82: Chapter 81 The Prey Has Been Marked

As the indicator light representing Yorinobu Arasaka's control faded from the doll's eyes, the shell that had served as a communication vessel seemed to have its "soul" instantly drained away, leaving only hollow cybernetic eyes and a mechanical standby posture.

She—or rather, "it"—reached into an internal storage compartment with slightly stiff movements, pulled out a thin e-cigarette, and skillfully lit it. The synthetic nicotine mist filled the dimly lit booth, carrying the scent of cheap strawberries.

"Damn it, it's finally over." She exhaled a smoke ring, her voice returning to the original, slightly raspy tone belonging to the body's true owner. Her gaze swept over the three people who had just finished a world-shaking conspiracy, and finally landed on Jackie, who was just about to speak. She quickly raised a hand to stop him, "Hold it! Big guy, don't start talking yet. Whatever you have to say, wait until I've left before you continue chatting."

Holding the cigarette, she pointed to her ear, then to the ceiling, making a gesture indicating "walls have ears." Her face wore the shrewdness and caution of someone long accustomed to the underworld: "In our line of work, the less you know, the longer you live. I don't want to end up inexplicably sinking in the bay of Santo Domingo one day just because I heard something I shouldn't have. Alright, you guys get back to it, I'm clocking out."

Without waiting for a response, she clamped the cigarette in her mouth, swayed her hips, and quickly left the booth, as if staying even a second longer would invite fatal trouble.

Almost simultaneously, the subordinate of Yorinobu who had led the way earlier pushed the door open silently like a ghost, nodded slightly at Lin Yi, and then quickly retreated, having clearly completed his guidance and guard duties.

The booth door closed again, shutting out the outside clamor, leaving only the three of them along with the lingering scent of strawberry smoke and the not-yet-dissipated aura of conspiracy.

"Are you bullshitting? My good mano, two days, how could you say that? That's a super Arasaka ninja who followed Saburo Arasaka for so long." Jackie couldn't hold back his worried complaints, then immediately leaned close to Lin Yi, lowering his voice, his face showing eager excitement mixed with a hint of gravity, "This Goro, he's covered in black tech, sounds like he's not to be trifled with. You were so confident just now, you must have a plan, right?"

Lin Yi didn't answer immediately. He walked over to the sofa, sat down, and closed his eyes, as if resting. "Don't rush," he said softly, "wait a moment."

The next moment, a faint shimmer seemed to flow from the port at the back of his neck. When those eyes, always filled with a hint of mockery or calmness, opened again, they were flooded with an inhuman, pure data-stream-like glow—Insight, activated.

Ever since Pacifica, he had become increasingly accustomed to not using any external terminals, letting his consciousness sink directly into the vast, boundless Cyberspace.

Aided by the biological characteristics, commonly used encrypted channel frequencies, and behavioral pattern data of Goro Takemura provided in the data chip, Insight acted like a top-tier hunting dog, beginning to search for that specific "scent" within the endless torrent of data. Countless signals, coordinates, and identity markers streaked across his consciousness like meteors, only to be quickly filtered and excluded.

Locating someone in the real world is far more complex than tracking a data ghost on the net; it involves physical signal tower triangulation, public surveillance camera facial recognition matching, and even cross-referencing records from connected vehicles.

But the powerful computing capability of Insight, combined with the high-quality intelligence provided by Yorinobu, created a marvelous chemical reaction.

In just a few breaths, Lin Yi's consciousness locked onto a weak, constantly moving signal source—it was an almost imperceptible authentication trace left by Goro Takemura's personal link on a public network node.

His consciousness, like invisible tentacles, quietly spread along this trace, connecting to several networked devices near the area where Goro Takemura was located—a traffic surveillance camera at an intersection, an access control system at a convenience store, and even the fault indicator light of an abandoned billboard.

Through these "eyes," the blurred physical environment was reconstructed. A figure dressed in low-key but exquisite fabric was walking quickly through a street that looked like the border between an industrial zone and a slum, vigilantly avoiding the locations of major cameras.

However, under the comprehensive scanning and information integration of Insight, his movements were as clear as footprints in the snow.

