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Chapter 264 - 263: An Expert Has Arrived

The staff in the core machine room probably never expected to lose control of the defense system so quickly. When the triple defense doors opened automatically to welcome Lin Qing’s entry, they were still frantically trying to reboot the computers.

"Who... who are you?"

"Don’t do anything rash, let’s talk this out!"

These company employees were always used to sitting in front of screens, remotely controlling advanced weapons to eliminate enemies. But when it came to facing life or death themselves, their first reaction was to raise their hands in surrender and beg for mercy from Lin Qing.

"Get out." Lin Qing spat out a single word.

The crowd, as if granted amnesty, quickly crawled up and escaped the machine room, seemingly afraid that she would change her mind.

She didn’t need these people to teach her how to use the systems in the core machine room.

Because N959 had already taken over everything for her.

Looking at the large screen on the wall, it showed that the building had entered a lockdown mode. More armed robots were converging on the 55th floor and the underground machine room, while some crucial locations’ automatic weapon stations were also activated.

Lin Qing skillfully connected the line and issued commands directly through Lv—it was much faster than voice commands, allowing her to handle dozens of commands simultaneously and ensure their execution.

"Switch lockdown mode to custom mode."

"Close the rooftop and emergency escape routes."

"Lower all external window protection nets."

"Cancel the assembly order on the 55th floor; all robots stand by."

"Add a green access list."

After making a series of new adjustments to the defense system, she connected to Chen Xuan’s channel, "I’ve breached the core machine room and am now transmitting real-time monitoring signals to your side."

This way, Chen Xuan could see the scene inside the Demon room directly on his phone.

Lin Qing raised her finger, moving these monitoring images onto the large screen in the machine room.

It was a lavish hall filled with an atmosphere of sensual indulgence, decorated like a palace. Besides the four Demons, there were a dozen guests inside, whose facial data appeared instantly—either Parisian political figures or high-ranking officials of big companies. And "sensual indulgence" wasn’t just a descriptor here; lying in their arms were women in semi-transparent white gauze or young men with bunny ears. The palace was filled with many entertainment props like shackles and gallows, clearly meant to increase the playfulness, making Lin Qing whistle involuntarily.

The reason the Demons set up surveillance in such a private hall was obviously not for later reviewing.

"What commercial talk? This is clearly a party to win." She turned up the volume of the surveillance audio, "Let me hear what you’re talking about?"

...

"What’s going on? Why did the surveillance footage suddenly freeze?"

"Oh, just when it was getting interesting!"

A few guests jeered at the host, the executive director of the Yeyue Group, Van Difu.

When the alarm on the first floor sounded, he, as the entertainer of the banquet, received the notification immediately: Armed intruders attacked the headquarters building, causing casualties.

Such things were uncommon but not unheard of. There were always some bold people who wanted to challenge the authority of big companies, never realizing that the weapons they bought were all manufactured by these companies. Van Difu’s solution was simple: Treat the intruders’ movements as a live-action game for these high officials to watch.

Reality was far more exciting than virtual scenarios.

And everyone’s reaction was just as he predicted—no one cared who the intruders were or why they attacked the building; they just wanted to see a bloody hunt, to enjoy the pain and death of the other side.

However, when the first batch of armed robots was swiftly dealt with, Van Difu realized something was off. There were only two enemies, but they didn’t display the madness of typical culprits forced into a corner. Instead, they seemed calm and composed, as if they had everything under control.

Moreover, the capabilities shown by the woman... exceeded his impression of Ability Users. Weren’t those with abilities merely deteriorated versions of Demons and Angels? When did such a formidable character appear?

Therefore, for the second round of blocking, he directly dispatched his puppet fighters.

The guests present were all the same group, and Van Difu wasn’t worried about the Insect People being seen. It could be said that each Insect Person he cultivated possessed extraordinary strength or remarkable reaction speed, with individual combat power not inferior to typical Ability Users. He even joked with the guests, promising that his "employees" would soon disembowel the intruders and bring them here for everyone to enjoy at the invaders’ last breath.

At that moment, however, the surveillance suddenly froze.

"Sorry, maybe the system’s recent upgrade caused some instability." Van Difu pretended to be at ease, "Please wait a moment, I’ll have someone fix it immediately."

Though inside, a hint of unease arose. During these lost ten seconds of surveillance, he sensed the puppet fighters decreasing rapidly, at a pace not much slower than the robots. This was somewhat baffling, considering that a single Enhanced Insect Person could hold off ten heavily armed police officers for a while, even against a police suppression unit.

Half a minute later, he heard his secretary bring even worse news, "Sir, I can’t reach the core machine room, and the calls aren’t getting through either..."

"What?" If not for the guests present, Van Difu would have liked to strangle the guy, "What were you all doing? If the phone doesn’t work, why can’t someone go down to notify them?"

He practically hissed the rebuke through clenched teeth.

The secretary’s face twisted in fear, "But... the internal elevator is also malfunctioning."

Unlike the external guest elevators, the internal elevator system was maintained by the core machine room operation, making it almost impossible for hackers to infiltrate.

Unless—something went wrong inside the machine room.

Yet, he hadn’t received any warning about an attack on the core machine room either.

Van Difu’s expression turned serious, and he whispered to his secretary, "Entertain the guests for me." Then he stood up and nodded to the crowd, "Mr. Andor, Mr. York, Ms. Moni, could you please come with me for a moment?"

"What’s going on?" one guest asked.

"Perhaps Mr. Van Difu has new entertainment for us to try," the Andor Commandant laughed as he pushed the woman off him, "Go ahead and play, the surveillance should resume soon."

Once the three were in the inner room, Van Difu’s expression became exceptionally grim, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem, a formidable threat has arrived."

"What do you mean? Didn’t your Enhanced Insect People take them down?" Ms. Moni didn’t seem too concerned, admiring her jade bracelet as she responded, "If it comes to it, just activate the extermination program."

"That scene is rather unsightly..." another Demon shrugged, "And we still have guests here." The so-called extermination entailed raising the defense level of the building to its maximum, shifting from lockdown to eliminating all active targets. Various automatic weapons, traps, lasers, and toxic gas devices would activate, necessitating their retreat to the safety house.

As for the employees outside the safety house... they’d be exterminated like cockroaches.

Doing so, however, would bring about a slight media inconvenience.

"Regrettably, I can’t contact the core machine room right now, and the building is temporarily out of my control," Van Difu admitted.

The Demons were taken aback.

"Are you joking?"

"Does that mean the emergency exits and hover cars are also unavailable?"

"That’s basically it," Van Difu didn’t hide it anymore, "Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve lived under peaceful conditions for too long; now is the time to awaken your inner predatory instincts. The opponent is an unprecedented Ability User, unexpectedly formidable in strength, but our combined strength should not find it difficult to subdue them. What do you say, Mr. Andor?"

"Exactly, you’re the one who recently dealt with an Angel, and your combat abilities are the best among us,"

"Why not lead the charge?"

The other two agreed.

Andor saw a familiar gleam in their eyes—like Demons revealing their true nature.