Cocktail Party

Chapter 24: Reception

Hans and David were both wearing standard Federation formal wear. This style of attire was the top choice for the vast majority of men attending important occasions; aside from minor differences in fabric and ornamentation based on wealth, the general design was much the same.

Bertha, arm-in-arm with Hans, wore a tight-fitting long dress, with a necklace sparkling with brilliant light around her neck, fully displaying an air of grace and luxury.

At a reception of this level, Edie was too young to attend.

The New Year's Eve reception was held at the Steer Hotel. The Peilan City government had booked an entire floor of the Steer Hotel, which showed just how much importance the government placed on this event.

As David stepped out of the hovercar and saw the Steer Hotel, the first thing that came to his mind was Amos, the hotel's security chief. Although Amos was already dead, the fact that the man had monitored him confirmed that he had been involved in the plot to take his life.

So, was this Steer Hotel also involved? Was the boss behind Amos an important figure at the Steer Hotel?

Questions rose one after another in his mind. He sensed the Shadow Servant hovering a few meters above his head. With the Shadow Servant's perception of danger, combined with the high-profile nature of today's reception, he didn't have to worry about his safety.

He had possessed the Shadow Servant for nearly ten days now. In these days, he had gone from being unable to control his own body while sharing the Shadow Servant's sight and hearing, to now being able to easily look around through the Shadow Servant's eyes without affecting his own movements.

Walking into the Steer Hotel, there was no need for any checks; the multiple scanning devices here had already automatically retrieved the Identity Bracelet information of everyone entering. Anyone without the clearance to approach the reception would be immediately taken away by guards.

"David, go find some friends to hang out with for now. I'll come find you in a while," Hans said, turning his head to whisper to David after entering the reception hall.

David nodded. He could see that Hans did not have as little status as his predecessor's memories suggested. Everyone in the reception hall who saw Hans would take the initiative to bow to him, and some even performed a direct Federation military salute.

Hans needed to socialize with these people, and he understood that David did not enjoy such socializing, so he only intended to introduce David to important connections.

David parted ways with Hans and Bertha. He did not head toward where the young people were gathered, as he had no friends there.

His predecessor had taken social isolation to an extreme. Because of his deteriorating relationship with his father, Hans, the predecessor never participated in any social activities. These young people in the city, who were about his age, seemed to have no intersection with his life at all.

This actually made David feel quite relieved. Even with his predecessor's memories, this world still felt strange to him, especially the powerful enemies that kept him from ever feeling safe. Every time he saw a stranger, he couldn't help but suspect whether they had been arranged by his enemies to get close to him.

He took a glass of natural fruit juice from a passing waiter, took a light sip, and walked toward a deserted corner.

While slowly sipping the natural fruit juice, David connected to the Shadow Servant, letting it pass through the floor beneath his feet and fly downward.

A while later, he moved a dozen meters to the side as if by accident. On the floor below, where no one could see, the Shadow Servant was searching through room after room.

Before coming, he had found the map of the Steer Hotel through Skynet. Only the most luxurious hall on the second floor would be the venue for the municipal New Year's Eve reception, while the first floor housed the security room.

What was in the security room? Naturally, it contained the Security Optical Computer for the entire Steer Hotel. David wanted to find the location of the Security Optical Computer and then use some special means to obtain the Steer Hotel's intelligence.

"Hi, hello there. How come I haven't seen you before?" A warm voice interrupted David's focus.

David looked up to see a burly young man holding a glass of red wine, looking at him.

Although this young man was also wearing standard Federation formal wear, the suit that looked quite dashing on David felt more like a suit of armor on him.

"Hello, my name is David Kerr!" David responded with a smile, raising his juice.

"My name is Myron," Myron said, also raising his red wine to introduce himself. Then, as if realizing something, he said in surprise, "My god, your surname is Kerr? The legendary eldest son of Hans Kerr?"

"If there isn't a second David Kerr, then that would be me!" David felt quite helpless about becoming a legend, so he shrugged and said.

"Seeing you stay away from those noisy guys, you must not like socializing either. We're the same!" Myron pointed with his finger at a group of young people laughing and chatting around several young ladies, saying in a low voice.

David glanced at this overly familiar Myron. He didn't see any sign that the other party disliked socializing; on the contrary, it looked as if he had specifically sought him out to chat.

"David, I'm telling the truth. If I hadn't heard that a big shot was coming today, I wouldn't have attended this kind of reception!" Myron continued, seeing David's skeptical expression.

"A big shot?" David looked at Myron, wondering what kind of status the big shot he spoke of held.

One had to know that today's New Year's Eve reception was no ordinary event. All the high-ranking officials of Peilan City would be attending, and everyone else would feel honored to be invited. It could be said that this reception gathered all the elites of Peilan City.

Just as David and Myron were talking, the hall suddenly went quiet.

David and Myron both looked toward the reception's podium. At this moment, several officials whom David found somewhat familiar were walking out.

"Clap!" Applause erupted as all the guests clapped to welcome the arrival of the officials.

"Thank you all for coming to the New Year's Eve reception!" one official said with a smile, waving his hand. His voice was automatically transmitted to the hall's loudspeakers through his Identity Bracelet.

Although his predecessor had been quite isolated from the outside world, David still recognized this official who was speaking: this was Mayor Bernard of Peilan City.

"Myron, what about the big shot you mentioned?" David asked Myron in a low voice while listening to Mayor Bernard's speech.

"Big shots are always low-key!" Myron replied softly, while also searching around with his eyes, trying to find his target.

David didn't pay him any mind. His attention shifted back to the Shadow Servant. The Shadow Servant could not be more than ten meters away from him, which increased the difficulty of his search.

Furthermore, the images he had obtained from Skynet did not have dimension labels, making it impossible for him to stand precisely above the security room.

He quietly moved a few more steps to the side. At this moment, the Shadow Servant passed through another wall, and a monitoring wall appeared in its view.

The monitoring wall was divided into nearly a hundred small windows, each displaying corresponding surveillance content.

Only two security personnel were sitting in front of the monitoring wall. With the help of the intelligent system, the security personnel only needed to pay attention when the security system issued an alarm; they did not need to judge each one with their own eyes.

David's target was not the monitoring wall, but the cabinet next to it, which was sealed by a security lock.

Even if the Electronic Warfare Specialist Edna were still alive, she would not be able to hack into the Security Optical Computer without being discovered. An Electronic Warfare Specialist was an offensive profession; using signal suppression for a brute-force attack was their specialty.

But for an Electronic Warfare Specialist to do this in the city was simply an act of suicide. Once a forced attack was initiated, it would inevitably trigger a pursuit by Skynet.

A hotel this large was not David's residence, where he could just use a signal jammer to block it.

David, however, was different. The Shadow Servant's stealth and penetration abilities allowed his electronic warfare capabilities to be utilized to a greater extent. This was why he dared to think about hacking into the Steer Hotel's Security Optical Computer while attending the New Year's Eve reception.

Over there, Mayor Bernard's speech was still continuing. David's Shadow Servant silently passed through the cabinet that required high-level Steer Hotel clearance to open.

Appearing before the Shadow Servant was a computer as tall as a person. Seeing its model, David couldn't help but think to himself: "They really spared no expense!"

This Security Optical Computer was a small server-grade machine. Such a computer could even be used as the main optical computer for a spaceship. A Security Optical Computer worth millions showed just how much the Steer Hotel valued its security.