Jake detached from the ceiling and dropped to the floor, twisting in midair and landing so softly that he made no sound at all. He approached the bank of monitors and studied them closely. On one of the screens, he saw the three sub-bosses leaving the HQ.
He turned his attention to the monitors displaying various data. He touched the controls and browsed through the information for a few moments. He realized that the entire database regarding the base was accessible via the control panel in the security room. Using the touchscreen, he quickly scanned the information displayed on one of the screens.
The computers kept track of everything happening in the base: the total number of people inside, how many were guards, or more accurately, bandits, and how many were workers—captives forced to labor for the gang. It logged the number of various devices, detailing which ones were operational and producing goods. Progress bars displayed on the screen indicated the current output of each device generating specific items. Additionally, the data outlined the types of resources stored in units, including the quantity of each type currently available. Essentially, everything occurring and stored in the base was meticulously listed in the database, which was updated in real-time.
Jake had access not only to the live feeds from the security cameras and machine gun turrets but also to previously recorded footage from each device. Out of curiosity, he searched for the feed from the machine gun turret that had spotted him when he approached the base earlier.
On the screen, even though the barrel of the turret wasn’t pointed in his direction, the 360-degree camera it was equipped with detected his presence without much difficulty. There wasn’t much to see—just a faint distortion in the air that a human being might not even notice—but the turret picked it up anyway. The barrel swiveled to aim at the location of the distortion before halting.
Jake was aware that he had remained completely still at that moment, so while he gazed at the screen, he couldn’t see his entirely invisible form. Nonetheless, the turret continued to keep its barrel trained on the same spot. In one corner of the monitor, an orange light illuminated, mirroring the signal light on the turret itself. Beside the orange light, the word ATTENTION flashed, telling anyone watching the feed that something had triggered the turret’s alert.
However, since Jake on the screen didn’t move a muscle, the turret eventually determined it was a false alarm and switched the light from orange to green as it swiveled its barrel away from him. It appeared that nobody was actually monitoring the screens at that moment, likely because all the bandits were occupied outside, with the attack on the base in full swing. Jake was certain that even if someone had been monitoring the turret’s feed, the slight distortion in the air wouldn’t have raised any concerns—especially since the turret had chosen to disregard it and never picked it up again.
Jake decided he had had enough fun toying with the control panel. It was time to get down to business. He located the feed from the camera positioned at the entrance and switched from the live feed to the previously recorded footage, fast-forwarding to the moment when the trio of sub-bosses—Dominic, Minh, and Patrick—entered the HQ. On the screen, Dominic still held the Skeleton Key in his hand.
After entering the building, the trio made their way further inside. Jake watched them as they continued deeper, cycling through recorded footage from different surveillance cameras. Eventually, he spotted them opening a door situated farthest from the entrance of the building. Jake quickly located the feed from another camera positioned inside the room. He switched from live feed to recorded footage and fast-forwarded back to the moment the trio stepped through the door.
The room served as a lounge area for the base’s leaders to rest. It was furnished with several sofas and armchairs, but the trio wasn’t there to relax. They made their way to the wall at the far end of the room. Minh and Patrick stood still as Dominic approached the wall. He reached out with one hand, feeling the surface as if he were searching for a concealed button.
A moment later, he discovered the hidden button and pressed it. A section of the wall at head height slid open, revealing a small safe. Dominic entered a code on the touchscreen located on the front of the safe. Minh and Patrick stood nearby, watching him, and Dominic made no attempt to hide the code he was inputting, making it clear that all three of them were aware of it. This was a positive turn of events as it would undoubtedly play into Jake’s hands when he set the plan he had come up with in motion.
After entering the code on the touchpad, Dominic swung the safe door open and placed the Skeleton Key inside. He then shut the safe door and slid the panel back into place, completely concealing the safe from view. However, now that Jake knew where to look, he was confident he could locate and access the safe without any issues.
Once the Skeleton Key was secured, the trio immediately left the room. Jake quickly switched to old recorded footage from other cameras and discovered that the trio had made their way upstairs, clearly headed for the security control room. There was no point in watching their progress any further, so he decided to stop the playback.
So, he now knew where the Skeleton Key was hidden. He didn’t know the code, as the camera in the lounge area was pointed directly at the wall where the safe was concealed, blocking Jake’s view when Dominic input the code. But that was fine. Jake was confident he wouldn’t have much trouble breaking into the safe. If push came to shove, he could always find one of the three sub-bosses and use Mind Reader on him to learn the code. Still, Jake was certain he wouldn’t need to resort to that, as he was pretty much sure his abilities would allow him to break the safe open with little difficulty.
He then pulled his attention from his thoughts and back to the array of monitors in front of him. Now that he knew the location of the Skeleton Key, he was ready to move on to the second phase of his plan.