After witnessing the murder in the streets, Harry had been keeping watch near the ctOS server in The Loop district.
The one who committed that street killing was Aiden Pearce, the protagonist of "Watch Dogs."
The situation was this: the unlucky guy who was killed had received a phone call telling him to intimidate Aiden's sister. As a result, Aiden, who had once lost family members himself, instantly flew into a rage and carried out a pursuit in broad daylight on the spot.
It had to be said that these hackers in this city really were like people with superpowers; after killing someone in plain sight, they could still evade Police tracking and make a clean getaway.
Meanwhile, Aiden, who killed the unlucky fellow, needed to find out who ordered the intimidation of his sister. To do this, he needed to help the hacker organization DedSec hack into the ctOS server in The Loop district—which was right here.
Harry put down the black tea in his hand; Lening had found the target.
Although Harry didn't have miraculous hacking skills or ctOS permissions, Lening could directly take over electronic equipment without needing software to control the hardware.
It was just that Osborn's power grid in Chicago hadn't been fully laid out yet, so Lening couldn't control Chicago the way he controlled the New York power grid.
The server had many guards, mostly mercenaries hired at high prices by Blume Corporation. Most of these mercenaries were cold-blooded killers who had committed countless murders.
Just as Aiden was cautiously looking for an entry point, someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"Aiden Pearce."
Aiden's pupils constricted sharply. Without even thinking, he swung his telescopic baton toward Harry, but the move that had never failed him before misfired.
Harry easily caught Aiden's baton.
"Harry Osborn?" After seeing the newcomer clearly, Aiden called out Harry's name.
"It's me. Good moves, but I'm not here to catch you; I'm here to help you."
Aiden retracted his baton, his eyes shifting slightly as he sized Harry up.
"I don't know how you know my name, but I have urgent business. If you don't want to get hurt—"
Before Aiden could finish, Harry snatched the baton from Aiden's hand with such speed that Aiden didn't react at all.
The baton gradually deformed in Harry's hand, eventually being crushed into a pile of scrap.
"There's a nice cafe over there."
Even after witnessing this scene, Aiden still didn't intend to go with Harry. He secretly operated his phone, trying to trigger the gas valve behind Harry to open.
"Mr. Pearce, don't waste your effort. See if your phone still works?" Harry spread his hands.
Aiden looked at his phone with a dazed expression. The screen was completely blank, save for a single '(°ー°〃)' emoticon.
"See, I said I have no ill will. Since you already know I'm Harry Osborn, if you have any brains, you should sit down and talk with me."
Aiden felt somewhat helpless; currently, this was indeed the only way.
"Then I'll be blunt: I want to hire you to work for me," Harry went straight to the point.
"Sorry, but I'm not accepting employment right now. I'm handling personal matters," Aiden shook his head.
"Aren't you going to hear what it's about?" Harry wasn't in a hurry; he knew Aiden would definitely accept in the end anyway.
"I plan to deal with Blume Corporation."
Aiden froze.
"Although I need to hack into ctOS to use its functions, that doesn't mean I want to bring down Blume," Aiden shook his head.
"No, you also need to deal with Blume Corporation."
Aiden didn't speak, quietly listening as Harry continued.
"I know who you are and what you've done. Because of a job involving black money from a bank, you saw a strange recording in ctOS and got into trouble. When the other side sent people to hunt you down, your niece died because of it. And now, again because of you, someone called to threaten your sister."
Aiden's eyes narrowed. His personal information didn't exist in ctOS; in other words, he was theoretically equivalent to an invisible person in this city.
How did Harry know so much?
"Now, you need ctOS data to help you track down who made that call. That's why you came to the ctOS server in The Loop district, planning to help that hacker organization hack into ctOS. I know all of this."
"See, the problems you've encountered are basically all related to ctOS. And for me, the reason I want to buy that company is also this system, but they are unwilling to sell because of it."
"Don't you think there are secrets hidden behind this system?"
"This sounds like something that DedSec bunch would say. You should find them to work for you," Aiden shook his head.
"They lack decisive means and execution. Besides, you need me too."
"Nonsense." Aiden was clearly an isolationist; if he could do it himself, it was impossible for him to rely on others.
"You might be a tough guy, going head-to-head with those mercenaries with just a crappy gun, but have you thought about your sister and nephew?"
Harry brought up the crucial issue, gesturing for the waiter to add more tea.
Aiden fell into thought.
Indeed, he could run into a hail of bullets for a gunfight, but his family couldn't. There was already a precedent; that was how his niece had passed away.
Open attacks are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against.
"You can protect my family?" Aiden finally relented.
"Of course I can. I'll send them to New York. If you watch the news, you should know Osborn's influence in New York."
Harry saw Aiden's hesitation and thought he was about to agree, but then saw him shake his head.
"I don't trust you. How can I be sure you won't use them as hostages?"
Aiden was clearly very cautious, but if Harry wanted to deal with him, the shop entrance should be full of Police right now!
However, wanting a hacker to believe him just by word of mouth was indeed not enough, which didn't come as a surprise to Harry.
But without fail, someone would soon kidnap Aiden's sister. At that time, he would naturally come knocking on the door again.
"Fine, but my offer still stands. Also, you can go directly into that area; their leader is already my man."
Harry took out his phone and spoke into it:
"Wave over here. In a moment, give this gentleman in the cap a bit of a pass. You won't see him, understood?"
The mercenaries outside waved toward them, indicating they had heard.
Aiden looked at the mercenaries, then at Harry, feeling quite uneasy in his heart.
Harry spread his hands.
Aren't mercenaries just working for money? Some might have a bit of professional integrity, but these guys with heavy stains on their records—wouldn't they obediently switch sides if you just threw some money at them?
Aiden then walked right in along the path the mercenaries had cleared.
The recruitment of this protagonist could be put aside for now; there were a few more talents here that could be recruited.
For example, the two developers of ctOS.
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