Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 42: Golden Murdock (5)
The night in Eastern Babel was a feast of light, woven by thousands of neon signs and holograms.
Waves of light continuously surged and shattered against the glass façades of high-rise buildings, conjuring splendid illusions.
At the center of that light stood Titan Tech's Eastern Branch.
A 258-story building towering in the heart of the city loomed over the metropolis like the throne of a god.
From the top-floor office, surrounded by transparent reinforced glass, the entire city could be seen at a glance, and the dazzling lights outside cast a soft glow throughout the room.
But the office of Dominic Krylov, Titan Tech’s Director of Development located on that top floor, was wrapped in a silence completely detached from the city's noise.
"...What did you just say?"
Dominic’s voice echoed through the office.
The report the staff member had just delivered still rang in his ears.
"The secret lab was destroyed?"
"Yes, Director."
The staff member's voice trembled.
"According to the most recent intel, the secret laboratory located at the border between East and South Babel has been completely destroyed. The entire area is now engulfed in an Erosion Zone."
Dominic let out a deep breath.
He tapped his desk unconsciously with his fingers, then slowly stood and walked toward the window.
"Turn on the hologram."
A massive holographic screen on the wall lit up and came to life.
Babel Network News filled the screen.
<Breaking: Massive Erosion Zone appears at the Eastern-Southern Babel border. Estimated to be the largest recorded since the Great Convergence.>
The voice of the anchor in the hologram filled the office.
On one side of the screen, live footage showed a black sphere consuming everything around it.
Dominic clenched his fist, staring out at Eastern Babel’s night skyline.
As Titan Tech’s Director of Development, no one understood the value of that secret lab better than he did.
“We’ve got a lot to prepare.”
He murmured while looking out the window.
“Save the commentary for later. First, report this to the board.”
“Yes, sir.”
The staff member answered respectfully and left the office with careful steps.
Left alone, Dominic returned to his desk and sat down.
His eyes flashed with fury.
The value of the secret lab couldn't even be measured in credits.
Titan Tech had poured decades of time, resources, and manpower into that place.
Just building an environment completely isolated from AI Frame interference had required astronomical costs.
All of Babel was blanketed in the AI Frame network.
Since every building and piece of infrastructure operated on that network, creating a space untouched by its influence meant digging deep into the earth.
And for Titan Tech—a megacorp—securing such ‘network-free’ depth underground had been a massive challenge.
But it wasn’t just about digging deep.
Any device that had ever been connected to the AI Frame network couldn’t be used inside the lab.
Even microscopic particles of external AI Frames had to be strictly blocked.
A single particle could carry a virus.
Which meant all AI Frame equipment had to be built entirely within the lab itself.
And to eliminate even the smallest risk, usage of AI Frames inside the lab had to be minimized.
Dominic gave a bitter smile.
Building that lab had been like trying to farm using stone tools during the Iron Age.
No—probably harder than that.
In Babel, even constructing a basic silicon-based system felt like an archaeological dig.
Then there was the issue of finding people to work in that lab.
Every human born in Babel had an AI Frame inserted into their nervous system immediately after birth.
But researchers working in the secret lab couldn’t have one.
All external AI Frames were assumed to be infected with viruses.
To solve this dilemma, Titan Tech had operated its own isolated talent program.
Tens of thousands of children were raised without AI Frames, just for this lab.
Only a few with the most exceptional intellects were selected as researchers.
They were Titan Tech’s assets.
Its most valuable assets.
And all of that was now swallowed by a black Erosion Zone.
Dominic ground his teeth.
His face was carved with both rage and resolve.
“Anyone even slightly involved in this...”
His voice rumbled through the office.
“I’ll kill every last one of them.”
Dominic stared into the night sky of Babel.
The lights of the holograms flooding the sky reflected coldly in his eyes.
At that moment, a notification appeared on his AR interface.
An emergency board meeting had been summoned.
Dominic looked out the window one last time.
Toward the distant boundary between Eastern and Southern Babel.
Then, he turned and walked toward the office door.
The board was waiting.
And beyond that—Titan Tech’s revenge awaited.
****
[We have breaking news. A supermassive Erosion Zone has formed at the border between Eastern and Southern Babel.]
[The scale of this Erosion Zone is estimated to surpass any previous case since the Great Convergence. Estimated casualties are over one million.]
While the holographic news alert ran, Golden Murdock’s expression had frozen in sheer disbelief.
His reaction made it clear—things were spiraling out of control.
He stared at the hologram for a while, then quickly activated his AR console.
As his fingers moved through the air, rapidly summoning data, I kept watching the screen showing the Erosion Zone.
A black sphere had devoured the entire commercial district linking South and East Babel.
The camera couldn’t get close, filming from afar, but even so, its colossal scale was unmistakable.
Skyscrapers caught on the edge of the zone crumbled one by one like sandcastles.
Murdock, skimming the hologram windows with growing tension, exhaled sharply.
The way he immediately grabbed his glass and downed it in one gulp said everything—he was trying to calm his nerves.
“Apologies, A. I meant for this to be a relaxed conversation, but things aren’t looking good.”
He finally spoke.
His voice was low and smooth, but the urgency beneath it was impossible to hide.
Like someone being hunted.
“Things escalated fast. Maybe it’s fortune that you arrived at this exact moment.”
Murdock pointed a golden finger at the air, bringing up a zoomed-in hologram of the Erosion Zone layered with complex data.
“I have an urgent job for you.”
