Maximilian examined the rough blueprint displayed on his visor. There was a clearly marked, vast space located in the middle section of the building. Only two paths are connected to this area. The first was a large ventilation system used to vent heat. Maximilian had already scanned the heat signature from this vent, and it was impossible to use. Its minimum temperature was 400 degrees Celsius, with a maximum reaching up to 600 degrees.
This was the only ventilation channel connected to the room, and it was clear that whoever designed it had no intention of letting anyone enter through that path, despite it being wide enough for an adult to slip through with ease.
The second path was the front entrance. While moving toward his target, Maximilian had taken advantage of an empty office. He used the console inside to hack into the security footage. From there, he observed two fully armed security guards posted in front of the door, which was secured by a lock requiring DNA confirmation.
As for whose DNA was required, he guessed it must belong to the highest-ranking authority figure on-site.
Maximilian recalled the news he had watched the night before—specifically, a report on a hero from the UEC Top 20 Ranking Board: Photon Fury. A hero with extreme feminist views. The type he hated most from his previous life—those toxic, extremist feminists. The kind who had caused him endless trouble.
Just remembering that smug face made his mood plummet.
But that was beside the point. The real point was that the person who had arrived with her, like a leash-holder walking their pet, was a high-ranking official from the IHB Headquarters. He had temporarily relocated from the Central District to this city-state to deal with a supervillain known as Necrotox, someone the news described as a threat to the entire city-state.
That man... Heinrich Strauss. A bigshot who would definitely have access to the room he was targeting.
Childishness, arrogance, and incompetence! These are the three words I would use to describe Ms. Pamela Diamond, also known as Photon Fury. The hero ranked 18th in the UEC's Top Twenty Hero Rankings.
She possesses immense power and potential... but under a personality driven by her own misguided ideals, it's only a matter of time before the UEC decides she's more trouble than she's worth and reclassifies her from "hero" to "villain," issuing a warrant for every registered hero to hunt her down.
The only thing preventing the UEC from doing that right now is the undeniable usefulness of her power when it comes to elimination or annihilation missions, like clearing out villain lairs or mutant bases that have become a persistent nuisance to the organization.
But the moment it becomes too costly to keep her on the roster... or worse, the damage she causes outweighs her usefulness, the UEC will not hesitate to discard her.
Take today, for example. After returning from inspecting the ambush site where a prisoner caravan was attacked, the first thing I had to deal with was the collateral damage from her latest so-called "heroic deed."
And her so call "heroic deed" has also brought complication to the IHB once agian. While patrolling, Photon Fury happened to stumble upon a crime in progress, An armed robber holding up a small convenience store.
The result? She fired her photon powers and vaporized both the criminal and half of the store. Her photon blast even penetrated the building and hit a car parked nearby. It's fortunate that, aside from the robber, no one else died. Had an innocent person been killed, things could have escalated far beyond what anyone could contain.
There are so many things wrong with this situation. First, the robber wasn't a dangerous supervillain. He wasn't a high-level threat, certainly not dangerous enough to warrant lethal force. He should've been captured alive and brought to trial. But because she doesn't like being touched by men, she vaporized him!?
This is absolutely ridiculous!
Second! The way she uses her power... it's savage, raw, untrained, and nearly uncontrollable! The only thing she's good at is unleashing her photon beam in the general direction her hand is pointing! There's no precision, no finesse, not even the slightest effort to avoid collateral damage!
Who does she think is working behind the scenes to mitigate the consequences of her actions as much as possible!?
I thought to myself as I reviewed the statistics of registered heroes under the UEC, alongside the data on corporate-affiliated heroes. It's clear that the corporate hero performance graphs are rising steadily, the quality of corporate-bound heroes around the world is improving year by year.
Sooner or later, the corporate-affiliated heroes will outperform those under the UEC. And since we're talking about corporations. Those greedy bastards, they'll surely try something the moment they think they have a shot at winning, or getting away with it.
