The noise in the detective unit's transmission is a fragmented time-delayed virus!
I was never there in the first place!
He's stealing the task force's 'eyes' from somewhere else!
I'll trace the transmission point!
Transmitting
My job is now safely done.
All I have left is to think about how to kill the remaining time,
while the task force detectives track me down.
We've intercepted a radio signal that violates the Cyber Ethics law.
There is now a possibility that your cyberbrains are contaminated.
Check your cyberbrain activity and be attentive to the behavior of the others!
Chief, we've confirmed the presence of a fragmented virus.
We won't be able to determine what type of virus it is until it completely emerges.
Considering that the noise was within the detective unit's transmissions,
it would be logical to think that the virus will appear among the security police.
There is no evidence of a remotely-operating program;
the virus is most probably self-executing.
So, who will it appear in first?
Even if it's a farce, the least they can do is make things exciting.
He's surprisingly close!
What do you two intend to...
Hey!
It's just as you said.
If I had transmitted the virus from my home,
I would have been caught by those sharp detectives before the transmission was completed.
That would've disqualified me from being the Laughing Man.
But, aren't you here too early?
Didn't we plan our scenario so that the detectives would deduce my location
from the transmission record left in this room's computer terminal,
and arrest me as I was fleeing from this place?
Oh?
No.
This is as it was really planned.
Hey, you're joking, aren't you?
If you kill me, who would you arrest as the Laughing Man?
Don't worry, whether you're dead or alive is of no great concern.
It is sufficient if there is reasonable evidence that you were the Laughing Man.
But don't worry, your name will be more likely to become part of history this way.
What?
So, it has begun.
Commissioner, there is a possibility that your cyberbrain has been contaminated.
We will check the cyberbrain activities of all the people here in the hall,
including that of the security police, ASAP.
Please delay your speech.
Until we determine who is infected with the virus,
remain on standby in F2 mode.
Hey you! Stop!
Identify your affiliation and rank!
Be quiet.
You, and other members of the security police,
have the highest possibility of being infected with the virus.
Considering that it is a time-delayed virus that was transmitted through the com system of your men,
there are two possibilities as to who is infected.
Commanding officers with decoding capabilities,
or everyone else.
Go!
Roger.
Is that it?
Stop them!
Don't let them get near the Commissioner!
Secure all the remaining...
THE PURGE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!
It's the perfect training session.
Unless you want to spend the rest of your days in an Intensive Care Unit,
keep quiet where you are!
Dammit...
What believable acting it was.
Someone is copying the virus online!
It's a firewall with offensive capabilities!
Major!
That was close.
Fortunately, I was connecting through an expendable decoy firewall.
A virus with a trap?
I don't know.
Who was peering into this person's mind?
It's unlocked.
Did we lose him?
one shot at point-blank range.
A silencer was also used.
What's going on?
I thought their plan was to end the farce by having that task force set him up in a pre-determined court case.
Don't ask me.
This is like cutting off a lizard's tail.
In any case, this guy's face...
Yeah.
He's laughing.
Nanao was taken out?
They've got us.
After recording as much as you can about the scene of the crime,
pull out of there before the task force arrives!
The dead do not speak.
Roger.
I'll send you a copy of the virus that was presumably sent in here by Nanao.
It only appeared in the commanding officer who had decoding capability,
so I don't think there will be others.
But, just in case, please make a vaccine.
Understood. I'll have it made ASAP.
Nanao was murdered.
So I've heard.
This scenario is turning out to be quite complicated.
True enough.
The acting on the stage at the farce was quite thorough as well.
One thing bothers me, though.
When I tried to copy Nanao's virus, someone...
What's wrong?
Wait one second.
Please move out of the way.
Fall back; please clear the path!
Fall back, I'm telling you!
Please hurry with the vaccine!
Something is afoot.
Pazu, go guard the Commissioner again!
Saitou, be on alert!
Roger!
Please fall back!
I am the Laughing Man!
I'll take the Commissioner's lif...
Did the time-delayed virus activate?
Fall back, please!
Daidou! Tell the truth!
Who are you?
If not, die!
Daidou!
Requesting reinforcements immediately!
The Laughing Man's alleged accomplices are...
It didn't hit any vital organs.
There may be more infected with the virus.
Be careful.
We repeat!
The Laughing Man's accomplices are infiltrating the hall!
We are requesting reinforcements!
What is going on...?
Arrange to have an ambulance arrive in the basemen parking lot.
Chief, what about the vaccine?
It's going to take a bit more time.
What in the world happened?
It doesn't look like we'll have time to give you a visual feed.
In any case, please hurry with the vaccine.
Saitou, is there any suspicious activity in the vicinity of the hall?
Where is the Tachikoma that went with the Major?
Aside from Saitou's Tachikoma, there are two other free units.
All right, we'll have them support the Major.
Bomer, hurry up with the vaccine.
Roger.
Fall back!
A policeman fired on Daidou-san!
This farce is going out of control.
Please tell us!
Major, I've taken care of one of them over here.
There may be others.
Don't let down your guard.
Roger.
Major, I've made the vaccine like you asked,
but just like you said, it seems to only infect those with decoding capabilities in the security police.
It doesn't seem to be causing the current situation.
Then... what is it?
I will eliminate you!
Major, I came to help you!
You're late!
Secure him.
Roger!
