My Cyber Psychosis is Task Prompt-Chapter 446 - 277: Final Offer

Raphael this time chose to occupy a host that was a lean, muscular girl.

Short hair, with a brow piercing.

Even though she wore a mechanic’s overalls, it was obvious she had a mercenary background.

She propped herself up and sat on a metal table, posing with great flair.

John gestured outside.

"I saw the doctor smoking by the door, quite rare to see him seeking solace outside of alcohol."

"Hmm, I told you, Randall and I are old acquaintances; when we were scraping by on the streets, you couldn’t even control your bladder."

"Doesn’t sound pleasant."

"You wouldn’t understand. Surviving in times that own us is like an old gun, missing a few parts, and the rest all rusty, and when we meet, a couple of complaints are sure to come, cursing this damned life that took everything away."

This state was unlike the usual Raphael.

Maybe chatting with Ryan, she was a bit relaxed facing an old friend, coupled with nostalgia for her mercenary days, her tone was very calm.

She crossed a leg.

"Why didn’t you contact me first?"

"..."

John didn’t respond.

Raphael flashed a smile as if she expected it.

"Afraid I’d take you out, like processing a data slate, use and then discard?"

"Looks like I guessed right."

John stared into Raphael’s eyes, trying to read her thoughts from her expression through the transmitter.

Raphael spread her hands, shook her head.

"You’re growing quickly, you’re smart, but unfortunately you’re not a middleman, otherwise you’d figure out that killing you would get me nowhere, and as for the data slate... well, your guess is correct."

Tommen liquidated the company’s assets too harshly.

When Raphael received his plea for help, she knew fully well—this employer was devious and had a bunch of dirty little secrets.

Coincidentally...

Raphael just happened to have a not-so-loyal mercenary who needed some disciplining.

Thus, logically, the data slate was sent to Mr. Tommen.

The scum had a chemical reaction.

A mercenary job "completely botched."

Employer and middleman squared the accounts.

But John’s sudden appearance made Raphael have further thoughts.

He did accomplish it quite brilliantly.

Now Rongju Company’s trade secrets were in hand, and Tommen, who had toyed with the middleman, was made an example of.

How should this capable mercenary John be dealt with?

"I have no reason to kill you."

Faced with John’s suspicion, Raphael couldn’t help but laugh.

"I don’t know why you’ve become so paranoid, but really, if you had contacted me first, you wouldn’t even have needed to escape that building yourself."

"Middlemen aren’t to be trusted."

"Hahaha, that’s not wrong; the streets, after all, are a place where you gamble with your life step by step."

Raphael laughed enough.

She lifted the dust cover on the iron table beside her, revealing a well-maintained, brand new rifle.

"You bet right; this is your earned share."

[Weapon: Plato-Black Maple [Experimental]]

[Module: Type Four Sight, Accelerated Expansion Platform, Custom Armor-Piercing Attachment]

[Description: Experimental phase weapon, no product number found, Tegel Accelerated Barrel Model 4 finished firearm, development stage 3, no mass production plan yet [Plato Project Report]...]

The clinic was dimly lit, only John’s prosthetic eye was flickering with a micro-glow of data.

Buzz——

Jumbled codes appeared in John’s vision.

It was Sora’s data fluctuation.

[Wow, where did you download the database for that prosthetic eye of yours? How does it even scan unreleased stuff... let me see, these identification codes, gosh, company internal retrieval directories... even the CIA’s?]

John didn’t answer.

He couldn’t open his mouth to explain in front of Raphael.

Sora didn’t press the issue further either.

He really was like a kid, enthusiastic about everything, quickly diverging his thoughts, self-talking into fantasies.

[Such a pity, the prosthetic eye database only contains search entries, can only scan roughly, if you could get the corresponding project documents, you could sell business intelligence, quicker money than being a mercenary!]

Sora chattered in John’s head.

Raphael suddenly picked up the gun.

She acted like a weapon shop owner, showing her best goods to a customer, the palm’s synchronized processor touching the grip, smartly connecting, unlocking, loading.

