DING!

["Connection to Bourdillon Hotel acquired and stable!]

Through the corner of his eyes, Leon eyed the specific camera of the Omnicore Eye that was watching his area of the street, then he expertly turned his back to it and his grayish white ADE flared in a very subtle manner.

Drone Control Matrix!

Bzzz!

And just like that, he got access inside Bourdillon Hotel.

Leon could have sent 7 or even 10 tiny miniaturized Mosquito i7 drones with Daren, but due to being wary about the Omnicore Eye and Bourdillon Hotel’s own surveillance, he gave Daren only 3 tiny Mosquito i7 drones.

After using miniaturization on the already originally tiny drone, the Mosquito i7 was now microscopic in size.

And with one of them, Leon now had live footage of Daren.

He kept the remaining 2 on reserve, waiting for the moment when Daren would finally get access to the underground motel.

Leon’s connection with Drone Control Matrix was stable despite the fact that he was currently standing 2 streets away from the hotel.

This was another advantage of now being a D Rank Ascended.

At E Rank, the range of his Drone Control Matrix was limited, but even then it could cover quite a distance. Now though, Leon was confident that the range of his Drone Control Matrix could cover more than 2/3rd of Neo Solace.

His D Rank promotion didn’t just increase the quantity aspect of Drone Control Matrix, it also increased the range.

Leon didn’t do anything though after securing the connection with his drone.

He continued casually strolling through the streets of Egghead District, observing the nature of life in Omnicore territory.

Within the past dozen minutes, Leon already saw a lot of things that opened his eyes and at the same time hardened his heart.

Like he saw earlier, Neo Solace truly was a depressed city.

There was barely any music, and the little music even felt repressed. Throughout the entire district, it felt like every Geneform was trying to suppress their lives- their joy, their hate, their sorrow, everything.

Only Synths moved freely and carefreellycarefreely in the city. For the Geneforms, it felt like they were 1 mistake away from entering trouble and they were always careful. Even the children seemed to know this as they always avoided the SynthSynths like plagues.

Another glaring aspect of this city that Leon noticed was that no homeless person could be seen outside in the streets, maybe it was just Egghead District.

But soon enough, Leon knew why as he saw a police van drive past.

The siren alone made a few Geneforms that were seated outside, enjoying a story session to rush inside like they just saw the devil’s incarnates.

Leon’s eyes gleamed as his brain whirred. ’What would the police have done if they saw them outside?’

’Do they arrest homeless people?’

’If so, what do they do with them after arrest?’

These thoughts made Leon want to deliberately enter the sight of the police van, but remembering his mission, he thought better of it and hid.

He noticed a lot of other details that fit his imagination of Omnicore territory.

And during this time, with Talia’s remote help and guidance, Leon perfected how to avoid the gaze of the Omnicore Eye when about to do important things.

This was one important element that Umar told him to master.

A few minutes later, a deliveryman on a bike drove towards him and gave a package to him. "Your package sir".

"Thank you". Leon took the package with a smile.

After that, he finally walked into a corner alley where he accessed a building. Inside, he entered a room and locked himself inside.

He couldn’t hide himself from the Omnicore Eye even while inside, but considering the sheer population of the city, it was impossible for the Eye to be 100% accurate every time especially when you know how to exploit it.

Leon carefully tore the package wrap open, revealing a small black tarpaulin bag inside. He opened the bag, and then he saw a small laptop.

The moment the laptop was exposed, it flared with neon green ADE.

Bzzz!

Instantly, Leon felt that the constant eyes that were always watching him since entering this world were no longer there.

The focus of the Omnicore Eye was redirected.

Having gotten heads up from Lt. Colonel Umar ahead of time, immediately after securing her job, Talia focused on completing the laptop device that was constructed by Leon, infusing it with 2 of her abilities- Ghost Line & Mirror Mask.

A unique combination of these 2 NetRunner abilities could briefly fool the Omnicore Eye, but not for long.

Through experience, Lt. Colonel Umar knew about this and informed Talia about it. It was part of their preparation for the mission.

With it, Leon briefly became unseen to the Eye as he was replaced by an illusion.

Instantly, Leon’s grayish white ADE flared as he went to work with the materials that were already inside the room.

BZZZ!

Construction!

After some time, a being garbed in the same black clothes that Leon wore walked out of the room where he stayed.

It was not him though, it was a basic robot that he created.

...

Hidden in an alley, a group of thugs stood under an umbrella that kept on radiating with high-density ADE that scrambled all surveillance, including briefly the surveillance of the Omnicore Eye.

Bzzzt!

The Eye would pierce through the interference soon, but they had a few minutes to discuss at least.

"Once we’re there, don’t be greedy".

"Our target is only the Diamond". The leader of the thugs, a young Geneform with a scar cutting through his left cheek said solemnly.

The leader grinned. "We’ve been oppressed long enough. I’m sure that even Epsilon himself did not expect us to suddenly get a technology that can help us briefly bypass their surveillance".

"This is our chance".

"We go in there, unseen, we carry the Diamond and escape and we’re set for life". He looked at the other thugs round. "Understood?"

"Yes boss".

"Good, let’s go".

...

A few minutes later, inside a certain warehouse.

Bzzzt!

"Climb in, fast!" Brick said, urging the thugs alongside a few of his companions who worked together for his boss, the businessman.

They smuggled the thugs into the truck, took their payment from them, and finally they signaled for the driver to drive off.

Somewhere along the line while they loaded the thugs in, they didn’t notice that a machine walked inside, replacing one of the thugs.

The truck finally drove out.

Umar was inside the truck, but hidden in a certain corner from the other thugs where none of them knew that he was already replaced by a machine.

Over 20 minutes later, they finally entered the inner ring.

The operation to rob a rich noble was close to commencing without any hiccups where out of nowhere, they were suddenly stopped by a police convoy!

The thugs panicked but there was nothing they could do. As non-Ascended with their leader being the only F Rank Ascended, against the police, they were like a crate of eggs against a rock.

They folded easily, some of them even breaking into tears but out of nowhere, one of them suddenly gained the courage to resist and open fire against the police officers, resulting in a messy gunfight.

In the middle of the fight, no one knew where one of them got a jury-rigged bomb from but he used it, resulting in a chaotic disaster that took 90% of the thugs’ lives, including himself and a few of the police officers.

Unknown to them, it was the machine hidden among them that caused this.

With the commotion that the bomb caused, while the authorities focused on the truck and its origins, Umar snuck out quietly through the seams, officially infiltrating the inner district of Neo Solace.

He had a few invisible C-5 drones with him.

BZZZ!

Drone Control Matrix!

The moment Leon could see, he grinned. ’Infiltration successful!’

...

[Please read Author’s Note.]