My Cyber Psychosis is Task Prompt

John sold a whole warehouse full of toilets to Old Chris.

The more chaotic the area, the stronger the ability to digest goods; with so many awful people around, there's always a way to dump illegal goods. If all else fails, reselling it to the Raqi Group to settle accounts is also an option.

But it's all unrelated to John now.

He made a fool of himself, quickly dealt with the warehouse, then pushed through the crowd to escape.

The warehouse district was bustling.

Everyone roared with laughter and went on to find other entertainment.

Not everyone recognizes the mercenaries riding Silver Rider, and more than one person cursed after the blind auction.

"Break it open, even if it's junk metal, I'll accept it!"

"What is this used for? Is there anyone who knows its value?"

"Haha, it's really here, that guy wasn't lying!"

...

Lively hustle and bustle.

Some make a small profit, some get a pleasant surprise, of course, there are also those who lose everything.

John noticed there were also some people deliberately hiding their haul.

They move swiftly, with clear intentions—picking locks, moving things, driving away, as if they already knew what was in the warehouse.

John walked around, observing and seemed to have understood a bit of the blind auction's trick.

In essence, it's all about information!

Palmer is crawling with informants, there's even an industry entirely dependent on the blind auction.

If the cameras inside the warehouse are still functioning, one could hire a hacker to get internal views, then visually assess the value and decide how much to invest.

There are many similar tactics.

Like analyzing tire tracks, judging cargo weight, and tire models.

And gas analysis.

The smell of decay, delayed-release solutions, and components of motor oil can all be detected with specialized equipment.

Not to mention thermal imaging equipment.

John grew more enlightened as he walked.

He discovered customers can even buy inside information directly from Old Chris.

John and other naive company dogs were truly blind auctioning, unknowingly playing the fool once again.

Besides those customers looking for fun.

Ghouls and Rift Party members are another story.

They belong to the "purpose-driven" ones, very likely having obtained information from the original owner.

As for where the original owner went?

Look at those abandoned prosthetic bodies and illegal Super Sensing Chips and you'll know.

John also ran into some acquaintances from the Black Gold Gang.

Apparently, a small-time thug from some gang tried to earn extra on the side, overstepping boundaries, making a big mess, and got himself in trouble.

Before he was killed, he confessed that the goods were hidden in Palmer.

The Black Gold Gang wanted to handle it discreetly, so they used the blind auction to recover the goods.

Palmer's illegal warehouses were like a secret bank for edge walkers, filled with stolen goods, bribes for corruption, and swapped genuine items...

Everything gets shoved in.

Old Chris's reputation management is indeed quite good.

John looked around and found all the warehouses he bought had been opened.

He was increasingly certain:

That woman, Oulos, had set him up, intentionally making him buy toilets to publicly humiliate him.

"Damn, holding a grudge."

John muttered as he came to the last warehouse door.

[Number: #074]

Sure enough, Oulos was here.

Just as John was about to speak, he caught the scent of blood, instinctively reached for his gun, and walked in to find a body sprawled in the corner.

"What's going on?"

He asked.

Oulos was just standing there, sipping a drink.

Answering John was the staff responsible for the warehouse.

"Bad luck, you stepped on glass, oh, meaning there's nothing worthwhile in this warehouse, or it's just as bad as it looks, don't lose heart, people see bodies in warehouses nearly every day, at least not completely rotten, you know."

He casually dismissed it, did a simple handover with John, and prepared to leave.

"We've roughly counted, here's the quote, feel free to check again. The blind auction warehouse will hold your items for up to two days, after which we'll clean out the trash and handle the corpse."

The staff waved and left.

Only John and Oulos remained in the warehouse.

She suddenly spoke, her tone mocking.

"Can you tell what happened?"

"An attempted robbery?"

John seriously offered an answer.

The guy on the floor was clearly a Ghoul.

Beside him were scattered anesthetics and a stun gun, his belt was empty, based on the holster model it was probably a Rongju assault weapon.

"NOPE~ It's a double-cross."

Oulos provided a more accurate answer.

She leaned against the door, looking out into the alley.

The black-rimmed glasses and glowing prosthetic eye hidden under the hood seemed capable of seeing through every passerby's secrets.

No one paid attention here.

When Oulos turned around, all semblance of innocence vanished from her face.

