[eight percent if the Host does not actively intervene within the next six hours.]
The mechanical voice finished its calculations, ending the sentence hanging in the air with lethal precision. Red numbers blazed across Elara’s retina, confirming that her family’s lives and future truly hung in the balance tonight.
Elara stood frozen, listening to the recording of Adrian’s voice replayed by the System. The man’s quiet laughter was utterly revolting. All this time, Adrian had been manipulating the senior servant in his household, Bi Inah, into slowly poisoning her father. The odorless, tasteless sedative would not only make her father miss tomorrow’s crucial meeting but would also gradually damage his nervous system, making him appear to be suffering from early-onset dementia. That was why, in her previous life, her father had surrendered control so easily.
“System,” Elara whispered, her voice hoarse yet radiating a newly born icy resolve. “Can you trace the digital communications between Adrian and Bi Inah? I need proof of the transaction.”
[Processing request. Breaching local banking security protocols...]
It took only three seconds for a stream of financial data to appear in Elara’s field of vision.
[Found: Three deposits into an offshore account under the name of one of Inah’s relatives, originating from a shell company owned by Adrian Vance. Total accumulated amount: $50,000.]
“Fifty thousand dollars.” Elara smiled coldly. What a cheap price to destroy a family business empire. She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering the scattered pieces of her emotions. She couldn’t act rashly. If she fired Bi Inah tonight, Adrian would realize his plan had been exposed and devise a new strategy Elara knew nothing about.
No. Adrian wanted to play chess? Then Elara would flip the board when the man felt most confident of victory.
Morning sunlight slipped through the curtains of the grand family dining room. The antique clock in the corner showed 7:30 a.m. WIB.
William, Elara’s father, sat in the head chair in a neatly tailored suit, his reading glasses perched on his nose as he flipped through the pages of a business newspaper. He looked healthy and commanding.
“Good morning, Dad,” Elara greeted him as she walked in with a bright smile she had practiced in front of the mirror for an hour. She was wearing an elegant navy-blue blazer suit.
“Elara, you’re up earlier than usual for once,” her father said with a warm smile. “Ready for your first board meeting today?”
“Of course, Dad. I won’t let you down,” she replied as she sat down.
Bi Inah approached from the kitchen doorway, carrying a silver tray. A porcelain cup filled with steaming chamomile tea sat on it. Elara’s heart beat faster, but her expression remained calm.
The moment Bi Inah set the cup down to her father’s right, Elara’s retina flashed blue.
[Active Thermal & Chemical Spectrum Analysis. Detecting a high concentration of Lorazepam residue in the liquid. Status: Dangerous.]
“Please enjoy your tea, sir,” Bi Inah said with a respectful bow. Her voice trembled slightly, but no one noticed—except Elara.
Just as her father reached for the cup handle, Elara abruptly rose to her feet.
“Oh, wait, Dad!” Elara cried, deliberately knocking the table hard enough with her knee.
The jolt sent the porcelain cup sliding off balance before it crashed onto the marble floor. Crash! The drug-laced tea spilled everywhere, soaking into the expensive carpet beneath it.
“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry, Dad,” Elara pretended to panic, grabbing a napkin and bending down. She shot Bi Inah a sharp glance; the woman’s face had gone deathly pale. “I thought I saw a little spider on the edge of Dad’s cup. It startled me.”
Her father chuckled lightly and waved his hand. “It’s all right, Elara. Don’t panic. Bi Inah, please clean this up. I don’t think I need tea this morning. We have to leave for the office soon. The roads are bound to be jammed.”
“Y-yes, sir... right away.” Bi Inah’s voice trembled.
Elara stared coldly at the servant crouched on the floor, cleaning up the broken pieces. Enjoy the rest of your time in this house, she thought. She grabbed her work bag and followed her father out of the house. The first step had succeeded. Her father was safe. Now it was time to face the mastermind.
Metropolis Tower stood arrogantly, piercing the gray clouds. On the forty-fifth floor, the boardroom was already filled with executives in expensive suits. The air inside was tense, thick with the scent of coffee and ambition.
At the head of the table, Adrian sat in a relaxed posture. He smiled amiably at the directors, but his eyes kept darting toward the door. By his calculations, William’s secretary would call any moment to report that their managing director had suddenly fainted. As the sole heir’s fiancé, Adrian would take over today’s meeting and push through his fraudulent investment project.
The carved oak door opened.
The smile on Adrian’s face instantly froze.
William strode in, his commanding presence dominating the room. And right behind him, chin raised and gaze sharp as an eagle’s, came Elara.
Elara’s eyes immediately met Adrian’s. She could see the surprise, confusion, and panic he concealed behind the twitch of his jaw. Elara gave him a sweet smile—a smile that, for some reason, made the blood in Adrian’s veins run cold.
“Let’s begin the meeting,” William’s baritone thundered as he took his seat of authority.
Adrian cleared his throat, swallowed his dry saliva, and tried to return to his plan. He projected a cooperation agreement onto the large screen in front of them. “Very well, sir. Today, I’d like to propose acquiring land in the southern sector. As you can see from the physical documents in front of you, this is a golden opportunity we can’t afford to miss.”
Elara paid no attention to the man’s nonsense. She lowered her head and looked at the fifty-page physical document in front of her.
“System,” Elara commanded inwardly. “Scan this document.”
A blue holographic screen instantly overlaid Elara’s vision, scanning page after page at incredible speed. The words on the paper were sorted and cross-referenced against the country’s legal database.
[Anomaly detected. Clause 14, Paragraph B, is concealed in convoluted legal language. If signed, this clause will transfer 30% of the company’s veto rights directly to a shell company under the name of Adrian Vance.]
Elara raised her head, ready to interrupt and expose Adrian in front of the entire board of directors. She opened her mouth, but before a single word could escape, her vision suddenly turned bright red.
A high-frequency alarm rang in her ears, so loud that Elara had to grip the edge of the table to withstand the sudden dizziness.
[CRITICAL PROTOCOL WARNING!]
Massive warning text blocked her view of Adrian.
[The System has detected an external penetration wave. Someone inside this building is attempting to hack back into your local quantum connection. Military-grade encryption breached at level one... level two...]
Elara gasped, her heart seeming to stop. The Absolute System should have been impossible to trace with any technology on Earth!
[Backtracking signal... Hacker terminal located on the top floor of this building (VIP Penthouse Suite). Breaching attacker’s identity...]
[Terminal found. Terminal owner registered under the name]