Booting the device, Dante fiddled with it for a few seconds then turned the screen to the red-haired girl. On it was a normal-looking QR code.
"Scan it." He said curtly.
Liliana didn’t look too happy about her question being ignored so she just stared at him with knitted brows.
Dante clicked his tongue. "It’s a wallet address. I told you I need half upfront."
"Oh, I see." A look of understanding painted the girl’s face as she looked down at the device. "Did you have to go through all this trouble, though? You do have a NIM, right?"
She meant to say that they could have completed the transaction by connecting their Neural Interface Modules, but Dante wasn’t about to make that mistake.
"I might be poor, but not that poor." He sighed. "I don’t link with just about anyone, that’s all."
The smartphone serves as a proxy of sorts that stands between the two in this case. Connecting NIMs directly leaves a digital footprint in each one which can be used to trace the identity of the users.
Dante had no intention of giving the girl something that could lead her back to him, even though he suspected that his upgraded NIM couldn’t be traced easily when Volcan was connected to it. He used to carry a badge with the QR code for this simple reason, but it was lost along with the clothes he wore before waking up at Larry’s clinic.
’Better safe than sorry.’
A notification appeared on his OAM informing him that a 25000G had been deposited into one of his wallets. He suppressed a smile and glanced at the girl.
"Good thing you knew about Gold."
"And why wouldn’t I?" Liliana frowned once more.
"It’s not something the rich would use."
Gold was a cryptocurrency that became the equivalent of cash a long time ago. It allowed for secure and anonymous transactions, which made it quite popular compared to Radmir Credits, the country’s official currency that’s constantly monitored.
"I heard that you need it when..."
"When visiting the poorer parts of the city?"
"When making deals with people who might know things," Liliana said. "It’s the currency most used by drug dealers."
Obviously, a popular cryptocurrency couldn’t exist without governments and corporations attempting to control it. Their attempts to strangle Gold have been in vain, however, all thanks to its enigmatic creator widely known as Steve.
No one knows how he did it, but one of the properties he granted to Gold allows each coin to recognize who controls it, and if a big amount were to fall into the hands of certain individuals or organizations, it would completely disintegrate, adding to the amount that can still be mined.
Such a property made using Gold a great risk, but when compared to everything else, a lot of people decided it was worth the gamble. The elites avoided it like the plague despite that, seeing how they were the most likely to lose all of it without a warning.
"Alright, now that you have paid me, the contract is valid," Dante said, finally allowing himself to smile for the first time since he met the girl. "Make sure to register these contact info so we can remain in touch."
The smartphone was just a burner he planned on getting rid of as soon as the job was done and for that reason, he didn’t mind giving the girl its number.
"Honestly, I don’t know how you expect me to trust you when you don’t extend the same courtesy." Liliana pouted.
"Unlike you, I don’t have big money backing me up," Dante said. "Caution is paramount when dealing with people like you."
There is a reason most mercs take jobs from fixers instead of the client directly. Once the contacts were exchanged, Liliana seemed to regain some of her positiveness.
"So, now that you got paid, how do we start?"
"Hold your horses," Dante said and raised the bag in his hand. "I gotta eat first."
While shopping, he remembered to send a text to Nobara telling her he was away on a job. If the red-haired girl hadn’t stuck to him like expired engine oil he would have been at the Bowl of Fortune by now enjoying his favorite spicy ramen. Instead, here he was chewing on a bland packed sandwich.
Noticing Liliana’s criticizing gaze, he looked down and thought for a moment before passing her the bag.
"Here. You can have some."
Though she said that, her expression told him she wasn’t very fond of the commoner food. Taking another bite, Dante let his thoughts wander. At some point, he began to have a strange feeling at the back of his mind. That feeling kept getting stronger until its nature became clear.
He was forgetting something very critical.
"Did you tell anyone about this?" He asked, his voice much more serious than before. "That you were out looking for Catalyst..."
"Of course not." Liliana harrumphed. "They would never let me go."
"How long do you think it would take them to realize you’re missing?"
Sensing the gravity of the question, she glanced at him then lowered her gaze, giving it some thought.
Dante lowered his sandwich slowly.
"The hell... do you mean..." He swallowed his words and went silent. A few seconds later, he asked with an unreadable expression. "You seriously don’t know?"
"Well, I did my best to hide my tracks, but..." Her eyes swam away from him. "I don’t know the true extent of the surveillance placed on me."
’... You’re still masking my presence from surveillance systems, aren’t you?’
[Yes.] The AI replied.
The source of the bad feeling. It was something Dante hadn’t paid attention to for a while, leading to him forgetting to ask a very important question.
’Volcan... What happens when people talk to me while I’m in this state?’
[In that case, the effect is extended to them.] With an even voice, the AI gave the exact opposite answer his host was looking for. [To ensure you are not exposed, their presence is erased as well.]
In an instant, Dante’s back was drenched in cold sweat. He thought that, with his presence hidden, anyone he spoke to would appear as if they were talking to an invisible ghost in the security footage. The truth turned out to be much more troublesome, however.
He glanced at the red-haired girl beside him. There was zero chance that she had been allowed to roam around without constant surveillance. If things worked the way Volcan explained, it would mean that she had disappeared every time the two of them talked, and she had been right next to him ever since they got on the train earlier.
To those monitoring her, it must have appeared as if she had vanished into thin air. She was a Level 3 Advanced EI, one of Eidolon’s most important products. She was also the daughter of a very powerful family. If someone like that were to just vanish then—