Free Web NovelChapter 2170: Chapter 2073: Hallucination
Yu Fei was outside providing support, so he had no idea what exactly Huo Sining and Gu Xu were doing inside that base. If he had known that the two of them had basically looted Tranleva’s base, he probably wouldn’t have been so calm.
When Huo Sining and Gu Xu entered the base, Yu Fei used a jammer and hacked directly into the base’s system, then used imaging tech to reroute the surveillance video feeds, splicing previous footage into the next second so the security staff wouldn’t notice anything wrong.
Once the surveillance footage was replaced by existing video, those cameras naturally became mere decorations, while the real recording data was directly deleted by Yu Fei’s video rerouter.
Now that they’d already gotten what they came for and withdrawn safely, there was no need to stick around. Yu Fei quickly removed the video rerouter on his end, wiped all traces of the intrusion, and then the three of them packed up and left, clean and efficient.
At this moment, in the security monitoring room inside Marede Base, a long row of screens was methodically monitoring all areas of the base, including the inside of the base’s warehouse.
However, aside from surveillance, there were all kinds of high-tech alarm devices installed around the warehouse, so the on-duty staff in the monitoring room didn’t invest much attention in those few screens. In their view, it was hard enough for ordinary people to slip past the outer perimeter of the base, let alone get into the warehouse to steal anything, so most of the duty shifts were just going through the motions.
In fact, it wasn’t just this guy on duty; even the base’s owner, Tranleva himself, thought the same way. To steal something out of his base, you had to pass through layer after layer of strict checks. What, did people think all the security personnel he kept around were just for show?
The duty officer sat casually in the monitoring room, eating and occasionally humming a tune.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. Another duty officer walked in; the two of them were about to switch shifts. The one on duty asked offhandedly, "So, how is it, anything tonight?"
The duty officer yawned, shrugged, and said, "What could there be? Everything’s normal. Who’d even dare come to this godforsaken place, and who’d dare mess with our BOSS? Unless they’re sick of living."
The one coming to relieve him frowned at that. "You been drinking again? You’d better rein it in. The higher-ups are cracking down hard lately. I heard someone snuck into the BOSS’s villa and stole something very important. Everyone’s on edge now. Don’t go rubbing the higher-ups the wrong way, or you won’t even know how you died!!"
Hearing this, the first duty officer just snorted dismissively. "Don’t scare yourself. The gods up top fighting is their business. What kind of theft could possibly reach us down here? With the security setup at this base, never mind some big-name bandit— even a fly couldn’t get in."
The duty officer still wanted to lecture him a bit more, but seeing that his partner didn’t care in the slightest, he dropped it. He was just about to check the monitoring equipment and hand over the shift when, by chance, he looked up and saw one of the screens suddenly flicker.
His hands froze in midair. He jerked his head up and shouted sharply, "Jess, did you see that?"
Jess had been drinking and was already a bit woozy, itching to get back to the dorms to sleep. Hearing his partner’s shout, he looked puzzled and turned around, baffled, to look at him. "Bregg, what is it?"
The duty officer named Bregg kept his eyes locked on the image on that screen, staring for a good few dozen seconds. Seeing Bregg’s expression change, Jess also followed his line of sight. After staring at the perfectly normal image for a few seconds, he felt rather confused:
"What is it? Looks fine to me."
Bregg shook his head, silently chiding himself for being jumpy, and awkwardly explained, "Sorry, must’ve been my eyes. I thought I saw the warehouse display flicker just now."
Hearing that, Jess couldn’t help but laugh. He clapped his partner on the shoulder and said,
"Hey, man, don’t be so tense. Everyone up top might be on edge, but that doesn’t spill down on us. Relax. We’re just a couple of base admins—totally insignificant."
Reassured by his colleague’s words, Bregg felt a bit embarrassed. He nodded, handed over the shift to Jess, and then waved for Jess to hurry up and go to bed.
"Go get some rest. I’ve got things here now."
Jess nodded. "Alright, I’ll go crash in the back. If anything comes up, just call me."
Bregg sat down in the monitoring room chair and went through all the equipment one by one. Thinking about that flicker he’d seen on the recording screen earlier, he still felt a bit uneasy. He picked up the walkie-talkie beside him and called over to the security team:
"This is the monitoring room, do you copy? Captain Holman, could you take someone over to the warehouse to check if there’s anything unusual?"
The next second, a reply came through the walkie-talkie: "Copy that, I’m on my way."
A few minutes later, there was another burst of static from the walkie-talkie, followed by Captain Holman’s voice again:
"No anomalies at the warehouse. Main control room, do we need to enter the warehouse for an internal inspection?"
Bregg paused, a bit hesitant.
If they were going to enter the warehouse, they had to notify the base’s general manager, and the general manager had to contact the big BOSS. They needed the BOSS’s personal approval. And right now it was the middle of the night; Bregg really didn’t have the guts to disturb the people up top at this hour. Given how volatile things were lately, he was afraid that if anything went the slightest bit wrong, he’d be the one dragged into it, and the one to bear the brunt of that thunderous wrath would be unlucky him.
So after glancing up again at the large display screens in front of him, Bregg spoke into the walkie-talkie:
"No need, it’s probably nothing. You guys come back."
"Roger." On the other end, Holman didn’t waste a single extra word. Once he’d received the order, he immediately carried it out.
After Bregg put down the walkie-talkie, a faint sense of unease flickered through his mind, but he didn’t dwell on it. He chalked it up to being in a weird mood that day and didn’t think any deeper. Little did he know that this bit of carelessness would lead to an extremely disastrous consequence.
