7: Chapter 7: First Glimpse of Talent

Inside the cold, grease-stained ventilation duct, Lin Yi and Jackie crawled forward one after the other with difficulty.

The sound of metal grinding and the vague roar of machinery in the distance echoed through the duct, masking their movements. The air was thick with the stench of metallic rust, low-quality coolant, and the cloying, synthetic meat smell composed of sweet chemicals—so thick it was almost nauseating.

In Lin Yi's field of vision, pale golden data streams danced like ghosts.

[Insight] maintained a load of about 5%, continuously marking the best crawling path for him and preemptively warning of several loose rivet areas that might make noise. He could even "see" the thermal signals passing by outside the duct—those were patrolling Maelstrom members, their cyberware heat dissipation patterns clearly distinguishable under [Insight].

"Turn left. Down at the third junction." Lin Yi's voice was extremely low, transmitted to Jackie behind him through bone conduction headphones.

"Received... This damn place is fucking narrow; that turn almost tore my pants." Jackie muttered. His sturdy frame moved with considerable difficulty in the duct.

Relying on Lin Yi's precise guidance, they perfectly avoided all patrol routes and main activity areas.

Occasionally, there were two lone Maelstrom members venting their energy by graffitiing walls in secluded corners or being engrossed in the game terminal interfaces in their hands—they never noticed the shadow flashing past behind the ventilation grille overhead.

So far, Jackie hadn't even had a chance to use his "quietly smash heads" technique.

Everything went so smoothly it made him feel a bit stifled.

"Brother." Jackie couldn't help but whisper, "This 'fortune-telling' ability of yours... it's such a fucking waste to use it for breaking and entering. It's like you're back in your own home."

Lin Yi didn't reply, just concentrated.

A continuous, slight throbbing pain came from his temples—this was the price of continuously using [Insight] for now, but it was still within a bearable range. Bai Ze's computing power made Maelstrom's defense, which seemed tight to outsiders, look full of holes in his eyes.

According to [Insight]'s scan of the building structure and energy reactions, they quickly located a remodeled office deep in the factory. There were clearly more guards there, and it had an independent, stronger network node.

"That's it."

Lin Yi signaled Jackie to stop. Below them was a larger ventilation room, connecting several ducts, and directly below was a corner of the target office's roof. A Maelstrom member was currently facing away from them, dozing against the wall, his heavy mechanical arm hanging on the ground.

Lin Yi extended two fingers, made a gesture to Jackie, and then pointed downward.

Jackie grinned and silently loosened his neck.

He gently pried open the latch of the ventilation grille and dropped down silently like a leopard. Before the dozing gang member could react, a precise and powerful heavy blow landed on the nerve bundle in his neck—a street fighting technique sufficient to make someone instantly unconscious without being fatal.

Jackie gently supported his limp body and dragged it into the shadows.

Lin Yi followed and immediately walked to the old, stained terminal in the office. He extended his fingers; even without physical contact, [Insight] had instantly completed the connection.

[Terminal detected: 'Fury-Mod' model. Operating System: Rust V.2.]

[Firewall: Identified. Hacking difficulty: Extremely low.]

[Executing hack... Hack complete. Permission obtained: Administrator. Time elapsed: 0.3 seconds.]

The terminal screen lit up, unlocking successfully.

Lin Yi's fingers danced rapidly on the virtual keyboard, and data cascaded down like a waterfall.

"Looking for shipping records... recent inventory... none... Recycle Bin... found it."

An encrypted inventory record popped up abruptly in the Recycle Bin, dated shortly after the goods were hijacked, described as "Special Chemicals - High Value". The location was marked as a cryogenic storage locker in a corner of the factory area.

Almost simultaneously, [Insight] also captured fragments of residual communication records in another data pad charging in the office.

Several encrypted messages were instantly decrypted—

Sender, Unknown ID: [The stuff has been put in the 'Meat Locker' as planned. Ensure Brick 'accidentally' discovers it and its connection to that messy Biotechnica business recently, so they fall out with each other.]

Reply, Local ID: [Understood. Boss Royce will be satisfied. This is enough to give that old fossil Brick a headache.]

Just as expected.

Lin Yi's eyes narrowed.

It was Royce's people framing him. Brick might not even know of this shipment's existence—or only just found out.

"How is it?" Jackie leaned in and asked in a whisper.

"The goods are in the cryogenic storage locker; coordinates sent to you." Lin Yi summarized quickly, while copying all relevant records from the terminal and silently erasing traces of their intrusion, "It's Royce's people behind this, trying to screw over Brick."

"Damn it, I knew it!" Jackie spat, "What are we waiting for? Grab the goods and let's get out of here!"

