Seeing Cheng Rui's expression as if everything was under control, a look of mockery flashed in Cipher's purple feline eyes.
Afterward, she leaned back slightly against the comfortable sofa back, her fingertips lightly tapping the armrest as she spoke with a hint of laziness, "Lawyer, I've given you what you wanted to see." She tilted her head slightly, her gaze falling on the lawyer's face. "So next, how do you intend to deliver that 'satisfactory result'?"
"Miss Cipher, you only need to wait for the news. It is quite late now; by tomorrow morning," the lawyer's tone was steady, carrying the distinct certainty of a legal professional, "you will be able to witness that offender weeping bitter tears in court with your own eyes."
"This is my contact information. If in the future... you encounter any more small troubles that make you unhappy but are inconvenient to 'handle' directly due to your status, I, Lawyer Cheng Rui, am willing to provide you with a legal and compliant solution."
After speaking, he composedly took a simply designed business card from his inner suit pocket and handed it to Cipher with both hands.
"Oh? Lawyer Cheng Rui?" Seeing this, Cipher casually caught the card between two fingers, her gaze sweeping over the gold-stamped name and title. "I'll remember that."
With a slight flick of her fingertips, the business card was stored into her System Inventory.
"Then, my duty ends here." Cheng Rui nodded slightly, then stood up efficiently and turned toward his desk. "How to host Miss Cipher from here on is your responsibility, Manager Lin." He picked up the Terminal on the desk, his fingertips tapping rapidly; an encrypted communication was already being dialed.
"Miss Cipher, Lawyer Cheng is always busy with many affairs. Let us head out first." Seeing this, Lin Mingyu immediately stood up, a fawning smile piling onto his face as he made a "please" gesture toward Cipher. "If you don't have another place to stay for the time being, I will immediately arrange a top-tier suite under our Apex Entertainment for you, I guarantee you will..."
"No need." Cipher cut him off cleanly and stood up. "I have other arrangements tonight, so let us part ways here."
Her tone was flat, yet it carried a sense of finality that brooked no argument.
Upon hearing this, the eagerness in Lin Mingyu's eyes cooled instantly, but he reacted quickly, continuing, "Then I shall see you downstairs..."
"Don't go to the trouble." Cipher did not stop her pace, walking straight toward the door, her voice drifting back from ahead. "I remember the way I came. Manager Lin, go busy yourself with whatever you need to. I've already wasted enough of your time for the sake of a jumping clown."
As her voice fell, her hand was already on the door handle.
Seeing this, Lin Mingyu opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't dare to persist. He could only silently squeeze out a smile and say, "Then... alright. Take care, Miss Cipher! If you are free tomorrow, you are welcome to come here anytime; I will personally take you to attend the court hearing!"
Though he didn't know why Cipher's reaction toward him had become so cold, he could only place his hopes on tomorrow's "performance."
"Understood."
The cold response was accompanied by the slight sound of the door closing, and Cipher's figure disappeared outside the office.
The lighting in the corridor was soft and bright. No one was around, save for the faint hum of machinery in the distance.
Cipher did not head toward the elevator but stood still on the spot, as if thinking about something.
Right then, the air beside her suddenly rippled like water, and a half-person-tall purple vortex quietly emerged around Cipher.
Immediately after, a Spirithief shimmering all over with purple light silently crawled out from within, then flew to Cipher's side.
'How is it?' Seeing this, Cipher looked at Bartholos, and then a Formless mental wave was transmitted over, inquiring about its situation.
From the moment she stepped into the Apex Entertainment building, she had sent Bartholos to confirm the state of the building to see if it was consistent with the 3D map Li Yan had provided.
After all, the President of Apex Entertainment himself had announced the deployment for districts one through ten, and Li Yan hadn't mentioned this to her at all.
Therefore, she suspected there might be issues with the map Li Yan had provided as well.
'Hey! Big sis, with this great one on the job, is there anything that can't be found?' Hearing Cipher's question, Bartholos smugly shook its round purple head, then immediately pulled out a Terminal containing the 3D map file Cipher had sent it.
