Corpo Age

Chapter 8: Back to the Grind

When I woke up, it was already late afternoon, not long before sunset. I stayed out until sunrise yesterday but only found a grand total of three encounters to gain some experience.

Maybe I should start tracking them back to their hideouts, because what I was currently doing didn’t seem efficient at all. I could also try asking Fitel, though I doubt he would hand out information for free.

With no obvious answers coming to me, I headed out to visit the weapon store downstairs. From the experience of my last visit, I unloaded my firearm with practiced ease and headed further into the store.

I headed straight to the counter to sell the loot I had gotten last night. It was a different clerk this time, a gruff man sporting scars on his face. We completed our transaction quickly, and my HUD notified me of the new funds I had received.

My next errand brought me to a place I had never visited before. It was three blocks down from where I lived, at the edge of the downtown area.

Honestly, I was surprised this place was open when I had checked earlier. My common sense told me a bank wouldn’t be open on New Year’s Day, let alone past 5:00 PM, but I guess there weren’t any unions in this world and corporations didn’t have their employee’s working conditions in mind.

Now that I thought about it, I don’t think there was even a public holiday, ever.

Fortunately, I didn’t need a teller, so I headed for the much shorter line to use the ATM. I followed the instructions on the screen that weren’t much different from my world and deposited the cash from my new gains.

As I was navigating the machine, my thoughts couldn’t help but stray toward leveling up my hacking skill until I could hack the bank and get rich from it.

There was so much I could do with that money, though their security seemed tough. I was confident I could do it as long as I invested enough points into hacking.

It was only a thought though, as I doubt I would get away with it without an entire corporation or two hunting me down. I was just one man. I’d rather not take on an entire organization alone.

While getting rich was my goal, there was no point if I couldn’t enjoy my wealth.

I put any tempting thoughts about robbing banks and corporations behind me and returned home.

I had rested enough, so it was time to take on another job. Once I got home, I immediately placed a call to my QG through my SAID.

“You have reached Fitel. What can I do for you today, Rollo?”

I minimized the empty profile picture with ‘sound only’ labeled in it to the corner of my vision.

“Fitel, got any jobs that suit me?”

“I hope that means you have fully recovered?”

“Yeah, I’m fine now.”

“I see. There is a job that I have been waiting for someone like you to handle, though it’s more of a lead in finding an item, so it may not pay if the lead is wrong.”

“What’s the missing item?”

“A SAID from one of their presumed to be deceased middle executives. Raiders wiped a Nova Tech caravan in New North America out in the wasteland and they want the SAID retrieved or proof of its destruction.”

“New North America…you think it’s here in Elevate City, a few thousand kilometers across the sea? And a big corporation like Nova Tech didn’t have some fancy self-destruct function on their important equipment?”

“That is correct, and they did, but it seemed to have malfunctioned when their caravan got hit with an EMP. That is why we were hired. You’ll be paid thirty thousand credits if you can retrieve the item, but nothing otherwise. They want this to be done quietly before any rival corporation catches wind of anything,” Fitel emphasized the last part.

“Ok, I’ll take the job, but you better find me something else if this lead doesn’t work out. I’m not trying to waste time looking for a needle in a haystack or anything, not for long at least.”

“... Excellent, I will have the information sent to you soon.” Fitel uncharacteristically paused for a second before he got his last line in and hung up, as usual.

I laid flat on the couch as I started browsing through the intel he sent over. It helped that I didn’t need to hold anything as I read, since the screen was literally in my eyes.

The lead Fitel had received was kind of a stretch. To be honest, it was just some guy selling some military-grade weapons that matched the ones the raided caravan used.

Even if it was the same weapons, there was a possibility someone just found it after killing some raiders out in the wasteland, though that meant I could find some details from them.

I first had to find the person and the only information I had were pictures of him and his car that was taken from a street camera in the Neon district. They were two of the same photos, taken on two separate Sunday mornings.

---

I moved along with the flow of the crowd as I passed by various clubs and bars that had huge lines. A lot of the establishments here had pink neon lights outside, with windows where you could see the people dancing inside, in their birthday suits.

There was a mixed bag of individuals in the entire area, from gang members, average-wage drones, to wealthy-looking guys who were let in as soon as they stepped out of their ride.

I kept my eyes open as I watched a valet driving the car, recently put into his care, toward a nearby parking complex.

My GPS guided me to my destination as I pulled up the photo on my optics so I could compare the faces of anyone I came across.