Everything seemed normal.

Until, Raphael suddenly raised the weapon and aimed the black muzzle right at John’s head.

"Law..." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

John frowned, his attention drawn to Raphael’s expression that suddenly turned cold.

Click.

She pulled the trigger.

The change happened in an instant.

John’s perspective turned upside down.

His scalp tightened, a terrifying thought flashed through his mind—he had been shot.

But the expected pain didn’t occur.

John came back to his senses, finding himself instantly moved in front of Raphael.

Sianweistan’s operation concluded.

Holding the slightly hot gun barrel with one hand, the mantis blade on his other arm sprung out, pressing against Raphael’s throat.

Kenichi Sora manipulated John’s body, dodging a close-range assassination.

The gun was not loaded.

Raphael was just trying to scare him.

So Sora’s mantis blade didn’t pierce into a critical area.

It halted at the last moment, transferring control back to John.

"What do you mean?"

He questioned coldly.

"The gun chamber is empty, you saw it."

"This isn’t funny."

John’s expression turned impatient.

Raphael, pressed by the blade, was forced to raise her head, slowly lowered her gaze, and met his eyes.

There was no apology in her tone.

"I was testing my hypothesis, it seems, Kenichi Sora not only has a connection with you, it can even borrow your body to act, is it a neural signal connection..."

"That has nothing to do with you, don’t damn change the subject! You fired at me, give me an explanation."

John forcefully extracted the rifle from Raphael’s hands with his alloy skeleton, while adjusting the mantis blade, coercing her from looking down to looking up.

"We’re not buddies enough for you to say it’s a joke and let it go."

He was really angry.

Yet Raphael laughed out loud.

"You’re getting along well, it seems like you’re completely on the AI’s side, I don’t even want to mock how stupid you are, nor care about a fool who’s about to die."

"You..."

"Quiet, John, don’t be impulsive, the weapons and bullets are under the table, they’re brought here for you, but before the mission concludes, you must remember what I said."

She waved her hand lightly.

[File transfer detected...]

It was an AI investigation report.

Very official, very complex.

It’s an internal document of Internet Surveillance, recording an unverified super algorithm.

[Pre-Cognition Operating System (PreCogOS)]

[...(Pre-Cognition Operating System / Pre-Cog Orchestration Subroutine)]

[...is an extremely advanced, resource-intensive real-time motion capture and predictive analysis program...]

[It’s not true foresight, but processes massive data streams from user senses, especially advanced combat optical prosthetic eyes and environmental sensors, at ultra-high speed.]

[...including opponent’s muscle micro-tremors, weight shift, weapon pointing, environmental interaction, historical combat patterns, etc...]

[Combining complex neural algorithms and combat databases, predicting in milliseconds the 1-3 most likely subsequent actions an individual target will take.]

John swiftly scanned it.

He noted down the parts he could understand.

"What’s this?"

"Can’t recognize it once it’s written differently, I thought you two were well acquainted, this is Sora, its core."

Raphael reached out, pinched the blade, moved it away, and poured herself a glass of wine from the table.

She sipped lightly, nodding towards John.

"You must have experienced it, right? That feeling of instantly mastering any prosthetic body, always being a step ahead of the enemy... It’s impressive, isn’t it? This is Sora’s core algorithm."

When a middleman discusses intelligence, it’s when she feels the most oppressive.

Raphael not only knows of Sora’s existence, but also has obtained Internet Surveillance’s observation report on the leading AI.

She squinted toward the flickering TV.

"You can’t imagine how desperate those big companies are to acquire this AI, not exaggerating, whichever weapon manufacturer can attain it will be able to monopolize an entire generation’s combat operating systems, along with military upgrades, shifting corporate war patterns..."

Raphael raised a finger.

"Finally, name your price, sell Sora to me, list a closely related group, within twenty people, I guarantee their lifetime safety, ensuring they are well-fed."

She saw John’s reluctance, and laughed.

"I won’t promise to save you, because it’s impossible, not just me, Sora can’t either... it deceived you."