Mantis checked his tools one last time,

the waterproof bag, the old clothes of the janitor and the repairman, RFID cards, electromagnetic shielding injection liquid, vaccines, facial transformation liquid tape, small lock-picking tools, signal transmitter, smartwatch, suction cup, invisible spiral rope, secure buckle, new material tactical dagger, electromagnetic pulse gun.

Mantis closed his eyes and reviewed one last time in his mind the countless times he had practiced the infiltration process in the VR environment. Then he turned around and practiced the accent and posture of the disguised character a few more times in the room.

He stood up and crossed off the first item on his checklist on the smartwatch, then packed these items one by one into the waterproof backpack. When Mantis closed the lock, he hesitated for a moment, feeling like something was still missing. He walked into the room and opened a drawer.

The flower lay there quietly, with pure white petals and a hint of antique glow. Mantis remembered the moonlight of that year. He reached out and put the flower into his pocket, smiled bitterly, and whispered, "May you give me courage."

So Mantis picked up his backpack, put it on, put on sunglasses, turned around and walked into the rain without looking back at his past life. He only felt a slight warmth in his chest where the flower was.

The journey went smoothly. Mantis, as usual, registered for the fiscal year meeting twenty days later at the bottom of this 50-story building. His old friend John at the registration office greeted him, "Why do you always come in person? Online registration is also possible. I'll take you to the car later." Mantis smiled and said his secretary was waiting in the underground parking lot, so he just needed to take the elevator as usual.

Afterwards, Mantis went to the restroom on the third underground floor. In the dimly lit restroom, he took out an electromagnetic shielding injection from his bag and inserted it into his elbow vein. Then he gave himself a shot of temporary mixed vaccine to ensure he had abundant antibodies for the next 48 hours. He took off his suit and sunglasses, put them in his bag, changed into old janitor clothes, hung his work ID, and then applied a liquid adhesive tape mask on his face. After all this, Mantis walked to the mirror and carefully adjusted his clothes and appearance. Then he put a large garbage bag over his bag. Looking at his watch showing 13:30, he walked into the elevator. The next stop was the 28th floor.

The 28th floor was the first floor with low security restrictions. There was a room for robbery tools. Mantis had already calculated that there was no one here at the moment, so he walked in, changed into a second set of maintenance worker clothes, and held a maintenance ladder and toolbox. He swiped his RFID card to enter the freight elevator passage. The 30th floor was the limit that ordinary maintenance workers could reach. After seeing the elevator number reach 30, Mantis walked out first, then casually pressed the signal transmitter in his hand. He knew this would temporarily disable the cameras. He quickly reentered the elevator and opened the emergency escape hatch on top of the elevator, flipping into the elevator shaft.

Mantis carefully secured the tools in his hand to the appropriate positions in the elevator shaft, then looked at his watch, which showed 13:37. Mantis let out a sigh of relief and shook his right hand. When he flipped up just now, his right index finger got caught and cut on the edge of the elevator, and it was still throbbing in pain. His calf was also slightly bumped. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and hurriedly started changing into the third set of stealth black clothes. Mantis knew he only had about 5 minutes left. There was no elevator between the 30th and 35th floors. The elevator shaft was filled with high-voltage cables, and there was only about 12 minutes of low current per hour. This should be a system failure that has been going on for nine years, and Mantis bet that the government still hasn't fixed it.

But when the watch reached 13:43, Mantis started climbing up along the high-voltage cables. Every step was nerve-wracking. If there was a sudden high-voltage current at any moment, he would turn into a charred corpse. He used both his hands and feet, carefully avoiding the high-voltage cables as much as possible, moving up step by step. Sweat kept dripping from his forehead, stinging his eyes.

Mantis reached the 35th floor. He cursed and secretly rejoiced at the current chaos in the project management. Each software system maintenance cost several bitcoins, which resulted in many bugs being postponed without being fixed. The next part would be relatively easy. Seven years ago, Mantis had already marked the entrance to the large ventilation system here. He just needed to find it and follow the map.

