Ch 14 Bad and Good News

Leon didn't know what to say, but there was something more urgent now.

“Ugh, I hope it's just some random guy wandering around at night. If he does that a second time, I'll smack him with this thing.” Leon twirled his stun baton as he said this.

“Don't worry, sir. I'll switch to thermal detector mode so our drones can detect any intruders right away, and I'll command them to patrol the outdoor area,” Nova said.

“How about gun ownership? Does this country have tight regulations? Help me search online.” Leon asked Nova to look into this.

“These past three days... I don't even know what country this is. Just tell me what I really need to know first, like gun ownership and how money works here.” Leon only knew the orphanage, and that was it.

Nova quickly searched online and soon replied, “Sir, I'll summarize it for you. This country is called the Republic of Lumora, which means ‘light for the people.’ Here, it's illegal to own a gun. There isn't even a permit system. If you're found owning a gun, you can be executed immediately.”

This made Leon frown. “That severe?”

“Sadly, yes. This country believes it's for their people's wellbeing. Without guns, there are no mass shootings, so no mass deaths, fewer headaches.” Nova explained, then continued to tell him more.

“Personal alarms are restricted too, sir. Too many complaints about them going off from cats and disturbing neighbors' sleep. Now, only AI ones that can tell animals from humans are allowed, they cost $8,000 each, the cheapest one.” Nova showed some example products on Leon's TV screen.

Hearing this, Leon was baffled. “$8,000! What the hell!”

Leon leaned back weakly in his seat and asked, “Is there any more bad news?”

Nova then changed the screen to a new one, a government website. “If you want more, I can tell you one that's really bad. The government just passed a new law today. Starting next month, physical money will cease to exist and must be exchanged at the nearest bank. From now on, only electronic currency can be used.”

This made Leon freeze for a moment. “Wait, so... I can't use physical money anymore? Damn! What do I do now!” Leon started to panic.

“Right, I have Leon's bank account, but I don't know the password! Right, if I just say I forgot the password and ask the bank to help... yes, it's feasible. But then how do I explain my earnings? Damn!” Leon couldn't think anymore, his brain crashed.

“Then what about our honey trap? How do we make money from that?” Leon asked Nova, unable to think clearly anymore.

“We can still do that, sir. Even better, it can be legal now. The government will launch an amnesty program called 'Clean Slate,' which means you can declare your cash and assets, including illegal earnings.”

Hearing this, Leon's eyes brightened. “Oh I can? Then... don't I just need to dupe things like gold bars? Hahaha!” Leon became more excited.

“But sir, you will be fined 20 percent of any earnings.” Nova's statement quenched Leon's excitement.

“Hmm, but it's still okay... I mean, I don't lose anything.” Leon found nothing problematic, paying a fine wasn't a problem.

“But sir, gold bars require documentation of origin. Identical serial numbers would be immediately detected. Also, declaring large amounts of precious metals typically triggers enhanced scrutiny, even under amnesty programs.”

“Well... d*mn... why is it so hard? I have a cheat, okay!” Leon felt frustrated.

“I have a solution, sir. I could hack dormant crypto wallets, accounts abandoned for years, where owners lost their keys. I could also exploit vulnerabilities in smaller exchanges without triggering major investigations.”

“With the Clean Slate program, you could declare everything and make it completely legal. But we'd need to keep it reasonable, a security guard suddenly having millions would raise red flags. I'd cap it at around $1 million.”

Crypto was completely foreign to Leon. He knew it was basically money laundering, but... “Crypto, okay. As long as it doesn't get me flagged by the government.” Leon can only nod.

Nova immediately began working. Leon watched complicated code flash across his TV screen, he had no idea how a TV could even do that.

“After I gather the funds, you'll have enough clean money to start an entertainment company,” Nova explained while working. “We'd manage idols and performers, adding our forty 'people' to the roster as international talent based overseas. The company becomes our legitimate front for any future income.”

“Damn... so this is really a big opportunity, huh! I'll be legally rich! Hahaha!” Leon was so happy he almost forgot something important, like the suspicious figure that needed his attention.

“Right, can we do this right away? Ah... I need to unlock my bank account first.” Leon sighed.

“Already handled, sir. I'm accessing your bank account, resetting the password, and filing your Clean Slate application…” Nova paused.

Leon was baffled. Could an AI really hack a bank system? Well, for Nova, maybe it was as easy as reading a novel.

“Done. Your account now shows $1,798,265 after declaring $2,247,831 in cryptocurrency earnings and paying the required fine.” Nova displayed Leon's bank account on the screen, and it really showed $1,798,265!

“F*cking hell! I'm really rich!” Leon stood up from his seat and stared at the TV screen. This looked... unreal, like game money or a fake wallpaper screen.

With that, Leon installed the banking app on his phone. Following Nova's guidance, he logged into his account—and there it was: $1.7 million sitting in his balance!

Nova had made sure everything was safe. “To keep the government from getting suspicious, I've created a complete digital history showing you as a small time crypto investor who got lucky during the recent market surge” Nova explained.

