The top floor of the facility was above the clouds. This place was monitored by no cameras. Communication devices could not enter this room; no attack of any kind could be launched against it. Although the glass walls showed the sky, they weren't actually glass. They were merely walls reflecting the image from the other side. Because Hianyan did not want the SWR to know what was discussed in this room. This room was the black box that kept the secrets of this facility. This black box was not unique to this facility. Such a room had to exist in every facility just for the purpose of holding business meetings. If a facility did not possess one of these rooms, most people wouldn't even deign to hold a business meeting there.
"From what I see..." Nagara said, reaching for his shirt and unbuttoning its single button. "...there is a turmoil below, dear Hianyan. Is this a frequent occurrence in your facility?" He pulled back his chair and moved to the round table.
"It's not a common occurrence but... but I ask you to excuse our misfortune. Our misfortune coincided with your arrival."
"I hope there is no significant casualty..."
"No..." said Hianyan, moving toward his chair. "...not very important things. A few robots and Bolver..."
Since both sides turned off their emotion modules during these business conversations, no facial expressions were usually seen unless desired. Therefore, Nagara said with a dead expression: " I am very saddened by this situation."
"It was obvious he would get into trouble one day. He was like a crazed, old, and rabid mutt."
"A death... I wonder when the last time a death occurred in these facilities."
"Every day..." Hianyan said and chuckled lightly. "...even today I lost a Calosian."
"Ah... a Calosian? I'm talking about real death. Who cares about the death of vermin? Yes... yes, I remember now. The last death was an unfortunate accident. I believe it was your brother, wasn't it? Ah, he was a very determined man... a commendable personality."
"My brother? After him, there was a logistics specialist who passed away... My brother was not the last one to die."
"Ah, I'm sorry. I mixed it up then," Nagara said and placed his briefcase on the table.
"I hope you haven't come here just to reinforce our friendship. Because a call would have been enough for that," Hianyan said.
"Don't worry, dear Hianyan. I came here to talk business. I find it far too cybernetic to talk business without asking how one is. We haven't lost our humanity that much, have we?"
"If you came all the way from Uruzen to talk business, then it must be an important matter."
"It's not just one important matter; there are many matters." He reached into the briefcase and opened it. He took out a holographic paper. "Assuming you're already aware, I want to ask something. Why haven't we traded for a long time? We used to suggest employees to each other, share our machines. If we found a customer, we would be each other's references."
Hianyan knew all of this was a lie. While he was building this facility with his own bare hands, no one had helped him. In fact, for that very reason, he had taken help from Calosians and become indebted to some of them. His doing business with Calosians had become a subject of mockery among other TESO employees; Hianyan had been nicknamed the "mud-lover." TESO had not helped TESO2 in any way.
"A good question..." Hianyan said. "...but if there is one thing that lowers the quality of this question, it would be your expecting an answer from me."
"Don't you have the answer to the question?"
"Definitely not. The last time I checked, our relations were never this intimate. You must be confusing me with someone else."
"Ah, yes..." he said, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the holographic paper in his hand. "...it's time for these damn eye lenses of mine to be cleaned. This was apparently a friendship between TESO2 and TESO3." He handed the hologram to Hianyan.
In the hologram, Hianyan and the general manager of the TESO3 factory, Capazo, were posing for the camera with their arms around each other. Behind them, a giant TESO3 was written. Below it was the name of the city where TESO3 was located, Jijige City.
"I look quite good in the photo," Hianyan said and handed the hologram back to Nagara. "I have a quite advanced friendship with Capazo, even if not very close."
Since the Uruzen factory of TESO was the first one established and the main factory, it was considered superior in rank to the others. That was why Nagara could adopt these inquisitive manners and speak from a high position.
"When was the last time you visited Uruzen City?"
"You are asking very strange questions, Master Nagara. If Manager Labiba arranged this talk not to trade with me but to request a visit from me, we can cut all this talk short and get to the point."
"No... just..." he said, fixing his eyes on Hianyan's. "...I wanted to verify a few pieces of information."
"Is this an investigation? If so, perhaps I should have come to you."
"An investigation? God forbid... I rather want to show you how well we know you. Looking at these holographic papers, you've formed some very clever relationships." He turned his briefcase upside down, and the holographic papers spilled onto the table. Some of the holograms falling on top of each other were intertwined, thus appearing blurred.
"Was that all that was in that briefcase?"
"No..." he said and closed the briefcase. "...there is also a gift I can offer you depending on the progress of the conversation. But as I said, I came here to talk trade."
"Let's talk then... please... I'm listening..."
"Recently, Master Labiba decided to do some personal business."
"Personal business? Is Orvain Ashengine aware of these personal businesses?"
"Definitely not..."
"So, businesses that might disturb the boss..."
"Not exactly."
"Disgraceful businesses then?"
"You could say that."
"And what does this have to do with your coming here?"
"You're in such a hurry, Master Hianyan. You were this excited even when you were just a simple engineer in Uruzen City. I would like to tell you this. This business was a shipping job. A load coming out of the factory needed to be taken to a place very close to your city's borders."