Mantis groped his way forward in the darkness, his shoulder blades starting to ache. He couldn't help but recall that same dark night when the girl took out a flower to encourage him, saying, "Mantis, don't be afraid, we can do it." Mantis glanced at his watch, 11:49. According to the time estimate, the gun hidden in the ventilation duct should be nearby. Sure enough, after feeling around for a while, he found the high-powered electromagnetic pulse gun.

At 11:51, Mantis felt everything was going smoothly. He had succeeded halfway. Following the checklist, he initiated the self-checking program of the electromagnetic pulse gun. However, after the safety of the gun was turned off for thirty seconds, the self-checking program indicated a failure. Mantis couldn't help but curse, "Damn it." He felt somewhat frustrated. Over the past few decades, there had been an increasing number of software issues, whether in large professional software or small tools, and the problems were difficult to pinpoint. Most of the communication tools used during this infiltration were either decades-old versions that Mantis had obtained or ones he had personally developed. But Mantis didn't expect this seven-year-old gun to malfunction. In his backpack, there was only a small electromagnetic pulse gun and a tactical dagger. Mantis was grateful for his foresight.

So he continued crawling through the ventilation duct according to the markings.

At 13:56, he reached his destination, the ventilation duct above Jiao Huanqi's office. Using suction cups and hanging ropes, he carefully maneuvered to the right position. After setting up the cameras and recording devices, he climbed back up to the elevator shaft.

Just as he climbed back up the elevator shaft, he put on the listening earphones. Wade and Zhang Beihai's voices intermittently came through the earphones. Mantis realized that the wireless protocol might have been blocked, so he took out a wired earphone and plugged it into the listening receiver.

Wade's typical deep voice came through the earphones, but he sounded anxious and impatient. "You know, we must quickly reduce Zhang Beihai's influence. Gaining the support of the scientific community should have been our priority."

Jiao Huanqi muttered, "We should have reached a consensus on Zhang Beihai's issue from the beginning. We should have destroyed him. I don't know why you insisted on trying to win him over. The huge difference between Zhang Beihai and us is that we have morals, while he doesn't. That idiot Zhu Ban probably fell for Zhang Beihai's tricks long ago. Zhang Beihai is absolutely cunning and unscrupulous."

Wade sneered and asked, "What promises did Zhang Beihai make to the Academy of Sciences? Immortality? Where did he dig up this 'Project 150'?"

Jiao Huanqi nodded, "Not only that. Although we have produced the 'Xingtian' robot, he has placed an even bigger order with Bat Corporation, preparing to produce more advanced bio-level robots. Zhang Beihai has completely abandoned the 817 Plan and started acting on his own. If we hadn't taken action in time and controlled 'Xingtian,' we would probably be in a very dangerous situation now."

Wade sighed, his tone filled with concern, "Ah, I wonder how Yi Ning is doing. This scum Zhang Beihai will definitely target her."

Jiao Huanqi remained silent for a while, then Wade continued, "How about we first capture a group of followers from the Ramen Cult, shake up other forces, and keep them away from Zhang Beihai?"

Jiao Huanqi said, "Alright, I agree with that. Also, keep an eye on Li Geyu. She's a political animal, a political machine. I've never seen her make a mistake."

On the rooftop, Mantis listened to this conversation, waves of emotions surging in his heart. He gently touched the flower in his pocket, as if seeking strength. It turned out that there was a deeper aspect to this matter...

He took out the tactical dagger from his backpack and looked at the cold light on it, letting out a soft sigh. This world makes it difficult for those who have to make choices, but only through action, direct action, can one uncover the truth and achieve justice.

In the darkness, he continued to listen to Wade whispering to Jiao Huanqi, "Old buddy, Jiao Huanqi has given too many favorable conditions to the scientific community. We will eventually make a move, and whether we strike first or later, we will suffer some losses. Do you know the difference between you and Zhang Beihai? We have morals, he doesn't. This is a blow to our dimension..."