Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

Senator Chianti's face darkened immediately, but faced with Henry's threat, he dared not say anything more and could only nod with a stern face.

Unfortunately, Columbia is a place where interests are intertwined and powers overlap. Despite being a state legislator and seemingly a high-ranking government official, compared to the Victorian aristocracy who truly wield absolute power, he, as a so-called "local governor," is at best just a high-level employee of the local capitalist giants.

His power can be great or small; when needed, he is naturally omnipotent, but when not needed, he is essentially a scapegoat.

As a company nurtured by Silicon Valley and Columbia giants to counterbalance Loken Water Tanks, Rhine Life's future prospects are undeniably bright. Many would love to take his place as a "Silicon Valley state legislator" and claim a share of the profits. If he goes too far and Rhine Life takes him to the federal legislature and the Federation of Enterprises, he'll be utterly humiliated by his old rivals tomorrow. After all, supporting another company requires a perfect storm of favorable conditions and massive investment, but supporting a mouthpiece or spokesperson costs only slightly more than building a public toilet in a busy area—it costs money, but is effortless.

Executive Director Henry is known for his strict, even somewhat inhumane, demands on people within the company, but his loyalty and favoritism towards the company are also unparalleled, which is why he was chosen for such an important position as Executive Director of the Technology Expo.

Seeing that Chianti remained silent, Henry glanced at his watch and stood up, issuing the order to leave:

"I'm sorry, Congressman Chianti, but there's a shareholders' meeting at RhineLife this morning. If there's nothing important, please excuse me. If you'd like to inquire about the Technology Expo, this is my secretary, Ms. Menes, who is also the department head at RhineLife. You can ask her. If you wish to leave, please let Ms. Seria, the head of the Defense Department, know. She will arrange for someone to escort you safely back to the state government."

At this moment, the commander cautiously approached Henry and whispered in his ear:

"Saria hasn't come to work yet, and we can't get through to her on the phone."

Henry frowned, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

Saria didn't come to work? That's impossible! While Saria might be a bit disappointing in some specific areas, she never disappoints in most areas, especially at work. Since joining Rhine Labs as a semi-veteran, she has never been absent, not even by taking leave. If it weren't for her poor interpersonal skills and lack of business acumen, she might be a shareholder like me by now.

It's horrifying that she would skip work without a valid reason.

Henry's eyes flickered slightly, and he whispered the order:

"Have the tech department check Seria's movements yesterday. Use Sheriff Medico's authority; he has the authority to access city surveillance footage. Find out what happened and report back to me immediately."

After giving his instructions, he turned his head slightly and glanced at Senator Chianti, who was sitting on the leather sofa sipping red tea.

Seraya was unusually absent from work and disappeared without reason today, and as a result, a member of parliament inexplicably came to Rhine Life early in the morning to subtly probe for shareholder information.

Could there be some connection between these two things?

After thinking it over, Henry decided against having the governor retrieve information about the shareholder that Seria had hosted. The shareholders' meeting was coming up soon, and the shareholder had already agreed to attend. He would observe the situation more closely then.

It is not in Rhine Life's corporate culture to doubt others out of thin air, especially when this is a shareholder who has made significant contributions to Rhine Life.

Henry couldn't discern anything amiss on Chianti's face, so he had no choice but to avert his gaze and turn away. The shareholders' meeting was scheduled for 8:30, and as the executive director, he still had to set up the venue, distribute materials, and prepare his presentation and Q&A session. He had a lot on his plate and didn't have time to waste with this idle congressman.

Stepping out of the meeting room, Henry summoned Ms. Monica, the head of the technical department, and, having made preparations for the future, instructed her:

"Strengthen the firewall security."

Henry was meticulous in everything he did.

He didn't think that the cunning Senator Chianti would give up his plan to obtain shareholder information so easily. It was better to prepare early; caution was always wise.

Chapter Eleven Surveillance Cameras

At 8:30 a.m., Wayne arrived at the headquarters of Rhine Life on time.

Unexpectedly, Celia, who claimed to be Neveen's personal receptionist during her stay in Colombia, did not appear in the reception line at the entrance of the administration building. Instead, another unfamiliar old acquaintance, "Mülse," was there.

Muels is still like a satellite in the sky in the Ark, and there is no hope of landing for a long time. Wayne is not familiar with her and can only infer from the few scenes in which she appears that she is probably a warm-hearted but cold-hearted person.

As he expected, although Muels was extremely proper in every word and action, and occasionally showed a girlish sentiment that contrasted slightly with her serious ministerial status, she always kept her distance from Wayne and Kal'tsit who followed Wayne. She was like a ruler, precisely controlling the distance between herself as an "employee" and her boss, so that she could leave a good impression without lowering herself and leaving a bad review of "paying too much attention and not being careful enough".

