Memory, or Data
Starting with the highly lucrative commission that had "luckily" landed in the lap of Legia Security Transport, Swoo recounted the sequence of events she had heard from Draco, detail by detail.
At first glance, it sounded like a reward bestowed upon Draco for working day and night to grow the company. A testament to the saying that hard work never betrays you.
Everyone had thought so.
Even Swoo had thought so when she first heard the story from Draco. She had always been fond of stories where those who strived were rewarded.
The problem arose afterward.
Having put it off for so long, Draco finally decided to take the job and set out immediately. That was when he "unluckily" ran into a Zyrexx crackdown.
It was incredibly bad luck.
No one could have imagined that Zyrexx forces, rather than the ECPD, would be conducting a crackdown.
He hadn't known it was a trap to capture Thomson Arcardo, who had been acting as Hugo Arcardo's right-hand man. He simply thought he was having a run of bad luck.
Still, he could have slipped away.
He was confident that no one, not even Zyrexx soldiers, could see through Legia's camouflage skin.
Kaiser Hintz.
Once he entered the picture, the entire plan fell apart.
He saw right through Legia's camouflage skin, and Draco was ultimately subdued.
It was truly terrible luck. A relentless chain of misfortune.
Perhaps the only stroke of good luck was that he survived.
There "luckily" happened to be a sexroid nearby, and "luckily," using a new technology Lewis had developed, Draco was able to transfer his consciousness into it.
He was alive, and that was all that mattered.
That was all Draco thought.
And so, Draco went about his days, managing Legia's business just as he always had.
Although he couldn't operate in the open anymore, he had two colleagues and friends by his side who could run the company even in his absence.
Therefore, there shouldn't have been any problems.
"I don't know how he got kidnapped," Swoo said.
Was it on his way home from work, or on his way in?
He might have been ambushed while working at the office, or snatched while sleeping at home.
Draco had been abducted by unknown assailants and subjected to something terrible.
"Behind the kidnapping were Lewis and Philip. Yeah... those two I mentioned earlier, Draco's colleagues and friends. They were the ones behind it."
Draco had been kidnapped at the instigation of Lewis and Philip. While there was a possibility it was a third party wearing camouflage skin, Swoo ruled that out.
"You all know that Lui Chen researches Kimeras, right? And I've already explained that Bori here is a Kimera researched by Neonic."
"...Zyrexx had those kinds of test subjects too, Boss."
"Yep. The test subject Toppus and I defeated. Zyrexx was probably researching Kimeras too, just like the other two mega-corporations."
The reason she could be so sure was, of course...
"The abandoned research lab where Toppus and I met."
In the not-so-distant past, the three mega-corporations had conducted mysterious research there.
"That's where I woke up."
"...What?"
"S-Swoo...? What did you say?"
Enoch and Angela turned deathly pale.
It was the same for Toppus on the other side of the drone.
Even though they had anticipated it to some extent, hearing it directly was a shock.
Swoo's words practically meant she was also a test subject of the mega-corporations. There was no way they wouldn't be shocked.
"So, we can infer that Zyrexx also had its hands in Kimera research," Swoo calmly continued.
She spoke as if it didn't matter to her at all whether she was a Kimera or some manufactured entity.
In truth, she really didn't care.
Whether she was created in a lab or had possessed this body...
Swoo loved this world. It was enough that she could live happily in a world she liked. She didn't need to give herself a headache over pointless questions.
Besides, she didn't believe for a second that the memories she possessed were merely data fabricated by the mega-corporations.
How could anyone in this world know the layout of an apartment near Mokdong Station? How could they replicate the experience of fighting with relatives at her parents' funeral just to claim a single villa unit?
People drunk on money and power could never imitate the raw ugliness of those who had absolutely nothing.
Therefore, Swoo did not agonize over her own existence.
She was a player who had seen countless endings when this world was just a game, and a being who had transformed from a man into a dragon.
Even if that dragon happened to be female, Swoo reached a simple, refreshing conclusion.
"To them, Kimeras could be soldiers, laborers, or perhaps even tools to cure diseases."
It was just like in the movies she used to watch.
Clones were created to cure incurable illnesses or to harvest organs for transplants.
In a world like this, such things were far from impossible.
"But their ultimate goal is undoubtedly perfecting a method to transfer consciousness while preserving memories."
Everything else was just a byproduct.
What they desired above all else was a way to transfer memories. They craved immortality through memory transfer.
"Draco must have been an essential experiment in that process."
Could the subject perceive anomalies in their body?
If they could, to what extent could their mind endure it?
A prosthetic body modeled after their own.
A prosthetic body slightly different from their own.
A prosthetic body completely different from their own.
A prosthetic body of a different gender.
A sexroid designed for the lowest purposes.
A beast, an insect, an object, or even just raw data.
And so...
What would happen to the "durability" of a mind detached from its physical body?
If the mind collapsed, would the data perish? Would the destruction of data mean the erasure of memories, or a mutation of the self? Could one truly claim to enjoy eternal life with such an unstable mind? Would the awakened self be accepted as the "true self"?
The three mega-corporations, plagued by these countless questions, must have continued their experiments to find the answers.
Among them, the experiment Draco was subjected to was likely a test of "durability"—to see how far a mind could hold out when pushed to the absolute extreme.
