Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 195

The first stop was Trashcan Terisa. No way I wanted to pilfer a place potentially full of plants and their cultists without some kind of fire. Sure, a mundane fire might not be all that effective, but could be a distraction at least.

Trashcan Terisa ended up being a person, not an actual shop. She was set up in a narrow alley between two foundations of the Arcology. Her ‘shop’ was just a bunch of scavenged junk from what was probably trash cans. Regardless, she had what I needed. I got a dozen bottles super cheap. And Dev never asked why! What a good companion.

Then there was the Neon Noodle, which was quite an interesting spot to eat. It reminded me of half rave, half noodle bar. There were a bunch of epileptic lights flashing constantly in every color imaginable, giving it quite a unique experience. The food helped that experience. Everything on the menu was luminescent as if we were eating straight neon. And it tasted good to boot.

Ten out of ten would recommend it to anyone in the area. Too bad it was in the middle of the Lang Arcology though. It was a pain in the ass to get this far into the Lang Arcology just to get some fancy kinds of noodles.

Then we were off to the offices once more. It was a bit easier to get back this time, mainly since Dev kept his hands to himself. It also helped that people gave us a wide berth. We were crusaders, so it really wasn’t much of a surprise.

Ysoki Tarov met us out front in the reception area and led us back to his office. He didn’t sit down, instead grabbing a neat stack of papers and handing it over to me as well as a thick ring of keys. “Here are the lists and keys.”

I briefly glanced through them, mentally marking them on my internal map of the Lang Arcology. “There aren’t that many spots?”

”Yes, sorry. I could only get you access to a list of the most recent disappearances. Most of the apartments are already home to new tenets.” He shrugged helplessly. “What remains shouldn’t have been touched by anyone else other than me or the inhabitants though.”

”Got it.” I handed the list to Dev for him to look through. “And the spots of accelerated plant growth?”

He handed me another, much thicker stack of papers. “Here you go. This should be every spot, including some from the upper levels. The managers up there though… well, they probably won’t do anything to you, but they might make things difficult. Discretion would go a long way.”

”Chek.” Surprise surprise, the managers didn’t want the police snooping around. Especially when said police were the brutal hound dogs of the Crusade.

Mr. Tarov grabbed a jacket from his desk and made for the door. “Pardon me, I really need to get to the rest of my inspections. If you need anything, ask Ms. Parse, my receptionist.”

Once the guy left, Dev spoke up. “I don’t like this. Something about this whole thing feels…” 

I waited for him to finish, but he never did. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Gang, apartments of the vanished, or the spots with plants first?”

”Apartments… or maybe the plants to see if we’re actually dealing with something here?” Dev asked as if he wasn’t sure. 

Come to think of it, how much did the Inquisitor brief the other squires? I only partially knew what was going on with the Circle thanks to putting together the clues. These other guys though? There was a fair chance he might not know why we were even here in the first place.

I shook my head to clear it. “Apartments first. I have a feeling only mundane plants are growing fast.” At least based on the ones I’ve seen in the back halls. There was a good chance they’d keep anything magic under lock and key, if they are even here in the first place.

Dev held up the list and looked it over, twitching slightly as a particularly loud slam of a door echoed down the hall. ”Closest one looks like Lewis Lewison then.”

What a name. I ran through my mental map and headed for the door. “Right then.”

— — —

Dev motioned for me to wait as I lifted the key ring. He whispered. “I think I hear something.”

”In there?” I whispered back. I tried to listen in, but I just missed whatever it was he heard. And it was impressive he heard anything for that matter. Most apartments these days had at least partial soundproofing. Chrome audio systems?

He pulled a gun. “I’m sure. Breach and clear?”

I sighed. Classic Crusade just assuming whatever was in there was a threat. Then I pulled my own pistol as the world slowed down thanks to Dexterity. I checked my perks, ensuring Master of Disguise was up and active. No way I wanted anyone to recognize my face in a Crusade uniform. “Fine.”