On the way upstairs with Wayne, she did not stop Wayne from asking about specific departments and work details within Rhine Labs. After all, Director General Menes had instructed her in advance that since the shareholders were her own people, Wayne was qualified to know about any information below the [SSS] level, except for the most core intelligence which required review by the "Executive Board of Directors".

Within Rhine Labs, the authority structure is simply divided into five levels: The highest level is the shareholders' meeting, which holds Rhine Labs' core secrets and formulates development strategies, possessing absolute control. During its recess, the meeting acts as the executive council handling Rhine Labs' related business; this level is commonly referred to as [SSS]. Next are the major shareholders, whose shareholding is at least 5% and who are eligible to participate in the shareholders' meeting. They have the right to access most of Rhine Labs' information, except for SSS-level classified information, including but not limited to financial status, experimental status, and research progress. The next level is the ordinary [S] level, comprised of department heads who have a high degree of autonomy over their departments and can access a small portion of classified information "that they can know." Below that are [A] level, comprised of core researchers or research project team leaders in each department, and [B] level, comprised of junior researchers.

As for cleaning ladies and other manual laborers, not to mention that Rhine Lab has basically achieved automated management by robots, these manual tasks are generally handled by automated robots developed by the R&D department. Even if they are, it doesn't matter, they won't know anything, and there is no such thing as "authority".

It is worth noting that in rare cases, power can change and escalate. For example, the executive board may lose all power during a shareholders' meeting, and the executive director may revert from the [SSS] level back to the normal [SS] level. Mr. Henry, the current executive director of the technology expo, originally had only [SS] level authority, but due to his current special mission, in practice, his authority will rise to the [SSS-] level, meaning: slightly higher than the individual power of shareholders, but still subject to the overall resolutions of the shareholders' meeting.

Of course, this also includes our head, Ms. Menes. As an employee, she should theoretically only be able to reach the highest level of department head authority, namely [S]. However, in reality, she is qualified to attend shareholder meetings and even speak at the meetings because her authority is [S+]. She can lead department heads and has the authority to attend meetings, but she does not have the right to vote.

This is perhaps what is meant by "where there are rules, there are exceptions; where there are restrictions, there are privileges." Although it may seem unfair, this unfairness is precisely one of the necessary methods to ensure the normal operation of the system.

but.....

With Wayne's abilities and financial resources, becoming a member of the managing director shouldn't be a problem if he pulls some strings.

Thinking this, Muels turned to the side, pressed the elevator button for Wayne, and watched him enter the elevator before stopping in place.

As an S-class shareholder, she was naturally ineligible to attend the shareholders' meeting. In fact, according to the terms of the agreement, she was not even allowed to accompany Wayne onto the elevator and escort the young shareholder to the appropriate floor.

With a smile, Muirses waved goodbye to Wayne as the elevator doors slowly closed, ending her unexpected "extra work." She relaxed, glanced around the now bustling lobby, and headed straight for the technical department.

There, a "ripe" Ms. Li Boli was watching the surveillance video in front of her while waiting for her arrival.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Monica. The first contact with the shareholder went smoothly, but it’s too early to determine whether Seria’s disappearance is directly related to shareholder Wayne.”

Muels picked up the teacup on the table that had clearly been used and poured herself some water without hesitation, but before she knew it, her gaze was drawn to the scene on the surveillance video.

This scene is a follow-up to a video they watched together half an hour earlier, titled "Yesterday, Seria walked out of the hotel and got into a taxi."

In the footage, Saria appears to have... no, she definitely used Originium Arts, breaking through the unknown armed personnel surrounding her before fleeing towards the border between the undeveloped area and the city. Judging from the timeline in the video, this should have happened about half an hour ago.

"Why wasn't this part shown when we watched it just now?"

Muels leaned on Monica's shoulder, frowning as he asked. Without turning her head, Monica reached out, picked up a teacup from the table, and handed it to Muels.

"Fill it up for me."

"Oh, sounds like you're drinking?"

"Want a drink tonight? If you don't mind me getting you drunk and then [hunting] you down."

Muels smirked. She knew Monica was joking. This tech department head, codenamed "Snow Sculpture," was sexually normal and didn't like frivolous relationships. But her almost pathological voyeuristic desire for data, especially personal privacy, meant that being hunted by her was tantamount to revealing one's entire secrets. She was so obsessed that she would write down a person's every detail in her file. Although she certainly wouldn't publish or sell it, in some ways it was indeed more terrifying than lesbianism.

Muirses had no intention of handing over whatever color her underwear was, especially since it was hot and she wanted to stay cool...

Seeing the eloquent Muels frozen in place, Monica's lips curled into a predatory smile as she steered the conversation back on track:

"Because the video was taken not in the city center, but in an undeveloped area, that lackey police officer naturally couldn't see it with his limited authority."

Muirses nodded and asked:

"Saria seems to be being targeted by someone. Do you have any clues?"

"No, to be precise, I dare not have."

