'Silver Wolf' had been wondering exactly how Cipher would choose to announce her arrival.
It didn't take long. In fact, the day hadn't even ended, and 'Silver Wolf' hadn't even found time for her second meal yet.
The customers trickling into the fast-food joint brought with them a startling piece of news.
A few hackers who had been acting particularly bold in the digital world recently had suddenly tripped up in a big way.
Without a single clue or a trace left behind, their Aether Cartridges had been snatched away.
For a hacker, that device is a second set of eyes, a second heart. It records a hacker's entire life and carries the bulk of their capabilities.
To put it bluntly, an Aether Cartridge makes performing Aether Editing significantly easier and smoother.
Of course, getting your hands on a cartridge in Punklorde is easy enough. The hard part is that every single one contains data unique to its owner.
Now, with their cartridges—and all the private secrets within—stolen, it meant their entire lives were laid bare before the thief.
Forget hackers; even for an ordinary person, having your personal info and data completely leaked is a death sentence.
In Punklorde, cartridges are everywhere. It's just that not everyone can master Aether Editing, and not everyone can become a hacker.
Consequently, most Punklordians wouldn't even dream of stealing one. Even if they did, they'd be looking to siphon the data inside, not taking the physical hardware itself.
So, this time, the fact that several hackers had outright lost their physical Aether Cartridges was enough to make them the laughingstock of Punklorde for the rest of their lives.
It became the talk of every street corner and back alley.
The shop owner was the one who told her. She also mentioned that every hacker who lost a cartridge found a black-gold cat coin left in their pocket.
"..."
She couldn't be certain before, but the moment she saw the images of the cat coin spreading like wildfire across the network, she knew this was Ciphers's handiwork.
It was classic Cipher—starting things off with a little lighthearted theft.
And her choice of targets was interesting: the Aether Cartridges that were so ubiquitous in Punklorde. Because they were everywhere, no one ever paid them much mind.
Thus, after that collective stumble by the well-known hackers, the name of the Coin of Whimsy, Zagreus, spread rapidly alongside this rare Phantom Thief case.
Many were speculating about where this high-level expert had come from.
To take down several famous hackers in one go without touching any valuable data, only taking the cartridges to humiliate them—it was definitely a bit of a twisted sense of humor.
Supposedly, this Phantom Thief had another quirk: she liked to ring a bell near the victims while working. Every victim reported hearing a chime just before their cartridge vanished.
The hackers took this as a blatant provocation.
All in all, thanks to these absurd yet highly skilled crimes, the hype was through the roof.
'Silver Wolf' spent the evening in the basement arcade, grinding away at a classic retro game.
Once the crowd thinned out, little Silver Wolf was so tired she was practically nodding off, her head dipping like she was fishing for dreams.
Though 'Silver Wolf' had intended for the girl to go straight to bed, for some reason, the drowsy little thing wandered over and collapsed against her, falling fast asleep.
When Cipher quietly slipped inside, she was met with this heartwarming scene. She really wanted to joke that they looked like a young single mother struggling to raise her child alone.
But Cipher didn't dare say it.
She still remembered the feeling of being outplayed by 'Silver Wolf' earlier—having her own ears toyed with after practically handing them over. For now, at least, she wasn't about to poke the bear.
Bartholos, however, clearly didn't get the memo.
He slithered out of the data channel with a shifty look. Upon seeing 'Silver Wolf', he immediately put on a bizarre, flattering smile and approached while rubbing his hands together like a fly.
"Whoa! Big-Big Sis, you're a mom now? The kid's grown so much already! Aww, look how close they are. You can tell this kid is a sharp one just by looking!"
"..."
Cipher twitched her lip and looked away.
There was no way she was telling Bartholos about how her ears had been played with that afternoon.
She just hadn't expected him to be so "brave"—daring to voice the very tease she was too afraid to whisper.
'Silver Wolf' was also a bit speechless.
She began to reflect on whether it was actually a good idea to use the Silver Wolf character card and come looking for this little Silver Wolf, who was still in the single digits, age-wise.
She'd only been here a day, and how many times had she been called "mom"?
And that was just the people saying it out loud. Every customer in the fast-food joint or the arcade would freeze for a second when they saw her, shift their gaze to little Silver Wolf, then back to her.
Finally, they'd look at the owner; once she shook her head, they'd sigh and go back to their business.
