Chapter 167

Comfortable indoor temperature, dazzling lights, and a silence where only the sound of a heartbeat could be heard.

As I lay there, rolling around in a mix of these three elements, reality seemed to drift further away.

Of course, I could simply open the closed door and watch the embarrassing pleasure party happening right across from me, even though I would soon have to go out to work.

It felt as if I could spend time in this closed room, disconnected from the outside world, ignoring all the headaches forever. After all, the calm before the storm is a form of peace, isn’t it?

Where did Show go, you ask? I sent him out to the main hall long ago.

To be precise, I drove him out under the pretext that I had things to do, given that he was just lingering here, trying to act cute.

He has far more problems to deal with than I do, yet he’s loafing around with that irresponsible attitude.

…Isn’t it odd to worry about a big company director when he’s just a wandering mercenary?

“Ugh…!”

After pulling my knees slightly and kicking at the air, the bouncy bed converted my reclining body into an upright position with that simple rebound.

The reason I prioritized bounce over comfort was probably that it was designed more for sweating during exercise than for simple sleep… Ah, thinking about it gives me chills.

Humans and sexuality have historically been inseparable, but the people around here are always interpreting everything along those lines and presenting their results proudly, making it quite troublesome.

The game itself was clearly a mishmash genre blending a looter shooter with role-playing elements, full of the smell of blood and gunpowder, mixed in with a love simulation. I suppose once the easily perceived troubles like STDs are resolved, it naturally ends up like this…?

…Yet I was originally one of the furthest away from that kind of trouble.

Ha, it’s kind of annoying.

Grumbling, I brought my hand to the touch panel for temperature control beside the bed.

I could have used the opening and closing device on the wall near the door, but the likelihood of the air-related machines being connected to the central system was higher than a simple guest room lock.

Focusing my mind, visualizing the image… Spark.

Parts Chut…!

As I lightly flicked my fingers contrary to my deeply buried consciousness, my will flew down the circuits with a crackling sound.

Through the air conditioner in room 6, which still has a physical presence, I reached the fire detection sensor.

From there, using the adjacent lines again, I broke into the smart home network managing the convenience-related elements of the entire villa.

Most of the controlled variables included the color and brightness of the lights, ventilation intensity and filter settings, and various electronic devices connected to the home.

While I now had the power to adjust all the components that make up the estate’s environment… what I was looking for right now were the security system facilities… and beyond them, the treasure trove.

I wasn’t intending to aggressively infiltrate and declare war; after all, waiting for the proper social gathering to start would be more advantageous for us.

It was more like preliminary preparations to tidy up the battlefield while looking for gaps in various fields.

In case anything went wrong, if rumors started that Kasane had her tail between her legs, our position would become ambiguous, so Kai Jun’s judgment was to wait for the official event to begin before taking action.

The humans who had been enjoying themselves in one corner of the mansion would occasionally greet her, and there would be figures who wanted to continue conversations afterward.

If all these guests became her constraints… it wouldn’t be so bad. The more watchers there are, the fewer gaps there will be. It was impressive that he thought of that.

…However, Kai Jun should recognize that he’s as lucky as he is skilled.

It wasn’t as if I was a cyber engineering expert requested to play the role of a field technician; it just happened that I was someone who could do anything in this field while ignoring my major or specialized area.

Who in their right mind would take on such a dangerous task for nothing?

Moreover, this convoluted operation didn’t even require a grand scheme; if I could just extract something like Kasane’s ledger from my seat, it could be resolved with minimal effort and investment…

Click… creak…

“Ah, damn it.”

I heard a hallucination.

The grid distorted, structures creaked, and the reinforcing steel screamed like a premonition of destruction.

As the server began to overload, I quickly loosened the connection and reduced the signal strength to an almost nonexistent level.

“Sigh…”

I scratched my throat to soothe my disappointment. I even bit my tongue a bit.

As long as I had a solidified image and concentration. There were limits to my abilities, which danced on the edge between omnipotence and invincibility in hacking.

No, rather than the limits of the ability itself, it was more that I couldn’t surpass the physical constraints of the network under my control or the contaminated network.

If you think about the collapsing servers unable to withstand the information being transmitted or the networks swaying under a data overflow, it becomes easier to understand, right…?

