Cyberpunk Maniac

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"Xingtian, scan for network access points."

"Access the constant temperature management system, scan thermal imaging, three-dimensional map simulation..."

Phew, it's good that the public system is usable. After all, what era are we in that they're still using fax machines and shredders—it's such a pitfall.

So, Li Pan observed the three-dimensional map of the warehouse before him. Although the storage area for the monsters likely had some form of special door or seal, the external warehouse facilities, as legitimate taxable assets, could not skimp on official documentation and had to be connected to the security network and subject to fire inspections.

Thanks to TheM company's management permissions and direct link to system chips, Li Pan acquired full access to the warehouse's video, audio, and temperature monitoring information.

He could confirm from the surveillance that the Whirlpool Gang's hackers had disabled the warehouse's perimeter defense systems, removing landmines and disabling the third-floor gun turrets before driving a van in and deploying a squad through the roof to infiltrate. While one group started using a plasma cutter to drill through the door to the second-floor control room, another pulled wires from the exterior wall.

In this age of IoT, all citizens and devices are connected to the QVN network, monitored and managed by the public safety system. Even if hackers wanted to intrude from the public web level into a remote-controlled toy car, they'd have to directly breach HT Technology's firewall. Without corporate-level backing and technical support, it's virtually impossible in every sense.

However, Li Pan could roughly guess what the other side was up to. Inside the Whirlpool Gang's van, there would likely be an illegally constructed subnet server host, probably salvaged from an old factory. Once they physically break into the control room, they can similarly physically sever the connection between the warehouse server and the public network and then switch over to their own virtual server.

That way, the Whirlpool Gang's hackers wouldn't need to challenge HT Technology and could circumvent the public network, directly link to the server subnet, and set up a virtual machine system, bypassing the public safety system's firewall. Then, as long as the hackers can overcome the built-in firewall in the warehouse server subnet, they can usurp the regional control permissions and unlock all the doors leading to the underground warehouse.

So, not for nothing do they say that madmen have wild ideas—it's such low-level, crude, yet simple and effective hacking methods that they've thought of. But they're going to be disappointed, because TheM Company's network security outsourcing service was purchased from HT Technology...

That's ultimately the storage location for the company's products, do you think the security measures are a joke?

This 'broken warehouse' is equipped with HT Technology's most advanced counter-hacker service package. The monthly rental fee for each terminal is probably just a few million. All forty-two warehouses are constantly updated and fully maintained. Even forced disconnection and reboot won't do any good. To put it plainly, without managerial permissions, you couldn't even start a floor-cleaning robot. The wealthy are just that capricious...

Just as Li Pan was resetting the defense robots and gun turrets, preparing to give the Whirlpool Gang a big surprise, he had also made his way to the end of the secret passage and, upon seeing the hidden door leading to the warehouse, his expression grew solemn.

The 'back door' was opened. The killer in front did not have the general manager's permissions and was probably not a technical hacker, having directly cut through the alloy security door.

Li Pan checked the material of the security door—Grade 5 technology, armor plating used on battleships.

Therefore, Li Pan did not immediately enter the warehouse. Crouching at the doorway, he called up the surveillance system to look around. He couldn't see anything amiss in the video or temperature monitoring, but the audio monitoring detected abnormal noises near Container No. 7 on the second basement level, significantly deviating from the records.

This 'invisible person' not only knew about the secret back door but also the exact location of the shelves where the monsters were stored?

The company couldn't really have a traitor, could it...

And this killing Ghost that entered through the back door could use optical invisibility camouflage, or perhaps had some Magic Puppet program and hacker in the background providing technical support, erasing records from the surveillance system. Moreover, knowing precisely the location of the container storing monsters, they must have exceptionally strong personal combat capabilities, undoubtedly a high-level 'hound' nurtured by a major company, equipped with at least Grade 5 technology.

And those madmen from the Whirlpool Gang may well just be this 'invisible hound' deliberately brought in to attract attention and take the fall. This way, the thief could silently steal the 'No. 7 Monster' from the back door, and when TheM Company starts searching for vengeance, they'd only investigate in the direction of the Whirlpool Gang. Even if they noticed the condition of the back door, they might be drawn to the stinking, rotten pile of corpses at the entrance. By the time they get to him, he would have long since escaped without a trace.

The opponent was capable of cutting through the alloy with one strike and could remain invisible in the system's surveillance. If Li Pan bumped into him in such a narrow tunnel, he'd likely be chopped down with a single slash; he was definitely no match in a head-to-head confrontation. Naturally, Li Pan wouldn't foolishly engage in a direct fight.

And he had already found Big Bear in the surveillance.

Apart from being 'already dead,' he looked almost identical to how Li Pan had seen him not long ago.

The highly modified prosthetic body of the other was standing in the control room on the second floor. From the physiological state of the subnet employees, the brainwaves had flatlined—brain death.

However, the cause of Big Bear's death remained elusive. Li Pan scanned his entire prosthetic body through the system and found no problems. There wasn't a single wound, nor were there any signs of hacker intrusion causing chip overload damage.

Clearly, the monster company wouldn't make a mistake with its most important managerial succession rules. If not for the 'company can't function without a general manager,' such authority would never fall upon a temporary foreman.

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