The two turned into shadows again, following the route planned by Lin Yi, easily bypassing the guards, and arrived at that cryogenic storage locker.

The locker's electronic lock was effectively non-existent in front of [Insight].

It opened instantly.

Inside was the sealed metal box described by Owen. The key lock showed it hadn't been triggered.

"Beautiful!" Jackie grabbed the box and weighed it, "Got it! Let's retreat!"

The retreat was equally smooth. They returned along the original path, encountering almost no obstacles.

The entrance to the ventilation duct leading to the factory perimeter was right ahead. As long as they climbed out, they could disappear into the night.

Just then—

A heavy sound of footsteps, mixed with the sound of metal grinding, came from the adjacent passage. There was also a rude and angry voice complaining:

"...That piece of scrap-metal bastard Royce! Always causing trouble! Doing things with Biotechnica stuff behind my back... Damn it, if I catch him, if I get the evidence..."

It was Brick!

His tall figure appeared at the end of the passage, the heavy metal cyberware on his body reflecting cold light in the dim illumination. He was walking in this direction, cursing—he was about to pass the ventilation duct entrance!

Jackie's muscles instantly tensed; he was about to draw the gun behind his back.

Lin Yi pressed him down.

His heart skipped a beat.

[Insight] kicked in directly, power usage adjusted to 20%. It instantly deduced dozens of possibilities—but almost every one ended in a bloody conflict. Brick might not be as crazy as Royce, but his strength and the guards around him were definitely not something the two of them could easily handle, especially with their current lack of firepower. Once a firefight started, it would inevitably alert the entire stronghold.

They couldn't fight.

They had to pass through silently.

In a flash, a thought crossed Lin Yi's mind—

[Lockdown].

He had never used this forbidden function on a living person.

But right now, there was no better choice to avoid alerting the enemy.

He concentrated fiercely, locking onto that massive figure walking closer and closer. His consciousness pierced out like a needle, communicating with that cold creation at the back of his neck.

[Command confirmed: Execute [Lockdown--Control].]

[Target: 1.]

[Execution duration: 6ms. Estimated power consumption: 2%.]

[Risk: Medium.]

A cold chill, by no means in a physical sense, surged up Lin Yi's spine into his brain.

Simultaneously, a pain like an acupuncture needle strike hit him!

He let out a muffled groan, his face instantly turning pale. His nasal cavity felt hot, and a trace of blood seeped out.

"Damn. If I wasn't broke and only had this access port... I need to get a RAM stabilizer and a synaptic accelerator later."

Almost at the same moment—

Brick, who was in the middle of cursing, suddenly stopped.

His massive body stiffened abruptly. His footsteps stopped.

"...Hmm?"

He let out a confused grunt and shook his head, which was embedded with metal parts.

"What's going on... suddenly... a bit tired..."

His voice became slurred. His eyes showed a momentary vacancy. Those cybernetic arms also hung down unconsciously—as if all nerve signals were briefly cut off and isolated in an instant.

Now!

Lin Yi, enduring the strange dizziness, pushed Jackie hard.

Jackie reacted instantly. Although he didn't understand what had happened, he seized this precious opportunity; his sturdy body became as agile as a civet cat, diving into the ventilation duct first, then reaching back to pull the almost exhausted Lin Yi.

The two climbed upward quickly. The metal box was tightly tucked under Jackie's arm.

About ten seconds later.

Brick below shook his head violently and returned to normal.

"...Damn it, I haven't slept well lately. It's like I'm haunted by ghosts." He muttered, completely unaware of the brief anomaly just now, and continued walking forward, cursing, "...It's all that bastard Royce's fault... when I find the evidence..."

His voice gradually faded into the distance.

In the ventilation duct, Lin Yi and Jackie leaned against the cold pipe walls, gasping for air.

Jackie was startled when he saw Lin Yi's pale face and the bloodstain under his nose.

"Holy shit! Brother! Are you okay? What was that just now...?"

Lin Yi waved his hand, signaling he was okay. His voice was a bit weak: "I'm fine... keep moving. It'll pass in a while..."

Jackie didn't ask further, supporting Lin Yi, and climbed out of the ventilation duct as fast as possible, disappearing into the complex night of Watson.

The Maelstrom stronghold behind them remained noisy.

No one knew that two uninvited guests had quietly snuck in, and then quietly left with their secrets and loot, without any major incidents.

Brick was still angry about his authority being challenged, completely unaware that he had just skirted the gates of hell—and even less aware that he had become a part of someone else's plan. And the key evidence to expose this plan had already been silently taken away.

Mission accomplished.

Clean and efficient.