…Strange. No matter where I look, I can’t find this network port.
The Bald Uncle took Clara on a tour of all the offices on the top floor of the Association building, but they still couldn’t find the network interface the thief had used to hack into the surveillance system, as Nyx had described.
“Miss Clara, are you sure you’ve got this right?”
After the full circuit, even the Uncle started to question it.
Clara immediately shifted the blame.
“Nyx, are you sure you’ve got this right?”
[Impossible.]
[Then perhaps it’s a secret room that can’t be reached through normal means.]
‘Making excuses?’
‘Calling it a secret room—after two full laps, the blueprint of the entire top floor is perfectly clear. There’s no such thing as a windowless here.’
Clara was a little embarrassed.
After all, the Bald Uncle didn’t know about Nyx’s existence. In his eyes, it wasn’t Nyx who had messed up—Clara was the one losing face.
“Ahem, this might be more complicated than it seems.”
Clara explained vaguely, then added:
“And besides, there are still places we haven’t checked, right?”
Even in this situation, one major department hadn’t been taken over by the Administration Bureau and was still running: the Control Center of the hero network.
Naturally, Nyx hadn’t checked the network port there yet.
Logically speaking, a thief wouldn’t go anywhere near that place. The Control Center was always manned—if a stranger entered, they’d definitely be spotted.
Just as Clara was about to ask the Bald Uncle to take her into the Control Center, a silver-haired girl walked toward them.
It was Alice.
The girl’s cold gaze swept over them lightly, and her thin lips parted.
“Clara, what are you doing here?”
“Miss Alice, perfect timing. I’d like to check the Control Center of the hero network. Could you please lead the way?”
“Check? That should have nothing to do with this case…”
Alice seemed about to refuse, but then she looked up at the Uncle from the Administration Bureau and changed her tune:
“Hmm, what do you want to check?”
“Just let her take a look for some clues. That’s all.”
The Uncle stepped forward and stood silently in front of Clara.
[He means don’t tell Alice about finding the network port.]
Nyx interjected to remind her.
Alice had said last night that she herself would become a suspect in the Administration Bureau’s eyes. Now it seemed she hadn’t been lying.
Nyx was always wary of Alice, and it appeared the Uncle from the Administration Bureau felt the same.
As he himself had said, doubting everything was his job.
‘Tch. That really is a tough job.’
“That’s classified… Ah, fine. I’ll take you over.”
Alice didn’t refuse—she had no reason to.
If it was classified, she’d already taken Clara on a tour yesterday.
And solving the case sooner would let the Association get back to normal. That was good for her too.
The three of them entered the Control Center.
When Clara’s multifunctional Touch Tentacle plugged into a computer port, Alice raised her eyebrows in a surprisingly human gesture of concern.
“Huh? Wait, Clara.”
Alice recovered from her shock at the tentacle connector and quickly said:
“The data in the Control Center is classified. Even with an order from the Administration Bureau—”
“I know. I’m only checking the network, not touching your data.”
“The network?”
Alice tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and looked at the Bald Uncle again.
“What exactly are you looking for?”
The Uncle clearly had no intention of answering, so Alice didn’t press further.
Nyx began inspecting the network port, while Clara glanced around at the current state of the Control Center.
Busy workers sat in front of row after row of computers, watching who knew what data. The lockdown hadn’t affected them at all—it looked exactly the same as yesterday.
According to the Association’s earlier publicity, the hero network was an autonomous learning operating system generated by the AI’s Black Box Theory. In theory, it shouldn’t need so much human support.
[From the data in these computers, they’re responsible for optimizing the output of the hero network and monitoring the stability of that enormous shell. A facility requiring this much energy to run would become a giant time bomb if not watched closely.]
As expected, Nyx had peeked at the files and data in the computers.
And the shell she mentioned was the blue mechanical sphere displayed on the projection window.
Circles of blue light bands glowed on top of the sphere, with countless pipes and cables connecting to its upper surface. That thing looked dangerous.
“Could that thing blow up half of Central City if it goes out of control?”
Clara muttered quietly, but it fell into Alice’s ears (sensors).
“Half of Central City is a bit exaggerated, but turning this whole area into a small crater is definitely possible. After all, the energy required to run it is far beyond what you can imagine.”
Clara couldn’t be bothered to imagine.
But it really was a dangerous contraption. No wonder they didn’t just put it on top of the Association building.
Otherwise, if the Fourth Calamity took a fancy to the place and cruised over in their arrogant Cruiser Base to blast the Association building, Central City would have a huge pit that would take who knows how long to fill.
“Are you sure it’s okay to play with something this dangerous in the middle of the city?”
Alice leaned against her personal hero network access pod in front of the projection window.
“We have multiple safety measures to prevent such an event. The probability of a malfunction is six decimal places out. Please rest assured.”
She guaranteed it.
Clara felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Fran had said something similar back in the Reconstruction Department.
‘If she were the one saying it, I’d be carrying Lucia and taking a boat back to Earth overnight.’
[Still haven’t found that network port.]
Nyx was as efficient as ever.
[Based on the allocation, this port really should belong to the top floor. Are there any other interfaces I haven’t…]
Nyx seemed to want to keep searching, but Clara gave up entirely.
She pulled out the Touch Tentacle and raised both hands in surrender.
“Sorry, but it really doesn’t look like we can find that port’s location. Who knows how that thief managed to get up to the upper floors…”
She wasn’t about to keep embarrassing herself.
“So you’re looking for the network interface the thief used to hack into the Association’s internal network, and using that to trace his route, right?”
Alice guessed Clara’s intention.
“Yeah, I guess I can’t hide it from you.”
“Then how about showing me that network port? Maybe I can figure out where it is.”
Nyx put the internal network IP onto the phone, and Clara handed it to Alice.
“Huh? Strange. Are you sure you typed it right?”
Alice cupped her cheek, looking puzzled.
“What’s wrong?”
“The Association’s internal network does have one port per IP, but this IP doesn’t correspond to any port. It’s never been activated… at least, not in my records.”
“Huh?”
“So, it’s a network port that both exists and doesn’t exist.”
Alice sighed.
“The culprit’s tech skills are clearly quite impressive. You’ve probably been running in circles chasing a trap she left behind, without even realizing it.”
“…You’re kidding.”
‘So we wasted all that time for nothing?’
[Do you believe what she’s saying?]