Chapter 64: The Heart’s Desires

**Chapter 64: The Heart's Desires

As Lucy delved into the Tanaka Neural Network searching for intel, David, observing Tanaka's pitiful state from the outside, felt a pang of sympathy. Despite his previous experience with killing, which he had done with little hesitation due to the victims being cyber-psychos who had harmed their allies, he was now conflicted.

"Do we really have to kill him?" David muttered to himself.

This sentiment was understandable. Although David had killed before, it was always with justification. Tanaka, despite his conflicts with David's son, didn't deserve to die just because of this. Tanaka was somewhat of an innocent bystander, targeted only because Faraday needed Arasaka's data from Tanaka's neural network.

David was not like Mann—seasoned and ruthless. Seeing David's hesitation, fans of the manga grew anxious. David's reluctance might cause further complications.

Indeed, after hearing David's hesitant thoughts, Tanaka's swollen eyelids, which had been under anesthesia, twitched. The scene then shifted to Mann and Dolly, preparing for an anticipated battle.

"If we're running out of time, we need to be ready."

"If you were in better shape, we wouldn't need to prepare so much," Dolly retorted, as they equipped themselves with various weapons.

Faraday then called.

"What now?" Mann answered impatiently.

"Have you obtained the data?"

"It's in progress."

"It's taking too long. Who's inside?"

…

"No Kivvy? Can you manage?"

Faraday's tone was icy. He already knew Kivvy was in the hospital due to her injuries.

"How do you…"

Mann was stunned but quickly realized the implication. "Damn it! Faraday!"

At that moment, the visuals from Mann's perspective began to glitch. Zhou Wenwei immediately understood.

"Mann's cyber-psychosis is getting worse… Damn it!" He began to worry.

As Mann continued his call with Faraday, his cyber-psychosis intensified, even manifesting hallucinations of Faraday, who was not physically present.

Faraday ended the call, and Mann, furious at the illusion, shouted, "Faraday, what are you looking at?"

Dolly, noticing Mann talking to thin air, panicked.

Meanwhile, the scene shifted back to David and Lucy. Tanaka, previously under anesthesia, suddenly groaned, alarming David. Tanaka's consciousness was returning from the anesthetic state, leading to instability in the neural network.

Lucy, sensing the instability within Tanaka's neural network, furrowed her brow but pressed on, trusting David to stabilize Tanaka with more anesthetics.

David was about to inject the anesthetic when Tanaka, now fully conscious, pleaded, "Wait! Please!"

David was momentarily shocked to hear Tanaka call his name. Tanaka, a high-ranking Arasaka executive, should not have recognized him.

David stood frozen.

[Translator: sauron]

The scene shifted to Dolly's viewpoint. Mann had collapsed, struggling with his uncontrollable body. Lucy felt the situation worsening.

"Damn it! The anesthetic is wearing off!"

"What are you doing, David?" Lucy exclaimed, trying to keep up her pace.

David was still engaged in conversation with Tanaka. "I knew it… You're David."

"Why…"

David was stunned. Tanaka, under the threat of death, began to fabricate stories to persuade David. He claimed he admired David and wanted him to return to the academy. Tanaka promised David a bright future with Arasaka if he let him go.

"We can offer you a bright future, David! Don't waste your life!"

David hesitated. Was this cyberpunk life really worth it? Gloria, his mother, had always dreamed of him joining Arasaka.

Zhou Wenwei was frustrated watching David's indecision. "David, what do you really want?"

David's hesitation led to Lucy's peril. In a critical moment, she showcased her exceptional hacking skills, overcoming obstacles and traps in the unstable network to obtain the required data. As she downloaded it, she noticed David's photo and information among Arasaka's files.

When Mann regained consciousness, Dolly called David, but he didn't answer, still lost in his doubts.

"David! What do you truly want?" Tanaka demanded.

David was bewildered, "I… What do I want…"

Dolly and Mann, noticing David's silence, rushed to his location and found Tanaka awake.

"What? He's awake? Where's the tranquilizer? Give it to me!" Mann demanded.

But before Mann could act, Tanaka's spinal cord suddenly overloaded and exploded.

**(End of Chapter)**