CNS | Chapter 25

Chapter 25, Seven Years Ago (1)

It had already been many years, but Shen Run still remembered what had happened back then vividly.

In 2050, Shen Run was still a member of the Aylan Federation National Security and Special Missions Bureau.

He had once sworn under the banner of the Aylan Federation, swearing to remain steadfastly loyal to the country and dutifully devoted to the government.

The emergence of new technologies such as the interlinked network and brain-machine implants changed the original order and ecosystem. War was happening at every moment, only appearing in a more concealed form.

The new president had come from Aylan Military Industry. Besides being a politician, he was also a shrewd businessman. At that time, Aylan’s new alliance was fighting fiercely on the southern battlefield. After taking over this mess from the previous president, he quickly drew up a unification plan centered on small-scale infiltration and invasion.

After reorganizing and reforming several intelligence organizations under the military, the organization whose full name was the Aylan Federation National Security and Special Missions Bureau took to the stage.

At an army airport outside Alicia, the action team was making its final preparations before departure, and Lu Yun was helping Shen Run adjust the gun pouch around his waist.

He took the opportunity to grope at Shen Run’s waist.

“Can I kiss you?”

“No!”

Shen Run refused with a stern face.

“There are so many people watching.”

Lu Yun knew Shen Run’s personality well, and had never expected him to actually agree, so he just smiled.

Shen Run had known Lu Yun since he was sixteen. After joining the agent academy, Lu Yun was his instructor. After graduating and entering the Security Bureau, Lu Yun was his leader.

After ten years of Lu Yun’s relentless pursuit, the two of them confirmed their relationship.

For all these years, their relationship had been fairly good, but given the nature of their work, they were destined not to be as intimate as ordinary lovers.

Either he was out on an external mission, or on the way to one. On the rare vacations, Shen Run would also devote all his attention to that demon-like “younger brother” at home, and had absolutely no intention of going on dates with Lu Yun.

Lu Yun had quite a few complaints about this.

“Repeat the mission contents.”

Shen Run was annoyed by his leader’s wordiness and rolled his eyes.

“Infiltrate Saint Grange, monitor, assassinate, and undermine the city’s defenses from within. How many times have we repeated that already? Will this ever end?”

Lu Yun’s expression was somewhat more serious than usual.

“This operation is very important. Saint Grange is the most important link in the unification plan. The Suzuki Group has all the power there. The situation on the southern battlefield is bad, and this time you probably won’t have backup.”

“What, you don’t trust me?”

Lu Yun smiled and reached out to pat his face.

“Of course not. Major Shen is our ace. I trust you one hundred percent. Otherwise, why would I hand the most dangerous mission over to you?”

“But this time is different. Everyone in your team is a greenhorn, raw recruits fresh out of the academy. I can’t help worrying.”

As he spoke, he looked over at the team members who were arranging their equipment on the other side. A doll-faced little girl with blue-black hair was standing at the very end of the line. When he looked over at her, she unceremoniously gave the leader the middle finger.

“You look, you look. How can I not worry about this?”

Shen Run soothed him. He was always unwilling to make overly intimate gestures in front of others, so he lightly embraced Lu Yun.

“Don’t worry, leader. With me here, I guarantee the mission will be completed.”

“You only need to help me take good care of Xiaoze.”

At the mention of Shen Run’s “younger brother” at home, who had an extremely strong possessiveness, Lu Yun felt a headache.

“I alone can’t deal with him. Baby, you must live and come back.”

Shen Run wanted to send Shen Ze a message, but because of the military airport’s special signal blocking, he could only give up.

He boarded the plane. The little girl sitting beside his seat kept biting her own fingers, anxiety written all over her face.

“Are you very nervous?”

The little girl nodded.

“This is my first time out on a mission, Captain, I’m so scared.”

Shen Run smiled.

“No need to be nervous. I’m your captain, and the action team is under my direct charge. The one who should be nervous is me.”

The little girl was about the same age as his younger brother, and for some reason, he felt close to her.

“Treat it as a drill. Just don’t do anything outside of orders, and that will be fine. I’ll bring all of you back safely.”

