Corpo Age

Chapter 3: Questing

A few weeks had passed since I met Flo and Erza. I finally requested a day off. We usually only had one day off every week, and on a random day of the week too, that kept changing depending on how the shift schedule went.

During that time, I thought a lot about what to do moving forward. While the first thoughts that came to mind, when I found myself in another world with a system, would naturally lean toward a life of thrilling action. I knew that wasn’t something I wanted out of my own life.

Running straight into danger was not the smartest idea when my life was at stake. Being a one-man army sounded cool and all, but hadn’t really appealed to me as much as getting rich did. There was so much more in life to enjoy, but most of it required money and your life being intact to savor.

At the end of the day, I still wanted to live a laid-back life, but it didn’t take a genius to foresee it would be a lot harder in this world, being a wage slave, someone who was near the lowest caste while the people from the top corporations could do whatever they had wanted.

If for some reason I couldn’t work right now, my income would come to a halt, and with no safety net in place, it wouldn’t end well for me, to say the least.

This world really lived up to my life motto, ‘Money is power’, maybe too much…

That was why I wanted to strike it rich with the power of my system. Once I got rich, I would have to spend more on security to protect my wealth, which would throw me into a cycle of attaining more and more, but that was fine. It was much better than living in fear of being snuffed out on the whims of others, with no control over my life whatsoever.

I created a plan for what I wanted to do with the system during this time, but the one thing that troubled me was the consequences of going through with utilizing the system. Making use of the system meant I would need experience points to level up, and the only known way to gain EXP was to kill…

I had no intention of becoming a bloodthirsty serial killer but thankfully, I could tell there was no shortage of bad people in this world despite my short time here. It wouldn’t change the fact that I will have to kill. Some may deserve it, while some may not. I wasn’t a saint nor skilled enough to affirm that first without putting myself at serious risk.

All my enemies would simply have to die for the sake of my wealth and power. Nothing was truly free, after all.

With my determination reaffirmed, I got off my bed and started preparing for the day. I got dressed and sat down with my handheld terminal out. A terminal was what they called the phones here, along with most computer systems. I used mine to call a number I had previously saved.

The call connected after ringing three times. “You have reached Fitel. May I ask who is calling?” A man spoke politely, with a calm and measured pace.

“Hi, this is Rollo, Flo said you were the man to call for some jobs.”

“I see…how many are on your crew?”

“Just me.” I quickly replied.

“Depending on the type of job you are looking for, some may have much higher success rates working with a crew. While I may not provide matchmaking services, you may consider asking Flo about several establishments where other security freelancers frequently gather.”

“No thank you. I plan to continue working alone.”

As much sense as that had made, my plans had not included working with any others for the foreseeable future. With the rapid improvement I could achieve with the help of the system, it just wasn’t smart to involve others, as they would ask questions I wouldn’t want to answer. I would only work with someone I could really trust.

“Understood, though that may limit the type of jobs I will be able to entrust you with. The larger jobs will be off the table for now because they require more of a ‘heavy’ touch. That is until I can confirm what you are capable of…”

“Actually, I was looking for jobs that entailed more of a…delicate touch. I don’t mind starting small first as well.”

“I see, well I do happen to have a job that would fit the criteria, though be warned, if you prove inadequate for a smaller job like this, you won’t be hearing from me again. I will have the details sent to you shortly. Contact me when you are done. Have a great rest of the day now.” The man had spoken at the same measured pace the entire time, and somehow ended the call before I could reply.

I thought he would have wanted to see me in person and test or something first. So it was kind of a surprise that he gave me a job right away. It seemed like I wouldn’t have any chances if I screwed this one up, but I had no intentions of failing. It was time to see what the system got. I’m honestly amazed at myself for holding back until today.

A text quickly came a few minutes after the call. It was a complete dossier with the details of my objective and the targets involved.

The job was to poison a certain employee of a medium-sized corporation, though poison may have been too strong of a word as I would use a strong laxative. The target was also a small-time corpo, just another grunt who happened to be a member of their corporate football team.

On paper, the sports teams were simply methods corporations used to let their employees exercise, blow off some steam, and socialize with other corps. It was also an open secret that it served as a basis for a gambling ring catered toward middle management, and for the senior management to gain bragging rights.

The dossier I received detailed my target’s entire history, address, and even how much his salary was, which definitely had not gotten me jealous of that extra digit in their salary despite it only being an entry-level job like mine was.

I considered applying again to a corporation, but quickly dispelled the idea. All corpo employees had to install their company’s software in their implants that monitored their activity and who they were in contact with. It was definitely not an option for me with my system unless I wanted to be bagged and caged somewhere the sun would never reach ever again, reduced to a lab rat.

While the job hadn’t entailed killing, meaning I wouldn’t gain any experience points. I still wanted to complete it to earn Fitel’s trust and open up the way to bigger jobs that had a larger paycheck. Then I could buy better equipment, and cybernetics so I could safely target the scums of society for the experience points.

I memorized all the relevant information I needed from the dossier and deleted the files as instructed.

Subvocalizing ‘Status’, I brought up the system. The long-awaited upgrade time has come.

