Chapter 157: Special Operation
Bang!
After a thunderous impact echoed through PROJECT’s secret base, Zed slowly withdrew his leg. He glanced at Vilet, who lay sprawled on the floor with a lifeless expression, clearly unwilling to get up, and shook his head slightly.
Watching from his office, Roland couldn’t help the corner of his mouth twitch. He almost imagined a glaring 18/0 record and a level-seven dog tag floating above Zed’s head.
“If this is all you can manage with Judgment’s power, then it seems I overestimated you,” Zed said flatly, rubbing his wrist as he looked at Vilet rolling over like a salted fish. “The original compatible host was far stronger than you.”
Vilet showed no reaction at all to Zed’s mockery. There was nothing she could do—she couldn’t beat him, and arguing was pointless. All she could do was endure it for now and settle things later.
Seeing that Vilet had completely lost her fighting spirit, Zed didn’t continue. After all, beating—training—her for this long was enough. Push it too far and it backfires. Letting her rest for a bit wasn’t a bad idea.
Kelly, who had witnessed the entire scene, felt a chill crawl up her spine. Still, she wasn’t too panicked. After all… she wasn’t a frontline combat member.
If she needed special training, it wouldn’t be Zed doing it—it would be Lissandra.
…Wait. Thinking about it that way, that didn’t sound much better either.
Kelly scratched her head, suddenly realizing that fact.
As for where Kiwi was—after finishing her own special training with Zed, she’d been given time off to rest. Did she try to sneak around and slack by appealing to Roland?
Of course she did.
Unfortunately, slacking failed. Training meant training.
Roland’s stance was simple:
“Don’t joke around. I’ve already been beaten—trained. No one’s getting out of it.”
As the saying goes, if you’ve been caught in the rain, don’t expect others to stay dry under an umbrella.
“Zed, come to my office. I have something I need you to handle.”
“Yes, boss.”
After receiving the message, Zed arrived almost instantly—so quickly, in fact, that he entered straight through the window to save time. Roland froze for a moment.
This wasn’t the fifth or sixth floor.
“I need you to carry out a special operation.”
Roland adjusted his expression and looked seriously at Zed.
Zed said nothing. He simply placed a hand over his chest and bowed slightly, signaling that Roland could give any order.
“This time, Jhin will be accompanying you, along with several assassination robots,” Roland said as he slowly stood up. “Your manpower is far too limited otherwise.”
He pulled up several images, displaying extensive intelligence on the New United States military—key figures, photographs, and detailed text files.
There was also a large amount of information on important personnel from Arasaka’s side. Among it was intelligence Roland had recently gathered on Michiko Arasaka—especially the man who constantly stayed by her side, Kenichi Zaburo.
Roland had a hunch that this man might match one of PROJECT’s templates. Even if he didn’t, Roland was still very interested in him—after all, this was someone capable of standing toe-to-toe with Morgan Blackhand.
And if he didn’t fit a template, eliminating him and handing him over to Mudor for experimentation could very well result in an entirely new PROJECT subject.
Just like the plans currently in motion—though Bartmoss’s situation still required closer attention.
Roland already had a rough idea about that front. The key lay with the rogue AI.
As for why it was them again? Simple. They were hard to alert and easy to deal with. Targets that convenient were rare—so of course he intended to squeeze them dry.
“Do you want me to eliminate these targets?” Zed asked, tilting his head.
“Some of them,” Roland replied. “Others should be left alone for now.”
He brought up several profiles: Kenichi Zaburo, Hansen, James, and a few others—either high-ranking figures, individuals with remaining value, or simply people Roland found interesting.
“And how should these be handled?”
“Hansen can be ignored for now,” Roland said after a moment’s thought. “By the way—how long can your solid-state smoke persist?”
“About three days,” Zed replied immediately. “As long as I don’t manually cancel it.”
“Three days…” Roland nodded. “Then use the solid-state smoke to monitor Hansen. If he receives any orders involving offensive operations, report back to me immediately.”
“Understood.”
“As for the others—test Kenichi Zaburo. See how loyal he is to Michiko Arasaka. Don’t eliminate him. The rest can be ignored. As for Jhin, head to the Black Angel Bar. He’ll be there.”
Zed nodded. A hole formed beneath his feet, created by solid-state smoke, and he vanished instantly.
“That ability really is convenient…”
Roland sighed before turning back to corporate affairs. Recent agreements with Arasaka and the Northern California government had kept him extremely busy.
As for Zed, now gone—he reviewed what he knew about Jhin, all based on impressions from the PROJECT world.
His conclusion was simple: a highly intelligent madman.
The only question was how different this version would be.
One thing was certain—this Jhin was not the same as the original. Otherwise, there was no way he would have joined PROJECT.
In the PROJECT world, that man’s mind had been consumed entirely by one thing: plundering stronger cyberware to enhance himself.
Meanwhile, the sub-AI controlling Jhin also received the information. His body stiffened slightly, and a flash of red light passed through his eyes.
If he could strip that man of his cyberware and claim it for himself… he would become far stronger.
As for blame?
By the time that happened, everything would already be done. Surely no one would do anything about it then… right?
The moment this thought formed, Lissandra reported it to Roland.
Roland’s response was a strange expression. He had told Lissandra to modify the sub-AI based on Jhin’s original design—but he hadn’t expected it to be this bold.
Back then, that man had been chased relentlessly by Judgment and Purification. This confidence could only come from never having faced PROJECT’s captain firsthand.
Roland decided not to intervene.
He simply instructed Lissandra to notify him once the two sides started fighting.
After all—he wanted to watch the show.
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