After getting back from the 'date', I was truly exhausted. The tiredness was not from fighting or doing physical exercises but instead, from interacting with people. While I didn't mind conversing with my friends, Eliz was truly a talkative one. I looked at myself in the mirror. My long red hair hung just beneath my shoulders, reaching my back. The red cybernetic eyes that had a tint of orange looked back at me in the mirror. I wore a leather jacket and fitted back vest inside with a pair of dark jeans. I still couldn't believe how good I looked with this type of style. I imagined myself with a gun holster and a katana on my side and I would look so awesome! I thought about carrying a bigger Japanese sword like the Tachi but it was simply too big for me. Of course, it wasn't hard for me to swing it but it was very impractical for me to carry it around because of my height and size.
I sighed and smiled. I felt like that day would be the beginning of a new friendship, which I was looking forward to. I shook my head. I couldn't relax. Lil' Betty and the others said something about 'anomalies' escaping in Kentucky, which was quite ominous. I've looked all over the web and found no trace of any mention of those 'anomalies'. I sat down in front of the node. I decided to pick up coding again. According to the web, the most versatile and used coding language in this world is apparently called 'Quantum Script'. I found the name... familiar so I searched for the creator of the language. Of course, it was fucking Edward Winters again, the founder of Quantum Innovation. This guy was everywhere and had his hand in every field. What kind of genius is he? I shook my head and continued. This Quantum Script or QuanScript was quite weird. It was a weird combination between Python and Julia, which was hard to get used to. And combined with the fact that the language wasn't built for traditional digital computers but instead, for quantum computers, it made the syntax complicated and hard to understand since I was not well-versed in quantum computing. Well, I knew absolutely bat shit about quantum computing so it was hard to get used to. Thankfully though, I was very familiar with Python which made it a bit easier and I've watched a few tutorials about Julia before it was quite convenient.
After a day of studying the language, I was able to write a snake game without looking up a tutorial. There were quite a lot of things I could do with it. No, not the snake game. I meant the QuanScript. I could clearly feel that the language was first and foremost made to be compatible with everything. After that, it felt like everything was made for AI development. It had extremely high-performance numerical computing capabilities which made it quite suitable for AI development and it is very easy to learn. In fact, the syntax was more intuitive and readable than Python, which was honestly quite impressive. I noticed that I didn't get a new skill for programming. Maybe it's because my programming sucks? I guessed. It was probably true. Anyway, I had plenty of ideas on how to improve my Web Weaving ability with programming. I would be able to write my own exploits and scripts for my neural interface which meant I could create my own hacks.
While I was excited by the endless possibilities and wanted to learn even more, I had a schedule to follow.
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A week later, I walked into the office of the fixer I worked with last time. I still didn't know his name. Still, it didn't matter.
He sent me a file as he stared straight at me. "The mission this time is simple. You are to assassinate the target. According to the intel, the target has no bodyguard and doesn't have any significant chrome. Should be an easy target with your skillset."
I nodded. I looked through the info.
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TARGET INFORMATION: ASTON
Field Details Name Aston Age 35 Occupation Former Researcher Physical Description 6'0", athletic build, short brown hair Birth Place Lexington, Kentucky Known Affiliations Unknown Cybernetic Enhancements None Threat Level Low Last Known Whereabouts Apartment Complex, Downtown Darkhaven Notable Skills Expert in biochemical engineering Mission Objective Assassinate
I didn't really find anything suspicious with it and it sounded like an easy target so I accepted. Although I didn't want to kill someone, my gut was telling me this guy was bad news. It was especially so after reading about his birthplace and after remembering what Lil' Betty said, I was quite vigilant about anything from Kentucky. It was to the point that I didn't even want to eat fried chicken. Regardless, I accepted the mission.
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After taking a taxi downtown, I started investigating. First, I hacked into the apartment's security system. After that, I started looking through the record until I found the target. Found him. I thought to myself as I looked at the record. He was living on the 27th floor, room 8. The room wasn't under his name but apparently, he was 'visiting' a friend. I looked through the police record for that 'friend' but found nothing. I looked through the CCTV on that floor hallway as I planned for my infiltration. The most obvious way was to just hack the front door lock and go in but that was too obvious. Another way was through the window outside. I did some calculations in my head. I could get there... probably. It was dangerous but with my training, I was far more flexible and faster than I was before. Although my Body Skill didn't level up within the last week, I still felt some results.
Another way of infiltration would be to get in through the room beside it. I've checked it and it was empty according to the record. So I could infiltrate that way. I chose the safest method, which was through the neighboring apartment. I hacked into the door lock and slipped inside. The apartment was dark and empty, just as the records indicated. From there, I accessed the ventilation system, crawling through the ducts until I reached the target's apartment. I was quite lucky that I was really short and small. Otherwise, I wouldn't have fit.
Peering through the vent, I saw Aston sitting at a desk, working on something that looked like a research paper. His apartment was sparsely decorated, with only the essentials. There were no signs of security measures beyond the standard apartment lock. I silently unscrewed the vent cover and slipped into the room, my movements careful and controlled.
As I approached, I drew my knife, ready to make it quick and clean. Just as I was about to strike, Aston turned around, his eyes widening in surprise. I struck. He panicked and took out a serum from his jeans pocket and slammed it on me. I tried to dodge but due to it being very abrupt, I wasn't able to. My knife went into his shoulder, barely missing his neck. He looked at the serum in shock and muttered, "Fuck. Wrong shit."
I immediately pull the knife from his shoulder and slit his throat. He slowly fell to the ground, gripping his throat. I panted. I started feeling a huge headache. What the fuck did that guy inject me with? The headache was intense and almost felt like an eternity. It felt like my head was being hit by thousands of hammers every second. The pain was unimaginable and for some reason, I couldn't lose consciousness. As I thought I would die soon, the headache slowly alleviated. Fucker. What the fuck was that? My head was still hammering but it wasn't as bad as before. I got up and rubbed my head. After shaking my head, I checked the body to confirm my kill. As I looked at the body, I felt like I was a different person. Just two weeks ago, I didn't want to kill people but now, I was killing for money. What changed? I wondered to myself. Priorities, I realized. My priorities changed from survival to living. After confirming my kill, I noticed that there was a crystal in his head. Curious, I took it out and checked it for viruses and security measures. The encryption on it was rather good but it wasn't as good as the last one. Even I could decrypt it and look at the information if I worked on it for a full day. I decided to keep it and got out of the room, not looking back.