Chapter 95: The Soul of Akihabara

 

Tokyo. Akihabara District (Electric Town).Sunday. 2:00 PM.

The streets were packed. Giant screens blared J-Pop. Maids handed out flyers. Tourists took photos of cosplayers. It was the loudest, brightest place on Earth. And the perfect place to hide.

"I feel ridiculous," Sebastian muttered. He was standing in the middle of the street. He wasn't wearing his tactical gear. He was wearing a long, black trench coat with a high collar, silver wig, and holding a prop sword.Cosplay Theme: The Dark Swordsman.

"You look cool," Harper laughed. She was dressed as a Cyber-Valkyrie (silver armor, neon wings). It hid her real weapons perfectly. "Blend in, Sebastian. Everyone here is wearing a costume. If we dress like normal civilians, the facial recognition will flag us instantly. The algorithms ignore 'fictional characters'."

Jack walked behind them. He refused to wear a costume. Instead, he was carrying a massive, life-sized plushie of a Pikachu-like creature. "It shields my heat signature," Jack grumbled, hugging the yellow monstrosity. "Don't ask."

Dr. Braun and Kenji (Zero) were dressed as "Mad Scientists" (lab coats and goggles). Kenji checked his tablet. "We are close. The power grid spikes are right under that building." He pointed to the "SEGA GiGO" Arcade Tower.

---

[The Arcade]

Basement Level 4.

They fought their way past the rhythm games and claw machines. Kenji led them to an "Out of Order" photo booth in the corner. "Konami Code," Kenji whispered. He inputted a sequence on the booth's screen: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right...

HISSS. The back of the photo booth slid open. Cold air rushed out. Behind the neon fun lay a dark, industrial elevator.

"Welcome to my father's brain," Kenji stepped in.

---

[The Server Farm]

Depth: 100 Meters.

The elevator doors opened. They were standing on a catwalk overlooking a massive cavern. Thousands of servers hummed in the dark, bathed in blue liquid coolant. In the center, suspended by thick cables, was a giant sphere. And floating inside the sphere... was Takeshi Nakamura.

He wasn't just wearing a suit anymore. He was stripped to the waist, his torso plugged into the mainframe. His eyes were closed.[ UPLOAD STATUS: 89% ]

"He's doing it," Kenji stared in horror. "He's not just uploading himself. He's merging with the Global Surveillance Network." "If he hits 100%, he becomes the internet. He will see everything. Control everything. No passwords, no secrets." "A digital God."

"Not on my watch," Sebastian drew his (real) gun from under his cosplay coat.

---

[The Firewall]

Suddenly, the servers lit up red.[ INTRUDER DETECTED. ][ ACTIVATING DEFENSE PROTOCOL. ]

From the shadows of the server racks, droids emerged. Not the clumsy security bots. These were Spider-Tanks. Fast, agile, with machine guns mounted on their backs.

"Jack! Hold them off!" Sebastian yelled. "Kenji! Jack in! Kill the upload!"

Jack dropped the plushie. He pulled out a grenade launcher (hidden inside the plushie).THUMP. The first grenade hit a Spider-Tank. BOOM. "Eat this, you metal crabs!"

Harper and Sebastian took cover behind the cooling pipes, firing at the swarming droids. Bullets sparked against the metal. It was a chaotic firefight in a forest of wires.

---

[The Digital Duel]

Kenji ran to the main console. He plugged the cable from his neck directly into the port. "I'm going in!" His eyes rolled back. His body went limp.

Inside the Virtual World (Cyberspace):

Kenji opened his eyes. He was standing in a white void. A traditional Japanese Zen garden. Standing on the bridge was his father, Takeshi. But he looked perfect. Young. God-like.

"You came," Takeshi smiled benevolently. "To join me? Or to stop me?"

"To delete you, Dad," Kenji summoned a virtual katana (code).

"I am the code!" Takeshi laughed. He waved his hand. The garden turned into spikes. Kenji dodged. He slashed at the air, writing viruses in real-time.[ Trojan.exe initiated. ]

Takeshi blocked it effortlessly. "You are running on a human brain, Kenji. Slow. Emotional. I am Quantum." He struck Kenji. In the real world, Kenji’s physical body convulsed. Blood poured from his nose.

---

[The Physical Lag]

Real World.

"He's losing!" Braun shouted, checking Kenji’s vitals. "His brain waves are spiking! Takeshi is overclocking him!"

Sebastian looked at the battle. They were pinned down. He looked at the giant sphere where Takeshi’s body was floating. "We can't win the code war," Sebastian realized. "But hardware... hardware is fragile."

"Cover me!" Sebastian yelled to Harper.

He sprinted. Dodging the Spider-Tank fire. He didn't run to the console. He ran to the Cooling System. Massive tanks of liquid nitrogen were pumping freezing fluid into the supercomputers.

Sebastian shot the valves. BANG. BANG.HISSSSSS. The pipes burst. Freezing fog filled the room. But more importantly, the flow of coolant to the main sphere stopped.

[ WARNING: SYSTEM OVERHEATING. ][ TEMPERATURE CRITICAL. ]

---

[The Glitch]

Virtual World.

Takeshi paused. His perfect image flickered. "What... is... this?" His voice slowed down. Lagging. The Zen garden began to pixelate.

Kenji saw the opening. "Lag," Kenji grinned, blood on his virtual teeth. "The gamer's worst enemy."

Takeshi tried to attack, but he froze. Buffer underrun. Kenji didn't hesitate. He thrust his katana into Takeshi’s chest.[ EXECUTE: FORMAT C: /FORCE ]

"Goodbye, Father."

---

[The Crash]

Real World.

The giant sphere turned dark. Sparks flew from the cables connecting Takeshi’s body. He screamed—a horrific, analog scream. Then, silence. The upload stopped at 99%.[ ERROR. FILE CORRUPTED. ]

Takeshi’s body slumped in the suspension harness. Dead. The Spider-Tanks instantly powered down as their central command server crashed.

Kenji gasped and pulled the plug from his neck. He collapsed into Braun’s arms. "Did I... win?"

"You crashed the server," Sebastian walked over, kicking a dead droid. "And you saved the internet."

They looked at the main screen. The "Eye of Tokyo" was offline. The surveillance cameras across the city were blind. Nakamura Corp was headless.

---

[The Final Clue]

Harper searched Takes