After opening the file, a sophisticated 3D virtual model of the building instantly unfolded before the two of them.
Next, Bartholos condensed a small arrow out of purple energy and began rapidly pointing at various places on the model:
'Look here. Although it looks like a pipeline maintenance hatch, it's actually disguised as a laser induction matrix! And here, there's a pressure-triggered nerve gas release vent hidden right behind the ventilation duct grille! And here, this thing releases an unpleasant sonic wave to annoy people, covering the blind spots of the entire floor's corridor corners!'
It spoke at a high speed, rapidly listing all sorts of problems.
'In addition, here, here, and here...' The small arrow it controlled danced continuously. 'The ordinary security traps originally marked on the map have all been replaced! They've been swapped for more hidden, more sinister composite trigger traps! Tsk tsk tsk...'
As Bartholos pointed out the massive discrepancies and the newly added lethal traps on the map one by one, Cipher's originally lazy expression gradually darkened.
She stared at the 3D model, which was densely marked and unrecognizable, her gaze filled with speechlessness.
Because the degree of delay and error in this intelligence was simply ridiculous.
'...There, big sis, those are the main "surprises" from floors one to ten.' After Bartholos finished its report, it tucked away the projection, its expression somewhat puzzled. 'Speaking of which, big sis, where did you get this map anyway? The errors are too far off. Aside from the positions of the load-bearing walls and the stairwells, everything else... it's like someone deliberately took a piece of scrap paper expired for ten years to fool you!'
'...'
Cipher remained silent, but her face had clearly turned very unsightly.
She did not respond to Bartholos's question, but instead expressionlessly pulled out her own Terminal. Her fingers flew, packaging the map model—which had been poked full of holes by Bartholos's purple markings and largely corrected—and sent it directly to "Li Yan" in her contact list.
About ten seconds later, a reply popped up.
Li Yan: ?
Cifera: Look at what kind of junk you sent. Fortunately, I personally went to check this building again. There are many traps on here that aren't marked, and some are even wrong.
Li Yan: This... according to the people in the intelligence department, this information was all collected four days ago. Logically, it shouldn't have been changed like this?
Li Yan: Since the intelligence is incorrect, to reduce the risks, Miss Pardo, you should come back first. I'll book a flight for you.
Li Yan: I'll go ask the people in the intelligence department.
Looking at Li Yan's reply on the screen, Cipher wasn't very surprised, but her impression of the Countercurrent Alliance dropped another notch.
If they could even get intelligence wrong, she felt that cooperating with this organization would lead to trouble sooner or later... oh wait, trouble had already happened, it was just that Bartholos had found it.
In front of a company of Apex Entertainment's caliber, the timeliness of so-called "latest intelligence" was as fragile as a sheet of paper.
'Sigh...' She let out a sigh, then continued tapping on the screen with some impatience.
Cifera: No need. You guys are truly unreliable. I'll do it myself. I'll settle the score with you all later.
After sending it, she cleanly tucked away the Terminal.
'Uh... big sis?' Bartholos sensed something was wrong with her mood.
'It's fine,' Cipher's tone was calm, but a dangerous light flickered in the depths of those feline eyes. 'I've just confirmed some "unreliability" that was within expectations. Also, in your stealth run, you weren't discovered by any surveillance or detectors, right?'
'Hmph!' Bartholos immediately crossed its arms, saying proudly, 'Big sis, you are insulting this great one's professional standards! I am a creation of Lord Zagreus! How could those scraps of mortal technology possibly capture me? Aside from you, big sis, no one in this whole building can see me right now!'
'Very well, then let's go.'
Seeing this, Cipher didn't say anything more.
She then took a step and walked toward the elevator hall with composure.
During the conversation between Cipher and Bartholos, occasional employees hurrying past at the end of the corridor caught sight of this catwoman—who had been personally accompanied by Manager Lin earlier—standing alone in the corridor "in a daze" before starting to operate her Terminal. Although they were a bit curious, they simply assumed the distinguished guest was handling private matters and didn't suspect much.
