Corpo Age

Chapter 88: Infiltrating QuickLinks Logistics Pt.2

Andrew - Halls Corporation

“Peng, remember, only attack if they actually notice us or try to touch the terminal.”

“Peng understands. Attack if they touch.”

“...Yes. Wave at me if you need me. I’ll just be outside.”

Andrew then climbed out of the hole in the window and went back downstairs. He found a discreet corner where he could hide without using his Shade. He constantly kept watch of his surroundings, but more so the window where Peng was. It couldn’t be helped, as that was the part Andrew was most worried about.

A few minutes quietly passed before the sound of footsteps distracted Andrew from his worries. He glanced down at the cord that ran from the other side of the wall to the ground before him, and then up into the room where Peng was.

It’s not really visible, but they’ll definitely notice if they step on it.

He waited patiently as the footsteps grew louder until he saw a patrol come around the corner. There were two fully armed men slowly approaching the cord, as he had feared.

He readied his rifle and ensured the silencer was properly attached before taking aim.

Just as he was ready to pull the trigger if they showed signs of noticing the cord, a loud voice yelled out.

“The idiots back there, get to patrolling the rooms inside now! Look for anyone suspicious people on terminals, not people in the backyard, damn it!”

Andrew watched as the two guards exchanged glances and shrugged before they jogged back to the front. Andrew let out a sigh of relief as they disappeared from view.

Wait, now I shouldn’t be relieved. Inside is where Peng is!

He swiftly decided to join Peng instead of staying outside. He climbed back up and disabled his camouflage when he was sure no one was nearby.

“An—”

Andrew quickly interjected, as Peng raised his voice. “Keep your voice down, you big oaf.”

“Sorry Andrew, Peng will be quieter.”

“...Did anything happen while I was gone?”

“Um, someone opened the door and took a look around. They left after seeing no one, so Peng left them alone, too. Did Peng do the right thing?”

So they only gave a quick glance over, looking for someone on a terminal…Lucky us.

“Yes, good job Peng.”

“Yay!”

“Shhh, quiet. Watch your damn voice!”

Andrew could only sigh as he watched Peng deflate at being reprimanded.

Hopefully, things are going just as well with our boss’s team.

‘Malicious program detected. Proceeding to quarantine the—’ Kiri’s voice suddenly rang out in my ears.

What? There was a virus on the door panel here?

A trap? Why…? Did they know I was coming or has this always been here?

“Rollo, what’s wrong?” Thorne asked, as I had stopped talking mid-sentence.

My Nyes returned at the same time, so I gestured for him to wait while I reviewed the footage.

On the other side of the fancy double door here beside me, the Nyes recorded a shot of the entire room. It was a spacious office where only one desk lay at the end of the room. The windows had a clear view of the city below, and luxuriously looking cabinets lined up on the side of the room with various awards and trophies on display.

The thing that drew my attention the most, though, was the half-a-dozen security guards, armed to the teeth inside, laying in ambush. They had their entire attention at the door, with their weapons at the ready.

I looked back to find Thorne staring at me impatiently. I pointed at the door and signaled for him to retreat. We stepped back away from the door carefully, as if we were walking on shards of glass until we were a good distance away. I’m glad we incorporated hand signs for quick communications like they’d been practicing for the volleyball team.

“The place is a trap. The terminal for the door tried to hack into my systems and there’s a whole team laying in ambush in there,” I whispered to Thorne.

“What? Did they know we were coming or was this place always a trap floor…?”

“I don’t know, but we need to leave quickly. That terminal likely has already informed their control room that it has been sprung. They’re probably just waiting for the report from their ambushers.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

We quickly waved Mark over and made for the staircase to head back down.

On the way down, we discussed our options in hushed whispers.

“We should retreat, Rollo. This mission has failed and we need to get out of here before they start looking for us.”

“...We still have at least twenty minutes before they investigate. They should still be thinking we’re busy hacking into the terminal there.”

“Yes, enough time for us to get out of here,” Thorne’s voice strained.

That is the safest option, to retreat and replan. But then they’ll be on guard for sure and our only remaining option will be a frontal assault…

“Let us try to find their control room first to disable their coordination and find out where their leader is. If we don’t find it in fifteen minutes, we’ll retreat.”

“...Ten minutes. And do you seriously think their boss is still around here?”

“I doubt there’s a safer place for him to be with all of our allies doing their best to track him down.”

I stopped us as we arrived on the fifth floor and began unlocking the door. The security on this door was more secure than the others I’ve encountered. It was only around the level of what Leo had pitted against me, though.

