Cyberpunk: Nirvana of Shoko Toyokawa

In the guest room.

All the lights were off, but there was still a thin glow in the room.

There are three people on the big heart-shaped bed.

The one on the left is Miao Meng, and the one on the right is Chu Hua.

Both of them were lying down.

Miao Meng seemed to be fast asleep.

Chuhua was in a light sleep - it was hard to tell whether she was asleep or just had her eyes closed.

And the one in the middle is Xiangzi.

Xiangzi didn't fall asleep.

She sat on the bed, fiddling with the virtual screen in front of her that was projected from the brain port.

The dim light in the room was the light emitted by her virtual screen.

"..."

What Xiangzi was looking at was the task sent by Aoba Mocha in the evening.

More critical tasks.

Opportunity to attack.

Xiangzi recalled the conversation with Mocha in the evening.

……

"You guys did an excellent job in the mission Pastel*Palettes entrusted you to perform."

“Very satisfied with Pastel*Palettes~”

"As the saying goes, once you have a reputation, missions will come one after another~"

"So, I want to entrust you with a mission, too~?"

At that time, in the Columbus freight van, Xiangzi heard Mocha say these words through brain-computer communication, which should have been said when the first meeting got to the point.

Xiangzi understood that Mocha would choose to say it at this time...

Explaining “now” is actually the first time to get to the point in a strict sense.

"Do you know about the attack that happened in RiNG a month ago?"

Mocha asked Xiangzi.

"...B-Creative's Hashimoto wanted to gain Toyokawa's favor, so he assigned people to attack Poppin'Party's livehouse." Xiangzi said, "The specific method was to recruit people willing to take action on the gray network task board of Lezhicheng, and then let them enter and detonate the bomb. However, in that incident, the people he recruited were those he had worked with before, because he also wanted to eliminate the insiders."

"I understand it very well~" Moka said with a smile, "This way, things will be much easier to discuss~"

"..."

"Because only those who have understood how attacks on livehouses happened in the past can understand how to plan a good attack on a performance venue~"

coming.

Xiangzi thought.

Aoba Mocha went to [Phase 2 of Reclamation New Land] and brought Ave Mujica over from there, and was willing to quit Afterglow to complete the task.

At this moment, it appeared before her.

"Poppin'Party is planning a live show next," Mocha said, "and the location is in the central area."

Mocha sent a location tag.

Xiangzi didn't even need to connect his brain-computer to the public network of Lezhicheng to know what the location tag was.

It’s the performance hall, CiRCLE.

The home of Poppin'Party.

Unlike the branch store RiNG, this is the main live venue of Poppin'Party.

"...You want us to blow up CiRCLE?"

Xiangzi asked.

This is crazy.

Blow up CiRCLE, and blow up RiNG.

It's not on the same level of difficulty at all.

Poppin'Party may still take its time in attacking RiNG.

There is absolutely no way to escape from the attack on CiRCLE—

"Of course not~" Mocha said with a smile, "Who would be crazy enough to blow up CiRCLE's venue! Such an outrageous task, even if I issued it, you wouldn't accept it~"

"..."

Xiangzi was silent for a moment.

Because just now, she was actually thinking about the extent of financial and firepower support she should ask Mocha to provide in order to ensure that the attack on CiRCLE could proceed smoothly.

Mocha, who was on the other end of the call, couldn't see Xiangzi's expression. But Miaomeng, who could see Xiangzi's expression, had become very nervous, like a cat watching its owner preparing to jump into a swimming pool.

Even Chu Hua, who was always able to accept Xiangzi's opinions calmly, became less relaxed when he looked at Xiangzi through the rearview mirror.

"I'm going to post an infiltration mission~"

Mocha said.

"I'm asking you to [sneak into CiRCLE] on the day of the Poppin'Party performance~"

Infiltration mission.

