Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 197

We checked a few more apartments and found many of them to be the same. Not everyone had food out, but based on other clues in their apartments, we suspected a similar chain of events. There were similar circumstances at least.

For one, Lewis was an outlier in that he had a relationship. As far as we could tell, almost everyone else on the list was single and living by themselves. No one would notice that they vanished. It suggested a level of organization and information gathering that was frankly uncomfortable.

There were also no signs of a struggle- at least, among the people that were connected. There were a couple of places that had signs of a struggle, though they didn’t match up with our kidnapper’s MO of Euphoria druggie and single. Could have been caused by another group entirely.

As far as concrete evidence went… we had nothing aside from a ton of drugs that we offloaded onto Aspirants. All of our victims being Euphoria addicts hinted at a connection with the local gang, but so far nothing was leading toward the Circle. Yet. I had a feeling we’d find something sooner or later.

We also checked a few other overgrown locations. Most were in back halls or abandoned rooms, where the plants completely smothered the location. There were a few cases of overgrown plants in inhabited places like Emery’s Emporium though. Everyone had the same tale of sudden plant growth. 

We walked back down toward the office, discussing the case as we went. Dev took the lead as I looked through my notes. “I don’t think we’ll find anything else looking at apartments.”

I looked up from my notes. “Yeah? You're probably right. Whoever is behind this isn’t sloppy.”

”Hundreds of people though… how did our kidnappers move them without anyone noticing?” Dev asked as we turned down a ‘street’ like hallway.

”Could’ve flown them out on a flyer… or the Underground is popular for human trafficking.” I thought through the map of the Underground. There were quite a few entrances beneath Lang Tower.

Dev shuddered, causing his silver armor to clank against itself. “I hate that place… why is it that every case makes me go down there?” 

“Seriously.” I’d been down there more in the past couple months than I had in my entire life. “Might not be the Underground though. We can follow up on other leads first.”

”I’d like that.”

We went silent as we arrived at the office. The receptionist, whose name we were definitely told yet I forgot entirely, flinched as she spotted us. “W-what can I help you with?”

”We need to talk to Mr. Tarov.” Twitchy took the lead, his hand flexing for his gun in a way that was either supposed to be intimidating or as a paranoid tick.

”H-he’s in his office.” The receptionist stood up to lead us.

I waved her off as I headed for the hall. “We know the way.”

Dev joined me as we went through the office’s halls and back to Mr. Tarov’s office. The man himself sat behind his desk pouring over paperwork. “Ah, if it isn’t the Crusade. Made any progress?”

”Our investigation is still pending… we need access to the security footage of Lang Tower.” I got straight down to business. The sooner we were done here, the more free time I’d have tonight. I had a lot I needed to get done.

Mr. Tarov shook his head. “I’m afraid I won’t be of much help. Lang Tower contracts its security to Lang Security, an in-arcology security firm. They’re very strict on who can look at their records. I don’t have access.”

Ah, so he can’t check the cameras. That answers that question. “Where are they located?”

“Their HQ is on floor two hundred and twelve.” He wrote something down on a piece of paper and offered it up to us. “Here’s the address.”

I grabbed the offered address and looked it over before handing it to Dev. The man looked it over before asking, “What can you tell us about the local gang?”

Mr. Tarov sighed. “Other than they’re a pain in my ass? They’re not just local. The Blood Scythes are on every floor of the tower.”

Right, so big gang. Not one we’d want to piss off without backup. “Thanks.”

“Anything I can do to help. The sooner all of this is over, the better.” He got back to his paperwork as we left the office.

We moved onto an elevator, opting to take it instead of climbing the two hundred flights of stairs up to Lang Security’s HQ. Once we were in, we continued discussing the case. “Still think we should go after the local gang?”

”No.” Dev immediately shot that idea down. “At least, not without a Knight… call for backup?”

”Not yet.” Nothing too threatening had happened. I had a feeling it would only be a matter of time though as we closed in on what was going on. Cornered rats were known to be ferocious.

The elevator dinged as the door slid open. I took a step out, momentarily freezing as my eyes adjusted to a whole new world. Down below, on the first several floors of the Lang Arcology, the tower was filthy and had an overall feeling of desolation and rot to it.

Up here though? It was like walking from the Ryu Container Yard to the Corporate Quarter. White walls with fancy holographic motifs stretched out into a large open space. Posh shops and even posher people walked around in the newest clothing trends. Whereas the people down below lived just slightly above poverty, the denizens just two hundred stories above them were seemingly beyond wealthy.

I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the glamor as I looked past it to really see the people around here. Although they were laughing, joking, and having a good time, I spotted that each and every one of them held a corporate smile. They all laughed in the same way, smiled the same way, and probably even told the same jokes. 

I looked over to see my partner in an even worse state than I had been momentarily. The overall fakeness of the place seemed to set him on overdrive as he struggled with whether or not he should pull his gun.

“Come on.” I nudged his shoulder. “Let’s just get in and out.”

“Yeah.” He relaxed slightly, though, from his tense shoulders and twitchy eyes, I got the feeling he was close to snapping. I almost wanted to offer for him to go back down while I took care of it, but two Crusaders were a lot more intimidating than just one.

