Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 194

Dev and I met up just outside of Lang Tower in Old Town. It was a true arcology, built to be a city within a building. It was similar in shape and design to Talus Tower in that it was a fully self-sustaining location. The rest of the city could go to shit and yet the arcology would still be fine.

Assuming it was left alone, that is. If the city went to shit, there was a good chance it would boil over and affect the arcologies considering their proximity. It was a fancy dream, but still a dream at the end of the day. Being truly self-sustaining would be impossible.

It was the height of brutalist design, looking much like a prison. One that most who dwell in it would never escape. Of course, it was splattered in holographic displays and advertisements to hide its true nature, though they did little to help the massive block of a building.

Quite the horrifying place, if you asked me. Arcologies were the height of capitalism and corporate control, especially considering most of them were funded by at least one of the Big 7.

But none of that actually mattered all that much to me as we entered the building. I’d already memorized the publicly available blueprint and the technical blueprint from the City Archives thanks to Eidetic Schematic on the way over. It made our trip significantly much easier as I led the way to our first stop.

”What do we know about him?” I asked Dev as I led us down a back hallway with sparse traffic. Some vines and weeds had grown through the cracks in the surrounding structure. I checked them with Aetherial Perception, though they only showed up as the mundane sort of plants.

With my knowledge of the tower’s layout, it was easy enough to go down the halls unoccupied by people. It was much safer and more convenient to completely avoid the highly populated main paths of the tower. Especially after Dev pulled a gun on the first pickpocket to pass us by.

Dev briefly glanced at me before his eyes jumped back to our surroundings. He took a particular interest in a group of what looked like gangers up ahead. “Ysoki Tarov, a mid-level executive of Lang Tower. He’s in charge of the first three floors and the one who contacted the Crusade about the disappearances.”

Ysoki Tarov was the first stop in our investigation. After that? We’d see where the investigation would take us. I wasn’t all that hopeful about actually finding something here though. People disappeared in Aythryn City all the time. A fair few ended up dead in the Outskirts in an unprepared attempt to reach another city or sold for parts to Scavs.

The gangers up ahead, upon noticing our Blue Crusade gear, wasted no time in vacating the premises. As they left, I picked up a few details about them. Namely, they had a uniform. It wasn’t just a small gang roaming about. Something to keep in mind.

I mentally marked them down as suspects, and potentially a good source of information. From my time with the Jade Fangs, I was intimately aware of how gangs had their fingers on the pulse of their surroundings.

I paused at an intersection as I summoned the map to the forefront of my mind. Then I turned down it as we continued to head for the Lang Tower offices. “Was he also the one that reported increased plant growth?”

”I’m not sure?” Dev paused, a frown covering his face as he stopped me. “Let’s go down a different hall.”

I looked ahead, not spotting whatever spooked the guy. Still, instincts had saved me more than once. Could just be paranoia speaking, or it could be some kind of actual threat. I was happy to oblige the other Squire as we turned back to the intersection and took a different path.

My heavy armor-wearing companion stomped with every heavy step as we slowly but surely made our way to the offices. There were quicker routes through the main paths, but this was a good opportunity to check the so-called accelerated plant growth.

And indeed, quite a few plants were growing through the cracks all over the place. Could mean nothing aside from the Lang Tower having terrible maintenance. Knowing my luck though, they were probably a sign of some horrifying eldritch entity stalking the depths of the tower.

Unfortunately, we had to cut back into populated areas to reach the offices. We exited the back halls into a bustling street-sized one with vendors and shop fronts set up all around it. It was a stressful moment for me as Dev turned quite twitchy at the sudden inflow of people. Let’s just say he could’ve been the poster boy for police brutality.

Seriously, someone accidentally bumped into him in the cramped hallway and the crazed Squire suplexed the poor sap on reaction. Who the hell suplexes someone on a reaction? That was next level.

The heavily armored squire flinched as I stared at him. "Um- he was resisting arrest?"

"What?" My gaze turned to one of shocked disbelief as I gaped at him. Was this guy even fit to be in the Crusade- wait, no- I forgot who we served under. This is exactly something the Inquisitor would do in a drunken rage. And with his bullshit luck, the guy he suplexed would've been the head of the Circle.

"You know how it is..." No, I really don't. He didn’t even offer an apology as he nodded at me to continue leading. No one else seemed to care either as they just adjusted their steps to go around the downed man instead of offering help.

I wasn’t any different as I quickly led us away. No way I wanted to stick around for that to bite me in the ass. Knowing my luck, he was probably the leader of the local gang.

Thankfully, we weren’t all that far from the offices and we quickly got off the streets and entered a reception room. It was full of people, most looking quite irritated. Probably residents with one problem or another.

A lady behind the desk smiled with a wide corpo smile as we approached. “How can I help you?”

”We’re here to speak to Mr. Tarov.” I replied. It was a bit awkward since Dev kept a wide berth from the reception desk as I approached to speak to the woman alone. He kept glancing around as if at any moment one of the seated people would come to stab him.

”May I ask what about?” The receptionist tapped around on her terminal. “You don’t have an appointment.”

When in doubt, force your way through? That was the Crusade motto, at least. Why be persuasive when intimidation got you so far? I crossed my arms, ‘accidentally’ sparking my gauntlets against each other. I even flicked on Cold-Blooded, causing the surrounding air to chill slightly. “You can ask.”

The woman shivered, though managed to keep her smile up the entire time. I felt a bit bad, but I really didn’t want to waste any time here. And the Crusade had a certain… reputation to uphold. Between me and suplex-man over there, we were doing a stand-up job. “Of course… he’s not in at the moment.”