Daidou, prepare yourself!
Dammit, how many are there?
Laughing Man, you are under arrest for attempted assassination!
Major, I've caught the Laughing Man!
Excuse me!
Excuse me,
how do I get to the hotel where the Police Commissioner's delivering a speech?
Major, are you all right?
Don't mind me;
get to work on gathering information to find out what happened.
Roger!
As I said, Mr. Policeman, you don't need to ask me things like that, do you?
I'm the Laughing Man!
L-A-U-G-H-I-N-G MAN!
The others are all fakes!
I'm the only real one!
That was the Laughing Man's message to me.
He was telling me to become the Laughing Man...
That was what the assassination threat was telling me.
Well, I don't believe there was a message saying "kill the Police Commissioner."
It's time for you to talk!
In any case, what are all these people doing here?
Who knows, although I'm sure they're not just ordinary fans.
With this, everything becomes ambiguous.
Excluding the security police officer who first became infected by Nanao's virus,
the rest were inspired by the assassination threat and voluntarily plotted the Police Commissioner's assassination;
I heard that's what's being said.
There are those who're claiming to be the Laughing Man themselves.
Well, aren't they all basically the same bunch anyway?
You're probably right.
As we expected, there was neither evidence of a virus nor of cyberbrain contamination.
Of course, we can't really say until more detailed examinations are completed,
but I think that there is little chance of finding external factors.
I see, thank you.
I'll leave the rest to you.
Hey, where are you going?
I have something to discuss with the Chief.
Ooh, a date?
It was a joke.
How does the police department's coffee taste?
It's not very good.
You're going to the hospital, aren't you?
You knew.
Police Commissioner Daidou will fulfill his remaining time in office in the hospital.
What is the Police's official statement regarding this incident?
The media will probably strike a bargain and settle for
simultaneous multiple cyberbrain contamination by a virus that was assembled by
Nanao, whom the police have been intimating is the Laughing Man.
What about Nanao's death?
The Laughing Man case was perpetrated by a group
and Nanao was killed due to some unknown trouble with the rest of the group.
Although the objective behind the assassination threat is not clear,
the task force considers it to be a new development
and is to continue their investigation of the case.
The way the curtain came down on the whole scenario was so well done that it's hard to imagine it was just a farce.
Don't be so sarcastic.
Oh? I'm praising them.
The police's official statement aside,
the mimics, as I prefer to call them...
What do you think their goal was?
Three who announced that they were the Laughing Man;
Two who admired the Laughing Man and proceeded to commit the crime;
Three who took the assassination threat as a personal revelation;
if we are to include othere who were arrested for suspicious behavior in the ceremonial hall's vicinity,
a total of 39 mimics were caught all at once.
In addition, they did not entrust the task to each other
and have no religious ties.
There is also no evidence of external manipulation via viruses or brainwashing equipment,
not to mention that these people could not possibly be the Laughing Man.
Despite that, just because they saw something on TV
that could be interpreted as an assassination threat against the Police Commissioner,
they committed acts of terrorism en masse.
How are we to explain this?
In a staged play, even the audience is a part of the act.
I don't think that is an answer.
As you said, I believe that there was a cover-up attempted from within the police, using Nanao A as the decoy.
I cannot help but feel that the incident instigated by the mimics
was due to completely different factors.
A different 'reality' was beginning to exist there.
Yes, even I was surprised by that.
Oh well, I should have expected as much.
Although we did take steps early, this time it was rather...
Yes...
Although I feel some regret at retiring without fulfilling my term,
I also do fell that all who were involved
should retreat from the front lines.
Yes, regarding what happens after my retirement, we've already...
Yes, thank you.
Yes,
You have my gratitude.
My apologies for the intrusion.
It seems that you've encountered great misfortune as a result of this incident.
I am glad to see that you seem to be doing well.
What are your reasons for being here?
I'm supposed to be resting.
Didn't you see the sign outside?
I would think that you'd have at least a word of thanks for my subordinates,
but I see that is not the case.
Byt the way, I've heard that the summers in Amsterdam are easier to bear than ours.
With the recent incident, I am at last able to make a decision.
Hmph, are you also going to retire?
From now on, Section 9 will conduct its own investigation
in order to uncover the truth behind the Laughing Man case.
I came today to notify you of this decision,
for I will have many questions for you regarding the cash flow between you and Serano
once we begin our investigation.
I suggest that you rest well until that time.
Oh yeah, lately the lines are so crowded
that I can't play online games at all because of the lag!
I was worried about how much it would cost.
Sorry to make you worry.
What's wrong?
Everything has been coloured in one hue.
About answering that question:
I thought from the beginning that there was no phsyical reality behind the Laughing Man.
I think that the incident this time around grew from a seed that was planted 6 years ago
and sprouted the assassination threat.
The mimics involved in this incident were a complex entity of "standalones"
who had been drawn by this phenomenon;
in the end, they are but copies of an original that never existed.
Are you saying that the original Laughing Man did not exist?
If so, then what was the entity that was watching us when I dived into that security police officer's brain?
Major.
Let's stop thinking about a piece of the puzzle that will never fit in.
From tomorrow, we'll be piecing together a magnificeint puzzle from scratch.
You're right.
By the way
will you tell Togusa
to put flowers on Yamaguchi's grave for me?
After all, he was the one who first shed light on this case.
Roger.