There was no exaggeration in Lu Yun’s words. Shen Run was an undisputed ace of the Security Bureau.

In the ten years since joining the Security Bureau, Shen Run had a one hundred percent success rate on external missions. That was the confidence behind his words.

As things turned out, just as Shen Run said, the operation went very smoothly. After assassinating several key figures in Saint Grange, they successfully tore open a gap in this port city and quietly waited for headquarters’ follow-up orders.

At this time, Lu Yun brought bad news.

The situation in the southern battlefront of Aylan’s new alliance had deteriorated. After weighing the pros and cons, the president decided to temporarily suspend military action against Saint Grange, but he was also unwilling to give up this hard-won opportunity, so the problem fell to the Security Bureau.

No matter how difficult the problem was, Shen Run could always find a solution.

He easily infiltrated the Suzuki Group’s data fortress and found a hidden database.

After decrypting it, Shen Run was surprised to discover that this foreign company from Hualian Liu Island seemed to be violating international law in secret.

In the database jointly built with this “Ark Research Institute,” there was a project called “Prometheus.”

In the report on the project’s achievements, the Ark Research Institute had apparently been able to easily cross “Styx” and excavate the unknown “treasures” behind this giant wall.

Issues such as information security, network security, and artificial intelligence had become the topics the public cared about most, and “Styx” was the …

Thus, when Shen Run discovered the “Prometheus” plan, he quickly thought of a complete solution to the problem before him.

He would publicly release the data in the database as evidence that the Suzuki Group had violated international law, then use the Security Bureau’s media machine to hype it up, and drive out this company that had all the power in Saint Grange in the form of a public opinion war.

Once the Suzuki Group was gone, Saint Grange would have only one path left, to return to Aylan.

This plan quickly won unanimous approval from the Security Bureau’s senior officials, including Lu Yun. After the plan was submitted, Shen Run received top-secret orders issued directly by Messeris Palace.

Steal the prototype chip of “Prometheus.”

Illegally researching “Styx” was a heinous crime that endangered the interests of all humanity. Once the “Prometheus” plan was made public, it would inevitably face the fate of having all materials and results destroyed.

That shrewd businessman wanted to claim this mysterious and powerful chip as his own before all of that happened.

Shen Run had no right to resist, and began preparing the plan to steal the chip.

Perhaps the goddess of luck was also favoring him. The Suzuki Group’s higher-ups feared that war would spill over into Saint Grange, and prepared to transfer the “Prometheus” prototype chip to their headquarters on Liu Island. They also dispatched the Suzuki family’s most useless youngest son, Suzuki Yan, to handle the handover.

This gave Shen Run’s team an opening.

Inside the safe house in Oak District, Shen Run put the earrings containing the “mimetic information” collection device onto the round-faced little girl.

“I’ll repeat the plan once more. Tonight, Suzuki Yan will hold a private party at Polaris Hotel. We will forge an order from the Suzuki Group and request a temporary handover from the Ark Laboratory.

“Your task is to disguise yourself as the celebrity from the sex industry, Asakawa Reiko, and blend into the party.”

He pointed at the black cross earring stud on his own earlobe.

“This little thing on your ear will connect with mine. After the mimic is complete, I can perfectly disguise myself as Suzuki Yan and go to Ark Research Institute to hand over the chip.”

The “mimic” technology could simulate almost all biological information collected from the target, including fingerprints and iris patterns. It was the most advanced disguise technology.

The round-faced little girl was filled with unease, and Shen Run smiled to reassure her.

“Your disguise and infiltration ability is the best among the new batch of agents, otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen you to join my team. Jiede, you don’t need to get too close to Suzuki Yan. Aylan Military Industry’s technology is very advanced. As long as you enter that room, it will be fine.”

“Also, don’t let him get hurt, because in order to establish the mimic connection, we can’t cut off Polaris’s network. People like him, heirs of big families, all have a pile of biological signal detectors installed on them. If even a little skin gets scraped, it would attract the medical company’s hovercar.”

“I, I understand.”

Seeing that the little girl was still anxious, Shen Run took a chocolate bar from his pocket.

