From Gotham to Night City, my infamy is known to all.

Sprint,

jump!

Sasha was agile, flipping over the front desk like a nimble cat and landing lightly.

Almost at the same time, a gentle breeze blew by, and V's figure quietly landed beside her.

If anyone were to witness the entire process, they would be astonished to discover that, despite their different body sizes, every subtle movement was remarkably consistent, as if the body and its shadow were perfectly synchronized.

After passing the first line of defense, they faced the second challenge – a high-precision security scanner.

A total of six scanners formed three layers of defense in the corridor leading inside, making it extremely difficult for employees without gun permits to bring weapons into the company.

Fortunately, neither of them was carrying any weapons. As long as they were careful to avoid being seen by the cameras, they could enter the building silently.

They made it through the corridor and arrived at the rest area.

"Pure White: The first floor is an entertainment and rest area, which has no value. Go up the stairs on the left to the third floor and find a private office for a mid-level manager, preferably a department manager or project manager. Be careful to avoid drones and security robots."

“V: This time it’s my turn to lead the way, Sasha stay close to me.”

Sasha: Uh... okay!

Sasha thought she was the skilled infiltration hacker, but she never expected that V, who always preferred direct confrontation, was even better at it. She was truly a combat all-rounder...

First Glimpse of Talent: Chapter 194 Successful Infiltration, the Truth is Within Reach

Over the next three minutes, Sasha experienced the most inexplicable yet also the most successful infiltration of her life.

V led her through the office area on the third floor, making left and right turns, sometimes even turning around and going in a small circle. But despite this strange route, they didn't encounter any drones or security robots.

She felt that the two of them were like tourists visiting the company on an open day, strolling leisurely through the office area, even taking the time to observe the employee offices inside the panoramic glass curtain wall.

Beneath the high ceiling, rows of densely packed cubicles are arranged like a honeycomb. Every inch of space is meticulously designed for efficiency, yet it evokes a strange sense of oppression.

Sasha had gotten used to the comfortable life of rolling around in the large apartment, and just seeing the scenes in these cubicles made her feel like she was going to have trypophobia.

Sasha: Even the office environment of big companies is terrible; it makes you feel suffocated just looking at it.

"Leo: The consequence of blindly pursuing maximum efficiency is to exploit people like machines. I will definitely not do that when I start a company in the future."

"V: In Night City, it's pretty good to be able to work in this kind of environment. You don't have to worry about where your next meal will come from, or about bullets flying everywhere and cyber lunatics lurking all around."

The relaxed and pleasant discussion continued for a while, then V interrupted everyone's chatter—

"V: We've arrived at our destination. There's a manager's office up ahead!"

Upon hearing this, Leo looked over and indeed saw a high-end-looking office.

Although it is not as large as a shared office, it is a private unit with its own entrance and the glass is not transparent, thus protecting the privacy of the management personnel.

Sasha carefully surveyed her surroundings and noticed that the surveillance cameras responsible for this area were all undergoing upgrades and maintenance. She then boldly walked to the door and hacked open the heavy security door to the manager's office.

Once inside, she hesitated and asked in a low voice, "V, should we lock the door? It would improve security, but it would also leave more traces."

V shook his head: "No need. I'll just stand guard behind the door. You can go and get the documents without worry."

Sasha nodded, once again feeling the advantages of teamwork—with reliable teammates providing cover, she felt much more at ease.

He walked quickly to the department manager's dedicated computer.

She took off her vest, revealing her smooth, rounded shoulders and arms. She did this not for aesthetic reasons, but to allow her skin to come into contact with the air as much as possible, thus improving heat dissipation.

Even the dark purple leather jumpsuit she was wearing was actually a disguised black suit, specifically designed to improve heat dissipation.

The next step is to connect to personal networks.

This time, she couldn't use the portable data cable on her wrist. Breaching the data fortress of a large company, even by launching an attack from the weakest point of the internal network, was no easy task. She needed the assistance of professional hacking equipment.

Opening the large handbag, there was only one item inside besides the cell phone and the jammer, but this neatly stacked item filled the bag to the brim.

Cyber ​​goggles—also known as hacker headbands—help hackers gain a deep understanding of and interact with the three-dimensional cyberspace. They are typically modified from hyper-dream experience helmets.

But hers is different; it was purchased from a hacker equipment specialty store and is a professional-grade device manufactured by Comto.

Using such equipment allows for greater data transfer volumes, but the physical strain increases exponentially with depth and duration of descent. Within the small community of cyber hackers, tragic stories of unfortunate individuals accidentally burning their own brains occasionally surface.

However, Sasha didn't have this worry because she had another, more powerful hacker as an assistant, so the pressure was mostly shifted to Pure White.

She connected the thick, long data cable, resembling an optical fiber, to the computer case, adjusted the angle of the eyepiece, and then connected the other end to the data interface behind her head.

This is a high-capacity neural interface that only professional hackers would dare to use—directly connected to the occipital lobe.

Click.

Connection successful, all preparations complete.

She adjusted the position of her computer chair so that she was facing the computer screen directly.

The next second, a dazzling light shone through the eyepiece, and her consciousness traversed the data channel, infiltrating cyberspace.

When her vision cleared again, Sasha was in a dark space, her body seemingly becoming a source of light, emitting a pale white glow.

With a thought, several virtual panels appeared in front of him.

Countless warning signs formed chains, wrapped around the panel, flashing an aggressive red light.

This is the firewall of biotechnology, also known as the data fortress.

The firewalls in front of me, as thick as walls, are a weakened version for intrusions from the internal network. If an intrusion were to occur from the external network, the thickness and strength of the protection would reach an exaggerated level that would make one despair just by looking at it.