Look, isn’t there already a faint wisp of smoke coming from this panel, which has started to malfunction?

Eventually, the simple air conditioner serves as a conduit, meaning that I would be running into a collapsed pathway while trying to turn upside down the electronic devices owned by Kasane located in the heart of the villa.

Well, considering the devices I used to activate my abilities around the power circuit had been annihilated beyond reuse, it wasn’t a completely new discovery, but it was still frustrating.

Was it that the total capacity of the electronic signals I emit was too large…?

How much storage space would be needed to data-encode a human’s changing will in real time…? I think Elysium would know well.

By the way, if I had known this would happen, I should have used Zero as a relay tower outside…!

With that thought in mind, I made a call.

“…Ahem! How’s it outside? Still quiet?”

– I am monitoring the hostile forces expected to be under President Kasane’s command nearby. Until our intentions are discovered or full-scale war begins, the use of live ammunition is absolutely prohibited, and any attack is currently banned… Of course, if Ahsa gives the order, I will advance while taking down as many as possible. –

“Uh… just sit tight.”

I quickly switched the opened communication channel back to receive-only mode.

It clearly didn’t seem wise to call in combat units itching to move in a standoff situation.

I’m not exactly a pacifist, but excessive self-defense clearly leads to greater damage. If my safety can be guaranteed without swinging a gun myself… then it’s best to let things slide peacefully.

So today, only those who should die here will die. If they resist to the end, they’ll just have to be prepared for that.

…Even though I briefly thought it would be okay for the humans outside, panting like beasts, to be innocently caught up in it, being sexually promiscuous isn’t a death sentence. Well…

In any case, there’s nothing I can do. Now that I realized I couldn’t solve everything by myself, I have to be satisfied with just disabling the internal cameras.

Beep.

A message flew in through a line that had never been used since it was established.

The sender was… Kai Jun. It seems he isn’t all that refined; his immediate response shows he has some biting remarks behind him.

[ President Kasane has returned to the main lobby. Are you ready to act? As long as we don’t provide any grounds for them to claim we tampered with relevant evidence, you can go in smoothly and secure the ledger. ]

Ha, words are easy to say.

[ …In other words, you’re saying we also shouldn’t leave any evidence. Don’t worry; there’s always a way. ]

I sent a vague reply and refocused my consciousness back onto the villa’s security system.

Comparing the blueprints of the mansion I had obtained and skimmed through earlier with the devices I was sensing.

If the system is completely wrecked, it’s only natural for a dosed dog to realize something’s happening in the house.

Furthermore, hadn’t I confirmed earlier that there was direct data entering Kasane’s cyberware?

So the method I’m attempting to disable is not by stealing but by altering, manipulating and forging the original data into how I want it to appear. I’ll superimpose a disguised filter that masks it when uploaded to the mainframe.

The colors being recognized will be black, the attire will be a yukata, and just in case, it’ll even take on the form of my combat suit.

No matter how many people receive this transmission, regardless of the number, I’ll ensure that the part showing the ‘Anastasia’ individual will be replaced with the background from previously broadcast material.

I will exist in reality, yet become a ghost unseen by those reliant on electronic devices.

And that ghost will be planning to make a natural getaway once I find and submit the ledger. Heh…!

Why, surprised? If you think about it, there’s no better chance than this.

There’s no way I’m going to miss this excellent opportunity to escape from headquarters, right? With everyone preoccupied with the grand event of Kasane’s downfall, it would be incredibly hard to track me down if I just slip away.

Post-processing? That’s Kai Jun’s responsibility according to the original contract! He shouldn’t be incapable of handling that. Yeah, this is a perfectly legitimate division of labor.

I opened the door and stepped outside to check whether the custom filter was applied correctly.

Then, I heard Kasane’s voice faintly in the distance as if she had used a voice-amplifying microphone, giving a welcoming message along with an enthusiastic opening remark.

It’s time to start acting.

In the blink of an eye, I’ll grab everything and run…! Please don’t feel too unjust about it…

“I will serve you diligently so as not to betray the excessive trust from the managing director, Researcher Gong.”

“…Ah.”

…Right. I should have set this guy not to be visible.

No, if this happens, I have to redo everything from the beginning. Damn it….