The child at home loved sweets, so carrying candy with him was Shen Run’s habit.

“Here, eat something sweet and you won’t be nervous.”

The round-faced girl took the chocolate, and her face relaxed quite a bit.

“Captain, I’ll definitely complete the mission. I won’t let you down!”

Shen Run smiled and looked over at the other team members.

“Leon will be responsible for covering Jiede. Once we get the chip on our side, I’ll send you all a signal, and we’ll meet at Saint Grange Airport.”

After he said that, he began changing into the Liu Island clothing that Suzuki Yan often wore.

If nothing unexpected happened, by this time tomorrow he would be back home in Alicia. Before departure, Lu Yun had promised to give him a long vacation after this mission.

After Shen Ze finished his entrance exams, they would set off for a holiday in an island city in Hualian.

Thinking of this, Shen Run’s movements while changing clothes became much lighter.

At seven in the evening, the operation officially began.

The mimic connection went very smoothly. Shen Run, disguised as Suzuki Yan, together with the team members who were also disguised as Suzuki Group cyber samurai, went to the Ark Research Institute’s secret laboratory.

With the precisely simulated biological signals, they smoothly passed through the Ark Laboratory’s layers of checkpoints. Outside the final building, Shen Run and the others were told that only “Suzuki Yan” could go in, and that he could not carry any weapons.

Shen Run handed over the imitation saber and gun, and walked into the not-so-tall cylindrical building.

There, he met the general person in charge of the “Prometheus” project, Anderson Gavin, a somewhat neurotic man.

On seeing “Suzuki Yan” for the first time, this gray-white-skinned man extended his right hand.

“Mr. Suzuki, this is the ‘Eternal Life’ I prepared for your father.”

Shen Run responded according to Suzuki Yan’s mannerisms. He was just a “thief” here to take the chip, and had no interest in the twists and turns involved.

After confirming “Suzuki Yan’s” identity, Anderson took out a silver-white handheld freezer box.

Just as Shen Run was about to take the box and complete the handover, Jiede’s panicked voice came through the communication chip.

“C, Captain, Suzuki Yan, is dead.”

The mimic connection failed as the target’s biological signals disappeared. Although the mimic still left a disguised face, it was enough to expose the fact that the person who had come to handle the handover was not Suzuki Yan.

Anderson’s expression changed drastically.

“Who are you?!”

Blue light began to glow in his eyes, and he was about to send an alarm to the security personnel outside.

Shen Run did not have time to think. His body reacted instinctively, the sleeve blade on his wrist shot out, his forearm lifted, and the blade sliced through Anderson’s right eye.

Anderson let out a scream, sharp alarm sounds echoed inside the building, and Shen Run grabbed the box containing the chip and rushed out the door.

The communication channel had already fallen into chaos. The team members were all exposed and began exchanging fire with the Ark Research Institute’s armed forces.

The Ark Research Institute’s soldiers had all undergone a high degree of cybernetic augmentation. Shen Run used “Gram” to quickly infiltrate their ICE, burned out their brains and prosthetic limbs, and met up with his team members.

They drove the off-road vehicle out of Ark’s secret base. The cyber soldiers behind them pursued relentlessly, and prompts kept popping up in front of Shen Run, saying that his ICE was under attack.

“Captain, what do we do now?”

Just as Lu Yun had said, his teammates this time were all newcomers who had just graduated from the agent academy, and when they encountered this kind of situation, they all panicked.

The off-road vehicle sped along the highway, and hovercars covered in the Suzuki Group logo flashed red and blue lights, howling toward Oak District.

Shen Run had opened a backdoor in the SGPD system and received the news that the entire district was being sealed off.

What had happened on Jiede’s side, and why had Suzuki Yan died?

There was no time to think further. He grabbed the box and jumped down from the speeding vehicle.

The chip was top secret, and according to regulations, only the highest-ranking commander of the operation could carry it.

“Retreat. I’ll go save Jiede and the others. You go to the airport, get on the plane, and leave directly. Don’t wait for us.”

Shen Run used “Gram” to deal with the cyber soldiers behind him, hijacked one of their motorcycles, and sped toward Oak District, where sirens were blaring.