Malfunctioning Utopia

Chapter 37: Anomaly

"F***!" Sun Jack cursed as he threw on a transparent raincoat and hurriedly followed.

"Hey, where are you going?" Song 6PUS’s voice rang out through his neural system.

"I'm keeping a distant watch! It's safer this way!" Sun Jack replied, his eyes fixed on AA walking ahead through the downpour.

"Seriously? It's just bait."

"Screw you, man! That’s a living person! Tapai, rough him up for me!"

AA quietly followed the path set by the system, while Sun Jack tailed discreetly from a distance.

He wasn’t sure if his actions would improve the situation, but doing nothing just felt wrong. Seeing his resolve, the others stopped arguing.

As time ticked by, the lights of the surrounding buildings began switching off one by one, plunging the entire street into near darkness.

Looking at the brightly lit C2 Zone in the distance, Sun Jack asked over the team channel, "Why is this place so dim? It's nothing like the other zones."

"Because the companies here have good employee benefits. They actually let people clock out at night."

"..." Sun Jack was too exasperated to retort.

Watching the slender figure of the girl in the rain, Sun Jack reassured AA through the neural system, "Don’t be nervous, AA. Just stay relaxed. I’m 50 meters behind you. Walk naturally. If anything happens, I’ll be there in no time."

"Got it, Jack," AA replied, giving her neon umbrella a light shake to show her calmness.

As the night deepened, more office workers in the surrounding buildings clocked out, making the C3 Zone increasingly darker.

"Night vision, activate." The green glow from Sun Jack’s cybernetic eyes behind his yellow projection lenses restored clarity to AA's faint silhouette.

Round and round they went. With so few people around, AA's repetitive route began to stand out.

"This isn’t working. Unless the target is an idiot, they’ll notice something’s off with AA," Sun Jack thought.

"AA, stop circling this area. Head to a different zone for a bit, then casually pass through C3 again."

AA nodded silently and walked out of the dim zone. After wandering for half an hour outside, she returned, making her behavior much more natural.

Time dragged on. By 3 a.m., Sun Jack's tense focus gave way to a dull fatigue. This stakeout job was hell. No wonder the 6th Unit outsourced it to them.

His boots and socks were soaked, the squelching discomfort adding to his misery. He knocked his numb knees with his fist and glanced at AA, still diligently walking ahead.

Sun Jack marveled at her dedication. "Doesn’t her leg ache? Or did she get prosthetic upgrades?"

Staring so long had strained his eyes. He removed the yellow system glasses, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

As he prepared to put them back on, he noticed a man in a trench coat dragging a wriggling bag toward a distant corner.

Having seen plenty of weirdos in the Metropolis, Sun Jack wasn’t fazed. As long as they didn’t interfere with his job, he didn’t care.

He glanced back at AA, ready to continue tailing her, when something strange caught his eye. AA's figure seemed to flicker like a ghostly apparition.

"Huh?! What’s going on?"

When he put the glasses back on, she returned to normal.

"Weird... Is my cybernetic eye malfunctioning? Damn that King Kong and his shoddy goods." Sun Jack resolved to settle accounts with him after the mission.

He kept following AA, but an unsettling thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

His face darkened. He quickly removed the glasses and covered his cybernetic eye, using only his natural eye to observe AA.

To his shock, AA vanished completely from the empty, rain-soaked street.

"This... this can’t be happening!"

Realizing something was wrong, Sun Jack swiftly put the glasses back on and rushed toward her. Through the projection lenses, AA was still there, strolling with her umbrella.

But when he removed the glasses and covered his cybernetic eye, the street was deserted again, leaving him alone in the darkness.

In that instant, it all clicked. "Damn it! Someone hacked my system and prosthetics! This projection is meant to deceive me!"

To confirm his suspicions, Sun Jack reached out and passed his hand through "AA’s" body, meeting no resistance.

His worst fears were realized. He turned abruptly and sprinted toward the trench-coated figure he had seen earlier. "That guy’s carrying AA!"

"Rally up! AA has been kidnapped!" Sun Jack shouted urgently over the team channel, sending his synced location coordinates.

When he reached the corner and peeked around, the alley was empty. Rain poured down, but no one was there.

Frustrated, he paused, then decided to remove the glasses and cover his cybernetic eye again.

The moment he did, the trench-coated man reappeared in the supposedly empty alley, kneeling on one leg. His hands were plunged into AA’s abdomen, pulling her open as if unzipping her body.

"Son of a b***h! What the hell are you doing?!" Sun Jack roared, deploying his Electric Arc Blade and charging at the man.

The trench-coated man clearly didn’t expect Sun Jack to see him and hesitated.

By the time he reacted, Sun Jack was only five meters away.

In desperation, the man gripped AA's spine and hurled her at Sun Jack, using the distraction to slip away. His trench coat quickly blended into the surroundings with camouflaging technology.

At that moment, drones from Four Ai flew overhead. Sun Jack shouted at them, "Four Ai! Treat AA now! I’m going after that bastard!"

He set AA down on the ground and sprinted after the fleeing man.

But AA grabbed his collar, her pale face strained as she stammered, "I... slipped a tracker... into his coat..."

With trembling hands, she transmitted the tracking software to Sun Jack’s system. A red dot flashed on his map.

"Jack... how did I do... at work?" AA managed a faint smile.

"You did great. Amazing, actually! Now lie still. Help is coming. Just lie still." Sun Jack wiped the rain from his face and resumed the pursuit, following the blinking dot.