Cyberpunk, but urban

"Chief, Shan and Julia failed to return... request additional support." Isadora reported the current situation of the advance team to Walter, the head of their sixth department.

Walter did not answer immediately, but first asked Isadora a question: "…Isadora, what do you think the purpose of the library is?"

"Based on the intelligence collected so far, it should be accumulating knowledge."

"Accumulate knowledge...?"

Walter thought about it and motioned for Isadora to continue explaining.

"The library is only proposing a deal. It will not actively infringe on the outside world. It will only reward or punish those who enter. The winner will get the book they want, and the loser will become the library's collection..."

"So what is the relationship between the library and the distortion phenomenon?"

"And the distortion phenomenon... I don't know yet. But my intuition tells me that there must be a connection between the two."

"What's the reason?"

"The Library and distortion phenomena have one thing in common, whether it's the invitation, the book, or the individuals called "librarians". Compared to distortion phenomena, they cannot be determined by observation. Although a comparative analysis of the Library and distortion phenomena has not yet been conducted, the inability to ascertain the properties of the components of the two can be considered a common feature."

Walter wanted to blame Isadora. How much of her idea was to retaliate against the library and how much was to take back her colleague's books. Anyone in the association could see it without him having to point it out.

But the invitation letter that appeared out of nowhere in his drawer made him give up this idea.

"…Hmm? Isadora?"

"Yes?"

"Did you put the invitation in my drawer?"

"No, Chief, I haven't received any new invitation yet."

This invitation letter that appeared out of nowhere contained the guest's reward, a distortion book that recorded distortion-related knowledge, so Walter really couldn't think of how to refuse it.

"What is the current danger level of the library?"

"It's an 'urban legend', but its danger level tends to rise slightly every time the report is updated."

"I see. The hook is straight and the bait is salty. It seems that they have been using this irresistible bait to lure victims. Am I right?"

Walter thought that urban legend-level targets were still within his reach. However, the situation that was rising all the time was not good news.

"Isadora, pick a few agencies that you think have enough fighting power, and use informal commissions to ask their finishers to accompany us to the library to find out what's going on. Oh, as long as there's a little profit, they'll let us drive them, am I right?"

Isadora did not reply, and Walter did not care about her silence. He waved his hand to signal Isadora to go to work, while he carefully read the invitation letter with few words in the office.

Isadora, who had left the department, couldn't think of any firm that had sufficient fighting power and was willing to take on Walter, the section chief who had been informally entrusted to them, as cannon fodder.

But soon, she saw the information of a firm on her desk, the Yixiang Firm of Ye Lan, the ninth-level finisher. It was a low-level firm that had been established for less than a month.

Isadora had witnessed the representative's fighting ability with her own eyes, and the Yixiang Agency, which lacked opportunities to show its abilities and was probably in urgent need of promotion channels, would not refuse her commission.

Ye Lan, who was approached by Isadora, did show some interest in this commission:

"Eh? You want me to go to the library? Really?"

Chapter 139. No, where is the receptionist?

"Eh? You want me to go to the library? Really?"

In the guest room of the back alley hotel, Ye Lan leaned against the head of the bed and asked Isadora who was standing at the door.

At this moment, he was the only one in the hotel room talking to Isadora. Luna left the hotel with Yuli early in the morning. Yesterday, Yuli finally found a small building with a good foundation and a single door.

The two girls went out early this morning to find a team of decorators to renovate the two-story building so that it could be used as their office.

"Yes, among the many finishers and their agencies that I know, you and your Fantasy Agency should be one of the few finishers and agencies that have guaranteed combat power and are willing to accept this informal commission."

Isadora said to Ye Lan, with a hint of flattery in her words. Her attitude was not surprising. In fact, as long as Ye Lan ran his firm according to plan, he would definitely receive a "special" evaluation from an association within a year.

When it comes to the "special" level, the finishers can ignore most of the city's restrictions. They can even enter and exit each nest freely, so naturally they don't need to care about a small leader of the Sixth Section of the Southern Second Association.

"You're right. I am indeed willing to accept this commission." Ye Lan said, "Then, when should I go to the southern part of your Second Association to participate in the attack?"

"...You can come with me to the department now."

Isadora replied that in her opinion, with Ye Lan's joining, the library, which was only an "urban legend" level target, would definitely not be able to defeat their team from the Second Association.

But being conservative by nature, she still found several additional firms. At this moment, except for her and Ye Lan, all the finishing personnel involved in this attack were ready in Department 6.

"Hold on, I have a message for my staff and family."

