Hao Ren tossed the Data Terminal in its zombie princess state into his portable space, just in case anything happened to the vessel after he left the Dream Plane. He then deliberately greeted several mercenaries before swaggering away from Gray Fox's base.
He wasn't worried about anyone discovering that the corpse had vanished from the room. For one thing, he had only been gone for a day, so the mercenaries shouldn't have any reason to pick his lock. For another, he had left an Autonomous Mechanical Unit in the room before departing. If someone really did break in, it would hold them off for a while and immediately send him a signal. As long as he returned in time, everything would be fine.
Still, he probably wouldn't need any of those measures.
As he left the base and reached an intersection leading toward the district, Hao Ren saw Shiton's corpse hanging from a tall streetlamp. A huge sign hung below it: The Consequences of Betraying Gray Fox.
"I still can't believe Nolan is only seventeen," Hao Ren muttered as he passed Shiton's corpse. "Since even someone like Ulanov, who was once on the verge of death, could live for so long with the aid of artificial organs, Nolan's age probably isn't genuine either."
"It would be great if this unit's functions were fully restored," the Data Terminal's voice rang out in his mind. "One scan and we'd know exactly what was strange about that little girl's body. Unfortunately, this unit can't even figure out its own body right now..."
Hao Ren followed the dilapidated streets deep into the district. After confirming that he had passed the last Gray Fox sentry post, he turned into a maze of winding alleys. Black Street had only three kinds of places: factories, military organizations,