"...How did you," Enoch began.
"How did I know?" Swoo cut him off.
She showed him the note Salvador had left behind.
The sentence added as a postscript.
The message stating that what Swoo was looking for was in Nosterica. That was all the answer she needed to give.
"Draco is alive and well in Nosterica."
Besides that, there was plenty of other evidence.
If they wanted to, they could find endless proof that Legia had copied Draco's brain under a Zyrexx contract.
But doing so would be time-consuming, tedious, and overly pedantic.
"Hugo, who was plotting a rebellion, is also in Nosterica."
Why would Hugo, whose rebellion plans had been leaked to Zyrexx, remain in a place as dangerous as Nosterica?
Why did he stay put even after all hell broke loose in Nosterica?
To find something in Nosterica.
Something so valuable that he was willing to risk his life for it—a weapon that would serve as his greatest asset in the rebellion.
What could it be?
To find the answer to that question, one had to understand the decisive reason Hugo had rebelled in the first place.
Until now, she hadn't known.
Swoo hadn't known what Hugo's rebellion was for, because in the game, he had simply died without a sound.
But now, she knew the reason.
"Hugo planned the rebellion because he didn't like those experiments. Am I right?"
Swoo smiled faintly and set down her headset.
"...You creepy bastard."
Hugo's voice drifted out from the speaker.
Enoch and Angela's faces stiffened.
Draco, who had been holding his breath and pretending to sleep, shuddered violently at the sound of Hugo's voice.
The drone remained silent, but on the other end, Toppus, Miki, and Miko were just as stunned as those gathered in the office.
An executive of Zyrexx Tech HQ.
Hugo Arcardo.
A man whose shadow ordinary citizens of Eden wouldn't dare look at.
He spoke.
"Yes, you are correct."
Confirming that Swoo was right.
"I despised the company's project. That is why I am going through all this trouble."
"Why didn't you like it?" Swoo asked.
"Do you even need to ask?"
"You want all the citizens of Eden to be beneath your feet, Hugo. You enjoy that."
"We have barely met, yet you act as if you have me all figured out."
"Well, am I wrong?"
Swoo wore a peculiar smile as she spoke.
It was a look that suggested she knew exactly what Hugo would say next. Perhaps she was even looking forward to it. In any case, there was not a shred of doubt on her face.
"You truly are a creepy bastard. Yes, you are correct. In fact, you have already hit the nail on the head. I enjoy ruling over humans. I want to see the humans beneath my feet rejoice, rage, hate, and despair because of me. But a memory-transferred Kimera? Do you truly believe that thing is human? At least in my eyes, it is not."
He enjoyed watching humans slander and stab each other to death. He found it amusing when factions fought and waged wars over trivial matters. And if those events were orchestrated by his own hand, his pleasure was doubled.
Watching such spectacles made Hugo feel alive.
It was a deeply twisted and ugly desire.
Of course, in terms of finding amusement in watching human lives unfold, he was somewhat similar to Swoo.
Similar, yet entirely different.
Like the front and back of a sheet of paper.
They were pressed close together, seemingly coexisting, yet they were fundamentally separate and could never truly share the same space.
"They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
She didn't distinguish between good and evil.
She didn't divide the world into black and white.
Swoo had always acted as she pleased.
As long as it didn't violate her own principles, Swoo upheld her own brand of justice.
This time was no different.
Even if Hugo's goals were twisted and warped, she would use him if he was useful. She would exploit him if she could. To face a megacorporation in a cyberpunk world, that was exactly what one had to do.
"...What do you want me to do?"
"Find Draco."
"Easier said than done. Besides, he is a tool for me to use. Even if I find him, I cannot hand him over to you."
"I just need to be able to have a brief conversation with him."
Draco and "Draco."
She wanted to watch the interaction between the two.
Actually, a conversation wasn't even necessary. It would be enough to just show "Draco" his original body.
What kind of ending would await them?
Swoo knew every single ending of Cyberpunk: Eden, but she had no idea how "Draco's" ending would unfold.
That made her look forward to it even more. She had to see it.
"What I am saying is, how do you expect us to find him? Even if I have started a rebellion, I was an executive of Zyrexx until very recently. If even I cannot locate him, do you think it will be that easy just because you asked?"
"You'll have breathing room soon."
"And your basis for that?"
"Neonic will start moving tomorrow."
Neonic, beginning to take direct action, would quietly eliminate Zyrexx forces.
Lui Chen, reading the flow of events, would jump on the bandwagon and attack Zyrexx as well.
Once that happened, Hugo would undoubtedly gain some breathing room.
But that alone wouldn't be enough.
Zyrexx was far more intent on capturing Hugo Arcardo than keeping the other two megacorporations in check.
So Swoo would create a situation where Zyrexx had no choice but to yield for the time being.
She would throw a new faction into the chaos created by the three megacorporations and the rebels, dangling a bait far more enticing than Hugo.
"Hah..."
Hugo, who had been listening quietly to her explanation, spoke only after a long silence.
"...And what is this bait?"
"The downfall of Lui Chen."
The Western Dead Sector development project, pushed forward by Serena with Swoo's assistance. The day that project commenced would mark the beginning of Lui Chen's ruin.