Compared to the bombing mission, this was of course much simpler, and the chances of getting away with it unscathed were also higher—damn it, why did he think of the bombing mission in the first place?

"(No, I thought of the explosion mission because of Aoba Mocha's guidance.)"

Xiangzi thought.

The other party first induces you to think about the difficult part. Then, he/she will come up with a task that is not as difficult as the former one - but still very difficult - so that you can accept it better.

"(Contrast effect?)"

It's really troublesome to negotiate with a guy with high [Calmness].

Xiangzi thought.

However, on the surface, she remained polite.

"What do we need to do to [infiltrate CiRCLE]?" she asked, "What rewards can we get?"

Xiangzi's negotiations were simpler and more direct.

Mocha just smiled softly.

"On the day of Poppin'Party's live performance, Poppin'Party and Toyokawa had a secret meeting in the CiRCLE conference room~"

Moka easily revealed important information that most people wouldn't know.

"They would chat about the city of joy, the common network, the virus, the future and other nice things."

"What you need to do is to contact the Toyokawa personnel before the secret meeting begins~"

She smiled and said:

"Contact. Yes, in this world, just contact... can change a person, right?"

……

[Infiltrate CiRCLE] and contact the person you are about to meet here?

The task assigned by Aoba Mocha is simple and difficult at the same time.

CiRCLE is very important.

But if you just come into contact with the target person...

It’s not that difficult.

After all, it's not a threat, or any specific action that might look like a threat.

...But Mocha's secretive style of "not revealing the full picture before things really get to that step" always makes Xiangzi, who wants to control the situation, feel uneasy.

"..."

Xiangzi came back to his senses from his thoughts.

She unknowingly swiped away the attachment containing the task requirements.

She moved to her own personal dashboard.

……

[Name: Oblivionis]

【attribute】

[Body: 3]

【Intelligence: 3】

[Reaction: 3]

Technical ability: 3

【Calmness: 7】

……

After using the chip obtained after the [Blow Up the Building] mission, Xiangzi's [Calmness] increased to 7.

From [Rookie] to [Expert].

"..."

But Xiangzi himself didn't feel anything.

This wasn't the first time. She had once entered the realm of "Expert" like this before. At that time, she felt it more clearly - such as the ability to control her pulse and heartbeat -

“(Maybe I should take more time to feel the changes in myself.)”

Xiangzi thought.

She tried to concentrate, to call upon the amplitude correlation between her brain waves and the internal circulation in the brain machine, and then to coordinate and tune them.

"..."

Before feeling the brain wave curve, Xiangzi felt a hand placed on his stomach.

Miao Meng turned over and rolled over from the side.

Xiangzi got up and moved away from the middle position.

Miao Meng hugged Chuhua.

Chapter 2: Nothing New in the City of Music (2k monthly tickets plus extra)

Living in the city of joy, how do you define which day will see something big happen?

The rent bill in your email mailbox has finally reached the final payment deadline, your next-door neighbor jumped from the 47th floor after drinking too much, your favorite band is about to release its latest album, and another band with only two letters difference from them is holding its last concert before disbanding in the venue next door.

Are these big deals?

These things happen every day.

If there is a bigger issue, it would be a gang fight.

However, there hasn't been a fight among the [Seven Bands] of the City of Music for a long time.

Especially lately.

After the opening of [Phase 2 of Reclamation New Land], it was like connecting a cavity catheter to a patient with intracranial hypertension. The momentum of the rioters who were not digested by [Phase 1 of Reclamation New Land] to return to the main urban area was alleviated, and they all squeezed into [Phase 2 of Reclamation New Land] and beat their dog brains and pig brains out of it.

Those who want to watch can go and watch. Those who don't want to watch can go to get off work and worry about rising taxes instead of worrying about robbers jumping out of the road. Life has become freer than before, and the life between cubicles and box rooms seems to have a little more room for maneuver, just like the network programs that can be changed and called back at any time, which is refreshing.