"Found you." Lin Yi whispered in his consciousness.

Locking onto the target was only the first step.

Immediately after, the core analytical capabilities of Insight were fully activated. Based on the subtle characteristic codes leaked during the authentication of Goro Takemura's ICE (Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics) that had just been captured, it began to build a targeted, composite daemon. This daemon wasn't as violent as common attack programs; it was more like a parasite in the digital world, delicate and covert:

Structural Analysis: Rapidly analyze the defense layer structure and weak points of the target's ICE.

Stealth Infiltration: Utilize vulnerabilities in the ICE protocol itself to disguise itself as a system log or harmless background process, quietly embedding itself.

Weakening Field: Continuously emit extremely low-intensity interference signals that won't trigger alarms but will slowly, like dripping water wearing away stone, reduce the overall defensive efficacy of the ICE, creating convenience for potential subsequent forced intrusions.

Broadcast Beacon: Implant an extremely covert positioning signal transmitter; as long as Goro Takemura is connected to any form of network (even for just an instant), his real-time physical coordinates will be captured by Lin Yi like a lighthouse.

The entire process of building and implanting the daemon took only a short dozen seconds in the real world.

Lin Yi's consciousness manipulated the data flow like the most skilled minimally invasive surgeon, precisely delivering this digital "little gift" deep into Goro Takemura's cyberware operating system.

[Set down.]—the feedback signal that the implantation was complete arrived.

The data glow in Lin Yi's eyes slowly faded, and he exhaled gently, a look of calm control appearing on his face.

He opened his eyes and looked at V and Jackie, who were staring at him nervously. He didn't speak, but instead shared the access permissions for the newly implanted daemon and the real-time location information through the squad's local area network.

A new, constantly moving light dot immediately popped up on V's cybernetic eye interface, accompanied by detailed geographic coordinates and signal strength indicators.

She was stunned for a moment, then a look of surprise and approval appeared on her face: "This is... real-time positioning? Oh, not bad! You move fast! Good heavens, doesn't this mean that right now, whether it's the color of this Arasaka super ninja's underwear... er, no, I mean, where he is and what he's doing, as long as he's connected to the net, he's transparent to us?"

Lin Yi's mouth twitched at V's crude yet vivid metaphor, and he gave her a look of disdain: "Ugh, don't gross me out, that's a pretty vulgar way of putting it. However..." He looked at the crystal-clear light dot on the shared interface, his tone carrying a cold humor, "Indeed, right now, Mr. Goro is as glaring as a gigawatt incandescent bulb in the dark night to us; it's hard to ignore even if we wanted to."

Jackie also saw the shared information, rubbing his hands together, and asked impatiently: "Mano, what are we waiting for? Since we know where he is, when do we make our move? Find a place where no one is around, sneak up, and just..."

"Don't rush," Lin Yi interrupted him, a mysterious, slightly villainous smile appearing on his face, "Let's toy with him. A head-on assault against someone who might be stronger than Adam Smasher is not a good choice." His finger tapped lightly in the void, as if plucking invisible threads, "It's not easy to catch such an interesting 'electronic mouse,' I want to dig a bit more into his ICE to see if I can find some other 'goodies'—like other secret channels within Arasaka, encrypted address books, or... more specific scheduling arrangements for Ms. Hanako. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. Heh heh heh..."

His final low chuckle echoed in the well-soundproofed booth; the three of them were filled with the playfulness and sense of control like a cat playing with a mouse.

Meanwhile, dozens of blocks away, that newly marked "incandescent bulb"—Goro Takemura—was wrapping his nondescript trench coat tighter around himself, walking quickly through an alley piled with trash and filled with a foul, rotting stench. He sneezed violently, rubbed his nose, and cursed under his breath in Japanese:

"Achoo! Cough... This damn place, the air is filled with filth and bacteria. Saburo-sama... please rest assured, I will definitely uncover the truth of your death; I will never let the person who killed you go unpunished!"

He was completely unaware that not only had he long since become prey in someone else's eyes, but even his most relied-upon and proud electronic defense line had already been quietly opened with a backdoor.

A hunt based on the digital level, one that was transparent in only one direction, had already begun.