Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 546: Pepper Farm.
The portal Dante opened in the sewers led to one of the pocket dimensions in Red Hill. It was the closest to the location Bella had discovered, and he used it as a shortcut. Coming out of the exit on the other side, he quickly made his way to the building in question then switched to 8-4, using its Spatial Awareness to scan the place.
Switching armors was his way of saving energy. Though it took only a few minutes to regenerate the reserves of each one, he didn’t want to get caught with a half empty tank when it counts, that’s why he only used the high level armors only when absolutely needed.
Dante had a 3D model of the entire Radmir Union, not just Neo-Vatra. It lacked a lot of details, since he had focused on expanding his reach while creating it. When he scans a specific area again, that model gets updated, and more things get added, including the location of every person in the area.
’Doesn’t look like there is anything...’
[We might not know until we get close.] Volcan replied.
After studying what each individual inside the building was doing, Dante began acting. First, he created a copy of the building using Spatial Pocket. He portaled into it next and went around, took out Type 3-4 to use its abilities to power the place. Quickly checking every nook and cranny of the building, he confirmed that the place wasn’t booby trapped and switched to 8-3.
Opening one portal after the other, he let each one swallow someone from the original dimension, starting with those who had been on their own. Once he ran out, he moved on to those in groups. Before long, every last adult in that building was moved to its copy in the pocket dimension. They disappeared before they could inform anyone, and their chance of returning to the real world was nonexistent.
Portaling back to the original dimension, he came out in the basement, remaining on guard the entire time. The place had several rooms, each one equipped with three sets of bunk beds. Most of those rooms were occupied with children whose age ranged from 10 to 15, both girls and boys.
His appearance scared them quite a bit, but Dante managed to convince them that he was there to save them. He led them through a portal to Hollowstreet, after which he secretly changed to 9-3 and used Aether distortion to cleanse them. Volcan hadn’t sensed any Sorcery on them, but there was no harm in being extra cautious.
Dante had made sure to prepare well for such an occasion, so the children had everything they needed to have a comfortable stay while they arranged something for them in the real world. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
Once he had the children settled, Dante returned to the last pocket dimension he created and began interrogating the people he trapped there. Of course, he made sure to cleanse them first.
In the end, none of them were Sorcerers or had any Sorcery applied on them. the strongest among them was a Level 3 Advanced Cyborg, and handling him wasn’t much of a problem. Considering the type of business they were involved in, Dante was tempted to kill them on the spot. After much thought, he decided against it and moved them to his Pepper Farm.
A while back, just when they started going after Black Skull, Dante had created a pocket dimension out of a place called Pepper Street and trapped a bunch of Black Skull members there. He had intended for it to be an experiment to see if a pocket dimension could be turned into a closed ecosystem capable of supporting life, and the experiment turned out to be a success for the most part.
The gangsters had used the materials he left them with to create several farms, some for food, others for oxygen generation. They even managed to raise crops used to create biofuel, which gave them some leeway when it came to energy. Things weren’t ideal, but they were surviving.
Next, Dante decided to study what would happen if he suddenly increased the population of his other-dimensional colony. After expanding the Pepper Street dimension some more, he started sending more Black Skull members into it. For the time being, all they had to do was live a normal life in there. He had more plans for them, but those were for the future.
~[ ]~
Once he was done dealing with the Black Skull thugs, Dante went back to the original dimension, coming out in the sewers under the Red Oni Club. As he made his way to the second floor, heading straight to the showers, he sent Bella a message and told her and her team to lie low for the next couple days. Just in case, he contacted the leaders of the other teams and told them to tread carefully.
As the scalding water fell on his skin, Dante found himself thinking of the interrogation he was just done with. He then opened his contacts and sent Rose a message, informing her of the good and bad news.
"You’re back already?"
When he returned to his office, Dante found that Riot hadn’t moved from his spot on the couch, causing him to frown. He checked the clock in the corner of his vision and found that he had been gone for more than four hours.
"Don’t tell me it was a dud..."
"No," Dante shook his head. "We found another shop, and we got the kids out."
He went to grab a beer from the fridge only to find out that it was empty. Noticing the stack of cans on the coffee table, he fixed the big guy with a glare, but quickly gave up. When he reached inside and took out anther can, Riot’ jaw dropped.
"How the... I was sure I..."
"Maybe you should hold back on the alcohol." Dante said, popping the can open and taking a few gulps.
He walked back to his chair with heavy steps and sat down.
"So? You didn’t answer my earlier question." Riot said.
Downing a few more Gulps, Dante put down the can and sighed.
"Sadly, there was nothing about the lieutenants."
