Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 100 - Surveillance

As they moved on, it came time to purge the water access areas. These were spaces designed for seals, and partially for penguins. These were flooded chambers where they could enter and exit the station through underwater passages. They evacuated those who had been confirmed legitimate, then they began a careful search.

"There," Jin pointed to one of the pools. "Though I don’t see anything, I can feel energy gathering."

"I’ll flush it out." Lumi said as he began to throw spell after spell at the location.

Three seal-form infiltrators burst from the water simultaneously, their disguises already shed as countless weapons came out from behind them.

"Spread out!" Valeria ordered as harpoons shot through the air where they’d been clustered. She quickly reacted, slicing one in half, but it fell in the water and the two pieces dove.

Splash! One of them jumped out of the water, locking on to them and unleashing an attack before immediately diving down again.

Even though all present could hit them reliably, the enemy used the water as cover, launching attacks from below before disappearing again.

"Solution!" Jin declared. He sprinted to the pool’s edge and plunged both hands into the water. "Everyone back!"

Understanding immediately, the team retreated as Jin released a massive electrical discharge into the pool. The water lit up, electricity coursing through every molecule. The infiltrators spasmed and thrashed, their systems overloading catastrophically.

When the light faded, three destroyed constructs floated on the surface, their components sparking and failing.

[EXP +93] [EXP +94] [EXP +95]

"Effective." Zara noted. "If somewhat lacking in subtlety."

"Subtlety’s overrated." Jin grinned, though he was breathing hard from the effort.

From there, they began sweeping the maintenance tunnels. Zara led them to a concealed room she’d noticed had unusually high foot traffic patterns in the dust. Inside, they found what amounted to a repair station.

Mechanical components lined the walls, replacement parts for damaged infiltrators. Synthetic skins hung, ready to be worn. Even more troubling were the skins that weren’t synthetic... inhabitants that were skinned. Last were the detailed files on real station workers, their habits, speech patterns, personal histories. Everything needed to replace them perfectly.

"They were studying them." Lumi said, finding a file and presenting it to the others. "Look, this one is on Manager Kiegg, one of Dahni’s coworkers he said disappeared. There’s every detail on him. His favorite foods, his work schedule, his sister’s name. They knew everything."

"Information gathering phase." Susie said, documenting everything. "They infiltrate, study, then replace. If we hadn’t caught them, within months the entire station could have been compromised."

Lumi looked at her strangely. "It already was."

Susie blinked. "I suppose that’s true. I just meant... nevermind, it’s not important."

Jin shifted the top off a barrel and looked inside. "Look at this. Why is there food here?"

Zara appeared next to it. "Infiltrators don’t need to eat. Who is this for?" She picked up some of the preserved fish and sniffed it. Her eyes went wide. "It’s poisoned. If distributed, it would have poisoned the entire population of the station."

"They weren’t just spying." Valeria said grimly. "They were planning genocide."

"Destroy it." Lumi ordered. "All of it. We take samples for evidence, but the rest gets destroyed."

Lumi put his hand over it, taking a sample into his inventory.

[Poisoned Food Sample]

They quickly obliged, turning it to ash.

The command center was their final stop. It was the nerve center of the station, where all information flowed through. If the Wings had wanted intelligence, this would be their primary target.

The center appeared normal at first, banks of monitoring equipment showing various ice conditions, communication arrays for contacting other stations, maps and charts covering every wall. The crew on duty looked up nervously as they entered.

One by one, they were all checked. As soon as they were all verified, "Everyone out," Valeria ordered. "Wait in the hallway. We need to check this room thoroughly."

The workers filed out quickly, grateful to escape potential danger. Once alone, the team began a careful search.

"Captain." Zara called from behind a large chart cabinet. "There’s a seam here that shouldn’t exist."

Valeria’s eyes twitched. Was it that hard to get used to the shift in leadership? "Tell that to Lumi."

"Oh." Zara looked at Lumi apologetically. "It seems there’s a hidden path."

Lumi mentally examined what he knew about the Wings. They thrived on abusing the common sense people held. So he ordered. "Valeria, destroy it. Let’s see what we find in the rubble."

"Right." She sliced the large cabinet in half, and began reducing it to rubble.

Within the very wood that composed the cabinet, a hidden orb was released. Removing the orb from its slot raised a false panel open, revealing a secret passageway. Behind it was a complete surveillance setup that took their breath away.

Screens showed feeds from throughout the station, some from the infiltrators’ viewpoints before they were destroyed, others from hidden cameras they must have placed. Communication equipment hummed with power, and at the center of it all was a transmission array powered by chunks of corrupted glacier ice.

"They were watching everything." Lumi said, examining the equipment. The setup was sophisticated even by Wings standards. "Look at these logs, they’ve been transmitting intelligence for weeks."

"We’ll take it all." Lumi ordered, and the others began quickly collecting the information. "Then destroy it all."

"Aye eye!" Susie saluted.

Valeria sighed. "You’ve been learning too much from Jin." Jin smiled cheekily.

[Quest Complete: Purge the infiltrators from Ice Station Three]

[EXP +20,000]

The quest completion brought relief but not quite enough experience to push Lumi to level 30. The exponential increase in requirements was a harsh reminder of why most players never reached a high enough level to matter in his past life. Even if they knew how to break free from the system, they couldn’t even do so with such a pitiful level.

"We need to get this intelligence back to Johno," Lumi said, helping Susie gather the scattered documents that had survived. "The faculties and researchers there should be able to decode the message."

In truth, Lumi had no idea if it would be decoded or not. However, even though in his past life the seals and penguins had failed and been wiped out, he knew that they did contest the corruption and Wings of Darkness to an extent, including intellectually. It should be the case that they can do so.

He gave himself a tense smile.

It doesn’t really matter. Even if they can’t, bringing them back to Herene will bring answers guaranteed, though it’ll waste a bit of time.