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Chapter 143: From Neutral to Enemy

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"Do not forget that I am in a hotel owned by the Panorama Corporation... and this was the building Richard sponsored himself. He's one of the facility managers of the Moon Base as well so if Anthony gets hurt inside his turf, it's easy for him to drive a wedge and hurt the both of us pretty badly. I know you know how deadly this weapon called [politics] can become when used properly."

"But Richard's position is unique. The people love him and if his son dies by your order, our families will suffer the backlash of his wrath. Although we can fight it out evenly, the impact it will bring to us will be immensely detrimental since our existence will be exposed to the public. At least, I have to be away from here if you're moving against Anthony!"

Having heard this warning, a visible twitch vividly snapped on and off in the old gangster's face.

"Besides, it wasn't clear if he's really on the side of [Mitra] or if he's only being used."

There was a lull between the two that was broken by Rex stepping on the pedal in full, the roar of its engine and the ragged outdoor wheels screeching off dirt and grasses underneath the Hum-Vee.

They watched Rex drive through the roadless land and mow down small trees as it made way down the slopes.

"He's in a hurry! He can feel the threat of your full force attack and knows he doesn't have time let."

Chronos fell silent and looked at the old gangster who watched Rex with gritted teeth and a furiously fuming appearance.

After a while, he said, "Abraxas, do you have the tapped recording of his calls?"

[Negative, sir. An unknown encryption was sealing the call data and jumbled the files in the network registry.]

—meaning, the call was encrypted using the high-level encryption protocols of that third-party AI...

The voice that replied was of a male with a tone of a seasoned butler from a European Aristocrat. He was the only one who could hear the voice though as it was linked in his "private server" where he'd tapped into the Office Server even if they were on the same place, physically. THIS was his security measure in order to avoid potential trapping when he was connected online.

And yet, just as Chronos was actually about to ask something else, Abraxas's voice rung once again.

[Sir, I have detected an external... connection that links into two servers in your location. It's using the same Source Code ID as your Office and had a similar security protocol running parallel to your Private Server. I can't... seem to lock into it, sir. It is... being attacked by Database.]

—being attacked by Database?!!

——how the hell is that even possible?! Wasn't the Database attacking Rex Kingsley's own server right now?

When this information came out, Chronos felt the hairs on his nape stood up and he looked at the old gangster.

An external connection meant that someone else was tapping into his live feed. Furthermore, that someone was actually able to run a separate copy of the Office Server parallel to his own. Meaning, the culprit was THIS close in origin location to him in addition to the fact that...... he now knew that Rex Kingsley actually had control over a little bit of the NanoMechs in his body. Who was it then that's connected externally to his Office Server and was running a separate parallel Office Server than he?

It was simple enough to connect the dots...

That person was Rex Kingsley!

When this information was processed by is mind, he realized something else.

—Rex had always been listening to me all along!

Chronos recalled Abraxas' report. Something else was being attacked by Database. What was it that's being attacked right now? Chronos shuddered at the possibilities in the thought of it.

These unknown factors filled Chronos with dread.

Rex may not be able to directly tap into his direct external mainframe, but the Office Server that he carried with him every time was openly been given away to him because he, Chronos, was using the connection of the Grand Torino Hotel to reach out to that private server!

Realizing the potential dangers, Chronos began to yell out commands, "Cut the connection! Cancel all related processes! Abraxas, secure information to all local Net-Communication Logs in my area and remove my link from the Office Server now......... quickly!!"

The surprised gangster beside looked at the old veteran who gave out the series of orders.

And yet before the old gangster could even finish his sentence, their connection was cut and he was kicked out of the Office Server.

*****

[My Liege, I've detected an aggressive connection transfer with the local area origin of Rex Kingsley.]

"What did you say?!!"

[Analyzing diagnostics... Scan complete. It has the same Server ID as the Office Server. Canceling all aggression attacks. Damage report concluded. A 20% damage was dealt in the Office Server copy.]

"WHAT?!! How could that be possible?! What was happening to the Echelon Network? No, wait, what is this thing about damage? What was damaged?"