"Sasha: Let's start breaching the data fortress from the internal network. Let me see... This level of protection will probably take about a minute and a half."

"Pure White: No problem. It's only been 5 minutes and 37 seconds since the jammer was turned on. Once you break through the data fortress, I'll take care of the subsequent data collection. There's plenty of time."

Leo: Don't push it too hard, leave more time for evacuation.

"Pure White: Don't worry, the total mission time will not exceed 20 minutes. I've left myself some leeway."

Leo felt relieved and turned to look out the window.

The company square was peaceful and quiet, with no unusual activity.

Mann's team and Jack's team are also fine; everything is going smoothly.

A long minute and a half passed.

Sasha parted her lips slightly, exhaled a breath of stale air, and hastily wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Sasha: It's done! It's hacked in! Can you see Pure White on the other side?

"Pure White: Signal is good, connection established. Leave the rest to me."

The communication ended, and Sasha left cyberspace and returned to reality.

In front of her, dozens of different windows popped up simultaneously on three circularly arranged monitors, beginning to transmit data to the data chip that Sasha had prepared in advance.

Sasha stared intently—

On the left, data on water pollution in Night City is being downloaded; on the right, data on existing aquatic plants is being downloaded; and in the middle is the clinical trial report for the safety spirit she has been longing for.

With the opportunity to uncover the truth about her mother's death looming, her tension intensified uncontrollably, like a rope swelling rapidly after being soaked in water, constantly pressing on her heart.

"Mother……"

Sasha murmured unconsciously.

As memories replayed in her mind, she seemed to see her younger self again, joyfully holding the box of the safety device, delivering the "lifeline" to her seriously ill, bedridden mother.

Her mother smiled gently, her eyes filled with affection and doting love for her.

In the early stages of medication, my mother's condition did improve somewhat; she was even able to sit up and listen to her recount interesting things that happened at school.

They had made a promise that once she recovered, they would go for a walk together in Xiehe Park.

But just a week later, her condition deteriorated rapidly, and she quickly passed away...

Early Signs of Talent: Chapter 195 Sasha: "I understand, I'm a terrible hacker..."

Now that the truth is right before her eyes, she doesn't want to wait a second longer.

After putting away the cyber goggles and connecting the personal data cable on her wrist to the computer, Sasha decided to help Pure White out.

Sasha: I'll help process the data too, let's finish the task as soon as possible!

"Pure White: It's not necessary. A few seconds won't make a difference. You might as well rest and prepare for evacuation."

Sasha: No way! I want to help!

Pure White: Whatever you want...

Ignoring all advice, Sasha joined the hacker network.

however,

As soon as her consciousness connected to the network, she ran into a huge problem—dozens of windows running simultaneously made her scalp tingle, and she didn't know where to start.

It's important to understand that while multitasking is a basic skill for professional hackers, it's not enough to handle dozens of threads simultaneously.

What kind of brain would it have to be to split into dozens of parts, each doing its own thing...?

"If you insist on helping, then go and speed up the data transfer of the security system. But let me make it clear beforehand that you are still in danger, so you can check that data after you return to the safe zone."

Pure White sent a text message, continuing to process the data methodically.

Sasha paused for a moment, then slowly nodded and obediently went to find the data on the safety spirit.

She realized that Chunbai wasn't a single person; she must have a professional hacker team behind her.

Only in this way can the scene she witnessed be reasonably explained.

Such data processing efficiency and multi-threaded operation are something even a Level 5 hacker under internet surveillance could not achieve.

Once she realized that her teammate was incredibly strong, she stopped worrying and focused on the project she cared about most.

She had long since mastered the basic hacking skills of receiving, processing, and transferring data.

After a few seconds, Sasha's expression slowly changed, her little face filled with great confusion.

She was trying so hard to help, even to the point that her body temperature rose and her back started sweating, but why... did the data transmission speed not improve significantly?

Judging from the speed at which the progress bar fills, her addition only shortened the completion time by a dozen seconds, making her truly dispensable.

Looking around at the other windows operating simultaneously, Sasha began to doubt her own professional competence for the first time.

Is she actually... a terrible hacker?

*

Time flew by, and ten minutes passed quickly.

The main objective of this mission has been achieved, and Pure White is now working hard to gather information of interest from the biotechnology company's database.

Meanwhile, Sasha and V had already prepared to evacuate.

Seeing this, Leo urged through the team channel: "It's been almost twenty minutes, let's prepare to leave. This is just a small test. If there's any information that interests us, we can come back for it next time."

"Pure White: Give me another 45 seconds, I'll download the data from this animal cloning experiment. This stuff is quite interesting and has given me some inspiration."

Leo had no choice but to tell V and Sasha to be on their guard.

Another 45 seconds passed...

Finally, with a heavy heart, Chunbai announced that the mission objective had been achieved and ordered the infiltration team to withdraw.

Sasha and V acted swiftly.

The former restored the desk to its original state and erased any signs of use from the computer. The latter went out first to observe the activity in the hallway.

After Sasha completely wiped away the fingerprints to ensure everything was foolproof, the two began to retrace their steps.

Having already passed through once before, the two of them jogged away from the biotechnology building in less than two minutes, led by V.

Aside from the fact that their data fortress was breached from within the internal network, they left no trace, making it a perfect infiltration.

Back in the bustling company square, their mindsets were no longer the same.

"V: Big companies are nothing special after all. They were tricked by us and didn't find anything!"

Sasha: That's right, that's right, this is the smoothest mission I've ever carried out!

"Leo: Don't open the champagne at halftime. Stick to the original plan, walk half a circle around the square and return to the vehicle via another route."

His worries were later proven to be unnecessary.