"You dare not?" Muels was taken aback, not understanding why Monica, who was usually fearless, had suddenly become timid. Suddenly, she realized what was happening and asked,

"Wait, where did you get this videotape?"

Monica stuck out her tongue: "I got it from a customer."

"A guest?" Muels swallowed hard, forcing a dry laugh as he asked, "It's not the one I'm thinking of, is it?"

“There was no other way. The executive director asked me to strengthen the firewall. He’s incredibly insightful. Within minutes, some idiot hacker tried to break into the Rhine database. I sent the righteous and glorious information I had prepared beforehand through his line, and also put a Trojan horse that I made myself in there. And then…” She pointed to the video on the screen and shrugged, “These are the results.”

"You really are..."

Muels sighed, unsure how to evaluate his best friend. You could say she was reliable—she dared to hack into a federal congressman's computer and steal things—but you could also say she wasn't reliable—the hacker hired by the congressman was called an idiot by her, and all he got was a bunch of documents that boosted Rhine Lab's image.

"In short, Seria is in trouble. What do you think we should do? Send this information to Director Henry?"

Monica asked with a half-smile. Muels glared at her:

"Do you want to be fired tomorrow for overstepping boundaries?"

"It's not that I can't find a place to go."

The genius programmer arrogantly crossed his legs. Muels plopped down on her long, black-stockinged legs, and said petulantly,

"Then let's report it!"

“Who should we report this to?” Monica said. “Mimi, you haven’t seen the second half of the surveillance footage yet.”

The second half?

Muirses turned his head and looked at the monitor screen again.

This time, all she saw was a desolate, empty metal ruin...

Wait, was this rubble really that high? And what about the wounded who were pinned to the ground by Saria? Where did they go?

In less than two minutes, it's impossible for them to have moved, much less move such a high mountain of ruins to cover up the scene.

As if to explain Muels's doubts, Monica pressed the rewind button on the keyboard, pulling back time to after Saria left.

Due to the angle and distance of the surveillance camera, they were able to see a pair of small feet within the field of vision covered by the camera.

Immediately afterward, half a minute later, the surrounding metal began to stir, as if in anger, roaring. Even the distant cameras shook violently, and the surveillance footage was momentarily plunged into indistinguishable frame drops.

The frame drop lasted for half a minute. When the monitoring footage stabilized again, the once empty ruins had transformed into a small mountain of steel. The thugs, warlocks, and wanderers had all vanished. Or rather, they were buried beneath the rubble. Muels couldn't think of any other possibility.

The next second, a small figure appeared outside the ruins.

A small-statured Vaiva girl knelt on the ground in a disheveled state, staring blankly at the towering iron mountain in front of her. Then, as if called by someone, she suddenly scrambled to her feet and ran out of the surveillance range in the opposite direction.

Although he didn't see her face at all, Muirses had already memorized that petite figure.

In such a short time, they summoned an iron mountain and annihilated no fewer than a hundred enemies...

What is this, a humanoid weapon? But she's still so small.

"Should we report this to the board of directors?"

Monica asked again.

This time, Muirses remained silent.

Chapter Twelve: Then wasn't my calling it meaningless?

When Monica asked him again, Muirses remained unusually silent.

The source of the surveillance video was illegitimate, but this is a minor issue compared to the content of the surveillance footage.

Most importantly, there's the relationship between Saria and that little girl.

The unidentified young girl, Vayvan, cleaned up the battlefield after Saria left. There are two possibilities: First, the girl has a connection to Saria and is helping her cover up the crime. Second, the girl has a connection to Councilor Chianti and is killing her to silence her.

But judging from the little girl's panicked reaction after smoothing out... no, burying the battlefield, and her hasty departure as if summoned, she doesn't seem to have any connection with Councilor Chianti. Otherwise, there's no reason why Chianti wouldn't have the girl act sooner to help subdue Saria—given the terrifying strength she displayed, this was entirely feasible.

Muirses, of course, was unaware of her "brother's" existence. At this moment, she couldn't help but wonder if the person calling out to the girl was Saria, who had already broken through and was lurking nearby. It was she who had brought the little girl out to clear the area before taking her away.

If that's the case, then the relationship between Seria and the girl becomes questionable. As an employee of Rhine Labs, why was she targeted by Councilor Chianti? Was it because of the little girl? After being targeted, why didn't she contact Rhine Labs or inform them about the little girl? And is all of this related to the Victorian shareholder who was being closely monitored by Councilor Chianti?

The timing is tight. The Pulitzer journalist, shrouded in mystery, is poised to strike. The science expo is about to open, but Rhine Lab is caught in a mysterious storm. Any rumor or speculation could become ammunition for an attack on Rhine Lab.

At this juncture, if Director Henry were to be informed that Saria might have already caused trouble for Rhine Lab and was likely to cause even greater trouble soon, it would be easy to predict what measures the overly sensitive board would take against Saria.