[Allied Server ID detected. It's the Office Server in the Abraxas Central Archive, sir. It was damaged during the aggressive soft-domain transfer. When the switch occurred, the third-party AI served as a lubricator during the process to mask the whole event. My system recognizes allied data-signature sir so I'm awaiting your further orders.]

Goldwyn almost had a heart attack.

"A-Allied... Allied Server ID? Office Server? Could it be that Rex Kingsley had managed to hack into the Abraxas Private Servers? This can't be. THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!! Database, contact the old fool now! Help him defend the Office Server!"

[Negative sir. Neuronet connections have all been cut in Lausanne's downtown area. All maintenance logs in district technician dispatch offices indicated Emergency Repair Orders issued en masse for all Nightshift Technician Groups to depart onsite for said emergency situation.]

The old gangster was aghast.

In other words, a massive city-wide "outage" was happening in downtown Lausanne, where Grand Torino Hotel was located. This wasn't just simple "news" at all. It can even grow to be a huge matter for the entire country and the economy.

Lausanne was a Cultural and Commercial Center for Sweetzerland. It was THIS close to Geneva that housed the World Nobles' head questers.

In the current era, Neuro-Network "Net" services are already part of the daily lives of people.

And this was even more so for the technologically more advanced First-World Countries.

For [First-World Countries], the Neuro-NET was a big deal and just a 1 or 2-minute disconnection is an entire source of headaches for the entire Net Provider. And so, when a dispatch in this scale is issued for the entire busy downtown area, then an entire league of problems was sure to arise.

But that's not the problem here. The problem is at the fact that this "outage" was obviously made like an accident or an event by some reason as it has needed a massive disconnection-repair dispatch from every nightshift technicians just at the very exact minute when [Database] was about to launch its massive software attack towards the third-party AI and the Echelon Network.

No matter how much he looks at the situation it's a suspicious command to suddenly issue a city-wide [Emergency Repairs Order] alongside the fact that it was so perfectly timed with Rex's defeat.

Moreover, the [Database] had already confirmed it as well: the Green Tide made a final burst, giving way to a secretive masking of an aggressive local-connection origin transfer of the Echelon Network to the copied —no, that might actually even be the original version— of the Office Server.

"We can't let Rex Kingsley get his hands on those files! Quick! Contact every agent we have in any way that we can. Order them to capture him at all cost and don't let him get away!"

[Yes, My Liege.]

*****

Chronos opened his eyes and threw away the NLD on his head. The door hissed open as it slid to the side and the assistants waiting outside ran close to attend to him.

"Quick! Bring me that Rex Kingsley! Do all it takes for him to be captured alive! Remember! I need him alive! Go!"

"""Yes sir!"""

The people in black suits saluted and then they all hurried out of the room, closing in the air-locked door with a hiss, isolating him from outside.

"Abraxas, how's the Office Server?"

—please tell me that it wasn't compromised!

[Sir, the Physical Vault is damaged. There's also a copied version of the Office Server running along the main—PSSSSSSSHHHHH....]

Chronos felt his heart stopped as the voice of his trusted Adjutant-AI stopped in the middle of its reporting. He almost fell on his chair as he saw the white static noise displayed in the holo panel.

—Wait. No.

In today's technology, static noise being displayed is already impossible as Wireless Communications Technology had already advanced to the point that signal reliability had now reached 700% superiority over what the standards are a century ago.

Chronos realized that this "noise" was something else altogether.

He gripped his cane as anger rise up on his chest.

Chronos got up to his feet and went to the corner of the luxurious room and found the "silver-cased box" with a black cable connected to a wall socket.

He plucked it out with a strong thug and the cable gave out sparks after being pulled out.

Chronos then pressed a small opening on the side of the silver-case and a projection display shot out in front of him.

There was one phrase that immediately got his eyes reeling in disbelief.

{]

"Noooo...." A weak voice of despair escaped his lips as he touched the display and expanded the files inside it. One by one, he discovered all of the blackened files and felt his heart hurting the more corrupted and deleted files he discovered inside.

One word suddenly struck his mind.

Complacent!

