Morning.
The technician reloaded the data intercepted last night into the analysis program.
An electronic map covering the entire Northveil urban area slowly unfolded.
Dense data nodes continuously appeared.
The upload route recorded last night was gradually reconstructed as the program processed the data.
First hop.
Second hop.
Third hop.
A thin blue line continued extending across the map.
The technician said nothing.
His fingers remained in constant motion across the keyboard.
The map on the screen continued to zoom in.
The city.
The districts.
The streets.
Finally.
The view stopped at an ordinary commercial office building in the eastern district.
A red point slowly blinked.
It stopped moving.
The technician stopped typing.
He leaned back slightly in his chair.
"We have it."
"Last night."
"That organized report."
"This is where it first entered the network."
Lucian stared at the screen.
His eyes remained fixed on the red point.
The commercial office building.
Eight floors.
A twenty-four-hour convenience store occupied the first floor.
There was also a small café beside it.
The exterior walls had already become somewhat weathered.
Winter dust had accumulated on the glass curtain walls, making the building look even older.
No matter how he looked at it.
It was simply an ordinary office building that could be found anywhere in Northveil.
The technician continued.
"This is only the first hop."
"It isn't the final receiving point."
"But we can confirm."
"After the person finished organizing the data."
"It would definitely be sent here first."
Lucian slowly nodded.
The first hop.
Meant that.
This was not the true endpoint of the Abyss Archive.
But it was the first location that had actually come into contact with the report.
It was also the closest piece of the puzzle they currently had to the Abyss Archive.
The technician brought up the building records again.
"The commercial building was completed twelve years ago."
"The property is owned by a real estate company."
"The entire building has been rented out for years."
"There are currently eleven companies operating inside."
The screen continued refreshing.
The names of the companies appeared one after another.
Advertising design.
A translation agency.
Tax consulting.
Architectural design.
Data management.
Software maintenance.
Logistics agency.
There was nothing about any of the names that stood out.
The technician gave a quiet laugh.
"If I were them."
"I'd choose a place like this too."
"Lots of people."
"Different companies."
"Enough daily traffic to conceal anything unusual."
Lucian did not answer.
He simply memorized the structure of the entire building.
Then he stood up.
"I'll take a look."
...
Afternoon.
The sky remained overcast.
The fresh snow that had fallen last night had still not completely melted.
The snow piled along the streets had been compressed into gray-white slush by passing vehicles.
Lucian arrived in the eastern district alone.
He did not approach the target directly.
Instead, he walked slowly along the street like an ordinary tourist.
From a distance.
The entire office building looked almost identical to the surrounding structures.
The glass revolving doors continuously opened and closed.
Office workers in suits.
Young employees carrying documents.
Delivery couriers.
Air-conditioning repair workers.
Even several riders carrying delivery boxes.
People constantly entered and left the lobby.
No one looked particularly unusual.
Lucian crossed the sidewalk.
He slowly passed in front of the main entrance.
His eyes merely swept casually across the lobby.
The lobby was not particularly spacious.
Several groups of sofas for visitors were arranged on one side.
On the other side.
There was a row of metal mailboxes.
Directly ahead.
Was the building's company directory.
Architectural design firm.
Insurance agency.
Tax consulting center.
Translation agency.
Data Management Co., Ltd.
One after another.
All neatly arranged.
Not a single company name attracted his attention.
The receptionist lowered her head while organizing registration documents.
The security gates continuously opened.
People entered.
People left.
The entire lobby was filled with the familiar rhythm of a busy office building.
Lucian did not stop.
He continued along the street.
Only after completely leaving the office building's line of sight.
Did he slowly turn into another street.
...
More than ten minutes later.
He arrived directly across from the office building.
There was a taller office building here.
It was a full two floors higher than the target.
Lucian entered the lobby.
Like an ordinary visitor, he took the elevator to the top floor.
Then he continued upward through the emergency stairwell.
He pushed open the heavy metal door.
Cold wind immediately rushed toward him.
The rooftop was extremely quiet.
Only the outdoor air-conditioning units continued running.
He slowly walked toward the railing.
The entire target building.
Immediately came fully into view.
The lobby.
The parking lot.
The rear emergency exit.
