Chapter 164
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 164
I entered Anguis Regina’s home, which occupied an entire floor. With eight rooms, just looking around was going to take some time.
She lives a remarkably luxurious life.
The living room alone was spacious enough to park two or three cars with room to spare. Its display cabinets were packed with products from Japa Trading.
No signs of a break-in or a struggle.
I walked along the cabinets lining the walls. Digital frames played promotional photos and videos of Anguis Regina on a loop. There was a wide variety of her character merchandise, from pillows and clothes to custom terminals.
She's far from organized, and she doesn't use a cleaning service.
This meant she wasn't the neat, tidy type. Judging by the lack of a cleaner, she also valued her privacy.
A person’s home always gives you a rough idea of their personality.
I checked the kitchen. Bags of franchise food from Japa Trading were piled high in a corner. When I opened the refrigerator, the instant meals and drinks were also Japa Trading products.
"Either she has incredible company loyalty, or she's just completely indifferent..."
There was no sign of her ever having cooked. The cookware was pristine, without a single scratch.
The dressing room was a chaotic explosion of flashy clothes, many of which looked more like bizarre scraps of fabric than actual outfits. There were hundreds of pairs of shoes. It was a pain to even walk through, as my feet kept kicking discarded clothes out of the way.
I checked the other rooms as well. Her bedroom… had aspects that would be embarrassing to describe in detail. Well, she was an adult. Hobbies and toys were to be expected.
While inspecting the bedroom, I stopped.
A dent.
I looked at the wall. A fingernail-sized chunk had been chipped away. The exposed material showed no signs of oxidation.
Slick.
Bending down, I examined the floor. My fingertips brushed against debris from the chipped wall.
Judging by the lack of oxidation and the state of the debris, the damage was recent. I searched the surrounding area more closely.
Broken plastic.
I spotted a piece of pink plastic on the floor.
Whirrr.
Using my terminal, I pulled up a series of videos and photos on my retinal display, showing Anguis Regina's recent public appearances.
Her terminal is damaged.
Anguis Regina used a pink terminal.
She must have thrown it at the wall.
I stepped back and estimated her height.
Whoosh!
I mimicked the motion of throwing it. The angle was a near-perfect match.
The reason she'd throw her terminal in the bedroom was obvious.
She had lost her temper during a call.
A lover? Or family?
I knew nothing about Anguis Regina's personal life. There was no information on the network, and no traces in the house to deduce any family relationships.
Step, step.
I traced Anguis Regina's movements.
Throws the terminal at the wall… and picks it up again.
Her path was clear as day. Because the floor was so cluttered with clothes and junk, it was actually easier to follow her trail.
She went to the dressing room and changed into outdoor clothes.
There was no sign she’d left through the mansion's main entrance.
This was the nineteenth floor. There was no underground passage. The only way out was the window.
I checked the windows one by one until I found one where the dust on the frame had been wiped away. It was large enough for a person to jump through. Looking closer, I saw the dust had been cleared in the shape of handprints.
She didn't use an aerial vehicle. If she had, there would have been witnesses and records.
I opened the window and stared down. The back of the mansion faced a garden, revealing trees and soil below.
Did she jump?
According to Japa, Anguis Regina was a normal human who hadn't undergone any significant cybernetic or biological enhancement. Since she was an idol under his company, that information was bound to be accurate.
Even with an enhanced body, falling from the nineteenth floor is a daunting prospect. It's a height that could kill even me if I made a mistake.
I recalled Japa's words.
He said this would be an easy job for me.
He wasn't wrong. Less than an hour after arriving, I already had a general idea of the sequence of events.
If they deployed their own people, they'd find her in no time.
But there's a reason they can't do that.
They want to handle this quietly.
Because she's an idol whose privacy is crucial?
The questions kept piling up. I stared down from the window and took a deep breath.
Whoosh.
I leaped.
Screeech!
My high-performance prosthetic arm scraped against the building’s facade, slowing my descent as I watched the ground rush up to meet me. Once I reached the fifth floor, I kicked off the wall, flipping myself over.
Thud!
I landed lightly in a crouch.
If someone jumped, they'd land roughly in this area.
I scanned the ground. A deep footprint was pressed into the soil. Judging by the size, it belonged to someone quite large.
Someone caught her as she fell.
If I had Anguis Regina's call logs, this would be easy. I’d asked Japa, but he said it was impossible. It wasn't that he refused; Anguis's terminal used a disposable communication network, meaning the data had simply evaporated.
They certainly go to extremes to protect her privacy.
Japa was incredibly meticulous. That was probably why he’d succeeded as a businessman. Tajiruns in general tended to be that way.
Someone caught Anguis Regina from a nineteen-story drop. They must have been physically enhanced.
And she trusted them enough to throw herself to them.
Judging by the footprint, they're big. It's hard to tell if they're another species, but if they're human, they'd be about Gabriel's size.
Someone that big would stand out.
I thought of Akbaran. If I’d done this much there, I would have found them already. Akbaran was a place where surveillance cameras, drones, and patrol androids were so common you practically tripped over them.
Border City, on the other hand, was a mess. Its administration, systems, and communications were all fragmented. With no integrated network, I had to rely on vague clues and intuition to find my target, just like a hunter from the old days.
I think I understand why Kinuan is staying here. For an Akies Victima user, this city is an absolute feast.
I left the mansion's garden. Behind it was a road with cars parked along the sidewalk.
Crunch! Clang! Whirrr!
I smashed open the doors of the parked cars and ripped out their internal computers one by one. The commotion drew stares. A few people who looked like the car owners pointed and yelled. One even reached for a gun at his waist.
