160. Aguilar

"This banquet won't be easy to get into."

As the local member of the team responsible for infiltration, Slider had taken on the task of helping the Akechi Squad enter Hansen's banquet, and he was having a serious headache over how to get inside.

Hansen's decision to hold a banquet and announce his heir was essentially a declaration to every intelligence-holding faction that he had leverage over New America—highest bidder takes it. But to even sit at that negotiating table, they needed to demonstrate one basic capability: reaching Hansen himself.

If they could not infiltrate even a banquet where Hansen had deliberately deployed a large number of personnel while loosening security, why should he believe the corporation behind them could close this deal? Much less truly provide him protection afterward?

Those seemingly lax patrol routes were actually covered in electronic sentry systems, while the guest list underwent multiple layers of verification. Hansen wanted to screen for people with sufficient qualifications. If they could not even pass this entrance test, then all their boasts about influence and bargaining chips would be a joke.

Besides, although security at this banquet had ostensibly been relaxed due to a manpower shortage, according to Slider's intelligence—the personnel had indeed been reduced, but the related machinery and security equipment had not only remained undiminished, but doubled in number.

It could even be said that, in terms of current security intensity alone, the Barghest security force committed to this banquet far surpassed that of any previous event. This was the tightest security level in the history of all Hansen's banquets.

"This level of security... even Arasaka Tower probably isn't much better," Slider said with a sigh as he looked at the defenses he had scouted out.

"Not quite. If Arasaka Tower activates its emergency defense protocol, Mr.