There was a period of silence. Then Nagara spoke once again:
"You shouldn't act as if you're unaware of a transport truck wandering on your border."
"Yes... I was aware of a transport ship. Until..."
"Until those clouds coming from the north cut the connection with the Net. Quite strange, isn't it? It has been about 44 years since such a cloud cluster was seen in these lands. A cloud cluster that exists in a way that meteorology did not predict... right as the shipping cargo was passing through that region."
"A great misfortune..."
"Yes... the misfortune is great, but there are other things that magnify the misfortune. For instance, I don't know if you'll believe it, but under that cloudy sky, our precious cargo vehicle was attacked."
"Attacked? By whom?"
"By a Calosian group."
"A Calosian group? They're certainly not from my factory."
"This Calosian group was well-equipped. In fact, according to our teams roaming there, these Calosians were perhaps not locals of that area but cannibals who settled there later."
"I didn't know there was a cannibal tribe in my city." Hianyan's voice was calm, but the end of the sentence was left open intentionally. In rooms like this, it was the things left unsaid that spoke more than words.
"Not knowing," Nagara said slowly, "is not always a lack of information. Sometimes it merely expresses the side one does not wish to look at."
"Are you aware of what you're implying? According to you, I'm not controlling my tribes just so they become a nuisance for other factories, is that it?"
"Perhaps what causes you to do this is your good intentions more than your bad intentions. You leave your city's people too free; you spoil them too much."
"I... I will increase oversight."
"I hope you do."
"But I assume nothing happened to your cargo."
"Yes... our cargo was protected. Thanks to our team, but..."
"But there's a problem there too, isn't there?"
"Strange events with too many variables are happening for a single cargo, dear Hianyan. That's why Labiba needs people he can trust."
"The cargo must be very valuable to him."
"Absolutely... you wouldn't believe it if I told you how valuable it is."
"Important enough to cut off the SWR Net?"
Nagara was so shaken by what he heard that even though he was a cybernetic, he had to look away. Hianyan was aware that it was his turn to interrogate. Everything he did now would reflect on the agreement he would make later.
"You think Labiba cut off the SWR Net. Despite him repeatedly stating it was due to a malfunction... This is a huge accusation."
"It's not a bigger accusation than the ones you've been subtly imposing on me," Hianyan said. "From what I understand from this conversation, you think I was aware of your cargo beforehand. That I even arranged these clouds in the sky to seize your cargo... You examined the direction of the clouds and saw that the clouds were coming from the direction of the TESO3 factory." He showed the hologram in his hand to Nagara. "That's why the photos where I appear with Capazo bothered you. But I assure you that I have nothing to do with these events."
"Then you'll excuse us for coming with a business offer so that we can trust you."
"Actually, why should I trust you, dear Nagara?" Hianyan said. "I think Labiba deliberately sabotaged the Net."
"What makes you think that?"
"How should I say? Perhaps I think so because Bolver died." Hianyan could tell how much Nagara was restraining his body with modules by the fact that no facial expressions played on his face. Sometimes, showing no expression could be more striking than making one.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
"I couldn't feel your sadness because of the modules you turned off. But thank you..."
Hianyan scanned the holograms out of the corner of his eye. Truly, almost all the images he dreaded were on that table. This was a symphony of intimidation. Images with his family, images with his colleagues, and most importantly, images taken with officials. It was as if they were threatening to expose the corruption he had committed. Yes... they could definitely do that. Labiba was a thousand times more powerful than Hianyan as a political force. Even Nagara alone was a person with more say than Hianyan. But there was something they didn't know: Hianyan knew this day would come. He knew TESO could turn against him. That's why... that's why he had come prepared.
"Please explain to me. The moment the Net shuts down, a ship approaches my facility. It talks to the Calosians and tries to incite them to revolt."
"Revolt? One man?"
"Yes... one man... And then a manager from the Uruzen facility comes and gives Bolver something. And Bolver is now dead... My facility has turned into a battlefield. Not only has my production, stalled due to the Net shutdown, put me in great loss, but the clashes have also hindered production. I've suffered losses because of many of my robots."
"You think this net outage was intentional to get that man into this facility," Nagara said.
"Yes," Hianyan said clearly. "I think it was intentional."
Nagara tilted his head very slightly. This was neither a confirmation nor an objection for him; it was merely the act of shelving information.
"This is a serious claim," he said. "Shutting down the SWR Net is a cause for not only a commercial but a political crisis. If you think Labiba did this..."
"That is exactly what I'm saying," Hianyan replied. "Someone wanted a crisis here. And that crisis, strangely, always erupted around my facility."
"Funny..." Nagara said. "...why would Labiba want to do such a thing to you?"
"Why would Labiba..." he said, pointing to the holograms piled on the table. "...want to do such a thing?"
"So this whole Net outage was just to bring you down, is that it?" He leaned back in his chair with a slight chuckle. "This is a quite paranoid impulse... quite funny... Why would Labiba care about you this much?"
Hianyan struck the table with his hand in a flash of anger. "Stop mocking me, please, dear Nagara. You say you don't care about me, yet you spread this work you prepared..." he said, pointing to the holograms. "...in front of me! This... this is truly an insult to my person and my intellect."
