Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 30.030. Surveillance
After assigning two team members to look after the Jeffersons, Carl went upstairs alone to patrol.

As soon as he stepped into the room, his eyes were drawn to a giant display screen that covered almost the entire wall—or more accurately, to the menacing bullet holes on the screen.

Around the bullet hole, cracks spread outwards like a spider web, and through the hole, one could see a bright space behind the screen.

"Tell me in detail what happened."

Karl glanced at Zechi, who was being protected by a teammate, and turned to ask a subordinate standing next to him.

"Yes, Lord Karl."

The member instinctively bowed to Karl, then, realizing Karl didn't mind, immediately straightened up and recounted what had just happened:
“We followed Miss Zechi to conduct a floor search. As we approached the stairs, the bio-monitoring scan showed four life signals on the second floor. So we continued our reconnaissance as usual, locked onto the target in five seconds, hiding behind the display screen, and then launched a surprise attack from the flank.”

He paused briefly: "I'm very sorry, but in order to ensure the elimination of the threat, we were unable to leave any survivors."

"It's not your fault."

Karl didn't have the habit of forcing his men to leave survivors during raids, which would result in heavy casualties for his men. Therefore, his orders were always focused on ensuring kills.

If there's something that really needs to be done by keeping people alive, he and V can handle it; professional matters should be handled by more professional people.

Carl stepped forward to inspect the giant display screen and felt a little regretful.

It would be really cool to watch those old-fashioned movies on this screen.

Thinking this through, Karl continued to ask his subordinates, "Have you found the entrance to the space behind this?"

"Investigation is underway."

Carl had eight men in total. Two of them were downstairs protecting the Jeffersons, two were reporting to Carl while protecting Zech, and the other four were split into two groups to check up and downstairs.

Given this personnel allocation, their ability to quickly locate and eliminate the enemy is already a testament to their exceptional talent. After all, they are not professional detectives; it would be too much to ask them to find a hidden entrance while simultaneously eliminating the enemy.

However, just because they are not good enough doesn't mean there are no professionals here.

Who is Carl?

Even though it was part-time, and he worked as a bodyguard, he never hid his history of working as a bodyguard for the 'Dangerous Girls Agency,' meaning that Carl was indeed a part-time detective.

He's a master at solving cases.

No, it should be said that it's both hands.

Karl casually stretched out his hands and, before Zechi and his men could see the slight surprise on their faces, placed them on the hole in the screen. Then, as easily as tearing a wet tissue, he ripped the screen, which occupied the entire wall, in two with a crisp tearing sound, creating an opening.

"Now there's an entry point."

Brushing off the shards that had splattered all over him, Karl, who hadn't been injured by any flying debris during the shattering, turned to his men and gave them orders:

"Watch out for the shards, don't step on them. Even though your boots aren't afraid of this, you should still be careful not to slip and fall."

Then, he looked at Zechi: "Miss Zechi, please move away and don't step on the shards. Please forgive me for damaging your equipment."

After saying this, Karl entered the mouth he had torn open without looking back, and entered the space behind the screen.

Then he discovered that there was actually a pretty good space inside. In terms of size, it was even as big as Carl's bathroom.

It's more than enough to house people; if you put it in one of the universities before Cal came to Night City, it could be used as a dormitory for multiple male students.

In this space, there are screens for various devices, and Carl can see most of the images of Jefferson's residence at a glance.

"Looks like this is the monitoring room. The treatment here is really good."

While surveying the monitoring room, Karl also saw four corpses on the ground with wide-eyed stares. From their incredulous expressions, it was clear that they hadn't expected Karl's men to discover them and launch a surprise attack. They only realized at the last moment that the bullets were aimed at them.

Hmm, they were actually able to react to some extent, so it seems their skill level is a bit better than the initial Alpha Blue Team.

But he was just an ordinary mercenary, the kind who wouldn't even qualify for entry.

Karl, who seemed to habitually judge people's strength, didn't pay much attention to this aspect. He quickly noticed a door next to him, which, judging from its condition, led to the outside. So he waved to stop his subordinates who were about to enter through this door as well.

"Wait a moment, I've found the door."

With these words, Carl approached the door, and then, as he would with a screen, gripped the gap with both hands and suddenly exerted force.

"Clang."

Because he used too much force, he ripped the entire door, which was disguised as a wall, off.

With a click of his tongue, Carl, feeling that he was causing more and more damage to the Jefferson house, carefully leaned the door to the side and then checked the location of the entrance.

The entrance is located on the side of the large screen.

"I see."

Carl understood everything.

Behind what appears to be a one-way transparent screen on the second floor is a hidden monitoring room. This monitoring room not only has an entrance disguised as a wall, but also connected cameras that can monitor the entire residence.

Under this elaborate disguise, the Jeffersons were completely unaware that they were always living under the watchful eyes of others. Even their private conversations, which they might have had away from SSI, and even their personal lives, were being observed by the cameras.

Because Carl even saw a surveillance camera directly facing the bed, almost like a first-person live stream.

'It seems Mr. Jefferson's life has indeed been under constant surveillance, and so discreetly that he had nowhere to turn to check if something was amiss.'

Honestly, they don't even give people any privacy.

However, at this moment, Carl thought of what a company had done and sighed.

Why was Carl so knowledgeable about surveillance methods, able to understand the operational procedures and surveillance locations in just a few glances? It's because the company that does this best in the world today is called Arasaka.

Carl's part-time job at the agency that specializes in cat-eared detective work was run by Michiko Arasaka.

Furthermore, Karl had a good relationship with most of the members of the Arasaka family, and even personally handled one of their funerals. How could he not know?

(End of this chapter)