...
"Ding~"
A crisp chime sounded, and the elevator doors slowly opened in the first-floor lobby.
With a face calm and tranquil, "Cipher" walked out of the elevator with steady steps, crossed the still brightly lit front hall, and then pushed open the glass doors, walking straight into the street outside.
Following that, her figure soon disappeared into the dim shadows of an alleyway at the corner.
However—
At the exact same moment "her" figure merged into the darkness of the alley, in a corner of the elevator hall that no one noticed, a faint purple ripple suddenly appeared in the air.
Subsequently, the real Cipher quietly emerged from that ripple.
The one who had just walked toward the elevator and left was merely her clone.
Her true self, in the second before stepping into the elevator, had simultaneously completed the creation of the clone and her own invisibility.
Under surveillance, they would be unable to see any abnormality through the footage.
"I'd like to see exactly what for they 'renovated' this building within three days."
Saying this, Cipher began to double back, starting her search for Lin Mingyu.
Before long, she found Lin Mingyu, who had just walked out of the legal department.
"I wonder when that Cifera will show up. I haven't seen any news from the other branch companies either..."
Lin Mingyu sighed and then dialed a number.
"Hello, this is Lin Mingyu, the Idol Department Manager of the District 5 branch in the Hive District. You're Manager Liu's assistant, right? I have business with you."
"Heh... what do you mean I need to consult Manager Liu? I'm telling you, your Manager Liu is already in a precarious position!"
"What? You don't believe me? Then just wait for the news of him being demoted or even fired tomorrow."
After finishing, he hung up the phone and let out a cold snort, saying, "At a time like this, you still can't see your own position. Without that man named Liu, what right do you have to refuse my request?"
Immediately after, he walked toward the elevator.
'Hmm... so he's already starting to tear into that Manager Liu's flesh?'
Cipher watched the man before her change from the subservient manner of just now to his current arrogance; the difference between before and after was less than five minutes.
Seeing Lin Mingyu run toward the elevator, Cipher followed, stepping into the elevator with him.
Then she saw Lin Mingyu press the button for the first floor.
'Going to the first floor? Is he checking if I've left?'
Cipher was somewhat puzzled, but since she didn't have mind-reading skills, she wasn't clear on what Lin Mingyu was thinking at this moment.
Although she could whip up a mind-reading spell anytime, she felt it wasn't necessary.
Soon, Cipher followed Lin Mingyu to the first floor.
The elevator opened, and she saw Lin Mingyu walk straight toward the receptionist at the front desk.
"Has that catwoman named Cifera arrived yet?"
As soon as he arrived, Lin Mingyu asked point-blank.
Hearing this question, Cipher was a bit surprised. It was still for Cifera? Was that one-year KPI cancellation really that enticing?
"Manager Lin, we still haven't seen Cifera appear."
Seeing this, Lin Mingyu scratched his hair with some frustration.
"This isn't right... didn't the higher-ups say Cifera was coming to District 5? Yet she hasn't shown up until now. To think I flew back all this way from my inspection in District 2."
He then let out a slight sigh.
"Forget it, keep paying attention. Remember, as soon as you find Cifera, call me immediately. As long as this matter succeeds, I won't let you miss out on a promotion."
"Understood! Manager Lin!"
Hearing Lin Mingyu's words, the receptionist's eyes lit up, and she immediately responded.
Seeing this, Lin Mingyu nodded and prepared to walk back, but halfway there, he suddenly seemed to remember something and turned back to ask, "By the way, has that Miss Cipher left?"
"Manager Lin, that Miss Cipher has already gone out."
"Hm, that's fine." Lin Mingyu nodded. "She isn't one of our Apex Entertainment people after all, so while she's around, the less said about company news, the better."
"I understand! I will pass the word to the others."
Seeing this, Lin Mingyu nodded and then walked back into the elevator.