"Haha! Damn, thought you could take me on! Hahaha—!"
Exaggerated laughter, peppered with constant cursing, spilled from Air Shakur's room.
After over an hour of intense effort, she had finally broken through the enemy's layered defenses, not only cracking the website's encryption but also managing to get her hands on the data from the opponent's computer.
Hearing the noise, Manhattan Cafe and Agnes Tachyon, who had been waiting patiently outside the door, immediately entered the room. They found Air Shakur sitting cross-legged on her chair, arms raised high in a stretch.
Hacking battles weren't tests of physical endurance, but pure mental exertion. Though it hadn't been long, she felt more drained than if she'd been running for an hour.
"You've worked hard…"
Manhattan Cafe offered Air Shakur a can of high-sugar drink.
Without refusing, Air Shakur took the drink, popped the tab, and gulped down several large mouthfuls.
"What were the results?" Agnes Tachyon followed up immediately.
"Pulled the damn rug right out from under them, of course." Air Shakur grinned, revealing a mouth full of serrated teeth.
"The traces they left during the intrusion were pretty obvious. I followed that trail and found the source address."
As she spoke, Air Shakur tapped a few keys, bringing up a satellite image with a red marker pinpointing a location.
"Right here." Air Shakur gestured with her chin.
Seeing the text on the screen, Agnes Tachyon and Manhattan Cafe fell silent simultaneously.
—Louisville
"Louisville, Kentucky, USA?"
"Not Louisville itself, to be precise. It's the Churchill Park Tracen Academy."
One of the world's most renowned Tracen Academies.
"Could the address be spoofed?"
"Actually, my initial trace led to Kyoto, Japan. But they left traces behind from faking that location. The real point of origin is here."
Of course, it was still possible this was just another layer of deception. But if someone could fool Air Shakur's eyes, then they'd have to be an unimaginably fearsome hacker, someone she stood no chance against based on her own computer skills.
If such a person really existed, coming after this dinky little website would be a massive waste of their talent… though, to be fair, it was a bit of a waste for her, too.
"Is the website's data still intact?"
"It's there, and we've regained control. But…"
Air Shakur pulled up the website. The spot where the Black Ghost's race information used to be was now, for some reason, replaced by a string of alphanumeric code.
"That's not part of the original content." Agnes Tachyon narrowed her eyes.
"It's some kind of message, but it's deeply encrypted," Air Shakur explained.
Aside from these symbols, the original race records for the Black Ghost remained perfectly preserved on the site.
It seemed the intruder didn't want to destroy the website completely.
But why go through all this trouble and effort? Agnes Tachyon didn't get it.
From her perspective, there wasn't much useful intelligence on the site to begin with.
"Can you decrypt this information?" Agnes Tachyon pressed.
For now, the only lead was the clue the other party had left behind.
Air Shakur immediately balked.
"Hey, this is way beyond what you paid me for!"
"Don't get so excited, Shakur. I'm just asking hypothetically, wondering if you could do it or not."
"Tch." Habitually grabbing her hair, Air Shakur downed the rest of her drink. "I can, but it's a huge pain. I have no idea how long it would take to crack this thing."
"I see. Cafe, let's go." Agnes Tachyon said.
Huh?
Manhattan Cafe blinked.
Even though she was out of her depth with this tech talk, judging by how the conversation was going, shouldn't Agnes Tachyon be offering more payment to get the rest of the code decrypted?
"What's this, Cafe? Since they placed this information right alongside the 'Ghost,' it's probably related to it. Things like its running form, condition, speed, resistance, or maybe some previously unrecorded data, things like that."
Spreading her hands, Agnes Tachyon shook her head. "Our goal was to take back the website. We have control now. That's enough."
Their purpose wasn't to conduct research.
"Well then, Shakur, we'll be taking our leave. What you want is in my room. Feel free to pick it up when you have time."
Waving to Air Shakur and leading Cafe along, Agnes Tachyon walked out of the room.
"Ah, right, Shakur. The website is open to everyone. You can go take a look whenever you want."
Agnes Tachyon deliberately added this just before leaving.
After the door closed again, Air Shakur looked at the webpage displaying the mysterious code.
She moved the cursor over the 'X,' wanting to close the tab, but her golden eyes were irresistibly drawn back to the lines of code.
Hmph, Agnes Tachyon, you think I'd fall for such an obvious trick?
Her finger rested on the mouse. One click, and she could say goodbye to this chore.
But those strings of characters, pregnant with unknown meaning, seemed to hold a magical attraction for her eyes.
Running data?
Or was it something else?
No one would be bored enough to encrypt something unimportant so thoroughly, right?
Air Shakur's index finger rose and fell, rose and fell above the mouse button.
"Tch…" She couldn't help clicking her tongue, clutching her head.
"Agnes Tachyon, you…!"
She punched the desk and let out a yell.
She was, now, intensely, unbearably curious about that data!
Outside the room, having listened carefully to the commotion inside, Agnes Tachyon smiled.
"It seems the practical application of the Caligula effect worked better than expected."
"What…?"
"Nothing. Just feeling pleased about avoiding a whole heap of trouble. Next time, Shakur will be the one contacting us."
Churchill Park Tracen Academy in the US, huh.
Agnes Tachyon pondered.
She had a feeling things were starting to get complicated.
No telling what kind of impact this would have on her experiments.
But this perfect experimental ground—she absolutely would not hand it over to anyone else.
--+--
"Hi~! First time meeting! You're Oguri Cap, right? I've heard so much about you!"
A golden-haired girl with a curvaceous figure enthusiastically shook Oguri Cap's hand.
"Um… March?"
Faced with such an effusive character, Oguri Cap looked helplessly toward Fujimasa March beside her.
"Let me introduce you. She's an Uma Musume I met at the races, Obey Your Master."
"Yes!" The girl made a gesture, a smile on her face, her golden star-shaped pupils reflecting Oguri Cap's image. "She agreed to be my tour guide."
"That's right." Obey Your Master puffed out her impressive chest. "Fujimasa March is such a nice girl! I just arrived in Japan, don't know my way around at all. I heard Tracen was having an event soon and was worrying about how to get there. Her willingness to show me around is a huge help."
"Yeah, that's about the size of it."
Right after the race ended, the other girl had just jumped onto the field and started talking to her. She was quickly dragged off by staff, but after the Winner's Ceremony, she sought March out again.
Anyway, that's how the two of them got connected.
"Looking forward to spending time with you, Oguri Cap!"
Obey Your Master winked.
Watching this vibrant, enthusiastic girl, Fujimasa March suddenly realized something.
Now that she thought about it, how did this girl know about Oguri Cap? Didn't she just arrive in Japan?
Fujimasa March looked at her.
A smile, inscrutable to anyone, was plastered on the other's face.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.