Cyberpunk: The Relentless

"This is seriously messed up."

Oliver crouched on the floor, peering through his helmet at the pulpy red mess smeared across the ground. "What do you think?" he asked Jack beside him. "Look familiar to you?"

"The one we saw before was on fire after the blast—I didn't get a good look. V's your guy. He ran in to grab a weapon, probably got a better view of the remains."

Jack looked over at the Arasaka employees who'd been isolated and placed under control in various parts of the banquet hall. His gaze swept across the tables, now splattered with blood and gore. He clicked his tongue twice. "Such a waste. I saw some dishes that looked damn tasty."

"Nothing compared to what's upstairs. This is all synthfood—maybe with some premium ingredients, but it's still just baseline. Probably on par with something you'd find in a decent downtown restaurant."

Oliver had peeked into the banquet hall while manning the entrance. Compared to the fourth floor's feast, this one—the ground-level buffet for employees—was downright basic.

"Yeah, big difference."

V walked up to them, chewing. "I grabbed a skewer of grilled chicken from near the entrance. It wasn't soaked in blood or anything. Didn't notice anything at first, but after tasting the food upstairs? The contrast is insane. Down here, it just tastes like sawdust and plastic packaging."

"Knew it. I saw you huddled in a corner with your head down. You were totally sneaking food," Oliver said, shaking his head. He didn't seem to care. Standing up, he pointed at the gory remains. "So? Does this look like the same pattern we saw before?"

"An explosion's an explosion—spreads from the inside out," V replied, crouching again. Before touching anything, he slid on the tactical gloves from his uniform. No way he was getting gore on his hands before finishing his snacks.

"See anything?" Jack asked. Of the three, only he lacked modded optics. His role in the team was pure muscle.

"The blast radiated outward evenly. Judging from the way the lower limbs tore open, the detonation point was somewhere in the chest or abdomen."

His assessment was confirmed by a calm voice behind them.

"Correct."

Kenichirou had quietly walked up.

"The slowed surveillance footage confirms it—the bomb was located between the stomach and small intestine."

"Between the stomach and small intestine?" Oliver frowned. "That area gets scanned first. How could something like that slip past? Getting a bomb of that size in there and bypassing detection... It's damn near impossible."

"You're saying the first-floor scanners were useless?" Jack asked bluntly.

"Exactly."

Oliver didn't mince words, not even with Kenichirou. They were client and mercenary—no need for polite filters.

"To be blunt? Your first-floor security scans were garbage."

Kenichirou didn't react. He just asked, "Did you examine the entrance procedures?"

"Biometric monitoring, identity linkage, thermal scans… I didn't go frame by frame, but I saw the core sequence."

"So, could you—personally—implant a bomb like this in the same location and make it invisible to those scans?"

"The implant's easy. A few months ago, maybe not. But now? Give me thirty minutes, and I could do it. The pressure in the stomach would be uncomfortable, though—easy to notice. If it were me, I'd surgically remove part of the stomach and replace it with the bomb as filler. As for hiding it? You'd need someone to coat the bomb in a bio-shell mimicking human tissue. At minimum, it would need a surface layer that looks and scans like stomach lining."

Oliver trailed off.

He looked at Kenichirou, realization dawning. "Biotechnica."

V caught on, too. While he wasn't a biotech expert, he had enough tech knowledge to speak up.

"If we're talking about biotech engineering, it's possible to fuse a bomb seamlessly into human tissue. Make it indistinguishable from the rest of the body—no alarms, no symptoms. No discomfort for the carrier, even."

"So, even if Biotechnica isn't behind this, whoever implanted that bomb definitely used their tech."

Kenichirou stared at the pulp of meat and viscera on the floor. His expression didn't change.

Biotechnica was one of the top companies in the field of human biology. If this was their tech, it explained why Arasaka's scanners failed. The technological gap made the first-floor detection systems practically obsolete.

In that light, "trash" wasn't even an insult—it was accurate.

But why Biotechnica?

Arasaka's true corporate enemy had always been Militech. Conflicts with other corps were common, but manageable. Trade and communication still happened.

So what did this mean?

A Biotechnica spy embedded in Arasaka?

Or someone using Biotechnica tech to stir up trouble between the two megacorps?

Or… was this a direct provocation?

As Kenichirou began mentally sorting the possibilities, the lights in the banquet hall suddenly went out.

A blackout?

Impossible.

This was Arasaka's Night City tower—its North American HQ. Only the main tower in Japan was more secure. Backup power supplies were located all over the building. Even a total system failure shouldn't cut power to an entire floor.

Which meant—there was only one explanation.

The power control center had been hacked.

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🔥 Cyberpunk: The Relentless

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