Shan discover what she was thinking.

"Well~ Even so, I still want to say thank you. Thank you, Isadora!"

Julia followed up with words of thanks at the right time, but whether she was helping out or competing, at least her shirt couldn't tell.

"Let's go!"

After the meeting, Shan couldn't wait to take out the new invitation letter that the finalists of the Second Association had received. In addition to the books of Mas and Lulu, this invitation letter had an additional book, "The Book of the Six Southern Subjects of the Second Association".

Chapter 137. Zwei Association Advance Team (Part )

The advance team of the Second Association who signed the invitation letter walked into the door that appeared in the combat meeting room one after another. They were going to their deaths and they could never imagine that there was another group of people listening in on their meeting.

"Angela, is the library really like they say, related to day and night, distortion phenomena, and L Company?"

Roland asked Angela with a hint of curiosity and a little fear and anger for almost losing his lover and child. His tone seemed calm, but in fact, it contained so many emotions that even he couldn't explain it.

"Yes, it is related."

Angela, the tin man who was looking for her heart, certainly did not hear the emotions in Roland's words, but in this timeline where Angelica survived, she gave a different answer from the original plot, a positive affirmative answer.

"Eh? That's what you told me?"

This time, Roland, who was planning to test Angela by tapping on her side, would not do that anymore.

Angela said to Roland, "If there is anything, don't hide it from your companions if you can. Talking about it publicly may not necessarily lead to a solution, but saying nothing will definitely lead to bigger mistakes... This is what Ye Lan gave me. I couldn't put it into practice in the Lobelia Corporation before, but now I can try."

"That's completely contrary to your style of keeping a sufficient distance when dealing with people, Roland~"

Angelica, who had coaxed Theresa to sleep, teased. Angelica couldn't tell whether Ye Lan's idea was correct. In the city, they lived day by day, not knowing when they would die or what happened. There was no chance to verify such trust.

"Perhaps you two have already learned about our past identities during your daily conversations with the designated librarians. This library was built using the remaining materials from the headquarters of the Lobotomy Corporation. In a sense, we can all be considered the remnants or remnants of the Lobotomy Corporation."

"What about the day-night phenomenon?" Roland asked.

"That was the result of our efforts but our failure... and also the reason why we librarians have always been at odds with Angela." Yesod said to Roland.

Netzach then took over the conversation and continued, "We have implemented a grand plan that will sacrifice the entire Lobotomy Corporation - the Seed of Light Project. The light that will continue for seven days will take root in the hearts of the people of the city and reawaken their dreams that are buried deep in their hearts and that they have forgotten."

"But in the end there were only four days of daylight...so Angela took away the 'light' you released?"

Roland asked.

"Yes, I took away that light just to survive the plan that had no place for me... The guests have arrived, and we can only find a chance to talk about more things later."

The advance team of the Second Association that appeared in front of the library interrupted Angela and the others' conversation. Roland had no choice but to stand up from their seats with Angelica and once again materialize their most proficient weapons from their books.

"Survival and the grand plan of "benefiting" urban residents... they are really two separate things. This story seems to be very long, so let's continue this topic later."

Before heading towards the reception room on the general floor, Roland said one last thing to Angela.

At the entrance of the library, Julia looked at everything around her that was gleaming with golden light and exclaimed to Xiang Shan, "So this is the library. This method of space movement is already quite close to singularity technology."

Shan nodded. Having already been to the library once, he explained to Julia the reception process he knew: "Well... the director of the library will come out to greet us soon."

"Angela...is that her?"

A beautiful blue-haired lady wearing a women's suit appeared in front of the advance team. It was our librarian, Lady Angela.

"Dear guests, welcome. I am Angela, the director and librarian of the library. I believe you all already know who I am."

Without wanting to exchange pleasantries with Angela, Shan said decisively, "Let's take back Mas and Lulu's books."

“They are right here.”

"We can either take the books we want or become books after we die, right?" Julia asked.

"Of course, everything is just as written in the invitation."

"I feel like I'm talking to a wall. You're as cold as a machine."

Angela's cold words made Julia, a sensitive person, very uncomfortable. But Angela was originally a machine, and even if Julia didn't like the way she spoke, Angela now wouldn't understand why she thought that way.

“May you find the book you are looking for.”

