Intruders

In the darkness, the arrival of Lin Yu and Ren Gu stirred up the dust and debris scattered around the underground passage by the explosion, which mixed with the smell of leaking Inert Alchemical Gas, causing Ren Gu to cough incessantly.

"Cough, cough..."

Ren Gu gently covered his mouth and nose and raised the lantern a little higher.

"This place... is really tough."

Lin Yu possesses a [Fusion Memory Metal Respiratory Tract], and coupled with his physique being far stronger than that of ordinary people, this level of dust will not cause him any reaction.

"Comrade Ren Gu, don't you have any masks or other [Item]?"

Ren Gu shook his head. "Obviously not... Do you have more?"

"No... but I have another way."

As Lin Yu spoke, he gently raised his hand and created two gentle breezes around Ren Gu, using the "Gentle Wind Protection" Witchcraft to bless Ren Gu's surroundings.

The dust was instantly dispersed by the wind, creating a pleasant environment for Ren Gu.

Ren Gu let out a sigh of relief.

"That feels much better... Thank you so much, Director."

"But what kind of trick is this? Black Marsh Witchcraft?"

Lin Yu nodded. "Yes, I had a fortuitous encounter in the Black Marsh World and learned some of the newly created Wind Veins Witchcraft there."

"However, this is the first time I've used it as an air purifier."

"Isn't this a bit too much for you? I'm coughing badly, but it's not unbearable," Ren Gu said immediately. "Why don't you cancel the Witchcraft, just in case something unexpected happens?"

Lin Yu shook his head. "That's not necessary. This Witchcraft consumes very little of my spiritual energy... My natural recovery speed can cover the cost of this Witchcraft."

Ren Gu was somewhat surprised. "Your skill in Witchcraft is actually this amazing?"

Lin Yu explained, "After all, it was a bit of a 'serendipitous encounter'... so the benefits are bound to be substantial."

As the two chatted, they reached the bottom of the downward staircase.

At the end of the stairs stood a heavy, closed Metal Door, its alarm flashing incessantly, and the Identification Screen above the door scrolling the words "Illegal Visitor".

However, the alarm system appeared to have been partially damaged, so although the red light was flashing, the alarm did not sound at all.

Meanwhile, the networked Alarm System should also have been disconnected, no response was sent to Divine Power Group, and no further blocking or Alert Device were triggered.

As for why the door triggered the alarm, it's quite obvious.

The entire door had been partially removed, with the door panels neatly folded inwards like a welcome carpet.

"That Schreiber guy has a really strong grip..."

Ren Gu touched the rough, broken Door Hinge marks next to the door frame, which bore the marks of human fingers. "It looks like he just snapped the Door Hinge off this Metal Door —that's outrageous, this guy."

Lin Yu noticed this as well, but he didn't find it strange.

This was probably not something Stiller, who played "Schreiber," did, and Stiller probably couldn't have done it either—he could break the door, but he would have needed some kind of cutting tool.

But given the extent of Nightless Sky Fire Apricot's modifications to herself, it wouldn't be too difficult for the seemingly frail Second Miss of the Nightless Sky Family to achieve this.

Lin Yu wanted to complain even more, "If we're talking about exaggeration, I still think Comrade Ren Gu, you just deleted a whole bunch of 'ruins' which is a bit more exaggerated."

Ren Gu thought for a moment, then said without feigning modesty, "That's true... but it's one of my trump cards, so it's only natural that it's powerful."

Without any hesitation, the two stepped directly into the hollow of the collapsed gate.

According to the Map, what lies behind this should be the former Laboratory Data Center of "Supreme Evolution," which contains a lot of data from Supreme Evolution's alchemical experiments.

Although it was not impacted by the explosion, it was clearly damaged to some extent—the Alchemical Server that were originally neatly arranged were lying scattered all over the ground, and various cables were broken and lying haphazardly on the ground.

At the same time, the smell of alchemical inert gas leakage was even stronger here.

"Given the current state, it's really hard to say whether there's any residual data we can collect," Ren Gu frowned slightly, stepped over a fallen server, and continued walking inside. "Hopefully, the Control Room inside hasn't been completely destroyed."

Using the dim light of the lantern, Lin Yu looked towards the Control Room —although the room was pitch black and he couldn't see the situation clearly, the glittering reflections on the floor indicated that all four glass walls of the Control Room had been smashed to pieces.

"I don't think the situation is very optimistic..."

Lin Yu said.

Even so, the two of them still walked to the side of the Control Room.

The access control system here doesn't show any sign of someone breaking in; instead, it displays an "open" status.

However... since all the Hardened Glass next to it was broken, there was no need to go through the door.

