After leaving the almost mentally collapsed Elliot Kwan, Morris wasted no time. Her next target was Karl Strange, the Operations Coordinator for Militech's Special Projects Department.
Unlike Kwan, who was hidden behind layers of protection, Strange exuded a confidence based on his environment.
He was located in a high-end private club in Heywood District, controlled by Militech. Ostensibly a social hub for elites, it was actually one of the company's strongholds for secret meetings and temporary rest.
The club's security level far exceeded that of ordinary corporate facilities. It was equipped with a dynamic infrared sensing net covering all corners, pressure-sensitive flooring, and a voiceprint recognition system, staffed by a permanent elite guard squad of twelve.
All members were trained in anti-infiltration and close-quarters combat and equipped with the latest smart weapons and light armor.
These defensive measures were analyzed and evaluated one by one by Morris's reconfigured perception system.
She did not choose a conventional infiltration route but activated the Sandevistan System in a shadow approximately one hundred and fifty meters from the main club building.
The experimental-grade neural drive system, after modification, showed a smoother acceleration curve and lower neural load.
At extreme speed, her figure transformed into an elusive afterimage. The dynamic infrared sensing net only recorded a brief, minimal amplitude fluctuation, which the system deemed environmental interference. Before the pressure-sensitive floor could transmit complete pressure distribution data, she had already passed through the outer Warning Zone like a silent gust of wind.
Karl Strange was in an encrypted communication room on the third floor of the club.
This room was specially treated, with signal-blocking layers embedded in the walls and double-layered composite bulletproof glass for the windows.
He was communicating with Militech headquarters via an encrypted line, focusing on how to adjust the next course of action against Maine's crew and the source of their technology.
Strange's tone was firm, advocating for the use of higher-level authority, deployment of orbital reconnaissance resources, and more aggressive investigation of known associated locations.
Morris did not attempt to breach the physical access control of the communication room itself.
She quickly calculated the optimal path, using subtle protrusions and decorative structures on the club's exterior wall to climb to a blind spot above the communication room window at a speed beyond human visual capture capabilities.
She raised her right arm, and a monomolecular wire, reinforced with a resonant coating, silently shot out from a miniature emitter in her knuckle. Its specially designed adhesive device at the tip precisely affixed itself to the metal frame of the bulletproof glass window.
Immediately after, the Sandevistan System activated again at maximum power.
Following the guided trajectory provided by the monomolecular wire, Morris's body was almost vertical to the ground, as if propelled, hitting the window—which was theoretically capable of withstanding heavy rifle bullets—with immense kinetic energy.
The moment before contact, her Sonic Blade in her left palm had already activated, and an invisible, ultra-high-frequency vibration wave was concentrated and directed to the point of impact.
"Bang—Smash!"
Under the dual effects of molecular-level resonance and physical impact, the double-layered composite bulletproof glass did not exhibit typical radial cracks but instantly disintegrated into countless tiny particles, imploding inwards, centered on the point of impact.
Morris's figure, enveloped in the smoke formed by the glass fragments, burst into the communication room.
The two personal guards inside were the first to react; their combat implants provided reaction speeds far exceeding ordinary humans.
However, in Morris's eyes, with her perception of time stretched, their movements were like being stuck in thick mud.
One's finger had just touched the trigger, while the other had only managed to turn around.
The Sonic Blade sliced through the air, creating a low-frequency hum, precisely grazing the neck area of Strange, who had his back to the window.
The vibrational energy did not cause a massive laceration but acted directly on the cervical vertebrae and central nerve bundles, causing them to instantly disintegrate at a microscopic level.
The horrified expression on Strange's face froze, his body lost support, and he collapsed onto the expensive carpet.
From window breach to target elimination, the entire process lasted approximately 1.8 seconds.
Morris's cold composite optical lens scanned the guards, who were momentarily frozen in the room, and the astonished face of the headquarters contact person frozen on the communication screen.
