"So this is the so-called Apex Entertainment branch company?" Pardofelis looked up at the cold building towering into the clouds before her, a playful arc rising at the corner of her mouth. "The scale isn't small."
After saying that, she passed through the automatic sensor doors on the first floor and walked into the lobby.
As soon as she walked in, a female receptionist wearing a standardized smile immediately came forward and bowed slightly:
"Hello, miss. Welcome to Apex Entertainment. How may I be of service to you?"
"Hm..." Pardofelis pretended to be deep in thought, her cat tail swaying leisurely behind her. "I want to see your boss."
"Alright, miss. Do you have an appointment?"
Upon hearing this, the girl's fingers quickly swiped across the large Terminal, preparing to check the appointment status.
"An appointment?" Pardofelis blinked innocently. "Nope."
The smile on the girl's face stagnated for a moment, but it instantly recovered to its original state:
"I am very sorry, miss. Without an appointment, you cannot meet with our company's upper management."
"I understand that." Pardofelis nodded seriously, and then her tone shifted, her smile becoming sly. "But I said 'I plan' to see your boss. As for the method..."
She deliberately dragged out her tone, and under the girl's confused gaze, she softly spat out a few words:
"I didn't say it would be through legitimate means!"
Before her voice had faded, without waiting for the receptionist to react, Pardofelis's figure flashed, and then, like a ghost, she passed directly through the locked Fire exit of the adjacent stairwell.
"Wait..." The female receptionist's pupils shrank slightly, and her professional smile finally completely froze.
Subsequently, she quickly grabbed the Terminal, connected to the security internal line, and spoke extremely fast: "Security Department, emergency! A brown-haired feline Genetically Modified Human, unauthorized, has directly passed through the Fire exit of the Zone B stairwell. Target unknown, suspected to be related to the boss! The physical characteristics have been synchronized and sent, and the target seems to have the ability to phase through walls!"
"Received, tracking in progress." A calm response came from the other end of the communication.
Seeing this, the female receptionist put down the Terminal, took a deep breath, and then put back on that perfect smiling mask, as if the chaos just now had never happened.
...
"Hm? Targeted already?" Inside the stairwell, Pardofelis keenly perceived a peeking sensation from the corner.
She looked up and accurately caught sight of a hidden camera on the ceiling.
"Tsk, peeping is not a good habit." She curled her lips. With a light flick of her fingertip, a silver coin engraved with a cat paw pattern tore through the air, smashing the camera to pieces with a crack.
Afterwards, the coin bounced back, and after Pardofelis steadily caught it, she phased through the door again and stepped onto the second floor of the building.
As soon as she entered the door, many noisy voices entered her ears:
"Hello, this is Customer Service Agent 1041. How may I..."
"Your account shows an anomaly, please provide complete identity verification information..."
"I completely understand your dissatisfaction, sir, but according to company policy Article 7.3.1, this amount indeed cannot be..."
In countless cubicles, the customer service personnel were like precise humanoid machines, expressionlessly repeating the same monotonous words. The dense sound of keyboard typing converged into a depressing ocean of noise.
Seeing such a scene, Pardofelis frowned slightly. The numbness and mechanical atmosphere permeating the place made her feel a bit uncomfortable.
Right at this moment, a piercing broadcast suddenly resounded through the entire floor:
[Buzz—Emergency notification! An illegal intruder has broken into the company! Physical characteristics: brown hair, possessing feline gene modification characteristics! The illegal intruder has entered the building! If any employee spots the suspicious target, please immediately call the Security Department hotline XXXXX to report it! Repeat, ...]
"Hmph, finally here?" After hearing this broadcast, Pardofelis let out a disdainful light snort. "Just in time. Let me see what kind of capability your Security Department has!"
Subsequently, she simply stopped hiding and openly walked through the dense customer service workstations, even deliberately wandering in front of those numb employees.
However, a bizarre scene occurred:
No matter how close she walked or how conspicuous her actions were, those customer service personnel still stared blankly at the screen, their fingers flying over the keyboards, as if treating her like thin air.
