Chapter 64 Don't underestimate the bond between us...
cybercafe?
Should I say this person is quite sensible, being very careful not to reveal their address? I just wonder if I could find any clues if I went to arrest them offline.
[Anti-Fraud Guru No. 198: Night Raid on Internet Cafe Surveillance Cameras! According to records, the post was published yesterday. If we trace it... well, most people were playing games with headphones on that day, and some people moving around didn't reveal anything.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #66: This image quality... even if it's fixed, you still can't clearly see people's faces. If you try to peek, you can only see half, making it difficult to investigate.]
[Anti-fraud expert #205: Moreover, all the historical access records in the backend have been deleted; they've done it quite cleanly. I can only try to see if I can trace back.]
That's quite a skillful technique. What's the name of the internet cafe?
[Anti-fraud expert #214: Wenye Internet Cafe is practically a base for the organization; many low-level members like to conduct shady transactions here.]
Ah, I understand.
[Anti-fraud expert #19: It's already past 2 AM. Our investigation will probably take a while. Why don't you go to sleep?]
Staying up late for too long has messed up my sleep schedule, and now I can't fall asleep.
[Anti-fraud expert #26: Who was it before? They said Zero wasn't taking good care of his health. Now he should just sleep as much as he can; we can handle a lot of the work ourselves.]
Even if you're jet-lagged, it takes time to adjust; you can't just call me through the phone line.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #148: Ah, it seems your Zero really is contacting you through the internet...]
ah?
[zero: Just got back to Japan, go to sleep early, goodnight.]
Zero went back to Japan so soon?!
Morofushi Hiromitsu was still holding his phone, about to send a second text message to Furuya Rei, when he landed at the airport!
This is so sudden.
He felt an awkwardness, like someone who was playing with a glow-in-the-dark watch under the covers but whose parents pulled the covers off and stared at him.
'Zero is currently in the United States.'
Who said that?
[Anti-Fraud King No. 214: (Abridged)]
[Anti-Fraud King No. 11: When we checked the intelligence team's location report yesterday, he was clearly still in the United States...]
If you're flying, the flight speed is just right.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #205: ...Hmm, I see. The action team mobilized a huge amount of weapons for training exercises, but it seems there was a problem filling out the application form, causing the warehouse record clerk to not have time to review it, resulting in a mix-up where they thought the armory had been stolen.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru No. 198: Although this misunderstanding was later cleared up, there's a time lag in the transmission of alert levels, and it's normal that the intelligence team's data hadn't been updated in time.]
...So even organizations encounter this kind of thing. He thought delays were the norm for the police.
[Anti-fraud expert #66: Strictly speaking, the organization's response was faster.]
This is not good news.
[Anti-fraud expert #148: But then again, isn't Zero's return a good thing? The two of you can still secretly communicate—no, I mean, privately.]
Yes, after he comes back, we can indeed secretly investigate together and support each other, but once we meet, won't my eye problem be exposed?
[Anti-Fraud Guru #26: Oh, I forgot about that!]
[Anti-fraud expert #11: How about we try acting it out? Maybe we can get away with it...?]
[Anti-fraud expert #19: Look at you, even you're hesitating. Keeping it from someone who knows you inside and out is incredibly difficult.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #66: Ah, that's right!]
Yes, if there's anything wrong with Zero, I'll be able to spot it too.
[Anti-fraud expert #11: Are all childhood friends like this...? No wonder I sometimes feel powerless when facing people like you.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #148: Hmm... According to what you've said, I think the most urgent thing right now is to prevent him from discovering the rumors that are currently circulating.]
[Anti-fraud expert #205: Too late, he texted again.]
[Zero: I understand the recent situation. I'll investigate the rumors!]
Morofushi Kagemitsu looked at the last exclamation mark and sighed silently.
They must have thought of the same thing: investigate the source of the rumors and see what these members of the organization are up to in secret.
[Anti-fraud expert #198: Isn't it good to have him investigating? Besides, who knows, he and Lai might have some conflicts again, which will divert the attention of those people in the organization and make it easier for us to act covertly.]
That being said, is it really a good idea for these two undercover agents to be so high-profile? If possible, it would be best if they could keep their identities hidden and avoid attracting too much attention.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #66: Don't you want to take a look at yourself?]
...This was a last resort.
The persona he initially chose wasn't like this; he wanted to be a quiet, unassuming sniper. Quiet and reserved, able to control his curiosity, and rarely asking questions. To others, he would be someone who could maintain secrecy.
Who would have thought that the organization members he encountered would be such an abstract duo? Heaven knows how complex his feelings were when he met Ray. Wasn't that the character he had always dreamed of? It was such a coincidence!
