Chapter 126: Bartmoss
“What a hassle… this charm of mine has nowhere to go…”
Roland tilted his head slightly and sighed before turning back to the matters at hand. When it came to Kiwi’s feelings, he could have accepted them outright, but…
The consequences of doing so were something he felt needed careful consideration. For now, it didn’t seem like there would be any major problems. The main reason he hadn’t agreed immediately was simple—
Her advance had come too suddenly, leaving him caught completely off guard.
So he decided to give both himself and Kiwi some time to cool off. Though… in this world, that kind of caution was probably unnecessary.
Thinking of that, Roland shook his head and smiled.
While Roland was still thinking about Kiwi, Micks, over on his end, had found a freezer that matched Roland’s description almost perfectly.
It was a refrigerator whose exact model was hard to identify, and it appeared to be in remarkably good condition.
This freezer hadn’t been discovered by robots, but by two internal employees instead, which was why the information hadn’t reached Roland immediately.
Naturally, those two employees didn’t know what was really inside. They only knew that Micks was looking for a freezer.
Micks reached out and gently brushed his hand across the top of the freezer, slowly narrowing his eyes. He was extremely curious about what it contained. All he knew was that Roland had asked him to find a freezer that preserved a corpse—
Preferably an older model, or at least one whose exact make couldn’t be identified.
The freezer in front of him looked old and unfamiliar, perfectly matching both requirements. Micks had a strong feeling that this was what Roland was looking for.
Without hesitation, he opened the freezer.
The sight inside made him freeze in place.
The corpse was preserved almost perfectly, and… if one ignored its unhealthy complexion, he wouldn’t even think the person was dead. It looked more like someone who had simply fallen asleep.
Micks slowly leaned closer and began examining the body.
“Holy hell… how many years ago is this thing from? Don’t tell me the boss is into collecting antiques?”
He clicked his tongue in amazement. But when his eyes landed on the netrunner cyberware, his expression instantly sharpened.
“This is…?”
A product name surfaced in his mind. Still uncertain, he leaned in closer. When he finally got a clear look, shock filled his face.
This was one of the top-tier network access pods from decades ago—SGI Technologies Elysia.
Which meant…
The person in this freezer had likely been an extremely skilled netrunner.
Which also meant—
This person’s identity was almost certainly extraordinary.
Realizing this, Micks quickly removed the netrunner pod, closed the freezer door, and decided to investigate which netrunners had been most active during the peak period of the Elysia model.
“Don’t tell me it’s Bartmoss?”
Micks chuckled and shook his head, dismissing the idea as unlikely. He set the netrunner pod aside and began digging through records.
What Micks didn’t know was that, because he hadn’t uploaded the information, two employees had already reported the situation.
Kelly, who was temporarily handling monitoring duties in place of Lissandra, immediately noticed the anomaly.
As for why Kelly was working here—
She needed training. Taking over part of Lissandra’s workload was the best way to do that.
“You’re saying Micks discovered a new freezer, but didn’t upload its data to the database and instead opened it himself to investigate?”
Roland narrowed his eyes as he looked at Kelly. Faced with his gaze, Kelly instinctively shrank her neck. Even though she knew it wasn’t directed at her, she still felt a bit scared.
“Yes. This is his current browsing history and open pages.”
Kelly nodded and waved her hand. A screen immediately appeared in front of Roland.
“Turn on his computer’s front-facing camera. I want to see what he’s doing now.”
“Okay.”
Kelly nodded. The screen flickered, and Micks’s large face appeared, along with the room behind him.
With a single glance, Roland spotted the freezer not far behind Micks.
“Kelly, scan the freezer behind him.”
Kelly nodded, and a faint purple light flashed in her eyes.
“Done, boss. Inside is a male corpse, Caucasian. Based on the freezer model, he’s been dead for many years.”
“Can you construct a rough body model?”
Roland continued watching the projection and asked calmly.
“I can try…”
Soon, a rough simulation of the height and build appeared, though the facial features were still unclear.
“That’s already enough probability… wait, is there something on his desk?”
Roland nodded and noticed the corner of an object.
“Yes. That’s SGI Technologies Elysia… Damn, that’s a seriously old antique. It’d be worth a lot to collectors!”
Kelly’s eyes widened, while Roland had basically confirmed the identity of the corpse in the freezer.
“Looks like we’ve found our target. The guy in there is very likely who I’ve been looking for.”
“The person you’re looking for? Oh—right. That’s kind of how you dug me up back then, too.”
Kelly reacted and nodded.
“So, boss, who are you going through all this trouble to find?”
“Bartmoss.”
“Huh?”
“You heard me. That so-called God of Netrunners—Bartmoss.”
Roland glanced at Kelly’s stunned expression, then calmly looked away.
“I—I—holy crap, boss, you’re not joking, right?! That’s Bartmoss!”
“Quiet. Keep yelling and I’ll have Lissandra lock you up.”
“…”
“I understand.”
Kelly answered awkwardly, but her eyes were already full of curiosity. She was clearly fascinated by Bartmoss’s network access pod.
“Then, boss, should I give the order to take this guy out? Look, he’s already showing signs of rebellion!”
Kelly impatiently pointed at Micks on the screen.
“Hmm, we could… no, wait a bit. I kind of want to see what this guy is planning.”
Roland nodded at first, then suddenly recalled the fate of a certain individual from Cyberpunk and broke into an intrigued smile.
Kelly glanced at Roland’s expression, then turned to look at the netrunner pod on Micks’s desk. She immediately understood what Roland was thinking.
After all… if that really was Bartmoss’s network access pod—
That thing wouldn’t be easy to handle at all.
Author's Note
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