Ye Lan took out his cell phone and called Luna. After hearing about the commission he was going to take, the little girl laughed so hard that she almost fell down the stairs in their quasi-law office.

"Ye Lan, remember to come back early... Oh, I can't take it anymore. I have to talk to Sister Yuli about this!"

The little girl, who couldn't hold it in any longer, warned Ye Lan and immediately hung up the phone. She ran to Yuli, who was on the second floor supervising the renovation workers dismantling the various decorations left by the old residents of the building.

And our Ye Lan also came to the Sixth Department of the Southern Section of the Second Association in Miss Isadora's car.

The "Am I right?" gentleman had been annoyed by those seemingly competent firm finishers, who kept asking him how much they could gain from this trip to the library, and they were not at all the obedient Walter wanted.

"Chief Walter, I'm back."

"Well," Walter looked at Ye Lan. Ye Lan, who had a fake smile on his face as usual, did not show any aura of a strong man. But the more this was the case, the more Walter felt that this unknown closer was reliable.

"It seems that Isadora has her reasons for delaying the start of the war to entrust you... Well, now that you two are back, let's start the mission. Isadora should have told you everything she should have told you on the way, am I right?"

"You are right, Mr. Chief Walter."

Ye Lan smiled and answered him, and Walter was satisfied. The association's closers and the firm closers who had taken over the commission signed their names on the invitation letter and walked into the door one by one.

In a flash, they arrived at the entrance of the library.

Looking at the scenery around him that had become part of the library, Walter asked Isadora, "It's been a long time since I went out on field work, right?"

"Yes."

Isadora replied.

"If we can solve this case successfully, then getting out of Section 6 won't be a problem. I'm glad that we can get the information about the distortion phenomenon directly this time, and we don't have to deal with those low-level gangs in person. We can't rot in Section 6 until we die, am I right?"

"right……"

A strange feeling crept up Isadora's spine. There were too many doubts about all this. She was like a moth, which had been caught in a spider web without her knowing when.

"You can avenge your colleague and get ahead in the investigation of the distortion phenomenon, and strive for a higher position. It can be said that you kill two birds with one stone."

"Everything... strangely fits together."

"Dear guests, welcome to my place. I am——"

Before Isadora could continue thinking, Angela's appearance interrupted her thoughts which had just been clued up.

And then, Walter interrupted her self-introduction: “You are Angela, the director and librarian of the library, am I right?”

"Yes, just as you said."

"I've read the report about you. You are a machine, not a human, am I right?"

Angela was silent. With just two sentences, the head of the Sixth Section of the Southern Region of the Second Association made her lose the desire to communicate with him. The rhetorical questions that seemed to express to others how right she was were really annoying.

"Little guy, little guy, silence won't solve the problem. As a machine, you should act like a machine. This small library is doing pretty well. Do you know how much trouble it will cause us if a non-human intelligent being makes such a big noise in the city?"

Walter was still chattering on and on lecturing Angela, completely unaware of the disgust that people around him felt towards him, and he didn't notice that Ye Lan, who was standing behind him, was winking at Angela.

"Chief Walter, you will anger her..."

Isadora sighed and advised Walter, but it was obviously too late.

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

As soon as Angela finished speaking, they were pushed directly into the reception room by the power of the library.

"Strange, why is there no one in this room?"

After recovering from his imbalance, Walter looked at the furnishings in the room in confusion, but no matter how he looked, it didn't look like there were any enemies here.

In fact, there really isn't.

Angela and the others had already seen Ye Lan being added to the team through the experiences of the guests played in the library, so they naturally tacitly left the entire room to him for his performance.

"Everyone, stay alert. The enemy may appear at any time."

Isadora gave serious instructions to the people she hired to finish up the office, trying to regain the spirits of these guys who had relaxed due to the absence of anyone in the room.

Chapter 140. To be honest, your enemy is me

Just as the finishing people were cheering up under Isadora's orders, a hard-to-ignore light suddenly lit up between them, focusing everyone's attention on Ye Lan.

"...Ye Lan, the representative of Yixiang Agency, what are you doing?"

Walter looked at Ye Lan unkindly and asked. In order for the whole team to unite under his words, Walter was ready to use his life to establish his authority when this guy couldn't say anything that satisfied him.

"What am I doing..."

A double-pointed spear that seemed to be made of flesh, blood and tendons appeared in Ye Lan's hand. More nerves and blood vessels crawled all over his body, growing into a robe made of flesh and blood on his body. Turbid yellow eyes opened in various places on his robe, staring at the people around him who were finishing off the troops with pupils of the same color as the dried blood.