From the statistics... if this trend continues, UEC heroes won't have any deterrent power left against the corporations. And when that happens, they might attempt to change the status quo altogether.
When did it come to this?
Was it when Atlas suddenly turned into an alcoholic drunkard? After that, he disappeared from public view entirely. Rumors say he's already dead. The greatest pillar of the UEC, the man who held the world on his shoulders, just like his namesake...
As I read through the statistics with a heavy heart and filled out the request form for support to clean up the mess Ms. Pamela Diamond created, the lights in my office suddenly vanished. Strangely, I could still hear the hum of the electronic devices around me.
Then, out of nowhere, a sharp pain struck the back of my neck... like an electric shock. My body went numb, and I collapsed to the floor, consciousness fading into darkness.
After an unknown amount of time had passed, I slowly regained consciousness. I felt my body lying on a cold floor in a chilled room. The coldness was familiar... it was the same as my office. I opened my eyes slightly, trying to get a glimpse of my surroundings in case the attacker was still nearby—but there was no one.
I quickly opened my eyes fully. A sharp soreness shot through the back of my neck like a brick hitting my nape. I looked at the clock—it was 11 in the evening.
Three hours!? I was out for three hours!? Even with my EF, which allows me to fully recover from fatigue in just one hour!?
I hurried to check the console in my office. It was clear that someone had used it—the UI was different from before I lost consciousness. Someone had tampered with it. I didn't know what they were searching for, but it's definitely bad news if a stranger had accessed a console that holds vast arrays of sensitive UEC information and classified secrets!
I immediately ran a security protocol check, but nothing seemed suspicious. I checked the camera footage—everything appeared calm and normal, following protocol without a single hiccup... but this wasn't right.
Something was off. I checked the timestamps on the footage—everything was in order. But it shouldn't be. I had been attacked. There had clearly been an infiltration. So I ran a full diagnostic of the security systems. It took about fifteen minutes to complete.
The results? No anomalies. No intrusions. No unauthorized access to any security or service port. Nothing.
Nothing!? No unauthorized access to any system or port!? That's impossible! Even on the calmest day, there's always at least one breach attempt from some hacker trying to break into the IHB system—especially with villains constantly looking to steal data on heroes, their families, or their weaknesses!
To be sure, I ran the diagnostics again... and this time, the result was exactly the same as the first. Down to the decimal point. Which is impossible. Each scan should have minor differences.
"Scheiße!" I slammed the emergency button under my desk—but nothing happened. The signal was dead. No response.
Whoever did this was extremely thorough.
I rushed out of my office and called for security.
"Security! We've been infiltrated! Security! Where the f*ck is security!?" I shouted at the top of my lungs. A few seconds later, a squad of fully armed guards arrived. Their response time was fast.
I immediately locked down the entire building and began a floor-by-floor sweep with the guards. Eventually, we reached the main data room. In front of it, I found two unconscious guards, and the door showed clear signs of forced entry.
I stormed into the data room with the squad and checked the main console linked to the servers.
"Verdammt!" I cursed. There were clear traces of file copying, as well as deleted server logs. I scanned the room—there were no signs of forced exit... Then I looked up.
The ventilation system.
I checked the temperature of the vent. It read normal. But at this point, I no longer trusted the data I was seeing. I borrowed one of the guards' thermal goggles and looked directly at the vent.
Just as I suspected... the temperature had clearly dropped significantly. There were even traces of cryogenic material along the vent.
I don't know who they are... but this isn't the work of an ordinary thief—or even a typical supervillain. Whoever did this knew the UEC's security protocols intimately, exploiting its weaknesses like it was a child's toy safe.
At the very least, it's fortunate that there were no apparent casualties or signs of sabotage—aside from the compromised security protocols, which now require a full reset and support from Central to overhaul and upgrade.
I shuddered at the thought—if this thief, hacker, or whoever they are had ill intentions... But no matter. We must find them. Arrest them. Recover or destroy the data they've stolen from us!