The commander's breath hitched violently as an unprecedented, suffocating chill shot straight up his spine.
He needed to warn The Raven right now. He needed to tell him to sever all remote connections immediately.
He needed to expose this woman's true agenda.
It was highly likely... that her true motives for boarding this ship were far more sinister than any of them had realized.
And yet, here she was, parading around Project Zero-Transit as a VIP. She had breezed into restricted zones, examined multiple Living Assets, and had even been handed classified data on a silver platter.
If she was truly operating under a hidden agenda...
Just the thought of it made his blood run ice cold.
But in his current position, he was utterly helpless.
Warn The Raven? He couldn't even twitch without sending a blinding shockwave of agony through his skewered hand, making his entire body convulse.
Julian kept his foot planted firmly on the man's hand, looking down at him with aloof, aristocratic indifference. "Don't move. You'll distract her."
The man's eyes were bloodshot. His lips trembled violently, but not a single sound made it past his vocal cords.
It was too late.
It was all too late!
He looked up at Serena, still standing before the console.
She maintained that same lazy, unbothered posture. Her beautiful, pale face was a portrait of absolute serenity.
It was as if the supposed life-or-death countdown had meant absolutely nothing to her.
She just stood there, idly tapping the keys with her slender fingers.
Like she was casually dismantling a cheap toy.
His throat tightened, an overwhelming surge of shock and pure terror churning in his eyes.
Exactly how capable was this woman?
If she had calculated this exact outcome from the very start...
Did that mean every single reaction, every single move they had made, had played
out exactly as she predicted?
Was this woman even human?!
...
Meanwhile.
Inside the Obsidian Command Center.
The colossal monitor was bleeding with glaring red warnings.
[Omega Purge Protocol failed.]
[Target control privileges have been intercepted by an external source.]
The tech specialists, previously flying across their keyboards,
completely froze in their seats Every
single one of them was deatbly pale,* their eyes blown wide in horror.
It was as if they couldn't process the reality glaring back at them.
"W-what is going on..."
One of the technicians stared blankly at the text before abruptly springing out of his chair.
In his panic, he violently knocked over his seat.
It slammed onto the floor with a loud crash.
He didn't care. He frantically began typing on his terminal.
But nothing he did made a difference.
His fingers were shaking uncontrollably.
"M-My Lord..." His voice trembled
Bet
- nce successfully entered the
with pure terror. "The purge
Core chip, bebut"
"The asset's nervous system didn't collapse, and it hasn't entered Phase One of the frenzy."
He swallowed hard, cold sweat dripping steadily down his bloodless cheeks.
"Furthermore..."
"Our purge sequence is currently being reverse-engineered by The Panacea."
These specialists were supposed to be the undisputed prodigies of the cyber world.
Yet here they were, forced to sit and watch helplessly as their master override was dismantled layer by layer, from the other side of the globe.
"My Lord, she's not trying to block the protocol..."