"Looks like they finally noticed."
Listening to the alarms and the thunder of footsteps rushing toward her location, Cipher didn't panic. This was exactly what she wanted. Without drawing everyone here, she wouldn't have such an easy time looting the items in those lockers.
'Time to go. But before I leave, I should leave a nice gift.'
A mischievous smirk played on Cipher's lips. She reached into her inventory and pulled out her very first purple-grade item, which had been sitting in her bag for three days: an EMP grenade.
The spinning coin flew into the air, and Cipher entered her god-speed state once more.
'This door won't open...'
Standing before one of the rooms, Cipher stared at the tightly shut alloy gate, feeling a bit annoyed. These doors weren't like the ones in the Administrative Zone; they were clearly under emergency lockdown.
She studied the door for a moment but found no physical way to bypass it. The only way in would be to exit her time-stop state, but then the sensors wouldn't recognize her stolen card.
She rubbed her chin in thought. Finally, she sighed and muttered to herself:
"Fine. I'll need this ability to escape anyway, so I might as well use it now."
"After I activate my invisibility, no physical door or wall can obstruct me."
As soon as the words left her lips, the system's notification rang out:
[100,000 credits consumed. Lie manifested. Effect expires in ten minutes.]
'A hundred thousand... not exactly cheap, but acceptable.' Cipher stretched her body. After stowing the EMP grenade back into her system inventory, she walked straight toward the alloy door of the Data Storage room.
'Ten minutes? For me in god-speed, that's an eternity.'
She stood before the gate and tentatively reached out a finger. The moment her fingertip touched the cold metal surface, it sank inside without resistance, as if the door were nothing but a phantom image of light and shadow.
It felt as if the world had encountered a bug—or rather, as if this door simply had no collision data.
Watching her hand pass through solid matter, a strong sense of eeriness washed over Cipher. It felt as though she had detached from reality and entered an immersive game.
She shook her head to clear the strange thoughts, took a deep breath, and walked through the door into the Data Storage room.
Immediately, she saw four armed men staring tensely at the entrance. It looked like they would open fire the moment anything felt off.
'Guarding against me like this... I'm just a harmless little kitty. All I did was borrow some cards and pocket change. I didn't even hurt you. Is this really necessary?'
Cipher feigned a pained expression on the surface, but her heart was full of joy. Seeing them so alert and stressed, unable to do a single thing to her, gave her a strange sense of accomplishment from successfully playing so many people.
However, she quickly slapped her cheeks to snap herself out of it.
'Why does my personality feel off lately? I haven't turned into some director of chaos! Am I being set up by Aha?'
The thought made her shiver.
'Better finish up and leave. I still have seven million credits to spend.'
She pulled out the EMP grenade, primed it, and placed it in the center of the Data Storage room. Then she left. Smooth and efficient. She repeated this process for the Mainframe Room and the Server Room.
Having finished her work, Cipher returned to the Data Center hall and nodded with satisfaction.
'Time to move. I wonder how much of a blow this will deal to the Backcurrent Alliance. Based on their base numbers, it probably isn't that big, right?'
She snatched the spinning coin from the air and pondered. Before entering, she heard Doctor Lin mention this was Experimental Base 036 and he was heading to Combat Base 037. That implied the alliance had at least thirty-seven bases.
Before she could think further, a low thrum reached her ears. This was followed by the sounds of crackling electricity and panicked shouts, cutting her thoughts short.
"Sounds like the grenades went off."
Quite satisfied, Cipher walked through the entrance of the Data Center and retraced her steps. Along the way, she saw crowds of people rushing toward the Data Center. She moved through them like an anomaly, walking against the current. Thanks to her agility, not a single person noticed a ghost moving through their ranks.
Soon, she successfully returned to the initial lobby. Seeing the empty hall, a "plan-perfect" expression appeared on her face.
Walking to the lockers, she told another lie to gain the ability to open the metal cabinets.
[5,000 credits consumed. Lie manifested. Effect expires in ten minutes.]
'Cheap enough. Now, it's mystery box time!'
The coin spun again. Cipher began her grand career as a locker-opener.
"A terminal? Only two thousand credits inside... how poor. I'll leave yours alone."
"This one is rich! Over sixty thousand. Taken!"
"What is this... lingerie and a 'Purple Mood' vibrator?? Why would you keep this in a locker!"
"An adult toy... you should go match with the person in the locker above you."
"A photo book of some Apex Entertainment actress... next, next."
"Hmm... a Level 3 Authorization Card. This is actually normal... wait, why is your card in your locker? Are you not working?"
It truly was like opening mystery boxes. Cipher felt her worldview being violently assaulted.
She suddenly felt that maybe opening these lockers was a mistake. She gained less than three hundred thousand credits, but the mental pollution she suffered was something money could never compensate for.
'Forget it. I need a ten-pull immediately to comfort myself. System, give me gold! I need mental compensation!'
Cipher opened the gacha interface and grandly spent 1.6 million credits on a ten-pull.