Ch76: Unraveling the Unknown

Kael moved quickly but carefully, retracing his steps through the facility's hidden corridors. His EMP tracker and thermal scanner were already stowed away—he didn't need them anymore. He had the data. Now, he needed to leave without leaving a trace.

As he neared the access hatch, he paused. Something felt off.

The air wasn't as still as before. The faint hum of machinery had shifted—something had powered on.

His instincts screamed at him. Had he triggered something? Had someone noticed?

Kael pulled out his modified voltage scanner, a device originally meant to check for unstable power surges but now repurposed to detect sudden changes in electronic activity.

A faint distortion in the readings.

Something—or someone—was moving above ground.

An Unwelcome Presence

He deactivated the scanner, silencing any beeping noise that might betray his position, and pressed himself against the cold metal wall. His breathing was steady, slow, his heart rate lowering deliberately.

Then he heard it.

Clink.

A subtle, metallic shift—footsteps.

Two people. No, three. Moving above the hatch.

Guards? Maintenance crew? Or something worse?

He needed a distraction.

Kael pulled a signal jammer from his belt—a compact device designed to block low-range surveillance feeds and disrupt basic comms. He flicked it on and set it to a delayed activation, placing it on a junction box just a few steps away.

With exactly 30 seconds before it triggered, Kael moved.

He reached the ladder leading up to the hatch, but instead of climbing, he pulled out a fiber-optic camera probe. The thin, flexible wire snaked up through the cracks, feeding a live image to his handheld display.

Three figures in tactical gear. Armed.

Not standard city security. Not Consortium uniforms, either.

That meant someone knew about this place. Someone had sent professionals to guard it.

Kael exhaled slowly. He'd gotten lucky. If he had surfaced without checking first, he would've walked straight into a kill zone.

Time for Plan B.

Right on cue, his signal jammer activated.

A soft electronic hiss filled the air.

Then—click-click-click.

The facility's lights flickered, and emergency warnings blinked on the monitors. A false power surge.

Outside, the guards reacted immediately.

"What the hell was that?" one muttered, his voice filtered through a helmet mic.

"Check the panels. We can't have another failure this week."

One of them turned away, moving toward the main power terminal, while the other two stayed near the hatch.

Kael didn't hesitate.

Instead of using the main ladder, Kael backtracked down the corridor, heading toward a maintenance vent he had noted earlier.

It wasn't meant for human access—just a cooling duct for excess heat discharge. But Kael wasn't picky.

He pried open the vent, pulling himself inside feet first, then slid downward, keeping his movements controlled.

Thirty seconds later, he was outside—emerging near the industrial district's outer perimeter.

Back at his workshop, Kael wasted no time.

He inserted the data chip into his console and began decrypting the files.

At first, it was standard encryption—Consortium-grade but not unbreakable.

But then, a second layer appeared.

This wasn't Consortium encryption. It was custom—something private, something off the books.

His fingers danced over the keyboard, breaking it down piece by piece.

Then the first files opened.

Medical logs. Biometric readouts.

And an identification code: "Project Viros."

Kael frowned.

Medical experiments? Cryogenic suspension? Neuro-enhancement trials?

He scrolled through pages of logs filled with technical jargon he only half-understood.

This isn't my field.

He knew engineering, chemistry, energy systems. This? This was bio-research.

Kael leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping against the metal desk.

So what?

It didn't disturb him. Ethics weren't his concern—he had done worse in the past, and he wasn't about to pretend to care now.

But what did concern him was why this kind of research was happening under Gron.

More importantly—who was behind it?

For now, he wasn't going to waste time deciphering biological nonsense.

He saved the decrypted data, archiving it for later use. Information was power, and Kael wasn't in the habit of wasting potential leverage.

He shut off the console and stood up.

For now, his focus was still on the energy siphons.

The next move? Substation 9