He nodded to me. I slowly turned the key in the door, unlocking it and easing it open. Once it was barely cracked, I heard what Dev heard. Someone was in there shattering a bunch of stuff. Contaminating evidence, if there were any.

Dev held up his fingers. Three. Two. One. He slammed his foot forward, kicking open the door as he stormed in. The guy looked super intimidating in his full plate armor as he raised his handgun and rushed in. 

I followed close by in just my ballistic armor and trench coat, feeling quite weak compared to the guy. Not that it mattered too much. At least I was prettier. Or so I told myself.

We entered a living room with an attached kitchen. The crashing sounded as though it came from one of the side rooms. I moved for the kitchen, clearing it as Dev stalked toward the room.

Whoever was in there was definitely deaf. They continued with what they were doing, completely ignoring the super loud sound of Dev kicking in the door. I checked a few of the other side rooms, clearing them as well.

”Get down! Drop the weapon! Get down and put your hands behind your back!” Dev shouted, his voice sounding far more intimidating and dominant than usual. 

There was a scream and several dozen more crashes as if a ton of glass was shattering. Something heavy fell and clattered to the floor. I sprinted for the room, gun up to support the other squire-

I found Dev with his knee on a woman’s chest, pushing her harshly into the ground as she gasped for air. Glass completely covered the room, and the woman had hundreds of cuts all over her body from the small pieces. Every time she finally got enough air in her lungs, the woman would start screaming her head off. I dropped my pistol into my holster.

”Stop resisting!” Dev shouted at the completely limp woman as he flinched and lit up a shadow with five shots. A shadow right next to me. The bullets were close enough for Insight to give me a subtle warning.

I dodged to the side, hesitantly calling out to him as I prepared to use Burst Step, “Clear!”

Dev flinched, a frown crossing his face. His arm twitched in my direction, though lowered as he spotted me. “Right... right, sorry.”

He got off of her, cuffing her with practiced moves and he went. Dev hauled the severely bleeding woman to her feet. He twitched, reaching for his gun again as the lights flickered briefly. 

Remind me again why this guy was on active duty? I don’t know how he ended up the way he did, but I sincerely pray it never happens to me. He belonged in a mental institute, not out on the streets with a gun and the authority of the Crusade. 

One look at his twitching eyes and even twitchier fingers made me stop that line of thought though. No way I’d bring it up with him. Maybe to the Inquisitor after this was all over?

”We’re clear.” I looked at all the shattered glass and knocked over shelves. It was probably some kind of storage ware for… fine dinnerware? About half of it wasn’t even glass but some kind of crystal. Just why?

I stepped up, grabbing the woman’s arm. She flinched and screamed as blood poured down onto my hand from dozens of cuts. It wasn’t fully red, looking slightly pink. Really, she hadn’t stopped screaming since this all started. I was really tempted to gag her. Wait, was that police brutality too?

“I- I’ll go get her patched up… see if you can’t find a med kit or something?” Really, as long as he wasn’t near us for a few moments, anything he did would be fine. At the very least, bad cop good cop was on the table after… that.

I’d definitely be the good cop. I put on an angelic smile boosted by Honest Face as I talked to the woman in low tones. For one of the first times since I got the Perk, I used my full training from First Aid’s Calming. It took a while, in which I used my personal med kit to start patching her wounds, but eventually, I got the frantic woman to calm the hell down.

She stared at me with dead fish eyes. Although it was hard to detect under the heavy scent of blood, I caught a slightly rotten scent emanating from her… hair? I thought through a list of possibilities.

She was probably on Euphoria, a kind of drug that brought euphoric feelings for a very short rush, followed by a period of extreme volatility. Depending on how long a person had been high, the volatile nature amped up or decreased. During the entire high, the person was basically immune to pain and bled at a slow rate. Yeah, it was yet another failed combat drug that made it to the streets.

