The neon rain fell in sheets across Neo-Copenhagen's chrome-plated streets, each droplet carrying trace amounts of industrial pollutants that made the water glow with an ethereal blue-green luminescence. Kai Nakamura pulled his neural interface hood tighter as he navigated the crowded pedestrian tunnels beneath the corporate district, his augmented eyes automatically filtering the sensory overload of holographic advertisements and digital graffiti that plastered every available surface.

At twenty-eight, Kai had spent the better part of a decade as a data archeologist, diving deep into the digital ruins of the old internet to recover lost information for clients who preferred to remain anonymous. Unlike the flashy netrunners who made headlines with their corporate raids and viral stunts, Kai specialized in the quiet art of digital excavation, following data trails that had been buried beneath layers of encryption and abandoned protocols.