The Red Queen's Obedience
The day after the life-sustaining incident, Eileen and her group handed over a series of information related to the Translucent Horizon to Violet Science.
Information transfer to Violet Science completed. Compensation allocated.
“Thank you. This wasn’t part of the original deal, but the information is valuable, so please accept this as a token of our appreciation,” the Violet Science broker said, offering Eileen’s group their reward.
As a result, they received a substantial sum—more than eighty percent of the originally promised amount. For a group that had expected the entire request to be nullified following the original client’s death, it was an encouraging outcome.
The Violet Science broker exchanged the usual pleasantries about maintaining a friendly relationship in the future before seeing them off.
It was on one such day, with the series of events tied to the Translucent Horizon finally wrapped up, that the following occurred.
That day, Eileen’s hideout was quiet. It was a lazy afternoon, and being a holiday, even the traffic roaring down the streets was sparse.
Basking in the dull sunlight filtering through the windows, JL and Eileen were spending time together in the second-floor living area.
JL had been mixing cocktails as part of his future plans when his gaze suddenly shifted to the table. A metallic case containing Lish sat there, gleaming under the light. The sunlight pouring through the window at just the right angle must have reflected off it and caught his eye.
Asa wasn’t at the hideout right now. Even if he touched the case, she wouldn’t know.
JL set down the cocktail he was preparing and walked over to the case. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he opened it and checked the contents inside.
What lay within were thirteen test tubes glowing with an ethereal light. They contained a crimson liquid that swayed gently—Lish, also known by its codename, the Red Queen.
JL sat down in front of the case, tapped the tubes with a dissatisfied expression, and spoke.
“How long are we supposed to keep holding onto this? There are plenty of people looking for it. Keeping it around is obviously going to get dangerous.”
“Well, we still haven’t heard back from the broker. That’s the problem,” Eileen answered JL’s question. As she did, she picked up her netrunning gear as if the timing were perfect and slipped it over her eyes.
“Now that I think about it, it’s strange how everyone was going absolutely crazy searching for this thing not long ago, and now it’s gone completely quiet. Let me look into it.”
JL nodded in agreement with Eileen’s words.
“The only deal that almost went through fell apart because some bastards barged in midway. If they were willing to risk disciplinary action and charge in like that, they must’ve been incredibly desperate.”
Why had everyone suddenly gone silent? It was like a pack of prey holding their breath in front of a predator.
A short while later, Eileen paused her netrunning as if she had found something and spoke up.
“The megacorp alliance directly involved with Lish has started intervening in this situation. So the lower-tier companies have no choice but to lie low.”
“That’s it?”
“From what I can see in their internal communications, yeah. I’ll dig a little deeper.”
Eileen’s netrunning skills, which allowed her to slip into corporate networks without a trace, were extraordinary. Her ability to navigate the vast ocean of data and breach powerful corporate security was proof that she had once been a mechanic for one of those very megacorps. Countless classified documents swam past her.
As she floated familiarly through the sea of data, Eileen suddenly stopped. It was a fragment of communication between two different corporations—not simple internal chatter, but information exchanged between separate megacorps.
As Eileen examined the document, she became certain that this was the reason interest in the leaked Lish had suddenly dried up. She immediately ended her netrun and sent the document she had found to JL.
“What is this?” JL asked, straightening up.
“Indirectly leaked information regarding Lish.”
Eileen removed the device from her eyes, stood up from her chair, and answered. She walked over to JL’s side, reached into the case, and picked up one of the test tubes.
JL, not quite understanding part of what she had said, asked again.
“Indirectly?”
“It’s probably information that the corporate alliance developing Lish intentionally let slip. Incomplete data.”
“They leaked it on purpose? Why?”
“To plant useless hope. If they provide even a blurry blueprint, most corporations will choose to try making it themselves rather than steal it.”
It was the textbook example of the old saying, “Technically, we didn’t lie.” In the end, other corporations would encounter that blurry blueprint in the form of “leaked information,” and they would latch onto it, desperate to decipher it. Rather than believing a competitor had shown them goodwill, they would more readily trust information they believed they had stolen. The alliance had simply exploited that tendency.
Given the situation, it made sense that interest in the prototype Lish that Eileen’s group had secured had also faded.
