There's one on the lower side of the west gate. I'll enter from there. I scanned it; there's a camera in Hall 2, ninety degrees from the indoor route.
Then there's one in the northeast direction. If I disable these two monitors, I can smoothly enter the elevator.
But unlocking the elevator is expected to take a minute and a half, and ascending to the fourteenth floor about half a minute, so it will take approximately two minutes.
"Pilar, how are things on your end right now?"
Roel squatted behind Sasha, who was leaning against the industrial park wall, with Sasha's black bodysuit peeking out from under her pink jacket. His gaze flickered.
It took over forty minutes for Roel and Sasha to reach the Biotechnica building, a massive industrial park.
Looking west, one could see neon fish swimming between the skyscrapers at night; that area was Arasaka's territory.
To the east was the downtown overpass, with countless neon signs casting light into the night sky.
If all went as planned, Maine's crew would appear on the bridge immediately after completing the mission, ready to provide support for Roel and Sasha.
"The signal jammer can be activated at any time, but for a maximum of five minutes, Sasha. You only have five minutes. Exceeding that time, if the camera footage doesn't change, they'll definitely notice!"
Pilar's voice rang out in the team's comms, not as lively as Roel had seen her at the Afterlife, but full of seriousness and gravity.
Roel also connected to the team call, quietly listening to Sasha and Pilar's conversation. He noted down 'five minutes' as a key phrase.
"That's enough," Sasha said to the team, then, in front of Roel, she closed the communication, her cat-like lips curving upwards as she told Roel:
"Stick close to me. Once inside, you absolutely cannot wander around or look anywhere. After I enter the elevator, you'll guard the elevator door. If anything unexpected happens, send me a message. Don't worry about being exposed; I've already encrypted you."
"I understand."
"Then now... begin!"
Sasha first pressed a key on her laptop. The next moment, with a subtle 'click,' Roel clearly saw the camera under the eaves of the west gate, which had been rotating, stop, and current flashed twice.
Immediately after, Sasha agilely scaled the two-meter-high wall in front of her. Just as she was about to turn back to see if Roel had followed, her gaze met a pair of dark pupils.
Her beautiful big eyes blinked. Sasha said nothing, but turned and crouched down, quickly running towards the entrance ahead.
Roel followed her closely.
Sasha moved with agility and skill. As she neared the west gate entrance, she reached back to her lower back and fumbled twice.
A black, precise instrument appeared in her hand. She slapped it onto the door, steam rose from her head, and her fingers quickly tapped on the device, entering a password.
"Ding--"
The door opened. Sasha looked up at the distant camera inside, and more steam rose from her cat-like head.
The two cameras malfunctioned instantly. She rushed towards the elevator, simultaneously calculating the time and monitoring the surrounding cameras.
Although Maine had said they had been scouting for a long time, Biotechnica was a large company. What they called 'scouting' simply meant posing as business people, looking around, and pre-recording camera locations.
As for what it was like upstairs, what security there was... ha, those were supposed to be the Fixer's responsibilities.
However, the Fixer who gave Maine's crew this job was unreliable. The information he provided was extremely vague. Therefore, Sasha had to remain focused to avoid triggering Biotechnica's alarms.
At the elevator entrance, Sasha pulled out another device from who-knows-where and raised her right hand, a flash of silver light shimmering.
Blades appeared on Sasha's fingertips. She forcefully clawed at the area next to the elevator card reader, tearing open the wall—that was a Mantis Blade implant.
Quickly pulling out one of the wires and connecting it to the portable instrument, Sasha then began to radiate a large amount of heat, and the cat-like card slot on her cheek also started to spew white steam.
Time ticked by. When Sasha finally looked up, she turned to Roel, and then simply nodded at him.
Then, the elevator was hacked and opened. Sasha quickly entered the elevator, pointing at the silver ring on her temple while facing Roel.
That action was to signal Roel to call her.
Roel quickly connected with Sasha.
"OK, connected. Don't disturb me unless it's necessary." Sasha's figure disappeared from Roel's sight, but her voice entered Roel's mind.
Roel: "Alright."
About twenty seconds later, Roel heard the elevator announcement.
"Fourteenth floor arrived--"
.......
Quickly exiting the elevator, Sasha scanned the surrounding electronic equipment while running towards the target office.
During this time, Sasha saw many security personnel. After avoiding them, she quickly found the office she needed to enter.
She carefully crouched by the door, entered the password given by the Fixer, and successfully entered the office. Upon entering, she let out a sigh of relief.
Because at this point, the mission was basically halfway complete.
What she had to do next was what she was best at.
Rocking the swivel chair, she sat down, humming a tune, her cat-like lips curving upwards. She took off her jacket and quickly pulled out equipment from her small bag, connecting the cables to the computer. Sasha put on her helmet.
