Faced with the possibility that he had been exposed, Karl remained perfectly calm.
He acted as though he had no idea that the Hellhounds outside his door had already disengaged their safety switches. With a slightly skeptical and annoyed tone, he called out:
"I don't recall being informed of any inspections when I checked in. Who exactly are you? Let me warn you—this hotel is under the Hellhounds' jurisdiction. If I press the alarm, their people will be here in seconds. If you're planning anything shady, I suggest you leave while you still can."
Karl's words gave the Hellhounds standing outside pause. They'd been ready to breach the moment anything felt off.
They exchanged glances, eyes flicking to the Hellhounds uniforms they wore, a strange feeling rising within them.
They were here to conduct the search—and yet the guest inside was threatening them with the Hellhounds?
It was absurd.
But still, hearing the guest's response, some of their tension began to fade.
Someone who trusted the Hellhounds' protection to this degree… couldn't possibly be the infiltrator, right?
People tend to trust those they believe are on their side.
In the subconscious minds of the soldiers at the door, the guest inside had already become someone under their protection. Their stance softened.
"Maybe we're being overly cautious," one of them murmured. "After all, the guy's staying at one of our hotels—we're responsible for his safety. In mercenary terms, that makes him the client. Maybe we should treat him as such."
Convinced that a calm conversation might resolve the situation more smoothly, the Hellhounds relaxed their hands from their weapons. Watching all this through the camera feed, Karl was able to confirm one thing—
He hadn't been exposed.
He'd deliberately used a polite but suspicious tone—exactly how a cautious guest might speak—to test whether the Hellhounds truly had him pegged as their target.
And now it was clear: Lied hadn't slipped up, and they hadn't tracked anything back to him either.
In that case, a few more words and he could open the door.
Karl glanced back at the sleeping girl on the bed. He tiptoed over and gently pulled the blanket over her, then quickly adjusted his own clothing to look slightly rumpled—like he'd just thrown it on in a rush.
Right as he finished, a message arrived from the front desk, passed along via the Hellhounds:
"Our sincerest apologies, dear guest. Due to an emergency, we have temporarily dispatched personnel to conduct room inspections. We kindly ask for your cooperation. As compensation for this inconvenience, tonight's accommodation will be free of charge, and a small gift will be delivered to your room shortly."
Karl gave a slight nod.
Now that the message had come through, it was time to resume the performance.
"Oh, so you're from the inspection team?" Karl said, his tone laced with mild irritation but a clear sign that his suspicion was fading. "You could've at least let me know ahead of time."
He walked to the door and opened it.
Standing outside were fully armed Hellhounds soldiers.
Karl feigned surprise. "Hellhounds?"
Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he said, "Oh, right—I forgot. The hotel's staff... you guys are the ones on duty. Makes sense now."
The Hellhounds had been just about to explain the situation, but seeing Karl talking himself through it, they found their own words stuck in their throats.
After a brief pause, the team leader stepped forward, the barrel of his rifle angled downward, most of his guard lowered.
"We're very sorry, sir. There's been an unexpected incident. We suspect a malfunction in the ventilation system. To ensure your comfort and safety, we need to conduct a quick check."
As he spoke, the leader's eyes swept the room.
When he noticed the beautiful girl asleep under the covers, his gaze lingered for a second. Then he caught sight of Karl's hastily thrown-on clothes and relaxed even further.
"Apologies if we disturbed your rest… or that of your companion."
"Just make it quick," Karl replied, playing the part of an inconvenienced but reasonable guest. He gave the girl a glance. "Keep it quiet. She's exhausted."
As he spoke, Karl flashed a look every man would understand. The Hellhound nodded knowingly, the air of camaraderie settling between them.
His sensory implant had just picked up traces of heather flower extract—he could roughly guess what had happened here.
Based on the time between the banquet's end and the start of the guest sweep—
"This guy's polite enough… but he might need a 'Big Iron' to compensate," the soldier thought, silently sympathizing with the well-mannered, good-looking young man in front of him.
Meanwhile, Karl was internally praising Lied's foresight.
Back at the banquet, when Karl was being swarmed by the crowd, Lied had slipped him a small vial of perfume in passing—one that released a distinctive scent after evaporation.
Now it had served its purpose perfectly.
"We'll finish the inspection quickly. Won't disturb your rest."
And he wasn't lying.
For someone as cautious as Hansen, the possibility of a missing chip had been anticipated.
He'd coated the chip in a special compound that didn't interfere with reading the data but stayed chemically active for about 24 hours. If Hellhounds personnel carried the right scanners, they'd be able to detect the chip's presence within a certain range.
As Karl watched the Hellhounds sweep the room with those scanners, he sent a message to Lied, warning him about the potential scans.
But just as the message was sent, Lied replied—with bad news.
"I know. The Hellhounds have started locking down the streets. They've deployed scanners at every checkpoint. Getting out of Dogtown won't be easy."
Not easy to get out…?
Karl mulled it over and responded:
"So what's your plan?"
"I'm going to extract the chip's contents, find a hacker who can get the data to the President. As for the physical chip… I'll destroy it."
"An intel agency hacker? I thought we weren't getting any outside help on this mission."
Karl didn't get a reply right away. It felt like Lied was hesitating.
It wasn't until the Hellhounds finished their inspection and thanked Karl, preparing to leave, that the reply finally came through:
"This hacker… is a bit different."
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🔥🦾 CYBERPUNK: THE RELENTLESS 🦾🔥
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