Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 196

“So good cop bad cop?” I asked Dev. Getting our roles down now was probably a good idea so I’d know how to act in upcoming situations. And it seemed as if he was already leaning towards good cop bad cop.

Dev shrugged as we walked down the hallway. “I guess. I can make a killer good cop.”

I bit back a laugh as I looked up into the guy’s unblinking eyes. He seemed entirely serious in that statement. The guy practically had a serial killer vibe to him, though saying such a thing to his face probably wasn’t the best idea. Best to be tactful. “I really don’t think I can do bad cop. I’m too short.”

He nodded his head. “Indeed… fine, I’ll try bad cop.”

We went silent as we headed for our next stop. The next apartment offered a far more normal experience than the last one. At least, there was no drugged-up woman shattering glass dining ware and contaminating the crime scene. All was mostly silent as we approached. People tended to avoid Crusaders, so there was no one in the halls as we passed.

We walked down a long hall, stopping just in front of the right apartment’s door. Dust had settled on the door handle as I unlocked it, indicating it’d been quite a while since anyone had been here. The apartments that weren’t sold to new tenants were supposedly left entirely alone outside of a quick check from Mr. Tarov.

I propped open the door, getting my first look at the apartment. No obvious signs of a struggle, which was a good sign. I checked the list Ysoki Tarov gave us. About half the list, including Harry, had small handwritten notes next to their name with the last place and dates they were seen.

Mr. Tarov had tried his best to locate his missing residents, but the guy was super busy. The little handwritten notes were all that he had time to find on the vanished individuals. Most indicated places of work being the last places they were seen, but Harry in particular was seen last by his neighbor at home.

I pulled a couple of sets of gloves from my bag, handing one to Dev. “Here. In case this is a crime scene.”

He waved his already gloved hands. Or rather, gauntleted. “I’m good.”

I shrugged and threw the other set of disposable gloves into my bag. Dev split off to clear the apartment as I started my hunt for clues. First stop: the living room.

The TV was left on, showing some kind of drama that I didn’t recognize. The bright flashing lights and attention-seeking pops of color distracted me for a moment before I turned the device off. Even if we found Harry and got him back, his TV provider would eat him alive. Or at least devour his bank account. Hell, they probably already had.

More interestingly, and which helped paint a picture of what happened to Harry in the back of my mind, there was takeout lying around half eaten on his coffee table. A pair of chopsticks sat off to the side of the food, propped up as if he intended to come back. It all suggested his departure to be rather sudden.

The guy obviously lived by himself considering no one else had been through here in quite some time, so it couldn't have been someone else in the apartment that distracted him. And his phone still lay on the table. Someone came to the door while he was eating then? It would make sense. The problem is that it could be literally anyone. 

And why’d he leave in the first place? There was no sign of a struggle, so there was a good chance it was either someone he knew or someone he willingly followed out. Hmm… Or maybe there was some magic bullshit involved? Some kind of sleep or paralysis magic to put him under so his kidnappers could take him? It’d be right up the Circle’s alley.

But of course, that could just be me seeing things where there isn’t anything. It was just as likely that it could’ve been Scavs or Savants with knockout gas or some kind of paralyzing agent. Or maybe it was the local gang? It could’ve been all sorts of scum other than just the Circle.

I ducked out of the apartment, catching sight of a curious neighbor staring at the door. She flinched back and ducked into her own apartment as my eyes met hers. Nosy neighbors were everywhere, apparently.

My gaze shifted up to a camera overlooking the apartment’s entrance. Bingo. At the very least, I could find some clues on good ole’ camera footage. Makes me wonder why Tarov didn’t check though. Hmm…

I ducked back into the apartment and headed for the master bedroom where Dev was looking around. He stared at the door long before I came in, his hand twitching as it wrapped around his pistol. “Chill, it's just me. Find anything?”

“Bunch of drug paraphernalia.” Dev shrugged as he motioned me over to the bed stand. The drawer had several needles in it still in a package. One had dried blood on the tip, looking as though the guy reused the needle over and over again. “Nothing else of note.”

