Chapter 169: Aftermath |
The Ethics Committee.
Shi Rang, who was already thoroughly familiar with the internal structure of the Bureau, felt his heart skip a beat.
An Ethics Commissioner was the kind of figure that only appeared in the nightmares of Bureau employees. These internal affairs monitors never showed up just to "say hello." Whenever they marched into a facility with stern expressions, files tucked under their arms, and clear intent in their strides, someone was absolutely about to face disaster.
But a split second later, Shi Rang reigned in his expression.
He furrowed his brows and asked, "What committee?"
There were quite a few Bureau employees within the Charity Foundation, and some vaguely realized that a larger controlling entity operated above the foundation. However, "Director Shi," a nepotism hire who had parachuted into his position, shouldn't have been among them.
He had no business knowing what that term meant.
Shi Rang immediately followed up, "I'm already off the clock. If you have something to discuss, it can wait until tomorrow."
"You can think of me as an auditor." The Ethics Commissioner, dressed in a crisp white uniform, walked into the office. He dragged a stool over from the wall and sat diagonally across from Shi Rang, making sure he wasn't blocked by the three wrap-around monitors. "I'd like to ask you a few questions."
Shi Rang only needed to check the Communication Device signals to determine if Mobile Task Force personnel had arrived, but he didn't rashly activate his Sensing.
A Piao's advice had proven quite useful. Shi Rang had wised up and was now much more cautious about using his abilities.
The Bureau possessed equipment capable of detecting Anomaly Fluctuations, measuring some sort of Hume data. The devices weren't exactly accurate and often threw errors, but they were exceptionally effective at picking up Anomalous Effects that manifested suddenly at close range or on a large scale.
Sensing wasn't the only way to detect the presence of anomalies; he would have to be careful from now on.
'Had A Piao been exposed? But I manually locked down Site 009, effectively turning it into an isolated information island.'
Shi Rang had done a far more thorough job than Director Bjorn. There hadn't been any Containment Breach over there either, so the outside world shouldn't have noticed any anomalies.
Besides, if something had gone wrong at the site, it wouldn't be an Ethics Commissioner showing up at his door.
Regardless, he needed to get this guy to leave as soon as possible, lest things go south on A Piao's end and result in fatal consequences.
"So, can't you just get straight to the point?" Shi Rang closed the game he hadn't even started playing, deliberately lacing his tone with a hint of hostility.
As long as the man wasn't here to arrest him, even getting fired wouldn't affect their operation much.
"Do you believe strict adherence to rules and regulations is a necessity?" the Ethics Commissioner asked, his expression calm.
"Of course."
'How else am I supposed to answer when you phrase it like that...'
"On your first day in office, you stepped in to punish an act that violated the rules but adhered to 'unspoken workplace conventions.'"
"Are you saying I was in the wrong?" Shi Rang asked, slightly annoyed.
He suspected the man just disliked him because he was a nepotism hire. Otherwise, why bring up an old score from nearly a month ago?
"No, no, no. What I mean is, would you be interested in taking on a new role to continue practicing your ideals?" The Ethics Commissioner's expression turned serious. "I belong to an organization called the Anomaly Management Bureau. I represent the Bureau's Ethics Committee, and I would like to recruit you to join us."
"Huh?"
"In terms of seniority, you aren't qualified to join our ranks just yet. However, what the Ethics Committee needs more than anything is someone who can maintain a pure and sincere heart—"
"Uh..."
"...I have no intention of changing jobs. I'm just here to experience life."
"You simply don't realize that there are nobler callings in this world. How rare it is to find someone in a high position who hasn't been corrupted by material wealth..."
As the man began rattling on non-stop about duty and calling, Shi Rang started sweating profusely from anxiety.
Trying to recruit an S-class member and deep-cover spy like him was ridiculous enough, but they just had to pick this exact moment to do it.
The guy probably saw that it was late at night, with no irrelevant personnel around, and since Shi Rang was "working overtime," decided on a whim to drop by.
Shi Rang had a sinking feeling this guy wasn't going to leave anytime soon. He seemed hell-bent on dragging him into the Ethics Committee.