"Do you know why there are no enemies in this room?" Ye Lan did not answer Walter's question, but asked him a question instead.

"The enemy is among us... am I right?"

Walter also understood what Ye Lan wanted to say at this moment. He drew out his German two-handed sword and pointed it directly at Ye Lan.

"You are the enemy, right?"

As soon as these words came out, all the finishers around began to dodge away from Ye Lan. However, just as they briefly moved their sights away from Ye Lan, the flesh-and-blood thorns pierced through the bodies of these finishers from under their feet, and grew along the nerves in their bodies into a flesh-and-blood tree.

A forest of hanging corpses appeared in front of Walter and Isadora in an instant. Only those of them who had not taken their eyes off Ye Lan were still alive.

"It was you? You killed Shan and Julia?! How is it possible..."

Isadora roared at Ye Lan in shock and anger, and her sword, which had lost its balance, collided with Ye Lan's spear in an instant.

"What's impossible? No one stipulates that library employees can only stay in the library, right?"

As he was speaking, Ye Lan disappeared from the sight of the finishing people from the Second Association. They immediately looked around, trying to find any trace of him.

So, Ye Lan followed their wishes and appeared behind one of their fellow finishers under the gaze of most of the members of the Second Association. While his spear pierced the finisher he had chosen as his target, the finishers who had not noticed him were also turned into corpses spread out on the tree by the thorns growing from their feet.

"Don't let him disappear from your sight!" Walter ordered the finishing men, "That guy's thorns can only grow from the feet of people who haven't seen him. Just keep a close eye on him and you'll be fine!"

This order sounds easy to say, but it is not something that most of the finishers in the six southern departments of the Second Association can do.

Ye Lan, wearing the Piercing Paradise, does not rely on his own limbs to move. After taking over the ability of the Piercing Paradise anomaly, he can also appear directly out of the sight of others through short-range teleportation and send those who dare not look at the gods to paradise.

The battle situation was extremely unfavorable for Walter and his Second Association's finishing men. He organized the finishing men to carry out several consecutive attacks, but the final result was nothing more than the appearance of more broken human figures pierced and stretched by thorns of flesh and blood after Ye Lan flashed.

After ten minutes that were so long and desperate for them, Isadora was the only one left by Walter's side. Although neither he nor Isadora had a single scratch on their bodies due to Ye Lan's indulgence, fear still gripped them both tightly.

"Damn it, I was calculated!"

Isadora cursed angrily, trying to use her anger to dispel her fear.

"Isadora, do not let your fear consume you, do not let your shields drop!"

Ye Lan disappeared from their sight again. Walter quickly changed his position and looked for the place where Ye Lan would appear with Isadora.

But Ye Lan, who had already maxed out their emotional levels using fear and anger, would not dwell on using only the Piercing Bliss set of ego equipment.

The new equipment was put on him at the same time as he emerged from the void. The ego equipment [Lumberjack] from the enthusiastic woodcutter flew out of Ye Lan's hand, and the axe blade covered with scarlet marks swirled and sank into Isadora's helpless back.

This girl, who was filled with anger towards the library that brutally killed her relatives and friends, couldn't even utter a decent last word before she was ruthlessly killed by Ye Lan, who was wearing riveted steel armor.

"It's me. I underestimated you... I thought we could definitely turn things around this time."

Walter glanced at Isadora who was turning into a book, and silently charged at Ye Lan who had lost his weapon. Although the swordsmanship of the Second Association was mainly defensive, Walter could still use it for offense.

However, the last thing he saw was Ye Lan raising his hand toward Isadora's body behind him. Then, the axe thrown by Ye Lan swung back and cut off Walter's head.

"What a pity! If you hadn't entrusted me, perhaps we would have a chance to have one or two escape today?" Looking at Walter who was turning into a book, Ye Lan shook his head and sighed.

After all the guests were transformed into books, Ye Lan took them out of the reception room. Outside the reception room, Angela was waiting there.

"Ye Lan, he said I should function like a machine, what does that mean? Ayin...he always says this."

"Well, most people in the city believe that machines should only be machines, and humans should only be humans, and that machines exist to serve humans. The Artificial Intelligence Ethics Amendment Bill was born based on this logic."

Ye Lan held the book and walked with Angela to the bookshelf where they were supposed to go. As they walked, he continued to say to Angela: "According to my inference, the city should have suffered a terrible crisis caused by non-human sentient life forms. Because of this crisis, the city eventually abandoned all artificial intelligence and prohibited the city's people from continuing to study artificial intelligence."