Stars, Players and Immortals

Chapter 12: One person in your team will betray you.

Soon, the main screen on the terminal in front of Hagia, along with several secondary screens, projection windows, and monitoring interfaces in the room that could be tracked by external links, all went dark as if simultaneously turned off by an invisible hand.

The entire terminal room fell silent for a moment, with only the low hum of the equipment continuing to operate. In the center of the black screen that had been set in motion, a simple yet cold white logo slowly appeared.

It was a white ring made of gears, with sharp edges and distinct teeth. Inside the gears was a circular frame that resembled a scope, and in the very center of that ring was a quietly open eye.

[Chisei-rou sends his greetings—]

She leaned back gently in her chair, her expression still calm, but a faint interest flickered in her eyes.

"Heaven Drive..."

Just as she whispered the name, a new screen silently unfolded next to the logo.

On the screen sat a person wearing a metal mask. The edges of the mask were cold and sharp, and a sharp horn was slightly raised at the temple. The overall outline had a sense of oppression similar to a knight's helmet, completely covering the face.

Zhang Qiming in the video nodded slightly and spoke first.

"The Skyward Organization sends its greetings, Lady Saint Sophia Paleologina."

When he said this, his voice was processed by the terminal, making it impossible to discern his real age or his original tone.

While speaking, he also took advantage of the connection opened by Chiserou to activate his skill.

[Target positioning!]

[Consumes 15 mechanical points to perform an information scan on a designated network terminal or hackable device, marking all enemy units, cameras, turrets, and networked devices within a 15-meter radius. Marked targets can be displayed through walls.]

[Additional effect: When targeting a hacked device, the success rate of target identification within the scanning range is increased.]

[Cooldown: 30 seconds]

15 points of mechanical strength were quietly deducted.

The next second, all network devices, monitoring nodes, and security interfaces within a 15-meter radius of the hacked terminal were forcibly scanned. A light blue identification screen, visible only to him, quickly spread out in his field of vision, marking everything in this temporary residence that could access the system.

The camera behind the wall, the hidden alarm by the door, the security turret interface in the ceiling, the electronic door lock at the end of the corridor, and two external devices in standby mode that could be woken up at any time were all pulled into his field of vision in that instant, and in high-brightness mode.

At the same time, the target identification information of Saint Sophia herself was also displayed.

-

[Target: Saint Sofia Paleologina]

Main professions: Squire LV10 (MAX), Mechanic LV20 (MAX), Priest LV20

[Secondary Profession: Mechanical Maker LV10 (MAX)]

【Attribute Bar】

【strength:? ? ? 】

【agile:???】

【endurance:???】

【intelligence:???】

【mystery:???】

【Charm: 10】

Luck: 6

-

Seeing this whole row of question marks, Zhang Qiming couldn't help but exclaim in his heart—a total level of 60, that's terrifying!

On the other side of the screen, Hagia Sophia was also watching him.

Her prosthetic metal eye twitched slightly, silently scrutinizing the metal mask for a few seconds. As a Priestess of Ten Thousand Machines, she naturally sensed Zhang Qiming's [target location], but she didn't say anything more, only uttering a faint remark:

"Your Skyward Organization's way of greeting people is quite unique."

After listening, Zhang Qiming smiled slightly, his posture unchanged, and his tone showed no embarrassment at being exposed.

"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures."

Saint Sophia did not respond to his words, but simply placed her hand lightly on the armrest of the chair, her gaze still fixed on the knight mask on his face.

"So, you went to all that trouble to hack into my terminal just to say hello to me?"

Zhang Qiming looked at her, his voice still steady.

"Of course not. The purpose of my trip is to discuss cooperation with Her Excellency Saint Sophia."

Saint Sophia tilted her head slightly, a faint smile even playing on her lips.

"Sir, are you perhaps joking?"

Her tone carried a hint of mockery, as well as an undisguised aloofness.

"Why would I cooperate with a group of terrorists who just assassinated a Cardinal and turned Mars upside down? Or are the Skydrivers now so arrogant that they think I'll sit down and talk to them about the future just because they hack into my terminal and say hello?"

Zhang Qiming ignored her sarcasm. He simply looked at her and slowly uttered a name.

"Alexei Volkov."

Saint Sophia's smile froze instantly, while Zhang Qiming continued reading, reciting one dish after another as if reciting a menu.

"Ekaterina Orlova".

"Mikhail Romanovich."

"Viktor Savage."

"Irina Berezova."

"Constantine Dragomir".

"Natalia Melnikova."

"Lucius von Eisenheim".

"Eleanor Wallenstein."

"Simon Albrecht".

"Shen Zhiwei".

"Gu Changgeng".

"Grigory Makarov."

After Zhang Qiming finished reading the last name, he slightly raised his eyes and looked at Saint Sophia through the screen. His voice behind the metal mask finally carried a faint hint of mockery.

"Your Excellency, these names should be familiar to you."

Faced with Zhang Qiming's undisguised weapon, Saint Sophia's expression quickly darkened. She looked at the masked man on the screen, her fingertips still resting on the armrest of the chair, but she had completely stopped her previous mockery.

Her expression turned cold, and a hint of murderous intent flashed in her eyes, but she quickly composed herself and said to Zhang Qiming:

"What exactly do you want to do?"

Zhang Qiming didn't beat around the bush; he simply spread his hands, as if to indicate that he meant no harm, and his tone remained calm and composed.

"As I've said before, I'm here to discuss cooperation with you."

Saint Sophia didn't reply, her gaze still fixed on the mask on his face. At the same time, she was considering whether she should hack into the other party's network terminal directly, and then use a combination of [Target Location] + [Cognitive Circuit Breaker] to blow the head off the Skydrive leader.

"Don't even think about doing anything extreme. If you do, I'll cut off the internet immediately—physically."

Saint Sophia didn't speak, but just looked at him quietly, clearly waiting for what he would say next.

Seeing this, Zhang Qiming thought to himself that this was a sure thing.

To be honest, she was genuinely afraid that Hagia Sophia might hack into her network terminals, causing the talks to break down.

He didn't waste any words and went straight to the key information.

"There is one person in your team who will betray you."