"Use this to buy new cars," I said, tossing the blank credit chips Japa had given me to the owners. "They're guaranteed by Japa Trading. Just write down a reasonable amount, within your conscience."
Even though they shared the name "credits," the currency systems of the Empire and the Bellato Federation were different.
The car owners slotted the credit chips into their terminals, and their eyes went wide. They looked like they had just hit the jackpot.
Beep, beep.
Japa's name flashed in the corner of my retinal display as my terminal rang. He was trying to contact me urgently, having no doubt noticed the withdrawals.
I ignored his call and gathered the internal computers.
—Luka! Why are the credit chips I gave you…!
Japa forcibly opened a channel to my terminal. I pulled up my collar and spoke into the attached communicator.
"Investigation expenses."
—What kind of investigation is this?! Hoyooo!
"Hang up. I'm busy."
I trudged away, clutching the bundle of computers and their dangling cables.
*
The equipment Japa had provided was top-of-the-line. The terminal's performance was outstanding, capable of splitting and projecting up to ten holographic videos at once.
I projected the parking footage extracted from the car computers as holograms. Since some of the cars had been parked there for days, they had captured footage of a large man and a woman who I presumed was Anguis Regina.
Zooming in on the video, I got a clear look at the man.
A classic irezumi tattoo covered his chest, shoulders, and even his scalp, with implant chips glittering like jewels in the eyes and horns of the tattoo's design. His limbs weren't cybernetic prosthetics; instead, he wore basic exoskeleton devices to enhance his strength.
I contacted Japa.
—You didn't have to smash the cars like a brute and pay for them! You could have just bought the memory chips! Hoyot, hoyot. My blood, sweat, and tears! My money!
Japa whined.
"I hate tedious things. It's easier to pay a little extra and get it over with quickly."
—That is not an amount you can just dismiss as 'a little extra'!
"Deduct it from my salary."
—You don't even have a salary!
"Don't be so stingy when you're rich."
—I do not hesitate to invest, but that does not mean I welcome useless expenditures!
"Anyway, I sent you the video. Check it. Do you recognize him?"
Since Anguis Regina was a celebrity, her social circle was likely narrow. There was a high probability Japa would know the man.
—Have you found him already? I expected this to be easy for you, but to think it wouldn't even take a day. I certainly have a good eye for people.
"It would have been faster if you had just deployed your own people."
Japa fell silent, presumably checking the video. A moment later, he spoke slowly.
—That is Anguis's former manager. Or should I say her former-former-former manager? Or was it former-former-former-former? Hoyot.
"How often does she change managers?"
—About once a quarter. I'll send you his personal information and address.
*
Now that I had the information, things moved quickly.
Crash!
I kicked the locked door off its hinges. A thick vapor filled the room. On a messy sofa sat a man inhaling drugs from a device.
"I'm here on behalf of Japa Trading to find Anguis, Dostaba."
I called the former manager by his name.
Dostaba looked at me with glazed eyes and tried to equip his exoskeleton. High on drugs, his movements were sluggish.
"Who… who the fuck are you? This is… breaking and entering, you bastard."
He awkwardly leaned his back against the exoskeleton mounted on the wall. The device began to fold, fitting itself to his joints.
Crunch!
I casually walked over, grabbed the exoskeleton's cylinders, and snapped them one by one. The activating device ground to a halt.
"Get out of there."
I yanked Dostaba's arm. My grip crushed the flesh of his forearm.
"Gah, cough! You… you!"
"I know you're high, but snap out of it. Every time you mumble or dodge a question, I'm going to break one of your limbs."
"Choke, cough."
He didn't seem to understand.
I raised my foot and stomped on his hand.
Crack!
The sound of shattering bones echoed through the room.
"Aaaaargh!!!"
"Want me to break the other one?"
"I'm awake! I'm awake! I'm sober now! Sob, hiccup."
Finally, his tongue started working.
"Where is Anguis Regina?"
"I-I don't know! She left yesterday!"
I glanced toward Dostaba's bedroom. The scent of perfume and cosmetics I had smelled in Anguis Regina's elevator was wafting from it.
"Are you her boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend? That woman doesn't have a boyfriend. She's probably slept with all her managers."
I pulled Dostaba up and threw him onto the sofa. He stared at me, shaking like a leaf.
It wasn't that he was particularly cowardly. Rather, he possessed a crude, animalistic instinct that recognized the stench of a killer radiating from me. He had realized I wouldn't hesitate to use violence or even kill him.
"Do you know where she went?"
"She… she said she was going to meet another manager."
"Was there anything unusual?"
"Come to think of it, she asked if I had any intention of marrying her. She always says weird things, so I thought she was joking…"
That was enough.
"Sorry for dropping in. Charge your medical bills and repairs to this. It's a credit chip guaranteed by Japa Trading. Take enough to cover emotional distress, too."
Hearing my words, Dostaba’s face lit up, the pain momentarily forgotten. Having served as Anguis Regina's manager, he knew the sheer wealth of Japa Trading.
I stepped outside. The worn-out hallway of the cheap apartment complex stretched before me. The paint was peeling off the walls, revealing mold underneath.
Beep.
A call came from Japa.
—Why was more money just spent…!
"Send me the personal information of all of Anguis Regina's managers. If you have a problem with my methods, deploy your own people to find her. You know as well as I do that handling things quietly costs more."
—…Understood.
Honestly, it might sound messed up, but this is actually pretty fun. I guess this is why the rich love throwing money around.