Senbai opens around them in stacked neon and wet concrete, the buried market breathing ozone and static. Mercer still has the Matsuda-sealed packet in hand, and now the whole alley feels like it is listening to it.
The seal matches the transfer stamp.
Zara
We need someone in Senbai who can read corporate death toys. Fast.
Kaine
Someone skilled, discreet, and not loyal to Matsuda. That narrows it.
Kaine tilts the packet under a stall light. The seal flashes, and a tiny diagnostic line blooms across the wrapper, a kill-code signature keyed to Mercer’s neural model.
The Courier
I delivered the wrong thing to the wrong people.
A nearby data-scrapper in a mirrored hood pauses at the sight of the packet, then looks away too quickly. Zara catches it, Mercer catches it, and the path ahead turns into a question with a price.
✓ Quest Accepted
Find someone in Senbai who can read the kill-code
+ New Item Acquired
Matsuda-sealed packet