"R&D data, safrole 2 accounts..."
"Found it~~~"
At the same time, Roel, who was connected to the call: "..."
Sasha hummed a tune and talked to herself. Roel heard all of it, but he didn't make a sound, afraid of disturbing Sasha's work.
And moments later, Sasha finished reading the data required for this mission.
After copying the data, she was just marveling at how easy this job was and was about to unplug the data cable when she suddenly froze as she looked up.
Reflected in her blue pupils was the Biotechnica logo. Sasha quietly looked at a string of letters displayed in the corner of the screen—Securicine (safrole).
Her pupils dilated. Memories from the past surged like a tide. Sasha instantly thought of events from over a decade ago.
In just an instant, she made up her mind.
She had always strictly adhered to the principle of "mind your own business except for missions, missions first," but this time, she was uncharacteristically going to take a risk.
In cyberspace, Sasha quickly opened a virtual keyboard and began to search for information about safrole.
One piece of data, two pieces of data...
【Marvin Rank: Securicine cannot yet be used clinically. Experimental results show that while safrole effectively alleviates postoperative pain in users, there is also a high probability that it will cause degenerative lesions in the user's nerves. Therefore, I request that existing drugs be recalled...】
【Norman: Reject drug recall, continue.】
These two lines of text plunged Sasha into silence.
In her kaleidoscope of memories, she recalled herself as a young, helpless child, handing safrole to her mother as a life-saving medicine, and herself staring blankly at an urn.
...
And in her mind, Maine's voice suddenly rang out. He had joined the team's comms, his voice tinged with urgency:
"How's it going? Sasha, haven't you finished yet? You have one minute left!"
"Sasha?"
"Sorry, Maine," Sasha said softly.
"What? Wait, Sasha! What are you going to do?"
"Beep!"
Cutting off Maine's connection, Sasha's gaze returned to the screen. Then, she raised her hand and pulled out the data cable from her hand interface.
She copied this safrole report, preparing to upload this data to the 54 News hotline.
That was all she could do.
"So, is this a variable?" Just as Sasha finished all this, and had also transmitted the mission data to Pilar, and reloaded her pistol, a voice suddenly appeared in her head.
Ah... how did I forget to cut off the connection with him?
"It's a variable, but it's my own business, and it has nothing to do with you. Don't forget my advice: mind your own business," Sasha said to Roel. She then said with a smile:
"You should leave quickly. If you wait any longer, you won't be able to get away. Maine's crew should be here to pick you up soon."
"As for my share of the money, it depends on whether I can get out. If I can't get out, then you'll get a share of that money, rookie. This is my joining gift to you as a veteran."
After saying this, Sasha quickly shut down the communication.
The safrole data was being read and uploaded. When the safrole data reached eighty percent, the time finally ran out.
The signal jammer failed. An alarm blared and red lights flashed in the office, followed by urgent sounds from outside the door.
Biotechnica's security robots had discovered her whereabouts and quickly opened the door.
"The person inside, listen..."
Mantis Blades popped out from her fingertips. Sasha's left hand was still connected to the data cable, which restricted her movement in the small room.
But even so, she dealt with the security robot in front of her in an instant, and at the same time, connected to another security robot as she turned her head—
【Available Quickhack: Cyberpsychosis】
"Click!"
The robot that had just reached Sasha instantly went limp, and Sasha also felt her head heavy, hot, and dizzy.
Raising her hand, her Mantis Blades plunged into the robot's chest. A security robot beside her raised its gun and fired.
Sasha, seeing this, agilely rolled backward, and as she leaped up, she took out the pistol she had prepared earlier from her leg.
【Biotechnica—54NEWS】
【Data uploading, progress 95%】
A stray bullet hit her position. A submachine gun bullet pierced Sasha's left shoulder, but did not cause fatal injury.
However, the impact of that bullet caused her body to fly off balance towards the window—the glass of which had already been shattered.
【Upload successful】
The data cable disconnected, and Sasha's body fell backward. She knew she couldn't escape. From the moment this mission took an unexpected turn, everything seemed to have been predetermined.
But Sasha had no regrets. The truth was revealed, Biotechnica would be damaged by it, and she had given her young, helpless self an answer, shedding a heavy burden.
But in the next instant, Sasha found the feeling of being suspended in the air disappear, replaced by the warmth of being embraced by a human body.
And a faint scent of laundry detergent mixed with alcohol.
Instinctively opening her eyes, a dazed Sasha saw a naturally delicate face.
What she heard in her ears was his voice:
"You haven't told me how much money you plan to give me yet."
Roel said to her very seriously.