He was complacent that he didn't even real—–NO!

—it's not that they didn't realize it but it's because they found out too late that Rex is actually already in control of a portion of the NanoMechs installed in his body. How he managed to do that was one of the biggest reasons as to why they had to get him on their custody as soon as possible. It was he himself that had let him get THIS close to him.

In other words, all this time, Rex has been aware of his every move and every action.

"Since when... since when was I being observed by him? Since when did he get his hands on the Office Server? Who the hell is the person behind all of this!!"

He looked around and saw that there were no cameras in this room but... the "hardware console" that [Abraxas] used to connect to him was still in a connected link status to the private security server of the Grand Torino Hotel.

Chronos yelled out, "Abraxas!"

No one answered. The holo panel screen was still in a static. He knew then that something was very wrong and so he began to grip his cane as he also looked around until finally fixing his eyes upon the holo display.

Chronos frowned. He took out his Communicator Device and put it on his ear. Then he saw that it doesn't have any signal at all and his mind went on a fit of lightning strikes, fearing the worst.

This was the very instance that he feared the most out of everything: the feeling of being vulnerable.

He then looked at the display screen of what his [Abraxas] should have been. Only to find it having the face of [Siva], with his red-black lined mask.

"You....!!"

Chronos' mind was having a fit of raging storms as it flashed with the memory of Rex having a hard time inside just about a few second ago.

"I saw you suffering... how did this happen? How did you do it? No —how much could you control of the NanoMechs in your body?"

Rex said placidly.

Chronos felt rage filling his heart. He was a Family Head of one of the Five Great Clans but he was made a clown, dancing in the palm of a young man eight times his age —a huge joke and an insult.

"How... dare.... you......"

BANG!

Right after the words were spoken by the person in the holo screen, the wooden door in the room was kicked open and a Rex Kingsley with a bloody right sleeve wearing a white mask appeared.

Chronos' eyes went wide. Behind him, he saw the men he ordered to bring him "alive" lying on their backs or their faces kissing the wall, all bloodied and seemingly unconscious if not dead. In fact, he even saw what looked like teeth around there.

He looked at Rex who slowly walked over in front of him and pulled out a chair to sit on.

Chronos took a step back in disbelief.

"How dare I indeed, Chronos?" As Rex spoke, he removed his mask and showed the old man the bright golden yellow eyes in his forehead. After a brief second when Chronos emptily stared at the golden eye, Rex snapped his fingers and the entire room vanished with only his golden eye the only shining light. "Now, I want you to answer all of my questio—HUH?"

"You! This... this is...... Eoin Bozkovich! You were the receiver of the NanoPaper Prototype!"

Rex was surprised. The electro-beam hypnotism didn't work on Chronos. He narrowed his eyes but soon found out the reason why it was so.

It's because Chronos' eyes were actually blind and were only electronic implants.

"I see. You've been alive for a very long time..."

"Stop spouting nonsense! Tell me! What was it the bastard downloaded in the Panorama Server!"

"..."

"TELL ME!"

As he spoke, Chronos slowly stood up. Now, he's not using the cane he always carried but actually stood up straight and posed into a fighting stance.

Rex didn't dare to laze about and lower his guard as he realized that the guy...... was just like him...

Chronos is an [android] —no, he's a cyborg!

Rex inched back towards the door understanding the level of threat the old man was showing him was on the same level as Kanzu did. He thought if this old man was younger by 30 years, he can be Rex's real nemesis as he was now. Thankfully, he was old and although he was enhanced by all the modern machine implants In his body, he was still a Mortal through and through.

"It would seem that our deal is now broken, eh, Mister Chronos? Are you going to renege on your words?"

Chronos tore his left sleeve and then his right. He took two steps, kicking the chair to the side then stopping four paces away from Rex. "I will ask you one more time. What is it? Answer me and you will not feel pain when I cripple you. Stay silent and I will make sure you cry out in pain and agony as I tear the truth out from your limbs one by one."

Rex was serious but he didn't back down nor did he took another step back in retreat. Instead, he smiled at the old man.

"A monster." He said.

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