After hearing Sasha's assurances, Kitagawa Hiroshi didn't hesitate any longer.
He immediately made his decision and pressed the button for the top floor, heading straight to the rooftop.
By now, night had fallen completely, and the rooftop was enveloped in darkness. In places like this—rarely visited except by the occasional maintenance staff—the developers clearly hadn't bothered spending money on installing lighting.
However, the building was located in one of the busiest areas of the city center. The glow of nearby billboards and neon signs was enough to faintly illuminate the rooftop.
Kitagawa moved with ease to the southeastern corner. Looking down from the guardrail, he could see the balcony of the floor below.
Faint greenery in the darkness, a small outdoor pool, a pebbled path, luxurious wood flooring further in… everything about the space screamed wealth and exclusivity.
The entire floor was a duplex, structured like a two-story villa built atop the skyscraper.
He stood there silently, listening to his surroundings. Aside from the occasional whoosh of passing AVs, the only audible sounds came from within the home: footsteps echoing softly.
Determining that the balcony wouldn't be in the occupant's line of sight for now, Kitagawa climbed over the railing and leapt down.
Thanks to his practiced technique, he landed without a sound—light as a shadow, silent as a ninja.
Looks like I haven't lost my edge... he thought.
Back in the day, while working for the Tiger Claws, he'd done plenty of jobs that involved breaking into people's homes.
The balcony was exactly as he had observed earlier. Crouching low in a concealed corner, Kitagawa swept his gaze across the area, relying mostly on sound to gauge the layout.
"Head south," Sasha's voice crackled in through the comms. "There's a side door—you can enter from there."
Kitagawa nodded silently and crept toward the location she indicated. Reaching the glass door, he quietly pushed it open and stepped inside.
It led to a compact office. Minimalist setup—a desk and chair, a terminal, a small bookshelf, a wooden side table with a coffee machine and water dispenser. A pane of glass separated this office from the U-shaped balcony outside.
Kitagawa could already imagine the apartment's owner stepping out here to take in the city view after a long day's work.
Rich people really do live differently, he scoffed inwardly. Still, lucky me.
He looked up and spotted a camera mounted in the corner.
It was motionless at first, but the moment he locked eyes with it, the lens shifted slightly—almost as if greeting him.
At the same time, Sasha's voice came through:
"Based on the camera feed, this appears to be the apartment's only office. If there's any intel to be found, it'll be in here."
Kitagawa approached the desk and tried booting up the terminal.
The screen lit up and displayed a password prompt—exactly what he expected. He pulled a small chip from his pocket and inserted it into the port.
Immediately, the terminal began typing out a password on its own. In seconds, the desktop was unlocked and loaded.
These cheap little hacker tools were incredibly useful and didn't take up much space. Kitagawa always kept one handy—especially since the whole point of Plan B was infiltration.
Now that the terminal was open, the rest was easy.
He pulled a data cable from his pocket and plugged it into the machine, linking it to his neural processor. Lines of raw data streamed directly into his brain.
The sensation was strange and deeply uncomfortable.
Personal data jacks like this were common among netrunners but also available to regular folks. Even normies could temporarily play hacker by using daemon chips slotted into their neural ports and uploading preprogrammed data through a line.
Once he had the funds, Kitagawa had opted to install this low-risk cyberware to broaden his utility—anything to support Lin Mo more effectively.
A flood of data surged into his neural processor—details on the target, project reports, encrypted emails, internal memos from the R&D division of Moore Technologies' Night City branch.
It was overwhelming. He winced at the pressure behind his eyes.
If given the choice, he'd rather comb through it all manually. But time was short. This was the faster route.
When the pain became too much—his head now throbbing—he pulled the plug. Any more and his brain would be fried.
Of everything he downloaded, the most valuable were the chat logs. From those, he pieced together the target's role and influence within the company.
At last, the night's operation was nearing completion.
Kitagawa unplugged the cable and listened closely for any activity.
No abnormal sounds. The woman was still in the shower—he could hear water striking tile. In the living room, he picked up the delicate clink of alcohol being poured into a glass, followed by soft gulps.
"If you want to grab some extra loot while you're in there, now's the time," Sasha said with a faint chuckle. "From the camera feed, your target's still on the couch, sipping his drink. You've still got a window."
She sounded amused, a rare playfulness in her usually calm voice.
"You've been around Lin Mo long enough—you should know how much he enjoys collecting trophies. If you poke around, you might just find something worth taking."
"Good idea," Kitagawa muttered, eyes lighting up. He powered down the terminal and crept out of the office.
He hadn't expected this hacker girl—who'd only worked with him once before—to know that particular quirk of Lin Mo's.
Sometimes, Kitagawa even wondered if Lin Mo had created this "studio" just as an excuse to loot high-end apartments.
What intrigued Kitagawa even more, though, was how this hacker knew about that side of Lin Mo. It had taken several blood-and-fire jobs—and a bond forged in combat—for him to earn that knowledge.
Still, if it meant earning Lin Mo's approval, he wasn't about to miss the opportunity.
Quiet as a whisper, Kitagawa slipped into the hallway to begin his search.
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MY CYBERPUNK 2077 SIMULATOR
🧠💻 MY CYBERPUNK 2077 SIMULATOR 💻🧠
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