“Any clue what kind of drug?” I stared down at the dried blood. Too bad I didn’t have a deck anymore, otherwise I’d try and copy the DNA into the GONE module of my eye.

Dev frowned then moved over beside the bed. After a bit of poking and prodding around, he managed to loosen a floor panel and lift it. Inside sat a half-used bag of pink powder. “Euphoria.”

Right, that makes two Euphoria users back to back. Coincidence? Or connection? I mentally bumped up the local gang in terms of both threat and suspect. If his drug dealer came to his apartment, there was a good chance Harry would’ve followed him right along. 

“Bag it?” I asked the other Squire. So far, I’d done little actual police work, so I wasn’t sure how all of this worked.

“Then we’d have to be responsible for it.” Dev shuddered in disgust. “I’ll call in some more Aspirants and let them handle it.”

Damn, they really were the labor for the Crusade. “Is that… okay? They’re not technically employees of the Blue Crusade, right?”

He shot me a weird look as his hand dropped to his pistol. He stroked it as if finding comfort in the polymer grip. “‘Course it's okay… you remember your time as an aspirant, right? Anything to impress a Knight or Inquisitor and get hired as a Squire. And they get paid by the request.”

Right, I forgot most people actually trying to get into the Blue Crusade were fanatical about it. I was just one of the outliers that tricked my way in and then got stuck, for better or worse. And it seemed as though they were closer to temp workers than anything.

While he went to call in more labor, I checked the list for our next stop. There was one of those overgrown spots just down the hall. It would be quicker to go check it on our way to the next apartment.

Dev walked back to me as he slid his phone into his pocket. “They’ll be here in a bit. Where to next?”

I handed him the list. “Let's go check out Emery's Emporium?”

“Sounds good to me.” Dev nodded for me to lead the way. He was quick to pick up on the fact that I knew exactly where I was going at almost all times. 

Emery's Emporium wasn’t far, just down a couple of paths to leave this apartment subsection of Lang Tower and right over to a bustling shopping center. Or, at least, it had been bustling at some point. Graffiti covered almost every surface and the few people moving through the area stayed low and small to avoid attention. 

As soon as we stepped into the large hallway acting as a street, the few people out and about scuttled away till we were the only ones. “Sure know how to make us feel welcome, eh?”

I glanced over to my companion- only to find him with his gun already drawn glancing at small access halls that looked like the typical back alleys I’d find anywhere in Aythryn City. “S-sorry, what was that?”

I barely bit back a sigh. “Nothing. Let's just get this over with.” 

Emery's Emporium was a rundown little shop, looking as though the owner was just getting by. Or, at least, that's how it would’ve looked if it weren’t for the vines crisscrossing all over the place. They hung from the ceiling, making the shop look like an abandoned jungle.

I checked them over with Aetherial Perception. Mostly mundane. I mean, sure, there was a bit of an Aetherial tilt to them, but it was so faint it looked more like the residue of magic stuck in the plant than anything else. They were a far cry from the Circle’s other plants at least.

Maybe there was some kind of AOE spell gone wrong? Still wasn’t a hundred percent sure we were dealing with the Circle. I didn’t want to fall into… what was it called? Confirmation Bias? That sounded right. Anyway, it could just as likely be the local gang hired an Adept to make their drug farms grow faster. The plants and disappearances might be completely unrelated.

“Welcome in!” An excited woman called as we entered the shop. “Everything is half-”

Her words died in her throat as we pushed past the vines to the counter. The Crusade tended to have that effect on people. She backstepped, gulping nervously as Dev pushed past me. Really, I couldn’t blame her. A heavily armored Crusader walking at you was an intimidating sight.

“Bad cop, bad cop.” I heard him whisper to himself as he approached with slow strides. The guy walked in a straight line, letting a rack clank against his armor as he easily rammed it out of the way. Maybe defining roles wasn’t such a great idea?

I skipped past him, putting on my best angelic face once more as I stopped him from approaching too close. “Hi there! Can you get the boss for us?”

