Angelina Capello walked down the pure white corridor. The ceiling was made of that mysterious material that didn’t need light bulbs but still glowed with a milky white light—a constant reminder of the high-tech wizardry at play here. The middle-aged deputy director sashayed along, clearly unaccustomed to her high heels, which occasionally made her twist her ankle with a little squeak, but she quickly adjusted and carried on.
She only had twenty minutes—if she couldn’t find what she was looking for by then, she’d have to drop the act and go in hard.
Still, based on Angelina’s observations, there was some good news. The lab was bustling with people, but thanks to everyone sticking to their own jobs, there weren’t many folks just wandering the halls. Everyone she passed looked at her with a mix of surprise, fear, and a dash of annoyance. They’d greet her politely, then scurry away as fast as they could.
This meant Angelina’s identity was anything but ordinary—and her status was definitely high. That was a good thing.
Since that was the case, the first stop had to be Angelina’s own office.
Angelina tucked a monocular into her sleeve, gathering intel as she moved along. The monocular could update the electronic map based on what she saw. Not that she was relying on it for now, but finding her own office wouldn’t be hard. After a quick look around, she found the restroom, where a young woman was busy applying lipstick and eyeshadow.
Angelina clearly didn’t visit here often, because the young woman was startled and flustered the moment she saw her. She quickly stuffed her makeup into her bag and hid it behind her, nervously saying, "Hey, Angie, what brings you here...?"
Angelina said nothing, quietly scanning the area to see if the lab was creepy enough to install cameras in the women’s restroom—luckily, it wasn’t that creepy.
Since the lab wasn’t creepy, maybe it was her turn to be creepy! Mwahahaha!
"Look, Angie, I’m just a nobody," the young woman clearly misunderstood the deputy director’s silence. She pulled out her makeup, nervously explaining, "I haven’t been upstairs in four months, I look awful, I had to do something. See, it’s just regular makeup, nothing weird, I beg you—please don’t put me on lockdown!"
Oh? So Angelina Capello, the 'Chief Supervisor of Special Monitoring,' isn’t just a paper-pushing figurehead after all—now that’s even better news!
Angelina narrowed her eyes and gave her a sly look: If you’re just a nobody, then you’re not worth wasting those outrageously expensive nanobot injections on, right? Perfect!
Wham! Angelina punched the young woman in the stomach. She didn’t even get a chance to scream before she went limp. Angelina dragged her into a small room, lifted her face by the neck, and stared straight into her eyes. Supreme Six Harmonies Skill, Spirit Ring, and—Nine Yin Soul Capture—activate!
Three minutes later, Angelina calmly washed her hands and strolled out of the restroom. In the corner of the hallway, a surveillance camera’s lens dilated and contracted, uploading her movements to the monitoring center. The smart processor analyzed the time and behavior of every woman who entered and left the restroom, and concluded: 'Nothing unusual.'
As long as the system thought nothing was up, the spoiled operators wouldn’t notice a thing. So, two minutes later, Angelina made it back to her office without a hitch. Five minutes had already passed, but sharpening the axe won’t delay the job—Angelina decided to browse some files first.
"Whoa, the computers here look totally different!"
The office computers were nothing like regular ones—no towers, no monitors in sight. If Angelina hadn’t been sharp-eyed, she might’ve spent ages rummaging around and left empty-handed.
Here, the computer and the desk were one and the same.
There was a hidden button on the desk’s side. Press it, and the smooth, mirrored surface would tilt up a bit, transforming from a dull gray slab into a display screen. It was all touchscreen—if you didn’t like browsing that way, just swipe your hand and the display would jump to the wall across from the desk for a big-screen experience.
"Technically, the way this desk is built isn’t much different from putting a smartphone on its side (shout-out to Rage Comic fans) and sticking four legs on it to make it look like a desk. It’s not even that hard to make. But for some reason, doing it this way just makes it—so cool!" Angelina’s eyes sparkled as she slid her fingers across the desktop, having a blast. "If I ever get back to Steelbull City, I’m making those knuckleheads get me one! No, forget Steelbull—I want one in Hong Kong!"
"Ahem—" Dream Monroe, who’d been quietly lurking nearby, couldn’t help but cough twice, reminding someone to get back to business.