JL shook his head at the complicated psychological warfare and looked over the document Eileen had sent him. It was a blueprint for Lish, proudly bearing the codename “Red Queen.” A rough list of ingredients and an ambiguous manufacturing method. It gave them hope of reaching an answer without ever providing the answer itself. That was how it lured rival corporations into obsessing over that hope.
“I see…” JL scratched his head and spoke. “It does make you feel like you could give it a shot, compared to knowing nothing at all.”
Instead of starting from a single vague piece of information like “a liquid like a red gem,” having rough details such as “made from these materials in this way” would naturally make someone want to try it themselves. The thought, I could probably do this.
But in the end, they would never reach a finished product. And even if they did, it would be far behind the original.
It was cunning. And clever.
Eileen left JL to examine the document and headed down to the first-floor armory. A short while later, she returned with an expensive round of ammunition and placed it on the table beside one of the test tubes she had taken out earlier.
“JL, do you know what this is?” she asked, looking at JL, who was frowning.
JL alternated his gaze between the Lish and the bullet for a moment before answering.
“This bullet… it’s one Asa uses often. Metamorphic ammunition, right?”
“That’s right. Metamorphic rounds.”
Eileen said this as she picked up the round in her hand. JL, familiar with the way Asa often behaved in combat, watched her without a word.
Crackle.
A moment later, light began to leak from the hand holding the bullet.
“As you know, the main component of metamorphic rounds is metamorphic particles. When the right energy and information are injected, it becomes like this…”
There were no byproducts from the transformation, nor anything similar leaking out. The mass of the bullet remained exactly the same as before Eileen altered its information. However, its purpose and caliber had changed completely.
JL stared at the metamorphic round, which had grown about one and a half times longer than before she held it.
“Of course I know about metamorphic particles. Hounds’ weapons and armor are all made of them.”
The product of highly advanced particle physics and quantum mechanics. A miracle born from the exquisite intersection of coincidence and design. It was said that a Hound’s armor, the moment it connected to the Hound’s adapter, rearranged its particles and became harder than diamond. Effectively, it couldn’t be pierced until the Hound died.
Eileen nodded at JL’s prior knowledge.
“Correct. As long as the right energy and information are provided, metamorphic particles can transform into anything within the limits of their given mass. Of course, the most important factor is that energy.”
As could be inferred from the condition “as long as the Hound is alive,” the most abundant and conveniently usable free energy was, naturally, the biological energy of living organisms. If one implanted an adapter-like device, they could freely control the emission of that bioenergy. However, since it used life itself as fuel, it was a double-edged sword. Aside from high-ranking military officials, almost no humans used it.
Eileen placed the information-altered metamorphic round on the table and pointed at the Lish.
“According to the manufacturing method, metamorphic particles are also used in Lish. In the drug itself.”
“In the drug? In something that’s directly administered?” JL asked, sounding incredulous. To him, it sounded as absurd as saying someone had mixed gunpowder into food.
But Eileen nodded calmly, as if there wasn’t a shred of falsehood in her words.
“To create more complex effects in the brain. In reality, every other ingredient besides the metamorphic particles is nothing more than a supporting actor meant to help the body endure it.”
“Is that why it only works on Hounds?”
Eileen shook her head carefully at JL’s question. Her expression suggested she wasn’t entirely certain. But her tone was firm.
“That’s probably not it. The area where metamorphic particles act is limited to the vicinity of the brain. As for why it only works on Hounds… well, I’d guess that in humans with implant ratios below a certain threshold, there are other ingredients that circulate through the bloodstream and dilute the effect. At the very least, it’s not because of the metamorphic particles themselves.”
“Then what exactly do the metamorphic particles do in Lish?”
Eileen paused for a moment. Her eyes sparkled, suggesting she was reviewing the blueprint she had sent JL once more. JL also looked over Lish’s schematics again. As he continued reading, he noticed a short paragraph at the very end.
Eileen confirmed that what she had seen was correct and spoke.
“‘Compliance.’”
At that moment, the words Ugris had once said filled Eileen’s mind. What corporations needed wasn’t a wild dog that bared its teeth at its master, but an obedient hunting hound.
The Lish that had shown limited and restricted effects on Asa was not an unfinished product.
Rather, it was a perfect finished product. Everything had gone exactly according to the corporations’ intentions.
“The only ones who can properly use Lish are Hounds who are obedient to the corporations.”