Lin Yu and Ren Gu stepped over the frame full of broken glass and entered the main Control Room.

The main Control Room contains a huge Alchemical Equipment with an operating panel.

To Lin Yu and Ren Gu's surprise...

Although some glass shards fell onto the equipment, it was completely undamaged.

A translucent white sheet of paper covers the main screen on the control panel.

Lin Yu and Ren Gu went over to take a look...

"What? There's a drawing on this white paper... uh, Raccoon wearing a headscarf and holding a stick?"

Ren Gu said, somewhat puzzled.

Lin Yu looked at the crooked but very expressive line drawing and sighed.

"This is probably meant to represent 'the raccoon Raccoon '... That's not a stick, it's a rope the Raccoon uses to escape."

Ren Gu realized what was happening. "Oh, this is the second code that 'Schreiber' left for you?"

Lin Yu nodded. "I'm afraid so... and it's also to remind us that there's something here."

As he spoke, Lin Yu lifted the sheet of white paper.

Really...

The Main Control Console's lit screen displayed the Highest Level login interface, with a clear view of the various encrypted data directories.

Meanwhile, a notification flashes at the bottom of the screen.

"Download complete. Please remove your Storage Device."

Ren Gu was somewhat surprised. "Oh, I didn't expect that 'Schreiber' actually left us a copy... but where is the Storage Device?"

After searching for a while, the two quickly found an external device on the complex main control panel—square, palm-sized, and looking similar to the Communicator commonly seen in the City That Never Sleeps.

Ren Gu simply reached out and pulled off the Storage Device, and the prompt on the screen immediately disappeared.

"This 'Schreiber'... you really have a good relationship with him, to the point that he's gone this far."

Then, Ren Gu casually stuffed the Storage Device into the inside pocket of his jacket.

"No, he just felt he should help us," Lin Yu replied casually, preparing to leave with Ren Gu, but suddenly realized something and looked back at the screen, "Wait... Comrade Ren Gu... wait a minute."

As Lin Yu spoke, Ren Gu seemed somewhat surprised.

"What's wrong, Comrade Lin Yu?"

Lin Yu stared intently at the login page on the main operating device. Although the interface of the Supreme Evolution device was completely different from that of the Truth Company, the Highest Authority login interface was obviously very prominent, making it clear to anyone that this was Maximum-Level Authority login.

Companies in the City That Never Sleeps have always operated this way—functionality can be set aside, but it's essential that those in power and the upper class fully experience their uniqueness and prestige.

It's not surprising that Nightless Sky Fire Apricot that Supreme Evolution and Truth Company had close cooperation back then, and Truth Company also received a large amount of resources after Supreme Evolution went bankrupt and was liquidated.

She went back to her family home and looked around; maybe she'd find the card.

However... once this kind of card is used, it's easy to investigate who used it.

Even if Nightless Sky Fire Apricot didn't use this card, her Alchemy skills were enough for her to easily crack the Firewall of this 40-50 year old main control machine and obtain Maximum-Level Authority.

"Why are you staring at this screen... Is there anything strange about that?"

Ren Gu looked at Lin Yu, who was deep in thought, and asked again.

Lin Yu shook his head.

"No... there's nothing strange about the screen itself. Rather, it's more in line with that guy's style," Lin Yu said in a low voice. "Breaking through the Firewall and gaining access through 'technology'... just like what you said in your initial investigation report. At first, the Divine Power Group didn't even notice any signs of intrusion or theft at this base. It was she who deliberately caused the explosion, which made people realize something was wrong."

"When we came in, we did see that the machine was operating with 'Highest Authority'... but the problem wasn't there."

Lin Yu raised his hand, pointing to the doorway they had entered through, and also to the shattered glass around them.

"The Divine Power Group didn't build new security measures at this base. Instead, they improved upon and reused their existing, Supreme Evolution Security System, integrating it with their internal network... In other words, if she has the Highest Authority of access control, that access can be used at the access control point."

"Even if it wasn't used initially, she could manually cancel the alarm on this machine... It's like the glass in this Control Room has been completely smashed, but the alarm still hasn't been triggered."

Upon hearing this, Ren Gu realized what was happening.

"You mean... you suspect that the broken door wasn't the work of 'Schreiber'? And that a second group of people broke in here?"

Lin Yu nodded. "That's right—it seems that after the explosion, we weren't the only ones attracted—someone else had the same idea as us."

"Verifying this is quite simple. The main control device should display the 'Access Control System' card swipe records and offline time. We just need to check the order of its offline time, the last time it was opened with high privileges, and the file download time to confirm this!"