Beads of condensation on the inner wall of the metal conduit slid silently down the surface of Leon's nano-suit, refracting the faint red glow from the distant security checkpoint.
Leon raised his right hand in a tactical gesture, and the operators behind him immediately went into silent mode.
The first checkpoint was within reach—
It was a crescent-shaped automated platform, six infrared scanners sweeping at precise intervals, their intersecting laser grids sketching lethal geometric patterns in the damp air.
"Children's toys," Mike quipped over the encrypted comms.
As he spoke, his fingers moved quickly in the air before him, and several drops of liquid metal seeped from his suit's wrist module.
The intelligent particles crept along the conduit wall like living spider silk, silently making their way toward the control panel.
When the seventh scan gap came, the liquid metal infiltrated the main chip's cooling vents, and in moments had reconstructed the alarm's logic circuitry.
"Done."
At his words, Chris gave a slight nod, circled ahead via the now-widening conduit, and was the first to pass through the frozen laser grid.
Ripples shimmered across his suit's surface, perfectly matching the surrounding temperature and reflectivity.
Leon and the other operators followed like shadows, not even disturbing the stagnant wastewater pooled on the floor.
On the monitoring screens, the conduit still appeared empty — Mike had looped the feed with a recording that would run for seventy-two hours straight.
Beyond the checkpoint, the conduit abruptly widened to three meters.
Hot, damp air carrying a chemical tang swept over them — this was clearly the UED headquarters' sewage treatment hub.
Massive processors rumbled in the dark, diverting domestic and industrial waste into separate channels.
Droplets on the walls glowed an eerie green in enhanced vision — some sort of inhibitor was clearly in heavy use.
"Stay sharp," Chris warned over the comms. "The liquid here is toxic."
Leon crouched, touching the wastewater's surface with his fingertips.
His tactical HUD instantly displayed a complete chemical analysis — in addition to standard pollutants, there were traces of a neurotransmitter suppressant, UED's way of keeping harmful organisms from breeding in the pipes.
Past three roaring processors, they came to a vertical maintenance shaft.
A one-meter alloy ladder rose into darkness above. Thermal scans showed four moving heat sources — a standard patrol formation.
Mike pulled a spider-like microbot from his thigh armor and placed it on the ladder.
It unfolded its eight legs and raced upward with startling speed.
"Acoustic interference deployed," Mike reported after thirty seconds.
A faint "zzzz" followed from above — the bot was releasing infrasound to induce drowsiness in the patrol. The frequency left Leon, Mike, Chris, and the others unaffected thanks to their suits.
"They'll naturally doze off in ninety seconds," Mike murmured.
Chris went up first.
His gloves adjusted adhesion automatically to the ladder's material, making him quieter than a cat as he climbed.
Peering over the rim of the shaft, he saw the four UED guards yawning, leaning against the wall, rifles hanging limp.
The spider-bot clung to the ceiling, its eyes flashing red to signal task completion.
The shaft connected to a narrow service passage, barely wide enough to crawl.
The team filed through in single line, slipping like a snake through the claustrophobic dark.
At the end was a pressure-sealed hatch, its biometric scanner glowing cold blue.
"Execute Plan Two," Chris ordered.
Mike took out a capsule containing biometric data from their informant.
Moments later, the scanner's light shifted to green — data accepted.
The hatch slid open, cool dry air rushing in.
Before them stretched a pristine, brightly lit corridor, UED emblems set into the walls.
They were already on B3, only two isolation doors from the nearest server room.
"Memorize the routes," Leon said, marking the 3D map on their visors. "East elevator straight to the 78th floor command center, west corridor links to the comm node."
The operators split into three squads, heading for their respective targets.
Their suits now perfectly replicated UED technicians' uniforms, with hard-light AR effects making each man look like a living employee. Even their holographic ID badges displayed verified credentials.
Cleaning robots rolled past without pause. Camera feeds were live-replaced by Mike with routine footage.
When Chris's team neared the final isolation door, an "incident" occurred—
The retinal scanner beside the door flashed red, and a mechanical female voice said calmly: "Unauthorized personnel near S-Class area. Lockdown protocol initiated."
"Compromised?" one operator asked, hand on his holstered pulse pistol.
"No, random check," Chris replied coolly.
He signaled the others to step back and took position before the scanner himself.
His mask unfolded, revealing his deliberately calm face and eyes mimicking another's biometric signature.
The scanning beam swept his eyeballs.
"Identity verified," the voice now warm. "Welcome back, Chief Technician Kaines."
The door slid open without a sound, revealing the brightly lit main server room beyond.
Hundreds of servers stood in concentric rings, with live data streams hovering over the central console.
An operator stepped up, inserting a data probe into the main port — a nano-scale quantum intrusion program began flooding the UED systems.
"Eight minutes for full download," the man said quietly. "Also… they've found something in Mars's Arctic — appears to be Xel'naga ruins."
Just then, Leon's squad reported in —
The comm node was secured, monitoring code being installed.
Mike's squad reached the biometric database, pulling gene keys for senior officials and generals.
Chris stood at the console, watching the data pour in.
