31 Akechi Arrives

Akechi Arrives

"We received no notification that anyone would be visiting today."

As Carl's vehicles slowly drove into the villa where Hanako Arasaka was being held, several heavily armed security guards quickly surrounded them and blocked their path.

Although the scanners had confirmed their identities—they were indeed from Arasaka Corporation—the guards still had no intention of letting them through.

"Sorry. Even if you're one of us, we received no orders about visitors arriving today." The lead guard spoke coldly, his wary gaze sweeping over everyone inside the vehicle.

These guards did not know the villa's true purpose, much less that Hanako Arasaka was imprisoned here. Their clearance was far too low to access secrets of this level.

All they knew was that, not long ago, several escort vehicles had mysteriously entered the villa grounds. Afterward, some of the security personnel, including them, had been urgently reassigned here and given a strict order—aside from the Chief Executive Officer herself, no one was allowed inside.

Beyond that, they knew nothing.

At that moment, the guard was requesting instructions from the security captain through an encrypted communication channel, trying to get a clear answer from his superior.

In this rigidly hierarchical security system, low-level personnel like him had no authority to know the details of a mission. His duty was merely to hold his position, intercept suspicious individuals, report the situation truthfully, and wait for his superiors' decision.

However, while making his routine report, his fingers quietly worked over his personal terminal, recording the full details of the interception.

It was not out of professional habit—he had always been perfunctory when it came to the company's required action logs. He was doing this because of a special "side job."

This guard secretly maintained contact with a mysterious organization particularly interested in Arasaka Corporation