"What's going on? Are they deaf or blind?" Pardofelis stopped in her tracks, her cat ears perking up in confusion. "I'm not even invisible, and actually no one is calling to report me?"
Seeing this, she took the initiative to come in front of a customer service agent, then reached out and waved her hand in front of the agent's eyes.
"Hey? Can you see me? The intruder mentioned in the broadcast is me!"
But that customer service agent didn't even turn her eyes, only replying in a completely flat tone:
"Miss, please do not interfere with my workflow. If you have any questions, please go to the front desk on the first floor for consultation. Thank you for your cooperation."
While answering Pardofelis's question, her typing speed didn't slow down in the slightest.
Suddenly, Pardofelis was choked by this mechanical reaction. She said somewhat incredulously:
"...Didn't you hear the broadcast?! I'm an intruder! Why aren't you going to call and report me?"
"Making non-business calls during working hours may cause the communication line to be busy, affecting customer access efficiency, resulting in an increase in the complaint rate, and affecting my KPI assessment."
The customer service agent still didn't look up, her tone as calm as if she were reciting regulations.
"I..." Pardofelis was instantly speechless, a nameless fire shooting up with a whoosh.
Then, taking advantage of another customer service agent nearby unlocking her Terminal and preparing to dial, she snatched the other party's Terminal!
And after that customer service agent had her Terminal snatched away, she didn't have the slightest movement of resistance. She merely reported calmly to the air, "Workstation C-247 reporting, Personal Terminal has been taken by an unidentified person, requesting transfer to backup equipment," and then immediately picked up the backup Terminal on the desk and started taking calls.
Pardofelis: "..."
"Forget it, it feels like their brains are all abnormal."
After saying that, she looked down at the Terminal snatched in her hand. After searching the address book for a while, she found the dialing interface named "Security Dept Hotline".
Then, Pardofelis pressed the dial button without hesitation.
The call was connected instantly. Before she could speak, a grumpy male voice roared, covering her face and head:
"Workstation C-247! It is currently prime service time! Who permitted you to privately dial the internal line?! Do you want your performance points deducted?!"
"Shut up!" Hearing this, Pardofelis's anger was completely ignited, and she directly roared back at the Terminal. "Didn't your broadcast shout so loudly to report upon discovering the intruder?! I'm standing openly and aboveboard right here on your second floor! Yet your people are either all blind or deaf! Now I have to personally call to report myself! Are you satisfied now?!"
The other end of the phone fell into a brief dead silence.
A few seconds later, that man's voice rang out, carrying a trace of unbelievable confusion:
"...You're that illegal intruder?"
"Yes! It's me!" Pardofelis crossed one arm over her chest and gritted her teeth at the Terminal. "I'm right here in your second-floor customer service area! Hurry over! Let me experience the strength of your Security Department!"
However, the expected rage or emergency dispatch didn't happen.
The other end of the phone only gave a calm "Oh," the tone even carrying a bit of... impatience?
"Oh, in the second-floor customer service area... Then it's fine. Listen, intruder, the customer service area is an important business department. Please keep quiet and do not disturb the employees' normal work. Thank you for your cooperation."
After saying that, a beep—beep— busy signal sounded, and the other party hung up the phone just as cleanly and efficiently as that.
Pardofelis held the Terminal emitting the busy signal, freezing in place.
An unprecedented sense of being stifled surged into her heart.
She was previously used to being ignored while stealthily sneaking around, but being treated as completely non-existent like this, and even being "politely" asked by the other party's Security Department not to disturb their work... This was simply a great humiliation!
"Heh... hehe..." She suddenly began to chuckle softly, dangerous flames igniting in her cat eyes, her tail fluffing up and standing on end. "Good... very good! Ignoring me, huh?!"
Subsequently, she brought up the information provided by Li Yan, her fingertip heavily poking at the areas marked with scarlet fonts on the 3D model:
[Core Database Storage Tier] & [Central Financial Settlement Center]
"Fine!" A highly displeased smile appeared on Pardofelis's face, her teeth flashing with a cold light under the illumination. "I refuse to believe this. Wait until I destroy all your data and steal all your money! Let's see if you bastards can still continue ignoring me!"