Like nanobots inside a human bloodstream, the Imperial Special Operations Group was dismantling the defenses from within without a sound.
Three hundred meters above them, UED officials were still preparing speeches for tomorrow's council debate, unaware the deadliest threat was already in their heart.
The soft chime of completion reached Chris's ears. He made a cutting gesture.
The probe was yanked free, the nano-port self-repairing instantly without trace.
Leon had embedded three micro-transmitters into server racks — they would feed data for seventy-two hours before breaking down into harmless dust.
"Exfil," Chris's voice cut like ice over the comms.
Suits shimmered, their surfaces flowing like mercury back into standard UED Security uniforms.
The squad withdrew in counter-surveillance formation, each step avoiding floor pressure sensors.
Passing through the biometric door, Chris deliberately slowed so cameras caught a clear image of "Chief Kaines" leaving.
Outside, the blizzard cloaked everything.
Snow swept across the sky at speed, visibility down to under five meters.
Leon, Mike, and the rest remained in three dispersed teams, crossing the snow-covered courtyards along different routes.
The suits' thermal control kept their exterior temperature identical to the environment — even the sharpest infrared couldn't distinguish them from snowdrifts.
"Landing zone secure," came the voice of the hold team. "Equipment packed."
Chris's group reached the forest edge first.
Four hold operators stood by a snow-laden spruce, six equipment cases neatly lined in the assault boat's shadow.
Compression tech made each case no larger than luggage, yet able to hold vast supplies and weaponry.
"Only take Cases Three and Five," Chris checked the list. "Leave the rest aboard as reserve."
Leon touched Case Three's panel.
It unfolded into a tactical platform, revealing neatly arranged urban infiltration gear —
Holo-projection wristbands, neural disruptors, listening devices disguised as everyday objects.
Most notable was a black cylindrical container with no markings, just a faint red warning ring.
It was the control unit and manual for a "strategic-class bioweapon" — untouched since packing.
"East sector route set," Mike announced, pulling up a holo-map — a blue dotted line cutting through the storm toward an abandoned industrial park fifteen kilometers away. "The snow'll last until dawn — enough time to set a temporary base."
With essentials re-packed, the twelve-man team moved out in single file into the storm.
Magnetic-adhesion boots left almost no trace, and each print was erased by a frequency pulse within three seconds, then buried under new snow.
Clearing the forest, the east district skyline loomed faintly through the curtain of white.
It was a concrete forest — towering apartment blocks connected by hundred-meter-high aerial walkways, now buried in snow like white bridges.
Giant holo-billboards in the commercial hub still flickered stubbornly, their sales ads fragmented by snow.
The streets were nearly empty.
Only an occasional self-driving snowplow rumbled past, hot air melting drifts into slush.
A few homeless figures huddled by geothermal vents under government blankets, while far off, an East District Police airship drifted like a tired firefly, its spotlight lazily sweeping the deserted streets.
"Split up," Chris ordered at the district boundary. "Kennedy's A-Team — safehouse setup. Monady's B-Team — acquire transport. My C-Team…"
His eyes went to the black cylinder. "…handles the special item."
Leon's A-Team turned down a side alley where cameras had long been ruined by graffiti artists' special paint. His suit scan showed an abandoned heating duct in the wall.
Mike's B-Team headed to an underground garage with dozens of snow-abandoned civilian skimmers.
Chris himself took the black cylinder to a derelict building marked "Biohazard Research Institute."
Snow swirled in tiny vortices before its shattered windows.
He keyed in the password from their informant. The rusted security door slid open without a sound, revealing a dust-laden lab.
He placed the black cylinder on the central platform. From its base, twelve nano-scale interface spikes extended, piercing the long-dead control ports with living precision.
Miraculously, the circuits came alive — dormant lights shifted from warning red to standby green.
"Eye of Shadow, this is Assault Group C," Chris said, his voice echoing slightly in the empty lab. "Controller in place. Stability index 9.8."
The stealth vessel in low orbit replied immediately, the quantum channel's voice carrying a distinct electronic timbre:
"Signal confirmed. Matching with stored weapon… match 100%. Emergency protocol activation code: Humanity's Wrath. Repeat, activation code is Humanity's Wrath."
Meanwhile, in a disused factory in the East District's Seventh Industrial Park, Leon directed his men to open three empty equipment cases.
With memory-metal frames, the cases unfolded into a small temporary command center. Once the installed gear came online, a 3D model of the entire city appeared in the air — hundreds of red points marking UED security nodes, a dozen blue ones marking dispersed operators.
"Safehouse online," Leon confirmed.
Mike's voice came over comms: "Three civilian skimmers secured — modded to our specs."
Outside, the storm grew harsher, snow rattling against glass like the scratching of some living creature.
And in that white chaos, the Empire's agents had already woven an invisible dark web — while UED's high officials sat in warm estates, polishing speeches for tomorrow's press conference.
[A special discount will be available from December 30th until Three Kings' Day.]
[Use 37B44 to get 33% off all levels until January 6th]
[Unlock +20 Advanced Chapters on Patre on. com /Mutter]
[For every 50 Power Stones, 1 Bonus Chapter will be released]
[Thank you for reading!]