Nagara's plan was actually to scare Hianyan a bit and guarantee the security of the transport vehicle. But from what he saw, they had further fueled the paranoia of Hianyan, whose paranoia had been triggered by the events unfolding in this facility. From that moment on, he couldn't predict what might happen, couldn't even imagine how he would return to Labiba.
"I seem to be straying from the reason I came here. Please... please let's return to our main topic. I came to make a deal with you."
"A deal? Like the one you made with Bolver? Tell the truth, did you make a deal with Bolver?"
Bolver's damn death had not only ruined all of Nagara's plans but had turned everything upside down. Under normal circumstances, if that man responsible for the entire security of the facility had continued working for Nagara, Hianyan wouldn't have known a thing. But because of that man who killed Bolver and dragged everything into chaos, the whole conversation seemed to be heading toward an unpredictable point.
"A deal? Is that really what you're curious about? Who isn't making a deal with whom on this damn planet? TESO4 is constantly at the heels of TESO5... the manager of TESO8 is no different from an SWR trustee... TESO6 prays to Ashengine every night before sleeping. It's mandatory for you to use TESO3's connections to sell your goods, and in return, two of your production lines are under the control of TESO3..."
"All of this..."
"How do we know all this? Because we are Uruzen City! We are the first TESO factory! We are the owners of the damn planet!"
"So does this population, or rather power, that you own give you the right to make a deal with one of my staff?"
"And what gave you the right to attack our transport vehicle, I wonder?"
"You keep talking to me about paranoia, but you are the real paranoids!" Hianyan said and stood up. He had stopped controlling his body with emotion modules. "Please... please leave my facility, taking your incomprehensible accusations with you."
"To hear my offer..."
"Are you still saying offer? This... this has started to reach the level of insult."
"Maryon Basin..." As soon as this word left Nagara's mouth, Hianyan froze with a momentary surge of his emotion modules. Now only small fragments of signals remained from the emotion modules. He didn't have emotion modules of high enough quality to control such mood swings.
"Maryon Basin?"
"Yes... Labiba promises to provide you with the Maryon Basin in exchange for our transport vehicle being protected by you."
"This... this is a massive offer." This man, who until two seconds ago was straining his emotion modules with anger, had completely destroyed his emotion modules with a moment of shock. He could no longer hide his emotions. "Isn't the Maryon Basin 12% of Uruzen City's raw material needs?"
"Absolutely... a very generous offer from our General Manager Labiba."
"Extremely... well, the machines and workers inside it..."
"They are also included in the offer..."
"This... this offer is incredible," Hianyan said and collapsed into his chair. With the complete burnout of his emotion module, he had now become a simple human. He nervously joined his hands in front of him and began to think. Nagara, however, was still sitting at the table in a professional manner, showing no emotion.
At that moment, a small bell sound was heard as the elevator reached the floor they were on.
"Who is this?" Nagara said.
As the elevator door opened, Hianyan walked toward the elevator with anxious steps. "The killer who killed Bolver... I knocked him out and caught him," Hianyan said. At that moment, a robot from the elevator was waiting for confirmation at the elevator door with the Enhanced it had under its arm.
"He was hit with a very heavy sedative, sir," the robot said. "It's impossible for him to wake up..."
"What was the name of the needle?" Hianyan asked.
"Our sample named N22UV48," the robot said.
"Are you crazy? You might have even killed him."
"We verified that he is breathing."
At that moment, Hianyan looked at Nagara out of the corner of his eye. Nagara nodded in confirmation for the robot and the man to enter. Thus: "Then... then you can bring him in," he said.
The robot dragged the man by his feet as they touched the floor and brought him to the side of the table. Nagara was looking at the man brought in with disgust. The man's coarse face resembled that of a barbarian. His torn clothes, revealing his muscular body, supported the man's primitive appearance. Nagara had to turn off his smell modules to filter the man's foul odor.
"This man..."
"This man was with the woman you're looking for."
"Very interesting... Should I be surprised that you know we're looking for a woman, or by this rabbit coming out of the hat?" he said, pointing to the man with his hand.
"I could die to learn why you're looking for the woman or why this man became a nuisance to me... But... but I don't think satisfying my curiosities is worth losing the offer you made."
"So you're handing this man over to me, is that it?"
"Definitely..." Hianyan said. "...and I accept your offer. I will protect your shipment as if it were my own eye." Hianyan stood up and was just reaching his hand out to the man when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that this man, who was supposed to be unconscious, had his eyes slightly open. It was a matter of a split second... The moment this awareness loaded onto him, the Enhanced man flinched, reached for the gun on the robot's waist, and blew the robot's head off. Then he took two steps away from the table and pointed the gun toward Nagara. As the robot's body hit the floor, the sound of metal striking spread through the empty room.
"Stop!" Hianyan shouted.
"Is this part of your plan too?" Nagara shouted. After all this emotional turmoil, his emotion modules must have lost their functionality as well. With his face shriveled in anger, as if afraid to turn his head toward the man pointing the gun at him, he scanned the Enhanced man holding the gun out of the corner of his eye. "What are you aiming for, damn you!"