Status

Level:

1

EXP:

10/100

Musculoskeletal:

11

Neural Reflex:

15

Visuomotor Coordination:

12

Endurance:

8

Sensory Perception:

12

Upgrade Points:

6

Upgrades:

null

Enhancements:

null

I scrolled past the various skills like ‘Pistol’, ‘Sniper Rifle’, ‘Melee Weapons’, and went for the option that I found to be the most effective at killing.

With six points to work with, it may be worthwhile to select two skills. I looked around at all the electronic devices that were responsible for locking my doors to the cameras found everywhere and decided on my second skill.

I selected them, and a rush of knowledge flooded my brain. It was strange, as it felt like I gained the muscle memories of the skills I learned as well. All the new know-how I gained made me want to try them out immediately.

Without further ado, let’s go test it out.

I stopped in front of a stall and looked over the various newspapers laid out in front of the bored-looking owner, who was enjoying his morning coffee. I picked up the one from Elevate News and left a bill as payment before I entered the megabuilding nearby.

There were only a few people walking by around me this early in the morning. They were all dressed in suits and seemed to be in a rush, completely ignoring me as they rushed about their day. Once I made my way up the elevator, I found a discreet corner outside the view of any cameras and connected a cord from my terminal to jack into the wall.

I then found myself a seat on an empty bench next to a vending machine. It was off in a corner but still gave me clear sight of the elevators.

I casually crossed my legs while I unfolded the newspaper and started reading. The front page was an article regarding a recent huge raid on some corporate transports traveling through the North American continent’s wastelands, how much money they lost from it, and how much the companies condemned the raider activity in the area although there wasn’t much they could do about it.

What utterly useless threats, as if some raiders that had been living out in the wasteland would even hear about it. Though I guess they needed to do some posturing for their stock prices or whatever.

No corporations could truly eradicate wastelanders because, true to their name, they lived out in the wastelands, where a raging sandstorm raged on without rest. No planes could go near it and it jammed all communications inside. It resulted from climate change and nuclear war in the past, a testament to human folly.

I skimmed over the other articles that varied from business news, local incidents, and the celebrity section. I checked the time and paid more attention to my terminal as I tried to kill time by going back to read the more interesting articles in detail.

In the corner of my eye, I watched groups and groups of corpos mechanically wait for their elevator from the camera placed right above them. While they waited, some of them were staring blankly ahead with glowing irises, likely going through the screen in their optics, while others plainly waited or were checking on their outfits and makeup.

On the fifth batch of people waiting for the elevators, I finally spotted the person from the dossier.

I silently took a deep breath and waited for the elevator doors to close. Then I calmly stood up and headed toward my target’s apartment. I turned the cameras away so I could casually stroll by the blind spots and reach the unit.

I repeated what I had done earlier and slotted a cord into the panel by the door and within a few seconds; the door clicked open.

I’m glad this building had cheaped out on their security and used old software straight from the box.

Closing the door gently behind me, I took in my surroundings and found a small one-bedroom apartment with a layout somewhat similar to mine. I took out the hidden camera I bought, which was the size of a grain, and placed it in a spot that gave me a clear view of both the open kitchen and the door to the bedroom.

I had gotten the camera for a hundred credits while I was out picking up the package that came with this job. It only had enough battery for three days, but barring any accidents, it should be more than enough.

Just when I had finished placing the camera, I suddenly heard the mechanical lock of the door clicking. The door swung open, and I fluidly slipped into cover behind the island of the open kitchen. My movement was smooth, as if I practiced this movement hundreds of times before, but it was thanks to the system and not my hard work.

I started navigating my terminal to connect to the feed of my newly placed camera while I had one hand firmly gripped onto my pistol.

By listening to the footsteps of the new intruder, I got an idea of where they were. I used that information to keep the island between us, keeping me out of sight.

It didn’t take long to get connected with my camera and I soon got the video feed that showed both me and the intruder. I could clearly see myself crouched behind the island, staring at the terminal in hand, while the intruder, whom I recognized as my target, entered his bedroom.

Taking another breath, I relaxed my grip on my gun.

This guy had to pick today to forget something…

He soon came back out to the living room and headed to the sofa that was right beside me. I crouched around the island as he walked around the house until he finally left.

With the door closed once more, I switched to the feed to the cameras outside, where I watched him enter the elevators. I didn’t relax until the door closed behind him, but when I did, my legs gave out from all the crouching dropping my butt to the floor.

Damn, I should’ve gotten access to the cameras on the ground floor as well…Maybe even program something that could recognize and highlight targets, then alert me when they showed up on the cameras I had access to.

Multiple things that I could’ve done to avoid that close call flooded my mind, but I promptly forced myself up once my heart rate settled. I then double-checked my work, then planted another camera in the bedroom before I left.

On my way back, I reflected on the entire episode. I couldn’t deny feeling a little happy at having completed my job undiscovered, but there were definite areas I could improve on.

The battery for the camera lasted three days, so I needed to go back at least once to either swap out the battery or retrieve the camera.

I had to suppress the giddy feeling while I worked at the convenience store that evening. I also couldn’t fall asleep from the excitement, as if I had a test the next day.

I dreamed about the future, now that I had a working system, until the sky started to brighten and sleep overcame me.

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