Martial Era: Starting With The Strongest Talent-Chapter 149: Infiltration

Ivy was the first to break the silence.

"How was he able to reduce your star power?"

Adam didn’t look away from the corpse.

"That’s what I don’t know," he said calmly. "But something was wrong with his star power. It felt as if it was..."

"Negative."

Remedy completed the sentence, as Adam turned his head toward her.

Then nodded once.

"Yes."

The entire team shifted their attention to Remedy waiting for her to explain.

She didn’t keep them waiting as she stepped forward slightly.

"I was looking into something before I came back," she said evenly.

From her white trousers, she produced a flash drive, the same one she had used on Lyon’s phone earlier and tossed it to Ivy.

"Decrypt the information in there."

Ivy caught it midair without hesitation.

She immediately pulled a compact laptop from her storage ring, unfolded it on the center table, and inserted the drive.

Lines of encrypted data flooded the screen and her fingers moved rapidly.

Remedy turned back to the others.

"I believe this is the result of drug abuse."

Adam, now leaning against the wall with folded arms, tilted his head slightly.

"What type of drug reanimates a corpse and gives it regenerative properties?"

Felecia stiffened, Scott’s gaze sharpened.

Even Ivy paused mid-keystroke and looked at him.

Adam blinked once.

"Oh. Didn’t I mention that part earlier?"

No one spoke.

Remedy answered instead.

"It’s not normal. Not in the slightest."

Her eyes drifted briefly to the corpse.

"Hence the reason those who use it end up dead in the end."

Adam could agree with that.

When he fought William, he had sensed it clearly.

The man was growing stronger.

But simultaneously, he was already dead.

So the warning of my death wasn’t the only thing my Death affinity was reacting to back then...

It hadn’t just been predicting danger, it had been detecting decay as well.

Something fundamentally wrong.

At that moment...

Ivy’s fingers stopped moving.

Her eyes widened slightly as the final layer of encryption dissolved.

"I’m in."

At that moment they all gathered around Ivy. Felecia leaned over the back of the couch. Scott stood to her right, arms folded. Only Adam remained where he was, leaning against the wall, with a relaxed posture.

Remedy noticed him and without a word, she shifted the laptop slightly on the table, tilting the screen just enough so Adam could see it clearly from his position.

The others noticed but no one commented.

Ivy scanned the screen as she said.

"The encryption on this device wasn’t even that difficult," she said. "At best, level two."

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.

"It makes me wonder if there’s anything worthwhile on here, considering the level of security."

Felecia raised a brow.

"Are you sure it’s not just a decoy?"

Before Ivy could respond—

"It’s not."

Remedy’s tone was firm and felecia glanced at her.

Remedy continued calmly.

"It’s a covert contact method. Messages are coded to appear ordinary to an untrained eye."

She stepped closer to the screen.

"Nothing complex. Just keyword embedding. Harmless phrasing but hidden intent."

Scott exhaled slowly.

This wasn’t the first time Remedy had casually revealed knowledge that felt... deeper than expected.

But this time.

Her eyes flicked briefly toward Adam and he met her gaze with no surprise, only acknowledgment.

He had suspected something similar.

Remedy smiled faintly.

"Search using the keywords ’hyper’ and ’Mr Cross.’"

Ivy nodded and began typing.

The database filtered instantly and only one result popped up.

Ivy didn’t hesitate as she clicked it open.

A single message appeared on screen.

From: Lyon

To: Mr Cross

We at Herbal X appreciate the invite to the celebration of our company and Hyper.

That was it, it was just corporate pleasantry.

Silence filled the room and felecia frowned.

"That’s it?"

However, Remedy’s expression hardened.

"We got them."

Adam understood the implication immediately.

Scott and Ivy did too.

Only Felecia frowned at first before her eyes sharpened and she reread the message.

"...It’s just a corporate thank-you."

Then she read it again as her expression shifted.

"Oh."

They already knew whose device Remedy had pulled the data from based on the message and there was a near one-hundred percent chance that more messages like this existed on his phone.

But Remedy hadn’t pointed to those.

She pointed to this one.

That alone meant something significant was tied to it.

Adam straightened slightly from the wall.

"So what’s the plan?"

They all looked at him.

Remedy had made him the leader.

Yet he asked it like he wasn’t.

Either it hadn’t fully registered or he simply didn’t care about titles.

Remedy met his eyes calmly.

"Herbal X is a leading pharmaceutical company in Tristan."

She tapped the screen lightly.

"Hyper is a cover name. It’s the Family’s production arm for the drug."

Scott’s expression darkened.

"And Mr Cross?" Adam asked.

Remedy’s voice was level.

"The public figurehead in charge of Hyper."

She paused briefly.

"I believe it’s Rita. A Profound Lord who oversees most of the Family’s labs."

The room stilled.

A Profound Lord.

That escalated things.

Remedy continued.

"The two companies will likely host a gala or corporate celebration as a distraction."

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"To divert the Alliance’s attention from what’s actually happening behind the scenes."

"But," Remedy added calmly, "that also creates the perfect opportunity."

"To get in."

Adam’s eyes sharpened.

It was an infiltration.

Ivy continued scanning through the remaining files, eyes moving rapidly across the screen.

"Rem," she said without looking up, "about this drug, does it have any keyword tied to it as well?"

Remedy shook her head slightly.

"No. It doesn’t."

Ivy nodded once.

That alone said enough.

No keyword meant it wasn’t casually referenced.

She ejected the flash drive and tossed it back to Remedy.

"So," Ivy said, closing the laptop with a soft click, "can you tell us about this drug? So we know what we’re dealing with."

Remedy caught the drive effortlessly.

"I was getting there."

****

A/N: My school break is over so I will be starting classes soon. So if any changes come up relating to Chapter releases I would let you guys know before time.

Stay blessed.