Meanwhile, the "half-hour time limit" A Piao had given him was down to its final few minutes, and he had no way to get back to commanding the operation.
'A Piao, just search those archive rooms and get out of there!'
'Please, whatever you do, don't start a fight!'
"Hello?"
After waiting in place for a moment without receiving any further instructions, A Piao waved vigorously at the camera again.
"Did you run into trouble?"
Its voice fragmented down the corridor, gradually drowned out by the constant hum of the ventilation ducts overhead.
Since the Central Control Room hadn't spotted it on the surveillance feed, it proved that Shi Rang had thoroughly handled the security systems before he left.
A Piao didn't linger. It didn't actually need someone to direct its actions; it was mostly just playing along with Shi Rang for fun.
He was too kind-hearted and prone to throwing a fit over these kinds of things. Teasing him was surprisingly entertaining.
A Piao reached the maintenance room at the end of the corridor. It walked in alone, stayed for a brief moment, and then stepped back out with a complicated expression.
It entered the first archive room and inspected the wooden crates crammed onto the metal shelves.
It dropped the bag full of Containment Objects onto the floor with a loud clatter. A few of the more unstable Containment Objects inside, provoked by the external stimuli, immediately grew restless and ready to act. However, as A Piao slightly unleashed its own abilities, they instantly fell as quiet as mice spotting a cat.
'Not bad. They might lack advanced intelligence, but they still have the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm.'
A Piao stepped away from them and picked up a metal cylinder displayed on a shelf. It popped the lid open, extracted the paper scroll inside, unrolled it, and carefully examined its contents.
'Symbols? No, it looks more like some specific cipher.'
A Piao stared at the dense block-like runes on the paper, digging through its long memory until it found a matching fragment.
"The symbol codes used to input and output commands for The Ark's components all belong to an unknown script. Certain specific segments have already been deciphered. I will provide them to you."
When The Prism had assigned the task in person, their expression had been incredibly solemn.
"When you see these symbols, you are not far from The Ark's components."
A Piao pulled its consciousness back, rolled the paper back to its original state, and slipped it into the cylinder.
'The symbols have already appeared. Could the Directional Reconstructor really be inside this poorly secured warehouse?'
'But didn't The Prism say it was the Council Members' highest secret? It's supposedly so important that they wouldn't trust anyone but another Head with the retrieval mission...'
'Could there be an ambush here?'
'Or perhaps, are these "physical codes" the "programs" for the Human Manufacturer?'
'You've really given me a difficult problem, Prism.'
A Piao untied the mysterious little bag from the tool belt at its waist, reached inside, and pulled out a piece of Chalk. It leaned over and drew a modest-sized circle on the concrete floor, its arm moving rapidly to fill it in with solid white.
Once the circle was complete, A Piao called out softly toward it, "I am Victor."
The next moment, the filled color in the center of the circle vanished, transforming into a pitch-black opening the size of a manhole cover. A Piao kicked the large bag inside, watching it disappear into the circle. It then stood up and stretched its hand toward the storage shelves through the empty air.
Instantly, the dozen or so metal racks bolted to the floor of the room began shaking violently, emitting loud cracking sounds at their anchor points.
A Piao slowly drew back its palm and then suddenly clenched it into a fist.
The ceiling-high storage racks vanished into thin air without warning. The unsupported wooden crates smashed downward, sending splinters flying. Countless metal cylinders scattered across the ground like a torrential rain of brass, yet not a single one managed to touch A Piao.
Such an astonishing commotion naturally couldn't be muffled by the ventilation noise and the door. A set of footsteps quickly came rushing down the corridor.
With a backhanded motion, A Piao crushed the electronic lock through the air. The lights in the entire room instantly flashed red.
"Central Control Room, this is Wu Nian. I'm on the second underground level. What's the situation in the archive room? The door is malfunctioning!"
The guard was blocked outside.
Separated by a single door, A Piao turned away from the sparking access switch and rolled its shoulders.
It obviously couldn't just sweep the place clean and leave quietly. The Bureau's people weren't idiots; they would immediately realize there was a problem with their system and launch a thorough investigation.
And that would expose Shi Rang's abilities.
It was time to deal with the aftermath.