9  Chapter 9

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 Tang Yu was relieving his frustrations in the restroom when he unexpectedly received a call from Jackie. He composed himself before answering.

 Jackie: "Hey, Tang, how's it going at the border? Did you finish the mission?"

 The greeting from his old friend allowed Tang Yu to let out some of his pent-up emotions, even managing to crack a lame joke.

 "Not great. Got called back suddenly; the mission at the border got axed too. You might not believe it, but I got my peaches stolen by a damn keisatsu... haha..."

 Jackie: "What?! You're back in Night City? But what's this about the mission being canceled all of a sudden? You almost lost your life over it!"

 Tang Yu replied sarcastically, "I know, right? The company is just a freakin' keisatsu nest. Today they're haggling with you, tomorrow they'll sell you out to the scavengers. Wouldn't be surprised if they felt a touch of nostalgia while harvesting your kidneys. 'Look at this, this kidney once worked with me. We're so connected.'"

 Jackie, trying to console him, said: "You'll work yourself to death at this rate. But really, what happened?"

 Tang Yu noticed someone else enter the restroom. After washing his hands, he stayed in front of the mirror, fussing with his hair without leaving. He shooed the newcomer away without hesitation and continued his conversation with Jackie.

 "I need to find something and I thought you might have some info."

 Jackie: "What are you looking for?"

 Tang Yu spoke gravely: "You know about the cyberpsycho attack on the corporate plaza last night?"

 Jackie: "Of course, it's all over the news in Night City. What you're looking for doesn't have something to do with the cyberpsycho, does it?"

 Tang Yu: "You guessed it. I need to find the cyberpsycho's implanted operating system, the Sandevistan."

 Jackie: "That's a piece worth a small fortune. After the cyberpsycho was killed by the MAX-TAC, wasn't it NCPD's job to take care of the body?"

 Tang Yu: "Indeed, it was their responsibility to transport the body, but now the Sandevistan is missing."

 Jackie: "That's gonna be tough..."

 Tang Yu: "So I need you to ask your contacts at NCPD, who was in charge of cleaning up after the cyberpsycho. I suspect the body was tampered with before it even reached the NCPD headquarters."

 Jackie: "Contacts? Pfft, I do end up in the precinct often, but the few I knew are already out."

 Tang Yu reminded him: "Not the contacts who got into jail, remember Stints? Like you, another ex-military man from Heywood?"

 In his past life, after dumping Arasaka's yorinobu, Tang Yu had arranged to meet with Jackie at the Endless Nightclub in Heywood valley to steal a car, and deliberately ran into V, a street thug girl also there for car theft.

 Eventually, they were caught red-handed by the NCPD, and the owner, having a good day at the time, wanted to break their legs and feed them to sharks. However, they were let go by NCPD Warden Stints.

 Stints had connections with Mrs. Wells, and was well-acquainted with Jackie, who frequented the precinct. More importantly, Stints' jurisdiction included the corporate plaza and the valley area.

 After the cyberpsycho attacked the corporate plaza last night, Stints surely had the most detailed intelligence.

 After the reminder, Jackie quickly recalled who he was talking about.

 "So you meant him. I don't get along with him that well. Every time I ended up in the precinct, Stints was tough on me. But since you mentioned it, bro, I'll go and ask. Worst case, I'll have to buy him a couple of drinks at the Afterlife Bar."

 Tang Yu chuckled: "We'll still need his favor in the future. Just give him a VIP card; freebies every day and we're both winning."

 Jackie: "Ha, you're quite the joker. Alright, I'll let you know if I hear anything."

 The call ended.

 Tang Yu left the restroom and headed for his deputy division manager's office. After passing the identity verification, he came to his workstation through the electronic gate.

 He surveyed his office. There was a sofa for guests, a tea cabinet, a filing cabinet, and a desk with a main monitor and two auxiliary monitors.

 It was not a large office, but owning a private space in Arasaka Tower meant one was no longer a low-level corporate hound, but had risen to middle or upper management.

 Tang Yu took a careful look at the layout, checking items like magazines and laser pointers, ensuring everything was in its place, untouched.

 He then called his directly supervised subordinate, Carter.

 In no time, a middle-aged man with a simple and honest look, deferential and even timid, entered. Tang Yu's temperament in the counterintelligence department was notorious, not just because he looked down on corporate dogs, but also because he knew this guy would be the snitch betraying him in the future.

 Tang Yu's left eye communicator scanned and read Carter's basic info.

 [Employee Name: Carter Smith]

 [Employee Number: IW3918]

 [Employee Rank: G4]

 [Position: Deputy Head of Counterintelligence Department]

 [Personal Background...][Unmarried, taking care of his mother Mary Smith alone...]

 Tang Yu watched Carter silently, his index finger tapping slowly on the desktop, noting his increasingly strange and tense expression.

 Tang Yu was contemplating whether Carter had secretly defected to Susan Abernathy. After all, the position of Special Operations Director was very persuasive, especially to spineless corporate dogs.

 If Carter had already defected, then Tang Yu would have to take advantage of this 'Jiang Gan' to trap 'Cao Cao.'

 Tang Yu casually asked, "Report on your recent work."

 As his superior, he had plenty of ways to deal with Carter.

 Carter immediately tensed up, tried to speak, but ended up stuttering without a word, eventually deflating like a balloon that had just been inflated and then instantaneously collapsed.

 As Carter hung his head, Tang Yu asked with interest: "I heard you've had some private dealings with people from the Special Operations unit recently. What, thinking of jumping ship?"

 The casual question terrified Carter into hastily apologizing and explaining.

 "No, no, there are just some old acquaintances in the Special Operations unit, just private contact that doesn't involve work."

 Tang Yu believed Carter's guilty expression solidified the signs of defection. Working in counter-intelligence, everyone knew the terror of leaked information. Once the secret plans were revealed, utter disaster would follow.

 Tang Yu tossed him a chip, and gave a half-hearted reminder: "There are no walls that are completely free of ears. Right now, immediately check the black market for me. See if the contents of this chip are being traded. I want results within half an hour."

 Carter promptly picked up the chip, cleaned it, and nodded in agreement.

 Tang Yu waved his hand to signal him to leave the office, then opened his computer to pull up the intel on yesterday's cyberpsycho incident.

 He didn't really expect Carter to find anything, it was just a test to gauge Carter's involvement with Abernathy and to lay a trap for Susan Abernathy to fall into.

 "Who are friends and who are enemies, I'm very clear on that..."