—
Although Eileen, as Renji’s assistant, could also join Kael Technology directly, her benefits would certainly not be on par with Renji’s, such as medical insurance.
“Alright Miss Eileen, considering you choose not to install a prosthetic, here is your external insurance chip. In case of an irresistible danger, you just need to activate it, and the Emergency Squad members will arrive at the scene within fifteen minutes.”
“Oh, okay, thank you.”
After receiving the chip, roughly the size of a finger, Eileen suddenly thought of a question and couldn’t help asking:
“What if the person who… um, gets into a conflict with me and endangers my life is also an insured member of the Emergency Squad?”
“There are two scenarios in this case. If your membership level is higher than the other person’s, your Emergency Squad has the right to counterattack if necessary. If your membership level is lower or equal to the other person’s, regardless of the circumstances, the team members will only escort you away without engaging with the other party, even if they continue to attack.”
“That’s reasonable.”
Facing Eileen’s remarks, Tia just smiled and then quickly shifted her gaze to Renji, standing beside the young girl.
“Dr. Renji, could you please hand me your Sin City ID card?”
After Renji handed over his ID card, Tia inserted it into the device. Normally, it should be quickly processed with a ‘ding’ sound indicating successful insurance enrollment.
But this time…
“Uh? Please wait a moment.”
Tia’s fingers rapidly moved on the virtual keyboard, but soon she frowned, looking confused. “Dr. Renji, for some reason, it shows that you are already insured, but when I just checked your insurance record, I couldn’t find any related information.”
Renji had guessed that ‘Zero’ from the Emergency Squad might have provided him with their services, and perhaps even insured him, after encountering their field nurse at the Sea Sand Bar. However, when Renji checked the Emergency Squad’s official website earlier, he came to the same conclusion as Tia – there was no record of him being insured.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Renji. Would this be okay? I will follow up on this matter. It might be a system error at the Emergency Squad’s end. Once I have any information, I will contact you by email as soon as possible, alright?”
“Sure, that would be great miss Tia, Thank you for your help.”
“Thank you for your kindness Dr. Renji. Here is my employee card. If you place your card on it, we can establish contact.”
After Renji did as instructed, he added a new name to his personal contacts, alongside Keyji.
Like the other scholars from Sin City, Renji didn’t stay long after that. He left the company building with Eileen, where a car arranged by Kael Technology was waiting outside to take the consultants back to the hotel.
Renji was among the last to leave. The Emergency Squad and William had left the VIP room earlier, and even Caroline had gone ahead with most of the scholars to the hotel.
Keyji pretended to be busy on his phone and waited for a few more people to leave. Finally, when he was the only one left uninsured, he gestured to the scholars waiting for him to go back to the hotel to leave without him. Once everyone had left, Keyji smiled and looked around the now-empty VIP room, with only him and Tia remaining.
“Dr. Keyji, may I have your Sin City ID card, please?” Despite having been a “tour guide” for half a day, Tia’s pretty face showed no signs of fatigue, maintaining the same smile for Keyji as she had for the first person.
“Miss Tia, actually, I still have many things I don’t understand about Kael Technology. How about we add each other as friends so that I can ask you more questions later?”
Keyji grinned, deliberately avoiding the topic of medical insurance and changing the subject.
Tia maintained her professional smile in response but shook her head, “Dr. Keyji, for questions like that, you can contact me directly through corporate communication.”
After being rejected, Keyji tried several more times to add Tia as a friend, but she refused each time, making his expression stiffen and even become slightly angry.
Because
“Why is it so hard to get Miss Tia’s contact? I just saw it, you didn’t do this with Brother Renji. You directly exchanged ID cards with Dr. Renji! Why can’t I do the same?”
Keyji admitted that Renji was a bit more handsome than him, but the difference couldn’t be that big!
“You are mistaken, Dr. Keyji. I added Dr. Renji because he had some private issues regarding insurance.”
“Damn! I can use that method too! I underestimated Brother Renji. Why didn’t I think of that?”
As Keyji grumbled to himself, considering whether he should mimic Renji, what he didn’t know was that Tia received a red cross email in her mind.
It was a response from the Emergency Squad about Renji’s insurance inquiry. Tia multitasked, waiting for Keyji while opening the red email.