"Got it, got it—on it!" With Angelina’s biochip, this computer’s database was basically wide open to her. Her fingers flew across the desk, flipping through page after page like a blizzard—so fast it was like speed-reading a book. Even at that breakneck pace, she still grabbed exactly what she needed.
First order of business: figure out what Angelina actually does here, where she stands in the lab’s pecking order, and who she answers to. If you don’t know her authority, you’ll blow your cover—like telling your boss, "Who do you think you are? Why should I listen to you?" That’d tank this stealth mission for sure.
The results were pretty satisfying—Angelina’s position was super special. She was like a military inspector, a foreman, or one of those secret police eunuchs from the old days.
She hadn’t been here long—just three days after Donald Zade got nabbed. Looks like once Donald fell from grace, the Zade Family appointed a new boss, and Angelina took office at the same time. Clearly, she’s the new boss’s trusted aide. She’s got two main jobs here.
First: help the new boss make a splash, so she’s got the power to discipline almost any lab employee—hence her title as 'Chief Supervisor of Special Monitoring.' Second: roll out the new boss’s policies and secret measures—like injecting employees with the Nanobot Swarm Injector. To make things easier, she also picked up the 'Deputy Director of Medical Department' title.
So, even though Angelina’s the Deputy Director, she doesn’t have to answer to Pete, the Medical Department Director. In theory, she’s like an imperial inspector—she only reports to the top boss and has tons of authority to make snap decisions.
Of course, she’s not in charge of research, so she’s got no clue what the lab geeks are actually up to. But when it comes to her secret mission—the Nanobot Swarm—she’s got all the details.
Yang Qi opened the file and breathed a sigh of relief, realizing she’d just barely made it in for this secret infiltration. But she also grew more cautious.
"First-person surveillance through human vision? Runs perfectly on bioelectricity? That’s crazy powerful—and kind of evil!" Her sharp political instincts instantly sensed the Nanobot Swarm’s potential: "Testing it on employees is just the beginning. Once it’s ready, shoot up every world leader with one, and the Zade Family will know every secret on Earth!"
And espionage is just the first step—if this Nanobot Swarm ever develops a 'control' function, it wouldn’t even need to be strong. Just a little nudge to world leaders’ judgment at the right moment could change history.
I used to think the Deathmark Seal, the legendary technique from the Freewind Sect, was unbeatable—drop a few in Beijing, Washington, and Moscow, and the world’s yours. But now, other than being cheap, the Deathmark Seal’s got nothing on this Nanobot Swarm. How did the Zade Family even invent this thing? This kind of spy weapon is a total game-changer! I’ve got to swipe a couple of vials to play with back home.
Yang Qi was seriously spooked by the Zade Family’s black tech. And it wasn’t just the Nanobot Swarm—she knew that with Angelina’s clearance, she was only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Sure, martial arts can solve problems, but how many people can reach Yang Qi’s level? Tech products, on the other hand, can be mass-produced and used by anyone.
"No way—I can’t rest easy until I get to the bottom of the Zade Family’s secrets." You don’t walk into a treasure trove and leave empty-handed, right? Here in the Zade Family’s most important lab, now’s the perfect time to go digging for juicy tech files.
Alright, decision made—I’ve got to get my hands on Target Echo—wait, scratch that, I mean the Zade Family’s hard drive! (Gamer joke)
But no matter how good the loot is, nothing beats my cousin’s luck. The real priority is finding clues about the true Tiberius Laboratory. That’s the main quest; swiping a hard drive is just a bonus if I get the chance.
There are only two ways to find clues about the real Tiberius: break into the classified database of the current lab, or track down the old priest. With Angelina’s clearance, she’s nowhere near hacking the secret files. So, to avoid coming up empty, Yang Qi decided the priest was her best bet.
Luckily, Angelina had a natural advantage when it came to finding people. After all, she was both Deputy Director of Medical Department and imperial inspector—digging up a medical info card or tracking someone down was a breeze.
Five minutes later, the supervisor strutted into the R&D department in her high heels. She pushed up her glasses, put on her best 'I’m here to pick a fight' face, and beep—just like that, the door swung open.