Before long, I arrived and thankfully, found the same car from the photos. I looked around and saw no one nearby, so I approached the vehicle and attached a small chip to it.

With that done, I could now take it easy. I made my way to a bar that had outdoor seats and a good view of the car, where I then sat back and ordered a drink. The cheap alcohol I had drunk in this world was frankly nasty, but it was better than nothing.

Another server, different from the one that took my order, brought my drink, but then sat down instead of leaving.

“Mind if I join you? You seem lonely.”

Not wanting to cause a scene, I nodded and resumed watching the people around who were walking along or lining up for the various venues.

“So you looking for anything tonight hun?” The woman moved her seat closer and grabbed onto my arm.

“No, I’m just having a drink,” I looked around the other tables where people flirted.

The woman had been staring at me, and from watching the others, I realized what she was getting at, so I ordered her a drink.

“Hun, no one comes to the Neon District desiring nothing. Here, anything can be bought, at the right price, of course,” She took a sip of her drink and leaned in closer.

While she was attractive, I would never part with my money for anything she could offer.

“I can help you look for the person you are searching for,” the lady leaned in close and whispered into my ear.

“...What do you mean? I’m not looking for any—”

“Hun, you don’t have to pretend. I’ve been here long enough to tell what a man is looking for. I don’t care if you’re some detective looking into adultery or some hitman. You give me the creds and I can get you the information,” She continued whispering.

“I don’t need your help. Maybe next time, I’ll keep it in mind.”

I paid the bill, left her a tip, and started moving to where I would meet my cab.

The tracker I had put on the car started to move. It seemed like my target got into his car while I was distracted, but that didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to follow too closely, anyway.

My automated taxi arrived in three minutes. I guided the taxi toward my target, taking a slightly different route.

After twenty minutes of driving, the target seemed to have stopped at a secluded area that had nothing but storage buildings, so I had the cab stop a distance away.

With night as my ally, I stayed in the darker parts of the street and made my way toward my target. It didn’t take long before I spotted a pair of old warehouses that were gated off with flimsy chains, surrounded mostly by a thicket of weird-looking trees.

The area was quiet, but from the thermal vision of my optics, I spotted figures at the entrance of each warehouse that faced a shared outdoor parking lot.

I moved around to an unmonitored section of the fence. I pulled out my dagger and flipped the switch on it, producing a dull buzzing noise as it was brought to life. Slowly pushing the blade toward the fence, the obstacle parted way before my knife with little resistance, like cutting through butter.

I moved cautiously, mindful of generating any noises, and made my way to the other side of the fence. I spotted the car I was tracking in front of the warehouse closest to my position.

As I had done to infiltrate buildings previously, I moved toward the side door but to my surprise; it didn’t have any electronics to hack into. It was a mechanical lock.

Why can’t these people use half-decent facilities…?

I hugged the building’s walls and made my way around until I noticed an open window on the second floor.

Luckily, there were also dumpsters nearby, so I slowly pushed one toward the opened window. When I was halfway there, the dumpster suddenly screeched loudly.

Damn it, underneath the patch of grass on where I pushed it, was a hidden patch of worn-out pavement.

I quickly jumped into a dark patch of tall grass and aimed my firearm at the back door that was nearby.

I waited for five minutes, but there didn’t seem to be any movement.

After another minute, I got back up and started moving the dumpster again, while trying my best not to screw up again. Before long, I managed to push it right under the window. I climbed it and reached for the window when I suddenly heard the metal door that was just around the corner swing open.

It caught me off-guard. I froze awkwardly atop the dumpster with my gun pointed to the corner of the building, hoping no one would come my way.

The noise of a lighter being lit rang out, accompanied by footsteps that only grew louder as it headed my way.

A bald man soon entered my vision with a cigarette in hand. He took a puff before looking up and found me frozen atop the dumpster.

Our gaze met for a full second before he reached for the gun on his hip, but he was too slow. I pulled the trigger repeatedly in a slight panic.

The Suri quietly hissed out multiple times and the man soon collapsed onto the ground.

+10 EXP

I jumped off the dumpster and took cover behind it, while I kept my gun aimed toward where the man came from. It took a full minute before I realized there wasn’t anyone else and released the breath I had been holding.

Okay, while I admit that wasn’t the most elegant, it did the job. The previously locked door was now opened, and I also had the window as another potential point of entry as well.

Let’s hope the rest of the night goes more smoothly than that had gone…