Becoming a painless mother before even having a wife was a bit much.
Granted, once Silver Wolf grew up, turning these memories into a Light Cone to show the Stellaron Hunters would surely elicit a delicious reaction. But being treated like a young mom looking for her kid all day was... a bit hard to describe.
Forget it, let's set that aside for now.
Thinking this, 'Silver Wolf' reached out and snatched Bartholos.
Just as he was about to make a sound, a comical 'X' appeared over his mouth, sealing his voice.
Then, with a quick rub of her hands, she kneaded the black, jelly-like digital beast into a round, white, bouncy ball-like creature.
"Mmph?! Mmph—?!"
Before Bartholos even realized what was happening, he found himself without limbs, unable to fly, and even unable to speak. He looked at Big Sis, then at Big-Big Sis, completely bewildered.
Seeing this, Cipher smiled and shook her head with a sigh.
"Oh, Bartholos... I can't help you there. Our Big Boss isn't even married yet, and you go around saying she's raising a kid? Who else would she punish but you?"
"—"
Bartholos felt his soul wither. If he had hands, he'd probably slap himself across the face. Why did you have to go and open your big mouth?
Looking at the dejected Bartholos, 'Silver Wolf' handed him over to Cipher and said, "Stop looking so miserable. If you can manage to evolve once from this state, your strength will evolve right along with it."
"!!!"
Bartholos's eyes widened as he looked at 'Silver Wolf'. If he could talk, he'd definitely be asking if she was for real. Even Cipher looked over in surprise.
"Really?"
"As a small punishment, I've regressed him to a Fresh-stage Digimon. However, I'm not so cruel as to wipe away his power entirely. So, you can view this as a penalty, or as an opportunity to become even stronger."
'Silver Wolf' wasn't a tyrant; she wouldn't truly ruin someone over a single comment.
Simply put, it was a lesson for Bartholos and his loose tongue.
By regressing him, his movements would be restricted for a while, but by retaining his actual power level, it meant he could achieve a massive leap in strength through much easier evolutions.
In the short term, it was a punishment, but in the long run, it was definitely a boon.
Cipher felt like giving her a hug.
Though she didn't say it, after working with Bartholos for so many years—especially after reclaiming the data from so many cycles—the bond between these two generations of Trickster Titans was clearly very strong.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have tackled a job as dangerous as a solo expedition to Punklorde together.
Even though Bartholos looked quite silly as a white fluff-ball, Cipher was happy for him.
Bartholos was even worse; if he had arms or legs, he'd probably be clinging to her boots.
As it was, he was already teary-eyed, looking moved to the point of sobbing. Whether he was faking it or not was anyone's guess.
Cipher tossed the sniveling Bartholos aside with a look of feigned disgust and flicked her wrist. Several Aether Cartridges clattered onto the nearby table.
"Hehe, I noticed little Silver Wolf hasn't started Aether Editing yet. She can have these to play with."
"Aren't you worried the data on those will be a bad influence?"
'Silver Wolf' casually picked up a cartridge.
To her current self, Aether Editing held no secrets across any dimension. She quickly imported the data into Project Bunny, deleted and blurred the useless personal logs, and kept only the hacker-related records.
This would serve as a perfect "Introduction to Hacking" for little Silver Wolf.
Aether Editing in Punklorde is a subject that relies heavily on innate talent. But this was Silver Wolf. There was no need to worry about talent. She'd learn it, period.
As for a cartridge for Silver Wolf herself? She had Project Bunny. A construct built from the power of Elation was more than qualified to serve as a hacker's Aether Cartridge. If anything, it was overkill.
"Alright, I'm heading out first," Cipher said, gathering the now-empty cartridges as if planning to recycle them.
"Not staying the night?"
"Nah, I might as well strike while the iron is hot. I've been annoyed with those folks in the Oasis Zone for a long time. Today, the legendary thief who robs the rich to help the poor makes her grand return to the world! Bartholos, let's roll!"
Cipher raised her arms and gave a long, hard stretch. Her slender waist curved at an exaggerated, graceful angle that almost made one worry it might snap.
The two thieves vanished back into the data channels, likely off to cause a headache for the elites of the Oasis Zone.
None of that mattered much to 'Silver Wolf', though. Right now, she just had a mischievous urge to see little Silver Wolf sitting stoically on Project Bunny, shouting, "Project Bunny 19C!"
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL