kscans

Chapter 177 - Red Snake

Ban looked at Diite, who had just introduced herself, his lips trembling.

It was understandable. He had captured Hayato to negotiate with the God of this world, only to reveal most of his scheme right in front of that very God. If he had negotiated while God was unable to interfere with Hayato, he might have stood a chance, but they were sitting right next to each other in the same room.

Since this was virtual reality, being next to each other or far apart was meaningless, but it was highly likely that this room had been created as a domain where God could not interfere. However, that was now meaningless.

And then there was the unexpected for Ban.

The fact that the era of resource depletion was already a hundred years in the past. Everything had surpassed his imagination.

And then the situation began to worsen.

"Now then, Ban-kun. You seem to have told me a lot, but there are still things you haven’t mentioned, are there not? Would you mind telling me everything, in the same tone as before? Depending on the content, I may even grant you a pardon."

"Wh, what are you—"

"You couldn’t possibly be acting alone, could you? Who are you connected with? No, whose orders are you following?"

"I, I’m alone…"

"It’s best to properly compose your expression, even in virtual reality. With a face like that and a trembling voice, it’s as good as saying you’re lying. You see, like you, I have little patience. Also, did you know? I can even alter the settings to tamper with the cryosleep pods. You understand what that means, don’t you?"

Diite-chan is scary… I don’t think she’d actually do it, but is she saying she’ll stop the cryosleep that’s keeping him alive?

The NPCs of this world were inside cryosleep pods aboard the spaceship Aphrodite. Inside those pods, all necessary life support functions for their physical bodies were performed. For that to stop meant that they would lose their lives.

"W, wait, please wait! Wh, what should I say! I’ll tell you anything! Just please spare me!"

"Hmm, let’s see. There are many things I wish to know, but first, about your allies. Oh, and please do not say you are alone again. You should assume that the moment you give me an answer I do not desire, the life support in your pod will be cut off. Disposing of a corpse is a nuisance, so do not say anything foolish."

…She’s so scary!

The words weren’t directed at Hayato, but he could feel their intensity even in virtual reality.

He didn’t know if she was angry because he had been put in danger, or if the hacking itself was unforgivable, but he knew for certain that Diite was absolutely furious.

"I, I understand! M, my allies aren’t here! They’re in the real world!"

"I am aware of that. If you were to attempt something like hacking on your own, you would be discovered immediately. You are likely having them launch a large-scale hack from the real world to serve as a distraction, are you not? While you draw our attention to the external hacking, you implant something else. It is a common tactic among hackers."

Havato had no knowledge of such things, but he listened with a silent "huh."

However, something else concerned him. The man before him, Ban, had a way to communicate with someone in the real world. Since Ban had his memory back, he could probably talk to real players within the game.

That said, it wasn't something you could just ask someone to do. Attempting to hack this virtual reality would be met with considerable resistance. It was unlikely anyone would agree to it.

"In, in the first place, the reason I regained my memory is because of the machine implanted in my body. But this machine itself is not something I can turn on or off at will…"

"Meaning there is someone on the outside who activated the machine in your body?"

"Th, that’s right. And after my memory returned, they contacted me. They told me to cooperate in stealing the virtual reality’s technology. That’s why I was sent here in the first place. That’s why I thought only a few years had passed at most… Is it really a hundred years later…?"

"Hayato-kun and I can guarantee that."

Havato nodded as Diite said this.

"B, but, then that’s strange, isn’t it!? Why would a machine from a hundred years ago suddenly activate now!? The people from that time should be dead!"

"The people may have died, but the plan seems to have remained. You were sent, and those people… meaning you were sent by some organization. That organization must still exist. So they have finally taken the bait…"

Diite’s face twisted into a wicked smile. It was the face of a true villain.

"Diite-chan…?"

"Ah, my apologies. A hundred years ago, there was an organization that was trying to steal the technology used in the Another Frontier Project. It’s likely that same organization has made a move again. A few years after the game started, they did nothing, so I thought they had been disbanded, but it seems they’re still around."

"They did nothing…?"

"That’s right, I suppose I should tell you, Hayato-kun. I am, in fact, a fugitive. I hijacked this spaceship, Aphrodite, and fled."

"I heard about that from Esha. You fled because the project was cancelled and the virtual reality itself was about to be deleted."

"Precisely. And after wandering through space for a hundred years, I returned. The spaceship required maintenance. The concern then was the people who knew about this spaceship. I didn’t know what would happen when they found out we had returned. So, I tried to smoke out any people or organizations that remembered, or had inherited information about, the Another Frontier Project."

"Smoke out?"

"I knew it was dangerous, but I named the game ‘Another Frontier Online.’ I believed that if anyone knew about the Another Frontier Project, they would almost certainly take the bait."

"That’s a pretty risky thing to do."

"It is easier to deal with an attack you know is coming than a surprise one. Besides, humanity’s technology has declined over the past hundred years. The technology on this spaceship is unbeatable… And this time, they finally took the bait. Well, I didn’t expect a virus to have already been planted a hundred years ago."

"Hic!"

Ban recoiled from Diite’s gaze. He was a far cry from his previous arrogant attitude, cowering in fear.

"Now, Ban-kun. What organization were you a part of? I will not accept silence here."

"I, I get it! I’ll talk! So just spare my life!"

"Of course. I keep my promises."

"I, I don’t know the name of the organization. I, I was in Colony ‘Prison.’ I was just sent from there…"

He came from quite a place. Isn’t that place advertised as being impossible to escape? Couldn’t you say that Ban basically escaped from there?

Colony "Prison."

A space prison that still existed in Hayato’s era. The colony was divided into several layers, housing everyone from petty criminals to the most heinous villains. Travel to the colony was by special unmanned spaceships only, which could only be operated externally, and even if you hijacked a ship, escape was impossible. That was the official line.

Diite seemed dissatisfied with Ban’s answer, narrowing her eyes slightly as she looked at him.

"You are a member of ‘Red Snake,’ are you not? Were your orders not from them? Or perhaps, you yourself are the mastermind?"

"D, don’t be absurd! It’s true I was a member of that organization, and for a time, I was at the top! But that organization is already defunct! Besides, if you’re going to suspect that, the most suspicious ones would be Relic or Sonia, wouldn’t they!?"

"Well, that might be so…"

Havato had no idea why Relic and Sonia’s names were coming up there.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but what is Red Snake, first of all?"

"R, Red Snake is the name of a group of hackers."

"A group of hackers?"

"A, a group that used to hack into various organizations to steal information. I, I’m telling you, the goal was to steal information, not to make money off of it!"

Diite snorted at Ban’s words.

"Stop lying at a time like this. When you became the head of that organization, you changed its operational policy, did you not? Its main purpose was to expose corrupt organizations, but you turned it into a way to extort money, didn’t you?"

"Y, you know that much—"

"Of course. I spent about a hundred years researching everyone, after all. However, it was only with the information available on the spaceship. For some reason, the entry check records didn’t show that you came from Prison. You slipped through quite well."

"Um, I get that, but why are Relic-san and Sonia-san suspicious?"

Diite paused to think for a moment before speaking.

"‘Red Snake’ is said to be a group of hackers, but initially, it was a name given to a single individual. At some point, that became an organization. Though I doubt the person himself wanted that."

Diite paused and looked at Hayato.

"That single individual was Relic-kun."

"…Excuse me?"

"Relic Barbatos. In the records from that time, he was a hacker so skilled that information about him was concealed, and as a criminal, he held the highest rank of ‘King.’ And his assistant, Sonia-kun, was similar, with the rank of ‘Queen,’ one step below. They were captured due to the betrayal of Ban-kun, whom they had taught hacking to, but Ban-kun was later captured in retaliation. It’s impressive that he could hack somewhere from inside Prison."

Diite said this and laughed, while Ban hung his head, dejected.

And Hayato, with his mouth hanging open, tried to understand what Diite had said, but he couldn’t quite grasp it.