In the dim room, garbage that had not been thrown out in time gave off a rotten stench.
Seated before several computers, a man in a black robe watched the streams of data flashing across his screens with a grim expression. His hands never stopped moving, hammering away at the keyboard.
They were the most notorious Hacker Group in the Enlil District. Some time ago, they had taken on a major job targeting the Wetting Conglomerate's Alt District branch, with a hefty payment promised in return.
Blinded by greed, he had accepted the job in the end.
To be honest, they had been extremely cautious at first about taking on a behemoth like the Wetting Conglomerate, terrified of leaving anything that could be used against them.
But the Wetting Conglomerate's subsequent response had baffled them.
The Wetting Conglomerate's headquarters had not mobilized its Network Security Department, as though it had completely abandoned the Alt District's firewall.
After so many days of probing, they had long since let their guard down. After all, there was no way their opponent would take such an enormous risk just to lure them out.
Yet just as they were brazenly exploiting vulnerabilities to destroy the firewall, the original defenses had somehow sprung back to life and sounded the call for a counterattack.
At first, they had been able to suppress it by joining forces with other hackers, but as time went on, the enemy's offensive had grown increasingly fierce.
By now, the enemy had crushed no fewer than four hacker teams.
The situation had been completely reversed.
They knew they had been duped. They had eagerly swallowed the hook without even getting a taste of the bait.
The Wetting Conglomerate's Network Security Department had finally entered the fray. Every piece of information that mysterious employer had given him was now worthless, and when he tried to contact them again, he discovered that he had been blocked on every channel.
At this point, how could he not realize he had been set up?
Worst of all, their earlier, overly eager offensive had allowed the enemy to discover every vulnerability he had left exposed.
What they needed to consider now was no longer how to breach the Alt District's firewall, but how to erase the traces they had already left behind...
Unfortunately, none of this would turn out as they hoped.
The moment they left those traces, their fate had already been sealed.
-BANG!!
The crash swept through the room along with a powerful blast of air.
Dust swirled through the dim room, and sunlight streamed in through the doorway where the door had been smashed open.
The sudden turn of events startled everyone present. Before they could react, the Special Operations Personnel who stormed into the room had already brought the situation completely under control.
The hacker leader was pinned beneath a man wearing the Wetting Conglomerate's Special Operations Uniform, while a group of armed personnel in the Wetting Conglomerate's Combat Uniform filed in through the smashed-open doorway.
They aimed their guns at the helpless hackers, who wisely raised their hands.
The lead Special Operations Personnel looked through his Tactical Mask at the terrified hackers before him and spoke in a muffled voice:
"Wetting Conglomerate Special Operations Force. You're under arrest for compromising network security. Anything you'd like to say?"
No one dared answer. Only after a long silence did the hacker leader pinned beneath him manage to speak in broken gasps:
"The Wetting Conglomerate has no authority... Do you have an arrest warrant from the Peacekeeping Forces...? If not, what gives you the right..."
Before he could finish, a gunshot cut off his final words.
-BANG!
The bullet passed through the man's head in a spray of blood, leaving his last words forever unspoken.
After the gunshot, everyone in the room fell deathly silent. The hackers watched in horror, but none dared voice an objection.
Once they had all quieted down, the lead Special Operations Personnel kicked the still-warm corpse aside.
A muffled voice came from behind his Tactical Mask.
"Looks like no one has any objections."
"Arrest them and return to base."
Scenes like this unfolded in many places at once.
Even if a few slipped through the net and escaped the Wetting Conglomerate's pursuit, no one would likely dare entertain any more ideas about the Alt District's firewall.
The Wetting Conglomerate's tactic of making an example of them was masterful. This ruthless sweep sent shock waves through the surrounding twenty-five districts. Everyone marveled at the Wetting Conglomerate's restraint, but the few who knew the inside story were bewildered by something else entirely.
-Just how had Jonas tracked down these hackers?
The Wetting Conglomerate's Network Security Department had never intervened at all. Among the outsourced security departments still operating within the twenty-five districts, not a single one had the strength to take on so many hacker teams. Forget mounting a counterattack; even keeping things running would have been a problem.
Everyone speculated that Jonas had built up a force of his own, but only those close to him knew that this feat had been accomplished not by some hidden team of hackers, but by a girl who was not yet twenty.
Even Eiffel had needed a long time to recover from the shock when she heard the news.
She had never imagined that the timid girl truly possessed a talent for hacking far beyond that of ordinary people, just as Jonas had said.
Recalling Jonas's somewhat strange behavior over the past two days, Eiffel suddenly felt as though she understood something.
He had not been wasting time. Thinking back on them carefully now, those seemingly pointless actions looked more like... training a dog?
At that thought, a chill ran down Eiffel's spine, and she immediately placed Jonas among the most vicious and depraved people in her mind.
She took a deep breath and silently made up her mind.
From now on, I absolutely have to be careful, careful, and even more careful when dealing with Mr. Jonas.
That scumbag's methods were far more sophisticated than she had imagined.
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