She was a drug addict too based on her blood. Severe Euphoria addicts' blood shifted to match the color of the drug after a long time of use, changing the composition and creating a certain dependency. She slowly rocked in place. "They're gone... they're gone... he'll love me now, right?"

”What’s your name?” I asked calmly as I wrapped her arm gently in a bandage.

”Uh- uh- my name? Right, my name. It’s Lilly Lewison- No? No- no, no, no. Stupid Lily. It's Lilly Lower. Yeah, Lilly Lower.” The woman was definitely in a daze. Adrenaline mixing with Euphoria's volatility definitely wasn't a good combo.

“Do you have an ID?” I asked gently as I continued to dress her several cuts. Thankfully, most of them were minor. 

Dev appeared from a back room holding a massive bundle of bandages. I slowly shook my head at him, motioning for him to go into one of the other rooms. Thankfully, he noticed my motions and followed my suggestion to hide. There was a high chance Lilly would slip back into hysterics if her 'attacker' appeared. Really, dealing with crazies was such a pain in the ass.

She fumbled for a side pocket. It had been cut open at one point like most of her clothes, leaving whatever was in it to fall out. Dev peaked out of his side room, flashed me an OK symbol, and then moved for the glass room. His heavy footsteps weren’t subtle in the slightest, though Lilly never turned around.

I nodded to him and tried to keep up my gentle voice. ”Can you tell me what you’re doing in Lewis Lewison’s apartment?”

”Lewis?” The woman’s foggy eyes cleared slightly. Soon, massive tears started pouring from her eyes as she wept. “Lewis! He’s gone! Why?! Why did you leave me?! Lewis!“

The woman pulled me into a tight hug, weeping into my shoulder. As the tears slid down my coat, I hesitantly patted her back as she bled all over me. At leas the trenchcoat was water proof, so it'd be easy to clean off.

In between sobs, she managed to choke out some words. “Lewis -sniff- loved those plates! Those damn Plates! More than -sniff- me! No way he’d just leave me- them! Me! He’s really gone?!” 

Dev returned at that moment with the wallet. He casually chunked it at me. I barely saved Lilly from getting clocked over the head by the bulky wallet. As I soothed the woman with one arm, I rifled through her wallet with the other. It was full of needles and a small pouch of pink substance. Definitely Euphoria.

Ah, and there's her ID. Lilly Lower. Aged Twenty-three and home address halfway up the tower. The woman calmed down entirely as she stopped weeping- nope, she just passed out. I checked her vitals to make sure she wasn't overdosing, but she really did just seem to fall asleep.

I glared at the other Squire as I moved her onto the couch and off of me. “Really, man? Was all this,” I waved at the horrible cuts all over Lilly, "really necessary?"

“She… was... resisting? It’ll work in the report, trust me.” He said with such pure confidence that for a moment I subconsciously agreed with him. Then my brain caught up. Just how many times has he written ‘resisting’ in reports for him to have such confidence?! "And she was already seriously injured before I even entered. If anything, I was saving her from herself!"

I took a deep breath and sighed as I looked down at the woman and then the trashed apartment. I doubt we’d get any more clues from here. “Call in someone to come get her and take her back to HQ.”

”Sure! The Aspirants love doing that kind of thing.” Right, the Aspirants. I guess they also acted as the menial labor of the Crusade? Must suck being one of them. “Are we moving to the next spot?”

I sighed deeply again as I slowly nodded my head. “Yeah. Doubt we’d get anything else here. Find anything?”

He shook his head. "No. Just more needles. Could've belonged to her, though."

"True." I looked around the apartment. No telling what was already contaminated here by Lilly.

Dev pulled out the list and looked through it. ”I vote for Harry Harrington next.” 

What the hell were these names? We waited a while for a group of Aspirants, the oldest of which looked barely nineteen, to come take the woman back to the HQ for further treatment. Crazy to think I was three years younger than him and at a higher rank. Granted, I technically cheated....

We moved off for the next stop.