Old Harper came this time specifically to give the employer a heads-up.
The one who pays makes the decisions.
Even if it's just going through the motions.
Gerry did well in the camp and had been in contact with Old Harper for some time. They had each other's contact information, and the subsequent details of the restaurant rebuilding project would be left to them.
John didn't return to Dan Street after the meeting but headed straight out of the city.
[Eden City III Landfill]
The landfill was a mountain that could breathe.
Compared to the neon-laden Eden City, on the navigation interface of Silver Rider 577, it was just a gray-black icon.
Compression trucks crawled up the ramp day and night, mechanical arms emitting a deep rumble that shook the heart, compressing layers of household leftovers, industrial waste, and scrapped prosthetics into blocks.
Those blocks stacked up, forming a neat maze.
John left his vehicle and walked into the depths of the maze.
Compared to Palmer's underground tunnels, he found the smell here to be fresher because the former gathered stowaways and criminals, having a more human scent, with a lot of decaying material.
But a fresher smell didn't mean it wasn't harmful.
John hadn't modified his lung structure.
When he peeled back the plastic film, he could see colorful oils in the puddles at his feet. Even spitting phlegm left his throat feeling sticky, with a burning sensation as if scorched by toxic gas.
[Eden City III Landfill-A14 Deep Burial Zone]
The positions of [Captain] and [Black Spider] were deeper inside.
The toxic materials had almost entirely evaporated here, and the wet matter had settled, making it easier to breathe.
Kenichi Sora, on the night of taking over John's body, had a premonition of an impending internet surveillance attack, dealt with the evidence in the apartment, and disabled the equipment managed by Black Light.
John activated Black Spider's independent warehouse.
[Special Consumable X47]
[Windfall Account x31]
In this period, quite a few good things had been collected.
Black Spider was a special treasure-hunting device modified with rewards from Black Light, capable of collecting raw materials for the [Special Inhibitor] in the landfill and finding some unemptied accounts from the abruptly deceased.
John transferred the money away.
A decent amount had been saved over four months.
Not enough to get rich, but enough to support a living, and with three employees still to feed before the restaurant officially opened, he had to rely on the old mercenary trade to maintain.
John had some special inhibitors in his inner pocket.
These pieces were stock from four months ago, brought into the Source Formula, and retrieved as personal belongings upon discharge.
When John checked in the car at the time, he noticed:
Someone had secretly taken one.
Serum, vacuum tube, Bismarck, Source Formula…
Anyone could have done this,
Whether from curiosity or another reason, John didn't intend to delve into it for now,
He inserted the inhibitor into his neck.
The barely noticeable symptoms of fever in his body faded away, and his organs and muscles became relaxed again.
Using Black Light came with a price.
The previous body was already beyond recovery, in a state of severe deficit before obtaining inhibitors, and with this new body, as long as the inhibitors were used in time, the side effects could be minimized.
In short.
It was just a longer countdown to death.
[Main Quest: The Attacker]
[Description: Investigate what the attackers did to "Chavez" and the "cargo," follow through, and find out who you really are.]
John hadn't forgotten the main quest.
He needed to settle down in the city again and then start investigating.
Bone Shards had contact with [Chavez]'s remains, reportedly sent to a laboratory at Gaia Cells.
If no other clues surfaced, this would be the next target.
Besides being a good friend, Kenichi Sora was a very critical source of information.
To John, Black Light was no longer an unknown uncontrollable thing.
He'd thought repeatedly, were the task information prompts inevitably linked with Black Light?
Additionally, there was another issue that had troubled him for a long time.
Most of his mercenary career work had a living, clearly defined [employer].
But landfill tasks were triggered by touching the remains of the dead.
For the first time in John's life, he unlocked a mission prompt by touching [Tobecca]'s prosthetic remains in the landfill.
Information jumped out, guiding him to an underground clinic, to turn the tables on a ruthless doctor, and awarding the mission with [Special Inhibitors].
The second time was [Maya Weitz]'s remains.
He connected with the Harbor Company, meeting [Eden Weitz].
The third time was [Dijie Dans].
John connected with Whistle Community—home to branch members of the Wanderer Camp, and juvenile hackers of the Wanderer Alliance.
The fourth time was [Horitomo Takashi].
He took a tour around Sakura Cross Street, getting involved in the intrigues of the Owl Town Gang and Raft Qi Company.
The "deceased" seemed to follow a pattern.
These tasks were mainly "latent" rewards; compared to funds, the interpersonal relationships tied to the tasks seemed more important.
Besides that, there were direct rewards from Black Light.
For instance, the adjustment and modification knowledge of [Black Spider] was downloaded and transferred directly into John's brain like storage chips.
How was this process achieved?
John once again focused his gaze on Black Spider's warehouse—among the collected remains over four months, perhaps there lay new missions.
Once the restaurant was operating stably, John would come to address it.
The more tasks completed, the clearer the patterns would become, and higher-level rewards might be obtained.
The quantity of special inhibitors was adequate.
All the raw materials were present, if stock ran low, he would fetch it himself from the landfill.
John temporarily had no intention of reconstructing the production line in his apartment—having his residence attacked twice robbed him of his sense of security in Dan Street, and with the threat of a sudden internet surveillance raid, he'd have to think about hiding evidence.
This was also the reason John turned his apartment into an "employee dormitory."
He tidied up the scene briefly, reset Black Spider and Captain's parameters, directing the equipment to dig further regions, and then exited the maze composed of black compressed materials.
Silver Rider 577 departed from the gray area on the map.
Through the electronic rearview mirror, John looked back at the building cluster made from discarded materials on the horizon.
The entire landfill seemed to be intentionally forgotten by Eden City, yet perpetually digesting its evidence of crime.
Driving the sports car, just nearing the West District highway, a "debt collecting" call came through.
[Contact - Raphael [Voice Call]]
[Interest is due, John.]
"Mhm."
John lightly tapped the steering wheel, pulling over by the roadside.
Raphael didn't appear on the screen.
A series of red waves danced on the glass of Silver Rider 577.
[A batch of "hard goods" went missing from the Black Gold Gang's territory, munitions sponsored by Jingke Heavy Industry intended to bury the Owl Town Gang, but the transport convoy "vanished" at the West District's edge.]
"Lost goods, report it to the police."
John leaned on the bed and lit a cigarette to mask the filthy scent he brought back from the landfill.
Raphael let out a soft laugh.
[Vito personally named you, that old guy doesn't show up often.]
"I'm not a private detective."
[They know, hiring mercenaries might really uncover something amiss, just need someone to lift the veil. Do what you're supposed to do, pay attention to who's counting money in the shadows.]
Raphael ended the call.
The mission details and contact information were in the email.
[Mission: Old Gun]
[Reward: Compensation [Variable].]
