Editing City Series:Volume3a Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 5===

A loud warning sound came from Rin’s computer and the General gave a shout.

“Danger!?”

The fifth window had been caught by a defense program.

Rin quietly frowned and had the fifth window displayed on top.

Her search program was on the run and the defense program was in pursuit.

“That’s a special type. …Does it pursue a specific search term?”

The security check had reacted to the search term instead of her entry into the databank.

“This isn’t good. I’ll scatter dummies and jump to a decoy waiting outside. If I go through a slow local network, I can launch the destruction program while the data’s being consumed there.”

She gave a number of commands and started the process.

The commands ran in an instant.

“Meanwhile, I’ll gather the data I can with the surviving programs. Once I have it, I’ll escape.”

The contents of the fifth window changed as per her instructions.

All the while, the other windows were rapidly completing their searches.

“What was that? This is some security company’s databank, right?”

“Yes, the one in charge of Archs RDC’s security. That company is why Archs RDC doesn’t need the Yard’s help.”

“Kah. That cheeky bastard’s cheeky company sure is cheeky.”

“It goes back to that ‘cheeky’ company’s rival breaking the law and angering them.”

The eleven windows finished their searches and closed.

All of the necessary data had been extracted.

As for the fifth window…

“Did it escape?”

Rin immediately switched networks and jumped to Japan via satellite connection.

“I’ll take it inside Zenon City – Tokyo’s market and…”

She deleted the program there.

The display instantly blacked out, but the system OS screen soon returned.

She had fully escaped from the network.

She sighed, removed her glasses, and rubbed her eyes.

“That last one was definitely a surprise.”

“I don’t know anythin’ about this stuff, so I couldn’t follow any of it.”

“I doubt you could.”

She put her glasses back on and began operating the computer with only the keyboard.

She opened a programming editor and placed the data inside.

In less than a second, she eliminated the test from the dummy searches and began to read.

“…”

Her breath contained a hint of disappointment.

“None of it has anything to do with the case.”

“Did you find any dirt on Huang?”

“If it was that easy to find, no one would do that kind of thing in the first place. …The information you want tends to be the hardest to find, General. Look.”

She made a single search as a test.

Search : “J-Gun” : Run

The name was not found anywhere in the data.

“Hm. You’re right.”

“This is pretty common.”

With that short answer, she went ahead and checked the other search term: Device.

Something suddenly popped up.

…''?

She checked the screen and saw one of the corporations was a trader that dealt in decorations. Devices were sometimes used as gifts instead of for their power.

“Not quite. J-Gun would have made them on his own.”

The Devices the corporation dealt in were all special orders from jewelers, shops for nobles, or sporting goods companies. The orders were mostly sent to factories, used units of dozens or gross, and had numbers like ten or twenty.

However, one odd number caught her eye.

“An order for five. …With four cleared for production? And a request for more?”

All the other deals involved more than a hundred Devices, but this one order was for a mere five.

“The order was placed by…Genius Elias?

She recognized the name.

It was the name J-Gun had called just before dying.

Rin stopped moving for a moment.

“…”

She suddenly gave a large nod, turned toward the General, and voiced her thoughts.

“I don’t have any real proof, but there’s a good possibility this Genius woman was the connection between Archs RDC and J-Gun.”

The General tilted his head, so she pointed to the monitor.

“Look. This order was made about three months ago, but the number of Devices is just right for making in an individual’s workshop. At the very least, it’s different from the other wholesale deals made by the dozen or gross.”

“Hm.”

“And look at the phone number. The three leading digits don’t exist in Hong Kong and the rest of the digits are too short. I bet if you add something…yes, like a ‘#’ in front of those three leading digits, you would get an internal Archs RDC number. Also…”

“Also?”

“According to Gunmal, there’s a good chance J-Gun hadn’t returned home in the past three months.”

At that point, the cellphone sitting on her desk began to ring.

“Hm?”

Akira showed signs of waking by the window, but Rin ignored it and answered the phone.

She recognized the voice she heard.

“Kouga? You’re late. What have you been doing?”

“Sigh. Rin, don’t get too mad at him,” said the General. “Men have a lot we’ve got to deal with.”

After listening to Kouga, she summed up the situation for the General.

“It seems he died a little.”

“Oh? But he got better?”

“Yes. He apparently turned to ash once. …What? You’re heading back there to retrieve your right arm? I wouldn’t. You might get killed again. Go drink some blood at the Human Meat Bar to recover. …Don’t worry. I’ll take it out of your welfare expenses.”

“Ahh, what do we do about his clothes? Last time he came back with bloody clothes, I gave him a hundred lashes.”

“Then he’ll need some new clothes. No, General, I’ll take them for him. …So how’d it go? I assume something happened since you were killed.”

Her expression changed as she asked that.

It stiffened and she slowly asked something else.

“A Tune Emblem…and a Nein Engel with a Device?”

“What about me?” sleepily asked Akira from behind.

Rin ignored her and gasped at what Kouga said next.

“Fei?”

She adjusted her grip on the phone.

“It was a Galgallin!? Yes, white hair and about as tall as you…. He’d Customized himself and…eh? He killed you? …Kouga! Don’t be ridiculous!”

The call ended there.

She briefly heard a quiet electronic tone, so Kouga’s phone had likely had its battery die.

She stared at the phone in her hand and sighed.

She realized the General and the other nearby personnel were looking at her.

“Ah.”

“Sounds like this has gotten kinda tricky.”

“Sorry. I shouldn’t be dragging private issues into this.”

“Really? But this Fei you’ve been searchin’ for all this time was at that place Kouga went to. What was it? Where he found Huang’s blood?”

“Please don’t say that!”

Rin shouted and crossed her arms as if holding her body.

“Give me some time to think about what this means.”

She closed her eyes and mouth.

Silence fell and a chilly atmosphere filled the area.

Before long, something broke that chilliness.

“Huh? What is it, Rin?”

She turned toward the voice and saw Akira standing there with a sleepy look in her eyes.

“Rin, your monitor.”

She turned back around and saw the data on the corporation from the fifth window that had gone through the chase.

It had not managed to even start its search, so only the initial search term was displayed.

The defense program had been triggered by that term.

“Fei Garland? Isn’t that the guy you’re…?”

Akira fell silent when she saw Rin staring at the screen.

The woman remained silent without caring that her thoughts could be seen in her Live.

After a while, she forcefully stood from her chair and put on her coat.

“I’m going to meet up with Kouga.”

“Rin!?”

She did not answer Akira’s cry.

Her footsteps rang throughout the office, a stark contrast to her Live that was oddly still and filled with hesitation.

It was a painful Live to see or hear.