It took a while to get to our destination. The halls and routes up here weren’t as straightforward as the ones down below. Grid-style halls had been replaced with sweeping and artistic routes that crisscrossed wildly and wove up and down floors in a chaotic mess of confusion. Several times we found ourselves in halls that outright jutted out of the building, looking down over the city with massive glass windows. 

I may have read the map and had the building memorized, but it took even me nearly an hour to figure out how the map actually read. Whoever designed this place was either insane or extremely talented. Probably both.

In that time, we passed by constant advertising and shops as if the entire layout of the building was designed to get people to buy stuff. Knowing how the world worked, it probably was. 

With the layout finally starting to make sense, I easily led us along through the building. At some point, we’d accidentally gone up to the two hundred and fifteenth floor, so we had to go back to the elevator and go down again. 

With the crazed layout of this place in mind, I led us the right way to Lang Security. It was seriously confusing getting to the offices of the security firm. It was almost as if the builders had designed it specifically to be out of the way and hard to reach. 

“I’ll take the lead…” Dev said, looking at me as if I might argue with him. “Unless you can pull off intimidating?”

”No, you take the lead.” I could probably be intimidating if I really tried, but it wasn’t my forte. Especially considering my short stature and fair looks. Unless I wanted to go for a strong, cold, killer type.

We stepped into the reception area of Lang Security. As opposed to management’s offices on the first floor, this place was all but abandoned. The receptionist didn’t even stand up, instead opting to continue texting on his phone as he chewed on bubblegum. 

Dev stepped forward, slamming his gauntleted fists into the desk. The guy nearly kept out of his seat in startlement, tossing his phone onto the table as he bolted upright. “Y-y-yes, how can I help…”

He drifted off as his eyes seemed focused on us, the two Crusaders, standing at the reception desk. There was a moment of silence as he stared at us, slowly becoming twitchier and twitchier. 

“Go on,” Dev said slowly, drawing out the words. “Finish what you were going to say.”

”H-how can I help y-you?” The guy’s head dropped.

I mentally took notes as Dev crossed his arms and leaned back. “We need access to your camera feeds.”

The receptionist seemed to regain some of his wits. Or the corpo brainw- training finally kicked in. He put on the typical fake corporate smile that was slightly too big. “Let me go get my manager.”

Dev shook his head, backing off slightly. “Hurry up then.”

As soon as the guy scampered off to the back, Dev went on the back foot and leaned back as if disappointed. “Is that… not what you wanted to happen?”

”No.” His expression looked rather disappointed. “Sometimes you can brute force through reception. Once management gets involved, things get more… tactful.”

”How so?” This was all valuable information for when I do intimidation on my own.

”Ugh- Joshua is a lot better at all this. Basically-“

A man approached from the back of the office, causing Dev to cut himself off as he once more returned to his intimidating posture. “Well if isn’t the Crusade… what do I owe the pleasure?”

Dev frowned, his face dipping into a harsh scowl. “To whom do I owe the displeasure?”

“Now now, no need to be rude… I’m the manager. My receptionist said you wanted to see camera footage?” The manager put on an amiable smile. “No warrant.”

”Now now,” Dev threw the guy's words back in his face, “we both know what’ll happen if I get a warrant.”

”Do tell.” The amiable smile froze slightly as the manager glanced at me.

”Oh, you know how it is. I’ll get a warrant. Then I’ll come back here and find more than enough evidence of other crimes to incriminate all of Lang Security. Or, you let me look at what I need to look at, and I… look away from anything else.”

The amiable smile dropped off his face. “There are no other crimes. You won’t find evidence of something that doesn’t exist.”

Dev laughed coldly. “Of course, of course. You know that. I know that… but the court doesn’t. It just so happens we’ve found tons of drugs throughout the building. It would be very unfortunate for evidence to link back the massive drug trade to Lang Security.”

Ah, I see. Threaten to plant evidence and incriminate the entire corporation if they don’t cooperate. Usually, I’m against corruption… but it is quite nice when it plays out in my favor. Hmm…

”Ha! The people behind me will make a case like that drop before it hits the court's desk.” His smile slightly returned as did his confidence.

Dev upheld his calm demeanor. It was honestly impressive considering his usual twitchy self. ”I have no doubt. But what will those people do about the incompetent manager who drew the Crusade’s eye.”

”Are you really going to just sit there as he talks of corruption?” This time, the manager’s question was directed to me.

I dug a finger into my ear. “Didn’t realize this place has a gnat issue. Add health code violations to the report.”

The manager’s smile dropped entirely as he looked away from me. He held Dev’s stare for several long moments. “Fine. Fine! Go take a look. Then get out of here. Before I change my mind.”

Dev snorted. “Come along, Squire. We’ve got better things to do than hang around trash.”

And just like that, we had access to the building’s cameras. I made yet another note to self. If I ever have trouble in the future casing a joint, I could always go in as a Squire of the Blue Crusade and finagle my way through.

I followed Dev further back into the building.