"So, you didn't bring the data, and I didn't bring your family. We really are in sync."
Aiden met with the man who had kidnapped his family—Damien.
Damien was Aiden's former mentor and partner. The two of them had used hacking techniques to rob Bankers until one operation where they hacked into ctOS. They happened to see that fragmented video, leading Blume and Quinn to send people to hunt them down.
In the end, Damien lost a leg, and Aiden lost his niece.
Aiden had always wanted to find out who ordered the hit on his niece and seek revenge for her.
Damien, however, believed there was a massive secret involved—a secret that could make him a fortune.
So he approached Blume Corporation and kidnapped Aiden's family, forcing Aiden to help him find the data so he could blackmail Blume.
Now, with Harry's intervention, Aiden finally understood the full picture.
"You made a deal with Blume Corporation." Aiden's tone was calm; his plan coming here wasn't to just blindly hand over the data.
"Where did you hear that?" Damien's tone turned hostile as his little scheme was exposed.
"You're in trouble," Aiden continued. "See, the basis of your deal with Blume is this data. If I don't give it to you, what happens to you?"
"You seem to have forgotten one thing. I can decide your sister's life or death with just one phone call." Damien waved his phone.
"Then kill her."
Damien froze, then burst out laughing.
"You almost had me there, Aiden."
Aiden shook his head and sneered at Damien:
"You haven't thought this through, Damien. Your deal has put you in the line of fire. If you kill my sister, you get nothing, and Blume, realizing they've been played by you, will take your life."
"Now, I am the one who holds your fate."
"Let me talk to my sister on the phone."
The moment Aiden said those words, everyone inside the The Bunker perked up.
They were going to trace the location of Aiden's sister through the phone call.
"Location confirmed. Frank, the coordinates have been sent to you," Bone said to Frank.
"Copy that. Target spotted, moving in now."
While Aiden listened to his sister's voice, his eyes remained locked onto Damien.
Just as his sister was about to say more, Damien hung up the phone.
"You know, Aiden, I really hate it when you don't take me seriously. If it happens again, your sister is dead," Damien said as he turned to leave.
At that moment, Aiden's communicator buzzed—his sister was safe.
"What I know, Damien, is that nobody treats my family like that."
Aiden slowly pulled a handgun from his coat and aimed it at Damien's head.
"What?"
Bang!
Damien collapsed into a pool of blood, his face filled with disbelief!
A massive blackout instantly hit the bustling district. A few seconds later, the streets were lit up again, but Aiden had already vanished.
"Now that the most troublesome problem is solved, we can expose this data. Let's end this."
Harry stretched. This data was a political nuclear weapon; it was time for Chicago's political scene to find a new master.
"Blume Corporation Colludes with Gangs to Manipulate Chicago Politics!"
"Mayor of Chicago Suspected of Murdering Former ctOS Employee Rose Washington!"
"Massive Scandals Exposed Among Chicago Politicians! Relevant Investigations Launched!"
"Involved Officials Handed Over to State Court; FBI Intervenes."
The impact of the news exposure was enormous; a scandal of this magnitude even made international headlines.
"Is ctOS safe and controllable? Should this technology be abolished?"
"Mr. Osborn, we heard you've regrouped the developers of ctOS and founded a company for them. What is your view on these doubts?"
Harry flashed a friendly smile at the camera.
"Technology is merely a tool. What role it plays ultimately depends on the person using it."
"I still remember when the Osborn Group's neural implants were first launched. Some media outlets were shouting nonsense like: 'Osborn Group is about to control humanity!'"
"But in reality, neural implants can effectively treat various diseases and are the technological foundation for the latest generation of prosthetics. This technology has saved the lives of thousands."
"Science and technology can make our lives better. I won't list our company's products one by one; I'm sure you've all heard enough."
Harry spread his hands.
"The Osborn Group will re-develop the ctOS system to make it more efficient, convenient, and transparent."
"We have reached an agreement with New York City to deploy the improved version in New York. We welcome everyone's supervision."
"To this end, we have brought in the former developers of ctOS, Raymond Kenney—now known as Bone Grady—and Mr. Tobias Frewer."
Harry took a step back, leaving the center stage to the two of them.
"As the developers of ctOS, we bear a great deal of responsibility for the unfortunate events that occurred in the city over the past year."
As soon as the two took the stage, they offered a sincere apology to the cameras.
As for Bone's original wanted status, Osborn naturally had the funds to clear his name.
A reporter then asked: "Mr. Grady, I must remind you that the investigation into ctOS is still ongoing, but your tone seems certain that ctOS played a significant role in the Chicago corruption scandal?"
"Yes. Or rather, Blume Corporation played a significant role. ctOS is just a tool, but Blume Corporation used it on the wrong path."
"One more question—"
Halfway through the press conference, Harry left the scene entirely to Bone and Tobias.
"It's quite stuffy in there, isn't it?"
Just as he walked out the back door, Aiden's voice rang in Harry's ear.
"Yeah, press conferences are real torture."
"Quinn, is it settled?" Harry asked.
Lucky Quinn's orders had directly caused the death of Aiden's niece. Aiden had insisted that he must take this guy down personally.
Harry had readily agreed.
In any case, as the investigation deepened, society would eventually discover that Quinn, the apparent great philanthropist, was actually a mob boss behind the scenes and the culprit behind it all.
With Frank's assistance, killing an old man was far too easy, regardless of how rich or powerful a mob boss he was.
Aiden found Quinn easily and then hacked into his pacemaker. Everything looked like an accident.
And so, a powerful mob boss who had never even met Harry was driven to a dead end, easily wiped away like a speck of insignificant dust.
Harry suddenly felt that Frank and Aiden were quite alike—neither were exactly 'good' people, but both had become vigilantes because of their families and ultimately did things to redeem themselves.
Typical American heroes.
They should make good teammates. With Aiden's level of social engineering, he could fully serve as Osborn's watchdog, with the two of them operating in the light and the dark respectively.
"Thank you." Aiden walked up to Harry and thanked him sincerely.
"I don't need your thanks, just do your job well."
"By the way, how did you manage to get them all sent to prison? I thought that would be difficult."
"Well... I donated some money to the agencies with the power to investigate as operational funds."
Not only that, because the Mayor and Deputy Mayor had all been arrested, a brand-new acting mayor was propped up—with the help of the Governor and Osborn.
Aiden was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.
Rich people really were not to be trifled with.
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