She did not launch any superfluous attacks; the core of her operational directive was efficient elimination of specific targets, not indiscriminate killing.
As the guards finally overcame their physiological shock and attempted to raise their firearms, Morris reactivated Sandevistan, rapidly retreating backward, flipping out through the breach she had created, and disappearing into the complex architectural structures outside the club. The piercing alarm only belatedly echoed throughout the entire building.
—
Located in Charter Hill's top-tier security community, "Odium Estate" was one of the primary residences of Biotechnica board member Julia Winters.
Security here was handled by a reputable private military company, integrating facial recognition, thermal imaging patrols, automated sentry turrets, and an underground vibration sensor network.
The community walls were electrified with high voltage, and the residents' villas themselves were equipped with independent emergency defense systems.
Morris appeared on the outskirts of the community in the darkest hour before dawn, around 4:30 AM.
She did not attempt to bypass or crack the main gate's security system but chose a relatively secluded section of the wall near Winters' villa.
By precisely calculating the pulse intervals of the high-voltage current and the blind spots of the sentry turrets, she used an instantaneous burst of speed and the strength of her reinforced limbs to silently clear the several-meter-high wall, landing with almost no sound.
There were four patrolling bodyguards in the courtyard, in two-person teams, patrolling intersecting fixed routes.
They were equipped with high-performance visual enhancement cyber-eyes and detection modules.
Morris used the vegetation and decorative elements of the villa's landscape garden as cover, her movement speed far exceeding the dynamic capture capability limit of the bodyguards' cyber-eyes.
She employed close-quarters combat, combined with precise force strikes, quickly neutralizing the four bodyguards before they could issue an effective alarm.
Subsequently, she faced the floor-to-ceiling bulletproof window that occupied an entire wall of Winters' bedroom.
The strength of this glass was sufficient to withstand sustained light weapon fire.
Morris did not linger outside the window.
She raised her arm, and the Sonic Blade slid into her palm, its high-frequency vibrations causing the surrounding air to slightly distort.
Facing the thick bulletproof glass, she highly concentrated the vibrational energy at the blade's tip and unhesitatingly thrust forward.
The moment the blade tip contacted the glass, high-frequency vibration waves efficiently propagated within the glass.
Instead of shattering like ordinary glass, the bulletproof glass, under the effect of vibrational energy, was neatly cut along the trajectory of the Sonic Blade, creating an opening large enough for a person to pass through.
The cut edges were smooth, emitting a subtle cracking sound, but the overall structure did not immediately collapse.
Morris pushed the cut glass panel inward with one hand, causing it to tilt and fall onto the thick bedroom carpet with a muffled thud.
She then stepped inside, her movements fluid and swift.
Inside, Julia Winters, in a light sleep, had been startled awake by the sound of the glass falling.
She saw the dark red figure, like Death itself, penetrate the barrier that should have been secure, and frantically reached for the emergency call button on her bedside table.
Morris's speed far exceeded her reaction.
The Sandevistan System provided an instantaneous burst, allowing her to approach the bedside just as Winters' finger was about to touch the button.
The Sonic Blade swung with a low hum, a cold flash.
Winters' movements ceased abruptly.
A very thin red line appeared on her neck, and then blood slowly seeped out.
Her eyes were wide with terror and disbelief, her body lost all strength, and she slumped onto the luxurious bed, her finger ultimately failing to press the button that could have brought hope.
Morris stood by the bed, calmly scanning to confirm the target's vital signs had vanished.
Mission accomplished.
She did not spare another glance at the mess, nor did she leave any traceable marks, quickly turning and retreating from the entrance she had created, her figure merging into the darkness that had not yet faded outside the villa.
A few seconds later, the internal monitoring system of the bedroom, detecting abnormal movement and the disappearance of vital signs, triggered the final alarm. A sharp sound broke the community's tranquility, but by then, the executor had long since departed.