Does this mean the other ones were easier on purpose to let me walk into the ambush? No, that’s too random unless they knew I was the one coming…

With my Nyes scouting out the area before us, we quickly proceeded without encountering anyone. A few patrols were on this floor, but there were also plenty of empty server rooms for us to hide in.

We made our way toward the core of the building and continued scouting the place using the Nyes.

“Found it. There’s a pair of guards standing guard, though. The patrols also regularly pass by. We’ll need to take them out at the same time.”

“...How did you find it so easily?” Thorne asked.

“All the control rooms are usually in the most secure areas. And what other area is more secure than in the center of this entire building?”

Thorne wrinkled his brow in thought for a moment before nodding in acceptance.

The most logical options also made it the most predictable option. Our own control room back in Elevate City was also located in the center of the building.

“Mark, you hold the corridor here in case any employees pop out and hold off any reinforcements that may hear us. Thorne, you want to deal with the guards by the pair or the patrol?”

“I’m faster than you. I got the patrol.”

I nodded in response and we began right away. Time was ticking, and it wasn’t on our side.

The three of us activated our active camouflage and went toward our targets. We couldn’t see each other, but the clear assignment of roles should prevent us from interfering with each other accidentally.

I marched up to the pair of guards standing at the sides of a door and waited with my Suri at the ready. The sound of approaching footsteps soon grew louder and another pair of guards soon came into view.

I quickly shot the cameras overseeing this corridor before Thorne sprung into action.

The patrol was marching toward me down the hallway when they suddenly jerked back and their feet came off the ground.

The sight before me was like cartoons I’ve seen in the past where tried to continue walking in mid-air as someone held them back by the neck. The only difference was the person choking them was invisible, and it wasn’t a comical sight.

The broken cameras instantly caused the guards beside me to panic, but the grunts from the struggling patrol quickly drew their attention instead. As they turned toward their allies, I imitated Thorne’s maneuver with my two cyberarms and pulled their necks tightly toward me. This way, there wouldn’t be any blood to alert anyone that drops by later.

Their struggles only lasted for a short time as the strength of our cyberarms was too much for them to bear.

+10 EXP

+10 EXP

Thorne quickly rushed toward the door and dismantled it with his brute strength. Whoever was on the other side definitely knew something was up as soon as the cameras were shot out, so time was of the essence.

As Thorne busted the door open, gunshots immediately rained out towards him. They created ripples in his camouflage, but otherwise, uselessly bounced off his cyborg frame. I took the opportunity to throw a flashbang inside.

Once it went off, the two of us immediately rushed in. We quickly moved away from the door and took full advantage of being invisible by being on the move. I could tell Thorne was using his wrist blades to dispatch the disoriented foes while I used my Suri from up close. I didn’t want to accidentally damage any of the equipment in here any more than necessary, after all.

+10 EXP

+10 EXP

We took care of the half a dozen guards manning the control room, and I quickly hopped onto their terminal. Luckily, it was still logged on, so I had free rein into their systems.

In the meantime, Thorne physically disabled the turrets mounted around the room, which were still scanning for targets. There was no way for it to detect us while we had our active camouflage activated, though. He then went outside to check on the fighting between Mark and the other patrols, who had likely heard the previous gunshots.

I scanned through various camera feeds and found the room that was responsible for the E-Dome. However, I couldn’t disable it remotely, nor would I want to at this moment. The ambush team in the penthouse had probably received a message to be expecting us. Allowing wireless communications was a double-edged sword that had more detriments than benefits right now.

Just as I suspected, I found the text log between the control room here and the terminal inside the office where the ambushers were. I quickly sent out a command to order them to stand by and resumed going through their system.

There were dozens of alerts about the ongoing attack into their systems, but a portion of the cy-sec specialists that had been manning the defenses was now gone. It appears there were still other geeks in the other building, actively resisting Leo’s cyberattack. Though now Leo actually had the upper hand.

I didn’t have the time to help him out, though. It wasn’t even our goal to win the cyberwarfare, so I quickly continued my search.

I could see the movements of guards outside. They were postured for an imminent attack, but I could see a significant number of them were ready to rush back into the buildings.

Was there really a leak of our attack somehow…?

I mindlessly continued reviewing the various cameras as I mulled about the unusualness when Kiri suddenly alerted me.

‘Anomaly detected on camera #00380. Well-armed guards congregating on the basement floor.’

I pulled up the camera in question and confirmed the findings. There were strong-looking cyborg guards patrolling on screen, patrolling around the maintenance shafts. It was on the B2 level, so I checked the other areas on that floor. It seemed like that was the only area with a lot of guards. Even the other basement levels didn’t have this many.

There weren’t any cameras inside the room they were defending, too. It was definitely suspicious.

“Let’s go, Thorne. I think I have an idea where our boss man is.”