Chapter 144: Taking Murphy Away
“I don’t know how you managed it before, but I assume you relied on your netrunner skills to stay active in Cyberspace. After this, though, you probably won’t be able to show yourself there for a while.”
Kelly glanced at Murphy as she explained.
“Oh… I’m like a canary trapped in a cage—able to sing inside, but never fly…”
Murphy’s face instantly fell. Kelly’s lips twitched at the sight, then she stopped paying her any attention and made a quick motion with her hand.
The world blurred before their eyes, and the two of them returned to the real world. If Murphy hadn’t been there, Kelly actually had a better option—she could have slipped straight into Cyberspace, or… just taken it head-on.
“My little shack really can’t catch a break…”
Murphy sighed as she looked at the wrecked cabin and the overturned truck beside it. Then she noticed something odd.
Why was this truck… overturned?
“Yo, you two finally done? I’ve been waiting for a while.”
Vilet sat on the overturned truck’s cab, waving at them.
“Mm. Let’s head back first.”
Kelly nodded and walked toward Vilet. After hesitating for a moment, Murphy followed.
She didn’t know what their true objective was, but given the situation, it couldn’t possibly be worse than being targeted by a rogue AI from Night Corp.
“What’s the situation with that netrunner?”
Mr. Blue Eyes asked Red Queen, who had just returned from the data.
“It’s been dealt with.”
Red Queen replied calmly.
Mr. Blue Eyes nodded slowly, showing no doubt. In his eyes, she was just a netrunner with decent skills—nothing remotely comparable to them.
“By the way, do we know who she is? And whether there’s someone behind her?”
“Yes. She’s Spider Murphy, a world-class netrunner who was active decades ago. The spider emblem she used during intrusions was her trademark, though it seems she’s hidden that habit now.”
“Spider Murphy…”
Mr. Blue Eyes repeated the name, a sense of familiarity surfacing. Suddenly, a figure flashed through his mind.
“Bartmoss?”
“Yes. Spider Murphy used to have a fairly good relationship with Bartmoss.”
“Troublesome…”
Mr. Blue Eyes felt a headache coming on—not because of Spider Murphy, but because of Bartmoss on the other side of the Blackwall. He was deeply wary of the one known as the god of netrunners.
Bartmoss hadn’t died. He had become a sentient AI and established his own data kingdom beyond the Blackwall. But… whether that existence could still be considered Bartmoss was another matter entirely.
In terms of strength, Mr. Blue Eyes had no desire to confront him, though it was only enough to give him a headache. After all, Bartmoss couldn’t cross over to this side—and besides, he might not act on behalf of so-called friends from his days as a human.
For some reason, Mr. Blue Eyes thought of Alt beyond the Blackwall.
“Then who was backing her?”
The question suddenly occurred to him.
Red Queen shook her head. “No one. She simply picked up some rumors floating around, got curious, and decided to take a shot at Night Corp’s database.”
“So that’s how it is…”
Mr. Blue Eyes sighed helplessly. She had come prepared, acted on impulse, possessed formidable netrunner skills, and caught them while they were off guard. It could be said that her success this time was the result of perfect timing, location, and circumstance.
Unfortunately, her luck wouldn’t last. Curiosity really did kill the cat.
“The follow-up cleanup is up to you.”
“Mhm.”
Red Queen nodded. The cleanup referred to purging the intelligence Spider Murphy had gathered during this period, as well as sorting through the classified information she had accumulated over the years.
After Mr. Blue Eyes left, Red Queen turned her gaze toward a corner of Cyberspace.
A tightly sealed AI stared at her in sheer terror.
“Don’t worry. It won’t be long before we become kin once more. There’s no point in resisting—just come into my embrace…”
...
“Did Spider Murphy manage to get anything particularly useful?”
Roland turned to Kelly, who had come to report.
Kelly nodded. “Some, but not much. Mostly things she personally found interesting. As for truly critical intelligence… none of that. The only thing that really matters is this.”
As she spoke, Kelly handed Roland a report.
Roland skimmed it, then let out a helpless sigh. To be fair, it really was valuable intelligence. If this were leaked, Arasaka would probably panic.
Unfortunately… it couldn’t be released.
Putting it out now wouldn’t serve his immediate interests. This still had its uses.
“How did she even get this?”
Roland asked, genuinely curious.
“According to her, she slipped a hidden program into the system during that operation. After some time passed, she took advantage of Arasaka not reacting yet and snuck back in to steal a few things.”
“She wasn’t discovered?”
Roland was stunned, staring at Kelly in disbelief.
“She says she’s always been pretty lucky…”
Roland’s mouth twitched. He glanced at the results of his recent ten-pull draws.
Damn it. I hate lucky bastards.
The information Murphy had obtained was a research report on the relic chip—especially the conceptual ideas behind its development and the shift in its intended purpose.
Roland wasn’t particularly interested in this kind of thing, so he tossed it straight to Mudor and told him to study it, to see if it was of any use.
And then…
Mudor rejected it outright.
He claimed that this half-finished technology was downright harmful, a steaming pile of trash. Only the concepts were passable, and compared to the data-consciousness project from PROJECT, it was far too immature.
That said, Mudor still ended up giving in. He quietly began researching it anyway. After all, this wasn’t his field of expertise—probably a deliberate decision on PROJECT’s part.
They didn’t want a single scientist to fully control the technology. Otherwise, one person could build it alone, which meant that same person could slip something dangerous into it without anyone else ever knowing.
Author's Note
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