I gave a nod, and Murdock continued.
“There’s a Titan Tech secret lab at the center of that Erosion Zone. I need you to recover the AI code being tested there.”
The job itself wasn’t an issue.
I could handle infiltration into an Erosion Zone.
The problem was that Murdock had no way of knowing what I was truly capable of—yet he still tossed a high-risk job at me without hesitation.
His urgency only made him seem more suspicious.
“I know it’s a heavy ask. So, to cover the risk, I’m paying half the fee upfront.”
Murdock pulled out a gold-plated terminal and tapped through a few screens.
An alert popped up on my AR interface—250,000 credits deposited.
“The total payment is 500,000 credits. That was 50%.”
It was a ridiculous sum—something I’d never been paid before.
Which meant it was just as dangerous.
The bad feeling in my gut only grew stronger. But even so, I decided to take the job.
Even if Murdock was hiding something, I was confident I could handle it.
And I couldn’t just walk away from 250,000 credits.
That’s over a thousand pizzas.
I stood and accepted the small data shard Murdock handed me.
“It contains the lab’s coordinates and access route. Good luck, A.”
I gave a silent nod and left Neuron Nectar, heading south at full sprint.
****
Not long after A’s departure, Titan Tech troops began swiftly locking down the perimeter of Neuron Nectar.
Soldiers in advanced combat suits formed a seamless formation, encircling the facility with absolute precision.
But they couldn’t just march in.
Even fully armed Titan Tech units would be turned into meat chunks if they got hit by a round strong enough to punch through tank armor.
“How long until the armored unit arrives?”
The commander’s voice was calm, but the anxiety underneath was impossible to miss.
“Eight minutes, sir,” the comms officer replied quickly.
The soldiers had no choice but to hold position until the armor rolled in.
Neuron Nectar’s defense system seemed built with exactly this kind of situation in mind—absurdly overbuilt.
It went beyond gang-level or mercenary resistance—this was on par with a megacorp defense fortress.
The automated turrets were cutting-edge models from Hexa Core Armory, and the blast walls were made from military-grade battleship alloys.
Even the weapons and body armor issued to staff were custom builds, unavailable on the general market.
Inside Neuron Nectar, the employees moved in perfect sync under Golden Murdock’s command.
[Maintain defense on Sectors 5 and 7.]
[Stay calm. Just hold a bit longer—Hexa Core Armory reinforcements are on the way.]
Some staff were visibly nervous, facing down an actual megacorp, but those who had weathered /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ countless crises alongside Golden Murdock kept their nerve.
Right then, a middle-aged man slowly stepped forward through the line of Titan Tech soldiers.
His footsteps were slow, but the air around him froze as if recognizing his presence.
He was Dominic Krylov, Titan Tech’s Director of Development.
“Sir, it’s too dangerous! You need to retreat to the rear immediately!”
His assistants sensed the threat and rushed to stop him, but it was pointless—Dominic, burning with fury, shrugged them off.
“Don’t interfere.”
He brushed them aside coldly and stepped forward.
“I won’t give those bastards time to run. I’ll handle this myself. You just keep the perimeter tight.”
Dominic’s voice was ice. Commanding. Absolute.
As he stepped toward the defensive line, Neuron Nectar’s auto-defense system immediately reacted.
[Warning. Neuron Nectar is private property. Proceeding any further will trigger a lethal response.]
Dominic ignored the warning and kept walking.
His expression remained calm, but fury swirled deep in his eyes.
The moment the auto-turrets locked onto him, gunfire erupted.
A deafening barrage of thousands of rounds tore through the air toward Dominic. Explosive rounds engulfed the area around him.
His assistants instinctively ducked at the roar.
But Dominic was still standing—without a scratch.
A shadow wrapped around his body like a living thing, swallowing the hail of bullets and explosions.
“You thought these toys could stop a Director of Titan Tech?”
A cold smile crept onto Dominic’s lips.
His voice carried a pride that came from being Titan Tech’s weapon.
He didn’t hesitate any longer.
His pace was shockingly fast, and the black mist around him shifted as if reading his intent, shaping itself into a shield.
The turrets fired like maniacs, but it was pointless.
Dominic crushed one of them with his bare hands.
He tore through alloy blast walls like they were sheets of paper.
Metal fragments flew in every direction. Screams ripped through the air.
Neuron Nectar staff tried to fight back with heavy weapons, but their shots were just as useless—absorbed into the shifting black shadow.
“Murdock, sir...”
One surviving employee whispered in terror.
After witnessing Dominic’s overwhelming power, the staff broke. They scattered in every direction.
Some were gunned down by Titan Tech’s soldiers holding the perimeter.
Others were smashed into pulp by Dominic’s fists.
When the chaos finally died down, silence reclaimed the area.
Only the occasional drip of blood echoed through the air.
Drip. Drip.
Dominic walked calmly through that silence and reached the heart of Neuron Nectar.
A massive steel door stood in his way.
He gripped the edge with his fingers—and ripped it apart like paper.
But no one was inside.
Only a lone hologram projector sat in the center of the room, playing Babel Network News on a loop.
“Son of a bitch.”
Dominic growled through clenched teeth and slammed his fist into the projector.
It shattered instantly. The image warped and vanished.
He clenched his hand tighter and activated his AR interface.
“Golden Murdock ran. Track down everyone tied to him and that goddamn contract. Every last one of them—no exceptions.”
His cold voice echoed across the shattered remains of Neuron Nectar.
This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.
