Commander Richter gritted his teeth, his voice barely squeezing through his constricted throat. "Panacea... Joker... you're going to regret this!"
"You have no idea who you're messing with!"
"Anyone who crosses us ends up dead."
"Once The Raven finds out—"
He was cut off by a soft scoff from Serena.
She glanced over her shoulder, a mocking sneer curving her lips. "Pretty sure he already knows."
The commander choked, his lips trembling, but he couldn't form a single word in response.
Serena scoffed again, shooting a sidelong glance at Julian.
It only took one look.
Julian immediately applied more pressure to his foot, his voice remaining flawlessly polite. "Quiet down. I despise people with bad manners."
Crack!
The bones in the commander's skewered hand snapped entirely under the weight.
His threats devolved into a pitiful, shrieking wail.
And then, blissful silence.
Serena smirked.
This Joker guy really pulled his weight.
Ignoring the commotion behind her, she locked her eyes back on the terminal.
She had successfully reclaimed the master access.
However...
The countdown wasn't a simple kill-switch.
She pulled up the underlying architecture of the Omega Purge Protocol.
Within seconds, she had stripped it bare.
When she had analyzed the base pharmacology earlier, she had already noticed something deeply flawed about Specimen Fourteen.
Their so-called "neural purge" didn't actually destroy the asset's nervous system via the microchip.
Instead, the remote protocol flooded the system, instantly triggering all the dormant Primal Catalyst inside Specimen Fourteen's bloodstream.
Once the catalyst was fully active, the asset would plunge into an unstoppable state of hyper-aggression.
And a frenzied Specimen
Fourteen-guided by target
parameters pre-programmed into its
chip-would systematically
slaughter anyone who had come
into contact with or uncovered.
their secrets!
It would keep killing until the mutated genetics ultimately cannibalized its own nervous system.
Only when its central nervous system collapsed completely would the asset finally be "purged."
It was a brilliantly sadistic failsafe, perfectly in line with their organization's usual style.
Staring at the dormant catalyst trigger hidden at the deepest root of the code, Serena let out a low, cold laugh. "Cute."
Hearing her laugh, Commander Richter's heart skipped a beat. He fought through the pain to crane his neck, desperate to see the screen.
He had no idea what she had found in the code.
She had actually deduced the true mechanics behind the purge!
And from his awkward angle on the floor, he could clearly see the console.
His breath hitched.
He had assumed that the moment she regained control, she would immediately sever the remote connection to prevent the command from executing.
But she didn't...
Not only did she leave the
connection open, but she
intentionally disabled the outermost firewall She was deliberately letting the purge command from the Obsidian Command Center stide right into Specimen Fourteen's operating system.
His eyes went wide. He stared at the deactivated firewall in sheer
disbelief, taking several seconds to process what he was seeing.
"Panacea, what the hell are one
doing?! Are are you out of you mind?!"
She had full control. She could have stalled the purge.
Why would she willingly drop the firewall?!
Didn't she realize that once the purge reached the core chip, the asset would fully activate?
And when that happened...
Specimen Fourteen would slaughter everyone in sight without prejudice!