Night Hacker

Gu He spent an hour talking with Sophia that night, gathering a wealth of information on Elizabeth Sterling. How much of it was true remained to be seen. Sophia polished off a box of sushi, but his host value still hadn't gone up.

He carried the empty basket up from the Dungeon. The moment he stepped back into the ground-floor izakaya, a loud commotion echoed from the streets outside.

"He-san, the Metropolitan Police Department is snatching up street rats!" Huaqing Sakai, who had been keeping watch at the door for him, cried out. She bolted for the izakaya's exit. "I'm going to see if I can help some of the kids!"

She normally didn't intervene because there were simply too many to look after, and the street rats always found their own ways to survive.

But this was different. Their escape routes were gone, and the kids were disappearing.

"Help if you want, but don't bring them into the Fishpond!" Debao Fan shouted after her. "Take them over to the Licai Club!"

Gu He hurried after Miss Sakai. "What's going on?"

He got his answer the moment he stepped outside. Several homeless children sprinted frantically down the alley, fleeing for their lives. At one end, a squad of police in semi-armored uniforms charged toward them, while more officers blocked the opposite exit.

With nowhere left to run, the cornered kids looked around in a panic, desperately trying to scramble up the rusted water pipes clinging to the alley walls.