[Anti-Fraud Guru #11: ...So, when you first suspected Eli was an undercover agent, was it because of this?]
About half.
[Anti-fraud expert #205: You've received another text message. It's a mysterious number; it's probably his new contact information.]
Just a note.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #19: So, are you still going to reply to Zero's text message now?]
Back.
However, should I gently advise him not to care too much about Lai?
[Anti-fraud expert #26: Wait, if you reply to the text now, won't that reveal you're still awake? Let's wait until tomorrow after the repairs are finished and then tell him together.]
[Anti-fraud expert #66: Yeah, if you put yourself in his childhood friend's shoes, he'd probably be even more annoyed.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #198: Besides, I have to meet with the information broker tomorrow. I've already set my alarm. Go to sleep.]
...That's not without reason.
Since things have come to this, let's go to sleep.
Morifushi Kagemitsu put down his phone, lay back on the bed, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
However, Rei Furuya couldn't sleep.
At two or three in the morning, he, a conscientious police officer, was still typing and analyzing on his computer.
Put yourself in their shoes. Anyone who gets off a plane and is immediately bombarded with a long, drawn-out tale of love and hate between their childhood friend and the guy they can't stand would find it hard to fall asleep peacefully.
Moreover, they were all infiltrating such a dangerous and powerful criminal organization. Who knew what deadly tricks awaited them behind seemingly ordinary rumors? Even after obtaining codenames, the organization's probing hadn't ceased. Both Hiro and he himself had been set up by the organization before. Under such circumstances, he naturally had to act cautiously.
He spent some time finding the ID of the user who initially posted online, and then, based on his familiarity with the online accounts of his subordinates, he gradually identified a group of suspicious individuals.
Then, he stared at the map and began to think.
This group of people frequents the A block area, and they recently clashed with a gang in the C block. If someone hadn't tried to curry favor with him, he wouldn't have known that the famous Wenye Internet Cafe in the A block had just changed owners a couple of days ago, and the new owner was currently planning to go and join that Irish guy.
Ireland has always been aligned with Pisco, so why is a source of rumors originating on their territory at a time like this? What are they trying to achieve? Or what benefit do they gain from spreading these useless rumors? Are they trying to cover something up...?
Furuya Rei anonymously logged into several world-renowned websites to see if there were any noteworthy developments.
Amidst a sea of information that would dazzle most people, he noticed a rather unusual piece of information.
In a post, he discovered that the whereabouts of the smugglers he had been trying to track down were mentioned, and the poster had even listed this information on a gray market exchange.
A thought struck him, and after clicking on it, he discovered it was a newly emerged intelligence center.
Black Guest?
What kind of strange naming convention is this?
He spent some more time researching the organization and confirmed that it was indeed a "newbie," but had been quite active online recently.
After confirming that it wasn't a "shadow clone" of those information brokers on the market, I habitually bookmarked its website access method, and then left a message for the user I had recently transacted with, intending to discuss the background of this "Black Guest" before negotiating with the real person.
After leaving a message, I wandered around the various intelligence points, still thinking about Pisco. It was already 3 a.m. when I finally went to sleep.
While Furuya Rei was working late into the night, Morofushi Kagemitsu slept in until he naturally woke up once again.
He gradually got used to the sudden bursts of pink bubbles, but then a piece of news that the anti-fraud expert slowly told him caught him completely off guard:
[Anti-fraud expert #205: Zero contacted Black Guest yesterday.]
Huh? So fast?
[Anti-fraud expert #198: We contacted a secondary account released by #132. This account was pretending to be doing transactions with Black Guest to inflate sales figures and create a false impression. Because it was ranked last, it was targeted by several people who wanted to buy information from us.]
[Anti-fraud expert #11: #132 is a bit unsure right now, so I wanted to ask what you plan to do.]
...Let's treat everyone equally.
He can't possibly know you exist, right?
[Anti-fraud expert #19: ...We don't want to make things difficult for you either, but this is for your own good. Number 66 was dragged down by me before...]
[Anti-fraud expert #26: Xuezhi almost got dragged into this too... Luckily, a bug was exploited.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #66: Let's not bring up the past anymore. I've never blamed you. It used to be possible to exploit the bug, but that bug has been fixed. If you don't want him to be 'data-linked' by fate after his death, then keep it a secret.]
I know.
I know Zero. He won't blame me when he learns the truth; instead, he'll share the burden with me. But I really don't want him to be trapped in the clutches of fate, unable to find peace even in death.
So please forgive me for hiding this from you, Zero.
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Author's note: Zero: I didn't know before, but this time I must protect Hiro's reputation!
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