She pointed her chin at the indentation on the wall.

"The mercenary's warehouse is just a small workshop, now not even a bottle of medicine or a knife is left because it's been moved to the desktop."

There's an empty box on the alloy countertop.

It's large enough to hold several guns and some equipment.

"Someone hastily ripped things off, crudely, the straps are broken. They weren't taken away but gathered to be sold."

Oulos glanced at the corpse on the ground.

Her prosthetic eye glowed, scanning the deceased's identity.

"This person came to receive goods, no accomplices, no preparation of large-caliber weapons, or targeted bulletproof vests, indicating a change of heart halfway through negotiations. Probably thought the seller seemed off and tried to rob openly, but got counter-killed."

Oulos moved around the small storeroom.

Her hands didn't touch anything tangible; instead, they glided over overturned items, fresh scrape marks, and various bloodstains.

Messiah's Eye was glowing.

[Signal detected / Eye advanced authorization - Data transmission]

Oulos shared what she saw with John.

Both of them had Messiah's Eyes, just different versions and series, the underlying design allowing them to use some advanced features.

Signal accessed.

The warehouse was divided by a virtual grid.

A wave of data flowed before their eyes, certain details magnified, mosaics pieced together into a dynamic scene.

[Ghoul] suddenly drew a gun.

Rongju charged, spitting a string of "dotted lines."

The image paused, switched angles, then flowed again.

[Mercenary] reacted quickly, kicked the opponent down, and in the same motion, dodged sideways, overturning a nearby shelf.

The scene's flow slowed.

[Bullets] left an upward arc on the wall, uninterrupted, indicating not a single hit on the [Mercenary].

[Ghoul] struggled to get up.

He was shot in the head by [Mercenary], stumbled backward, and bled profusely in the corner.

...

The glow on Oulos' prosthetic eye faded.

She stood in front of the collapsed shelf, waiting for John to move things aside, then used her foot to lift the clothes covering it.

There were surgical marks on the ground.

Used sutures, blood bags, Subdermal Armor Supplement...

John found bullet fragments among the debris.

Ghoul's gun didn't hit the [Mercenary], so these injuries must have occurred before returning to the warehouse.

[Item: Bullet fragment]

John himself also handled bullets.

He immediately identified it as [Standard goods], from a military enterprise, far beyond the quality of street workshops.

[Manufacturer: Raqi Group]

It's clear.

The warehouse's original owner fought with company soldiers, escaped heavily injured back to the warehouse, and hastily sold belongings to flee.

But encountered a double-cross, leaving the last safe house behind.

"So, you didn't come here just to mess with me."

John dropped the bullet fragment, slowly standing up to face Oulos' expressionless face.

"You're here on business, and the one who escaped is the person you're looking for?"

"Mm-hmm."

Oulos acknowledged.

The next second.

She pulled a timed bomb out of her pocket and placed it on the electric box.

"Fuck, are you crazy!?"

John blurted out, quickly following her out of the warehouse.

"Where did you get that thing?"

"Bought it, on the street. There's more than just stimulants here."

Oulos responded blandly.

John walked some distance with her, unable to resist looking back until that half-fallen roller door disappeared around the corner.

"Need a bomb for someone? You're so badass, just work your network, reach out to the local big shots, make a deal, and let Palmer search for you, wouldn't that work?"

"Too much commotion, she'd be dead."

Oulos' tone was flat, moving quickly forward in the shadows without looking back.

John noticed she used the word [she].

"You know the original owner of that warehouse? What's your relationship?"

"I'm the middleman, she's a mercenary, of course, it's a commission relationship."

Oulos stepped into another corner, as familiar as walking into her own home as if she knew Palmer's alley like the back of her hand.

John followed closely, thoughts racing.

"So she screwed up the job, right? Now it's not just you looking for her, she's made a big mess, only able to flee heavily injured. What kind of job would piss off a middleman so much, demanding to see her dead or alive..."

John honestly didn't expect Oulos to tell him.

But she actually stopped, half her face hidden in a leather hood.

"The hovercar that landed on Sakura Cross Street, she did it."

"..."

John was stunned for a few seconds before realizing what Oulos meant.

He opened his mouth.

Bang!

A loud explosion echoed from the warehouse area.

Drowning out the curse words John was about to utter.