Chapter 11 Part 2: I Became a Hacker Loved by AIs

To a Higher Place (3)

Gang strike team #1:

Wiped out by an explosion of a lab device attached on the wall while running through the corridor.

Team #2:

Died from toxic gas poisoning after hiding in a room with a malfunctioning air vent.

Team #3:

All shot and killed by Svetlana after she paused for a moment, looked at the wall through CCTV, and fired through it — they never saw it coming.

Team #4 and #5:

Tried to snipe using a wall-penetrating camera, but accidentally targeted their own ally.

They shot each other through the wall. Both dead.

All this while Svetlana did just two things:

She walked, or paused briefly to control the snake.

She didn't even adhere to basic tactics like taking cover.

And yet, the gang was suffering near-total annihilation.

Watching more and more of his men go dark, Drex was practically gnawing on his own tongue in frustration.

“Fuck... Just one woman... Just one goddamn woman... What the hell is she?! And still no word from the bitmancers?!”

He screamed into his radio, but the only answer coming back from the other side was catastrophic.

[No matter how many signals we send, we get no response!]

“What? Are they already dead?”

[No. Their brains are still intact. Not yet fried.]

“Then what the hell is going on?!”

Something’s wrong. She’s too strong.

Why would someone like her even come after lowlifes like them?

Isn’t the world of the rich and the poor already completely separated?

As Drex pondered this, he suddenly realized something as he glanced at the girl still playing with her toy right in front of him.

A lone infiltrating combatant, dominating and terrifying.

A little girl, absurdly calm, even as gunfire and chaos raged around her.

Suddenly, with icy rage in his eyes, Drex pulled out his gun and aimed it at the girl's head.

“Hey, answer me properly.”

“...?”

The girl looked up at Drex with a blank expression.

“Who the hell are you? Why… why is the Secretariat involved? Only they are this strong. Those bastards don’t lift a finger unless it concerns the ImmuneWire Chairman. Are you… are you like some secret granddaughter of his or something?”

“...Who knows?”

“So it was all an act? Why are you so calm? Why?! Do you want to die?! Answer me!”

“Wanna try killing me?”

“...What?”

The child smiled faintly and said.

“You can’t kill me.”

It was a smile that could never belong to a five-year-old girl.

“I’m your only hope, remember?”

***

Svetlana had now blitzed her way to the gang’s security room.

Any gang members who rushed in to protect the bitmancers met their ends in creative ways, as they had until now, but this time it was in a more horrific manner.

Some with brains being fried alive,

Others blowing their own heads off,

Some screaming in agony as if their entire body were on fire.

Now, with fewer enemies, and thanks to the miss, who was not only protecting two hostages but also holding off the bitmancers, Svetlana could launch even stronger hacks.

She stepped into the security room.

Without a word, she calmly walked past the row of bitmancers lying side by side in deep-dive chairs, placing a bullet in each of their heads.

There were no bitmancers left now.

Meaning the girl no longer had to perform her risky little hacking game.

In fact, she had already stopped making any major moves in cyberspace.

Now, only one thing remained.

The final room, where the boss and his executives were hiding.

***

The boss, Drex, had retreated with his remaining men to the deepest chamber in the facility.

All but Drex were aiming their guns at the entrance.

Drex himself was holding his gun to Neige’s head.

But Neige saw it.

She could see it all — the giant snake staring coldly at them from behind.

Clack, clack…

The sound of high heels echoed just outside the door.

Tension built as everyone tightened their grip.

And then, dozens of data streams surged into the room simultaneously like a wave.

In the next moment, all the gang members except Drex lost control of their bodies.

Each pulled a pistol from their waistbands and shot themselves in the head at the same time.

“Fuck…”

Drex muttered, his voice sunken in despair, as the door slowly opened.

“I’ve come for you, miss.”

There stood Svetlana, as spotless as ever, without a single drop of blood on her.

And unlike the icy killer from before, she now wore a warm smile just for Neige.

“That was cold of you, miss. I was hoping we’d kill them together. You even prepared a hack…”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

Drex screamed.

Svetlana merely pressed her fingers to her ear, feigning irritation.

“Nothing you need to know.”

“What?!”

Meanwhile, in cyberspace, Neige was already perched atop Drex’s data block.

“Let me give you a little hint... Our miss here? She’s a very talented hacker.”

Drex looked down at Neige.

At that moment, he met the face of a girl with an expression so cold that it was hard to believe she was only five years old.

“You little—!”

Overwhelmed by sudden terror, Drex scrambled backward, yanking out the cables in panic.

In a final act of desperation, he pulled the trigger on Neige—

But of course, the gun didn’t fire.

“Damn it... I have no fucking luck…”

Drex finally dropped the gun and slumped down, all the strength leaving his body.

“Why are you doing this to us?! Huh?! That brat gets a damn monster like you protecting her, and we all get slaughtered like rats?! Is this what the world calls justice?!”

“A brat?”

Svetlana chuckled at his grief-ridden outburst.

“You’re terribly mistaken. My miss is no mere ‘brat.’”

“Bullshit! She’s just some spoiled rich kid born into the right family!”

“Believe it or not, the young miss is an orphan.”

“Fuck off! Why the hell would the Secretariat protect someone like that?!”

Drex already seemed to have lost his reason due to his resentment.

And honestly, how could he not?

He thought this was just another routine hit of stealing cargo, but he rolled snake eyes, and now he was about to die for it.

“People like you… You’re no different from us. You just won the parent lottery. We just wanted to taste your lifestyle once. Just once!”

“Just once, huh…”

Svetlana suddenly seemed to remember something.

She walked past Neige and knelt in front of the slumped Drex, lowering herself to his eye level.

Then, brushing her bangs aside, she offered her forehead to him.

“Then, I'll grant you one wish before you die. Take the shot. The gun’s no longer hacked.”

“What...?”

“There's no time. You have to seize the opportunity when the enemy is being reckless, right?”

“You fucking bitch! Even now—!”

Furious, Drex snatched the gun he’d dropped and fired directly at her forehead.

But—

The bullet’s warhead ricocheted, flattened, and clattered uselessly to the floor.

Staring in disbelief, Drex muttered in despair:

“...Chitin cyberware? You’re a fucking walking tank?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“Then why... even though you have that… you didn’t take a single bullet until now... you just—”

Svetlana’s gun spat fire.

“How do you like the taste of premium-grade cyberware? This is how the upper class lives. You lowlife criminal scums got a hell of an upgrade today.”

Everything was over.

Svetlana turned her back on Drex’s corpse and approached Neige, smiling softly.

She hugged the girl.

“Young miss, I’m so glad you’re unharmed. I’ve prepared another hoverid for you, your favorite.”

Her voice was warm and gentle, a far cry from the ruthless killer who had just massacred people and toyed with Drex.

“It’s time to meet with the Chairman.”