[Insured: Q*9a]
[Insurance Package: !^N/-@#$_] .
The moment Tia saw the email, countless garbled codes erupted from it like a virus, filling her entire vision instantly. The speed was so fast that Tia was caught off guard.
The garbled code invaded Tia’s system like a plague. In reality, this manifested as Tia suddenly clutching her forehead and staggering, almost falling to the side.
This startled Keyji, who was still pondering how to strike up a conversation. He quickly reacted and managed to catch Tia before she fell.
“Miss Tia? Miss Tia, what’s wrong with you? Don’t scare me!”
Keyji asked anxiously, but the only response he got was,
[Error. Unknown error, error, error, error…]
A mechanical voice kept coming from Tia, leaving Keyji in disbelief. ‘Was this the same beautiful and sweet-voiced researcher who had been introducing everything to us for hours, or was she more like one of those bionic Emergency Squad members?’
While Keyji was still shocked, he inadvertently glanced at something and his eyes widened, a chill running down his spine.
Because, through the gap in Tia’s disheveled clothes, Keyji saw something shining on her back. Specifically, it looked like a pattern branded onto Tia’s back, like a tattoo.
‘Was that a Brand!?’
‘No, no!’
‘It was said that Brands couldn’t possibly exist on living beings, but wait, does that mean…’
While Keyji’s mind was still trying to process everything, hurried footsteps sounded from outside the VIP room, followed by William, the manager, and four or five researchers in white lab coats.
“Take her away.”
“Yes sir”
After the researchers took Tia, who was continuously “malfunctioning,” from Keyji’s hands and left, William crouched down and looked Keyji in the eye.
“Dr. Keyji, you guessed right. Tia is a bionic person, an intelligent mechanical being.”
“An intelligent mechanical being? But she seemed so…”
“So human-like, right? Dr. Keyji, you must have noticed the Brand on Tia’s back. That’s also part of our Kael Technology’s Brand research.”
“So, you’re saying there’s a type of Brand that can give intelligent mechanical beings higher intelligence, almost human-like?”
“Alright, Dr. Keyji, this was an accident. I hope you can keep this business secret for Kael Technology. As a token of our appreciation, I’ve noticed that you’ve been heavily purchasing our stocks today, right? I’m willing to transfer the stocks in my hand to you at half the market price. How does that sound?”
“This…”
“Pleasure doing business with you, Dr. Keyji.” William didn’t wait for the young man’s reply and shook his hand.
Afterward, he leaned in and whispered something else to Keyji.
“Dr. Keyji, I’m aware of your significant background in Sin City, so I don’t wish for any conflict to arise between us. This business secret is very important to Kael Technology. Anyone who leaks it will be pursued relentlessly. You’re a smart man; you surely understand the principle that it’s better to have an extra friend than an enemy, right?”
After saying this, William added Keyji as a friend, patted his shoulder, and without further ado, hurried off in the direction Tia was taken by the researchers.
Left standing there, Keyji soon regained his composure, stood up from the ground, and pondered over the concepts of intelligent mechanical beings and Brands. He felt like he was on the verge of grasping something significant but was afraid to delve deeper into it.
After the incident with Tia, he was certain that Kael Technology was not as simple as it seemed and that they wouldn’t just collapse. The Brand Technology might not even be their trump card; Kael Technology might be holding back something even more insane.
Taking a deep breath, Keyji shook his head, pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, deciding not to dwell on them anymore. Some things are better left unknown, and as an ordinary person, he had no desire to be drawn into any mysterious and dangerous vortex.
Leaving the Kael Technology building, Keyji thought about the car waiting outside to take him to the hotel. After a moment’s consideration, he instructed the smart driver to change the destination to a… bar.
On the car ride, for some reason, an image of Renji appeared in Keyji’s mind, along with something Renji had once said about Tia.
-Afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle it-
‘Could it be that Renji was hinting at me that Tia wasn’t human?’
‘Did that mean Renji had realized Tia’s bionic nature and even the Brand on her back a long time ago?’
Keyji’s eyes widened in shock at this thought.
But soon, he laughed and shook his head.
“How could that be possible”
“I am just overthinking”
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