The side entrance.
And almost every window above the sixth floor.
Almost everything was visible.
Lucian took out his binoculars.
He slowly adjusted the focus.
Through the lenses.
Each floor gradually became clear.
People were holding meetings.
Some were answering calls.
Some were looking down at documents.
Several offices had already lowered their blinds.
The entire afternoon.
It looked exactly like an ordinary company should.
Lucian did not hurry to look for the man.
Instead, he first memorized every observable position throughout the building.
Then.
He stood silently on the rooftop.
And began to wait.
Time slowly passed.
The daylight in Northveil's winter was not long.
After three in the afternoon.
The sky gradually began to darken.
The cold wind on the rooftop grew stronger.
It continuously swept up the remaining snow along the railing.
Lucian remained in the same position.
The binoculars almost never left his line of sight.
Vehicles continued flowing along the streets.
Traffic lights constantly changed.
People crossed the streets at the crosswalks.
Everyone's life continued according to its established rhythm.
But the person Lucian was waiting for.
Still had not appeared.
He was not in a hurry.
Yesterday.
He had already recorded the man's movements for the entire day.
If today followed the same pattern.
Then the critical time.
Had not yet arrived.
...
4:07 in the afternoon.
Within the lenses.
A familiar figure finally entered the street.
The man had changed his clothes today.
A light-gray long coat.
A dark scarf.
An ordinary briefcase in his hand.
His hair was also slightly neater than yesterday.
If Lucian had not been observing him for several days.
No one would have connected the man before his eyes with the ordinary young man from yesterday who had been wearing black-rimmed glasses and carrying a shoulder bag.
Lucian slowly adjusted the binoculars.
The lenses locked firmly onto the target.
The man did not look around.
He did not check his surroundings.
Nor did he make any attempt at counter-surveillance.
He simply moved with the flow of office workers.
He crossed the street.
And arrived in front of the office building.
The glass doors opened automatically.
The man walked straight into the lobby.
The entire process was so natural that there was not a single flaw.
As if this were simply the place where he worked every day.
...
Inside the lobby.
The man did not stop.
Nor did he go to the reception desk to register.
Instead, he took an access card from his pocket.
He lightly tapped it.
The gate gave a soft beep.
And automatically opened.
He continued forward.
And entered the elevator.
Lucian did not move the binoculars.
Instead, he quietly watched the electronic floor display on the other side of the lobby.
The numbers began changing.
First floor.
Second floor.
Third floor.
...
The elevator did not stop at any floor.
It continued upward.
Finally.
The number stopped at six.
A few seconds later.
The elevator began descending again.
Someone had already left the car.
Lucian immediately shifted the binoculars toward the sixth floor.
Through the glass curtain wall.
He could vaguely see the corridor.
The man had already stepped out of the elevator.
His pace remained steady.
No hesitation.
No pause.
As if he had long been familiar with everything here.
He walked all the way down the corridor.
Finally.
He stopped in front of an office at the very end.
The sign on the door.
Displayed an extremely ordinary company name.
Data Management Co., Ltd.
The man swiped his access card and opened the office door.
He walked inside.
The door closed again.
The entire process took less than twenty seconds.
Then.
The sixth floor returned to silence.
...
Lucian did not immediately move the binoculars.
Instead, he continued watching.
The blinds in the office had not been completely lowered.
Through the gaps.
Part of the interior could be seen.
More than a dozen desks were arranged neatly.
The computers were still running.
The printer occasionally operated.
Several employees were looking down and processing documents.
Someone else carried a cup of coffee through the office.
Everything.
Was completely ordinary.
There were no armed guards.
No laboratory equipment.
No secret meeting.
Even the atmosphere itself carried the mundane feeling of an ordinary company.
If he had not followed that man all the way here.
Any investigator would have assumed that this was simply an ordinary data management company doing reasonably well.
Lucian slowly lowered the binoculars.
Then quickly raised them again.
This time.
His attention was no longer focused on the man.
Instead, he began observing the entire sixth floor.
Which offices were occupied.
Which positions had a view of the corridor.
Which areas were blind spots for surveillance.
How the employees moved between areas.
How often someone passed through the break room.
How often someone left the office area.