“Their systems will show consistent trading activity spanning the past three years. Your clean slate application looks completely legitimate.” Nova paused briefly before continuing,

“I'm currently preparing the application for your entertainment business, sir. I've named it Nova Entertainment.” Nova took care of everything seamlessly.

Looking at the freshly generated business permit bearing Nova's name, Leon shrugged. He didn't really care what it was called.

"Right... I feel like I'm forgetting something important... oh right, that figure!" Leon suddenly remembered his main focus.

"I need to remind Bethy and the other neighbors first before sleeping... yawn..." Leon felt sleepy but still headed out of the orphanage to find Bethy.

When he stepped outside, Leon could see Bethy planting some new small trees, varieties he didn't recognize. Leon didn’t know much about gardening, so he went straight to his purpose.

"Bethy, glad to see you outside. I just wanted to say that I found a suspicious person trying to break into the orphanage last night. Nothing was stolen, but I thought I should let you know."

Hearing this, Bethy looked rather concerned.

"Really? Well, it's good that nothing was taken. Thank you for telling me. I'll mention it to my husband and post about it in our neighborhood chat." Bethy paused, pulling out her phone.

"Oh, I noticed you're not in the group yet, right? You've only been here three days, so I wasn't sure if you wanted to join," she said while opening the group chat.

Leon shook his head. "Nah, I don't really need that... I mean, I'm awake at night a lot, so it's not like I can socialize much with everyone anyway. Just tell them about this, please. Thanks."

"Of course, I'll do just that. Please be careful, Leon." Bethy nodded, and Leon walked away.

With that handled, Leon placed some meat and vegetables in the kitchen before finally settling down to sleep for the day with much more peace of mind.

With over a million in his account, he could buy anything, but using drones for security against a thief is enough. It wasn't likely that the thief would come back tomorrow... right?

When he woke up, darkness had already fallen. Leon checked the CCTV feed and saw the kids eating dinner in the common hall.

It was still instant noodles, but at least each bowl had a few pieces of meat and vegetables now, making it much healthier than before.

"Hmm, okay, this is an improvement..." Leon muttered to himself. "Now I need to make sure no thief gets in like last night." He began preparing himself for another night of vigilance.

Before he took a bath, Leon did some simple exercises, jogging in place, push ups, sit ups. His body wasn't that fit, and he didn't want to get beaten up by a thief. So he trained a bit, though he wasn't sure if it would have any real effect..

Leon then stood guard and focused on his CCTV feed. Hours passed without any trouble, which baffled him!

By 2 in the morning, nothing had happened, so Leon positioned himself near the rabbit pen, ready to beat down any moving shadow that appeared.

"Sigh... what is this? Did the thief run away or what?" Leon looked around, and whenever he turned his head, bright light followed. Leon had essentially turned himself into a moving spotlight.

“Heh... it's better this way... at least I scared him away…” Yawning, Leon felt like he was more tired than usual today.

“Uh, did I exercise too much? Yawn…” Yawning again, Leon looked at his watch. “2:54... it's already been 50 minutes with no movement, and my feet already feel cramped... so... I think he won't come back again, right? Let's go…”

Leon then came back into his room, scrolling through his phone. This time, he read some novels he had downloaded.

Leon was scrolling through his novel when the reading app suddenly froze. He tapped the screen a few times, but nothing responded.

When he tried to close the app, his phone became sluggish, and then one by one, other apps started crashing whenever he tried to open them. Even basic functions like the settings menu would immediately close after opening.

"Seriously?" he muttered, trying to restart the phone, but it was completely unresponsive.

“D*mn phone! I swear I'll buy an expensive one tomorrow!" Leon was so annoyed that he threw his old phone onto his bed.

"F*ck.. what am I supposed to do now..." Leon sighed, but when he glanced at the CCTV screen, he discovered that all the feeds were nothing but static.

Leon spent the next several minutes trying everything he could think of, holding the power button, trying different button combinations, and even removing and reinserting the battery.

When that didn't work, he moved to the CCTV system, checking all the cables, rebooting the monitors, and testing different channels.

"Argh! It's that lab again, isn't it? I really need to file a complaint!" Leon looked annoyed as he glanced between his frozen phone and the static filled CCTV screens.

"When Nova comes back online, I'll hack their server and make a complete mess of it!" Leon swore that he would do that later.

Then he spent the next several minutes alternating between troubleshooting his devices and pacing around the security office.

Every few minutes, he'd try restarting his phone or adjusting the CCTV connections, muttering complaints about the research facility under his breath.

It wasn't until 3:16 AM that everything suddenly returned to normal. The CCTV feeds flickered back to life, displaying clear images of the orphanage corridors, and his phone finally responded to the restart command. Leon felt relieved.

until Nova's voice can be heard from his phone!

“Sir, we've got a situation! At 3:01, we lost signal again. I couldn't reach you! And we have a bigger problem! Someone broke in during the blackout! From what I can see on the backup footage, it's that same guy from yesterday, and he was at the rabbit pen!"

Hearing this, Leon shot up from his chair and grabbed his stun baton. He strapped on all six flashlights, then sprinted toward the rabbit pen. When he arrived, he saw it...

Something absolutely horrifying!