Successor

"David, do you know who attacked your residence?" After finishing the personal matters, Officer Bob opened his Identity Bracelet and began the routine questioning.

"I don't know. I was in the basement practicing Body Technique. Once I discovered that my Identity Bracelet couldn't connect to Skynet, I went into hiding," David answered simply.

"I recall that your residence has a security system. Was it activated at the time?" Officer Bob continued to ask.

"Officer Bob, I had all the security systems activated!" David replied.

"David, if there's anything else, I will ask you again." Officer Bob finished speaking and closed his Identity Bracelet, then continued, "Since the security system failed to function, I believe all your losses will be handled by the security system provider, and you will also receive compensation. I will do my best to help you secure a larger settlement."

Due to the unique environment of Panshi Planet, the insurance industry here is not well-developed. Most insurance companies will not provide coverage for houses here, and even for those that do, the premiums are astronomical.

Therefore, when an incident occurs at a residence here, most of the repair or reconstruction costs are covered partly by the owner and partly by the city.

The method Officer Bob mentioned was to use his authority and the influence of Hans the National Scholar to pressure them.

He believed that the fact the security system failed to protect the relative of a National Scholar would put the security company in a very passive position, potentially even causing them to lose out on many future large contracts.

"Officer Bob, thank you for the trouble!" Although David did not know the underlying reasons, he understood that Officer Bob was helping him, so he quickly expressed his gratitude.

"Officer Bob, here are the preliminary investigation results!" A young police officer walked up to Officer Bob and handed him a report.

Officer Bob nodded at the young officer and then opened the investigation results in front of David.

"David, it has been confirmed that there were Armored Warriors among those who attacked you, and Amos, the security chief of the Steer Hotel, died at the scene." Having said this, Officer Bob glanced at David. He was the one who had provided the intelligence that Amos was monitoring David; who would have thought that such an Armored Warrior would just die here.

If it weren't for the traces of an Armored Warrior's battle at the scene, and the fact that David couldn't afford to hire an Armored Warrior, he would have suspected that David had silenced him.

"From these preliminary results, I judge that the opposing side must have deployed an Electronic Warfare Specialist and multiple Armored Warriors. Their modus operandi bears the marks of mercenaries. David, think about it—what could you possibly have that would attract these Armored Warriors?" Officer Bob continued to press.

"I can't think of anything that would attract them!" David considered it carefully for a moment, then shook his head.

In truth, the moment he considered it, he thought of the T3 Sniper Auxiliary Device. It was the only item he had obtained unexpectedly recently. If it wasn't this item, then it could only be related to his predecessor.

But his predecessor rarely interacted with others, and only that Sacrificial Manual was somewhat special. However, he doubted that the trainer Jeremy would leak such a thing and bring massive trouble upon himself.

"I will apply for special Skynet monitoring for your residence's security. I will notify you once there is new progress in the investigation!" Seeing that the surrounding investigation was wrapping up, Officer Bob ended the conversation.

During this time, the four Armored Warriors did not approach the scene, standing to the side with an aloof attitude.

Amos's body and his vehicle were taken away. After the battle traces on the ground were recorded, they were repaired, and some bloodstains and weapon fragments were collected.

When the police left, aside from the destroyed steel gate, the place looked almost exactly as it had before.

David checked to make sure no one was around, then walked quickly to where the Shadow Servant was hiding, picked up the item it had concealed, and returned to his house.

As for the security issues after the police left, David was not worried. Special Skynet monitoring was infinitely safer than any other security measure.

If anyone were to come looking for trouble now, it wouldn't be the police who showed up, but multiple Interceptor drones that would lock onto them and launch a targeted attack. Even Armored Warriors without long-range capabilities could not withstand such an assault.

Not to mention that once locked onto by Interceptor drones, their identities would automatically be added to a wanted list.

David closed the destroyed gate. The lock was broken, so the gate could only be repaired tomorrow. Similarly, many parts of the house had been damaged; these mercenaries were not kind-hearted people, and their search methods were extremely brutal.

The most important thing was that the Smart Butler Emma had not responded, which made David very uneasy. Although Emma was just a smart butler, both in his predecessor's memories and in his own, he regarded Emma as a member of the household.

However, when he arrived in front of the machine body of the Smart Butler Emma, he didn't know how to operate it.

His Identity Bracelet displayed a video call request, and upon checking, it was his father, Hans.

"Father, I've troubled you!" David said helplessly to Hans, who was driving in the video.

"I'll be there in a moment. Pack your things and come live with me!" Hans looked haggard as he said in a deep voice.

"Father, I won't leave my home!" David's brain didn't even process the thought before the words blurted out. This was an obsession left behind in his predecessor's memories.

Previously, when David improved his relationship with Hans, it hadn't triggered this obsession, but being asked to leave his home to live with his father and stepmother had activated it.

Hearing the determination in David's words, Hans remained silent for a moment.

"I'm here," he said after a pause, then disconnected the video.

David opened the gate and saw Hans stepping out of a Hover Car.

"David, if you want to stay, that's fine. I've already contacted a repair team, and they are on their way. They will fix the house!" Hans said immediately upon seeing David.

He respected this child who had accepted him again, and at the same time, he used his connections to strengthen the security of this area. Unless someone openly and forcibly attacked, there would be no more infiltrations like today's.

After that, there was almost nothing for David to worry about. Hans directed the arriving repair team to fix the damaged parts of the residence one by one.

This included the Smart Butler Emma, who had been forcibly shut down; she was rebooted, though the residence's security system would still require the security company to come and resolve the issues.

"David, get some rest early. Don't worry about the security system. Tomorrow, I will issue a document in the name of the Department of Justice to them, and they will replace it with the best security system for you." Hans was still somewhat worried and instructed him before leaving.

David returned to the hall. At this moment, he was the only one left in the entire residence, but a warm smile appeared on his face. It felt good to be cared for.

In the basement of a residence, the four members of the Sirius Mercenary Group sat in a circle.

"Crock, Ed, Fisher, did you really find nothing at all?" Captain Froman looked at the location of the T3 Sniper Auxiliary Device displayed on his Identity Bracelet and asked with suspicion.

He couldn't be blamed for this; anyone who lost key personnel during an operation, gained nothing, and then discovered the target was still there would be just as suspicious.

"Captain, I am certain!" Crock nodded and replied in a deep voice.

"Now, do we continue to stay, or do we leave Panshi Planet and abandon the mission?" Captain Froman trusted Crock; the machine-like Crock was one of the people he trusted most in the mercenary group, so he asked again.

"Commander, whether we continue the operation or leave, we cannot do either for the time being!" Ed reminded from the side.

Having lost the Electronic Warfare Specialist Edna, Ed had taken over the task of gathering intelligence; although his skills were not as good as Edna's, simple tasks were not a problem for him.

He had purchased the latest intelligence from an information broker, and the entire Peilan City, and even the entire Panshi Planet, had been stirred up by their actions.

Even when Abbott piloted his personal Flying Shuttle and crashed, causing nearly a hundred deaths, the impact was not as great as this time; Abbott's previous behavior could still be considered an accident, but their action this time was a targeted attack.

Most importantly, their target turned out to be the child of someone with the title of National Scholar, which triggered a chain reaction from this operation.

In the airspace above Peilan City alone, there were as many as ten Interceptor drones circling; as long as anyone dared to fly without permission during this period, what awaited them would be the destruction of their craft and certain death.