These things.
Were far more important than the man himself.
Because what truly deserved investigation.
Was no longer him.
But—
The office itself.
Time continued moving forward.
The sunset slowly sank toward the edge of the city.
The gray-white sky gradually took on a dim orange hue.
Inside the office building.
It was time to leave work.
5:30 p.m.
The first employee shut down his computer.
Organized the documents on his desk.
Picked up his briefcase.
And left his seat.
Not long afterward.
Another employee also stood up.
The two of them walked toward the elevator while chatting.
The entire process was completely natural.
There was nothing worth noticing.
Lucian did not lower the binoculars.
His eyes remained fixed on the sixth floor.
5:45 p.m.
Three more employees left one after another.
After that.
The office area gradually became quiet.
The office that had originally contained more than a dozen people.
Was becoming increasingly empty.
At exactly six.
Only three people remained inside.
One of them.
Was the man.
The other two were still sitting at their desks.
Their computer screens remained lit.
Occasionally, they could be seen looking down and typing on their keyboards.
From any angle.
It looked like nothing more than ordinary overtime work.
Yet.
Lucian never moved his gaze.
A few minutes later.
His eyes suddenly paused.
The movements of those two people.
Were somewhat strange.
Their computer screens kept changing.
But they remained on the same document the entire time.
The mouse moved occasionally.
The keyboard was tapped from time to time.
Yet the content on the screens barely changed.
It looked more like they were maintaining the appearance of working.
The only person actually processing the data.
Was the man.
He sat at the innermost part of the office.
The documents on his desk kept changing.
His terminal occasionally lit up.
Then quickly went dark again.
His movements were extremely practiced.
The entire office.
Seemed to revolve around him alone.
...
Meanwhile.
The technician on the other side had not stopped investigating either.
The computer continuously retrieved public records concerning the entire office building.
One file after another quickly appeared.
Several minutes later.
His voice came through the earpiece.
"Got it."
Lucian still did not move his gaze.
"Data Management Co., Ltd."
"Established eight years ago."
"Fifteen registered employees."
"Primary business."
"Enterprise record digitization."
"Paper document organization."
"Long-term archive storage."
"The business records are completely normal."
The screen continued refreshing.
Business license.
Tax records.
Partner companies.
Annual inspection documents.
Everything was complete.
No matter how it was examined.
It was simply an ordinary small company.
The technician continued.
"Taxes are normal."
"No administrative penalties."
"No unusual financial activity."
"They also have quite a few publicly disclosed projects."
Lucian gave a quiet hum.
This result.
Instead.
Was even more consistent with the style of the Abyss Archive.
They would not establish a nonexistent company.
Instead.
They would let a real company.
Become their cover.
The technician fell silent for a moment.
Then suddenly brought up another file.
"However."
"There is one thing that's rather unusual."
Lucian slowly asked.
"What?"
"Employee turnover."
On the screen.
Personnel change records from the past several years appeared one after another.
The technician quickly reviewed them.
"On average."
"About half of the employees leave every year."
"They also recruit quite frequently."
"The reasons for leaving are all normal."
"Average pay."
"Frequent overtime."
"High work pressure."
"So the turnover rate has remained relatively high."
He paused after saying this.
"This situation."
"Actually makes it even more reasonable."
"No one would find it strange."
Lucian silently watched the sixth-floor office.
The thoughts in his mind were becoming increasingly clear.
The people who truly belonged to the organization.
Did not need to be numerous.
In fact.
The entire office.
Might only contain that man.
And a very small number of permanent members.
The other employees.
Were all ordinary people who had entered the company through normal recruitment.
They went to work on time every day.
Completed genuine archive management work.
Collected their salaries.
Paid their social insurance contributions.
And were no different from the millions of ordinary office workers across Northveil.
They would never know.
That the place where they worked.
Was merely another layer of cover.
Nor would they know.
That someone they worked alongside every day.
Was actually organizing intelligence collected from across the entire city.
For another organization hidden in the shadows.
Thinking of this.
Lucian slowly lowered the binoculars.
The sun had completely disappeared.
The lights of the city.
Turned on one after another.
And the true first step of the investigation.
Had only truly begun at this moment.