The woman’s eyes glazed over for a moment as she stared at me. Then my words seemed to connect in her brain as she recoiled and looked down with a blush. “O-oh, I-I’m Emery. T-the owner.”

“No need to be nervous, miss. We just need to ask some routine questions then we’ll be out of your hair!” I tried to go with a mesh between friendly and calming as I spoke to her. Honest Face boosted my friendliness and Calming helped with the other side of the attempt.

“O-okay. Anything I can do to help the Crusade…” Emery rubbed at her arms and glanced at Dev nervously. 

The guy crossed his arms, throwing a scowl onto his face. “Just hurry up. We have more important things to deal with than this welp.”

Emery flinched back once more. I leaned forward over the counter, whispering to her, “Sorry about my partner.”

The woman slowly nodded, looking at me as if I was a lighthouse in the middle of a storm. “S-so, what can I help you w-with?”

“These vines everywhere, when did they pop up? Did you notice anyone or anything weird?” I got straight to the point.

Emery glanced at the vines all over her shop, the fear on her face momentarily fading to irritation. “It was about a month ago. I- uh- I bought some plants to spruce up the shop. And then a couple days later they went berserk and started growing across the entire p-place.”

Hmm… She bought them, so they were probably planted by the Circle… The theory of an AOE growth spell going wrong looked more likely. Or maybe something else was causing them to grow crazily? Then again, this could all be a red herring. Or maybe not? If five hundred places had crazed growth, it’d be good cover for the one that mattered to whoever was behind this.

“Where’d you get them?” Dev asked in a low-pitched growl. It was probably an attempt to sound intimidating, but instead, it just sounded way off like a kid trying to sound older than they were. There’s no way anyone would be scared by-

Emery nearly stumbled back as she subconsciously put up space between her and Dev. “I- I- uh- I got them f-from Jade Gardens a c-couple blocks from here.”

Dev marked it down in a notepad as I physically put myself between the two of them. I put on a gentle smile once more. “Thank you for the assistance, miss.”

“Oh, o-of course!” She tried to smile back, though that smile died as I heard Dev shift behind me.

I turned around and motioned with my eyes for him to leave. He stared at me for a moment before he slowly nodded and turned around. “One last question, if you don’t mind.”

“Ask away!” Her stutter vanished with the departure of ‘bad cop’ Dev.

I pulled out a pad from my bag and quickly sketched a picture of the Circle’s symbol. It was the one on all of their amulets, looking like a tree ever twisting itself into a knot. A bit similar to Ouroboros in a way now that I look at it. Speaking of, I really needed to head back to my apartment and grab that amulet I klepped. 

“Um… maybe? There was a guy who came in a couple of weeks ago that had something like that tattooed on his arm… but it was more twisted with thorns and the tree looked different.” Emery shrugged. “Sorry, I can’t remember more.”

“No, you're fine. Thank you for your time.” I put my pad back in my bag and headed for the exit. Could just be a similar tattoo… but there were starting to be quite a few coincidences. The Circle was probably involved. Still, we had no actual evidence and the Inquisitor would most likely want something concrete to show to his boss.

Dev stood at the door, waiting for me. “Was I too much?” 

I side eyed the guy. “A bit… how about you just approach as normal?”

“Works for me… what are we thinking so far?” The twitchy Squire asked. “It's obvious something is going on, but we haven’t found anything conclusive.” 

“Hmm…” I checked the time. “Let's check a few other apartments then try and pull security footage. Think we’ll need a warrant?”

Dev just laughed at me. “If they ask for one, let me take care of it.”

Right… The Crusade never stops for something as paltry as a search warrant. We weren’t the Golden Consortium with all their politics. “Okay.”

“Hmm… let's also try and get one of the local gangers. They always know something. Or at least they should be the Euphoria dealers.” He cracked his knuckles. “Then we can leave, regroup, and meet back up tomorrow morning.”

Nova! Some off time! I could finally get to spending some of the Rayn in my wallet. I could feel it burning a hole in my pocket. “Chek. Let's go. Next stop Robert Longfellow.”