”Then call him down. We’ll wait.” Dev replied easily as finally approached. He carefully positioned himself to watch every angle of approach and everyone in the room.

”R-right.” The woman’s smile faded slightly as she moved for the office phone.

I backed off and went to the other side of the room, looking at the various pictures on the walls. Dev continued to stand near the desk intimidatingly. Or at least, that’s how it probably looked. I had the feeling he was just near the desk since there were fewer people there.

I settled down in a corner seat and went back to reading documents on my phone for a few minutes before the door swung open and a man walked in. He was missing his left arm. It was weird to see a true handicap in this day and age considering how easy it was to get basic chrome for most people or even cloned limbs from Slab Co. Yet here this guy was. Bizarre.

“Mr. Tarov.” The receptionist smiled at the man. It looked like a genuine smile, one filled with a slight bit of worry for the man. Yet there wasn’t the slightest bit of romantic interest. At least, based on her Cues. I upped my evaluation of the man significantly. He must have some good qualities for her to look at him like that.

The man nodded to the lady. He had a stern expression as he turned to us. I quickly whitelisted him for Master of Disguise. “You must be the Crusaders. Please, come into my office.”

We followed the man past the receptionist and down a hall filled with offices. Quite a few of them were full of people talking with employees of the Lang Tower. Eventually, we arrived in a moderate office. It was honestly a bit small and simplistic as if this Ysoki Tarov guy didn’t care in the slightest about appearing rich like the rest of the corpos did.

”Sorry about the wait. I was out on my daily inspections.” Mr. Tarov waved to the two seats in front of his desk. “Please have a seat.”

As we sat down, Dev immediately got to business. “We’re here about your report.”

The man nodded slowly, his expression falling slightly. He opened a drawer and reached into it, causing Dev to tense up next to me. The man withdrew three glasses and a bottle of whiskey. “Want a drink?”

I shook my head. “We’re on the jo-“

”Of course!” Dev smiled happily. Really, I should’ve expected as much. Inquisitor Ligh must’ve infected him with alcoholism. Or drove him into it with the stress of the job.

The man poured drinks for two and slid one over. “Where do I start?”

I grew distracted as Dev cheerfully gulped down the glass of whiskey. Where did his paranoia go? Drinking an offered drink was... well, the guy could've put anything in that. What the hell?

“From the beginning?” I suggested as I recentered myself on why we were here.

He nodded his head several times as he sipped at the drink. “Right, disappearances aren’t all that odd for an arcology. They tend to just happen. Nine out of ten go unreported until it's too late to do anything about them.”

”What’s different about this time then?” Dev asked. Really, that was the crux of the problem here. As the guy said, disappearances usually weren't reported. Especially by landlords.

”It’d be the numbers. The other executive managers across the tower won’t let me look at their numbers, but my disappearance counts alone are up by the hundreds.” He shook his head wearily. “That doesn’t just happen.”

”When did it start?” Up by hundreds was significant enough to cause worry. Could be anything from a crazed mutant serial killer to a Scav Den setting up shop in the tower.

Or some terrible experiment by the Circle. They were willing to brainwash kids into killing each other, so there was really no telling what else they might be up to.

He downed the rest of his drink, quickly pouring himself another glass. “About three months ago? I knew some of these people too. They were the stables sort. The sort that wouldn’t just disappear without telling friends or family unless something… nefarious occurred.”

”Can you get us a list? Names, dates they disappeared, and home addresses?” I asked the man. That’d be a good enough starting point.

”I’ll get one printed out. Please get to the bottom of this.” The man sighed sadly. So far all his expressions have looked genuine under my careful scrutiny. “I’d been friends for years with some of these people. They deserve justice for whatever is happening.”

”And it cuts into profits?” Dev asked snidely.

The man slowly shook his head. “Not as much as you’d think. There's a reason the other floor managers haven’t reported the issue yet.”

Right, probably a great opportunity to drive up rent prices… still, my opinion of Mr. Tarov jumped up significantly once more. He didn’t seem like the typical corporate executive only in it for the money.

Hmm… were those really my thoughts though? The Circle was quite good at mental manipulation. No way I get caught off guard again.

I flicked on Aetherial Perception to check him and his office over, everything was mundane. And he didn’t have any plants in his office at all, which was a solid bonus. Maybe I was the paranoid one?

“Aside from the disappearances, we’ve also received a report about accelerated plant growth in the area?”

“Uh- yeah. The groundskeepers are on strike thanks to it, making the problem even worse.” The man shrugged as he nursed his glass. “Think it's related?”

I shook my head. ”We can’t say. Can you get us a list of locations where the plants are particularly bad too?”

“No problem. The senior executives keep riding my ass about it anyway, so I’ve got a ready-made list.” Ysoki Tarov looked down at a clock on his desk. “Come back in an hour? I’ll get everything for you.”

”Check.” I glanced around the office one more time as I stood up. “Is there a good food joint nearby? And anywhere I could buy a bunch of glass bottles?”

Mr. Tarov put on the first smile I’d seen, though it looked entirely drained. He quickly jotted down on a piece of paper. “There's a really good ramen shop called the Neon Noodle. And Trashcan Terisa probably has bottles. Here are the addresses.”

I took the offered piece of paper as I mentally changed the canteen to start making gasoline. “Thank you. We’ll be back.”

Dev and I left the executive and headed for the Neon Noodle first.