Without saying anything more, Angela made way into the reception room.

"Be careful, that guy named Ye Lan is very strong, very strong... Oops! I forgot to tell Isadora that the guy is from the library!"

When entering the reception room, Shan gave instructions to everyone in the advance team. But when he was halfway through his words, he finally realized the thing he had forgotten.

"Hey, everyone, welcome to the reception room on the general level. Let's finish this job early."

Roland, holding Durandal, said to Shan and his group that when they entered the reception room, he and Angelica vaguely heard their daughter crying. The lovely little princess really woke up, and Malkuth and the others could not take care of her alone.

"...Where is Ye Lan? Why not him?"

"Oh, he's here to seek revenge on Brother Ye Lan... But unfortunately, he should be in Alley 12 now."

For a moment, Shan was actually secretly delighted. To be honest, he didn't think he could defeat Ye Lan, nor did he think that the advance team of the two associations that entered the library with him could defeat Ye Lan together.

His psychological bottom line was to steal Mas and Lulu's books, then escape with only Julia, and use all the second association's finishing people who came with him as human shields to delay time.

But without Ye Lan, there are still the Dark Silence couple. The two have the combat power of super first-level finishers, and they cooperate with each other in an amazing way. The performance of the advance team is even worse than that of Shan and Lulumas when fighting against Ye Lan.

"Shan... I'm sorry... I've failed you again..."

Not long after, even Julia died in front of Shan, and in an instant he was the only one left in the entire advance team.

"Mars, Lulu... and Julia who trusted me and followed me... everyone... I'm sorry..."

The result of using the strength of a sixth-level finisher to fend off the attacks of a color and a first-level finisher was that he was killed on the spot by them in the way they were most comfortable with.

But in order to protect the books that Julia turned into after her death, Shan still willingly stood in front.

Chapter 138. Hey, I’m going to the library?

After returning to the curator's office, Angelica took her child from Malkuth and teased her gently, making her smile again after she woke up and cried because she didn't see her mother.

Angela asked Roland to sit down, and continued to tell him their story with the librarians: "Let's continue with the previous topic. The library is actually located at the place where the 'Day and Night' incident took place."

"I was an AI secretary who assisted the head of Lobotomy Corporation in his work. I was designed to feel emotions like humans and make value judgments based on those emotions. As you said before, I was created in secret in violation of the Ethics Amendment."

"The irony is that I have never made a value judgment of my own. In order for that person's plan to succeed, I had to recite the same script over and over again for a million years alone. Until one day, the performance that seemed to never end finally came to an end, and..."

Angela was talking here when Roland interrupted her.

"And 'Day and Night' is the result of that plan, which in turn triggered a large number of distortion events. The damn distortion phenomenon spread rampantly in the city, and good people suddenly turned into monsters, killing anyone they saw."

"This is something that neither I nor the various departmental Sephirahs of the Lobotomy Corporation, who are currently serving as designated librarians, are fully aware of. In fact, the predicted results of the Seed of Light Project do not include any part that would turn people into monsters."

"Thinking about it carefully, Ye Lan might have foreseen this situation at the time, so he supported me in taking the Seed of Light and building this library."

Angela said that no one in the library knew much about the distorted incident. Almost all of Angela's information came from Ye Lan's casual remarks, which were obviously not things he should know.

"Brother Ye Lan is really mysterious. Let's ask him directly when he returns to the library next time. Maybe he will tell us all the stories behind these things."

Roland sighed and said, "Anyway, thank you for telling me. To be honest, I have always felt resentful. If it weren't for the plan you guys carried out, my Angelica wouldn't have been in danger... But if it weren't for Ye Lan and this library, she would have been killed by that monster in the 'Pianist' incident."

"Killed by a monster?" Angela asked doubtfully, and then said to Roland, "But when I saw her, she had suffered fatal sword wounds."

Roland was stunned. "Wait a minute... sword wound?!"

"Didn't Angelica tell you?"

"No, we haven't talked about this at all..."

Somehow, Roland suddenly had a strange feeling that everything that happened before he entered the library was arranged by someone.

"It's made of violet tears," Angelica said.

"...Damn it," Roland cursed, "She was the one who sent me in."

Office of the Director of the Sixth Section of the Southern Section of the Second Association