The underground secrets diverted most of Cairo's attention, but he didn't relax surface monitoring. The newly deployed sensor network and constantly patrolling servo-skulls continued sensing every heartbeat of this wasteland.
Several days later one evening, the alarm triggered.
The alert tone indicating "unauthorized moving objects approaching monitoring boundary" sounded in the workshop.
Cairo's gaze shifted from underground structural diagrams, focusing on the main screen. Real-time footage transmitted by his servo-skull showed three heat signatures carefully moving about two kilometers east of town. They drove a modified, worn-looking small sandrunner, moving slowly, frequently stopping to observe the town through binoculars.
"Life sign analysis: Standard humans, light cyberware modification. Armament scan: Inferior ballistic weapons, homemade explosives. Behavioral pattern: Highly vigilant, reconnaissance intent obvious. Threat level: Low." The servo-skull calmly assessed.
Not Maelstrom. Worse equipment, more cautious actions—looked like common nomad scavengers.
Previously, Cairo's choice would be simple: either ignore, or physically eliminate them once they entered the workshop's threat range.
But now, watching those three tiny figures on screen filled with wishful thinking, a different thought surfaced. Killing consumed energy, produced waste requiring disposal, and might attract more unnecessary attention. More importantly, his recent reverse engineering research on cyberpunk world cyberware and network technology needed actual test data.
"An opportunity to test a new approach." Cairo said. "The efficient form of passive defense isn't destruction—it's guiding them to leave voluntarily and spread information favorable to isolating this place."
He rapidly wrote an instruction code, incorporating principles reverse-engineered from local network protocols and cyberware neural interfaces. "Old friend, execute 'Phantom' protocol. Attempt to access their visual cyberware data streams, override visual signals. Inject preset fear imagery modules. Other units, coordinate creating abnormal acoustic effects and faint energy disturbances."
"Instructions confirmed." The servo-skull silently melted into dusk, drifting toward those three scavengers. The other two imitation skulls began creating subtle, source-indeterminate noises at specific positions around town's edge—like twisting metal sounds, vague sighs, and faint energy overload humming.
The three scavengers knew nothing of this. They stopped the sandrunner, deciding to enter town on foot.
"Old Cat, this place feels real wrong—it's not even marked on the map." A younger voice carried nervousness.
"Shut it, Mole. The weirder the place, the better the finds. Look at those metal frames—tear 'em down and they'd sell for good money." The leader called Old Cat replied in lowered voice, his right eye flickering with cheap red scope light.
"Bloodhound, use your sensor to check for energy signals."
The scavenger called Bloodhound raised his wrist where a crude radiation and energy detector was strapped. "There's some... faint fluctuation, real messy, can't pinpoint the source... wait, readings are jumping..."
Just then, the servo-skull was already hovering silently above them. A directional data stream shot out soundlessly, attempting to interfere with and infiltrate Old Cat and Mole's visual cyberware wireless receiving modules.
Old Cat blinked hard: "Fuck! My eyes are acting up... did something just drift past that wall corner? Something white..."
Mole's voice instantly changed pitch: "Cat... Cat bro! I saw it too! A... a floating skull! Glowing! Right behind you!"
In their vision, a pale, twisted skull with eye sockets burning with ghostly blue flames hovered in midair, silently grinning grotesquely at them, sometimes vanishing, sometimes appearing in another direction. This was synthetic imagery the servo-skull successfully injected.
"What nonsense!" Old Cat barked, but his voice trembled—his own cyberoptic eye also saw similar horrifying phantoms.
"The detector! The detector's going crazy!" Bloodhound cried out in terror. The readings on his device's screen jumped wildly, pointing in all directions, emitting piercing alarm sounds—energy disturbances created by the imitation skulls nearby.
Immediately after, vague sounds like a woman's weeping were played by directional speakers, mixing with wind sounds, drilling into their ears.
"Ghosts... there are ghosts!" Mole was first to break, throwing down his iron rod and running.
Old Cat's courage also instantly collapsed. Terrifying phantoms witnessed firsthand, malfunctioning instruments, eerie crying... everything pointed to one conclusion: this town wasn't an ownerless ruin but cursed land!
"Retreat! Quick, retreat!" He roared hoarsely, stumbling after Mole toward the sandrunner.
Bloodhound was already scared witless, scrambling to follow.
All three jumped onto the vehicle ten times faster than they'd arrived. The engine emitted hoarse roars as they fled the town in panic, not even daring to glance back.
The servo-skull hovered quietly in the air, light in eye sockets returning to calm, stopping data injection. Phantoms vanished, crying ceased, energy disturbances returned to silence.
"Test results assessment: Low-end visual cyberware infiltration success rate high. Phantom module operation stable, effectively triggered target fear psychology. Coordinated interference effect significant. Target expulsion successful. Energy consumption: negligible." The servo-skull flew back to the workshop, calmly reporting data.
Cairo satisfactorily viewed the data feedback. "'Phantom' protocol archived, designated as one of standard response modes for low-threat unauthorized intrusion."
He paused, adding: "Continue monitoring surrounding electromagnetic signals. Capture any rumors discussing abnormalities here."
As he predicted, days later, the servo-skull filtered out several interesting fragments from captured sporadic nomad channel communications:
"...Absolutely true! Flint Town is haunted! Can't trust what your eyes see!"
"...Don't go there anymore, Old Cat and his crew almost didn't make it back—said they saw skeleton phantoms, all instruments went haywire..."
"...Cursed place, definitely wronged souls from the corporate wars..."
"...Stay away from that desert, real wrong..."
Rumors spread like ink dropped in water—slowly but steadily diffusing among scattered nomads and scavenger groups. "Ghost Town," "Skull Grounds," "Cursed Land"... these labels began associating with this abandoned town.
Cairo stood in the workshop, listening to the servo-skull report intercepted rumor fragments. External perspective feedback made him satisfied with his strategy.
This supernatural horror was far more effective at deterring scattered onlookers than an outpost occupied by an armed tech solo. It could filter out most fly-like troubles while not attracting immediate attention from major powers.
His defense strategy had upgraded—from pure physical destruction to incorporating information warfare and psychological dimensions.
Underground exploration was about to unfold; he needed the surface sufficiently "quiet." And these scavengers who scared themselves away, along with the "ghost stories" they carried, were currently the best talisman.
In the workshop, the red-robed figure once again immersed himself in analyzing underground base structural diagrams. The outside world's whispers about "phantoms" seemed merely a prelude to his next technical practice.
-------------------
For 100 powerstones! Also we've beaten the fic so at the end of this week (Sunday), I'll be posting 5 chapters.