In the Tops, within the city’s core district.
Though it was already nighttime, the entire area remained illuminated by neon lights and countless floating holographic billboards.
Every towering building was covered in colorful neon projections, while beautiful monster mascots drifted and circled between the skyscrapers, forming the dazzling scenery of a futuristic metropolis.
From time to time, projected monsters descended from the sky streets, displaying the advertisements they carried to passing pedestrians.
What had once been high-end technology, Solid Vision technology, was now widely used among civilians.
Those floating billboards and monster mascots all possessed physical forms.
The gracefully dancing monster [Noh-P.U.N.K.
Ze Amin] would occasionally land on the ground and hand flyers to pedestrians.
The advertisements promoted the “P.U.N.K.” Deck sold at a certain shop.
As for the price… one could only say that the rich people of the Tops had their own unique currency system.
Naturally, there were many street vendors lining the lively streets.
Takoyaki, teppanyaki, and various other snacks were the primary products being sold.
QR codes for payment hung from or were printed onto every stall, and electronic payment systems had become fully universalized in the Tops.
As pedestrians walked past, various advertisements from nearby shops continuously popped up on their phones and electronic displays.
Among this core district stood two especially distinctive skyscrapers.
One belonged to New Domino City’s law enforcement agency, the Public Security Maintenance Bureau.
At the very top of the building was a unique spherical structure, resembling an eye standing above the city while watching over everything.
The other belonged to the “Arcadia Movement” organization.
Although the exterior of this charity organization looked rather ordinary, it was the tallest building in the entire Tops.
At present, the organization was dedicated to supporting lower-class Duelists and enjoyed an excellent reputation.
And the Arcadia Movement building was precisely the destination of Kazumo’s group.
“The intel’s correct, right?” Crow asked with lingering worry between his brows.
“No problem.
This came from my informant in the Tops.”
The speaker was named Blister, a famous “Mr.
Jack-of-All-Trades” who traveled through various regions operating an odd-jobs business.
As long as someone was willing to pay, there was almost nothing he could not acquire.
This time, due to Yusei’s request, he had followed Kazumo and Crow back to the Tops to provide intelligence support.
“Besides, don’t you have Yusei’s phone with you?”
“Yusei’s phone did receive text messages from Luna and the others saying they were invited here.”
Crow took out Yusei’s flip phone and pressed a few buttons to open the messages.
After confirming them again, he continued.
“But we still can’t get through to them by phone.
And we don’t even know when these messages were sent.
What if they’ve already left?”
Blister was not annoyed in the slightest and patiently explained things to Crow.
“So either they’re still inside the building, or they’ve been secretly transferred elsewhere.”
“Isn’t this supposed to be a charity organization?
They’d still do dirty work like that?” Crow asked in confusion.
“Don’t be fooled by appearances.
They currently have the highest number of Spirit Duelists in the Tops, and anyone who successfully joins is issued a standardized ‘Psychic Deck.'”
This time, Kazumo spoke coldly as he pulled the confiscated Psychic Deck from his pocket and added:
“Blister already confirmed it.
This Deck is the so-called standardized Psychic Deck.”
Crow’s expression immediately darkened.
He had never expected this so-called charity organization to be involved with the Earthbound Immortal cult.
One of the organization’s Duelists had even sacrificed large numbers of civilians right in front of them to summon an Earthbound Immortal, causing the current chaos in Satellite.
Only now did Crow understand why the Earthbound Immortal cult had vanished from Satellite without a trace.
So they had fled to the Tops!
“Then what are we waiting for?
Let’s move!” Crow snapped Yusei’s phone shut and angrily strode toward the building.
Blister could not quite understand Crow’s anger and turned to look at Kazumo beside him.
Kazumo merely shook his head, unwilling to say more, before waving for Blister to follow as the two hurried after Crow.
The building’s exterior security systems were extraordinarily tight.
During the past half hour, streams of data continuously flashed across the portable terminal on Blister’s wrist, yet the entrance remained completely unmoved.
Running out of patience, Crow glared at him.
“Oi, Mr.
Odd-Jobs, can you even do this?
You can’t crack security like this?”
Blister was obviously irritated by the strict defenses as well.
“What?
You think you’re amazing?
Then you do it!”
“Fine, I will!” Crow shoved Blister aside, stood beside the entrance, and took out his own smartphone to connect to the network and begin hacking.
…
Ten minutes later.
Beep!
The entrance doors opened in response.
“That’s impossible!
This firewall is on the same level as the Public Security Bureau’s!”
Blister was stunned.
He had never expected this obscure lower-class Duelist to possess hacking skills even greater than his own.
Crow grinned as he patted Blister on the shoulder, put away his phone, and took the lead into the building.
Of course, this had nothing to do with Crow’s technical skills.
It was because he possessed the Public Security Maintenance Bureau’s access keys.
And Blister had gotten one thing wrong; the firewall was not merely on the same level as the Bureau’s.
It was literally the exact same firewall.
Whenever Crow visited the Bureau’s storage vaults, he never returned with just cards; he also stole large numbers of access keys from their databases to make future visits more convenient.
The fact that this charity organization shared the exact same firewall as the Public Security Bureau revealed just how extraordinary it truly was.
With the intelligent security systems shut down, nothing else obstructed their path.
The three smoothly passed through the lavishly decorated reception hall on the first floor, pushed open the emergency stairwell, and headed underground.
According to Blister’s information, the building’s core facilities were all located below ground.
The aboveground floors contained offices, gyms, restaurants, and even guest rooms and showers for temporary accommodations.
Sure enough, the underground area housed the entire building’s server systems.
Crow led Kazumo and the still shell-shocked Blister down the stairs and into the area.
Through the glass flooring beneath their feet, they could see vast rows of server arrays neatly arranged below.
Mist generated by liquid nitrogen cooling floated through the gaps between the server racks.
“What an incredible operation…”
Looking at the entire floor filled with servers, Kazumo could not help but sigh in admiration.
This was the first time he had ever seen a database of this scale in reality.
Previously, he had only seen such things in AAA games from his previous life.
After passing through the entire glass-domed corridor and reaching the end, the three once again stepped onto solid flooring.
In the corner stood a modest management terminal.
This time, Blister did not immediately step forward.
He stopped and looked toward Crow beside him.
Naturally, Crow knew his own limits.
Without changing expression, he put on a profound look and gestured politely for Blister to proceed first.
Blister did not waste time.
He pulled a connection cable from his arm terminal, linked it to the management console, and began accessing the information.
This time, the connection required almost no effort.
Blister quickly gained access to the servers and began pulling data with the highest administrative authority.
As the data continuously appeared in holographic projections before them, the expressions of all three men gradually became uglier and uglier.
The Public Security Maintenance Bureau, the Iliaster organization, the Arcadia Movement organization, and countless wealthy foundations were all secretly supporting the Earthbound Immortal revival project.
Communication records between the leaders of these major organizations appeared before the trio’s eyes.
And there was only one reason these powerful elites had joined forces.
Immortality.
And the one who had connected everything together was none other than the current chief of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau… Rex Goodwin.